TRU (and eBay) tend to be the exclusive location for these in America, but not always. Sometimes K-Mart gets 'em.

YEAR OF THE MONKEY OPTIMUS PRIMAL: Ross has been getting this in for $39.99. I remember buying the original for $30 full price...in 2001. Ollllld. 12/29/16: Ross in Amarillo TX. MASTERPIECE BUMBLEBEE & SPIKE: 8/2/16: TRU in Torrance CA. $65. 8/4: TRU in Culver City CA. 8/7: TRU in Bloomington IL, Peoria IL. 8/26: El Paso TX. 10/21: TRU in Amarillo TX.

PLATINUM AUTOBOT INTEL OPS: May not be a Target exclusive, but this is the only place I've heard has it yet. Reissues of G1 Perceptor and Blaster, with Steeljaw, Ramhorn and Eject. Perceptor comes with microscope slides to look at. $100 box price. 11/2/15: Available online at Target.com. Code BESTGIFT to get 25% off.

Other Store Exclusives

CHAOS ON VELOCITRON: A Toys R Us exclusive box set, a mix of redecos, retools, and one totally new mold, for $99. Includes Laser Optimus Prime (G2-based deco of the current Voyager figure), Quickswitch (redeco of Six Shot), Nautica (heavy retool of Blurr), Fastclash (new mold, Fastlane name was unavailable), and a Titan Master Rodimus Prime. 3/24/17: El Paso TX. 4/2: Torrance CA. 4/5: Up on TRU.com. Expect it to go in and out of stock over time. 4/8: Iselin NJ.

SIEGE ON CYBERTRON: BBTS exclusive. Magnus Prime (the Japanese tooling of Powermaster Optimus Prime), Tidal Wave (Broadside redeco), Metalhawk (Triggerhappy redeco), Pounce (newish mold), Titan Master Thunderwing. Possibly some retooling on Tidal Wave or Metalhawk. Currently slated for late July 2017.

WINGSPAN/CLOUDRAKER: I guess we won't get four $100 exclusive box sets? Walgreens will be carrying a two-pack of the remaining two clones, spotted in packaging (not yet in stores, AFIACT).

    On a routine patrol, four 'bots in stasis....

MINI-CON WAVE 1: Same price point as the Basics, but these are partner animals that turn into tools, called Rescue Mini-Cons. Servo the dog-bot turns into a drill for Boulder, Drake the dragon-bot turns into a water cannon for Heatwave. 12/22/15: Target in Amarillo TX. I passed on them at the checkout because they'd been mis-entered in the system as costing $14.99. 1/14/16: Target finally fixed the price, by which time only one Servo and no Drake were left. Servo has no articulation other than his tail (which is the weapon grip peg). 1/24: TRU in Amarillo TX.

MINI-CON WAVE 2: Drake and Servo, plus Valor the Lion-Bot (becomes cuff/clamp tool). 10/28: TRU in Amarillo TX.

MINI-CON WAVE 3: This one's tricky, because several have shown up online but not necessarily in stores. There's Sequoia the bear, Swift the Cheetah-Bot, and a single-pack version of Fireplug the Dalmatian. Swift is clearly meant to go with Bumblebee, Sequoia with Brushfire, and Fireplug with Heatwave. 5/2/17: Swift has been available on HTS for a while, I forgot to mention it. Sequoia at TRU in Amarillo TX, but no Firepluyg or Swift.

FLIP-BOTS WAVE 1: Basically Legion-sized Rescue Bots at the $5-6 price point. Starting to show up on HTS, but not buyable, will add names and other info once they're buyable in the US.

BASIC WAVE 9: This is all repackaged stuff from the "Energize figures with unposeable partners" line, but it shuffles some of the partners to be correct. Optimus with Cody, Chase with Chief Burns, Boulder with Graham, firetruck Heatwave with Kade, helicopter Blades with Dani, and Bumblebee car gets to be with Doc Green. 1/7/16: TRU and Target in Amarillo TX. 1/14: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

SCOUT WAVE 7: Bulldozer Boulder redone in the smaller scale, new smaller scale Medix (rather different looking from the original). 2/16/16: TRU in Amarillo TX. Their usual $13 overprice. Picked up Medix, left Boulder. 4/9: Walmart in Amarillo TX, $7.88.

