March 2010 - Each month, Hasbro will answer two questions about their Transformers products. Here are the latest questions and answers:
1) Fans were excited to see Human Alliance Jazz with Captain Lennox debut at Toyfair. However, many fans have expressed confusion about the deco design choice for Captain Lennox. Josh Duhamel, who plays Captain Lennox, has facial stubble and short, spiky dark brown hair in all of his movie appearances. However, the Human Alliance Captain Lennox figure has no facial hair and non-spiky, whitish-blonde hair. Was this deco design choice purposeful? Is there any chance of the deco on the Lennox figure being changed before the figure's release, as it is unlikely we will ever get another figure of him?
Answer: We understand the potential confusion on the deco, so hopefully we can clarify this for you. Overall, we were using Movie 1 as our inspiration for the deco which was why he is clean shaven. Plus, in our minds since Lennox is in the military and it is a mandate in all branches of the service for soldier to be clean shaven every day, it was our way of paying tribute to our armed services.
2) Recently it was revealed that Toshiba would be releasing the Device Label line of Transformers from Japan. Any insight into Hasbro's involvement in this and why it was decided that this was the right line to release outside of Japan over other lines that are currently exclusive to the Japanese market?
Answer: The Device Label computer accessories were originally developed jointly by TakaraTomy and Toshiba for the Japanese market. In Japan, these products are sold in stores next to the rest of the Transformers toys. We didn't think that business model would work in the US and other Hasbro markets since these products are very different from traditional Transformers toys and a different price/value. We believed they would be better served in stores and areas of stores where computer accessories are found. Since they were involved in the development, Toshiba was interested in selling the Device Label products as a Hasbro licensee through their typical sales channels which we felt was more appropriate. This is a core competency for Toshiba so Hasbro granted a license to sell them in the Hasbro territories. We felt that this type of an item was different from toys and would potentially generate some good PR buzz.
