Toy Sightings Agglomeration
Last Updated (by column)
(1) 5/24/23 | (2) 5/26/23 | (3) 5/14/23

If you are still sending me sightings reports at the eyrie.org address, there's a very good chance they'll be lost in the spam. Please send to my gmail address (still dvandom).

Sightings Report Request

    If you're sending me a bunch of sightings from different locations at the same time, please divide them by the toy, not the location, since by-the-toy is how I organize this page. It just makes it easier for me to enter the info if all the sightings for a given thing are clumped. Thanks.



SIGHTINGS Main TF Page Dave's Online Nest Opera of the Dvandom
Movieverse
Rise of the Beasts (2023)
Bumblebee (2018)
The Last Knight (2017)
Age of Extinction (2014)
Dark of the Moon (2011)
Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
2007 Movie
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Nostalgia
Generations:
General
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War for Cybertron
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Universe 2
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Universe
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Post-Beast TV
EarthSpark
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RiD (2015)
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Side Lines
Kiddie Lines
Artifacts
Books/Comics
Lego
Fanfic/Essays
Art/Images


    Note that toys may be out in places I haven't mentioned, if I don't get a report from somewhere I don't post it. When I stop mentioning specific cities, it usually means the toy is in wide enough release that I'm not going to bother listing individual sightings anymore. Note: I am not going to cover package variations unless there's actual content variations (such as the case of the Primus with and without Unicron heads).

Please include both the location (city) and store in sighting reports.

TRANSFORMERS TOYS

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. The Buzzworthy Bumblebee line seems to be their main trade dress for exclusives, building on their 2018 Bumblebee movie exclusives but often having nothing to do with Bumblebee.

ONE-STEP CHANGERS: Cyberverse One-Step Changers Prowl and Starscream in Buzzworthy packaging, no changes to the toys. 5/24/23: Redondo Beach CA.

JUNGLE MISSION: A three-pack of Deluxes, it appears they will all get individual Deluxe releases with little to no change in mold or color. Cheetor (robot cheetah), Nightracer (unlicensed sportscar), and Wheeljack (VW Minibus). $55 price point. 3/30/23: Amarillo TX. 4/1: Torrance CA. 4/2: South Carson CA. 4/6: Redondo Beach CA. 5/24: Down to half price some places.

ORIGINS JAZZ: aka "Jazzworthy Jazz," as he showed up in the first G1 episode. 3/12/23: Baltimore MD. Also somewhere in VA. 3/18: Vauxhall NJ. 3/22: Torrance CA. Note, there's multiple reports of paint damage to the chest due to how it's packaged. 3/23: Amarillo TX (and no damage, but of course I pre-ordered from Pulse). 4/6: Redondo Beach CA.

BUZZWORTHY BUMBLEBEE IGNITER 2-PACK: BB Movie Igniters (Power Class, IIR) of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee each with a motor piece, $27. 2/9/23: Amarillo TX.

BUZZWORTHY BUMBLEBEE ONE-STEPS: Megatron (Cyberverse hovertank), probably others but that's all I saw. 2/9/23: Amarillo TX.

BUZZWORTHY BUMBLEBEE OPTIMUS PRIME: RotF-style Voyager(?). 1/13/23: Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA, South Carson CA.

BUZZWORTHY SWOOP/BUMBLEBEE PACK: Crash Combiner "BumbleSwoop" set in new packaging. 1/13/23: Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA, South Carson CA. 1/17: Amarillo TX, $26.49. Not worth it.

BUZZWORTHY BUMBLEBEE N.E.S.T.: Offroad Bumblebee and Bonecrusher in N.E.S.T. colors (which is to say, gray). 1/13/23: Just Bonecrusher in Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA, South Carson CA. (They're different sizes so come in different cases.) 1/19: Bonecrusher in Amarillo TX. 1/23: Bonecrusher in Pace FL. 3/3: Ratchet in South Carson CA (and I think Amarillo TX...I think I saw it the other day but misremembered it as being old). 4/6: Ratchet in Redondo Beach CA.

"TONKANATOR": Transformers Collaborative, TF with Tonka. A redeco of the Vintage G1 Devastator gift set with Tonka colors and logos, plus new Tonka-based names for all the components. Oh, and they're Autobots. $105 at Target. 10/12/22: Amarillo TX. 10/13: Pace FL, Burke VA.