SCOUT WAVE 8: Quickshadow (sportscar) and Morbot (formula racer, like Combiner Wars Dragstrip, same basic engineering as Blurr but looks to be an entirely new mold). 6/8/16: Listed on Kmart.com, but not available yet. 9/24: Quickshadow spotted at Walgreens in Amarillo TX ($13, so passing on it for now). Looks to be the same transformation as Bumblebee. 9/25: Both at TRU in Amarillo TX. (I had an about-to-expire coupon, so I grabbed Quickswitch...will wait for another store or another coupon to get Morbot.) 10/17: Spotted Hoist the Tow-Bot at Walgreens, not sure if this is a 9th wave, or just a running change in wave 8, or what. Does not appear to have an actual towing hook, uses Optimus Prime truck engineering as far as I can tell. 10/30: Hoist showing up at Walmart now, it does indeed have a hook, the package photos simply didn't have the toy transformed properly. 2/18/17: Morbot at Walgreens in Amarillo. 2/28: Quickshadow and Hoist at Target in Amarillo TX. 3/2: Morbot also showed up at Target in Amarillo TX.

SCOUT BRUSHFIRE: Running change to the wave above adds Brushfire, a non-show character who pairs with the Mini-Con Sequoia (not included), implied to be part of the Pacific Northwest team. Turns into a halftrack ATV. 4/1/17: Target and TRU in Amarillo TX.

SCOUT WAVE 9: Bumblebee (black deco dinosaur), Bumblebee (VTOL jet), reships of older figures. 4/22/17: Jet Bumblebee spotted at Walgreens in Amarillo TX. Wave may also include Heatwave the Fire-Bot, a two-headed dragon currently available on HTS. 6/18/17: Both Bumblebees, Brushfire, Heatwave dragon, blue T.rex Optimus, Quickshadow, Morbot, and Boulder are all part of Walmart's TF5 aisle display in Amarillo TX.

EPIC WAVE 2: $10 price point. Repackaged Heatwave and Boulder, new hollow-and-non-transforming molds of Blurr and Salvage. The new ones suffer heavily from lack of paint applications, however, even compared to the original four. 5/27/15: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 7/2: TRU in Amarillo TX.

EPIC WAVE 3: Adds High Tide to the mix. 6/8/16: On Kmart.com, but not available for sale yet. 9/30: High Tide and Bumblebee spotted at TRU in Amarillo TX. 1/8: Also at Walmart in Amarillo TX.

EPIC WAVE 4: Adds Quickswitch. 6/18/17: All of Waves 2-4 are part of the TF5 aisle display at Walmart in Amarillo TX.

RACERS: Deluxe-sized figures with pullback motors for their altmodes, and race-themed vehicles. Not sure what the first wave is, since only Bumblebee (formula racer) and Sideswipe (street racer) were left on the shelf, but the packaging also shows Blurr, Quickshadow, and what I think is probably a Morbot. And a new Optimus Prime car carrier, but that's at a higher price point. 7/24/16: TRU in Amarillo TX.

TRACTOR-TRAILER SETS: At the $20 price point, a Scout-sized Rescue Bot designed to tow a trailer that becomes a roleplay accessory. Capture Claw Chase (pickup truck) with trailer that becomes a capture claw, Fire Ladder Heatwave (fire truck) with trailer that becomes (water-shaped-)missile blaster. 1/28/16: TRU in Amarillo TX. 8/5: Target in Amarillo TX.

COPTER CRANE BLADES: Another $20 "Mega Bot" class figure, a somewhat deformed vehicle mode Blades with a big hook. Packaging shows him lifting an as-yet-unseen ATV Rescue Bot in vehicle mode. 12/20/16: TRU in Amarillo TX.

RESCUE SETS: A Scout-class Rescue Bot, a human figure, and one or two Mini-Cons that combine with each other, the Rescue Bot, or the human. $20 price point. Arctic Rescue Boulder (Snowcat) with a drill snowmobile and brute arms that combine into a Yeti named Windchill, or the arms can attach to parka-wearing Grant's backpack. Rock Rescue Bumblebee (4x4 offroad truck) with eagle (Talon) and lion (Hunter) bots that can combine into a griffin, and act as wings and a crane for Cody. 1/19/17: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

OPTIMUS PRIME RACING TRAILER: A redco of a previous transforming Optimus cab, with a new trailer that turns into a drive-down ramp, and a pull-back version of Blurr, for $30. 7/29/16: TRU in Amarillo TX. 8/5: Target in Amarillo TX.

