Back from Hasbro.
They did an outstanding job really, creating 10-12 stations where we'd spent 10 minutes or so and got a brief discussion covering TFs and the creation of them and so forth.
It is always great to discover concepts and such that never made it to production.
However, I saw 2 6" Titaniums that should have been made and never will. The only existing concepts are the 2 figures that are in a case.
We were there for several hours and all in all it has been the highlight of the trip.
Far more exciting than events from last night.
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Outside of Hasbro.
Evac repaint of Blackout that will be made. He's awesome!
6" Titanium Shockwave that will never be produced. I cried. I really cried. *sniff* They made frigg'n Optimal Optimus and not Shockwave. Even that makes Baby Jesus cry.
6" Titanium War Within Bumblebee that will never see the light of day.
6" Titanium Cosmos that will never be made.
Discussing packaging and mock ups. The Hasbro inhouse tool shop where they mockup things is really nice.
We think that this Hasbro security guard is an alternate universe parallel to Crazy Steve. We christened her Crazy Stephanie. I wish I could have caught her smiling. She totally could have been Steve's twin sister!
We were in the 8am tour. Several hundred people packed into several buses and headed to Hasbro.
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More at my Botcon 2007 Flickr galleries and more later when I get back to Cowtown.
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Ok. Gonna take a nap maybe or go see David Kaye talk.
The dealer room opens at 4:30.
And as always, it is all about the toys!
That Shockwave is pretty damn sweet as it goes. Seeing as we'll never see it hopefully we'll get a Revoltech Shockwave instead which would kick arse as much as a Titanium release...
Okay, I'm sure the two Titaniums you wish would have been made were Shockwave and Bumblebee, but that Cosmos looks friggin' sweet.
It's all that F#ckhead Bay's fault.
I can see him saying "Listen up you bunch of saps, I'm running the TF division of Hasbro/Takara now (It was part of my contract when I signed up to screw TF's) & I'm telling you that from now on, those Losers who are keeping Hasbro afloat are gonna be forced to buy My TF's - & none of these cool designs you Stooges keep churning out.
What are you - actual TF fans?"
Note to self - Maybe I should just fire all of the creative department & replace them with mindless/braindead cheap labour? Where are those monkeys when you need them...
She has my hair, my face, and my dream job as a Hasbro security guard. SHE STOLE MY LIFE!
"It's all that F#ckhead Bay's fault."
Yeah, let's blame Michael Bay for everything that's wrong with Transformers...
*Switches sarcasm mode on*
The last three Classics Seekers being a Botcon exclusive = Michael Bay conspired with TPTB to deny us fans the chance to complete our Seekers line up because that's just the guy he is...
The Titanium Soundwave being such a crap figure = Michael Bay decided that if there was gonna be only one Soundwave on the block, that it would be the one he introduced as an Ipod in the next Transformers film...
The new cartoon animation style = Michael Bay forced Cartoon Network by twisting their arms to animate it this way so that it would make his film look better in the long run...
Michael Bay is the Antichrist and responsible for everything that is wrong with Transformers today!!!
*Switches sarcasm mode off*
Bruticus, I wholeheartedly agree with the first half of the statement before sarcasm off.
Dude was a commercial and music video director before making films. He knows his flashy crap!
But seriously, it takes two to sell your soul. . . and Hasbro did the sellin'.
Frowny, i'm just sick and tired of reading on every other Transformers site how "Michael Bay has raped my childhood" or "Michael Bay has killed off Transformers and ruined collecting for me"...
Michael Bay is not the be all and end all of Transformers and i doubt that he could influence Hasbro into not releasing Titanium Cosmos, Shockwave and WW Cliffjumper or indeed any other figure...
It just seems a current trend within our community to blame Michael Bay for everything that's currently wrong with Transformers...
WW Bumblebee, not WW Cliffjumper ^
Bruticus, BB not Cliffjumper? What's the difference nowadays?
Jeremy, good point...
I don't blame Michael Bay for anything other than making shitty movies.
Hasbro's still 100% responsible for the toys. My point was, for Michael Bay to "rape our childhoods" (and really, could he do a worse job than Jim Carrey and Mike Myers in those shitaceous Seuss adaptations?-now Paris Hilton is forever tangentally related to The Cat in the Hat. . . ) Hasbro had to pull our childhoods' pants down and lube us up.
It's also funny how no one has anything bad to say about Spielberg.
Totally unrelated-I'm all over the Evac redecoed Blackout.
Frowny, Oh no, don't get me wrong, for everything that i feel is currently wrong within the Transformers toys universe i hold Hasbro (More so Hasbro UK as that's where i live and we'll always have sh*tty distribution when it comes to Transformers) directly responsible...
And yes, i totally agree that Hasbro took the money from Bay and got us ready for a deep rear rooting...
Just like i said, sick and tired of people jumping on Bay and laying the blame for everything wrong with Transformers on his doorstep. Bay is just another step in the road of wrongness as far as i'm concerned. As for Spielberg, my mother taught me that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all so i'll keep quiet on that subject...
And yeah, the more i look at it, the more that Evac redecoed Blackout looks bloody awesome...
Spielberg ruined E.T.!!!
I think everyone should just let the dislike of Bayformers go. It's here. I'm saving alot of money myself.
I'm predicting that once 2009 rolls around, we'll be bombarded with G1 remakes. Look at G.I.Joe.
I'm actually quite open minded about this film to be quite honest. I'm not expecting a great deal from the film, i'm not expecting it to present everything I ever wanted from a live action Transformers film, it's simply two hours escapism from the real world and i'll leave any final judgements i have about the film until i'm on my way out of the cinema...
Not overkeen on the majority of the film toys but Leader Class Prime and Deluxe Barricade in my opinion are the dogs bollocks and when they're released i'll be digging the Robot Replica's as well as i'm a big fan of the Revoltech line...
It just really comes down to Transformers isn't a fanbase or anything to anyone other than a kids toy line. They will never consider the collector since well we aren't in their age demographic. I have a feeling that the Titaniums were cancelled because they weren't selling well, had a really bad initial run and in the grand scheme of other TF merchandise were really small potatoes.
As usual Nala - thanks soooooo much for sharing & documenting your Botcon experience so the rest of us poor fans who couldn't go can sort of experience it too. The Hasbro tour seems awesome. Dude, you rock!!!
:)
And no more 6' TF Titaniums?!?!
WTF?!?!?
Man, that Shockwave mold kicks ass!!!
And they are never gonna make it????
FAWK!!!!
I can't understand Hasbro saying they have poor sales ... all the 6' Titaniums here sell out like hotcakes around here. I gotta buy 'em off of eBay all the time.
I just thought it was because 90% of them held together poorly. Too bad, because the character choices indicated they were paying a little attention to the fans. . .
No more Titaniums? Well... if it's true, then I will feign neither surprise or sadness. It is a shame though that those molds won't get produced... maybe they can parley them into a different, non-diecast-based line?
They make Optimal Optimus & that lame a$$ WWI Megatron as 6' Titaniums, but no Shockwave????? WTF!!!