Legacy Evolution (2023)

[Philip Ayres]

Jul 12, 2023 16:39:51 GMT primenova said:

Does the toy suffer from being a Tarn repaint or is it best when a Megatron repaint?

I think he's been a Megatron repaint once (plus one repaint of Megatronus), and once Megatron was repainted from him.

Having said that, he's been a repaint of a fair few things:

G1 tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(G1)#The_Transformers
Original toy

RID Destructicon tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(RID_2001)#Robots_in_Disguise_.282001.29
Repaint of Hero Megatron/Archforce

ROTF 2 Pack tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(ROTF)#Revenge_of_the_Fallen
Repaint of Movie Wreckage

ROTF Voyager tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(G1)#Revenge_of_the_Fallen
Original toy, repainted as Cloud & Generation s GDO Megatron

Beast Hunters tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(Prime)#Prime
Remould of Cyberverse Shockwave

RiD2015 tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(Prime)#Robots_in_Disguise_.282015.29
*technically* a repaint of Blastwave, who's a retool of Megatronus, but I think we know this is what the retool was intended to be

TFCC tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(G1)#Combiner_Wars
New head repaint of CW Onslaught

POTP tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(G1)#Power_of_the_Primes
Retool of Metalhawk

Cyberverse tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(Cyberverse)#Cyberverse
Original toy

Legacy tfwiki.net/wiki/Bludgeon_(G1)#Legacy
New head repaint of Legacy Tarn

[Philip Ayres]

Jul 12, 2023 16:39:51 GMT primenova said:

The Alex Milne sketch has torso being the rear than the front end.

The Milne design has the torso at the base of the turret rather than at the back:

Jul 12, 2023 7:28:33 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Comparison with the Milne design from www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/bludgeon-behind-the-scenes.1250624/page-3#post-21493299

In the toy the feet are doing the job of mimicking the Torso turret base

[Llama God]

I think I like this mold better as Bludgeon than I do as Tarn - he's sleek, like a ninja (or whatever Bludgeon's meant to be) which works for Bludgeon, whereas Tarn needed to be bulkier. Shame they didn't redesign the chest, though.

[The Doctor]

Not keen on it at all. I'll pass.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

You know the new QR code tech specs that are on the top of the Evolution/Legacy boxes? Is there a page anywhere that links to all of them?

[The Doctor]

To this day I still don't understand what QR codes are and how to make them go.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

They're like barcodes, they contain information that can be decoded with the right reader. In most cases that's a link to a website. In days gone by you needed an app on a phone that used the phone's camera to scan the image and open the link, these days you just point your phone's camera at the QR code and it'll read the info from the dots and open the link for you automatically.

The QR codes on the Transformers boxes link to a webpage that has the Tech Spec for that toy. I would imagine it's a way they can make tech specs multilingual without having to print different languages on the box. On the webpage the art for the character is animated, they're quite cool.

[Pinwig]

Barcode Battlers! Whatever happened to those. Pre-internet toy electronics for the win.

[Fortmax2020]

I still had to download a QR reader app on my one year old phone. It's still not standard.

[Pinwig]

Agreed, I don't think it is. I was surprised my phone did it by itself, it's a few years old. It was great to point my phone's camera at a Transformers box and then whoom! There was an animated version of the toy on the screen with the bio.

[Benn]

I used to think it was an AR thing, and a little model or image would appear over the code.

[The Doctor]

Jul 15, 2023 20:32:53 GMT Pinwig said:

Barcode Battlers! Whatever happened to those. Pre-internet toy electronics for the win.

I loved Barcode Battlers.

I point phones at QR's for years. Nothing happens.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Fundamentally it's just for advertising - see a printed poster on a bus shelter and you don't have to write down a URL, you just scan the QR code and your phone takes you to the website.

[Pinwig]

Jul 15, 2023 20:58:09 GMT The Doctor said:

I point phones at QR's for years. Nothing happens.

