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chuckdawg1999 wrote:Look at the arms and shoulders. They're identical to Bumblebee's. Jazz also has that flap behind his head. It kinda makes sense they would re-use the mold since it has to be a simplified toy.

One of the challenges we had with Transformers over the last five years, six years is the product line was getting more and more challenging. We had one product line for everybody and the feedback we were getting back from parents and kids is that it was too difficult.

So that's when we went to this "three pillar" strategy where we have both a story and product that is appropriate for the three age groups.

william-james88 wrote:Although many of us are coming to terms with it and have deduced as such, the guy in charge of the Transformers brand has just confirmed that this toy line as a whole is not collector oriented. We will not be getting more complicated transformers from the Robots in disguise line. The article is a bit long so I will just quote the main line:

One of the challenges we had with Transformers over the last five years, six years is the product line was getting more and more challenging. We had one product line for everybody and the feedback we were getting back from parents and kids is that it was too difficult.

So that's when we went to this "three pillar" strategy where we have both a story and product that is appropriate for the three age groups.

The three age groups are preschool (2-4), young children (5-9), and older children and collectors (10-).

Will we be seeing more Decepticons as Warrior Class figures (because so far everything we've been shown are Autobots)?
What we want to make sure is that some of the older boys that like more articulation and complex transformations and detail...that we had a SKU that represented that and the Warriors does that. What we want to do is continue to roll out more characters, both Autobots and Decepticons will be in that line.

What was the thought process behind making the "Robots in Disguise" Decepticons "animal-robots" that turn into vehicles as opposed to the Autobots who are just straight up robots to vehicles?
Honestly it was testing with kids. We tested some different versions of what the Decepticons could be. We liked the Autobots staying with the vehicle forms. We felt that was important. We wanted Bumblebee to stay a car. We wanted to see Sideswipe, he's go the red race car and Strongarm is a police vehicle. Grimlock was brought in because Grimlock was introduced in the movie, we wanted to bring him into the core team so obviously he's a dinosaur, a T-Rex.

But when we looked at the Decepticons we said "Okay, we've got an opportunity here. We can change it up a little bit." so we actually showed kids different vehicle forms, animal forms, like what if this guy could go into a wolf, then a robot, then a car - ok that's cool and so a lot of it just came down to what kids liked. We thought it was a cool way to introduce..we did a little bit with "Beast Hunters". "Beast Hunters" introduced Predaking with the dragon and we got some great feedback on that and some of the characters in there so we thought...we wanted to go a little more down the route of introducing some beast forms just to give the Decepticons a different edge to them that they hadn't had in the past. Plus over the years we've done a lot of vehicles, you know, whether it was an Autobot or Decepticon that the robot goes to a vehicle. We thought it was a level of newness and the kids responded really well to it so we thought this would be a great way to tell that story.

That Bot wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Look at the arms and shoulders. They're identical to Bumblebee's. Jazz also has that flap behind his head. It kinda makes sense they would re-use the mold since it has to be a simplified toy.

The shoulders are similar, but definitely not identical. The head flap is completely different in both shape AND function between Jazz and Bumblebee. Bee's is a rounded "L" shape that his head sits on, with the middle of the grille sitting behind his head. It moves 180 degrees for transformation. Meanwhile, Jazz's is most likely a regular L shaped piece, with the part sitting behind his head becoming a wedge in the hood of the car (a common Jazz trait). It only rotates 90 degrees. The arms on Jazz form the front fender and grille of the car mode instead of the sides, and they clearly lack the rigid gearing that kept Bee's arms sitting low, instead having a thick moving connection between the shoulders and torso. On top of that, every single part of Jazz is shaped and sculpted differently from those on Bumblebee. They don't share any identifiable parts that I can see, and the only similar elements are the shoulder wheel hubs, the door wings, and the roof of the car on the back. That last trait is extremely common and not limited to just Prime Bumblebee's toys. These are two completely different molds.

william-james88 wrote:I think there's a huge difference between things being made in the same style and a retool. This is more of a case of G2 Smokejumper and Energon Starscream.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I think there's a huge difference between things being made in the same style and a retool. This is more of a case of G2 Smokejumper and Energon Starscream.

Even then it's not 100% faithful. Sharing bits of engineering happens all the time, look at G1 Jazz and the Datsun triplets, or even the G1 Micromasters.

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I think there's a huge difference between things being made in the same style and a retool. This is more of a case of G2 Smokejumper and Energon Starscream.

Even then it's not 100% faithful. Sharing bits of engineering happens all the time, look at G1 Jazz and the Datsun triplets, or even the G1 Micromasters.

Yup, thats exactly the way I was thinking. I really dont see much similarity in those two toys. I look at the chest and I go "maybe" but then I look at the limbs and any sense that these two might be based off eachother just falls apart.

All the examples you gave, Jelze, along with mine, are exactly what this is all about.

william-james88 wrote:I think your dog completes the look of that pic

william-james88 wrote:Also, that's exactly what I am doing. If any mold interests me, I will just get the takara version. I am not being snobby, its just about getting the most for my money.

Robots in Disguise

The alternate forms of the Mini-Cons were called out as being either "buzzsaws" (Autobots) or "torpedos" (Decepticons).

The first wave of Mini-Cons consists of Divebomb (Decepticon humanoid), Dragonus (Decepticon dragon), Sawback (Autobot wolf), and Slipstream (Autobot humanoid), and will hit retail in the fall of 2015. Wave 2 consists of Beastbox (Autobot gorilla), Ratbat (Decepticon bat), Sandsting (Decepticon scorpion), and Velocirazor (Autobot dinosaur). Future waves include Sliver (Decepticon humanoid).

The "wave 1 Mini-Con wolf" was referred to as Wolfwire by one presenter, which may have been Sawback's working name.

Each wave of Mini-Cons will come with parts that, when assembled, create a "bonus" non-transforming Mini-Con made out of clear plastic pieces. At present, these "bonus" Mini-Cons are unnamed, and it was uncertain how the information about them would be relayed to the general public, as the feature is not called out on the packaging. Wave one's parts will create an energy lion, and wave two's an energy shark.

Cobotron wrote:Not sure if anyone else has reported yet, but I found RID Prime and Drift at My local Target in Omaha, NE today for $14.99. I only picked up Drift. I'm lovin' Strongarm. Grimlock looks good but is a junky toy (at least the one I got). Our old friend Chuckdawg did a good review on Drift here, so I thought I'd give him a try.

william-james88 wrote:You just had to go balls out on that pic, didnt you?

shajaki wrote:nice catch cobs! prime is part of that assortment right? was prime there? why didnt you get prime??? why cant you get over your hatred for RID prime?!




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Cobotron wrote:Not sure if anyone else has reported yet, but I found RID Prime and Drift at My local Target in Omaha, NE today for $14.99. I only picked up Drift. I'm lovin' Strongarm. Grimlock looks good but is a junky toy (at least the one I got). Our old friend Chuckdawg did a good review on Drift here, so I thought I'd give him a try.