1 - Are there any plans for a global competition next year for Transformers 25th, along the lines of the one run for My Little Pony's 25th Anniversary?
No global plans for a competition to celebrate the 25th Anniversary however there will be things happening on the Transformers website to promote the anniversary. It will be a busy year with plenty of activity to support movie 2.
2 - Would Hasbro US consider doing an 'international themed' line (or redecos) of Tf's, and include at least an Australian themed/redeco toy?
Unfortunately not – our focus going into 2009 is definitely on our Revenge of the Fallen movie product along with the continuation of Transformers Animated. As you can imagine between these two segments there is an enormous amount of product. There may be an option to do something like you are suggesting down the road in 2010 and beyond.
3 - Are the plastic bubbles on carded figures made from plastic that can be recycled?
Yes.
4 - Are Hasbro aware of the noticeable increase in quality control issues (weak plastic, messy paint aps, etc) being found by collectors and even reported to Hasbro Customer service in the past, and if so, are there plans to rectify the problem or is this just a result of sourcing more affordable production methods to offset higher production costs (and as such, won't be changing any time soon)?
Yes we are aware that there has been a rise in collector complaints about certain Transformers products. We can assure you that all products are quality tested to strict controls and it is something that Hasbro prides itself on. Given the huge increase in volume we have experienced in the Transformers range the likelihood of certain products sometimes not meeting consumer expectations slightly increases, however we always try to service our customers needs when a problem arises.
5 - Are there any plans to bring over more Japanese Takara exclusives, like Masterpiece Convoy and Ultra Magnus?
We do have visibility to Takara exclusives and we will evaluate the possibility for one retailer exclusive item in 2009 from the Takara range. As background, on top of getting retailers to range the more expensive Takara product range, it is not an easy process to get Takara product into Australia given the nature of the product. Hence we are never able to offer the entire range but rather a select one or two.
6 - Are we likely to see more Machine Men/Gobots homages, like the Fracture/Crasher figure?Not specifically but never ever rule anything out in this industry! There is always the possibility.
7 - Is there an update on the creation of a Hasbro AUS online store, as it was last mentioned at Toyfair to be likely by the end of this year or early next year?
Although we had hoped for an earlier launch, unfortunately it has been pushed out to the end of 2009 at the earliest in line with a great corporate roll-out.
8 - Is there any way we can get in a 'collector quantity' (couple hundred) of the toys not released in Australian retail stores, either directly through Hasbro AUS or through an independent toy importer with Hasbro AUS's help?
Unfortunately no but we assure you we do our best to get most exclusives offered at retail. We try to offer as many as possible but we can’t guarantee that all items will be picked up by the retailers. We will continue to actively investigate all available avenues to bring collector product in to the market.
9 - Is it possible to have an Australian-based Official Collector Club, or does the Official one in America cover all international jurisdictions, preventing a local one?
The official collector club Transformersclub.com actually covers all international markets.
10 - Regarding toy instructions, I find the original G1 style of instructions, which also give written descriptions in each transformation sequence, far far easier to follow than the current picture only instructions. With the modern TFs toys, being more and more complex to transform, could this be passed on and reviewed by Hasbro US, to help make it easier for the general consumer?
As you have probably already gathered, our instruction manuals are used all around the world hence we have reduced the amount of text in order to cater to the majority of markets. This is common across many industries in the modern global marketplace and we believe that our visual instructions are suitable for the mass market.
11 - With the advances that Lego has had in their Technic range and also the mecha-like and popular exoforce series which can all create fully transformable vehicles if engineered correctly, (the parts in their catalog are more than capable of fully articulated robots), would a series of licensed Lego transformers be considered, as opposed to Hasbro's own attempts at competing with Lego with its own version in the past?
We have no plans in consideration for this at the present time.
12 - Are robot points ever going to be seen or used again?
Again this is not in our plans at present however it could happen down the track.
13 - Will the Universe Special Edition toys (Optimus, Megatron, Dragstrip, Overkill) be a general release in Australia, available to all stores, or be a store exclusive, and what sort of approximate price range can we expect?
Yes will be general release. RRP will be $34.99. We expect most product to ship by early next year.
14 - The 25th Optimus toy is being released here in late November, will more of the 25th wave of the Universe product line (deluxe, legend, etc) start shipping at that time as well?
That is the intention however all our new waves of 25th anniversary branded product will ship depending on retail orders. If certain retailers are sitting on more stock of the first waves of Universe product it may take longer for them to range the new product.
15 - What will Hasbro Australia be doing this year to prevent a repeat of last year's shortage of Transformers toys last Christmas, which saw empty shelves in most stores from November to late January, (because of Hasbro America under-estimating their own demand, preventing retailers here and in other countries from being able to rely on supply from their Hasbro branches)?
No issues are expected this year as we have plenty of stock on hand for our market. However please remember that the retailers ultimately control stock levels at each store.
16 - Was Hasbro AUS aware of all the Target Exclusive MP04 Masterpiece Convoys found to have missing parts, that were even emailed to Customer Service (without reply)? Were they excess stock from TakaraTomy, which could have included returned stock from JP retailers because they were defective/missing parts?