-Ralph

In which case you just need a QR code app.

[The Doctor]

Jul 15, 2023 20:58:34 GMT Pinwig said:

Fundamentally it's just for advertising - see a printed poster on a bus shelter and you don't have to write down a URL, you just scan the QR code and your phone takes you to the website.

I've been writing down URL's since 1995 and I'm not stopping now!

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Metalhawk! Lovely jet mode. Colours are all over the place but they seem to work. Still seems a weird choice for a retail release, but we'll go with it. Imposing chunky robot with a great head sculpt.

I'd like it put on record that the TWO Transformers I bought TWO days ago are BOTH open.

[Pinwig]

Jul 15, 2023 21:00:31 GMT The Doctor said:

Jul 15, 2023 20:58:34 GMT Pinwig said:

Fundamentally it's just for advertising - see a printed poster on a bus shelter and you don't have to write down a URL, you just scan the QR code and your phone takes you to the website.

I've been writing down URL's since 1995 and I'm not stopping now!

-Ralph

but they give you access to SECRET THINGS. like animated tech specs!

[The Doctor]

They don't need to be animated! TECH SPEC DECODERS FOR LOFE!

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Alright, well they give you all the numbers and the bio too. Unanimated!

[Philip Ayres]

Jul 15, 2023 21:04:11 GMT Pinwig said:

Metalhawk! Lovely jet mode. Colours are all over the place but they seem to work. Still seems a weird choice for a retail release, but we'll go with it. Imposing chunky robot with a great head sculpt.

FAB toy. Voyagers have ha a good year between him, Tarn and Bludgeon

Jul 15, 2023 21:04:11 GMT Pinwig said:

I'd like it put on record that the TWO Transformers I bought TWO days ago are BOTH open.

What about that big pile of unopened ones in the corner?

[Pinwig]

That, sir, we are not talking about.

[Pinwig]

I wonder if I can go three for three and open something else.

[The Doctor]

DOOOOO EEEEEET.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdbYYpzBimo

[Philip Ayres]

Medix and w4 in the SDCC case

news.tfw2005.com/2023/07/19/san-diego-comic-con-2023-hasbro-booth-490229

[Benn]

Strongarm looks increasingly 'okay'.

[Philip Ayres]

SDCC

For Powerlinx Hotshot see tmukhub.proboards.com/post/501218/thread

SDCC QnA: Legacy news.tfw2005.com/2023/07/28/sdcc-2023-hasbro-show-floor-qa-legacy-studio-series-video-games-more-488215

Q: Moving to Legacy, there were a lot of Transformers Animated characters that went unmade back in the day like Omega Supreme, the Constructicons, Strika, etc. Do you intend to finally make some of them?

A: They’re always on the table, right? Legacy does provide us that massive sandbox, I think as we approach our 40th there’s a lot of stuff to pull from, we want to celebrate every fandom. Always say that every series that comes out is somebody’s first entry point into the franchise, whether it’s live action, a video game, Animated, RID2001, Victory, RID2015, etc. There was a kid we were talking to before and he was like, “I’m a Star Saber kid!” and it’s like, my God! So everything’s being looked at as best we can. There are, you know, mainline characters, more popular characters, that maybe show up sooner, but everything is always being looked at.

Q: Can you talk at all about plans for the future of the line?

A: Safe to assume that there will be a third part of Legacy. Would say stick around for the Fall, we kind of have a cadence that Pulsecon tends to be where we say what’s coming the next year. So now that Pulsecon’s been announced I think everybody kind of has an inkling of that. Clearly we got the Legacy wave 4 fanstream out there, we wanted to make sure to do that because they were starting to leak. Studio Series wave 4, we finally finished the panel, we want to get those out so that when we hit Pulsecon we’re looking towards 2024. It’s gonna be fun.

