Transforming Toys
LEGENDS
---HFTD WAVE 1: Hunt for the Decepticons, in gold packaging rather
than red. Rampage (non-combiner new mold in red), Ravage, plus redecos of
Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. 6/30/10: TRU in Torrance CA, Danbury CT,
Waterbury CT, Whitestone Bridge NY. 7/1: TRU in Burbank CA. 7/5: TRU in
Hawthorne CA. 7/16: TRU in Muncie IN, Redlands CA. 7/19: TRU in Bloomington
IL, Peoria IL. 7/24: TRU in Topeka KS (someone beat me to the Ravages and
Rampages, sigh). 7/28: Target in Manhattan KS. 7/30: Target in Muncie IN.
8/1: Target in Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA, San Pedro CA, Decatur
IL. 8/14: Walmart in Decatur IL. 8/20: Walmart in Manhattan KS. 8/21:
Walmart in Junction City KS. 8/28: Walmart and Target in Topeka KS.
---HFTD WAVE 2: Tracker Hound (black and gold redeco of the previous
Hound Legends), Override (blue redeco of Sideways), Long Haul (non-combiner
version), Sandstorm (tan Beachcomber repaint), plus possible reships.
8/24/10: Target in Torrance CA.
---TRU EXCLUSIVE DEVASTATOR: A unifed green redeco of the Legends
combiner, but without much of any other color. The main accent seems to be
white or light gray, rather than purple. $29.99. 8/25/10: San Jose
CA, Torrance CA, Culver City CA.
SCOUT
---HFTD WAVE 1: Hunt For The Decepticons, in gold packaging design
rather than red. Backfire (Knock Out redeco), Hubcap (50s muscle car),
Crankstart (Dune Runner redeco), Brimstone (chopped motorcycle). 6/27/10:
Walgreens in Torrance CA. (Walgreens has a mixed batch of HFTD and older
waves, though, and not the proper Wave 1.) 7/11: TRU in Los Feliz CA. 7/16:
TRU in Redlands CA. 7/26: TRU in Cross-County Plaza NY. 7/28: Target in
Manhattan KS. 7/30: Target in Muncie IN. 8/1: Target in Manhattan Beach CA,
Redondo Beach CA, San Pedro CA, Decatur IL. 8/13: Walmart in Manhattan KS
($8.97). 8/14: Walmart in Decatur IL. 8/21: Walmart in Junction City KS.
8/28: Walmart, TRU and Target in Topeka KS.
DELUXE
---NEST WAVE 3: Red Rampage redeco and Evac (redeco of Blazemaster)
are shortpacked in boxes mixing toys from the previous two waves (Tuner
Mudflap, Strike Mission Sideswipe, Brawn, Ratchet, Alliance Bumblebee).
4/16/10: K-Mart in Big Bear CA. 4/25: Ralph's Market in East
Torrance CA. 6/12: Not a sighting, just saying that this one may be a
phantom wave, appearing only in a couple of places because everyone else is
flooded with the first two waves and would rather not have more TFs to
compete with Iron Man and Toy Story until there's some new-new stuff. 8/28:
The red Ravage will be showing up in a TRU-exclusive three-pack soon.
---HFTD WAVE 1: The next packaging variation is gold-colored, The Hunt
for the Decepticons. Wave includes, but may not be limited to, Deep Sea
Ravage (redeco), Ironhide (new mold), Jetblade (Dirge redeco), Battle Blade
Bumblebee (new mold!). 6/12/10: K-Mart in Banning CA. $11.99,
suggesting Walmart and Target will go with the $11 or even $10 point. 6/30:
Available at Toysrus.com, TRU in Torrance CA, Danbury CT, Waterbury CT,
Whitestone Bridge NY. 7/1: TRU in Burbank CA. 7/11: TRU in Los Feliz CA.
