Sort of kind of like the movieverse, more or less tied to the "Aligned"
continuity of novels like Transformers Exodus of the various War for
Cybertron games, and done in full CGI that looks like CGI. The toy line
didn't hit stores until after the first season had finished, but they did get
a few convention exclusives out ahead of that.
Bolded names got Strongly Recommended, while italic indicates a
rating of neutral or worse.
Comic Cons got to be the first place you could buy TF:Prime
toys, although Hasbro ended up making rather too many and selling them online
later.
Cyberverse this time around is series 2, and replaces the
C-clip weapons with clear rubbery plastic weapons that can be swapped and
stacked kind of like Energon weapons.
- Wave 1: Bumblebee, Vehicon (car), Arcee,
Autobot Ratchet, Cliffjumper.
- Wave 2: Breakdown, Evac, Soundwave, Mirage. Note,
Breakdown is the only Prime figure in the wave: Evac is from Transformers:
the Ride, Soundwave and Mirage are tail-end DotM toys in Prime packaging.
Soundwave is a slight retool and in overly dark G1-inspired colors, Mirage is
a minor retool of RotF Sideways. Review updated after I found Mirage on
clearance and decided to pick it up.
- Wave 3: All redeco wave, and I only bought Flamewar,
but I took enough pictures in-store to comment some on the other two.
Hyperspeed Wheeljack ("Marlboor"-Diaclone inspired redeco), Quickstrike
Bumblebee (yet another black with yellow redeco, yawn), Decepticon
Flamewar (Arcee redeco, and Arcee stalker).
- Wave 4: Another all-redeco wave, I left orange Knock
Out on the shelf. Fallback (tan Breakdown redeco), Tailgate (white
Cliffjumper redeco), Knock Out (orange color scheme).
- Beast Hunters Wave 1: Two definitely made for Beast
Hunters, two feel like they were leftover designs. Smokescreen (sports car),
Twinstrike (two-headed Sinnertwin homage dragon), Airachnid (stealth
helicopter), Bumblebee (armored up BH version).
- Beast Hunters Wave 2: Soundwave (drone), Prowl
(Smokescreen redeco), Hun-Gurrr (two-headed G1 Hun-Gurrr homage dragon) and
reships of Smokescreen and Bumblebee.
- Beast Hunters Wave 3: Blight (dragon), Windrazor
(dragon) and Air Vehicon (scalper bait, er, flying car).
- Beast Hunters Wave 3.5: Adds in Rippersnapper (dragon). Appended
the review to the Wave 3 file.
- Predacons Rising Set 1: Cindersaur (redeco of
Rippersnapper in G1 Cindersaur colors), Smokescreen (G1 deco).
- Predacons Rising Set 2: Night Shadow Bumblebee
(guess), Blight (in a possible Sparkstalker-homage deco). Worth picking up
on clearance.
- Abominus: Combined form of Hun-Grrr, Twinstrike,
Blight, Windrazor and either Rippersnapper or Cindersaur. Reviewed initially
using Predacons Rising Cindersaur in place of the
not-yet-released-at-the-time Rippersnapper. Updated 9/20/13 with the
Predacons Rising Abominus gift set.
Bigger, with larger clear plastic weapons, and also with
connections to let their torsos light up when connected to LED pipes from the
vehicle sets.
- Wave 1: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream,
Bulkhead. All good, none great. The clear plastic gimmick is a problem for
all but Starscream, IMO.
- Wave 2: Ironhide (TF:P aesthetic), Dreadwing.
Ironhide doesn't quite work as a Commander, really needed to be at least the
size of an old Scout class.
- Wave 3: Nightwatch Optimus Prime (redeco, new
swords), Ultra Magnus (truck).
- Wave 4: Battle Tactics Bulkhead (redeco, new hand
cannon), Skyquake (Dreadwing redeco, new weapon).
- Beast Hunters Wave 1: Optimus Prime (truck),
Predaking (dragon), Bulkhead (extensive retool). The clear plastic gimmick
was dropped in favor of shooting missiles that don't shoot very well.
- BH Wave 2: Hardshell (Insecticon), Trailcutter
(Ironhide retool).
- BH Wave 3: Starscream (extensive retool),
Shockwave (tank).
- BH Wave 4: Huffer (redeco of Trailcutter), Jungle
Blade Optimus Prime (green redeco with new weapon).
The default size, as usual. After the limited release
First Edition, they changed the packaging to "Robots in Disguise" (often
called "PRID"). Beast Hunters showed up the next year.
- First Edition Wave: Only available at Toys R Us and some other smaller
retailers, big box stores are waiting for the next wave. Bumblebee, Arcee
(both the same molds as the NYCC set) and Starscream. I later got First Edition Cliffjumper, but
it broke the first time I tried transforming it (bad design and probably
aging plastic), recommend avoiding it.
- PRID Wave 1: Bumblebee, Cliffjumper,
Wheeljack, Soundwave.
- PRID Wave 1.5: Swaps in Arcee and Autobot
Ratchet for some of the doubles in wave 1.
- PRID Wave 2: More reships (including a Bumblebee,
sigh), plus Hot Shot (Bumblebee retool), Knock Out, Vehicon.
- PRID Wave 3: More Hot Shot, plus Dead End (head-swap
on Wheeljack), Stealth Strike Bumblebee (silver-gray redeco) and Airachnid
(helicopter, no spider mode).
- PRID Wave 4: Sergeant Kup (redeco of not-yet-released
Ironhide) and Decepticon Rumble, plus a bunch of repackaged stuff from the
first three waves.
