Hasbro Confirms SS86 HotRod was a Voyager Due to Engineering and that All G1 Dinobots are Coming in the Same Scale

Sowndwave76 wrote:Awesome post!
Thanks, William!

And seriously, what a relief to know we’ll get all of the Dinobots at the current leader scale!!!!

I did fix spike’s arms, btw.

sol magnus wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Awesome post!
Thanks, William!

And seriously, what a relief to know we’ll get all of the Dinobots at the current leader scale!!!!

I did fix spike’s arms, btw.

Nice… I wouldn’t call it a “fix”… More of an adjustment.
And it looks better, right?

Sowndwave76 wrote:Awesome post!
Thanks, William!

And seriously, what a relief to know we’ll get all of the Dinobots at the current leader scale!!!!

Yes, that relieves me too

william-james88 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Awesome post!
Thanks, William!

And seriously, what a relief to know we’ll get all of the Dinobots at the current leader scale!!!!

Yes, that relieves me too

I just hope “eventually” doesn’t mean 2+ years from now!!

That aside a thought occurred to me. The Netflix line is long over and only Walmart can currently release the G1 Soundwave and VW Bumblebee molds, I wonder if Hasbro has ever pitched to them an exclusive SS86 redeco release of them similar to what we’ve seen with Cliffjumper and Kup at Target? Surely they must have at some point, right? If not that then retro packaged releases like they most recently did with the Headmasters. Hasbro knows how badly people want a second shot at these molds, they must have pitched a second release of some sort.

Emerje

DeathReviews wrote:Glad to hear that Snarl/Swoop will be the same ‘scale’ as Leader Grimlock/Slag/Sludge. That would have been dumb, having Snarl as a dinky little wussy-boy next to the others. As Death, I choose to remain cautiously optimistic. Swoop may be able to get away with being smaller in his body, but if the wings are massive, then he could still appear even larger than the other Dinobots. A huge wingspan can create the illusion of greater size, even if he might not have as much mass.

I think that’s what will happen with Swoop, there won’t be anything complex with him, but his wings will gobble up plastic, even then though, I think he’ll have extras. What this would be, is anyone’s guess.

(More human characters? Toy accurate weapons for everyone?)

ZeroWolf wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:Glad to hear that Snarl/Swoop will be the same ‘scale’ as Leader Grimlock/Slag/Sludge. That would have been dumb, having Snarl as a dinky little wussy-boy next to the others. As Death, I choose to remain cautiously optimistic. Swoop may be able to get away with being smaller in his body, but if the wings are massive, then he could still appear even larger than the other Dinobots. A huge wingspan can create the illusion of greater size, even if he might not have as much mass.

I think that’s what will happen with Swoop, there won’t be anything complex with him, but his wings will gobble up plastic, even then though, I think he’ll have extras. What this would be, is anyone’s guess.

(More human characters? Toy accurate weapons for everyone?)

He had a big adventure with Carly, assuming he’s not in Studio Series 86.

william-james88 wrote:But we wanted to get some info we found interesting since it does confirm certain things. While it was obvious for many, some fans like hearing it from the horse’s mouth and now the designer who worked on SS86 Hot Rod has confirmed that the “voyager” class no longer refers to just a specific size but it is now a price point where a transformer with more parts/engineering could end up regardless of its size.

And that’s fine to a certain extent but if they plan to use that excuse to justify releasing a smaller Bot like say Bee or Cliff Jumper in the Voyager price it then becomes an issue, because IMO there’s only so much “complexity” you can pack into a small robot. And frankly I don’t see how Hot Rod can be considered Voyager while Perceptor is not, according to their website he only lacks 9 steps compared to Hot Rod. The same amount that Blaster has yet he’s a Voyager, so does that mean Eject costs $11?

Plus what does that say for the new Elita-1 at only 14 steps to Perceptor’s 20, and does that mean it has to be at least 14 steps to be a DLX Bot? What happens if it only takes ten steps to transform will they create a new class or just lump it all in the same having people pay more for a lesser toy?

This is a slippery slope when you consider Hasbro’s the one who decides where the bot goes based on complexity as they could simply over design it to fit that higher price point. I’ve seen this kind of in house manipulation happen before.

Till-all-R1 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:But we wanted to get some info we found interesting since it does confirm certain things. While it was obvious for many, some fans like hearing it from the horse’s mouth and now the designer who worked on SS86 Hot Rod has confirmed that the “voyager” class no longer refers to just a specific size but it is now a price point where a transformer with more parts/engineering could end up regardless of its size.