7/12: K-Mart in Torrance CA. 7/15: TRU in Muncie IN. 7/16: TRU in Redlands
CA. 7/17: K-Mart in Manhattan KS ($11.99). Picked up BBBB, decided to wait
for a lower price on Jetblade. 7/19: K-Mart and TRU in Bloomington IL; TRU
in Peoria IL. 7/24: TRU and K-Mart in Topeka KS. 7/30: Target in Muncie
IN. 8/1: Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA, San Pedro CA, Decatur IL.
8/3: Target in Manhattan KS. 8/14: Walmart in Decatur IL. 8/21: Walmart in
Junction City KS. 8/23: Walmart in Clemson CS. 8/28: Target and Walmart in
Topeka KS.
---HFTD WAVE TWO: Tuner Skids (redeco), Elita-1 (redeco), Hailstorm
(missile truck), Sidearm Sideswipe (new mold, with guns). 8/28/10:
Walmart in Fresno CA. 9/2: Walmart in Torrance CA got just Tuner Skids
mixed in with some wave 1, it might be a running 1.5 wave change.
---TARGET DELUXE TWO-PACKS: Exclusive redecos sold as two-packs for
$19.99 at Target, part of their summer reset. Arcee (magenta recolor)
vs. Tailwhip (Blazemaster in white Shanghai police helicopter colors),
Sideways vs. the Ice Cream Truck Twins (both tweaked decos), Sideswipe
vs. Barricade (Sideswipe has some blue in him now, Barricade is a European
police deco bit with Shanghai lettering), Bumblebee vs. Thrust (lightning
bolt deco on BB, white Thrust). 7/28/10: Manhattan KS. 7/30: Muncie
IN. 8/1: Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA. 8/28: Topeka KS.
---WALMART EXCLUSIVE PACKS: A Deluxe and a Legend packed together.
Desert Ruins Brawl (a yellow Deluxe Brawl with a Legends Jolt) and Bombing
Run Bumblebee (some version of Deluxe Bumblebee, plus Legends Grindor).
$15-17 depending on the store. 8/15/10: Walmart in Diamond Bar CA.
8/21: Junction City KS (only the Brawl pack was on the shelf). 8/22:
Torrance CA. 8/28: Topeka KS.
---ACTIVATORS WAVE 1: Shellformery Activator versions of Bumblebee,
Optimus Prime and Megatron. 6/29/10: TRU at Cross County Plaza NY.
6/30: Toysrus.com has them for $10.99, so they're not Scout sized like TF:A
Activators. TRU in Torrance CA, Danbury CT, Waterbury CT, Whitestone Bridge
NY. 7/5: TRU in Hawthorne CA. 7/16: TRU in Muncie IN, Redlands CA. 7/24:
TRU in Topeka KS. I decided to pass for now. 7/28: Target in Manhattan KS
($9.99, still passing for now). 7/30: Target in Muncie IN. 8/14: Walmart in
Decatur IL. 8/21: Walmart in Junction City KS. 8/28: Walmart and Target in
Topeka KS.
---FAB 5: Cyber Pursuit Arcee (new mold), Night Blades Sideswipe (gray
and green redeco), Power Armor Optimus Prime (black-heavy redeco of the
two-blade version, meant to evoke the Jetfire combination in robot mode). No
direct sightings sent to me yet, but reviews of Arcee are popping up. She's
apparently not that bad. 12/19/09: Walmart in Junction City KS. FABs
are finally included in the Deluxe sale at Walmart, $10 each. 12/25: Walmart
in Buena Park CA. 1/4/10: Walmart in Cerritos CA.
---FAB 6: Offroad Skids, Rally Mudflap, Spark Blast Jolt. All are
redecos.
---GRAVITY BOTS 3: Bolt Bumblebee and Skids return, with Barricade
added into the mix. 3/5/10: Walmart in Junction City KS.
