Toy Fair 2016

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Date	February 13–16, 2016
City	New York, NY
Venue	The Times Center

Toy Fair 2016, hosted in New York City from February 13–16, boasts "over 25,000 attendees, 345,500 square feet of exhibit space, 100,000 products with over 7,000 never before seen in the world, 1200+ exhibitors, [and] 1000 global media representatives."

Transformers Wiki was invited to Hasbro's Entertainment Brand Press Preview At Toy Fair at The Times Center on Saturday, February 13, and wiki contributors Matt Karpowich and Greg Sepelak attended. Following a presentation starting at 1pm, fan representatives were allowed into Hasbro's product showroom.

Slideshow presentation and Q&A

• The Transformers presentation was the first of the day! It was hosted by designer John Warden and Ben Montano from marketing. Ben remarked on the oddity that the marketing guy was the one in the T-shirt, where the designer was the one in the nice suit.
• Hasbro is well aware of the demand for more Robots in Disguise Decepticon toys, and more are on the way.
• The Robots in Disguise comic is not canceled! The creative team will be back with more issues tied in with season 2.
• Titan Class Trypticon was shown off... kind of. He's still in the very early sketch and foamcore/"breadboard" construction stage. It was noted his slightly smaller stature will be made up for in heft and length. He also will have connector points to attach other Titan Class citybots and such.
• Hasbro's slide show used Rewind and Chromedome's romance in the IDW comics as the lead-in to introducing Deluxe Chromedome. Awwww. Also, woo, progressive!
• Fortress Maximus was brought out on stage, and he's "as heavy as a toddler".

Q&A with John

Due to an increase in the number of invited attendees, this year people were split into two groups and let into the showroom at different times, which severely cut into the amount of time given to take pictures. But one doesn't argue with the fire marshal. The half not in the showroom stayed in the presentation room, and were joined by one of the Hasbro presenters for the toyline they were here to cover for a Q&A session. Transformers fans got to ask questions of designer John Warden.

From that Q&A...

• The head-only Titan Master characters are not off the list for possible Deluxe-or-larger toys with full bodies later. The 1987 Headmasters just took priority out of the gate for bigger toys.
• All-new characters are harder to slot into Generations than for the kid-aimed lines due to the expectations of older fans; it's not as difficult to get people worked up for a new version of even a lower-tier character like Skullcruncher because people already know Skullcruncher. New characters generally need a strong fiction-led story behind them to really make them work in well. So new characters are not off the table, but not super-likely.
• Getting the Unite Warriors Groove and Blast Off toys to the US is a possibility, but no plans announced. Both of those toys were done on TakaraTomy's initiative with zero Hasbro input, long after the Combiner Wars Defensor and Bruticus had been designed and put into production.
• Combiner Wars was very retool/recolor heavy as it was a bit of a gamble and had a harder time selling to the top-office folks. Being able to put out a lot of product on fewer steel molds helped ease concerns. Titans Return will not be as heavy on the recolor/retool front.
• When planning the molds, "pretool" heads are sometimes put in without actual, concrete plans to ever use them. Call it a bit of insurance; the cost is minimal to do so, and if a retailer wants a new exclusive, then that new head is waiting to be used nice and easy.
• Speaking of insurance, the Robots in Disguise toyline was partially so main-Autobot-cast-heavy to secure its footing in the younger-aimed audience. Younger kids want versions of the main good-guy cast more, so the line was tilted to provide. Now that the show and toyline have proven themselves and are doing well, they have more freedom to explore more of the show Decepticon cast.
• Titan Trypticon will not have the more horizontal modern Tyrannosaurus profile. He also won't have a walking feature, as they felt including that would likely cost out more impressive gimmicks. Whether or not he includes Full-Tilt and Brunt is up in the air.
• Victorion's green got de-saturated due to feedback from the fans. John noted that they talked with the IDW colorists to nail down a shade of green that would work better with the bright red and evoke the comics coloring a bit more.
• Beast Wars isn't getting the big Anniversary push this year so as not to pull away from the Titans Return series. Hasbro is worried about stretching too thin across too many lines, and both Generations and Robots in Disguise have really strong momentum they want to work on. It's possible we'll see Beast Wars themed product later in 2016, plus the idea was floated that as the series really got its momentum more in 1997, that might be when to make the nostalgia-push. Naturally, Masterpiece Optimus Primal was brought up, and it's a possibility for US release, but no confirmation of commitment.
• The issue of using Tonka GoBots characters is exceptionally tricky. Hasbro owns the IP and name, but the cartoon and toyline that IP (such as character visuals) is based on are both owned by separate companies. As such, it's kind of a minefield where, for anything beyond simply using the "GoBots" name, they need to really look at how to use that IP in a way that won't open them up to said companies demanding a cut, so it wasn't very likely we'd see them.
• A question on the fate of a 2017 Transformers convention was basically deflected to PR, who said they'd talk about it later. John quickly and politely remarked that he was a toy designer and maybe let's stick to that kind of question.

Showroom

Robots in Disguise (2015)

2016 will see an increase in the number of Decepticon toys, and a lot of Mini-Cons.

Legion class

Not much new in this assortment was shown off. It was completely skipped in the slideshow, in fact.

Mini-Cons

Mini-Cons make up a huge part of the line this year, with a very heavy focus on Weaponizer types. Most are single-pack releases, though there's also multi-packs on the way!