BUZZWORTHY ONE-STEPS: Repackaged Cyberverse One-Steps Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Skybyte. 8/29/22: Torrance CA.

BUZZWORTHY HEROES OF CYBERTRON: Simple open-face box repack of Cyberverse Deluxe Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Cheetor (no Maccadam parts). $63. 7/22/22: Amarillo TX. 7/31: South Carson CA. 8/4: Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA. 8/6: Hawthorne CA. 8/7: Woodbridge VA.

RED COG: Mostly black, gray, and silver, but with some red. Loosely based on the redshirt Security Officer redeco of the Cog model seen in the Siege cartoon, plus extra weapons taken from other Siege molds to give him more of an arsenal, plus a new gun designed to let him attach to Earthrise Arcee to replicate the scene from Siege. 7/26/22: Amarillo TX, South Carson CA. And yes, it says "Red Cog" on the package. $31.49 shelf price. 8/4: Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA. 8/7: Woodbridge VA.

BUZZWORTHY CREATURES COLLIDE: Autobot Goldbug (VW body from the Netflix exclusive, Goldbug head), Ransack (black and yellow redeco of Legends Kickback), Skywarp (purple and black Kingdom Waspinator), Predacon Scorponok (Kingdom Scorponok in toy colors). I was kinda hoping Ransack would be sold separately, I really don't want more of the other three molds. 7/15/22: Clark NJ. 7/22: Newnan GA. 7/23: Gardenia CA. 7/31: South Carson CA. 8/4: Gaithersburg MD. 8/5: Amarillo TX. Check carefully, some of the boxes I checked rattled as if parts had fallen off or come out of their binding, and the boxes DO have holes in them out of which pieces can fall. 8/7: Woodbridge VA.

BUZZWORTHY TERRORSAUR: Golden Disk Terrorsaur in more toy-accurate colors. Not to be confused with the Vintage Terrorsaur at Walmart, which costs about the same but is a Basic. 7/15/22: Clark NJ. 7/22: Newnan GA. 7/23: Gardenia CA. 7/31: Torrance CA. 8/4: Gaithersburg MD, Manhattan Beach CA. 8/6: Hawthorne CA. 8/7: Woodbridge VA. 9/2: Lubbock TX, Amarillo TX.

BUZZWORTHY DINOBOT: Kingdom Dinobot mold redecoed in toy-accurate colors (the Kingdom version was show-accurate) with the Maximal Grimlock head (again, to be more accurate to the 1996 toy). Legacy-shaped box, Buzzworthy trade dress. 7/14/22: South Carson CA. Four to a case. 7/15: Clark NJ. 7/22: Newnan GA. 7/23: Gardenia CA. 7/25: Amarillo TX. 8/4: Gaithersburg MD, Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA. 8/6: Hawthorne CE. 8/7: Woodbridge VA.

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.

Walmart Exclusives

RETRO STARSCREAM and HOT ROD: G1 reissues in movie-accurate colors. Starscream has a small Megatron gun and fists remolded to be able to hold it, I think. $34. 1/17/23: Amarillo TX (Starscream only).

SPEEDIA 500: A big cluster of new and old molds bound loosely by the theme of characters appearing at (if not necessarily racing in) the Speedie 500, Velocitron's general election.

  • DELUXE 1: Blurr (Studio 86 retool with a new front end in vehicle mode), Clampdown (police redeco of the most recent retool of Sideswipe with a new head, he's there to ticket the racers), Cosmos (good luck ever finding one, new mold and shortpacked), Burnout (black redeco and headswap of Legacy Skids), and Roadrocket (head swap redeco of Legacy Arcee). 7/31/22: Pace FL. (Cosmos already gone when the sighter got there.) 8/3: Amarillo TX, also no Cosmos. 8/5: Canyon TX, Cosmos found (but not by me). 8/15: There seems to be a second assortment with more Cosmos and Clampdown in it, hitting various places (including Amarillo) this week.
  • DELUXE 2: Decepticon Crasher (Mirage using the Battle Against Time mold but the 3-pack face mold), Shadow Strip (G2 Drag Strip). 12/24/22: Minneapolis area. 1/27/23: Dumas TX.
  • VOYAGER: Override (new mold), Autobot Hauler (green deco of ER Grapple, someone gotta clean up the wrecks). 8/3/22: Amarillo TX, Canyon TX. 12/24: Now on clearance for $25, I grabbed a Hauler.
  • LEADER: Scourge (RiD2000 redeco of Legacy Laser Optimus Prime). 7/31/22: Pace FL. 8/8: Amarillo TX. (I passed on it, I didn't like the mold enough to want more of it at $56.)

