SDCC 2012 Coverage: No Plans for Transformers Prime Voyager Breakdown or Unicron

El Duque wrote:A lot of news has come out of this year's SDCC, and most of it has been good. The Generations GDO figures are going to see a domestic release, the return of the Transformers Prime First Edition figures, Fall of Cybertron Voyager Grimlock just to name a few, but now we have a couple of disappointments to report. Our man on the scene Seibertron has been able to confirm that Hasbro has no current plans to release Voyager Breakdown or Gaia Unicron in the domestic Transformers Prime line. Does that mean they will never happen? Only time will tell, but for now we suggest importing the Takara versions of these characters.

You might as well list the Swerve and Silas redecos/remolds of the Breakdown figure, as well.

Unicron, not surprising. Stings, all things considered, but not surprising.

No domestic version of Unicron???

BOO!!!

Bad move Hasbro!

Makes me wonder how insanely over-priced the Takara version will be going for once it's available for purchase online due to the high demand it most likely will generate from the fandom.

Unicron not available, not surprising.

But still reaction equals:

WWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT TTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEE FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU****************************KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!????????

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

they killed Kenny those basserds

Why not give the axe to some useless bumblebee repaints and give us unicron instead, im sure he would sell better than 5 reapints will

Megatron Wolf wrote:Why not give the axe to some useless bumblebee repaints and give us unicron instead, im sure he would sell better than 5 reapints will

I think there's something going on.

1.) I think the economic troubles hit them harder than we've been led to believe.
2.) I think they're phoning it in this year and padding the crap out of redecos and remolds to milk the molds for all they're worth.
3.) I think they're waiting for 2014 to let us see what's really hidden up their sleeves.

See, if they cut corners now, stockpile money from easy sells such as what they're offering this year, plus wait for the inevitable sales from the new movie in '14, they could put all of that into a special anniversary line, for the 30th anniversary.

That's a guess, I don't know anything beyond guessing here, and I could end up being proved wrong. Still, that's my theory as to what's going on here.

Got my AM-12 Breakdown from UPS yesterday, and I have to say I have no regrets paying $60.00 for him. This is a really nice mould, and the colors are sweet. For whatever reason, every Takara figure I have gotten, is just noticeably higher quality compared to Hasbro.

I admit though that I would have preferred paint over stickers, but I did a nice job on my stickers, and put an acrylic clear coat on them to preserve them so they don't start peeling.

As far as Unicron, I already figured this was one Hasbro was not going to give us, and had mine preordered a month ago.

Just a suggestion too to those who want Nemesis Prime, I am sure this is another one Hasbro will blow off, so you might want to preorder your Takara one now.

not good. and not news i was hoping for. the takara versions will be expensive

Move over TF Prime...

Now maybe finally we can get some classics that are not FOC.

Now I know what to look for at next year's BotCon.

ARGH, the takara version SUX. Stickers, instead of paint apps. A god damn mini-con (Some one remind me, did breakdown ever use a mini-con in the series?)

Ah well. They did eventually release the First Editions, so maybe he'll come out eventually.

Dr. Heavy B wrote:ARGH, the takara version SUX. Stickers, instead of paint apps. A god damn mini-con (Some one remind me, did breakdown ever use a mini-con in the series?)

No, but the rest of the cast ever used Powerizer/MechTech weapons either.
And it's a hammer, which is nice, and he did use that in the series.

As for the stickers, they can be an annoyance I guess, but I don't mind them personally..

Va'al wrote:

Dr. Heavy B wrote:ARGH, the takara version SUX. Stickers, instead of paint apps. A god damn mini-con (Some one remind me, did breakdown ever use a mini-con in the series?)

No, but the rest of the cast ever used Powerizer/MechTech weapons either.
And it's a hammer, which is nice, and he did use that in the series.

Except Megatron you mean (his works surprisingly well). Also, that is why Im waiting to get FE Bulkhead and Prime (although I did get "powerizer" prime because the sword kinda looked like primas star saber).

Va'al wrote:As for the stickers, they can be an annoyance I guess, but I don't mind them personally..

And in 5-6 years, you can only watch in saddness as they start to peal away. Peal away...

Dr. Heavy B wrote:Except Megatron you mean (his works surprisingly well). Also, that is why Im waiting to get FE Bulkhead and Prime (although I did get "powerizer" prime because the sword kinda looked like primas star saber).

