SUB-LINES
(Official Transformers, but not the main line.)
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Target Exclusives
With TRU effectively gone (two stores opening by the end of
2019 doesn't really count), Target is stepping up on the exclusives. (While
not technically exclusive to them, BotBots only seem to be showing up at
Target most places too.)
BUZZWORTHY ONE-STEPS: Repackages of Cyberverse One-Step Wheeljack
(which is pretty good for a One-Step) and Shockwave (which is not).
5/1/22: Amarillo TX.
BUZZWORTHY CLIFFJUMPER and KUP: With Studio Series numbers
(Cliffjumper is 86-13, Kup keeps 86-02), but as part of the Buzzworthy line.
Kup has some paint changes (mainly an opaque windshield), Cliffjumper has new
paints and retooled arms. 12/6/21: Spotted at what I guess is a specialty
store in Asia. 2/20/22: Vauxhall NJ. 3/4: Amarillo TX (one of
each). 3/5: Braintree MA.
BUZZWORTHY SILVERSTREAK: With blue accents, appears to be in a
dedicated case. 3/30/22: Manhattan Beach CA, Springfield VA. 3/31:
Amarillo TX, Pensacola FL, South Carson CA. 4/2: Quincy MA, Braintree MA.
5/18: Gaithersburg MD.
BUZZWORTHY ORIGIN BUMBLEBEE: Earthrise-Deluxe-sized, but turns into
the saucer car thing from the very first G1 ep (with a lot of kibble, as one
might expect). 7/27/21: Charlotte NC. 8/4: Torrance CA, Manhattan
Beach CA. (Note, box has no window plastic, just an open space, so check
carefully that no pieces are missing.) 8/9: Pace FL. 11/24: Amarillo TX.
Walmart Exclusives
LEGACY DELUXE: All based on Kingdom molds. Nightprowler (Cheetor
redeco based on an unreleased Universe toy), Buzzsaw (head-swap redeco of
Waspinator, based on BW Buzzsaw), Sandstorm (tan and red redeco of Scorponok
based on a BotCon exclusive from the late 90s). 5/18/22: Amarillo TX.
VINTAGE BEAST WARS DELUXE WAVE 2: Tigatron, $23. Not an unreasonable
price for the size (unlike Scorponok or Rattrap), but still a pretty old mold
and there's a much better $30 Tigatron on shelves. 1/30/22: Walmart in
Amarillo TX. 2/3: Pace FL. 2/5: Weymouth MA.
VINTAGE BEAST WARS DELUXE WAVE 3: Cybershark, $25. And I finally
noticed that the techspecs use the four-icon system that Legacy does.
4/17/22: Amarillo TX. 4/30: Weymouth MA.
VINTAGE BEAST WARS LEADER: Ultra Class Megatron and Optimus Prime,
$50+ price point. Megatron and Optimus Primal are up on Hasbro Pulse for $53
each. 10/1/21: Amarillo TX and Canyon TX (Megatron only in both
cases). 10/16: Pace FL (both of them). 10/17: Optimus at Walmart in
Amarillo TX.
VINTAGE BEAST WARS SCORPONOK: In 1990s-style packaging, the old "Mega"
figure is now $42 at Walmart. I did not buy one to see what small mold
differences there might be, but it is a more show-accurate color scheme.
1/29/22: Amarillo TX. 2/3: Pace FL.
Amazon Exclusives
The Kingdom set is Battle Across Time, pairing a Cybertronian with a beast
warrior of some sort.
MIRAGE and GRIMLOCK: A heavily retooled Siege Mirage updated for a
more Earth-like mode, and a head-swap redeco of Voyager Dinobot.
SIDESWIPE and SKYWARP: An updated Sideswipe retool that resembles
Earthrise Sunstreaker in vehicle mode, plus a head-swap of Airazor as BWII
Skywarp (from the combiner team).