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. 5/26: Pace FL.

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. 5/26: Pace FL.

VINTAGE BEAST WARS DELUXE WAVE 4: Wolfang and Retrax, $28. 12/5/22: Amarillo TX. Part of an aisle display of other $28 toys like holiday color Imperial Scout Trooper (Black Series).

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. 12/24: Now available at Ross for $15, so I snagged one.

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). 12/24/22: They've been showing up at Ross for a few weeks now, sorry I forgot to mention it.

Other Store Exclusives

MINERVA: A co-tool of Legacy Arcee with a different head and lightbar. Walgreens co-exclusive with Hasbro Pulse, tends to be a "show up and sell out" item online. 12/22/22: Walgreens in East Torrance CA. 12/23: Gardenia CA.

RED ALERT: Kingdom's Walgreens exclusive has started to actually show up in stores recently. 1/15/23: Amarillo TX. (It was part of a Tracks wave case, not purely Red Alert, and it was with the Valentine's stuff.)

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. 6/18: Bravo class Arcee (car) at Dollar General in Amarillo TX, still $5 and $10 price points there. It's prone to popping apart on ball joints and the transformation is very finicky, but if you do it right the car is reasonably solid. And they didn't give her lipstick.


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. Shipped in November, my review is now up (see Side Lines in the navbar up top).


Transformers Rescue Bots/Classic Heroes Team

    In 2022, the branding changed to Classic Heroes Team, dropping Rescue Bots entirely. But they're still basically Rescue Bots.

CLASSIC HEROES TEAM REPACKS: Repackages of "Basic" class sports car Bumblebee and truck Optimus from back in the Rescue Bots days. 1/21/21: Target in Amarillo TX.

CLASSIC HEROES TEAM GRIMLOCK: Robot to dinosaur, new mold. $10.88 at Walmart. 8/1/22: Seems to have been a dedicated case, Walmart in Amarillo TX.

CLASSIC HEROES TEAM OPTIMUS PRIMAL: Robot to missile-backpack gorilla. 8/11/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

CLASSIC HEROES TEAM MEGATRON: Drill tank, but in otherwise G1-ish colors rather than hazard stripe miner colors. 8/11/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

CLASSIC HEROES TEAM MEGATRON (GATOR): No sightings yet as of 12/24/22, but pictures have shown up of a gator Megatron, first time he's had that mode in wide release since 1996-7.

CLASSIC HEROES TEAM STARSCREAM: Cute little jet, might be released at the same time as Megatortron.

MAIN LINES


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The Movies
   Due to the huge amount of Movie-specific product, this gets a separate sightings page. Updated: 5/25/23.


Transformers: EarthSpark

    With a new show on Paramount Plus, Cyberverse's replacement as the "line for kids that has a cartoon" is set in an alternate G1-style universe in which the war ended over a decade ago and left a handful of Cybertronians stranded on Earth...with Megatron having done a face turn. A new breed of Terran-born Cybertronians (with birthing processes reminiscent of Armada's Mini-Con plates) bond with humans and need to be kept secret because the Autobots' human allies are maybe not trustworthy. Terrans are their own factionless faction so far. First season came out in late 2022, toys started in 2023.

TACTICON WAVE 1: The cheapo size class, these transform into brickish robots that are meant to be finger puppets. This wave is the inevitable Optimus, Megatron, and Bumblebee. $5 each in tiny boxes, and I wonder if they had to resist the temptation to make them blind boxes. 1/23/23: Walmart in Canyon TX. 1/24: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 4/2: Target in Amarillo TX.

1-STEP FLIP CHANGERS WAVE 1: Because this class ain't going away, it just gets slightly renamed every few years. Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and (shockingly not Megatron) Wheeljack. 1/17/23: BB and Optimus at Target in Amarillo TX. I guess Wheeljack is shortpacked? I did find it a few days later at the same Target.

1-STEP FLIP CHANGERS WAVE 2: Swindle (sort of a Hummvee) and Soundwave (stealth bomber, throwback to Cybertron Trilogy, sort of). 3/30/23: Target in Amarillo TX.