Q: There’s been a lot of characters we’ve seen before that never made it into the shows at all (Animated Marauder Megs, Powermaster Prime, other Allspark Almanac characters, etc used as examples). Things that exist in a more “nebulous” state, in other words. Would you be able to do stuff like that?

A: Unsure, depends on how it was created. If it was created by the studio we were working with for the show, then technically it should be our property. But if it’s fan created or came from other outlets, then there might be some creator rights things we’d have to look into. The things featured in the Allspark Almanac for example. It is very interesting because the rights issues get a little complicated, especially when dealing with even some of the Japanese media stuff that’s like, we have the rights to the Transformer characters that are in it, but the human characters that show up, those aren’t ours, which is very weird. And then, like even some of the stuff that was produced for like the TV magazines that launched back then like the manga, some of those characters are ones that we kind of need to work out rights issues with. So it might be a very similar situation to that, but it’s something we’d have to look into.

Q: Since Autotroopers are happening, are troop builders something you’re interested in doing more of, like the TFP Vehicons?

A: Troop building is definitely something that even our director super wants to do more of. Think we have to get them out of exclusives and more into mainline, so it’s definitely something that we’ve talked about. It’s something that we, compared to other action brands, kind of lack. There are these background characters that just never got to get made. So we’re testing the waters. So we did the Baliff pit for a Comic-Con exclusive – everybody was after that to buy multiples. We did the Sharkticons in Studio Series, people wanted multiples of that. We’re doing this other new troop builder kit to see if people are interested. And then clearly we’ve made the Seeker mold like 900 times, but yeah, we can make it a little more purple and you can build out your entire Seeker army. The G2 Cybertronian Trooper was a head swap Mark and Hasui came up with, so we’re also looking at the multiple heads thing and swapping of heads.

Q: Any possibility of a new complete G1 soundtrack and not just select pieces?

A: 40th anniversary seems like a good place to do that.

1-On-1 With Evan

Q: Now that Jolt is coming with Powerlinx Hot Shot, are there plans to do the rest of the Minicons as well?

A: Mark and I have talked about it. We know Armada fans want them, we are discussing how to get them out there.

Q: Will Jolt get a retail release to pair with the normal Hot Shot?

A: Maybe at some point we will do a redeco that goes with retail Hot Shot.

Q: Since Commander Armada Optimus is now out, can you tell the full story of the Takara version we’d seen if you know it?

A: The Takara Prime was developed by a different team at Takara that doesn’t work with the Hasbro toy team, the Hasbro team asked for it but the model couldn’t be located, so the Commander toy was made from scratch. I think it turned out for the better.

Q: Possibility of a Siege Astrotrain release without the battle damage?

A: Absolutely. Maybe expect Astrotrain to appear in Studio Series, to better match his animation appearance.

Q: How has Armada Prime sold in comparison to other Commanders? He seemed to frequently sell out at online shops.

A: From what I’ve heard, he does keep selling out because he’s a fan favorite.

Q: Lugnut won the Hall of Fame vote, so will a figure happen?

A: I certainly hope so, since he’s a fan favorite, and since we’re dipping into the Animated universe, it’s certainly a possibility.

Q: Titan Nemesis seems to be opening the door for bigger fembot figures, so what other things would they like to do? Maybe like a new Voyager Elita, or Leader Strika?

A: Yes, we’ve done Elita before at Voyager scale as part of Power of the Primes, but one of the things we’d like to do is revisit Arcee as a Voyager in Studio Series to compact her backpack a little better.

Q: Will there be another version of IDW Orion Pax? Think the WFC Prime mold would work well as a base to get that buffer “supercop” look.

A: Yeah, there’s always gonna be more Primes, pretty safe bet of more Orion.

Q: How about a more accurate Cybertron Optimus Prime?

A: I think so, people love Leobreaker and Cybertron Wing Saber and their combination gimmicks with Cybertron Optimus, and I think it would be good to revisit that. I would like to fight to make that happen.