Other Store Exclusives
GOLDEN DISC COLLECTION: "Alternate Universe" version of Kingdom, more
or less. A series of Hasbro Pulse exclusives designed to sell out in hours,
although Amazon is still accepting pre-orders even though Pulse sells out on
each within about an hour.
- PUFFER and ROAD RANGER: Pipes slightly redecoed as Puffer, the fan name
for G1 Huffer colored as Pipes in non-US markers, and Huffer redecoed as Go
Bots Road Ranger. Went up and sold out 9/27/21.
- JACKPOT with SIGHTS: Studio Series Jazz as the Action Master Jackpot,
with Pteraxadon as his partner Sights. Went up 9/28/21.
- MUTANT TIGATRON: This is the Tigatron mold with a "mutant head" similar
to the one on Shadow Panther (but scaled up), in the orange and teal colors
seen in early
prototypes of Tigatron (or "Tigertron"). Went up 9/29/21.
- TERRORSAUR: Extensive retool of Airazor, more of a "same engineering,
mostly new toy" deal than a simple swap of a few pieces. Went up 9/30/21,
the last of the set.
KINGDOM RED ALERT: A Walgreens exclusive, although some are available
on Pulse. Appears to use the updated Sideswipe mold from the Across Time
two-pack. 8/13/21: Limited quantities on Hasbro Pulse.
AUTHENTICS: Replacing the repackaged Legion figures that have been
perpetually available at stores like Dollar General. The "Bravo" assortment
has Legends-sized figures for $5, first wave being Bumblebee, Megatron,
Optimus, and Starscream. These are simplified designs in the same vein as
the Cyber Battalion figures. The "Alpha" assortment adds a few joints and is
closer to Battalion size, but is still very simplified, and packaged on a
large blister card. 4/23/21: Bravo class Barricade at Family Dollar in
Amarillo TX. Needs window paint, but otherwise decent in both modes. It
even has elbows. 5/17/21: Alpha class Shockwave at Dollar General in
Amarillo TX. It turns into the inevitable "spaceship," although I'm
pretty sure the instructions and package photos have the spaceship mode
upside down. 5/22: Barricade at Family Dollar in Valley AL. 5/21/22: A year
since my last sighting, and I found Alpha class Wheeljack at Family Dollar in
Amarillo TX. $11.25 is now the Alpha price point.
Transformers BotBots
Gotta catch a mall!
SERIES 6: Currently pre-orderable on Amazon, for Fall 2022 shipping.
Only entire cases available as of Spring 2022. Includes some vehicle sets
linked to the Netflix cartoon.
Transformers Rescue Bots
On a routine patrol, four 'bots in stasis...who have now set up an Academy.
REDUCED WASTE PACKAGING BASIC WAVE 1: New packaging eliminates the
plastic tray, and as a result the figures stand at the bottom of the card and
look smaller. This wave has reissues of cement mixer Salvage, VTOL Whirl,
helicopter Blades and racecar Heat Wave, possibly others. 4/13/21: Walmart
in Amarillo TX. 4/14: Spotted the Blades at a different Walmart. 4/15:
Off-Road Bumblebee (green accents) is also in this wave. 5/1: Off-Road
Optimus Prime (a new to me mold, uses the same transformation as Off-Road
Bumblebee but puts the front end at the torso instead of the feet) spotted.
CLASSIC HEROES TEAM: Repackages of "Basic" class sports car Bumblebee,
truck Optimus, and possible others. There might be more repacks under this
logo, but I haven't seen any yet. 1/21/21: Target in Amarillo TX.
DELUXE NASCAR BUMBLEBEE: Running change adds in a Bumblebee that turns
into a NASCAR-style racecar, with an action gimmick on robot mode that makes
one of his wheels pop out on a strut as a saw. 1/28/21: Target in
Amarillo TX.
2021 WALMART HOLIDAY BINS: The impulse buy cardboard bins of toys
include Deluxe Rescue Bots, mostly older ones in the new low-waste
packaging. One new mold I did find was Hot Shot using the formula race car
transformation scheme. 12/3/21: Walmart in Amarillo TX.