WARRIOR CLASS WAVE 1: Like previous Warriors, they involve some sort of attack gimmick, and are a bit on the cheap-feeling side. Elita-1 (weird SUV thing), Optimus Prime, Skywarp (a femmebot in this universe). 1/13/23: Target in Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA, South Carson CA. 1/14: Target in Amarillo TX (Skywarp and Optimus only). 1/23: Walmart in Canyon TX (no Elita). 2/2: Target in Amarillo TX (all three).

DELUXE CLASS WAVE 1: Back to the Build-A-Figure gimmick on these slightly more complex figures that are to scale with the Warriors, more or less. The first BAF is Dr. Mandroid (who has 7 parts but that includes two choices of left arm) who won't be complete until wave 3. This wave is Bumblebee ("mid-life crisis" car), Megatron (cargo plane), and Terran Twitch (Cybertronian flying drone). 1/12/23: I found just a couple of Megatrons at Target in Amarillo TX. $20 at Target. Dunno if Megatron was longpacked, or just unloved. 1/13: Just Megatron and Bumblebee at Targets in Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA, and South Carson CA. The case assortments might be kinda messed up? 1/17: Bumblebee added to Megatron at Target in Amarillo TX...maybe someone who bought them all earlier decided to return one? 1/23: Just Megatron and Bumblebee at Target in Pace FL. 1/24: Walmart in Pace FL. 1/27: Walmart in Canyon TX. 1/28: Walmart in Amarillo TX (finally found Twitch).

DELUXE WAVE 2: Optimus Prime (truck), Shockwave (walker tank), and repacks. 5/26/23: Target in Pace FL. 5/27: Target in Amarillo TX (Optimus only, fortunately I got Shockwave from Pulse today).

SPIN CHANGERS WAVE 1: This is the largest size class so far. A human figure placed on the partially transformed robot makes it automatically spin-change the rest of the way into (brickish) robot mode. Each also has an accessory that can be used by the human partner. Bumblebee with Mo Malto, Optimus Prime with Robby Malto. 1/13/23: Targets in Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA, South Carson CA. 1/14: Target in Amarillo TX.


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.) As of 2022 it's more of a placeholder, with very few new toys (and used in one case for a Rise of the Beasts toy that was ready too soon). They're still on the shelves, but it's all repackages of older toys.

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 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).

SMASH CHANGER OPTIMUS PRIME: The vehicle mode looks like a garbage truck, the face is movieverse, and the gimmick is that if you smash the vehicle mode down it automatically springs up into robot mode. $34 at Walmart. 9/24/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX. It's not good.


Transformers: Generations

    The War for Cybertron trilogy wrapped up with Kingdom, and Generations shifted to Legacy, which is a bit more aggressive about homages to characters other than just G1 and Beast Wars, with a thin "interdimensional battle" premise. Some redecos and retools of WfC toys do show up, though.

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.

LEGACY CORE CLASS WAVE 2: G2 Universe Megatron (redeco of Kingdom Core Megatron), Shockwave (altmode looks similar to Combiner Wars Shockwave, big pink radar dish weapon), Optimus Prime (repack of Kingdom Core Optimus). 8/31/22: Target in Manhattan Beach CA. 9/1: Target in Gardenia CA, Torrance CA. 9/15: Target in Pensacola FL. 11/18: Walmart in Amarillo TX, part of the holiday aisle bunkers.

LEGACY CORE CLASS WAVE 3: Bomb-Burst (monster to inner bot vehicle mode homage, like with Iguanus) and a repackage of Kingdom Soundwave. 10/18/22: Target in Paso Robles CA, San Luis Obispo CA. 10/21: Target in Pensacola FL. 11/27: Just Soundwave ($12) at Target in Amarillo TX.

LEGACY CORE CLASS WAVE 4 (EVOLUTION 1): Slug (Triceratops), Sludge (Brontosaur), and Soundblaster (redeco of Kingdom Soundwave). The Dinobots will combine into a slightly larger robot. 1/25/23: Target in Torrance CA (Slug only, oddly). 3/2: Target in Pace FL (Sludge only).

LEGACY CORE CLASS WAVE 5: Legacy Bomb-Burst in new packaging, Legacy Evolution Thundercracker (yet another redeco of Kingdom Starscream), Grimlock (Dinobot), and Nemesis Prime (black redeco of Kingdom Core Optimus). 2/7/23: Partial case at Target in Torrance CA. Just Thundercracker and Bomb-Burst. 3/16: Another partial case, just Nemesis Prime and Grimlock at Target in South Carson CA. 4/2: Just Thundercracker and Grimlock at GameStop in Amarillo TX ($12).

