Transformers: Age of the Primes toyline discussion || update: Toy Fair 2025: Vortex, Onyx Prime, Alchemist Prime, Excellion, Sideways, oh my

CoffeeHorse

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
High Tide could work if Takara gives the assignment to one of their old Brave designers. Or one of the Diacloen Reboot guys if they can adapt to working on a budget.
 
Sabrblade

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Be careful what you wish for, though. For all we know, Hasbro could hear people demanding "Titan class High Tide" and give us a 20-inch tall toy of just High Tide himself without his rescue rig that he combines with to form his Megabot Mode.

In other words, this:
Hightide_amazon_bot.jpg


Instead of this:
Hightide_Deepsea_Botmode.jpg


😜
 
lastmaximal

lastmaximal

Administrator
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I do like both designs enough to want to see new toys of either. But of course the full Megabot would be preferable.

I may be the only one wanting an Armada Optimus- style Commander class one of High Tide and the Megabot rig though.
 
Sabrblade

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Just needs a giant baby CeCe accessory for him to rock to sleep.

AllSparkDay_High_Tide_storytime.jpg
 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
Dumping it here since it is a 2025 Generations thing…

Rumors cropped up a week or so ago on Seibertron (with noted leakers from TFW giving some credence to as well as a character confirmation) of Hasbro exploring MTO items in the Transformers brand. MTO meaning “Made to Order”.
www.seibertron.com

RUMOUR: Hasbro to Bring Made to Order Business Model to Transformers Line

The fact that this is a rumour cannot be stressed enough, there is currently no identifiable source for this, just info from the online "leaker" community, which was told to us from a fan wishing to remain anonymous. However, this does line up with what H
www.seibertron.com www.seibertron.com

Unlike Haslab items (which require a set minimum to even go into full design) or typical retail items (where Hasbro guesstimates a production run and fans/retailers basically divvy up the production run already in process), MTO would be items which would be open for preorder for a set period and Hasbro would then produce enough to fill those orders. The first character being eyed is BWNeo’s Big Convoy.
This isn’t new ground for Hasbro, Dragon Man from Marvel Legends was done this way. And back in 2020, Hasbro offered the “Regal Variant” (aka, the flashier colors originally intended before fans bitched and moaned about the colorful nature of the first wave) Classified Cobra Commander in a similar fashion.


I think, in the short term, there is value in this approach given the contracting nature of the brand (at the moment). While I think there is issue in the LONG term of increased prices should MTO become more dominant in the brand’s release vector, that feels like a ways off.

Just from my observations these past few years, Transformers seems to have softened in some ways. Rumors of “2 commanders a year” don’t seem to have panned out, so now we have a design team with increasingly limited development resources AND increasingly limited release vectors for figures, especially in the leader plus category. Further, we’ve seen a slate of recent Titans, Commanders and their Selects redecos stagnate on physical or digital shelves. Black Zarak should have been a home run, but either sold less than planned or overproduced. Omega Sentinal hasn’t set the world on fire, and many of the later Diaclone Selects are still available for LESS than their original asking price.
I mean, what kind of world is it when new molds of popular G1 characters are “forced” to see release via a retailer exclusive initiative?!

I’m curious to see where Hasbro make take this initiative. Especially for those “easy repaints” we’ve yet to see, but maybe too obscure for mass retail (GoBots, Diaclone, large priced items, G2 Sludge and Swoop, etc).
 
Undead Scottsman

Undead Scottsman

Well-known member
Citizen
We are getting two commanders a year now, though; one under Generations and one under Studio Series.

Unless your'e talking about that rumor that they'd be dropping the titan class in favor of two commanders a year.
 
Badgertron

Badgertron

Active member
Citizen
Undead Scottsman said:
We are getting two commanders a year now, though; one under Generations and one under Studio Series.

Unless your'e talking about that rumor that they'd be dropping the titan class in favor of two commanders a year.
Click to expand...
Commander class seems to have mostly been taken up by "Autobot leaders" and "Combiner torsos" for the past little while, and seem to maybe continue as that, but there are a lot of other large characters that could use a Commander figure.
 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
Undead Scottsman said:
We are getting two commanders a year now, though; one under Generations and one under Studio Series.

