BotCon 2008 Merchandising Coverage Thread

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secretcode
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BotCon 2008 Merchandising Coverage Thread

Post by secretcode »

BotCon 2008 Coverage Thread
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-ima ... ?g2_page=1

UNIVERSE TOYS
-STORE EXCLUSIVES
-Leadership Legends 5-Pack (Target Exclusive, $15, Available Black Friday)
- Hot Spot, Razorclaw, Silverbolt, Hun-Grr, Scattorshot
-Aerial Rivals Legends 5-Pack (Target Exlusive, $15, Available Black Friday)
-Mini-Con 12-Pack (K-Mart Exclusive, $20, Available October 1st)
-REPAINTS
- Acid Storm, Classics Seeker Mold in Camo Paint Scheme
- Blades, Cybertron EVAC Mold in Crimson
- Dropshot, Cybertron Defense Scattorshot in Tan
- Heavy Load, Cybertron Quickmix (Already Shown)
- Blaster, Cyberton Soundwave (Already Shown)
- Starscream, Legends Thundercracker (Already Shown)
- Red Alert, Legends Hot Shot (Already Shown)
-OTHER STUFF
- Galvatron
- Onslaught
- Powerglide
- Prowl
- Sunstreaker
- Tankor

ANIMATED TOYS
- MISC
- Autobot Jazz
- Optimsus Prime- Battle Rig Blaster
- Animated Bumblebee and Optimus Prime Shoes, Party Supplies and School Supplies

MOVIE TOYS
- Exclusives
- Jetstorm and Wingblade (Toys R Us, Already Shown)
- Inferno and Mudflap (Toys R Us, Already Shown)
- Jolt, Grindcore, Big Daddy, and Divebomb (Wal-Mart, Already Shown)
- Deep Space Starscream (Target, Already Shown)
- Movie Premiums (Already Shown)
- Jazz
- Bumblebee
- Barricade
- Megatron
- Optimus Prime
- Ironhide
- Blackout

I'll update as the convention continues.
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zigzagger
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Post by zigzagger »

Acid Storm, Classics Seeker Mold in Camo Paint Scheme
Well, I was sort of right about that one. Not about the camouflage, mind you, but the part about it being green and a name having something to do with acid rain....and it being a possible Japanese release.
That's ****ing hilarious. A year ago, Hasbro argued that it was unrealistic to reuse the mould, at least producing a Thundercracker, and yet here we are. I take it this could be a reference to the unreleased G2 Jungle Starscream then? Probably a coincidence, of course.

Ah, and a Blades figure. Neat!
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Ackula
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Post by Ackula »

Acid storm is a must have for me, I just can't resist a seeker mold. Most certainly evokes images of G2 Jungle Starscream for me as well. Animated Jazz looks very promising, I just might have to have Jazz and Prowl to display as my ninja bots.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

TFW2005 isn't cooperating for me, but I assume there's pics of some of these guys?
Maju Garzett wrote: -Leadership Legends 5-Pack (Target Exclusive, $15, Available Black Friday)
- Hot Spot, Razorclaw, Silverbolt, Hun-Grr, Scattorshot
A five-pack of LoC repaints? Prime, Leobreaker, Thundercracker, Scourge and Vector Prime respectively, I'd wager.

Really nice to see that they're getting some old characters back into circulation, though. Especially Hun-grrr, who is awesome.
-REPAINTS
- Acid Storm, Classics Seeker Mold in Camo Paint Scheme
- Blades, Cybertron EVAC Mold in Crimson
- Dropshot, Cybertron Defense Scattorshot in Tan
A generic seeker (I'll wager ziggy won't be the only one to have a laugh at them for that), a Protectobot and a Micromaster? More weird character choices, but they chose good molds to repaint, anyway. The Evac mold is an utterly perfect choice for Blades.

[EDIT]Finally got the link to work. I keep getting database errors, though...looks like their server is collapsing under the load.

Not surprised to see that my guesses for the "Leadership Legends" were right on the money.

Blades is awesome. And thankfully not white at all in chopper mode, so he'll stand out a lot from the other Autobot fliers. I'll probably track him down.

Acid Storm...doesn't do anything for me, actually. I might buy one to turn it into Thundercracker, but I'm not impressed with the colour scheme.