LEGACY CORE CLASS WAVE 6: Scarr (anyklosaur maybe), Swoop (pterosaur), Starscream (repackage of Kingdom toy), and reship of Grimlock. 5/24/23: Target in Redondo Beach CA. Note, Amazon and Hasbro Pulse both list this wave as coming in August.

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.

LEGACY DELUXE WAVE 2: Decepticon Wildrider (Stunticon), Prime Universe Knock-Out, Predacon Tarantulas, Elita-1. No regular brick and mortar sightings yet, but I got 'em 8/15/22 at my comic shop for $25 each. 9/1/22: Target in Gardenia CA. 9/15: Target in Pensacola FL (only Tarantulas and Elita). 9/25: Target in Torrance CA, South Carson CA. 2/17/23: Walmart in Pace FL. (Given that local Walmarts are still just loaded with wave 1, there might have been an issue with their wave 2 shipments?)

LEGACY DELUXE WAVE 3: Pointblank, Crankcase, Skullgrin (Pretender shell bot mode, but inner robot vehicle mode), Deadend (Wildrider retool). 11/7/22: Target in Decatur IL. 11/15: Target in Amarillo TX (only found Pointblank and Skullgrin). (11/18: found just Crankcase at the same Target.) 1/13/23: Just Pointblank for some reason at Targets in Torrance CA, Manhattan Beach CA, South Carson CA. (It's also possible that the sighter just clumped things together.)

LEGACY DELUXE WAVE 4 (EVOLUTION 1): Armada Universe Hot Shot, Breakdown (in regular Legacy packaging), Needlenose with Sunbeam and Zigzag, Scraphook (Junkion truck). 2/16/23: Scraphook only at Target in Amarillo TX. I found it all on its own in the books section, suggesting to me that someone grabbed the entire peg's worth, then checked their budget later and dumped Scraphook because they were too lazy to put it back in the toy section. 2/20: Just Scraphook and Hot Shot, Target in South Carson CA. It appeared to be a full case of just those two, so the waves are going wonky again. 2/23: Needlenose and Breakdown, Target in Amarillo TX. (Breakdown's packaging is not quite regular Legacy, it has the QR code on top like the rest of Evolution.) 2/25: Just Needlenose at Target in South Carson CA; full wave at Walmart in Amarillo TX. 3/2: Target in Pace FL. 3/20: Target in Torrance CA (just Hot Shot and Scraphook). 3/22: The rest of the wave in Torrance CA.

LEGACY DELUXE WAVE 5 (EVO 2): Crashbar (Modulator Junkion motorcycle), Crosscut (Skids retool), Animated Universe Prowl (motorcycle), Shrapnel (Insecticon). 3/31/23: Gamestop in Amarillo TX. $25 each, the one I checked only had Crosscut, but one across town had more. (A couple days later I checked that one and got Prowl and Shrapnel.)

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.

LEGACY VOYAGER WAVE 2: Soundwave (Siege mold with a new paint job and no splatter), and Jhiaxus (new mold Cybertronian spaceship). 8/24/22: Just Soundwave, Walmart in Amarillo TX. 8/31: Target in Manhattan Beach CA. 9/1: Target in Torrance CA. 9/2: Target in Amarillo TX (once again someone beat me to the Jhiaxus, it looks like the case may be mostly Bulkhead). 9/6: Walmart in Torrance CA. 9/8: Walmart in Amarillo TX (just Jhiaxus, oddly). 10/12: What seems to have been a case of mostly or all Jhiaxus at Target in Amarillo TX.

LEGACY VOYAGER WAVE 3: Beast Wars Inferno (ant) shortpacked with Soundwave and Bulkhead taking up most of the case, at least initially. Armada Starscream is technically part of this wave, but I haven't gotten any regular brick and mortar sightings of it yet. 11/26/22: Target in Pomona CA. 11/27: Target in Amarillo TX. 11/28: Target in Burke VA, this time just Armada Starscream, so we may be looking at multiple sub-waves or just warehouses trying to get rid of older stuff and not being too choosy about what goes in the box. 11/30: And now just a single Armada Starscream and nothing else in the size at Target in Amarillo TX (either stockroom weirdness, or a scalper deciding to get a refund because it wasn't selling on eBay for enough). 1/28/23: Target in Woodland Hills CA (Starscream only). 3/2: Starscream at Target in Pace FL.

