We are very excited to bring you the live coverage for the Hasbro Product Reveal panel at Botcon 2015 in St. Charles!
Key points from this panel included:
- Combiner Wars Voyager Sky Lynx, a complete new mold
- Combiner Wars Deluxe Wave 6 will feature Hound, Wheeljack, Smokescreen and Trailcutter. All are reuses of existing molds, though Wheeljack is a pretty extensive remold.
- Combiner Wars Bruticus, with all five Combaticons. Onslaught is a remolded Hot Spot, reworked so the vehicle back end is now the front. Swindle is a remolded Rook, and Brawl is a new mold. Vortex and Blast Off reuse Quickslinger and Alpha Bravo, respectively.
- Combiner Wars Legends Shockwave, Buzzsaw, Chop Shop, and Pipes
A first for Botcon, photos were allowed – check them out attached to this post.
Read on after the jump!
flik68
soundwave144
ohhhhhh… ok. thanks for makin that clear! i didnt think that it was computron.
not as strange as your FACE!!!
LOLOLZ!!
flik68
yeah there was never listings for limbs. I ment to just say scattershot but all the computron talk and that's what I typed.
yeah that is strange how we never got a listing for skylynx. hmmmm never thought about that.
Hanzkaz
Not all the rumoured TFs were revealed at Botcon and the Tokyo Toy Show. We also got a few surprises like Sky-Lymx and MP Optimus Primal. They've also got to be saving some good stuff for later.
Between previous Computron/Technobot rumours, the Scattershot listing, the existence of Sky-Lynx and CW Brawl (Nosecone pretool?), I'm quite convinced we'll get a Technobot team possibly with an 'extra' member.
Steevy Maximus
And even then, I don't recall us ever seeing listings FOR LIMBS, despite the first TWO waves of 2016 being revealed early.
The only Technobot listing has been Scattorshot, but there was never a listing for Sky Lynx (who IS an early 2016 release).
I'm personally not unconvinced that "Scattorshot" was a placeholder name for Sky Lynx.
WWELORD
I believe they showed the silhouette then revealed it to be Optimus Maximus. they also mentioned OM to be released in the fall and then revealed bruticus for the spring (but we all know he'll be here by January)
soundwave144
im sorry but i still cant see it, and once again im not trying to start anything but when you post phrases like "you can clearly see…" it sounds like agitation is building. and im more of a visual kinda guy, if anyone who sees computron that is good with computers (i wouldnt know where to start) then a composite pic of some sorts or a side by side shot, or add some details or coloring that you all say that are there would be really helpful.
the only thing that i see wrong with that is that we already have seen actual pics of optimus maximus… why would they give us a silhouette? i know it sounds like im being argumentative but i wish they would just give us some color pics and do away with the shadow guessing game.
too right brudder!
flik68
all we have gotten on computron are computer listings. nothing else. probably looking at the middle or end of 2016 before we get him if he isn't canceled by then lol.
Wheeljack_Prime
Kinda looks more like Galvatronus to me, which does Hasbro does use jets for arms, and Breakdown and Dragstrip as legs, which that image does.
WWELORD
its not computron its optimus maximus, you can tell by the robot mode fist behind the head as well as you can tell by the Fall 2015 at the top of the slide release window. if it was the technobots it would say 2016 not 2015
Purple Heart
You can clearly see that his left(our right) leg is using the Drag Strip/Mirage mold. You can see the details clearly there. Plus he is using Silverbolt/Cylconus's gun and he has a head similar to Computron.
You can also see a slight part stick downwards on the right side of his chest, a feature on both Silverbolt and Cyclonus as well.
His right foot(our left) is using the same foot piece that Breakdown and Sunstreaker use, and you can see a wheel on that same leg.
Looks like Afterburner, or some new guy, has become a Formula One car.
Here's G1 Computron.
soundwave144
that sux about sky-lynx…oh well, that just makes him an easy pass for me. but i agree about the weapons too. but i was kinda hoping that they might give vortex matching handguns to mimic his g1 alt mode with the guns mounted on the sides of the chopper.
i don't see where you got any of that except the jet for the arm. im not calling you out or anything, but im just having trouble seeing computron in that image.