And that’s fine to a certain extent but if they plan to use that excuse to justify releasing a smaller Bot like say Bee or Cliff Jumper in the Voyager price it then becomes an issue, because IMO there’s only so much “complexity” you can pack into a small robot. And frankly I don’t see how Hot Rod can be considered Voyager while Perceptor is not, according to their website he only lacks 9 steps compared to Hot Rod. The same amount that Blaster has yet he’s a Voyager, so does that mean Eject costs $11?

Plus what does that say for the new Elita-1 at only 14 steps to Perceptor’s 20, and does that mean it has to be at least 14 steps to be a DLX Bot? What happens if it only takes ten steps to transform will they create a new class or just lump it all in the same having people pay more for a lesser toy?

This is a slippery slope when you consider Hasbro’s the one who decides where the bot goes based on complexity as they could simply over design it to fit that higher price point. I’ve seen this kind of in house manipulation happen before.

Remember accessories count as well, which means smaller bots will come with more stuff. Also, can it really be classed as in house manipulation if their just changing their rules? It’s mot like some non-hasbro entity set the rules for price points snd the class distinctions.

Emerje wrote:Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but saying “same scale” isn’t the same as saying “same size”. A small 4″ Deluxe Transformer can still be in the same scale as a 7″ Leader.

In the same article you can see the same designer using “scale” to mean class. he literally calls Hot Rod a “voyager scale” even though we know it’s not a typical voyager size. From reading that designer’s words, he is simply saying that the remaining dinobots will all be leaders.

NOW, that doesn’t mean Swoop won’t be shorter. They could make him have a big wingspan and compensate the use of plastic by making him shorter. Would be innacurate though. We’ll see.

Till-all-R1 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:But we wanted to get some info we found interesting since it does confirm certain things. While it was obvious for many, some fans like hearing it from the horse’s mouth and now the designer who worked on SS86 Hot Rod has confirmed that the “voyager” class no longer refers to just a specific size but it is now a price point where a transformer with more parts/engineering could end up regardless of its size.

And that’s fine to a certain extent but if they plan to use that excuse to justify releasing a smaller Bot like say Bee or Cliff Jumper in the Voyager price it then becomes an issue, because IMO there’s only so much “complexity” you can pack into a small robot. And frankly I don’t see how Hot Rod can be considered Voyager while Perceptor is not, according to their website he only lacks 9 steps compared to Hot Rod. The same amount that Blaster has yet he’s a Voyager, so does that mean Eject costs $11?

Plus what does that say for the new Elita-1 at only 14 steps to Perceptor’s 20, and does that mean it has to be at least 14 steps to be a DLX Bot? What happens if it only takes ten steps to transform will they create a new class or just lump it all in the same having people pay more for a lesser toy?

This is a slippery slope when you consider Hasbro’s the one who decides where the bot goes based on complexity as they could simply over design it to fit that higher price point. I’ve seen this kind of in house manipulation happen before.

Engineering doesn’t just mean complexity, it also reffers to articulation and moving parts. You are assuming that more steps means more moving parts but that may not be the case at all times since you may need several moving parts to complete one step.

Also, what you describe in the begining has been happening for years. MP Bumblebee is a deluxe sized figure sold at the commander class point due to it’s complexity. MP Trailbreaker is a leader sized figure sold at the titan class price point. That philosophy is now being expanded to any line aimed at fans.

Emerje wrote:Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but saying “same scale” isn’t the same as saying “same size”. A small 4″ Deluxe Transformer can still be in the same scale as a 7″ Leader. While it would be appropriate for all of the Dinobots to be the same size we know there’s this weird preconceived notion that Swoop is smaller. If Hasbro shares that notion then they might view a tall Voyager as being the same scale as a bunch of tall Leaders. I don’t know, I’m still not entirely convinced Hasbro will do this right.

That aside a thought occurred to me. The Netflix line is long over and only Walmart can currently release the G1 Soundwave and VW Bumblebee molds, I wonder if Hasbro has ever pitched to them an exclusive SS86 redeco release of them similar to what we’ve seen with Cliffjumper and Kup at Target? Surely they must have at some point, right? If not that then retro packaged releases like they most recently did with the Headmasters. Hasbro knows how badly people want a second shot at these molds, they must have pitched a second release of some sort.