LEGACY VOYAGER WAVE 4 (EVOLUTION WAVE 1): Leo Prime (Lioconvoy, lion) and Tarn (Cybertronian tank). New trade dress, the QR codes are gone, and the half-hearted attempts at combining energy weapons have been replaced by self-contained "EVO-FUSION" gimmicks. 1/24/23: Target in Amarillo TX. 1/28: Target in Stoughton MA, Woodland Hills CA (Leo Prime only). It's possible that some stores are getting mixed cases with Leo and Starscream. 2/5: Target in South Carson CA (just Leo Prime). 2/13: Target in Pomona CA. 2/17: Target in Torrance CA, in large numbers. 2/22: Target in Pensacola FL. 3/8: Leo Prime and Armada Starscream case at Target in Torrance CA. More headless Leo Primes are showing up, either vandalism or issues with damage during shipping and toys being put out without checking for it.

LEGACY VOYAGER WAVE 5 (EVOLUTION 2): Metalhawk (jet) and Twincast (blue redeco of Earthrise Blaster with black redeco of Eject as Rewind). 2/28/23: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 3/1: Walmart in LaGrange GA. 3/10: Walmart in Pace FL. 3/12: Metalhawk and Armadascream in San Pedro CA. 3/20: Dedicated case of Metalhawk at Target in Torrance CA. Both at Target in Amarillo TX. 4/22: Target in Manhattan Beach CA.

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). 6/21: Walmart in Sacramento CA. Very slow trickle. 7/2: Walmart in Amarillo TX (I didn't see it, someone else did, hopefully it's still there tomorrow). (It wasn't.) 9/20: Target in Pace FL. (I ended up buying it online.) 10/5: Target in Torrance CA. 10/26: Target in Amarillo TX.

LEGACY LEADER WAVE 3 (EVOLUTION 1): Transmetal II Megatron (dragon, no chrome). Dedicated case. 3/28/23: Target in Manhattan Beach CA. (I got mine on Pulse a while back.) 4/30: Target in Torrance CA.

LEGACY LEADER WAVE 4 (EVO 2): Prime Universe Skyquake, sort of a cross between the Euro-exclusive late-G1 Skyquake (aka Machine Wars Starscream) and the Prime version, including the Euro version's "dock a smaller jet on top" feature (with Needlenose filling that role). 4/2/23: GameStop in Amarillo TX ($56). 4/30: Case of Skyquake and TM2 Megatron, Target in South Carson CA.

LEGACY COMMANDER CLASS: Motormaster, whose trailer turns into a skeleton upon which you hang the rest of the Stunticons to make a show-accurate Menasor. 7/31/22: Street date at Target, I was able to order one for local pickup today. And it got cancelled, and is no longer available at all online. Sounds like someone left in an automatic street date and forgot to cancel it when product failed to show up. 8/4/22: Target in Manhattan Beach CA. 8/5: NOW Target in Amarillo TX has it. Too late guys, I got mine from Amazon the other day. 8/6: Target in Hawthorne CA.

LEGACY TITAN CLASS: Metroplex. No, not the G1 version, this is a redo of Cybertron Metroplex, who sort of turns into a bucket excavator if you have very blurry vision. MSRP is up to $190, I may not bother getting this one unless I actually see it on the shelf. Definitely not ordering it online. 7/24/22: Target in South Carson CA. Case of two. 7/26: Target in Amarillo TX. (I picked it up, but between RedCard and some Target Circle offers I had saved up, I managed to save about $30 on it.) (The same Target has had three on the shelf for about a month as of 9/1.)


OTHER STUFF

Note: I will be less detailed about sightings on this side.
OTHER TF STUFF
(TF-themed but probably not transforming)

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    RACERS: These are softish rotocast vehicles with the chibi head and left arm of the robot sticking out of the roof. Optimus Prime and evergreen-style Bumblebee, possibly more. $5 at Five Below. 5/14/23: Five Below in Amarillo TX.

    DZNR PLUSH: "What's Inside Edition" plushes of G1 Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee in the big-headed Pop style, with their left sides in wireframe form inspired by how Megatron looked during his change to Galvatron. $10 at Walmart. 1/12/23: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 4/30: Walmart in Torrance CA.

    SUPER SHOGUN OPTIMUS PRIME: Super7 scaling up one of their ReAction figures to the size of the late-70s Shogun Warriors toys, 2 feet tall. Not likely to show up in any regular brick and mortar stores, just specialty shops. 11/18/22: Spotted at a comics and games shop in Amarillo TX for $350. (Hard pass.)

