OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

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Skyquake87
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Skyquake87 »

Ah, that makes sense. I noticed Kapow have some pre-orders up for Soundwave and the other, more common cassettes.
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Clay
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Clay »

It's still early on the west coast (~7:30am), so they might still have a product display case update for today, but it seems that we didn't get to see much in the way of new stuff that wasn't revealed in the past two weeks. No signs of the next Titan or Commander class this time. :|

I should like to say re: Unicron, that it is good to see that even with the demise of all the dedicated physical toy stores in the US, Hasbro are still willing to make the bigger stuff, even if it is crowdfunded in advance.
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Warcry
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Warcry »

Me: *bitches about vanilla character selection*

Hasbro: *makes new Powerdashers*

Well, they sure shut me up. :) Powerdashers aren't really my thing, but full marks for effort. I never in a million years thought we'd get a full set of new toys for these three.

Omnibots next? Pretty please?
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Clay
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Clay »

I was just going to post that.

I mean, I'm more surprised by these than the giant Unicron.

What's with the names? Aragon, Cromar, and Zetar? Surely they're a reference to something.
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Warcry
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Warcry »

IIRC they had those names back in the 80s in...France? Italy? One of the European countries where Hasbro released the line through a third party, anyway.

In retrospect, it's pretty weird that Hasbro didn't at least slap names on them.
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Clay
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Clay »

And here's Generations Piranacon in gray prototype.

Looks like all six Seacons are present and the weapon mode for the combiner is retained.

<sigh>

How much?
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Denyer
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Denyer »

Awesome. The Terrorcons were good, but these are staying uncombined.
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Tantrum
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Tantrum »

Clay wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2019 1:39 am And here's Generations Piranacon in gray prototype.

Looks like all six Seacons are present and the weapon mode for the combiner is retained.

<sigh>

How much?
The way things are going, I'm guessing they won't be much (if any) more than regular retail, but they will all be store exclusives at different chains with different restrictions.

Overbite at Amazon, but only for Prime members.
Tentakil at Target, but only for Red Card holders.
Seawing at Walgreen's, but you have to get your flu shot there.
Snaptrap at Walmart for 30 dollars and 30 pushups.
Skalor at that one Blockbuster that's still open in Bend, Oregon, with the purchase of 3 used DVDs.
Nautilator will not be available for purchase, you'll have to check him out for 2 weeks at a time from your local library.

Or, you can get the box set, which is only available at radio shacks. Not the defunct electronics chain, but actual shacks where doomsday preppers operate their shortwave radios.
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Clay
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Clay »

I mean, I know you're joking... but are you?
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Denyer
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Denyer »

A bit strategically posed, but looking pretty good all the same.

Image
https://i.imgur.com/zw01ojF.png

Image
https://i.imgur.com/31ZukWT.png
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Tantrum »

Clay wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 8:09 pm I mean, I know you're joking... but are you?
I certainly hope so.

I'm just glad those TR boxsets with the clones didn't pan out. If they'd sold well enough to do all 4, we'd probably get each Seacon in a different boxset with Cyberverse figures repainted into original characters that don't appear in G1 or Cyberverse.
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Warcry
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Warcry »

As much as I love pink and teal Decepticons, I'm not sure if I'll have room for another combiner team. If they come out in the West for normal prices, though, I may have to find the room!
Tantrum wrote: Mon Jul 29, 2019 11:17 pmOr, you can get the box set, which is only available at radio shacks. Not the defunct electronics chain, but actual shacks where doomsday preppers operate their shortwave radios.
Well, the good news in that case is that my grandfather's decrepit old ham radio shack is still standing, deep in the bush on our property. So I guess that makes me an authorized Hasbro distributor for the set! I'll happily order in enough box sets for everyone. :) Er...as soon as I figure out how to contact Hasbro over the radio.
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Clay
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Clay »

Here's Studio Series deluxe 2020 wave 1

Same stuff as was rumored a few weeks ago: ROTF Bee (which seems to be a remold/reshell of the `76 Bee, which is itself a reworking of the 2017 Bee, golly), WWII Hotrod (Bee remold), Arcee three pack, and DOTM Soundwave with Laserbeak.

Neat.
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Skyquake87
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Skyquake87 »

The Seacons look pretty good, but I wonder if they'll feel as wibbly as a lot of the later CW figures. They've certainly got their money's worth out of that Silverbolt mold. I want too like them, but I think like the Tehcnobots and Terrorcons, the individual robots will be fine, but the combined form will feel unstable, front-heavy and liable to toppling over without much encouragement.