SPEED STARS STEALTH FORCE: These transform if you're willing to push
the definition, so I'll put 'em here. Speed Stars seems to be replacing RPM
as the "cars that don't become robots, exactly" line, and Stealth Force
evokes the old MASK toys by having vehicles that deploy a bunch of weapons.
Speed Stars also seems to be getting used to bring in characters who are
otherwise not getting movie line toys, perhaps to try to get the adult
collectors to shell out for 'em.
---BASIC WAVE 1: These are smaller cars, about 3.5" long, which
transform when you pull on some part of the back end. $10 price point.
Bumblebee, Soundwave (in TF:A-style pseudo-Scion vehicle mode), Silverstreak
(I guess they lost Bluestreak again) and Hound are in the first batch. The
action is a bit balky, and I wasn't impressed enough to drop $10 on any of
these. 7/31/10: Target in Manhattan KS. They're shelved in the car
aisle, like RPMs. 8/1: Target in Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA, San
Pedro CA, Decatur IL. 8/2: TRU in Monrovia CA, West LA CA. 8/10: K-Mart in
Manhattan KS. 8/12: TRU in Torrance CA. 8/28: Walmart, TRU and Target in
Topeka KS.
---DELUXE WAVE 1: Pushing a button on these larger (about 6-7") cars
makes them automatically deploy their weapons and spread out via stored
spring energy (slowly, not "snap out" style). An included removable pull tab
is used to reset them. The first wave is Megatron tank and Autobot Gears
(more of a Hummer than Escalade, and in medium blue rather than silver). $15
price point. 7/31/10: Target in Manhattan KS. 8/1: Target in
Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA, San Pedro CA, Decatur IL. 8/2: TRU in
West Hollywood CA. 8/10: K-Mart in Manhattan KS. 8/28: Walmart and Target
in Topeka KS.
VOYAGER
---HFTD WAVE 1: Seaspray (hovercraft, new mold) and Night Ops Ratchet
(redeco in black and green like the RPM). Some case assortments replace a
Ratchet with Payload (yellow redeco of Long Haul). 6/29/10: TRU in Cross
County Plaza NY. 6/30: All three are available at Toysrus.com. Warning,
their current "buy one get one half price" means two copies of the same
inventory item. So two Seasprays means half off one of them, but if you buy
Seaspray and NR Ratchet, both are full price. TRU in Whitestone Bridge NY.
7/1: TRU in Torrance CA (Payload variant). 7/5: TRU in Torrance CA. 7/12:
TRU in Muncie IN. 7/16: TRU in Redlands CA. 7/19: TRU in Bloomington IL,
Peoria IL (both places no Seaspray). 7/24: TRU in Topeka KS (no Seaspray).
7/28: Target in Manhattan KS (all three). 7/30: Target in Muncie IN. 8/1:
Target in Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA, San Pedro CA, Decatur IL.
8/10: K-Mart in Manhattan KS. 8/23: Walmart in Clemson SC. 8/28: Walmart
and Target in Topeka KS.
---HFTD WAVE 2: Banzaitron (redeco of Bludgeon), Battle Blades Optimus
Prime (new mold), reships of Payload and Seaspray. 8/13/10: Walmart in
Torrance, CA. 8/14: Walmart in Decatur IL. 8/15: Walmart in Redlands
CA. 8/21: Walmart in Junction City KS; TRU in Hawthorne CA. 8/23: TRU in
Los Feliz CA.
VOYAGER STEALTH FORCE: Optimus Prime will sell at the $25 price point,
with battery-powered transformations, plus sound and light. 8/28/10:
Walmart in Topeka KS. I wasn't all that impressed.
HUMAN ALLIANCE PACKS: Like the Screen Battles packs of last time,
these feature human (or Frenzy) figures alongside Transformers. However,
this time the figures are at least minimally poseable, and the Transformers
seem to be redesigned to let the figures sit inside them, rather than being
reissues. $30 price point. Several of the smaller cars come with
Scout-sized motorcycles (Arcee, Chromia, etc).
