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Hi-Rez look at combiner Optimus Maximus.

27522344d1433983059-full-combiner-wars-optimus-maximus-artwork-cwp5.jpg
 
I'm just looking forward to the side by side photo with my old ones. Just evil of Habsro to re-release the combiners knowing that a guy like me wouldn't be able to resist.
 
Guardian17 said:
You would think they would hold onto the trademark for the names in perpetuity.
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They have to use them every so often and file for renewal after a set period. IIRC they let a lot of names lapse in the early/mid 90s as G1 was petering out and there was no real thought yet that the franchise would ever continue, in Beast Wars form or otherwise. Also Beast Wars largely used brand new character names that were not necessarily inherited names from G1 characters, aside from a handful of cases like Megatron and Optimus Prime (albeit tweaked into Optimus Primal). So that extended the disuse of classic G1 names into the late 90s and weakened any case they might have for keeping many character names trademarked. To borrow from the TFwiki article that I will link at the bottom of this post is perhaps the most amazing trademark issue that Hasbro has had to face: At one point they actually lost the use of the name Bumblebee.

As mentioned above, "Bumblebee" was unavailable to Hasbro for many years. The name was being used as a registered trademark by a company called Playcore for their "Buzz the Bumble Bee" swing as of 2003, and as Hasbro had not used the name for a toy since 1995, their case to contest was likely a weak one. The Heroes of Cybertron PVC two-pack with Spike Witwicky was officially named "Autobot Espionage Team" for that reason, although the bio on the back of the packaging identified the two characters as "Bumblebee" and "Spike" (but without claiming them as trademarks). Furthermore, as can be seen on the right, one of the main characters of the Armada franchise was initially intended to be named "Bumblebee" before the unavailability of the trademark resulted in the character being renamed into "Hot Shot". However, in March 2005, Hasbro tried to reclaim the trademark, due to its intended association with a principal character in the big-deal live-action movie and its associated merchandise planned across a great many categories. However, the registration attempt was contested in July 2005, both by a production company named "Bumble Bee Productions, Inc." and by an online toy retailer named "Bumblebee Toys", both of which argued that the mark, as it was filed under the "toys" field, was too close to their own registered marks. Ultimately, Hasbro abandoned the registration attempt for "Bumblebee" in 2006 and simply decided to use the name as a "normal", non-registered trademark instead. The movie's release date being pushed back a year meant that the first "Bumblebee"-branded Transformers toys in over a decade were a 3" Titanium Series figure and a toy from the Classics line. (Playcore, or more accurately, its subsidiary Swing-N-Slide no longer manufactures the "Buzz the Bumble Bee" swingset.[9])
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So it's not necessarily imperitive that Hasbro have a character name trademarked in order to use it, but it certainly is almost always in their best interest to make sure they have secured the trademark on any name they want to use, only choosing to forego registration and just use the name in a generic sense in specific situations (like the above where it would be downright blasphemous to not have a character named Bumblebee)

Hot Rod is also a character that has a murky and difficult trademark history, which is why over the years he's been renamed from Hot Rod to Rodimus (for the specifically Hot Rod version of the character, not Rodimus Prime) to Rodimus Major to Hott Rodd, back to just Rodimus, and....yeah.

Also I'm pretty sure that trademark laws have changed some in the interim, making it harder to trademark very vague or generic words.

Anyway, here's a very good read on the subject specifically from a Transformer standpoint.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Trademark


One of the best things in that piece is the revelation that the original Ratchet design is now considered a flagrant trademark/copyright violation because of his shoulders. The Red Cross took Hasbro to court over the use of the symbol to force them to change it. :laugh:

One of these days when I have more money I have to get back into collecting. I haven't gotten any new Transformers for several years now.
 
I saw some of the combiners in Wal-Mart this weekend.

Did anyone else notice on the back of Silverbolt's box it shows Superion with DRAGSTRIP as the right arm??? Not only by showing a picture of Dragstrip as part of the collection but also the silhouetted image of Superion clearly shows wheels on his right arm :laugh:

The same error is NOT present on the Menasor graphic on the back of the Stunticons box I viewed. Dragstrip is properly shown as the right arm there.
 
Acadmus said:
I saw some of the combiners in Wal-Mart this weekend.

