Via Mr Alan In The World Of Toys YouTube channel we can share for you a very interesting interview with Hasbro Transformers brand team Ben MacCrae, Mark Maher, Evan Brooks & Delaney Norris.
On this 32-minute interview the team discuss some information about the latest Hasbro projects and lines focusing in the upcoming Rise Of The Beasts and Legacy lines and several anecdotes about the development, marketing, team work and more about the Transformers line.
Watch the full interview after the break and then let us know your impressions on the 2005 Boards!
YoungPrime
That's why I said "arguably borderline mid".
Seanprime
Well “mid” toys is subjective first off, and second, I’m actively advocating for you to wait for sale. But the constant price complaining is old after a while. I’d rather have people go hey the price is too high for me, I’ll try to get it on a sale or skip then blame the designers and go on and on. If someone wants to pay full price for scourge cool, if they want to skip it or get it cheaper also cool. Neither side needs to care what the other side does.
Nightstrike
And that's perfectly fine. Just don't be one of those people earlier in the thread that were blaming the designers for the price.
(Can you all tell what discourse is dominating my dashboard this week?)
YoungPrime
…….It's like some of you actually want to pay questionable prices for arguably borderline mid toys. But if you want to, then go for it. The lecture isn't going to change my mind.
So again even if it's 6 months to a year from now. I will patiently wait for it to show up at ROSS or Ollie's for a more "respectable" price…
Seanprime
Also if you’re that upset that Scourge is a leader, just wait for a sale then. The $20 price difference between voyager and leader isn’t worth getting uo in arms over. No amount of back and forth is changing it. Just wait for a sale
Nightstrike
This 100 times over. If he were voyager, people would still be complaining. There's plenty of things to be angry about in regards to the design aspect. Prices ain't one of them. And it's not just engineering that costs. Details, particularly symbols add on to that cost. So yes, Scourge is a small Leader, at the fringe. But he is a tad out of the lower window, and Hasbro as a company is more focused on consistent prices per these categories, than individualized costs based on work put in per figure. Add on to that just general price gouging coupled with inflation (which has always risen higher than pay) and you've got yourself what does, in a way, amount to paying more for less.
TL;DR your issue, people, is with the giant company, not the designers. They're following the guidelines set by Hasbro, they are NOT Hasbro themselves.
Dinobot Snarl
For what?
They felt like the value increased to Leader, maybe……just maybe there's more to it than Bot mode size.
But even if you go that route he's taller than recent Voyagers and double in vehicle mode. I think the design is cool and worth it. Yes recent prices suck.
neospark1
That's right. Let's be an apologist.
Max Tower
Crowd in this context refered to the designers not the audience. But missunderstanding aside yeah I guess some people will find things to scream about regardless, I do try to keep my complaints to significant inaccuracies, design flaws, things that break due to those flaws and poor material layouts (i.e. Buzzworthy Cliffjumper) I don't complain to much about "wasted slots" accept when they distrupt line cohesion as is the case with Skullgrin being a deluxe. Especially considering he has a lot wrong with him as a deluxe I think a simpler Core class wouldn't have been any worse.
Last I checked white Nylon plastic still exists (Jhixaus has it for a start). Hopefully if they make a non bukakkaied Apeface in retro packaging they can adjust the colour of the off-white plastic too.
No you miss understood I was saying that I didn't see any evidence of a higher Budget in the Diaclone repaints compared to the original toys I only mentioned the brown box as a means to distinguish the subject from say Wrecker Twin Twist who is also a diaclone colour toy.
I am simply saying that they are implying that a higher budget goes to exclusives, where as I am saying I am struggling to see a qualititive difference between say Trailbreaker and his blue repaint or Ironhide and his Black repaint.
I don't see how what size he is has any bearing on them making him the wrong colour.
Galvatron can be seen as part of a negative trend downwards of leader size compared to say POTP which really wasn't that long ago.
I could just as easily have said the same of Beast Megatron, I am willing to withhold some ire for G2 Laser Prime or Earthrise Prime or even WFCT Shockwave being basically a Voyager with accessories as they at least have accessories.
Where as what additional Pieces Galvatron has are pretty worthless box filler tat and the toy itself isn't the hugest.. if they'd showed budget in other areas like say by including outer leg ratchets on the legs then that would have peraps help justify the price I think the problem is that it is pretty much the case that Legacy Galvatron screamed "wait for a sale" because he was the same toy without the splatter on him. They didn't put in the extra effort to add new or different accessories or change the colour of this weapons to clear pieces to fit the theme better or change the plastic shade to give people and better excuse to buy him twice.
I do actually like Galavatron over all I just think some people might be less that pleased with with at they got if they paid 50.00 for him.
There is also these lazy little missing details like printing purple logos on purple plastic that are almost invisible where a white back logo would be more appropriate. or failing that at least a significantly more distinct printing process so it shows up better.
Dinobot Snarl
That's right let's go ahead and weaponize their candor to fuel our unending criticisms.
MintCondition
Gotta chuckle at them complaining about how since all prototype work is done on computer screens these days, it's really hard to coordinate colors since everyone's screens are all different. This is why a lot of factories like physical, in hand color samples to work from
DubV
Have they resolved this “is it size or engineering?” conundrum yet in 2036?
John Titor
You are misinterpreting me. Please stop with the belittling.
TF Hot Rod
Agreed, in a perfect world or a world with a better budget I would love them both to be packed together. But we don’t live in that world and it would not he what some think.
And articulate, if he was with Scourge he would uave barely any articulation.
despicablebhao
Scourge looks cool with all his weapons not sure about 55 but thats pretty std now.
T-Hybrid
Same. It would be nice if they could stick together, but it seems like the result is a better standalone Scourge and a Freezer that can stand on it's own as a Targetmaster for any figure with 5mm ports.
Jazz of Staniz
There was far more to the leader price point than just the aesthetics. They specifically mentioned that Scourge was a more complicated design and required more care for the figure in terms of transformation, as well. Also, as other people have mentioned, Scourge was not a existing Voyager that was bumped up to Leader to add extra stuff to; he was only planned on being a Voyager before they started working on him and ultimately decided to make him a Leader instead, in order to give him the attention he deserved. It's not like they made a figure that would've otherwise been a Voyager and then said "hey let's give this more clear plastic and paint and weapons and charge people a Leader price point instead." That isn't how it works.
I mean that's largely going to depend on the audience you're referring to. Scourge is going to be the main villain in a big budget live action movie, so it may very well be the case that Scourge becomes as popular as G1 Hot Rod, the same way The Fallen and Sentinel Prime did following their movies. It's not just a matter of the core fandom.
Yeah I'm personally very glad Freezer was not included with Scourge. I don't plan on getting Freezer because at the moment I just don't care enough about him or the design, but I'm glad I have the option to add him on or not, rather than him taking up more of the budget for Scourge, making the actual Scourge figure worse for a version of Freezer that would also undoubtedly be worse than what we're getting.
TF Hot Rod
So glad he didn’t cause you know the SS86 Daniel and Wheelie? Or the Targetmaster Pointblank and Needlenose came with? It would have been borderline close to those. It wouldn’t not have been what we are getting or what you think it would be.
JazzAlert13
I’m not a fan of this scourge but that’s not what they said.
That’s subjective.
YoungPrime
Unless they're banking on this film making this version of Scourge as popular as G1 Hotrod is, then so far that's not winning a lot of people over…
I don't even hate the movie-verse figure in question this time. I just don't care about the justifications for its current price tag.
Just let me know if clearance shows…