Our thanks go out to Mr Neurie for letting us know, via twitter, that Smyths have reduced the Ultimate Optimus Prime figure to £49.99, yes that is an incredible £40 off!  You can view an image of the toy at this  price below.

David Hartman- Supervising Director / Art Director
Jose Lopez- Character Designer / Supervisor
Vince Toyama- BG Designer/ Supervisor
Christophe Vacher- Color Design Supervisor
Shaunt Nigoghossian - Director /SB Artist
Todd Waterman - Director / SB Artist
Walter Gatus - Character Designer


Please let us know if you have any other question and we will be happy to answer them!

Thank you,
Jason Enright
Emerald Knights Comcis and Games
4116 W. Burbank Blvd.
Burbank CA 91505

www.ekcomcisandgames.com

• ­Character Designs for Alien
• Character Designs for Artimus
• Character Designs for Apache
• Character Designs for Autocrusher
• Character Designs for Autojetter
• Character Designs for Autolauncher
• Character Designs for Autostinger 

The CSL group of companies has sealed a deal to bring Transformers: Dark of the Moon branded mobile phones to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India and Thailand this autumn.

Meanwhile, Spearmark will make Transformers Prime and My Little Pony back to school and household items, including lunchware, drinkware and lighting. The products will launch in summer 2012 in the UK and Ireland.

Finally, Ingo will create Nerf branded electronic accessories, rolling out in Spain this winter and following in the rest of Europe in spring 2012.

It's taken far longer then we had wanted, but we can final reveal the start of our big Beast Wars Second celebration by showing you the character sheets for Lio Convoy and Galvatron from our Beast Wars II bible.

The sheets show various character designs including very early concepts for Galvatron, which are far more detailed and Anime styled in nature.

Hasbro Inc have now issued their Quarterly 10k report, a full copy can by viewed here.  In summary, revenue is up for Hasbro in the last quarter however 9 month revenue and profit is down on last year.

On the Transformers side, increased sale within the US and Canada were used to prop up declining sales in NERF and other lines with the same being true internationally.  Hasbro's increased licensing, when it came to entertainment, was driven by growth from licenses within the Transformers product.  Below you will find an extract covering the main breakdown.

U.S. AND CANADA SEGMENT

The U.S. and Canada segment's net revenues for the quarter ended September 25, 2011 decreased 7% to $764,562 from $825,483 for the quarter ended September 26, 2010. The decrease in the quarter was a result of decreased revenues in the boys, girls, and games and puzzles categories, partially offset by increased revenues in the preschool category. The increase in the preschool category primarily relates to sales related to the introduction of a number of product offerings under the Sesame Workshop license during the quarter. Increases in the preschool category were partially offset by decreased revenues from

PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, and PLAY-DOH product lines. The decrease in the boys category primarily relates to decreased sales of STAR WARS, MARVEL, and NERF products, partially offset by increased sales of BEYBLADE and TRANSFORMERS, including KRE-O products. The decrease in the girls category primarily relates to decreased sales of LITTLEST PET SHOP and FURREAL FRIENDS products, partially offset by increased sales of BABY ALIVE, EASY BAKE, and MY LITTLE PONY products. The decrease in the games and puzzles category primarily relates to lower sales of board games, partially offset by higher sales of MAGIC: THE GATHERING.

U.S. and Canada segment net revenues for the nine months ended September 25, 2011 were $1,660,664 compared to $1,694,713 for the nine months ended September 26, 2010. The decrease in the nine months ended September 25, 2011 was the result of decreased revenues in the girls and games and puzzles category, partially offset by increased revenues in the boys category. The increase in the boys category primarily relates to increased sales of BEYBLADE products, which were reintroduced in late 2010, as well as higher sales of TRANSFORMERS products as a result of the June 2011 movie release, TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON. These increases were partially offset by decreased revenues from MARVEL, NERF and STAR WARS products. Decreases in the girls category were primarily driven by lower sales of LITTLEST PET SHOP products, partially offset by higher sales of MY LITTLE PONY and BABY ALIVE products while decreases in the games and puzzles category primarily relate to lower sales of board games partially offset by increased sales of MAGIC: THE GATHERING.

U.S. and Canada segment operating profit decreased to $128,789, or 16.8% of net revenues, for the quarter ended September 25, 2011 compared to $158,763, or 19.2% of net revenues, for the quarter ended September 26, 2010. For the nine months ended September 25, 2011 operating profit decreased to $227,526, or 13.7% of net revenues, from $278,635, or 16.4% of net revenues, for the nine months ended September 26, 2010. For the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011 operating profit was negatively impacted by a the decline in net revenues as well as higher royalty and selling, distribution and administration costs. Operating profit margin for the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011 was negatively impacted by a decline in net revenues and higher selling, distribution and administration costs. In addition, the operating profit margin for the nine month period of 2011 was impacted by a higher mix of shipments of closeouts during the first half of the year, which represents carryover inventory from year end 2010. Although this inventory was written down last year, the subsequent sales have minimal to no profit.