1-Steps

The 1-Step series becomes a little bit of a misnomer going forward, as these toys will have a few smaller extra steps beyond the primary autotransformation. Not shown but confirmed in press materials is a 1-Step version of Ratchet.

Warrior Class

Mini-Con 2-packs

The third wave of Mini-Con 2-packs! This set differs in that the Mini-Cons are Weaponizers partnered with the bigger bots. Also, the clear-plastic armor pieces are designed to work with both toys in the set, not just the headliner!

Platinum 2-pack

A domestic release of the TakaraTomy Voyager-class Grimlock retool of Fall of Cybertron Grimlock, packed with a Warrior Bumblebee who's been decked out in more paint operations. Exclusive to Entertainment Earth.

3-Step Changers

Only two 3-Step Changers were on display, a non-Blizzard version of Drift and a new "Energon Boost" recolor of Bumblebee. But we barely even noticed them or thought they were old product and didn't get decent pics. Oops. Press materials for the event confirm a 3-Step version of Bisk and that's awesome.

Power Heroes

These large-scale figures feature electronic lights and phrases taken from the show, activated by attaching Powerizer Mini-Cons to them. Reportedly, the phrases even change depending on which Mini-Con is attached!

Power Surge Optimus Prime

The "centerpiece" of the year, a big light-and-sound Optimus with lots of pop-out weapons and stuff activated by attaching Weaponizer Mini-Cons.

Generations

Titans Return is the big line for the year, an updated version of the Headmasters with an added focus on characters from The Transformers: The Movie as part of the film's 30th anniversary.

Titan Masters

Tiny robots who turn into heads, piloting shape-changing vehicles and robo-beasties.

Legends Class

Legends toys come in two forms. Triple-changer electronic devices of former Mini-Cassettes, or vehicle-form bots with Master-compatible passenger compartments.

• A silhouette depicting a Stripes redeco for wave 2 was in the slideshow, but was not officially revealed. Hello, Ravage!

Deluxe Class

Each Deluxe Titans Return figure has a removable head-bot, and transforms into an alt-mode with a compartment for said head-bot to ride in. Some of their accessories may also have pilot seats as well!

• Both Blurr and Scourge have an additional transformation step where "the things on their heads" pop up.
• If you store a Titan Master inside Mindwipe when he's in robot mode, the Titan Master will end up hanging upside-down like a bat inside him.

Voyager Class

Box sets

It's not all Titan Masters this year. Several box sets of old molds and retools are coming. The fan-voted Victorion, and two Platinum Edition box sets celebrating The Transformers: The Movie: "Armada of Cyclonus"' and "Planet of Junk Clash". The "Armada of Cyclonus" set is a Kmart exclusive in the United States.

Titan Class

• Fortress Maximus's head, Cerebros, has integrated lights and sounds: his optics light up in head mode, he makes the "transformation" sound effect when going between modes, and he says (at least) "Fortress Maximus".
• Fortress Maximus's city mode includes a jail, and it can connect to the base modes of other Leader-class toys via connecting ramps.
• Maximus was a collaboration between John Warden and Shogo Hasui (among others) at TakaraTomy.

Rescue Bots

Rescue Bots only got a passing mention in the slideshow, but that's to be expected with the older-fan aim of the presentation. It shared floorspace with the rest of the Playskool adventure-toy product... though interestingly, it got the whole center wall of its display space, with the licensed Star Wars and Marvel Comics toys shuffled to the sides.

The booth was staffed by a guy who we failed to get the name of, but notably he did not actually work on the toyline. His notes did not cover everything on display.

Mini-Con Assortment

Quick, easy conversions from robo-animals to rescue tools with action features!

Rescan Assortment

The new "default" size class sees the return of old favorites, some lost Rescue Bots, a badguy(!), and the newest member of the team Quickshadow! Plus a new 4-pack featuring the core 4 bots!

Supercharger Assortment

Rescue Bots with pull-back motor action in vehicle mode... and both transplants from the older-aimed lines to boot! The stock photos called these the "Rescue Racers" instead of "Superchargers".

5.5" Amazon exclusives

Color us surprised! These toys are in the original Rescue Bots scale, but are new show characters! Sold only through Amazon.com.

Optimus Prime Racing Trailer

Optimus is back with a car-carrier trailer that launches vehicle-mode Rescue Bots with spring-loaded action. This set also comes with a new-deco version of Blurr!

Griffin Rock Fire House Headquarters

A massive playset for the Rescue Bots (and other Playkool lines if you're into that). Comes with an older Cody Burns figure in rescue gear, and a rescue ATV.

Notes

• It was 3 °F in New York City that day. This is not a comedic exaggeration. And that was at 1 in the afternoon. Add in the wind-tunnel effect the tall buildings of New York give, and yikes. Hasbro actually sent people from Panera Bread to come out and bring hot drinks to the people waiting outside. That was nice!
• This year's presentation seemed much more narrowly-focused across all brands. "Out now/soon" product from previous presentations was more or less nowhere to be seen. Other, later reveals were being held for other conventions so they'd have some scoops (also some stuff just wasn't ready to be shown off yet).
• Attendees were given small bottles of water to drink while there. These bottles were labeled with My Little Pony characters or Robots in Disguise Bumblebee.

References

External links