It was one of JTPrime's leaks, yes, but it was in the same leak for Missing Link Sentinel Prime. JTPrime also noted they were Takara Imports, meaning it was a rare instance of JTPrime doing a Takara leak rather than a Hasbro leak.
Panel/Fanstream is done. Confirmed back end of the year/early next year is heavy on repaints and reruns. A notable change is that Hasbro is seemingly offering Origins Bumblebee in the mainline. No word on Core Class Dinobot
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Transformers SDCC 2024 Brand Panel Fanstream – Images, Info & Reveals!
The Transformers SDCC 2024 Brand Panel Fanstream has just ended and we have images and information of the new reveals and upcoming toys. Studio Series Core Bumblebee Movie Starscream Studio Series Core Bumblebee Movie Frenzy Studio Series Deluxe Gamer Edition Reactivate Bumblebee Studio Series...
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They might be saving the Core Dinobot reveal for Pulsecon. I just hope that we haven't lost Sureshot.
“Super Robot Lifeform Transformers Micron Legend” Legacy Starscream Super Mode.
(Source: - https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000396.000073415.html )
Right now, the Core Class is rumored to be side lined. I guarantee Sureshot will make it out, even if they had to shuffle his slot.
If Sureshot got some significant new tooling (or is a new mold), they might have opted to bump him out of a tail ender assortment to open up a slot for Origins Bumblebee and save him for the higher buy in on Prime wave 1.
I just hope Core manages to live on in some form. The trailer set was fantastic. They eventually pulled off a nice combiner. The Core pricepoint wasn't working, but in boxed sets not bound by that pricepoint it's doing great stuff. It would be a shame to stop now.
Honestly? I'd be all in on two Core boxsets of the BW cast.
It even works in the larger canon if you think about it. Maximals and Predacons are supposed to be smaller than Autobots and Decepticons.
It even works in the larger canon if you think about it. Maximals and Predacons are supposed to be smaller than Autobots and Decepticons.
I’m still surprised at, with how much love the design team has given Victory, we’ve yet to see them build on the Power of the Prime’s Duocon engineering to give use Multiforce, in some fashion.
I've said it before, I will say it again (over and over):
Sell two or three Core-size figures at the Deluxe or Voyager price point as Versus Packs. Gives kids (or kids at heart) instant play options right out of the box, minimizes multiple size points in an increasingly competitive shelf area, and might give some leeway for extra accessories (macguffins?) or some appropriate size variances for characters (much like the Legion/Commander size variances from the DotM/Prime Cyberverse line).
I usually never get bigger than deluxe figures because of price and availability: If they did core scale boxes with multiple figures, I would be all over that. Especially a beast war box.
I never really got over my minicon addiction.
I never really got over my minicon addiction.
I go right back to the line idea I had in the "propose a TF toyline" thread, which was built entirely around Legion and Core class and the like. I really think this would be a fun direction to go in for a while. And the redeco/retool friendliness of G1 (and beyond, as the Legacy lines have shown to varying degrees) allows lots of opportunities for profit.
IMO core needs to fix its identity. Either dedicate it to small versions of mainline characters or small characters, not this weird hodgepodge.
IMO Core is just too expensive for what you get nowadays.
I get that's just Transformers in general but Core being the small size-class just makes it feel the most noticeable.
I get that's just Transformers in general but Core being the small size-class just makes it feel the most noticeable.
To be fair, I think Core stuck to that conceit better than Legends ended up doing. The entire 2013 Legends slate were 4 packs, each with one of the “big 4”…and they sold fine FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. Then it shifted to “small characters” and sales seemed to start dropping off.
So we got Micromasters, which didn’t sell well at all, so they went back to Core. And my observation has been that, when Core stuck to “small main characters”…it did well. What bogged down the line? Iguanas, Bomb-burst, Vertebreak, Dracodon, and while you can make the argument Grimlock is a core character, the rest of the Dinobots really don’t fall into that category as strongly. So we spent 2023 with a bunch of grey, gold and black figures that AREN’T the most popular Dinobot bogging down retail. There’s a reason its taken almost 4 years to get the entire set of Dinobots as Leader figures…
I feel at least part of the size issue comes from Hasbro’s (or at least, the current regime) sensitivity to “visual value”. For a while, all the “kid’s toys” for Marvel were 5-6” tall. So, during the Infinity War and Endgame sales periods, you had figures comparatively sized to the much pricier Marvel Legends for half the price. In some cases, the kids lines managed to get key characters to market before Legends.
Then they shifted back to “moderately articulated” figures at the 4” scale. So now, you have 4“ at $10-ish, 12” Titan at 12-15, and 6” Collector product at $25 and up. There is a much clearer “segmentation” than there was.
I get the feeling that’s partly what’s at play in the sub deluxe price point.
I agree with the price/value comment, and if I were running things, I’d get rid of the sub-deluxe price point or shift it to something like this:
Remember the, generally, pretty nice figures that were done for Rise of the Beast’s Weaponizer assortment? 4.5-ish inches tall, decently articulated and designed (if lacking a little paint or flair) and unburdeoned by a gimmick? Basically Warriors without the bull?
Do a line like that. I know from what I’ve learned over the years that SIZE isn’t the dominant source of cost, it’s complexity and weight.
Call it “Generations Icons”, target a $15 price point. Core was only squeezing out little over half a dozen figures a year anyway, so you have MORE than enough “core characters” to cycle through for years.
I like the spot being used for smaller characters (Exosuit Spike, Noah, and Mohawk are all nice) rather than "here's the same characters in a smaller scale". But then I was also fine with the G1 Minibots being Legends class rather than all getting bumped up to Deluxe.
Either way, I think it'd be easier to market the scale if it were one of those things rather than trying to be a venue for both, which it's been since Kingdom.
Either way, I think it'd be easier to market the scale if it were one of those things rather than trying to be a venue for both, which it's been since Kingdom.
I stand by the idea that the loss of the Minibots at that scale crippled the size class. Well, that and having too many double dips of characters in both the movie and generations aesthetics at the same time. Also it would have been nice to see some souped up minicons at Core class, but I probably would have been more excited for that than most people.
If it got them the parts count to get an Armada Perceptor that could actually pose, or a Requiem Blaster that doesn't fall apart if you breath at it too hard, I'd be down for it.
I wanted to see the modern Micromasters continue.
FWIW, to me the biggest draw of the Core class was getting TF figures roughly in scale with the small Gobots figures. Granted, we've gotten more Gobots homages at Deluxe than I ever imagined we would, but I've always figured it would be easier to get Transformers that scaled with Gobots rather than new Gobots scaled to Transformers.
I have liked Core, alot of cool figures came out in that size class (finally got my tiny Soundwave, Ironhide, and Ratchet!), but I would be fine with simpler transformations on "small versions of bigger figures" in the Legends of Cybertron vein.
I have liked Core, alot of cool figures came out in that size class (finally got my tiny Soundwave, Ironhide, and Ratchet!), but I would be fine with simpler transformations on "small versions of bigger figures" in the Legends of Cybertron vein.
Yeah, on thinking on it more, the Core class should ideally be its own scale since apart from a handful of characters, there's just not enough small characters with name recognition to carry the line. If the boom of tiny unofficial toys shows anything, it's that people are willing to pay for smaller scale versions of the main cast.
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