- Beast Hunters Wave 1: Bumblebee, Soundwave,
Lazerback (dragon), Wheeljack. Except for Lazerback, they're all extensive
retools with spiky bitz, color-swirled plastics and new weapons.
- BH Wave 2: Starscream (jet), Ripclaw (dragon),
Bulkhead (armored truck), Smokescreen (sportscar). All are entirely new
molds, although all of Smokescreen's Hunter gear is removable, suggesting a
leftover mold design from the PRID stuff.
- BH Wave 3: Ratchet (TMII Dinobot inspired retool),
Dreadwing (beasty bits on jet), Skystalker (dragon).
- BH Wave 4: Vertebreak (tigerstriped redeco of
Lazerback with no retooling), Knock Out (crocodilian retool), Arcee
(batwinged retool).
- BH Wave 5: Prowl (retool of Smokescreen),
Night Shadow Bumblebee (redeco of BH Bumblebee, not purchased).
- Entertainment Pack: A two-pack of First Edition Optimus Prime and
Megatron, with PVC figures of all three human kids. Exclusive to Toys R Us
and some smaller stores, as with other Deluxes.
- First Edition Optimus Prime, Bulkhead: Another TRU-et-al exclusive.
- PRID Wave 1: Optimus Prime and Megatron with light-up weapons.
- PRID Wave 2: Bulkhead (different mold from FE) and
Starscream.
- PRID "Wave 3": This is a weird one. They took the four above, and then
shipped out three different assortments replacing either Bulkhead or
Starscream with one new toy. This ensured that everything in this wave was
shortpacked.
- Dreadwing: Fighter jet with a rubber head. A
Skyquake redeco may or may not get released in America, but I won't be
getting it.
- Ultra Magnus: Never appeared in the show, but got two
toys. Go figure.
- Thundertron: A Star Seeker, robot pirate
lion from the novel Exiles. So why isn't he in the Generations line? Beats me.
- Beast Hunters Wave 1:
- Predaking: Leader of the new Predacons
faction, he turns into a dragon with optional extra heads a la Cybertron
Scourge.
- Optimus Prime: Unlike a lot of the Autobots, this
is not a spiking-up of his previous Voyager mold, it's an entirely new mold
with a different kind of truck mode.
- Beast Hunters Later Waves: (they kinda blurred)
- Shockwave: Shipped with more of Optimus Prime and
Predaking in wave 2 of Beast Hunters, but has that "delayed design" feel in
that all the beast-huntery spiky bits are removable.
- Grimwing: An Ursagryph, decent except for some
torso problems.
- Ultra Magnus: Retool of PRiD Voyager Optimus Prime
with a flight pack that feels like it was designed for an early attempt to
just retool Prime himself.
- Megatron: Extensive retool with a Seacon look to
it.
- Series 3 Predaking: Part of a last gasp before
the Age of Extinction toys hit, a Commander-inspired design at Weaponizer
size but without stupid gimmicks or engineering that exceeds Hasbro QC.
Looks a bit knockoffy, but if you want a Predaking toy from Beast Hunters,
this is the one to get.
- Cyberverse Playsets:
- Wave 1: Star Hammer (Autobot Spaceship) with
Wheeljack, Energon Driller with Knock Out.
The vehicles unfold into battle mode, with LED-lit cables that can attach to
Cyberverse weapons or to pegs on the backs of the Commander figures.
- Wave 1.5: Bumblebee Battle Suit: Originally listed as Bumblebee Maximus.
Was retooled into the Apex Hunter Armor, the light-up gimmick of the sort
seen on Star Hammer and Energon Driller replaced by missiles. In its
assortment it supposedly shipped with Energon Driller. Comments appended to
Apex Hunter Armor review.
- Wave 2: Apex Hunter Armor with Breakdown, Sky Claw with Smokescreen: Apex Armor turns into a "battle
station" like the Bumblebee Battle Suit (and is in fact a retool of that
toy), and comes with a green Breakdown redeco. Sky Claw is a jet/spaceship
that opens up into a battle station, with a blue Smokescreen.
I have largely gone off the larger sizes, any reviews here
are likely to be guest reviews. However, I'll probably get the Cyberverse
playsets at this price point.
- Weaponizers Wave 1: Optimus Prime and Bumblebee with
weapons that can be deployed in either mode, a la the Battle Ops Bumblebee
from RotF. $30 price point, they're like simplified Leaders. I don't plan
to get Bumblebee, it's kinda ugly.
- Weaponizers Wave 2: Just redecoes and retools of wave 1. Jungle themed
Optimus, night attack talking BB. I passed on them.
- Optimus Maximus: A big Cyberverse base that folds up into a blocky
Optimus Prime that's reminiscent of the GoBots power suit combiner. $35
price point. I was unimpressed when seeing it in the store, and am giving
this a pass.
- Ultimate Beast Hunter Optimus Prime: $60 price
point, I got it on clearance at $25 and found it barely worth that. Big, but
lacking in paint or quality.
- Ultimate Predaking: This was a Target exclusive, and the local one sold
out before it hit clearance price, so I never got it. I'm happy with the
simplified Voyager, though.
- 10th Anniversary War Breakdown and (Jet) Vehicon:
These toys were never released at regular retail in the U.S. (Breakdown
didn't fit into the size classes, and Jet Vehicon was sort of a tail end
thing), but this Pulse exclusive set releases them along with their
Japanese-version "Arms Micron" partners (yay) and their foil sticker sheets
(ugh) as part of a 10th anniversary observance. They also released Hades
Megatron, a retool/redeco of the Voyager Megatron with two Arms Microns, but
I skipped on that.
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