Thanks to the Hasbro Transformers team for this round of Q&A!
1) The upcoming Masterpiece Grimlock is going to include the crown, which was an exclusive accessory, but not the apron and drink tray that came with the standard Takara release. Why is this?
Overall, we decided to not make our version completely identical to the version that Takara had previously released. The team wanted to create our own unique version by revising the deco and adding in new accessories including the sword, missile launcher and crown. Although the apron and drink tray are cool accessories, we felt that all of the new pieces would really help make this a unique and differentiated item.
2) Does the “Human Alliance” concept begin and end with the movie line? I know a lot of collectors would love to see this idea opened up to include G1 characters, if not the whole gamut.
In the current Human Alliance concept it does begin and end with the movie line. While there have been human characters throughout the TF lore, the movies have just taken this Transformers/human interaction to the next level and makes a lot of sense to celebrate. It is not to say that we won’t ever take this concept outside of the movie line, but the it just does not make sense at this point in time.