October 2008 - Each month, Hasbro will answer five questions about their Transformers products. Here are the latest questions and answers:
1. Star Wars and GI Joe have a multitude of online e-tailer exclusives... Why is it that Transformers doesn't get this kind of love domestically? E-Tailer exclusives would be a great way to get fans figures that they want that generally would not do as well at mass retail. I think the majority here would agree there would've been a lot less nerdcore rage and lot more money in your pockets if the notorious "BotCon Seekers" had been afforded the opportunity to be released as e-tailer exclusives.
Answer: We are investigating E-tailer exclusives - we have started to do exclusives at HasbroToyShop.com and continue to do so. However, the issue with the "BotCon Seekers" is a different issue. At the time of the decision for that BotCon set, we were not planning on the Classics line to be reborn. So we thought it would be better to get them out in some regard instead of not at all. Clearly the demand for those figures were strong and had we known then what we know now we would have chosen different characters. We hope to not have that issue again.
2. Are the TF Mighty Muggs going to stay with G1 initially? Or are we going to get a hodge podge of different characters from different lines early on?
Answer: Initially, we will stay with the G1 styling for the first few waves of Mighty Muggs. However, after that you can expect us to explore characters throughout the vast 25 years of Transformers history.
3. Will any more of the masterpiece editions, such as Megatron, Thundercracker & Skywarp,
come to US retail?
Answer: Without giving away too much information, yes we are looking to bring more Masterpiece to the US. However, unfortunately due to regulations it won't be Megatron due to his too-realistic alt mode.
4. We've seen Transformers Crossovers with both Star Wars and Marvel Comics, will we ever see a crossover with G.I.Joe, a series that actually has had crossovers with Transformers in both comic and cartoon form. Prototypes were made nearly 20 years ago and we even got a transforming Snowcat in Energon, but why no official line?
Answer: We have had many discussions about GI Joe Transformers either executed as the other Crossovers lines or even true to the Comic (Joe figures and Transformers figures together). Right now is just not the best time with the Movies being the main focus for both, so don't expect to see it in 2009.
5. Universe Classics Galvatron shows obvious signs that he was intended to have a third form. Was this third form completed and can we have official instructions on how to make it?
Answer: Initially, Takara had engineered Galvatron to be a triple changer (the third mode being a tank/walker vehicle) but that's not what Galvatron is. To me, he's a really large cool cannon. So I opted to drop the third mode and really concentrate on the two modes he has currently. Because the pieces were already engineered, Takara kept them in the toy. We do not call out his third mode but Takara might if they choose to in their release of Galvatron. My first sketches of Galvatron's alt mode were of a large cannon that took a lot of design ques from the G1 movie but had treds. A stationary cannon just isn't as fun to play with compared to something that can move and shoot.