---BARRICADE: With Frenzy, initially shipping with a lot of Skids, but
probably taking over a larger chunk of the case later on. 2/4/10: Walmart
in Fresno CA. Reportedly "awesome". 2/6: Walmart in Topeka KS,
Springfield MO. Frenzy looks a little "off" though. 2/16: Target in
Kingston NY. 2/18: Target in Rockville MD. 2/19: Target in Torrance CA.
2/25: Walmart in Muncie IN. 3/6: Walmart in Junction City KS. 3/23: Target
in Manhattan KS.
---MUDFLAP: with Chromia (new mold) and Agent Simmons. Mudflap shares
a lot of parts with Skids, reportedly. 5/9/10: TRU in Nanaimo BC
(sighter suspects accidental early stocking, since it wasn't in the
computer). 7/5: TRU in Hawthorne CA.
---JAZZ: with Lennox and motorcycle that transforms into Jazz's
"Cresent Cannon". In "Gold Box" packaging. 7/30/10: Target in Muncie
IN. 8/1: Target in Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA. 8/2: Target in
Pasadena CA. 8/3: Target in Gaithersburg MD, Manhattan KS. Case assortment
was half and half with Bumblebee, both in new packaging. 8/14: Target in
Mt. Kisko NY. 8/15: Walmart in Redlands CA. 8/16: Walmart in Manhattan KS.
8/21: Walmart in Junction City KS. 8/28: Walmart and Target in Topeka KS.
LEADER
---HFTD WAVE 1: Optimus Prime (remolded with hook-swords), Starscream.
6/30/10: Available at Toysrus.com. Also, TRU in Torrance CA, Whitestone
Bridge NY. Warning, the "buy one get one half price" sale on at the
moment only applies to the exact same thing, not two of the same type.
So if you buy Starscream, you can get a second Starscream half off, not a
half-off Prime. (Actually, it might not be "exactly the same thing," but
it's somehow weirdly restricted.) 7/1: TRU in Burbank CA, Monrovia CA
("Hooker Prime" only in both cases). 7/5: TRU in Hawthorne CA. 7/12: TRU in
Muncie IN. 7/16: TRU in Torrance CA, Redlands CA. 7/19: TRU in Bloomington
IL, Peoria IL. 7/24: TRU in Topeka KS. 7/30: Target in Muncie IN. 7/31:
Target in Manhattan KS. 8/1: Target in Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA,
San Pedro CA. 8/14: Walmart in Decatur IL. 8/21: Walmart in Junction City
KS. 8/24: Walmart in Manhattan KS. 8/28: Walmart and Target in Topeka KS.
BIGGER
---BATTLE OPS BUMBLEBEE: $60 price point, an entirely new mold that's
slightly bigger than Leader class and has sound and light gimmicks, including
a right forearm that converts to a blaster. Flipping down the battle mask
changes which sounds are made, and the shoulder cannons can deploy in vehicle
mode a la Cannon Bumblebee. 7/9/10: K-Mart in El Paso TX. 7/16: TRU
in Torrance CA. 7/31: Target in Manhattan KS. 8/1: TRU in Muncie IN; Target
in Mt. Kisco NY, Manhattan Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA, Decatur IL. 8/2: TRU
in Monrovia CA, West LA CA; Target in Pasadena CA. 8/10: K-Mart in Manhattan
KS. 8/13: Walmart in Manhattan KS. 8/21: Walmart in Junction City KS.
8/28: Walmart, TRU and Target in Topeka KS.
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NonTransforming Toys
Membership in this category can seem kinda arbitrary, and sometimes it will
be. Basically, if it's a robot or vehicle toy, or a weapon, but it doesn't
"really" transform (whatever that ends up meaning to me), it goes here.
Stuff that's still toys, but definitely not of the action figure or vehicle
style (like kites or video games) will go on the right-hand column.