HIGH TIDE RESCUE RIG: A Basic-sized High Tide submarine with a chibi cargo ship/rescue rig. The boat does not transform into a robot, despite the use of the giant robot in the art, it just turns into a playset. $30 price point. 8/4/15: Target and TRU in Amarillo TX. 7/16/16: Forgot to mention, Walmart's had it on clearance for $20 for a while now. 8/5: Walmart has it down to $7.

GRIFFIN ROCK RESCUE TEAM: A four-pack of the most recent Scout sizde molds of the main four in their "normal" altmodes. 8/27/16: Walmart in Amarillo TX, $35. Given that the four of them retail for $7.88 each at Walmart and there doesn't seem to be anything extra in the set, not exactly a bargain.

GRIFFON ROCK FIREHOUSE HEADQUARTERS: Big building facade set that looks very little like the actual show's firehouse. Comes with yet another color variant on Cade, a Bumblebee-colored reverse-trike for him to drive, water blaster, firepole, etc. $40. 7/16/16: TRU in Amarillo TX. 8/5: Target in Amarillo TX. 8/12: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

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    GO KARTS: Battery powered little kid go karts in the colors of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee (both G1) with the molded faces of each on the front between the handlebars. $129 at Walmart. 6/21/17: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

    RUBIK'S CREW: A 2x2 Rubik's Cube puzzle in the shape of Optimus Prime's head, with a little body that can plug in for a Funko-Pop-ish figure once you solve it. $13 at Walmart, part of their train/endcap setups. 6/10/17: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

    WATCHES: The first movie transforming watches of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, possibly with slight redeco, but in Robots in Disguise packaging with the heads of the PRiD versions on the blister card (no remolding, still the movie heads). $15 price point. 5/23/17: TRU in Amarillo TX.

    ALT-MODES: These are blind-box chibi figures. In "vehicle" mode they're giant heads atop their vehicle modes, and pulling a faction symbol tab on top of the helmet makes the vehicle swap out with a tiny marionette-like body (or spin all the way around to vehicle again, it's kinda iffy). Collation is a bit iffy, I grabbed four boxes and got two each of Prowl and Nemesis Prime. The rest of the assortment is Optimus Prime, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Starscream, Ultra Magnus, and Megatron. 7/22/16: Toys R Us in Amarillo TX. In with the rest of the TFs rather than in the Funko kiosk, $6.99 each. 1/3/17: Wave 2 at Target in Amarillo TX. One new mold, Bumblebee/Cliffjumper (identical molds for the two). Reissues of Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream. Redecos Acid Storm, Sunstorm, Smokescreen.

    PEZ: G1 Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Bumblebee. Megatron could use a bit more paint (especially on the forehead), but otherwise decent. $2.49 at Toys R Us. 10/31/15: TRU in Amarillo TX. 7/14/17: RiD versions out now, I've seen Optimus and BB but suspect there might be more.

    INFLATABLES: Ross/TJMaxx has some RiD-branded inflatable toys. A bop-bag with Steeljaw on it packed with inflatable Bumblebee-faced gloves (so you're smashing BB's face into Steeljaw), and an inflatable sit-on bouncer. Both $7.99. 7/30/15: Ross in Amarillo TX.

   I've stopped tracking most of the "artifacts" stuff, since Transformers has reached the cultural saturation point where you can be pretty sure there'll be party supplies, water bottles, t-shirts, and so forth readily available.

    VOLTRON: Toys based on the Netflix series finally hitting stores in January 2017. A mix of non-transforming Voltron figures, lion figures, masks, a big non-transforming Voltron, and a really expensive 16" Voltron sold separately as lions that do combine. Dunno the prices, the store I first saw them at was stocking them on WWE pegs and hadn't posted new prices yet. 1/3/17: Target in Amarillo TX.

    MARS Converters: $10 large toys, generally found at Walmart and various discount stores (TJMaxx, Family Dollar, etc). Current wave is dinos and dragons, with a red T.rex, a blue sorta-stegosaur, and a yellow dragon. 9/30/16: Family Dollar carrying these as part of their holiday toy expansion. 4/20/17: The vehicle waves are starting to show up again at Walmart in new packaging, with a "Cybotronix" line name in addition to MARS Converters. Spotted the blue sportscar and the gray sportscar in the new packaging today.

