By JediTricks
Published: August 7, 2009
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The Hasbro Transformers team began with a slide show, and explained that most of the '09 line was already in the booth, and therefore they were going to focus on a sneak peek of next year. A lot of this stuff was also covered at Botcon (days 1, 2) so this article will gloss over repeated information as much as possible.

First off though was new stuff, like Legends Movie Wheelie and Soundwave. The team was impressed with how they got Soundwave's satellite mode out of a Legends figure.

Scout class had something new in the form of Scattorshot, an armored truck now. The team pointed out that this design throws back to the Cybertron character, his colors were somewhat similar, although they also noted that he has a new movie-styled head, and he has new weapons, a pair of rifles.

Deluxe Ratchet was shown, and Hasbro wanted to mention that they are reimagining movie characters either in a new scale like Ratchet, or with new weapons and themes.

Movie line Lockdown also shown again, they mentioned that they like this character and want to keep him going. The hook on his right arm this time is just attached and resembles part of his arm. The engine block is now the weapon on his other arm.

A new item shown was Deluxe Dirge, and the movie styling makes for a most unusual conehead seeker. His transformation is a whole new take on jet to robot, and the team loved this because it's fun for them to find new ways after 25 years to approach concepts like getting a jet out of a robot.

Deluxe Brawn was shown off, he's an armored vehicle themed after the NEST vehicles in ROTF. The colors are sort of classic G1 Brawn but with a modern take.

Voyagers were shown, including Bludgeon, where it was mentioned that an automorph gimmick was found where one pulls the turret to the side to deploy a weapon. The wave with Bludgeon and Jungle Attack Ironhide plays up the theme of NEST chasing down their enemies.

A new figure then shown was Voyager-class Mindwipe. He's a stealth jet similar to an F117a, and the team wants to point out that he is cooler than the original G1, though he does somewhat resemble an updated version. They wanted to take a cool stealth jet and get another unique, interesting transformation out of it, which gave them this figure. Bot mode has underhand-held daggers which stow in the forearm, the team thought of this as downward hack-slash attacks, like a serial killer. For more play value, scout-class Skystalker will be able to attach to the jet mode, as they're "buddies".

Switching gears to Human Alliance, the team says they are reminiscent of Alternators. Barricade with Frenzy takes the accuracy to a new level, and is very poseable, the wheel on the left hand has blades for saw action.

A new figure was shown in Mudflap and Chromia with Simmons. The team was very excited for the accuracy on the Simmons sculpt.

Around 15 minutes in, it was time to talk about some of the exclusives coming out. Mentioning the 25th Anniversary TRU reissue Insecticons and Perceptor, Hasbro said it was their partnership with Takaratomy which made it possible to bring those to the US.

The team mentioned Masterpiece Skywarp coming to Wal-mart, and said they are big fans of the Masterpiece scale as it lets them do more detail. Skywarp they felt was the next logical figure after MP Starscream.

TRU gets a 2-pack, "Gathering at the Nemesis", which has deluxe Soundwave in G1 colors, movie-1 Voyager Megatron in exclusive colors and silver highlights, and not shown but the set also includes The Fallen.

20 minutes in, we get to the TF:Animated line. Soundwave coming in his second colors isn't enough, so they're also doing a white Soundwave repaint in the Activators class to round it out. Electrostatic Soundwave's keytar started as a joke, but kept going until it became the Ratbat we're getting.

Arcee seemed like she was taboo to make in the past, either they couldn't get a toy of her in car mode, or her appearance marked the tail end of a line. "Staying true to form..." Arcee gets her car mode but signals the end of the line. The team mentions they gave her swords to make her cooler, fearsome because she needed a reason to be cooler.

Rodimus Minor's original idea was Rodimus Prime, but they felt the show was starting to have too many Primes which cheapened Optimus, so they made him the next rank down from a Prime.

Voyager Hydrodive Bumblebee came about as giving him gear to pay off the smaller, more accurate new figure.

Wingblade Optimus Prime's base figure was incorrectly mentioned at Botcon as being the deluxe, here they clarify it's a repaint of the Battle Begins 2-pack, which is deluxe-sized but Earth mode, not the actual deluxe's Cybertronian mode.

31 minutes in comes the end of the slide show and the beginning of the Q&A.

When asked why the SDCC-exclusive Soundwave & tapes pack had no G1 Rumble, the answer was that they had to choose 4 characters, and they did so based on the tooling and what made the most sense.

Again, the team is asked about Robot Heroes moving back away from movie styling, and again the answer is no.

Asked about Animated airing on the new Hasbro cable network, the team confirms that reruns of season 3 will be found there, but no new episodes.

Concerning the ROTF Arcee motorcycle team's names, the response is Arcee, Chromia, and Moonracer, that was the intention anyway.

Asked about white, non-deco figures for customs, the team says they've looked at the idea but haven't done anything yet.

Queried again about the ROTF Arcee motorcycle team, this time about the 3rd bike coming with the instructions for the combination scheme. The answer is that they will make all 3 characters, but no to the combiner instructions in that 3rd one, it would be confusing. They'll try to get an alternate way to let fans know about the combiner instructions though.

What about Human Alliance Sideswipe in blue? They're considering it.

Someone asks about Monopoly Transformers, and the team's reply is that they've considered EVERY combination of Hasbro brands, but no plans right now for that one.

The question arises about more Human Alliance Decepticons, and the answer is "hopefully in the future".

Probably stemming from the trademark text on the packaging and figures, a question asks who owns and who is the licensor on characters from the movies, Paramount or Hasbro, and the answer is that Paramount is indeed licensing them from Hasbro.

Asked about a US release of Masterpiece Grimlock, the answer is a cryptic "we'll do what we can".

The question of G1 colors for the ROTF Devastator set comes up and the team says they are looking at the idea but can't say when they would deliver.

Asked about reissues of Blaster and his tapes, as well as Reflector, the response is that Blaster isn't as much on their radar, but it is noted.

The final question of the panel concerns Optimus Prime and how his iconic status up there with Superman and Spider-man and such might be harmed by the utter brutality displayed in Revenge of the Fallen. Hasbro's answer is that for different entertainments there are different levels representing him in the best format. For a big-budget film, Optimus can get away with something aggressive due to the format. The film warrants via the Decepticon threat, as well.

At 1:19pm, thus ends the Hasbro 2009 SDCC panel.

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