We extend our apologies if there was no response on this issue. We only became aware of any issues with the product after it was sold in the market. Unfortunately this is another potential problem with sourcing Takara product as it is very difficult for us in Australia to address/fix problems that may occur on Takara product as it is not a Hasbro produced toy line. The product was not excess or returned stock and neither Hasbro or Takara would knowingly ship defective products.
17 - Do you know if TakaraTomy are going to continue releasing reissues in their Encore line, or how long they plan to continue that series?
Unsure – we have not had any word from Takara on this. We will try and find out more and provide and update in next month’s Q&A.
18 - What is the inspiration (if any) behind the vehicle modes chosen for the Marvel Crossover Transformers?
The vehicles are chosen based on the best correlation between the characters personality and physical traits i.e Hulk obviously fits a tank perfectly given his bulk and destructive power, whilst Spiderman fits well with a motorcycle given his speed and agility.
19 - Are any of the following US store exclusives being released in AUS stores?
- Stealth Lockdown (redeco) w/ Optimus Prime & Bumblebee (Leg repacks) (US Target) Yes in Target – should ship in next month
- Rescue Ratchet (redeco) w/ Prowl & Starscream (Leg repacks) (US Target) Yes in Target – should ship in next month
- Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys (Deluxe 5-pack - repack) (US Sam's Club) We currently plan on releasing this in 2009 probably in June/July as an exclusive – yet TBC
- Optimus Prime (Voyager) w/ Autobot Ratchet (BBat) (repacks) (US unknown) I think this has now changed to an assortment of Voyager Sunstorm w/Activator Ratchet and Voyager Shockwave w/Activator Bumblebee. We are looking to do this in 2009 but TBC.
- Animated Optimus Prime Vs Blackarachnia (Deluxe repacks) (US Walmart) No plans
- Animated Prowl Vs Megatron (Deluxe repacks) (US Walmart) No plans
- Gunbarrel (Basic Decepticon) (US Target) (EN Tank) No plans
- Decepticon Reverb (Basic Decepticon) (US Target) (EN Jet) No plans
- Backtrack (Basic Autobot) (US Target) (CYB Motorcycle) No plans
- Optimus Prime Vs Crumplezone (CYB Leader Vs Voyager repack) (US Costco/AUS unknown) No plans
- Freeway Brawl (Battle Scene 2-pack) (US Target) No plans
- Battle Over Mission City (Battle Scene 2-pack) (US Target) No plans
- Bulkhead (Voyager) w/ Autobot Jazz (BBat) (repacks) (US unknown) No plans
20 - Have any of the following AUS release details changed since the last update?
- Bulkhead (Leader) w/ Bumblebee (Act) (repacks) (US TRU/AUS TRU Oct) Still TRU scheduled for Nov ship
- Megatron (Leader) w/ Starscream (Act) (repacks) (US TRU/AUS TRU Oct) Still TRU scheduled for Nov ship
- Minicon 12-pack (US Kmart/AUS Kmart Oct) Still Kmart scheduled for Nov
- Leadership Team/Special Team Leaders (Legends 5-pack) (US Target/AUS Target Oct) Still Target scheduled for Nov ship
- Aerial Rivals Team (Legends 5-pack) (US Target/AUS Target Oct) Still Target scheduled for Nov ship
- Standoff Beneath the Streets (Comic 2-pack) (US Target/AUS TRU Sep) Still TRU scheduled for Nov ship
- Autobot Ambush (Comic 2-pack) (US Target/AUS TRU Sep) Still TRU scheduled for Nov ship
- The Legacy of Bumblebee (3xDeluxe Autobot) (US Walmart/AUS Kmart Sep/Oct) Still Kmart but they plan on shipping it later now – probably late Nov
- Nemesis Prime (Universe/Classics Voyager Decepticon) (US SDCC/AUS maybe in 2009) Still a maybe
- Skywarp (Titanium Decepticon) (US SDCC/not here) No plans
- Unicron w/ Dead End (Supreme 'Decepticon' - repack) (US TRU/not here) No plans
- Crankcase (Deluxe Decepticon) (US Walmart/not here) No plans
- Decepticon Fracture (Deluxe Decepticon)(US Walmart/not here) No plans
- Breakaway (Deluxe Autobot)(US Walmart/not here) No plans
- War Within Grimlock (Titanium Autobot) (US TRU/not here) No plans
- War Within Prowl (Titanium Autobot) (US TRU/not here) No plans
- Optimus Prime Vs Megatron (Classics 2-pack repack) (US KB/not here) No plans
- Premium Ironhide (Movie Voyager) (Not here) Product no longer in production
- Premium Blackout (Movie Voyager) (Not here) Product no longer in production
- Premium Megatron (Movie Leader) (Not here) Product no longer in production
- Premium Optimus Prime (Movie Leader) (Not here) Product no longer in production
So that you don't have to read the entire thing, especially for you UK and US fans, I'll give you a brief overview on our part. Animated Voyager Sunstorm has been confirmed! Also, Decepticons Reverb and Gunbarrel, along with Autobot Backtrack have been confirmed. Here are pictures of their oldest incarnations:
- Reverb (Cybertron)
- Gunbarrel
- Backtrack
Notice how all of these are mini-cons... Anyway, they are going to be Basic class.
Source-TFW2005, Home Source-Ozformers
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