    REMOTE CONTROL TRANSFORMING OPTIMUS PRIME: No, not the $700 Robosen one, this is a $70 Jada toy. 7/3/22: Target in Amarillo TX.

    SQUEEZELINGS: Rubbery big-headed figures that aren't actually squeezable but the joints are springy. Think of the softest plastic generally used in a Transformers toy, and now make an entire figure out of that. No actual joints, they always snap back to their molded pose. $3 blind bags (series 1 is the usual G1 quartet: OP, Megs, BB, Starscream). 6/21/22: Dollar Tree (in the Plus aisle) in Amarillo TX, $3.

    MICROMACHINES: I guess the tiny vehicle license is non-exclusive, because there's also officially licensed MicroMachines. Two 8-packs (one for each of the first two Bay movies) at the $20 or so price point, and a big Bumblebee that turns into a base, inhabited incongruously by a Barricade MicroMachine ($35-40). 4/27/22: Available on Amazon. 6/16: Four-packs (each is half of one of the 8-packs) at Target in Amarillo TX, $10.49. 8/24/22: Bumblebee playset spotted at Tartget in Amarillo TX. $35, and every copy on the shelf was missing Barricade, because it's really easy to steal from the package. If you do want this toy, maybe order online. 11/30/22: Series 2 starting to show up. Found #05 (DotM set of yet another Optimus Prime, top-down Sideswipe, redeco dead meat Ratchet, and junker semi with no trailer Megatron) and #08 (AoE set of Optimus Prime in a different mold, black deco 70s Camaro Bumblebee, Stinger, and truck Galvatron) at Target in Amarillo TX. Did not see the other two yet, #06 (DotM Bumblebee, Sentinel Prime, Leadfoot, and Topspin) and #07 (AoE Hot Rod, Crosshairs, Bumblebee, and Jolt I think). 12/8: Found set #06 (Leadfoot and Topspin are in combat mode) at Target in Amarillo TX. 5/14/23: Five Below is carrying two-packs for $5 each, as seen in Amarillo TX.

    NANO METALFIGS: Jada's too-shiny-for-my-tastes die-cast metal figures have finally expanded into Transformers, over a year after their "Rides" line did vehicle modes. An 18-pack of shiny robots a few centimeters tall, suitable for a gaming table or a Titan display, for $11.72 at Walmart. All from G1, twelve Autobots and six Decepticons. The back of the box includes some small scenery bits you can cut out and pose the figures in front of. The paint is laid on pretty thick (I tried stripping the paint from a Harry Potter one many years ago, never did get it all off), but the mold detail underneath is decent if you want to try the strip-and-repaint route. 4/12/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

NANO METALFIGS SERIES 2: Another 18-pack, a mix of redecos and some new molds (including Beast Wars characters), now priced at $20. 10/25/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX. (Seems to be an exclusive, as does the first set.)

    ReAction Figures: Mostly limited to specialty retailers, Target has picked up some on occasion, mostly the Dead Optimus Prime color variant. $18, which is about $13 more than I think they're worth. 10/9/20: Dead Optimus and shiny Megatron at Target in Amarillo TX, South Carson CA. 7/30: "Cyberchrome" versions of Optimus and Megatron at Target in Amarillo TX. 12/22/21: Gold Megatron at Target in Amarillo TX. 12/26: Also gold Optimus Prime at Target in Amarillo TX. 5/6/22: The gold (well, electrum) variants are clearanced. New at Target in Amarillo TX are Fallen Evolution Megatron (translucenst dark purple plastic with almost no paint) and Fallen Leader Optimus Prime (full color, but retooled to have an open chest with exposed Matrix). 9/22: Toy-color Galvatron and G2-color Grimlock (dino mode) at Target in Amarillo. Open-chest Optimus on half off clearance now.

    R.E.D. WAVE 1: These are like super deluxe Actionmasters or G1 Robot Replicas, depending on when you got into the hobby. Non-transforming, with a focus on being screen-accurate. Short for Robot Enhanced Designs, think of them as another stab at the "Black Series" concept (Studio Series was the first). First wave is Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Soundwave, all G1. (Second wave has Arcee from Prime and Cheetor from Beast Wars.) According to TFWiki, these are a Walmart exclusive, although there's nothing on the packaging to indicate that. 10/2/20: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 10/27: Walmart in Mt. Zion IL. 10/31: Walmart in Pace FL.