FIRETRUCK HOT SHOT: The mode seen in the cartoon as his fourth pick,
it's basically the Scout-sized Heat Wave mold in engineering, scaled up to
"Leader" sized but feeling pretty hollow, plus a light and sound gimmick in
the foam/chemical generator. Seems to be mostly a "sandbox toy" meant for
hard use. $30, I left it on the shelf. 8/12/20: Walmart in Amarillo
TX.
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The Movies
Due to the huge amount of Movie-specific product, this gets
a separate sightings page. Updated:
5/18/22.
Transformers: Cyberverse
Replacing the 2015-18 Robots in Disguise series, with similar levels of
complexity in design, is the Cyberverse series. This is the first tie-in to
the "evergreen" concept with designs that are supposedly going to keep being
used in some fashion forever (i.e. until there's another management change).
The Scout class is back, as a sort of Actionmaster Elite riff, robots that
only partially transform. Warriors have motion gimmicks, which always hurts
articulation and appearance. We'll see if it's any good. (Narrator: They
weren't.)
TINY TURBO CHANGERS SERIES 5: Cyberverse characters this time, not
sure if Target has them as an exclusive, or if the other brick and mortars
just weren't interested. $3 per blind bag, the usual minimal painting and
2-3 step transformations to chibi robots. At least some are redecos of
Series 4 (Wheeljack is a redeco of Hot Rod, out of the five I found).
9/24/21: Target in Amarillo TX.
ONE-STEP RATCHET, MEGATRON: Ratchet will cut you with his Mega Chop
blades. Megatron has shoulder cannons. Picked up Ratchet, kinda regret
it...bad even by One-Step standards. 8/26/20: Target in Amarillo TX.
9/17: Target in Torrance CA.
WARRIOR SNARL: The only new figure in Wave 9. Turns into a robot
sorta-stegosaur. 1/30/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX.
WARRIOR DEAD END: With reships, no doubt. Only new figure in "Wave
10". Sports car. 12/23/21: Walmart in Canyon TX. 12/27: Walmart in
Amarillo TX.
DELUXE POST-BAF WAVE 1: Prowl (police car), Soundwave (armored SUV,
with transforming Laserbeak tape), and Starscream (weird hybrid jet, 3mm stud
compatible gut-launched missiles), with no build-a-figure gimmick. Energy
effects all 3mm-stud-based. Spotted in-package, but not yet confirmed on
major retailer shelves. 12/21/20: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 12/24:
Target in Amarillo TX, Torrance CA.
DELUXE WAVE 2: So far just Cheetor teased, with energon armor add-ons
that make him look like a Coeurl from Final Fantasy. Dinobot Slug supposed
to be in this wave too. 8/30/21: Cheetor at Target in Amarillo TX. No
Slug spotted, but new-packaging re-releases of Deluxe Grimlock, Soundwave,
and Thunderhowl spotted with Cheetor. 9/1: Walmart in Canyon TX. 9/15:
Walmart in Amarillo TX (looks like a complete case, no Slug).
DELUXE WAVE 3: Slug gets his own wave, with reissues (in new
packaging, missing BAF pieces) of Soundwave, Arcee, Starscream, and
Thunderhowl. 12/22/21: Target in Amarillo TX. Priced $13.99, so if
that wasn't an error this might be a good excuse to go back and get any you
skipped (except Thunderhowl, he still sucks).
DINO COMBINERS WAVE 1: Unlike the Buzzworthy Crash Combiners, these
take two One-Step-sized figures and combine them, with each set including a
Dinobot thereby justifying the class name. Bumblebee + Swoop = Bumbleswoop,
and Megatron + Slug = Slugtron. They use standard connectors, so you could
make Slugswoop. $25 at Walmart. 8/23/21: Walmart in Amarillo TX.
(Later note: they're pretty bad.)