    SUPER WINGS: This is a show for very little kids, like "too young for Rescue Bots" level, from what I've heard. At the $10 level there's Rescue-Bots-level aircraft that turn into cockpit-torso'ed robots: Jett (cargo jet), Donnie (cargo heavy lift prop plane), Jerome (fighter jet), and Dizzy (pink female helicopter). There's also a $12 Legion-scale four-pack of Mira (female seaplane), Jett (yes, he's the Bumblebee of the line), Paul (police plane), and Grand Albert (biplane and grandfather figure). There's larger talking transforming toys of the main four at the $16-20 price range, play sets for the Legion-size, and probably some others. In the kiddie toy section. 3/13/16: On introductory 20% off sale at TRU. 10/25: Walmart finally has these, and they have the second four-pack (with both four-packs at $10). 3/31/17: These are finding their way back into non-TRU stores after months of absence or "stick it in a corner somewhere" stocking, and the larger sized Paul is now in the assortment. Cosells indicate Grand Albert, Bello (safari striped bush pilot plane) and Mira will also be available at this size soon, if not already. 5/22: Grand Albert and Bello Deluxes at Target in Green Bay WI. Decided to not try to fit them in my luggage, though.

    TMNT MUTATIONS T-MACHINES: Cars-sized vehicles that, when you tap the head of the driver, pop up into a Throttlebot-style bot mode. Wave 1 seems to be just Leo, Mikey, and Shredder. 1/9/16: Target in Amarillo TX. $5.99, but so underwhelming I didn't buy any.

    CONSTRUCTOBOT 12-IN-ONE: A "Brix" not-Lego set that can make up to 12 construction vehicles (only six at a time, two official models for each of the six sets of bricks) or build a giant mech suit that looks like a construction vehicle combiner. 11/20/15: $50 at TRU in Amarillo TX. Note: this is one of their Black Friday deals, $25 on Black Friday for everyone, and $25 for rewards card holders 11/22 through 11/26.     TMNT MUTATIONS: Voyager-sized turtles that turn into tiny roleplay-sized weapons. Leonardo into two "swords", Raphael into two tiny sais, Michaelangelo into tiny nunchucks. No Donatello in the assortment. 8/18/15: Part of the Walmart resets all over. 2/21/16: New wave at $15 price point that's sort of Hyperchangers (one main action, but may need a second and third step to fiddle with panels). Mike to dragster, Raph to armored trike, Leo to Spyder-style reverse trike. About as much articulation as the average Hyperchanger. Spotted at Walmart in Amarillo TX.

    HATCH'N HEROES: A Disney line of eggs that transform into various characters. 4/3/15: Baymax at TRU in Amarillo TX, $6.99. 4/22/16: Oops, forgot to keep this updated. A bunch have made it to Walmart and TRU in Amarillo TX, including Toy Story and Good Dinosaur figures. Knockoffs of the Good Dinosaur ones are sold at Dollar General under the Dinosaur Mutants name.

    POWER RANGERS: Morph-N-Pop Dino Charger T.Rex turns from a cylinder (a power cell) into a chibi T.rex zord. 1/30/16: TRU in Amarillo TX, $15. 12/18: The new Ninja Steel toy line has mini-vehicles that transform into throwing stars (sort of), and include knockoff-level pilot figures, all for $20. Pass.

    OTHER KNOCKOFFS: 9/18/16: Family Dollar's holiday toy expansion includes a $15 combiner set (jet, car, anti-aircraft tank) from the pre-articulation era. I got a version of the set a decade ago, it's decent for a brick. (It's a KO of the GodMax team from Exkaiser.) 10/30: Oops, forgot to mention here that Tuesday Morning has its usual holiday assortment out now, including a few new $6 KOs like Black Ox and a no-individual-robot-modes Landcross team. Also $2 KO RobotMasters Star Saber (doesn't have enough joints to actually transform) and Victory Leo (transforms, and even sort of combines, although the wings point the wrong way). 12/2: Burlington Coat Factory (yes, it has a toy section) has a really ballsy Optimus Prime (Cyber-Stomper from 2009, I think) KO for $8. Instructions on the box are for Revenge of the Fallen Legion class Bumblebee and Sideswipe, box art is of Optimus and Bumblebee from that movie, plus what appears to be a Starscream vehicle mode.