Q: The newer Legacy TFP and TFA figs like Skyquake and Prowl being more faithful to their original designs than the initial TFP figs has gotten good feedback. Is the plan to continue with this, maybe lean into it even more?

A: We found a good balance of styles, and found that the Animated Prowl would look good alongside a Generations G1 Prowl.

Q: How about a Liokaiser to go with Victory Saber/Deathsaurus?

A: Absolutely yes. I also want to do Road Caesar. Fans have been very vocal.

Q: Evolution seems somewhat heavy on retools/repaints, was this a conscious decision?

A: It’s more that we thought it was the best way to do those characters. No budgetary or extra constraints, it was just the plan to make them as they are.

Q: Do you plan on continuing the Pretender updates, maybe like a big IDW-inspired Thunderwing?

A: We talk about it a lot. We think that the way we do Pretenders is currently good. Thunderwing would be a great Titan to do, either the game one or IDW one.

Q: Will future Pretenders follow their original sizes?

A: Perhaps. Depends on where we can make them in the line. Metalhawk we made bigger, if we made the others that go with him, they will likely be in scale with him.

Q: Are Transmetals something they’re interested in diving into more?

A: We are, and it’s more likely we would have to go with the spray metallics than vacuum chroming.

Q: Polar Claw appeared in a piece of early Kingdom artwork, but obviously he never materialized. Is there any chance he could be revived? BW fans would love to see him!

A: Yeah, it’s possible. It was something John Warden had planned. But when team transitions happened, it was decided release-wise that it makes more sense to do a Voyager Tigatron than Polar Claw at that scale.

Q: How about the unmade Fossilizers?

A: Entirely possible, never really part of the plan, we let the poster artist do the designs and they created them.

Q: Are you interested in doing more toy-only characters in general?

A: We get asked about making new characters, but there are also a lot of “legacy” characters to work through. But we would like to bring in more newness.

Q: Would BW Torca be someone they’re interested in doing, maybe as a Leader or even Commander?

A: Torca, maybe, always a possibility. It would be nice to do Fuzors.

Q: Are there plans to re-release Legacy Cosmos? Has the exclusivity agreement with Walmart ended?

A: Yes, we plan to release him at some point, possibly the other Walmart-exclusive molds too, and plan to seed them into the mainline more.

Q: Has the success of Legacy Menasor made other combiners an “easier sell?” Are there plans for more?

A: Yes. The only issue is they are a lot of work. Working on Menasor was hard on Mark, but he’s looking to do more eventually.

Q: Will we see Machine Wars stuff?

A: I’m hoping we can do a Machine Wars capsule. I’m sure people have noticed some of the molds have features that have compatible characteristics and could be redecoed into these characters.

Q: Is there a possibility of a Titan Predaking reissue with swords and more guns?

A: It’s always possible to reissue, but given how we have done combiners now, we would probably re-engineer Predaking if we wanted to release him in the future.

Q: Overall, what are the Legacy figures you’d most like to do? If you’d like, choose one from each universe you can think of.

A:

For IDW – Pharma, evil Autobot science with chainsaw hands.
For G1 – Omnibots, everyone’s waiting for that trio.
For Beast Wars – Quickstrike, I think it would be fun to do in Core class.
For Beast Machines – It would be fun to do an accurate Cheetor.
For RID2001 – Team Bullet Train, or the Build Team.
For Armada – Red Alert, to complete the team.
For Energon – Optimus Prime.
For Cybertron – Megatron would be fun, especially since he’s a Triple Changer.

Q: So for a new Energon Optimus, would he still have his trademark chunkiness?

A: Well, it’s certainly iconic. Though since I like his combination with Energon Wing Saber, I would like for a new figure to have good articulation.

Q: Have plans for mainline releases been impacted by what they can accomplish with Haslab in any way?

A: Kind of, there’s been some alignment with future plans of some characters and Haslab and where they come from.