DINO COMBINERS WAVE 2: Maybe a wave 1.5? Anyway, one new set in the
mix, Wheelgrim. Wheeljack as legs, Grimlock as upper half. 10/29/21:
Walmart in Amarillo TX.
ULTRA ENERGON ARMOR SLUDGE: Part of a Dinobots Unite subline and will
Cyberverse ever END? I'm so tired of hollow, gimmick-ridden designs.
In-package pics spotted on the Walmart app. 10/22/21: At Ross for $15,
Amarillo TX. 11/6: Target in Amarillo TX.
ULTRA ENERGON ARMOR RAMJET: Ships with a Bumblebee that I can't be
arsed to tell if it's new, and a reship of Skullcruncher. 9/29/21: Target
in Amarillo TX.
ULTIMATE ENERGON ARMOR: Repackages of Shockwave (definitely no
changes) and Optimus Prime (not sure if it's new in part or whole, due to not
caring) in gold and green packaging. Yeah, this line has a long and ragged
tail. 8/1/21: Target in Amarillo TX. 8/12: What looks to be a new
mold Energon Armor Bumblebee in the new trade dress, which does have Dinobots
Unite on th eback, Walmart in Amarillo TX.
Transformers: Generations
The "Prime Wars" Trilogy wrapped up in 2018, and the end of the year saw the
beginning of a new trilogy, the War For Cybertron (yes, we've seen that one
before). Siege is the first year's worth, bringing back the Micromaster
Patrol idea (albeit at half size) and Targetmasters (renamed Battle Masters
and also including melee weapons). They also come with energy blast effects
that can peg onto various parts of every toy as a unifying gimmick.
Earthrise is the second chapter, re-envisioning the G1 cartoon era and adding
more ramp-based play patterns and Micromaster bases.
KINGDOM CORE CLASS WAVE 3: Soundwave (tapedeck), Dracodon (Vertebreak
redeco). 6/15/21: Target in Redondo Beach CA. 7/9: Walmart in
Amarillo TX.
KINGDOM CORE CLASS WAVE 4: Hot Rod (sportscar), reships. No brick and
mortar sightings yet, but I got one on HasbroPulse.
LEGACY CORE CLASS WAVE 1: Hot Rod (new packaging), Skywarp (Kingdom
Starscream redeco with new weapon), Iguanus (motorcycle-ish). Their weapons
combine into the sword seen on Kingdom Hot Rod's package. Warning: their
weapons are also reportedly easy to steal from the open-window boxes (looks
like it's mostly Skywarp that's vunlerable). 4/15/22: Target in Redlands
CA. 4/24: Walmart in Amarillo TX ($11.48). 4/30: Target in Amarillo TX
($10); Walmart in Navarre FL. 5/1: Target in Dorchester MA, Braintree MA.
KINGDOM DELUXE WAVE 5: Pipes (retool of Huffer) and Autobot Slammer
(new Modulator). 12/11/21: Walmart in Weymouth MA. 12/20: Walmart in
Quincy MA. 12/26: Target in Amarillo TX (on sale for $14).
LEGACY DELUXE WAVE 1: Skids (compact van), Dragstrip (racecar), Prime
Univere Arcee (motorcycle-ish), Kickback (grasshopper). 3/29/22: Target
in Decatur IL. 3/30: Target in Manhattan Beach CA (Skids only). 3/31:
Target in Pensacola FL (Skids and Arcee only), South Carson CA (Arcee only).
It's possible that some cases of Silverstreak aren't purely Silverstreak, but
contain one or two of this wave. 4/2: Target in Quincy MA, Braintree MA.
4/3: Target in Amarillo TX (someone beat me to the Kickback, or it was only a
partial box), Fair Lakes VA (Arcee only). 4/10: Skids and Kickback plus
Silverstreak at Target in Torrance CA. 4/19: Full case at Walmart in Pace
FL. 4/23: Full case at Walmart in City of Industry CA (and I found a
Kickback finally at Walmart in Amarillo). 4/24: Dragstrip in with
Silverstreaks at Target in Torrance CA. 4/30: Walmart in Navarre FL.
