# As far as 2009 products, most of the '09 stuff is in the cases (which we've seen at BotCon, too). Today we're hoping to give you through 2010, as well as some Animated Figures Jared Wad (Designer - Products); Eric Seibeneler; Aaron Archer; Matt Drew (Associate Director - Marketing); Lenny Panzica (Newcomer) Legends Arcee
# Jolt
# Soundwave
# Wheelie
Scout
# Skystalker (Drone Jet) - very creative with weapons
# Scattorshot - Reminiscent of his Cybertron version, great new vehicle design, new head design; signature weapons
# Deluxe
# New Deluxe Ratchet! New slicker H2, pistol closer to his movie reference; lot of articlulation, and more
* reimagined movie characters going into 2010, really bringing in some newness as established in the film Deluxe Lockdown movie style! "Great new character designed by Cartoon Network, and reimagined by them for the film. He now has a hok and his car is reminiscent to the early 80s Corvette - the engine will be interchangable with Deluxe Ratchet
* Dirge! - a new way to transform this jet. The Conehead has a brand-new head and is very sleek. Looking for new ways to keep the brand unique.
* Brawn - Obviously themed after one of the NEST vehicles and uses one of the favorite characters of the past. Looks a lot like classic Brawn. Weapons are also interchangable with other figures along the line. Voyager
* Jungle Attack Ironhide - Loaded him up with a whole bunch of weapons. The GMC Topkick has white pant splattered across (Zebra-striped camo) his entire body and weapons everywhere. Also planning to have a story connection between an Autobot and Decepticon.
* Bludgeon - "Who saw him coming back?" we did - it leaked two days ago. His sword will be sheathed into the side of his body. Turning his turret will have weapon transformations. Ironhide will go out to hunt Bludgeon in the jungle.
* Mindwipe! The headmaster "doesn't look like anything he used to look like." Those little daggers in his hands can stow away in his forearm. Just took a stealth jet to make it look cool. His body. Scout Drone Jet shown previously is able to be attached to Mindwipe on top of his jet. Made a joke that he's really cool because his daggers are always pointed down in a hack, slash kind of way. Human Alliance
* Barricade with Frenzy! The Frenzy can mount on Barricade's shoulder, and the chest of the figure, too.
* Mudflap and Cycle with Simmons! The cycle will be Chromia and the Simmons figure looks very much like John Turturro. Exclusives
* Matt Prody is showing us the 6" Titanium Optimus Prime, Thrust. Thrust is the logical choice to complete the seekers.
* Hot Zone - try to keep the name and incorporate him into the lore. Logical choice.
* Commemorative Insecticons - Toys R Us Exclusives - Joe and Takara have been working hard to bring this back to us. The Insecticons were decided thanks to them being integrated into the film.
* Commeorative Perceptor - TRU exclusive - Perceptor was in the Animated series, as we all know, and it's a great tie to bring him back.
* Masterpiece Skywarp - WalMart exclusive - this scale allows us to integrate a lot of detail. The next logical step after having done Starscream a couple of weeks back.
* Revenge of the Fallen Gathering at the Nemesis. Deluxe Soundwave (seen before), Voyager Megatron (2007 mold). Megatron gave him silver highlights to showcase the frozen aspect.
* Fiery Fallen will be Target exclusive (as we saw last night).
Transformers Animated
We will find its way into the market. All of the figures we see today will certainly make their way in. Deluxe
* Electrostatic Soundwave w/ Ratbat - Eric says that working with the guys at Cartoon Network was rewarding.
* Arcee! It was taboo for us to make Arcee. Something always went wrong, Eric says. Eric: Derek and he had a lot of fun designing the figure - Just enough classic design and new tweaks to give the fans something new. She comes with swords and gives her a reason to be cool.
* Rodimus Minor - Eric and Derrick created the figure and harkens back to the G1 roots. Didn't want to shortchange Prime because there were already so many Primes. He is the first non-Prime to control a squad. Aaron asks how it went - Eric says it doesn't go so well.
* Cybertronian Ratchet - "Probably one of the real breakout characters in Animated." Thought it'd be cool to show off the younger version rather than the "beer belly version."