Animated Jazz is awesome, too. Me want!
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Post by Detective Barricade »

The mold choices for many of these repaints is outstanding! Evac kicked Buzzsaw/Cyclonus' tail in the mold's day, in terms of helicopter molds, so it is great to see this mold chosen for Blades. I'll be definitely looking into the Scattershot and Soundwave repaints when they come out in Canada!:D
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Post by RID Scourge »

I need to get my hands on that target gestalt team leader pack. The mold choice and the colors are perfect. Hot Spot and Hunn-Grrrr both hold a special place in my childhood. Hot Spot was my first gestalt team member, and Abominus was my first complete gestalt.

I remember being quite surprized on my birthday. First I unwrapped Hunn-Grrr, then I unwrapped two of the limbs, and I remember saying "All I need is two more, and I have the whole combiner!" as I was unwrapping the gift that had the last two members.

Blades looks sharp, but a bit large for my collecting m.o. I'm trying to scale back on larger figures these days.

Acid Storm's pretty cool as a homage character. Maybe they'll do that desert Ramjet. I'd buy it. :up:

The minicon exclusives are a big pile of meh imo. They really haven't designed too many minicons that I've found aesthetically pleasing since armada. I guess 2 out of 3 isn't bad with the Giant Planet team (both the bomber and the crane-thing were cool, but the sub doesn't exhort much excitement from me).

Hopefully we'll get to see more tfu deluxes soon enough (I'd like to see who's planned for the next wave). Acid's the only one we haven't seen yet, no?
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BotCon 2008- Product Reveal Report.

Post by secretcode »

Found via: http://seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=12885
http://www.allspark.com/index.php/20080 ... Panel.html

PICTURES WERE NOT ALLOWED.

TRANSFORMERS MOVIE: Over $700 Million WorldWide Boxoffice Totals, #1 DVD

TRANSFORMERS TOYLINE: #1 Action Figure Brand, #1 Fans (??), Movie Deluxes are Action Toy of the Year 2007

TRANSFORMES ANIMATED
- Wave 1 released June 22nd
- Animated WILL be a full TF Line.
- Deluxe Swoop has a mace on a chain
- Sentinel Prime is a Voyager, Coming out September
- Elite Guard Bumblebee (Dark Gray, Dark Tan, Mustard Yellow), Coming Septemeber, There is going to be more thematic repaints in some of the main characters, this possibly meaning that Bumblebee joins the Elite Guard at some point.
- Ultra Magnus, Leader Class, Hammer does NOT light up, HUGE round of applause

TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE
- Deluxe Ironhide, Red SUV, Oregon plates.
- Ultra Silverbolt, has sounds in both modes. Transformation sound during transformation and other sounds such as gun firing. Name was mispelled during presentation as Sliverbolt.
- Deluxe Sideswipe shown, but the head was still Sunstreaker's.
- Ultra Powerglide redeco in Micromaster StormCloud's colors (Black, Purple, Green), with MM-88 on the side of the plane.
- Deluxe Hound with Tape Ravage who fits in G1 Soundwave or any reissue. Ravage can attach to Hound and has no weapons. Hound himself has a cannon that attaches to either his hand or his shoulder.
- Deluxe Cyclonus w/ Nightstick Targetmaster. Attaches to either vehicle mode or his hand.
- Deluxe Cheetor. New mold, tail weapon, throwing stars, No spots on tail due to plastic type, he can switch eye color from Green to Red and mouth opens in Cheetah mode.
- More Legends: Tank Megatron, Jazz, Brawn and Beachcomber

ROBOT HEROES:
- G1 Kickback vs. G1 Ironhide
- G1 Thrust vs. G1 Blaster
- BW TM Megatron vs. BW Silverbolt
- BM Cheetor vs. Tankor
- RiD Prime vs. RiD Megatron
- More to be shown tommorrow

STORE EXCLUSIVES
- Nemesis Prime, Blue windows in USA, Red for Japan (SDCC/HTS Exclusive)
- Titanium War Within Skywarp (SDCC/HTS Exclusive)
- Three more Wal-Mart exclusives called "Offscreen Deluxes"
- Breakaway (Cybertron Hot Shot in White, Red and Blue)
- Fracture (Classics Mirage, In Crasher Deco)
- Crankcase, (Dark Green Cybertron Red Alert)
- Target Exclusive Comic Two-Packs
- Roadbuster (Cybertron Defense Hotshot) vs. Dirge (Cybertron Voyager Dirge)
- Springer (Cybertron Evac) vs. Ratbat (Cybertron Sideways)
- Toys R Us Exclusive Titaniums
- War Within Grimlock
- War Within Prowl
- K-Mart Exclusive Minicon 12-Pack
- Black Friday 25th Anniversary G1 Prime Reissue
- Short Stacks
- Marvel Issue 1 Reprint
- DVD Remaster of More Than Meets The Eye
- Has Logo Soundbox