Q: Haslab projects have been exclusively Legacy so far. Could Studio Series Haslab projects happen?

A: It could, I would want to do it for ones with more difficult engineering, with licensed vehicles, like Triple Changer Drift, Shatter, Dropkick. I don’t know how fans would react if we were to do Transit.

Q: Could Paddles, Scorn or any of the other newer Dinobots happen after the 86 Dinobots are done?

A: I think they would continue to be in Legacy, and we would need to determine more G1-ified versions of their designs.

Q: Would you like to do more Decepticon Commanders? Commander has been pretty Autobot-heavy.

A: Definitely a yes, we need to balance that out.

Q: Takara seems to be doing their own versions of some figures again, will this continue? Fans like the variety/choices and they can be sold via Pulse.

A: Definitely something that can also happen. We didn’t provide input from the Hasbro toy design team for the ROTB Takara Primal.

Q: Could lines include more waves in order to get more figs? Maybe entirely new lines in addition to Legacy/Studio Series?

A: It’s possible, though we’re limited by item count and shelf space at retailers. I don’t know if we would get more items, but it’s certainly not off the table.

Q: Is there a chance for figures from the Japanese Transformers Go! Series?

A: It’s possible, but it doesn’t have the biggest following. The triple changing Optimus would be fun.

Q: What is the Japanese BW fig you’d most like to do?

A: Big Convoy, Magmatron, Galvatron, BB and Starscream would be fun. Diver as well.

Q: Will the new Skybound comics be getting toys?

A: Oh yeah, absolutely, but it will take a while, maybe after the first year of the comic run to let the Energon Universe establish itself (Evan shorthandedly calls it the Sky-Energon Universe to distinguish it from the Unicron Trilogy Energon Universe).

Q: There’s been a few Transformers with a large amount of translucent parts, like the SDCC Titan Returns Sentinel Prime. Any chance of more releases like that?

A: Well, I know clear parts would make some collectors’ skin crawl. If we did Ghost Starscream, I don’t think it would be in Studio Series, likely Legacy.

Q: What Diaclone recolor would you like released in Legacy?

A: Red Mirage, we definitely need to do that at some point. I think it would be good to do Powered Convoy/Magnus as well.

Q: When will the next Transformers Haslab be?

A: Well, Deathsaurus will release this December, and we are planning to start the next one this Fall.

Q: If there was a Haslab Primus, which design/version would it be?

A: Mark always wants to talk about Primus and doing it. Don’t know if it would be based on the Cybertron version, but more based on G1.
(Minor discussion occurred about the possibility of a multiversal singularity Primus to incorporate elements of multiple versions.)

Q: If you wanted to do an entirely new color scheme for a character, what would you want?

A: I think it would be neat to do a stealth black Cyclonus.
(Trivia – Evan worked with the person who made the Universe 2003 Silverbolt, the designer just wanted to make him purple to fill out the color roster.)

Q: This year’s convention exclusive was available at the Vault offsite. In previous SDCC years Pulse Premium granted access to concerts, exclusives, etc. Has Hasbro decided to focus Premium event perks towards Pulsecon rather than privileges for in-person events?

A: We didn’t forget, it’s just the best we could do. The Ariel and Dion War Dawn 2-pack was originally planned to go to GameStop, but we brought it to SDCC for a wider release.

Q: Will Tidal Wave come from the Titan Nemesis mold?

A: No, there was never a plan to retool Nemesis into Tidal Wave.

Q: Will there be more figs that can transform into weapons for Titans to wield?

A: I think it’s possible, we haven’t done one since Black Zarak. We also did Sixgun for Metroplex. On that note, I think we need to do a new Metroplex, so he can have ankle articulation.

[Shockprowl]

What a load of guff.

[Pinwig]

Interesting nonetheless. Benn's got to be pleased Red Mirage hasn't been forgotten.

[The Doctor]

R E D M I R A G E .

-Ralph