Tied in with a Paramount Plus show, this series replaces Cyberverse as the
"for the kids, not adult collectors" main line. The premise is that G1
happened in the mid-80s, if with some character differences (Windblade was
around, Skywarp is female, stuff like that) and it ended with the destruction
of the Space Bridge and the stranding of the Earth-bound Cybertronians.
Megatron did a face turn and helped end the war, and the remaining
Decepticons are fugitives being rounded up by GHOST, a human/Cybertronian
alliance. The new story kicks off with the children of a former soldier
finding protoforms seeded on Earth, the Terrans, who bond emotionally via
gloves suspiciously like the Master Bracers.
The toys follow the same basic principles as Cyberverse, with gimmick-focused
Warriors, more show-accurate Deluxes, smaller gimmicky toys, and at least
initially nothing over the Voyager price point.
Bolded names got Strongly Recommended, while italic indicates a
rating of neutral or worse.
The cheapest size class. Chunky vehicles unfold into brickish little robots
whose gimmick is that they are finger puppets. Unless otherwise specified,
assume they're very mildly recommended at most.
- Wave 1: Optimus Prime (truck), Megatron (cargo
plane), Bumblebee (sportscar).
- Wave 2: Arcee (50s muscle car), Terran Twitch
(somewhat mangled communications van). Arcee's a good candidate for some
home painting, so mildly recommended if you're into that.
Yeah, this class ain't going away any time soon. It got a new gimmick,
though, with the robots auto-transforming to vehicle mode when they fall
over.
- Wave 1: Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Wheeljack. All are
barely above Neutral.
- Wave 2: Swindle (sorta Hummvee) and Soundwave (stealth bomber). Just
gonna capsule these.
- Swindle: Vehicle mode looks like it's on the way from the body shop to a
paint place, colors don't really match up. Really needed more paint apps to
work at all. Robot mode has some paint, but is kinda bland and relies too
much on "please ignore this chunk of not-robot between the limbs"
indulgence. Falling over doesn't always trigger the transformation. Don't
bother with this one.
- Soundwave: Also a bit underpainted, but has the advantage of being all in
the same color of plastic, so it's really only a matter of the robot mode
being a touch bland. Stealth bomber mode looks decent, the scissoring
transformation is nice, and it always transforms when it falls over. Still a
brick, but a more elegant one. Mildly recommended.
- Wave 3: Megatron (transport plane) and Terran Twitch (drone). More
Capsules. In both cases they're decent $10 gimmick-based toys, but the
Deluxes are better versions of both characters (and no, that's not
guaranteed).
- Megatron: Looks okay in robot (statue) mode from the front, and ONLY the
front, lots of backpack. The trigger mechanism is between his knees, so it's
hard to pick the figure up without auto-transforming it (the backpack makes
it hard to pick up by the torso). Decent vehicle mode, bit with obvious
robot boots stuck to the tail.
- Terran Twitch: Similar transformation to Megatron, altough her wing
struts end up as proper show-style shoulder rotors, and the transformation
trigger is on her belly so it's a lot easier to avoid. Decent statue from
any direction, really, although the tail rotors just sort of stick out behind
the thighs. Vehicle mode has the same problem as Megatron, with the robot
boots thickening the tail part.
As with Cyberverse, these are cheaper than Deluxes ($17 at Target, for
instance) but about the same size, sacrificing articulation for attack
gimmicks. They now ship in the open-faced sort of package that Ultras did in
Cyberverse.
- Wave 1: Optimus Prime (new mold, longnose
semitractor), Elita-1 (dark pink race-modded Hummer-type vehicle), and
Skywarp (redeco of Cyberverse first wave Starscream Warrior, even uses the same
package-back renders as on my Slipstream but with new colors) They somehow
made Skywarp worse than the original mold, and didn't even get close to the
right colors.
- Wave 2: Terran Thrash (motorcycle) and Starscream
(redeco of Cyberverse Warrior, second use of that mold in Earthspark).
Review also includes Wave 3.
- Wave 3: Terran Jawbreaker (pachycephalosaur) and Megatron (cargo plane).
The first three waves contain Build-A-Figure parts for the series enemy
Mandroid. Packaging similar to the later Cyberverse Deluxes, boxes with
small open windows.
- Wave 1: Megatron (cargo plane), Bumblebee (sports
car), and Terran Twitch (altmode is one of Wheeljack's drones).
- Wave 2: Optimus Prime (semitractor) and Shockwave
(G1-style redeco of Cyberverse Deluxe Shockwave).
- Wave 3: Grimlock (T.rex) and Terran Nightshade (art
deco owl).
The biggest size class at least initially, these are at the $35 price point,
and include little figures of humans who can attach to spots on the upper
torso to activate a gimmick that finishes transforming the upper body as it
spins. Underwhelming.
- Wave 1: Optimus Prime with Robby Malto, Bumblebee with
Mo Malto. No plans to buy Optimus or any future toys of this class.
Nothing else big showed up in 2023, but 2024 saw the addition of the
Cyber-Combiners, possibly as a replacement for Spin-Changers. Roleplay
Cyber-Sleeves also appeared, but I didn't get one.
- Wave 1: (Possibly wave Only) Terran Twitch &
Robbt Malto, Bumblebee & Mo Malto. The Maltos get exosuits probably
generated by their Cyber-Sleeves. These use a combination style similar to
that of Energon's Autobots, but not compatible with them.
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