KINGDOM VOYAGER WAVE 4: Tigatron (tiger) plus reships. 12/20/21:
Walmart in Quincy MA. 12/23: Walmart in Canyon TX. 12/26: Target in
Amarillo TX. Note, almost all have messed up tiger eyes.
KINGDOM VOYAGER WAVE 5: Blaster (tape deck) with Eject (cassette),
plus reships (mostly Tigatron). 1/16/22: Target in Amarillo TX.
LEGACY VOYAGER WAVE 1: Blaster (repackage) and Bulkhead (military
truck, supposedly Prime Universe but closer to the altmode Hound had in The
Last Knight). 3/20/22: Target in Amarillo TX. 3/27: Target in
Woodbridge VA. 3/29: Target in Decatur IL. 3/30: Target in Springfield VA.
3/31: Target in Pensacola FL, South Carson CA. 4/2: Target in Quincy MA,
Braintree MA, Dorchester MA, Randolph MA. 4/3: Target in Torrance CA,
Manhattan Beach CA, Inglewood CA. Blaster seems to be shortpacked. 4/24:
Walmart in Amarillo TX. Blaster definitely shortpacked. 4/30: Walmart in
Navarre FL.
KINGDOM LEADER WAVE 3: Galvatron, reship of Ultra Magnus. Warning:
there is a very common shoulder assembly error on Galvatron, which requires
disassembly of the shoulder to fix, it's not a simple pop and swap.
6/10/21: Target in Pleasant Prairie WI. (Practically a Chicago
suburb.) 6/14: Target in Sterling VA. 6/15: Target in Torrance CA, Redondo
Beach CA. 6/16: Target in Manhattan Beach CA. 6/19: Target in Randolph MA,
appears to be "good shoulders" version. 6/20: Target in Pensacola FL (maybe
this wave, maybe the previous, since only Ultra Magnus was left). 7/2:
Walmart in Amarillo TX (shoulders looked okay, but I won't know for sure
until I open it up to review).
LEGACY LEADER WAVE 1: Laser Optimus Prime (homage to the G2 toy),
repackaged Galvatron (without damage effect deco). 3/31/22: Target in
Pensacola FL. 4/2: Target in Braintree MA, Dorchester MA, Randolph MA.
4/3: Target in Amarillo TX (someone beat me to Prime). 4/4: Target in
Bloomington IL. 4/7: Target in South Carson CA (Galvatron only). 4/22:
Walmart in Canyon TX (gone before I could get there). 4/30: Walmart in
Navarre FL. 5/5: Walmart in Amarillo TX (oddly, set up as a hanging
sidecap), although the sidecap had Voyagers and I found Laser Op in a random
blank spot near TFs). 5/18: Target in Gaithersburg MD.
LEGACY LEADER WAVE 2: Blitzwing and one presumes more Laser Optimus
Prime. 4/25/22: Target in Cleveland OH (sighting courtesy of the
AllSpark, I don't have any sighters out there).
KINGDOM COMMANDER CLASS: Rodimus Prime, a Voyager sized bot with a
really big trailer/base rather than combining with the base like in PotP.
8/15/21: Walmart and Target in Amarillo TX. 9/18: Target in Braintree MA.
EARTHRISE TITAN CLASS: Scorponok (scorpion, base). Physical copies
are starting to show up at specialty stores. 7/30/20: Target in Amarillo
TX. $160 shelf price. 7/31: Larger Target stores in the Los Angeles
area. (Smaller ones get Masterpiece Starscream.) 8/7: Target in Braintree
MA. 8/15: Target in Amarillo TX. Now to decide if I want to cancel my Pulse
pre-order....
KINGDOM TITAN CLASS: The Ark, which early promo art shows transforming
into a robot mode. 7/27/21: Target in South Carson CA. Only larger
Targets are getting them, and only if they have room on the shelves.
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