Unless your'e talking about that rumor that they'd be dropping the titan class in favor of two commanders a year.
Click to expand...
Eh, it’s all vague to me now. As is, I haven’t seen many of the rumors YOU brought up in another thread :p

Badgertron said:
Commander class seems to have mostly been taken up by "Autobot leaders" and "Combiner torsos" for the past little while, and seem to maybe continue as that, but there are a lot of other large characters that could use a Commander figure.
Click to expand...
From my “podunk, never seen them at retail, no official sources” observation:
The Commander and Titans classes have, seemingly, been the strongest with strong G1 ties and leaders. Some of the “weakest” sellers I’ve seen from those price points have been Selects repaints (Black Zarak and Omega Sentinel), lower tier characters (Tidal Wave, Nemesis), or stuff not from G1 (Magmatron, Cybertron Metroplex).

That doesn’t mean there isn’t a hefty demand FOR those characters, but maybe MTO would have worked well to reduce the pressure on those items from finding as much success in a mass retail setting. I mean, I’m enough of a goober I’d probably get a RiD01 Fortress Maximus, but are there enough to justify pushing it out to mass retail numbers?


Then again, maybe this is simply Hasbro trying to keep Selects as a viable venue, but not burden themselves with trying to manage excess stock when particular releases fall short in sales. It couldn’t be cheap to store unsold Titan class figures.
 
LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
Steevy Maximus said:
Some of the “weakest” sellers I’ve seen from those price points have been Selects repaints (Black Zarak and Omega Sentinel), lower tier characters (Tidal Wave, Nemesis), or stuff not from G1 (Magmatron, Cybertron Metroplex).
Click to expand...
Point of order, Cybertron Megaplex specifically sold well enough for Hasbro to greenlight Titan Tidal Wave. There was genuine concern that Cybertron Metroplex wouldn't sell, as a non-G1 Titan. When he sold well enough to alleviate those fears, another non-G1 Titan was given the go-ahead.

news.tfw2005.com

SDCC Hasbro & Kotobukiya Show Floor Q&A

SDCC may be coming to a close, but we have one last piece of news to share. TFW was able to ask both Hasbro and Kotobukiya some questions on the show floor, encompassing a variety of different subjects. You can view the Q&A after the jump! (Massive thank you to Exastiken from TFW, Evan from...
news.tfw2005.com news.tfw2005.com

So I think you're overthinking things.

Back when Comamnder Magmatron was revealed, we saw hints of Big Convoy art on his box. This got people curious if Big Convoy was coming, and the brand team joked about how sometimes stuff is added to art and promotional material hoping it can get made but sometimes it doesn't pan out. IIRC it was a friendly dig at Evan who really wanted to do a Big Convoy but they just couldn't find a place to release it.

Made to order may be the solution to that. Have a Commander or Titan class idea that Hasbro doesn't want to use one of those retail slots on for whatever reason? Throw out some pre-orders and do MTO. If it's successful enough, boom. You've created another release outlet to do more stuff.
 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
lastmaximal said:
This was my first reaction to this. And my second, third, and fourth.

What a pain in the ass this is going to be for getting stuff.
Click to expand...
Shouldn’t be any worse than what we deal with now.
MTO doesn’t mean Hasbro can’t do new runs later. If anything, Hasbro has been pretty good the last few years of rerunning/rereleasing rare and hard to find figures. Nor does it mean that fan channels can’t order their own allotment of product.

But it does open options for an “in between” option between the ultra premium HasLabs, and the general mass market line. And reduce risk for more niche items (like most of Selects).
 
LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
MTO has upsides in so far as you don't have to worry about it hitting a certain level to fund.

And it should be, on the whole, cheaper. I'd imagine a MTO Commander costing as much as a retail Titan, factoring in the limited production run. Which isn't cheap, but it's also not HasLab expensive.
And the model says "if you want one and buy it, we'll make it."

The downside is that it's time frame dependent, like Hasbro.
If money's tight I can pass on the latest Commander or Titan and pick it up down the road when money's less of an issue. Heck, it may even be discounted.

But with MTO... there's a window. If I can't swing it in that window then I'm basically screwed and will be gauged on the after-market if I want to try picking it up later on.

There's also the same issue with HasLab- no real avenue for replacements.
If I get a figure at retail and there's scuffing or paint slop or a joint isn't working right or it just breaks I can buy another.
With HasLab, and MTO items, what you get is what you get. Don't manhandle it and break it 😛
 
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