MISC. STUFF
- 25th Anniversary also includes TF2. "Save your money" for 2009
- G1 Knockoffs Statement: Illegal, Hasbro is pursuing legal action, DO NOT BUY even from dealers (I take it like the Easter Baskets at Wal-Mart and etc. are what they are talking about)
- Masterpiece Thundercracker is possible
- Attacktix is DEAD
- No more Titaniums or Alternators
- Strong Hints of a G1-Style Arcee
- Not Many Toy-Only Animated Characters, Oil Slick was an exception.
- Possible Human figures, but not in current plans.
- No plans on reverse engineering of old figures into new molds.
- Larger Robot Heroes are possible
- Aveo Swerve's rights are not by Hasbor. No future plans.
- 25th Anniversary Toys other than Prime will arrive at the end of this year, possible combiners
- No reissues of G1 Dinobots
- No Henkei releases of Thundercracker, Dirge or Thrust.
- No GI Joe Crossover toys yet.
- Still thinking of a way to make a Transforming Dispensor
- Some characters for Movie 2 may be done in different sizes, decos (Question was specifically aske about Bonecrusher, but meh)
- Animated Characters won't be getting Universe treatment- It's for toys that won't fit elsewhere.
- No plans for Universe Sunstorm, but they do love the Seeker mold and will continue to use it.
- Possible Model Kits, Concepts were done, but plas were abandoned.
- Looking into bringing big toys and bases into Unviers, but as characters, NOT AS BASES.
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Post by Blitzwing »

I like what I'm hearing about the Universe toys. Can't wait to see some pics of them. That's a little strange about Ravage and Hound coming together. And when they say Ravage fits in Soundwave's chest, are they talking about G1 Soundwave? Because there's been no word about a Classics 2.0 Soundwave.
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Post by secretcode »

More info added, rephrased the entire post.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

I guess the Hound/Ravage thing is going to be an attempt to do a Battle-in-a-Box type-thing, and him attaching to Hound is some sort of bonus feature for the kiddies (unless he, like, attaches to Hound's neck by his jaw or something... can't see Hasbro putting that out, though...). I'm pretty intrigued by the whole 'G1 Soundwave compatible' thing. I'm guessing it's not just a reissue thrown in or whoever was doing the write-up would have noticed... But I'm wondering what more they could do with a Microcassette-sized figure, as the '84 Decepticon tapes were pretty advanced for something that size (Rumble/Frenzy especially deserve props for the amount of articulation, miles better than all but Bandai's best efforts for something that size, and streets ahead of anything else that small HasTak have ever managed, especially the disappointing Autobot tapes) and I don't see how more modern techniques would make them that much better.
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Post by RID Scourge »

secretcode wrote:TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE
- Deluxe Ironhide, Red SUV, Oregon plates.
Sounds good to me.
- Deluxe Sideswipe shown, but the head was still Sunstreaker's.
That could go either way. I'll have to see it.
- Deluxe Hound with Tape Ravage who fits in G1 Soundwave or any reissue. Ravage can attach to Hound and has no weapons. Hound himself has a cannon that attaches to either his hand or his shoulder.
Hound! Ravage! Do want!
- Deluxe Cyclonus w/ Nightstick Targetmaster. Attaches to either vehicle mode or his hand.
Sounds good to me. Good to see another decepticon jet that's not a seeker in this line.
- Deluxe Cheetor. New mold, tail weapon, throwing stars, No spots on tail due to plastic type, he can switch eye color from Green to Red and mouth opens in Cheetah mode.
Perhaps a Primal and Beast Megs are in the future?
- More Legends: Tank Megatron, Jazz, Brawn and Beachcomber
Hmmm . . . I'd guess new molds based on the tank Megs.
STORE EXCLUSIVES
- Nemesis Prime, Blue windows in USA, Red for Japan (SDCC/HTS Exclusive)
Ooh! Good to know that Tak'll be releasing him if I can't get a Haasbro release/the going price is too high.
- Fracture (Classics Mirage, In Crasher Deco)
Gobot Crasher? Didn't see a tf by that name. That would look quite nice. Guessing from the name and deco he's a decepticon?
- Roadbuster (Cybertron Defense Hotshot) vs. Dirge (Cybertron Voyager Dirge)
Can't find a Cybertron Dirge on the net. What did he look like? I didn't follow this line too much.
- Strong Hints of a G1-Style Arcee
Nice.
- Aveo Swerve's rights are not by Hasbor. No future plans.
Boooo!
- Still thinking of a way to make a Transforming Dispensor
Yay!
- No plans for Universe Sunstorm, but they do love the Seeker mold and will continue to use it.
Desert Ramjet! :up:
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Post by Cliffjumper »