Emerje

I understand not trusting that Hastak is going to do the right thing… There’s still a chance of that.
However, here’s the thing:
ER Optimus is one of the tallest voyager class figures, and he’s pretty small compared to these 3 new Dinobots:

The seekers, Soundwave, and Blaster are all legit voyagers, and they’re even slightly shorter than Prime.
I know you said “tall voyager”, but add an inch to OP and the top of his head is still just below the height of Sludge’s shoulder. Which yeah, some people don’t care and would be fine with.
Hastak has done a pretty bang-up job with the proportions of recent figures, and that’s one thing I feel confident that they’ll get right here.
Considering this, IF Swoop is shorter, that also means that his torso, limbs, and pretty much everything, must be smaller… Otherwise he’s going to look much too stout.
So being shorter also means he’s going to be on the scrawny side… Which will make the difference in height highlight the overall difference in size.
I also get that Swoop’s limbs were already smaller/more trim than those of the other 4.
Again, this will only be overly emphasized if they make him too small compared to the rest.
On top of this, also factor in that Swoop is going to require 1/3 if not 1/4 of the engineering of the others… Think about the transformation of Slag’s legs and upper torso… Swoop doesn’t need anything close to either of those areas. He also doesn’t have any more overall deco than the others.
Imo if they do this character justice, he’ll have 3 hinges for each wing. I’d also hope that his dino head can swivel/rotate as well as have some downward as well as a little upward movement.
The point being, by using some more plastic in making him larger, Hastak is going to get to charge full leader class price for a figure that doesn’t actually require the same production costs as the others.
And I believe that Sludge has started the trend of nixing any additional pack-in’s.
I know some (including me) have wishful thinking that Swoop could be packed with multiple swords, or even fire-colored blast effects… But I really doubt either of those will happen.

In terms of your thought on Soundwave being a Walmart exclusive, yeah, I think it’s a safe assumption something was pitched… But who knows… I would think some exclusivity rights start and end with that specific release. Seems stupid to lock that down to one retailer for an indefinite span of time.

DeathReviews wrote:Glad to hear that Snarl/Swoop will be the same ‘scale’ as Leader Grimlock/Slag/Sludge. That would have been dumb, having Snarl as a dinky little wussy-boy next to the others. As Death, I choose to remain cautiously optimistic. Swoop may be able to get away with being smaller in his body, but if the wings are massive, then he could still appear even larger than the other Dinobots. A huge wingspan can create the illusion of greater size, even if he might not have as much mass.

Sorry, Death… I have the opposite view… Huge wings attached to a tiny torso will look even more ridiculous. And again, with Hastak’s recent releases, I don’t see that happening.
As stated in the designer’s own post, they’re going off of character models.

Sorry, Death… I have the opposite view… Huge wings attached to a tiny torso will look even more ridiculous. And again, with Hastak’s recent releases, I don’t see that happening.
As stated in the designer’s own post, they’re going off of character models.

Fair enough – at the moment, we can only guess. But I’m thinking along the lines of Wingfinger. As a deluxe, that figure was willowy, light and had much less substance than you would normally see in a deluxe. But when you set it side by side with ‘normal’ deluxes like Sunstreaker, Skids, or Spinister – Wingfinger kind of LOOKS bigger if you spread the wings out.

Swoop’s animation model still has the wings spread out so that they are at least as wide as two of the other dinobots standing side-by-side. It’s hard to find in-cartoon shots of all the dinobots in alt mode, bunched close together, because Swoop’s wings take up a lot of room. Normally they have Swoop flying high above the others, or tucked into the background behind the other dinobots. Otherwise, his wings would be covering up most of the screen, and they couldn’t have THAT now, could they?

If the scale in THIS shot carries over to the figures, then Swoop could wind up looking pretty darn big. Fold the wings up for robot mode, and yeah, he might look no more substantial than Grimlock.

But again – we must wait and see what they ACTUALLY do.

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but saying “same scale” isn’t the same as saying “same size”. A small 4″ Deluxe Transformer can still be in the same scale as a 7″ Leader.

In the same article you can see the same designer using “scale” to mean class. he literally calls Hot Rod a “voyager scale” even though we know it’s not a typical voyager size. From reading that designer’s words, he is simply saying that the remaining dinobots will all be leaders.

NOW, that doesn’t mean Swoop won’t be shorter. They could make him have a big wingspan and compensate the use of plastic by making him shorter. Would be inaccurate though. We’ll see.”

Sorry, all above this is quoted, Seibertron just didn’t code it correctly.

I have Hot Rod, and I think the voyager price point is worth it, he comes with a truckload of accessories! But Override has me worried. If we pay voyager for “extra paint apps” has gone power hungry and lazy. I hope Prime Vs Prime was missing something, otherwise it’s insane! I don’t see how they could compensate for a smaller swoop, I can’t think of many “accurate” accessories. He will most likely be leader sized.

Compensating for voyager when it’s a deluxe with accessories is fine, as long as it has a LOT of accessories. But it is technically lying when the packaging doesn’t mention that it’s shorter with more accessories.

Sowndwave76 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Awesome post!
Thanks, William!

And seriously, what a relief to know we’ll get all of the Dinobots at the current leader scale!!!!

Yes, that relieves me too

I just hope “eventually” doesn’t mean 2+ years from now!!

LOL that would take a while, and by then third parties would start making unofficial studio series!

Now there are two Studio Series Spikes!