It is a bit bulky, but yes, at least his makes sense and is vaguely accurate.
I'm glad they are re-releasing the FE figures, might wait and see if they show up in Europe too (even though I already have Bulkhead and OP, I'd like a Vehicon for army building excuses; an FE, a PRiD and a Jet Vehicon will suffice, if I can get them!).

And in 5-6 years, you can only watch in saddness as they start to peal away. Peal away...

I'm not that fussed with replacing them, if they do peel.
I'm sure Reprolabels will have a set ready soon enough, anyway!

Dr. Heavy B wrote:ARGH, the takara version SUX. Stickers, instead of paint apps. A god damn mini-con (Some one remind me, did breakdown ever use a mini-con in the series?)

Ah well. They did eventually release the First Editions, so maybe he'll come out eventually.

1.) Calm down, it's not the end of the world.
2.) Stickers instead of paint apps do suck, but stickers can be replaced, whereas paint usually cannot. (Unless you're skilled.)
3.) No, the Microns have never made an appearance in the show. (It's also a kick ass little figure and a lot of fun to put together. Try it before you knock it.)
4.) FE has always been on their slate of "We'll try." Aaron Archer basically said Breakdown's a no go, period. (So, I wouldn't hold my breath on him coming out like the FEs will. Besides, his Powerizer gimmick would blow.)

Was anyone else expecting another deluxe-class combiner mold like Bruticus (besides Ruination)? I had kinda convinced myself we were going to get Devastator.

It Is Him wrote:Was anyone else expecting another deluxe-class combiner mold like Bruticus (besides Ruination)? I had kinda convinced myself we were going to get Devastator.

I thought they might have brought one out, yeah. Was thinking an Autobot one to fight Bruticus. Maybe later? To be fair, they've clearly not got the hang of making a good combiner yet anyway, so maybe best that they've not tried to do too many yet.

WTF, for every thing Hasbro does right, they do another thing horribly, horribly wrong. Breakdown is too good a figure to not release.

Autobot032 wrote:[quote="Dr. Heavy B"
4.) FE has always been on their slate of "We'll try." Aaron Archer basically said Breakdown's a no go, period. (So, I wouldn't hold my breath on him coming out like the FEs will. Besides, his Powerizer gimmick would blow.)

I think that's it honestly. There's not really a place for a Powerizer gimmick like the others. If they retooled it in the arms it would kill the look/cost too much.

Kinda lame that we're getting a buncha crappy repaints and missing out on actual new moulds. That bludgeon mould, hot spot,
ATLEAST the Unicron figure, since it did have its roots on the American side of things. And with this iteration, you could actually have multiple Unicrons in your collection all serving as material incarnation of a non-phsyical being.

craggy wrote:To be fair, they've clearly not got the hang of making a good combiner yet anyway, so maybe best that they've not tried to do too many yet.

Just because you don't like it don't mean it's not a good set of molds.

It Is Him wrote:Was anyone else expecting another deluxe-class combiner mold like Bruticus (besides Ruination)? I had kinda convinced myself we were going to get Devastator.

I believe Hasbro is using Bruticus to test the market on combiners. If it does well then we will probably see Devastator.

LOST Cybertronian wrote:

It Is Him wrote:Was anyone else expecting another deluxe-class combiner mold like Bruticus (besides Ruination)? I had kinda convinced myself we were going to get Devastator.

I believe Hasbro is using Bruticus to test the market on combiners. If it does well then we will probably see Devastator.

Well it certainly did well at SDCC...though I wonder how the derpy retail deco will do...

orangeitis wrote:

craggy wrote:To be fair, they've clearly not got the hang of making a good combiner yet anyway, so maybe best that they've not tried to do too many yet.

Just because you don't like it don't mean it's not a good set of molds.

just because you're technically correct doesn't mean I don't think you're just arguing for the sake of it.

HOWEVER, in the name of clarity, allow me to retract my previous post and replace it with this:

In my opinion, FOC Bruticus looks like a pretty p!$$ poor combiner compared to what I believe Hasbro should be capable of.

I hope it does well for them, so that they decide to make more gestalts, and I hope that their designers have learned a few things whilst making it, so that any future combiners end up much better.

craggy wrote:

orangeitis wrote:

craggy wrote:To be fair, they've clearly not got the hang of making a good combiner yet anyway, so maybe best that they've not tried to do too many yet.

