User:Brickmaster57/ShockWhale
Activate Your Alt Mode
[edit]
On July 25, 2025, Hasbro announced Activate Your Alt Mode at San Diego Comic-Con alongside a video uploaded to the Hasbro Pulse YouTube channel featuring franchise-legend Frank Welker.<ref>https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NctR0LWttjA</ref> Welker explained that the winner of the vote was to receive a new toy with a fan-selected alternate mode. The voting was held using Instagram's poll feature and was split into 3 rounds over the course of 16 days<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/p/DNN6DCcyhmp/</ref>
The first round was to decide which character would receive a new alt-mode, starting with the Autobot contenders on August 12, pitting Grimlock against Mirage.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/reel/DNQYBeVtvg-/</ref> The Decepticon contenders were chosen on August 13, pitting Shockwave against Starscream.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/reel/DNTDi8LtgPm/</ref> The last day of round 1, August 14, saw Grimlock against Shockwave. <ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/reel/DNVhltLNI7n/</ref>
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Grimlock vs Shockwave |
Shockwave was announced the winner of round 1 on August 15.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/p/DNXxxI0ttwV/</ref>
Round 2 began on August 18 and ran for three days to determine which alt-mode direction would be chosen.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/p/DNfjJ-mOz6Y/</ref>
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Wildcard started out in the lead the first day,[citation needed]{{#ifeq: User||}} but was quickly overtaken by sea, which was announced as the winner of round 2 on August 22.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/p/DNp9DGEt3Lo/</ref>
Round 3 began on August 25 and ran for 3 days to determine which specific sea-based alt-mode Shockwave would turn into.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/p/DNx9_pQ2pa9/</ref>
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The Transformers Instagram revealed that "creature" had won round 3 on August 29, and that the design would be revealed on Transformers Day of that year, held on September 17, 2025.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/p/DN74hnrDQq1/</ref>
After a few teasers, the design for the new Shockwave toy was finally revealed on September 17 by a video posted on the Transformers Instagram, once again featuring Welker to announce the figure.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/reel/DOt8SNcieUi/</ref> In the video, concept-art was revealed of a Shockwave design capable of transforming into a mechanical whale! Fitting! More refined concept art was revealed the following day, as well as scrapped concepts for shark, manta-ray, and squid Shockwaves.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/transformersofficial/reel/DOwJWpeia-Q/</ref> The figure is set to release as a fan-channel exclusive in 2026.<ref name=MCMinterview>https://tfwikicommunity.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/a-stampede-of-hooves-and-tires-my-saturday-with-the-hasbro-team-mcm-comic-con-25/</ref>
Notes
[edit]Losing options from the polls frequently received acknowledgement later down the road:
- Unsuccessful names from the 2013 Fan Built Bot poll saw use, with a new character named "Centuritron" appearing in Generations, and the names "Eclipse" and "Charon" being used for new Generations toys of classic characters.
- After losing the 2013 poll for a new Masterpiece toy, Beast Convoy and Lio Convoy were released in the line anyway, in 2016 and 2020 respectively, while Super Ginrai was released in the follow-up MPG line in 2024.
- The two unchosen names from 2015's Fan Built Combiner poll were used as new identities for established characters, with the Beast Wars: Uprising incarnation of Big Convoy being rechristened "Slammoth" and the Classics character Breakaway becoming "Quakebreak" after an in-fiction alteration to the multiverse.
- After losing out to Trypticon in 2015's second poll, Omega Supreme and Scorponok received Titan Class figures later on in Siege and Earthrise respectively.
- Ultra Magnus and Shockwave received Leader Class toys in Siege after losing the opportunity in 2017's poll – and arguably, both of those toys nonetheless fit into the "Evolution"-style armouring up gimmick found in the Power of the Primes Leader Class.
- Two other runners-up from the 2017 poll would receive big-ticket crowdfunding toys in the form of HasLab Victory Saber and Decepticon Deathsaurus.
- All of the candidates from 2018's War for Cybertron Trilogy poll received new toys anyway, with Spinister appearing in Siege, Wheeljack seeing three releases across the trilogy beginning with Earthrise, and Tracks coming out in the third chapter, Kingdom.
- After 2018's Vintage G1 poll, Skywarp was once again eligible in a similar poll in 2019. While he also didn't win that one, 2023's Transformers Retro, the successor to Vintage G1, reissued both him and fellow 2018 Vintage G1 poll loser Perceptor.
- Gnaw lost the opportunity for a War for Cybertron Trilogy toy in the 2019 poll, but received an aesthetically similar toy in Studio Series.
- Needlenose in particular seems to have had the deck stacked in his favour, being a recurring candidate in 2018 and 2019 (and losing both times) before finally being thrown a bone in Legacy: Evolution.
- Similarly, Shrapnel also got a toy in Legacy: Evolution despite losing the 2019 poll.
Possible alt-mode options for the losing directions in Activate Your Alt Mode were revealed ahead of the vote by designer Nate Purswell:
- Land: Creature, Truck, Train, Supercar
- Air: Jet, Helicopter, Creature, Airship
- Wild Card: Weapon, Starfighter, Creature, Device<ref> https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNa1NTrOa77/ </ref>
<ref name=MCMinterview />
Possible alt-mode options for the losing directions in Activate Your Alt Mode were revealed ahead of the vote by designer Nate Purswell:
- Land: Creature, Truck, Train, Supercar
- Air: Jet, Helicopter, Creature, Airship
- Wild Card: Weapon, Starfighter, Creature, Device<ref> https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNa1NTrOa77/ </ref>
Even Brooks was advised by marketers to not make Activate Your Alt Mode Shockwave a squid to "avoid undermining the potential market" for a Studio Series Sea squid. <ref name=MCMinterview />