Did anyone else notice on the back of Silverbolt's box it shows Superion with DRAGSTRIP as the right arm??? Not only by showing a picture of Dragstrip as part of the collection but also the silhouetted image of Superion clearly shows wheels on his right arm :laugh:

The same error is NOT present on the Menasor graphic on the back of the Stunticons box I viewed. Dragstrip is properly shown as the right arm there.
Click to expand...

Not sure why Hasbro released it as they did. Dragstrip was part of Wave 1 which only had 4/5 components of Superion. So that's why Dragstrip was shown on the box. The ones released in Wave 1 apparently are missing the comics as well.
 
Acadmus said:
I saw some of the combiners in Wal-Mart this weekend.

Did anyone else notice on the back of Silverbolt's box it shows Superion with DRAGSTRIP as the right arm??? Not only by showing a picture of Dragstrip as part of the collection but also the silhouetted image of Superion clearly shows wheels on his right arm :laugh:

The same error is NOT present on the Menasor graphic on the back of the Stunticons box I viewed. Dragstrip is properly shown as the right arm there.
Click to expand...


Maybe they are alluding to Scramble City where all the "arms" and "legs" are interchangeable.

 
Guardian17 said:
Maybe they are alluding to Scramble City where all the "arms" and "legs" are interchangeable.

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That's part of it, I think. That's why the combiners that are being done are mostly the scramble city ones, and why there's an Optimus that can adapt any of the limb bots to form his gestalt body.


In other news, there's apparently going to be a new classic-inspired Transformers game announced at E3. A brawler in the vein of God of War or Bayonetta apparently.
 
The Nemesis said:
That's part of it, I think. That's why the combiners that are being done are mostly the scramble city ones, and why there's an Optimus that can adapt any of the limb bots to form his gestalt body.


In other news, there's apparently going to be a new classic-inspired Transformers game announced at E3. A brawler in the vein of God of War or Bayonetta apparently.
Click to expand...

Is it this?




5.jpg
 
First all female combiner revealed, behold Victorion.

http://news.tfw2005.com/2015/06/19/usa-today-reveals-fan-built-combiner-victorion-293457

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2015/06/19/victorion-transformers-exclusive-first-look/28969983/

The team's alternate vehicular forms include two race cars, a pair of helicopters, a motorcycle and a rescue truck.

And Victorion also differs from other Combiners not only because she's female but she can manipulate gravity and has the ability to combine in different configurations.

If the copter twins form her legs, she can fly, and when they make up her arms, Victorion can use her gravity powers as a weapon.

110.jpg
 
Neat. Nice to have a new combiner after basically 30 years of only using the Constructicons, Predacons, and the Scramble City ones.

She seems to be the result of the same fan-created-character initiative that also created Windblade, a cool if somewhat mary-sue-ish new Autobot jet.
 
Just being nitpicky, but not liking the shade of purple on Mixmaster. Although seeing another pic from ToysRUs' site and it's more of a matte purple.

pTRU1-20176197_alternate3_enh-z6.jpg


TRU's website says the ship date is in three weeks. I thought I had read earlier that it was going to be November.
 
TRU is now listing Devastator as in stock. Also the shinier Purple version appears to be a San Diego Comic Con exclusive. Debated bugging my friend to pick one up for me last night, but I think I'm okay with the "regular" one that's more in line with the G1 color scheme.

Last night I dug up my G1 Devastator and was saddened to (re)discover that a piece must have broken off as I can't connect the left arm to anything.
 
Brodeur said:
TRU is now listing Devastator as in stock. Also the shinier Purple version appears to be a San Diego Comic Con exclusive. Debated bugging my friend to pick one up for me last night, but I think I'm okay with the "regular" one that's more in line with the G1 color scheme.

Last night I dug up my G1 Devastator and was saddened to (re)discover that a piece must have broken off as I can't connect the left arm to anything.
Click to expand...


That's my big fear about my collection.

I'm concerned about the plastic parts braking off.
 
How long before people with bad memories see the new Devastator and swear that's the one they had as a kid?

People did it with masterpiece Optimus Prime. Even if you told them "no, your tiny little 6 year old hands just though Op was bigger, and your feeble 6 year old brain just thought it was more complex." they would swear up and down that they had the totally show accurate and doesn't-have-a-giant-gaping-back-cavity foot-tall modern one vs the original.
 
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