Just because you don't like it don't mean it's not a good set of molds.

just because you're technically correct doesn't mean I don't think you're just arguing for the sake of it.

I never argue "for the sake of it". I care about truth, and if I think someone's wrong, I'm gonna speak up. If they're not wrong, I'll correct my facts and use them with hopefully better reasoning next time.

RAcast wrote:

LOST Cybertronian wrote:

It Is Him wrote:Was anyone else expecting another deluxe-class combiner mold like Bruticus (besides Ruination)? I had kinda convinced myself we were going to get Devastator.

I believe Hasbro is using Bruticus to test the market on combiners. If it does well then we will probably see Devastator.

Well it certainly did well at SDCC...though I wonder how the derpy retail deco will do...

Who knows? Kids might eat them up.

Seibertron wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:No mention of Masterpiece Optimus, or it's price. Odd...

It's already been covered and is currently on display in their booth. Think it retails for $100, TRU exclusive, comes out between now and November.

That much? I was hoping for around $70. Ah well, if there's nothing else out when it's released, I'll pick one up. If not, I'll pass.

If it's 100$ even that's a steal. You get the Takara mold with slightly better paints apps and all accessories for under half the Takara price. Win win.

Relatively speaking, it's a steal. I'm not interested in paying that much. If they'd left the trailer out, it would have been cheaper. I will most likely pass. I have the first MP Optimus, and I don't want to pay $100 for this one. There's too much other product coming out from all the different brands I buy.

Autobot032 wrote:I think there's something going on.

1.) I think the economic troubles hit them harder than we've been led to believe.

But Breakdown & Gaia Unicron would sell like hot cakes. Hasbro is leaving money on the table.

Joetx wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:I think there's something going on.

1.) I think the economic troubles hit them harder than we've been led to believe.

But Breakdown & Gaia Unicron would sell like hot cakes. Hasbro is leaving money on the table.

I see where you're coming from, but what if they're so broke they can't even take the gamble? It takes money to make money. If they don't have it, they can't get it.

Either the economy smashed their balls with a ballpeen hammer, or they're mishandling the whole thing. I'm leaning towards the latter, willing to believe it's the former.

Breakdown would sell. Not so sure about Unicron. Have we even gotten a good look at the figure?

LOST Cybertronian wrote:

It Is Him wrote:Was anyone else expecting another deluxe-class combiner mold like Bruticus (besides Ruination)? I had kinda convinced myself we were going to get Devastator.

I believe Hasbro is using Bruticus to test the market on combiners. If it does well then we will probably see Devastator.

It's almost like they are FLOODING the market in the next few months with this set:
SDCC exclusive
FOC release
Amazon/BBTS G2-deco'ed release
Ruination (Wreckers)

I will pick up at least 2 of these sets, and hope that my purchasing power shows Hasbro I'm interested in combiner sets. From there, it's just pure speculation.

Joetx wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:I think there's something going on.

1.) I think the economic troubles hit them harder than we've been led to believe.

But Breakdown & Gaia Unicron would sell like hot cakes. Hasbro is leaving money on the table.

I agree with Breakdown, but not so much Unicron. Weren't the Armada versions sitting on clearance years ago? I know, it doesn't make sense, but that's what apparently happens to higher priced items.

I will say, as an adult collector who knows what's on the other side of the ocean, I get envious that Takara is releasing items that Hasbro isn't. Which is why I've now got Arms Micron figures in hand and on preorder.

necr0blivion wrote:

Joetx wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:I think there's something going on.

1.) I think the economic troubles hit them harder than we've been led to believe.

But Breakdown & Gaia Unicron would sell like hot cakes. Hasbro is leaving money on the table.

I agree with Breakdown, but not so much Unicron. Weren't the Armada versions sitting on clearance years ago? I know, it doesn't make sense, but that's what apparently happens to higher priced items.

I will say, as an adult collector who knows what's on the other side of the ocean, I get envious that Takara is releasing items that Hasbro isn't. Which is why I've now got Arms Micron figures in hand and on preorder.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, IMO it partly boils down to Hasbro's and Takara's different target audience, and much more importantly, marketing departments.

Personally, I do prefer Takara's approach as far as TFP is concerned.

Arms Microns that you can actually build into a (albeit barely) transforming toy is much more attractive to me than a weapon you simply clip onto the toy. It also gives you a feeling of more value for money. Yes, the Takara AM versions are more expensive, but then Japanese TF's have ALWAYS been more expensive, even if its an identical toy with absolutely no differences (Bayverse TF's, for example).

