This is the latest in a series (of indefinite length and regularity) of blog posts memorializing cancelled toys. Our figure today is Hasbro's Classics Cosmos.
As mentioned in today's Transformers Universe 2.0 Cosmos review, concept art was created for the original Classic line by Don Figueroa, but was rejected for being too boring (Hasbro's words, not ours.
The fan reaction when the art was shown off at BotCon convinced the higher-ups to reconsider, though, so the design was resurrected for the Titanium Series, which saw many "popular with fans, not with real people" designs come to life.
The 6" Titanium figures had poor distribution, and eventually future releases were cancelled. Resin hardcopies of several figures were displayed at BotCon 2007 (in robot mode, with photos of the altmodes), since that was the only way fans would ever get to see the work that had been done. But comparing those cancelled versions to the one we got now, you can definitely see the connections.