R.E.D. WAVE 2: Arcee (TF Prime) and Cheetor (Beast Wars), plus some reships. Easy enough to spot, since the subline logos are on the tops of the boxes. 3/26/21: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 3/28: Walmart in Columbus GA. 4/4: Walmart in Pensacola FL.

R.E.D. WAVE 3: Coronation Starscream (G1 with crown and cape accessories), G1 Bumblebee (pretty big, not to scale with the other G1 figures, more Masterpiece scale). 7/12/21: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 8/5: Walmart in Pace FL.

R.E.D. WAVE 4: Reformatting Megatron (redeco in dark purple with gridlines as if he were about to be turned into Galvatron) and Optimus Primal. 11/29/21: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 12/2: Walmart in Burke VA.

R.E.D. WAVE 5: Ultra Magnus (Optimus Prime redeco without the Matrix), Knock Out (Prime, suffers a bit from chest flattening). 1/2/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX.

R.E.D. WAVE 6: Shockwave (G1) and Galvatron (G1) in new less-plastic packaging (including pictures of accessories on the side instead of having a separate window to show them). 9/26/22: Walmart in Amarillo TX. Now up to $25.

   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.

NON-TF STUFF
(Things a TF fan might be interested in.)

    MARVEL MECHSTRIKE MECHASAURS EPIC SERIES: So, this year's Mechstrike theme is Ultron ripping off Sauron's gameplan and bringing back dinosaurs or something, and the heroes get robot critter partners. The Epic Series has a 4" figure with decent articulation plus a robot beast partner that disassembles into power armor add-ons. Iron Man gets the only actual dinosaur (a Stegosaur named Iron Stomper), Black Panther gets a sabertooth cat bot, and Captain America (Sam Wilson version) gets a sort of giant primitive bird named Redwing. Redwing is easily the worst-looking on its own of the three partners. Price point at Walmart is $24. There's also a cheapo class that seems to just be a less-articulated 4" Hulk with a couple of ceratopsian bot heads he uses as gauntlets. 4/25/23: Walmart in Amarillo TX. I got Iron Man, kinda meh.

    DICELINGS: 2" diameter 20-sided dice that unfold into Dungeons & Dragons monsters. Not Transformers branded, even though a lot of the trade dress is similar and they're from Hasbro. First wave has four monsters: two dragons (same transformation but almost entirely different molds), beholder (makes for a poor d20), and owlbear. Review here, since as not actual Transformers they don't go anywhere on the regular reviews pages here. 1/10/23: Target in Amarillo TX. (Also available on Pulse.) 1/28: Walmart in Amarillo TX. 2/5: Target in Torrance CA, Woodland Hills CA, South Carson CA. So far, all in-store sightings, my own included, have been of incomplete waves. It's possible that cases do not have all four, or that Walmart and Target are sending partial cases to their stores. 2/7: Torrance CA got a second partial case in with the Owlbear. 4/27: Wave 2 (Displacer Beast, White Dragon, blue Beholder) at Walmart in Amarillo TX. 5/4: Wave 2 at Target in Torrance CA.

    HOT WHEELS HAUL-TERATION: Part of the Super Rigs line, in which an existing Hot Wheels car is paired with a thematically appropriate tractor trailer carrier. This uses Zombot as the base car, while the Haul-teration trailer transforms (badly) into a robot, with the tractor part becomes a jetpack. An interesting curiosity, worth the $9 Target wants. 12/2/22: Target in Amarillo TX. And likely pretty widely available at this point, since it has a 2021 copyright stamp.

    SWITCH & GO: VTech has brought back the brand, with vehicles that turn into dinosaurs and have light and sound gimmicks. The smallest size is a $10 off-road truck that turns into a T.rex. The $12 size has a T.rex muscle car, a Triceratops racecar, and a Spinosaurus racecar. Larger size classes exist, but I haven't seen them on pegs yet. Cosells show Triceratops roadster, T.rex drift car, Spinosaurus stunt car, and Velociraptor helicopter (which looks to be the biggest toy, ironically). 9/1/21: T.rex truck and Triceratops race car at Target in Amarillo TX. 9/2/22: A new wave is out, including a truck that turns into a gorilla that beasts its chest, a motorcycle/raptor, and a dune buggy/scorpion.