What was Unicron supposed to be? leader sized? I would get it if it was Voyager sized just so that it could appear as one of his cloned incarnations. If it was a really nice leader, I might get it and simple display it in the box. It definitely has a better chance than pretty much all the repaints we're getting instead.

One question about Unicron toy; does it even transform into anything? I don;t recall him or his clones turning into anything in the final episodes of Season 1.

MINDVVIPE wrote:What was Unicron supposed to be? leader sized? I would get it if it was Voyager sized just so that it could appear as one of his cloned incarnations. If it was a really nice leader, I might get it and simple display it in the box. It definitely has a better chance than pretty much all the repaints we're getting instead.

Unicron is Voyager/Powerizers sized.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:One question about Unicron toy; does it even transform into anything? I don;t recall him or his clones turning into anything in the final episodes of Season 1.

He transforms into a weapons platform that wraps around the Optimus and Megatron Powerizers. It's unknown at this time whether or not it will work with the FE Optimus figure. Unicron's robot mode, however, is stunningly show accurate. We had some pics from a show in Japan, a few weeks back. Impressive figure detail for such a small size.

Autobot032 wrote:

Joetx wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:I think there's something going on.

1.) I think the economic troubles hit them harder than we've been led to believe.

But Breakdown & Gaia Unicron would sell like hot cakes. Hasbro is leaving money on the table.

I see where you're coming from, but what if they're so broke they can't even take the gamble? It takes money to make money. If they don't have it, they can't get it.

But both Breakdown & Gaia Unicron have already been engineered. They're not starting from scratch.

Glad I preorderd Unicron too then. Really if you want to collect Prime figures and live in the U.S. all you have to do is preorder the Takara version online. It either won't be released here or will be possibly after the show is over or a major fan uprising. Pre-ordering takes the guesswork out.

Archatron wrote:Glad I preorderd Unicron too then. Really if you want to collect Prime figures and live in the U.S. all you have to do is preorder the Takara version online. It either won't be released here or will be possibly after the show is over or a major fan uprising. Pre-ordering takes the guesswork out.

I don't want the minicons nor the stickers (especially). The minicons on breakdown and the vehicon aren't bad at all, but they are oversized for the vehicle mode (well for the vehicon anyway). Ah well, if these 3rd parties started to deliver on their figures, I'd be satisfied.

Joetx wrote:But both Breakdown & Gaia Unicron have already been engineered. They're not starting from scratch.

They would have to modify Breakdown's mold to comply with their line's standards. Remove the micron ports, figure out how to put some clear parts in his arms and give him a powerizer weapon. Apparently that's more money than they want to spend.

That Bot wrote:

Joetx wrote:But both Breakdown & Gaia Unicron have already been engineered. They're not starting from scratch.

They would have to modify Breakdown's mold to comply with their line's standards. Remove the micron ports, figure out how to put some clear parts in his arms and give him a powerizer weapon. Apparently that's more money than they want to spend.

Also, the paint.

Autobot032 wrote:

Joetx wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:I think there's something going on.

1.) I think the economic troubles hit them harder than we've been led to believe.

But Breakdown & Gaia Unicron would sell like hot cakes. Hasbro is leaving money on the table.

I see where you're coming from, but what if they're so broke they can't even take the gamble? It takes money to make money. If they don't have it, they can't get it.

Either the economy smashed their balls with a ballpeen hammer, or they're mishandling the whole thing. I'm leaning towards the latter, willing to believe it's the former.

I personally don't think it's about money. Hasbro's earnings have been doing pretty well IIRC from their quarterly financial statement.

I'm thinking that too late in Breakdown's development, they found he didn't meet the toy law requirements for whatever reason - personally I'm thinking he might have failed the drop test.

Unicron I can understand them not bringing him over due to toy laws too. That thing's a spiky mess! If we're force to have short-stack Optimus Primes, imagine what they'd have to do to that toy

That Bot wrote:

Joetx wrote:But both Breakdown & Gaia Unicron have already been engineered. They're not starting from scratch.

They would have to modify Breakdown's mold to comply with their line's standards. Remove the micron ports, figure out how to put some clear parts in his arms and give him a powerizer weapon. Apparently that's more money than they want to spend.