* Cybertronian mode Ironhide - A quick note is that there is another head sculpt. Eric twisted everybody's arm to get them to let him sculpt a new head.
* Fugitive Waspinator - We didn't have the foresight to add a new head to the mold because Waspinator wasn't available yet. Voyager
* Golfire Grimlock - straight-up upgrade. The bio will help explain this.
* Hydrodive Bumblebee - "We realized how popular Bumblebee is as a character, so we made him smaller but we wanted to give you a something more for the price you pay." Bumblebee is removable from the submarine.
* Blackout! "Here's another case inspiring other segments." Decided to create a character for Animated based off of Transformers. He has an Earth mode instead of a Cybertronian mode. Wanted to give something familiar from the film.
* Wingblade Prime - Deluxe figure with add-ons. All pieces from Wingblade can also be added to original Animated Voyager Prime.
* Thundercracker - Of all the seekers they could do, this made the most sense. Q&A!
* Why did you put Rumble in Commemorative Soundwave? Based on the tooling, we went with the one that made the most sense.
* Robot Heroes: Stay with the movie styling for now. Forseeable future, no plans to go back to the G1 styling.
* Animated Slipstream? One word: No
* Will Transformers Animated be on the deadbed? Yes. It'll enter syndicated. Archer says that they are not ready to talk about the new Discovery partnership.
* What's the 3rd Arcee piece? Arcee, Chromia, and Flareup.
* Will they produce Flareup? They'll offer the 3rd eventually. But when she does be released, there won't be instructions.
* Animated Omega Supreme? We have no plans for new "bold" Animated products.
* Possibly a color-yourself version like My Little Pony? We haven't had the chance to go through it.
* My Little Pony crossovers? "Considered everything Hasbro has thought of, but, it's a good idea, but nothing yet."
* I like the Human Alliance, but what about Decepticons? Definitely a chance, and hopefully in the future they will have more opportuntiies.
* Are Transformers and Revenge of the Fallen properties of Hasbro and Paramount is licensing? Or vice versa? Archer: Paramount is licensing from Hasbro.
* Masterpiece Grimlock? It would make sense for us to follow that in the future. No immediate plans. We know the popularity, though.
* Thinking of making back G1 colors for Devastator? It is something that they're looking at. Cannot say when it will be released.
* What about a Grindor Human Alliance with Alice? Not sure yet.
* Why was Overload not in Supreme Devastator? They wanted to make it simple at the pricepoint and it was difficult to design all of them together to form the spine and torso. Because Overload is now visible in the combined robot mode in the film, they left it out of the toy design.
* Can we please see Leader Starscream? Ask some people from BotCon who saw it firsthand. To confirm, Leader Starscream is definitely going to be produced.
* Anything new for Universe? Classics and Universe is definitely part of the line and it means too much to too many people. So they will definitely work on it.
* Legends-sized Devastator? Certainly discussed offering EZ Real Devastator in the future, but nothing yet.
* What skillset do you look for in potential employees? Knowledge of the brand is a good start.
* Anything about Transformers 3? Archer: I have to believe there will be a third movie and it's obviously too early to tell. A new animation also will be coming, but too early to tell anything.
* Blaster or Reflector in the works? Blaster and his lot of tapes come down to do his tools exist and what shape they are in. Echos for all of the G1 guys and some of the tools are down at an end. Blaster's not on much of Hasbro's radar, truthfully. However, it's been noted.
* Is it true you guys have a Transformers school when you get hired by Hasbro? The brand is so big, it's hard to keep track. They definitely get a cheat sheet for the modern point of view to keep people on track. From the panel's standpoint, they have a lot of longevity in the team and bringing new people into the brand quickly and have an appreciation for all 25 years. Everybody on the Transformers team right now grew up with it, so there wasn't much to learn. Lenny adds that he learns a lot in ways of osmosis.
* At this point, it's fair to say Optimus Prime is a cultural icon in the form of Spider-Man. Are you troubled by the unusually brutal Prime in the film? They have to be represented in their format. Prime, in such a blockbuster, can get away with more and open up his character. He was most definitely more aggressive, but so were the Decepticons.