I can't see either of Crasher's schemes looking good on a car that's a totally different shape, TBH (suspect they'll go with the cartoon version). Or at least any point in using them on a car that's a different shape. Be hilarious to see whether Takara are brave enough to release that one...
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Post by optimusskids »

What's the betting Brawn will be a Ironhide repaint
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Post by secretcode »

All the legends are new molds.

The Dirge repaint is of Cybertron Voyager Starscream.
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Post by Notabot »

secretcode wrote:The Dirge repaint is of Cybertron Voyager Starscream.
I was hoping that was the case. Didn't get that mold first time around, and heard pretty good things about it.
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Post by Warcry »

secretcode wrote:Deluxe Ironhide, Red SUV, Oregon plates.
Ironhide as an SUV? Heinrad is going to cry. ]Deluxe Hound with Tape Ravage
Cyclonus w/ Nightstick Targetmaster
Deluxe Cheetor
Crankcase
Roadbuster vs. Dirge
Springer vs. Ratbat[/quote]
They're just going nuts with the Classics characters, aren't they? :) For my part, I've been hoping for a new Cyclonus for ages, and I've always figured that that Sideways mold would make an excellent Ratbat. Springer's a bit too much, IMO. They're using the same mold for Blades (who it fits nicely) and they used the LoC version of it for Whirl (who it doesn't), so I really, really hope they decide to give the Evac design a rest for the forseeable future.

Nice to see that some BW characters are getting worked into the Universe line, too. I wonder if Cheetor will be labelled as a Maximal or an Autobot...
More Legends: Tank Megatron, Jazz, Brawn and Beachcomber
I can't imagine who they'd be repaints of, unless they're using movie stuff? Are we finally getting new Legends molds?
No plans for Universe Sunstorm, but they do love the Seeker mold and will continue to use it.
I'm all for generic seekers to add to the Decepticon ranks, don't get me wrong. Army-builders can be fun, although I doubt I'll buy more than one or two more than what I've already got. But it was just a year ago that we were being told that they OKed Thundercracker, Dirge and Thrust as exclusives because they didn't think they would sell well at retail. How in the world do they figure that they'll do better with generics now?
Cliffjumper wrote:I guess the Hound/Ravage thing is going to be an attempt to do a Battle-in-a-Box type-thing, and him attaching to Hound is some sort of bonus feature for the kiddies
If I had to guess, I'd say that Ravage's tape mode snaps into place in Hound's cargo bed/passenger area, or something like that.
I can't see either of Crasher's schemes looking good on a car that's a totally different shape, TBH
Looking at the pics over on TFU, I think the guy's robot-mode scheme (thinking of the black version mainly) will transfer over nicely to Classics Mirage. Vehicle mode...not so much, but they could probably make a go of it.
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Post by RID Scourge »

secretcode wrote:All the legends are new molds.
That's pretty cool. I hope they're closer in design to the cybertron figures. I wan't very blown away by the movie legends.
The Dirge repaint is of Cybertron Voyager Starscream.
Ah. That could be interesting.
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Post by zigzagger »

[threads merged]
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Post by Warcry »

Pics of Ironhide, Silver/Bluestreak, Silverbolt and Sideswipe, as well as the new Robot Heroes, can be found here.

Link plundered from Transfans. :)

Ironhide looks a bit loose in vehicle mode, but he's neat. Bluestreak is done up in his cartoon scheme and doesn't wow me the way Prowl does. Sideswipe is nice but (if they still plan to give him a new head) seems half-finished, and Silverbolt is badass.
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Post by Rossum »

Ironhide's alt-mode looks like he fell off of a cliff. :(
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