Bingo.

Not to mention, a packaging run. (The packaging for the figures does cost money. Probably rather costly, too.) And then there's promotion. Each printed item costs money, and those cross sells would have to go on every new toy, etc.

I'm giving Hasbro too much credit, here, but the point's still valid. It does cost money to release these toys over here. If Hasbro's having trouble, that could explain it. If they're cheap, which is more likely, that explains it too.

I have a feeling that if we want TFs anymore, it'll be up to us to import and buy 3rd party. One of these days, we will see Hasbro shift from TF toys to TF media, only. I've said it before, I'll say it again. It will happen, it's just a matter of time.

Autobot032 wrote: One of these days, we will see Hasbro shift from TF toys to TF media, only. I've said it before, I'll say it again. It will happen, it's just a matter of time.

I don't know about switching wholesale to media, but they're definitely more focused on producing key figures from simultaneous media rather than a single comprehensive line.

Mkall wrote:I'm thinking that too late in Breakdown's development, they found he didn't meet the toy law requirements for whatever reason - personally I'm thinking he might have failed the drop test.

Unicron I can understand them not bringing him over due to toy laws too. That thing's a spiky mess! If we're force to have short-stack Optimus Primes, imagine what they'd have to do to that toy

I agree. Just opened Breakdown after getting him from the store yesterday, and I noticed that on the instructions, his forearms and hands were supposed to be clear plastic. It had to be originally designed for Hasbro's local market--the Japanese versions, having no light-up gimmicks, have no use for clear plastic parts.

If anything, Breakdown was likely modified to have solid plastic arms later in the development stage rather than it being originally intended.

Again, just a theory.

Jesus. I give up. Two brand new molds of two characters that haven't yet received full-sized PRIME figures, all the design work has been done and one of those figures is widely regarded as awesome, and Hasbro has decided not to release it. Should the odd design issue or safety law infringement be reason enought to not make use of a mold? Hasbro has found ways around it in the past.

And to think I was actually planning on troop building Unicron. I guess Hasbro doesn't want to make a profit. I'm convinced the planning department of Hasbro's Transformers division is staffed soley by people from an insane asylum outreach program. Sure they've stepped up and sorted out the First Edition mess, but they're not going to sell as many because folks will have already imported, and then Hasbro will say we didn't really want them. Why does Hasbro insist on making us beg for the best figures PRIME has to offer?

Sodan-1 wrote:And to think I was actually planning on troop building Unicron. I guess Hasbro doesn't want to make a profit. I'm convinced the planning department of Hasbro's Transformers division is staffed soley by people from an insane asylum outreach program. Sure they've stepped up and sorted out the First Edition mess, but they're not going to sell as many because folks will have already imported, and then Hasbro will say we didn't really want them. Why does Hasbro insist on making us beg for the best figures PRIME has to offer?

Just my opinion, but the staff are probably just going by a typical list of general surveys and interviews on what kids want. To them, Breakdown probably doesn't seem to be all that important, as he's just part of the supporting cast, and not overtly popular like OP, Bee, Megatron, or even Starscream.

Besides, with him already dead in the show and the fig hasn't been released yet, they're probably not going to want to risk it. They most likely believe kids only want what's featured on the show, which is true to a degree.

If anything, Hasbro might be planning on releasing a Silas version, as he's sure to appear in the upcoming episodes. I'm not saying they will, but it's the most likely scenario if we're to ever see a Hasbro version of Breakdown.

Doesn't Hasbro usually say something to the effect of "we're looking for other methods of selling [cancelled item]"? "Not made to the same standards", while fairly vague, sounds more like they literally can't sell it (i.e. it failed safety tests), not because it doesn't have their current gimmicks.

Of course, if that's what happened one wonders how they didn't get to fix it.

Sure they've stepped up and sorted out the First Edition mess, but they're not going to sell as many because folks will have already imported, and then Hasbro will say we didn't really want them.

This is probably as fast as Hasbro was able to get FE over here. Selling a toyline to retailers takes months, and convincing them to buy a line they just passed on certainly can't be easy.
Fans, on the other hand, are impossibly impatient, and the internet provides an incredibly fast means of importing toys.

I just re-ordered Unicron from RK. Maybe it'll come by here ... maybe. But Hasbro has a history of not releasing stuff, so you know. I'd rather just get it now, while I can at a somewhat reasonable price, than see it skyrocket.