UNDER $10
SPEED STARS: Successor line to the RPMs, with sorta-transforming
vehicles over in the left-hand column, and non-transforming toys that'll be
here. The Metal Heroes are the cheapo level here, like the previous RPM cars
that stand on end to reveal a robot mode image, but now the shells are die
cast metal.
---METAL HEROES SERIES: Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Highway Patrol
Barricade (in a new weird red and silver scheme I can't place), red Ironhide,
Soundwave (Scion-ish car) and Jetfire. These are 01 through 06 of an eight
toy series, but the packaging doesn't indicate what the other two will be.
Fairly standard Hot Wheels style packaging, the faction symbol discs are no
longer included in the toys. 8/10/10: K-Mart in Manhattan KS. $2.99
there. I got Jetfire (not a lot of metal, wingtips fold up for storage) and
Soundwave (has the TFA patterns molded, but the paint is a generic tattoo
swoosh, gonna need to repaint mine). 8/12: TRU in Torrance CA, but just
Prime and Bumblebee as a sort of preview wave. 8/13: TRU in Hawthorne CA,
another restricted set (Prime, BB, Barricade). TRU in Torrance CA now has
the full assortment, though. 8/15: An assortment of just Bumblebee and Skids
found at Walmart in Diamond Bar CA. 8/16: There is at least one report of a
Dollar Tree getting some of these mixed in with their old RPMs.
---NEST ALLIANCE SERIES: Right now, it looks like just a Bumblebee as
a preview figure mixed in with the Metal Heroes series. It claims to be a
three figure series overall. 8/10/10: K-Mart in Manhattan KS.
---BATTLE SERIES 2: Almost entirely redecos of RPM cars, some with new
names but no new molding to change the molded names. A few are Metal Heroes
(Prime, BB and Jetfire, as far as I can tell), the rest are plastic. Optimus
Prime vs. an olive drab Bonecrusher, Nightwatch Bumblebee (black with yellow
details) vs. Patrol Barricade (cobalt blue, not the same as the single pack),
Jetfire vs. Megatron (dark blue dye on silver), Sideswipe (redeco)
vs. Wreckloose (Sideways in neon green, but his mold still says Sideways on
the underside), and an orange Long Haul (I forget his opponent). $4.50 for
two, and overpriced at that. 8/28/10: Walmart in Topeka KS; TRU in
Hawthorne CA.
SPEED STARS LIGHT AND SOUND: Non-transforming, but tilt them up like
the Metal Heroes to reveal a molded robot image on the bottom. They have
various light and sound gimmicks, and are chibi chunky vehicle modes about 4
to 5 inches long, $10 price point.
---WAVE 1: Optimus Prime and Autobot Skids. 8/21/10: Walmart in
Junction City KS.
$10-19
SPEED STARS LIGHT AND SOUND BUMBLEBEE: A Speed Stars toy that's
basically a chunky "tuned" version of Bumblebee about 9" long, twice as big
as the $10 version. It stands up to reveal a sculpted Bumblebee on the
bottom like the $3 cars, and has various light and sound gimmicks.
8/10/10: K-Mart in Manhattan KS. $19.99 there. 8/13: TRU in Torrance
CA.
$20-29
OPTIMUS PRIME ROLEPLAY SWORD: More like a big knife, but hey, kid
scale. $19.97 at Walmart, light and sound gimmicks are triggered by pressing
a button on the side of the hilt. 8/21/10: At Walmart in Junction City
KS. 8/28: Walmart in Topeka KS.
SPEED STARS TRACK SET: Replacing RPM as the no-robot-mode line, Speed
Stars has a new track set with a new Bumblebee for $24.99 7/31/10: Target
in Manhattan KS. 8/28: Walmart and Target in Topeka KS.
POWER BOTS: Non-transforming large figures with sound and light
features and some action gimmicks.
---WAVE 3: Stealth Bumblebee (tweaked and improved mold with better
detailing), Optimus Prime (with swords). 7/2/10: TRU in Torrance CA.