INTERNATIONAL SEGMENT

International segment net revenues increased by 23% to $563,310 for the quarter ended September 25, 2011 from $458,917 for the quarter ended September 26, 2010. Net revenues for the nine months ended September 25, 2011 increased 27% to $1,192,113 from $942,047 for the nine months ended September 26, 2010. For the quarter ended September 25, 2011, International segment net revenues were positively impacted by currency translation of approximately $35,200, or 8%, as a result of the weaker U.S. dollar during the quarter. For the nine months ended September 25, 2011, International segment net revenues were positively impacted by currency translation of approximately $72,500, or 8%, as a result of the weaker U.S. dollar in the first nine months of 2011. Increased net

revenues in the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011 were driven by higher sales in the boys category primarily as a result of higher sales of BEYBLADE, NERF, and TRANSFORMERS products, partially offset by decreased sales of MARVEL and STAR WARS products. Revenues in the girls, games and puzzles and preschool categories decreased slightly. The decrease in the girls category was driven by decreased sales of LITTLEST PET SHOP products partially offset by increased sales of FURREAL FRIENDS and BABY ALIVE products. Decreases in the preschool category are primarily the result of lower sales of PLAYSKOOL products partially offset by sales related to the introduction of a number of product offerings under the Sesame Workshop license as well as higher sales of PLAY-DOH products. Decreases in the games and puzzles category were driven by decreased sales of board games, offset by higher revenues from MAGIC: THE GATHERING products in the quarter. International segment net revenues for the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011 increased in all regions, which includes Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin and South America.

International segment operating profit increased to $100,739, or 17.9% of net revenues, for the quarter ended September 25, 2011 from $70,818, or 15.4% of net revenues, for the quarter ended September 26, 2010. For the nine months ended September 25, 2011, operating profit increased to $132,756, or 11.1% of net revenues, from $79,984, or 8.5% of net revenues, for the nine months ended September 26, 2010. International segment operating profit was positively impacted by currency translation of approximately $4,300 and $6,500 for the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011, respectively. The increase in operating profit was primarily a result of the impact of increased revenues partially offset by higher royalty expenses as well as higher expenses as the result of the Company's investments in expanding its operations in emerging markets. Operating profit margin for the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011 was positively impacted by higher net revenues.

ENTERTAINMENT AND LICENSING SEGMENT

Entertainment and Licensing segment net revenues for the quarter ended September 25, 2011 increased 69% to $46,316 from $27,478 for the quarter ended September 26, 2010. Net revenues for the nine months ended September 25, 2011 was $98,144 compared to $83,038 for the nine months ended September 26, 2010. Licensing revenue related to entertainment brands tends to lag traditional toy and game revenue due to when licensing partners report their revenue to the Company. As a result, there was increased licensing revenue in the third quarter of 2011 related to the June 2011 movie release of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON. In addition to movie-related licensing revenue, licensing revenue related to movies and television programming increased as well. Included in revenues for the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011 is a one-time movie-related payment of $5,000 received from Universal Studios.

­TFW2005.com member Bignick1693 has posted a photograph of the Diamond reprint of the Botcon 2011 Stunti-con Job comic book that comes with a teaser for Botcon 2012.  The image, which is mirrored below features an image of Reveal The Shield Optimus Prime and the following tag line:

An enemy thought defeated
A power thought to be legend
At Botcon 2012, Earth's survival rests
in the hands of just one robot...­

Here's an interesting bit of industy news for you, especially for the heavy handed of you.

Good news for parents, but possibly bad news for glue manufacturers – a new material has been created that will mend itself when broken or cut.

Supra B is being developed by chemical company AkzoNobel, the firm behind brands such as Hammerite and Dulux, in conjunction with scientists at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands.

The new material, which is known as a supramolecular polymer, has been called Supra B.

Here's the science bit: It takes advantage of a kind of bonding that gives water its viscosity and surface tension. Known as hydrogen bonding, it uses the attraction between hydrogen atoms and other atoms such as oxygen or nitrogen, according to The Daily Telegraph.

"We are working on polymers that are able to heal themselves," said Graham Armstrong, corporate director of research, development and innovation at AkzoNobel.

The first wave of Transformers Prime has been released in Hong Kong retails as well as hobby shops by members of HK-TF

The first figures that are sighted in Hong Kong include the following:

- Deluxe Class Bumblebee
- Deluxe Class Starscream
- Deluxe Class Arcee
- Deluxe Class Cliffjumper
- Transformers Prime Entertainment Pack - Optimus Prime & Megatron with Zak, Raf and Miko

A review of the CHMS Xtransbots Glider has been posted YouKu, a Chinese video sharing / social network. Whilst the reviewer ris speaking Chinese the video us all a great look at thhis up-scaled version of the JaziToys Powerglide figure. You can virew the video below