Clinch
I wholeheartedly agree there.
Autovolt 127
I agree with you.
Hollywood Hoist
How does Hasbro not understand collectors. Not every collector buys everything from a single line. The repaints into Autobot cars seems to have a mixed result some love it as it gives them their Masquerade set and also an opportunity to get missed characters or replace characters they weren't happy with the initial release.
How can a company be expected to please everyone? Yes there are people who buy everything in a line, but I hardly think that is the norm.
So far all their repaints/remolds have been great. I never expect Hasbro to make a 4th unique mold jet for Slingshot, the fact we got 3 says a lot. Back in the Energon days the combiner had 2 repaints, no remolds just repaints and that was the main line.
Spending 5 minutes on this board only tells you what the vocal people think. There are a lot of fans/collectors who don't voice their opinion on these different subjects. I look at any given poll on tfw, and most of them have maybe a couple hundred responses. So unless there are only a couple hundred collectors out there, you can't base what the "collectors" want based on those results or even what is written in individual threads.
These threads are not random samples of collectors, but the opinions of the ones who have a strong enough opinion to spend time to type it.
Everyones "appropriate" is going to be different.
Based on what I've seen at the stores in my area the approach Combiner Wars has taken has been hugely successful, look how quickly they sell out in stores and online. Those repaints Slingshot and wildrider are gobbled up as soon as they are available. Would those figures still sell if they were all unique molds? Yeah, would it cost Hasbro more money to make them unique molds? Yes. Is the return on investment on unique molds worth it? Probably not, as the sales increase wouldn't justify the added cost. So in the end we get some repaints and remolds, but on the other hand we're getting more combiners as a result.
I'm not sure what your definition of a "mess of a product" is, but I've enjoyed all the combiners released as well as the ones coming out. Are they perfect? No, but very few figures if any are universally loved. Even 3rd party creates products that some fans don't like.
G.B. Blackrock
Honestly, I feel this way every year.
Sure, there's some sense that Hasbro doesn't always give straight answers to questions (I understand. They sometimes can't), but I leave almost every panel frustrated at the questions that managed to get asked in the limited time available, vs. the more important (at least to me) questions that somehow never surfaced, despite being discussed widely prior to the convention as things fans want to know more about.
Clinch
I can't help but feel questions were wasted in particular the kreo and collector card questions.
G.B. Blackrock
I could just as easily put that the other way around. If they're likely to get the same results either way, why not use the approach they're using?
While I see no need to defend any of these particular mold re-uses, I can recognize that Hasbro's longstanding business model of reusing molds has enabled them to do a lot of product I do like, so I really see no reason to complain that they also make product I'm happy to leave on the shelves.
Could Hasbro make even more money if they handled things differently? Maybe. I won't say "no." But given the risks they'd incur by such changes, I can hardly fault them for going with something that's already meeting (if not exceeding) their own expectations.
Anguirus
I'm sure they do keep an eye on the board, but that's only a piece of the pie. People are more likely to post if dissatisfied, and the most vocal posters are the most likely to be the most dissatisfied. Moreover, on that end of things they've got to screen out the actual trolls.
I'm part of a local collector's group on Facebook, and they are into MPs, 3Ps, real high-end stuff. CW is fairly popular with them, and regardless there's none of this anger over, well, much of anything.
?
Afterburner
You're right in that they clearly don't understand collectors. But they can't expect collectors to be happy if they don't bother to understand us, even on products specifically aimed at us. So they can't have it both ways. That's what is always so interesting – the shock that collectors aren't happy. Spend 5 minutes on the board and you would know.
Repainting and remolding is not the issue, it is making sure you do it appropriately. Essentially Combiner Wars has become a very watered-down version of Classics, featuring combiners. Frankly, it's just a mess of product. I don't see any reason why they couldn't have taken a different approach and gotten the same if not better results at retail.
By the way, TakaraTomy, unlike some companies, doesn't lie or need to lie to promote their products. So Groove is their tooling. No smoke and mirrors. I don't doubt based on precedent with this line that Computron would be full of remolds that barely work as said characters, but I doubt you are seeing anything in that slide.