For the new Studio Series stuff, I like the Arcee 3 pack, Bumblebee will be a pass for me, which is a shame as I've always liked this version of movie 'Bee. I've been burnt on every single SS 'Bee purchase I've made. That transformation layout and construction just doesn't lend itself a good toy. There's a slim chance the wider and more bulky Camaro form will work better for him and I hope this will be better than the other SS 'Bees.
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Saiom99 »

This thread is informative and helpful.
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Clay
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Clay »

According to the official transformers facebook page (as of ~15 minutes ago), Unicron's kickstarter deadline has been pushed back to October 6th.

Also, prices are going to go up because of tariffs. That thread itself is pretty funny because TFW doesn't allow political discussion which, given how ill-informed people on a transformers forum are about transformers, is probably for the best.
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Warcry
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Warcry »

Clay wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:25 pm According to the official transformers facebook page (as of ~15 minutes ago), Unicron's kickstarter deadline has been pushed back to October 6th.
Anyone else surprised by how tepid the support has been for this? I figured that they'd blow way past the 8,000 mark without too much difficulty. When it was announced I never in a million years would have thought they'd have this much trouble finding buyers.
Clay wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:25 pmAlso, prices are going to go up because of tariffs. That thread itself is pretty funny because TFW doesn't allow political discussion which, given how ill-informed people on a transformers forum are about transformers, is probably for the best.
This soon after the latest round of price hikes on TF stuff, another bump would be pretty alarming. Some of the size classes have doubled in price here over the last decade, and I think they've all gone up by at least 25%. And that's at a time when wages have been pretty stagnant. How is any of this sustainable? Are toy companies going to abandon selling to children entirely and embrace the cable TV model of charging increasingly high prices to an increasingly small, increasingly old user base, ensuring their own eventual bankruptcy instead of changing their business model?
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

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Warcry wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:56 pm Anyone else surprised by how tepid the support has been for this? I figured that they'd blow way past the 8,000 mark without too much difficulty. When it was announced I never in a million years would have thought they'd have this much trouble finding buyers.
Not really. Near $600 is a pretty big ask to pay now-ish when people won't get the item in hand until 2021. Add to that a lack of confidence in the general economy given all the tariff stuff, I could easily see people being iffy on backing it.

I'm wondering what the other factors are in the decision to extend the deadline, beyond the stated 'fan feedback'. Supposedly the online retailers like BBTS were going to put their orders in at the tail end of things. What are the odds Hasbro polled them and found out they were going to come up short still?
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Denyer »

Not surprised at all. General lack of certainty over many things doesn't incline most people to drop that amount on a single item that's an impractical size. Whereas done as Titan class size and quality it'd probably sell like hot cakes.
Clay wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:25 pmAlso, prices are going to go up because of tariffs. That thread itself is pretty funny because TFW doesn't allow political discussion
Mmm.
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Skyquake87
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Re: Official Transformers new/upcoming releases! Hasbro, TakaraTomy and more

Post by Skyquake87 »

A case of right idea, wrong size and time? I can't imagine anyone outside the US going for Unicron (the shipping costs would probably add another chunk of change to an already expensive toy) and, to be quite honest, this is asking a lot of anyone interested. A $600 price tag is a lot, and tips into the same sort of 'rich adult collector' bracket as that silly massive Lego Millenium Falcon. And what do you do with it once you've got it? It becomes more of an art installation than something you can play with, so what's the point? I'm still wondering whether to hang on to Titan Trypticon, he's so bloody massive he looks ridiculous in my tiny house. He's bigger than our cats!

The article about tariffs is interesting, specifically Hasbro looking to shift manufacturing outside of China. I'm guessing that might have something to do with the current US/China trade spat, as well as the costs of selling products to an increasingly shrinking market, as consumers move away from physical toys to online gaming and such (the amount of infants and children with tablets and such seems to be increasing, just from what I've seen when out and about).

Having to pay more for general goods and services in the UK post-Brexit (our new PM's gamble to prorogue parliament and reconvene close to the European Summit to force a deal one way or the other and our current preparations mean it's looking ever more likely we're going to leave the EU with no deal and have to set about operating under WTO rules), means toys will be an easy pass for me if they're going to increase again from what I already feel are silly prices (especially where Cyberverse is concerned!).
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