7/24: TRU in Topeka KS. 7/31: Target in Manhattan KS. 8/28: Walmart and
Target in Topeka KS.
$30 and up
---BUMBLEBEE TRIM PACKAGE: Camaro is now offering a $1000 trim package
for the appropriate Camaros that will give it Bumblebee's rally stripes
(which can also be had for about $500 alone) plus various Autobot symbols
here and there. It's just a glue-on/paint-on package, and won't make your
Camaro totally movie-accurate (Bumblebee has a few physical mods as well,
like oversized exhaust pipes).
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Other Merchandise
Note: I will be less detailed about sightings in this column.
READ IT
Nothing new of note.
PLAY IT
Nothing new of note.
DECORATE IT
PARTY WARE: The first movie stuff is slowly being replaced by updated
RotF materials. The usual cups, plates, stickers, temporary tattoos, etc.
There's also a $40 box set with (theoretically) enough for one full party.
The new hanging banner thing has a light-up-eyes Bumblebee battle mask in the
middle. 6/4/09: Walmart starting to swap over. 6/13: Most places are
swapped over. Walmart also has some sticker packs with trading card backing
for $2, wrapping paper, party bags, etc. Some stores have this in the
endcaps with the new toys. 6/20: Target has a four-pack of pencil-top
viewers for $3.99, unknown how many scenes they have, I didn't buy one. 8/1:
An improved Optimus Prime pinata is now available, $14 at Walmart. 3/23/10:
Target has a box of RotF sticker rolls that's shaped like Bumblebee's 2010
Camaro vehicle mode, $4.99.
POSTERS: 5/19/09: The first four are out, there's an Autobot one, a
Decepticon one, plus single-character ones for Bumblebee and Megatron.
Thoughts once I see 'em. 5/23: An 11"x17" lenticular motion "Real 3D" poster
of Optimus Prime is out, $9.97 at Walmart. It's fairly impressive. 6/14:
Okay, I've seen the endcap-hanger poster set for RotF at Walmart. $4.47
regular sized posters of the core Autobots, the new Autobots (Twins,
Sideswipe), Megatron, new Decepticons (Fallen, Ravage, Devastator), Ravage,
Bumblebee. A "Door Sized" extra wide (not extra tall, so I'm not sure what
doors are like in THEIR universe) poster of most of the characters for
$7.97. Passing for now, as I don't have a lot of blank wall space. :)
6/18: K-Mart has the smaller posters for $5.49. 7/11: TRU has wall stickers
for $12.99. 2/21/10: A colorable "Velvet Art" poster is $4.99 at K-Mart.
EAT IT
Nothing new of note.
WEAR IT
COSTUMES: 7/31/10: There's a new Optimus Prime boxed costume set
that's shelved as part of Target's endcap display in the toy aisle. 8/6:
They also have $7.99 Optimus Prime and Bumblebee masks in the reset.
BACKPACKS: 7/1/10: Toysrus.com lists a "Roller Backpack" for $16.99
with no picture yet. I'm guessing it's got movie licensing on it. And no,
"Roller Backpack" means it has wheels, not that it's a backpack of Roller.
Too bad, though. 7/24: Back to school season means that there's several
Transformers backpacks hitting shelves.
SLEEP WEAR: 4/27/09: Target has three-piece (pants, shirt, undershirt)
sleep suits with Revenge of the Fallen logos and art. They use that same
sort of "movie designs through a TF:A filter" style seen on placemats last
year. $14.99, boys' sizes 4-16. 11/14: Walmart has two-piece flannel
pyjamas with Optimus Prime and Bumblebee on them for $14, or just sleep pants
for $8. 1/6/10: Walmart has adult-sized sleep pants with either flaming
Autobot symbols or energized Decepticon symbols, $11.50 a pair.
OTHER
Nothing new of note.
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