Chase figure

Smallest Transforming Transformers Hot Rod, packed at one per each case of 24 figures. Shown here with the no-longer-blind packaging from an eventual non-"chase" re-release

A chase figure is a toy that is released in highly limited amounts relative to the rest of an assortment, often something like "one chase figure per every X number of cases of regular product". The name comes from the assumption that collectors, in their need to "collect them all" will put in more effort than usual to "chase" down said toys. Although they are fairly common in other collectors' series, especially with the rising popularity of blind-packed collectibles in the West, chase figures are relatively rare in the Transformers toylines. They are rarely part of "normal" retail assortments, with most cases relegated to side-lines and merchandise that utilize blindpacking to varying degrees.

Of course, these definitions are fuzzy, and in some circumstances the distinction between a chase figure and a "shortpacked" figure (generally considered a toy found in every case of the assortment but typically only one per case where others are 2 or more) is blurred, particularly if the toyline itself makes a big deal out of specific toys' rarity.

Toylines with "chase" figures

Super Collection Figure

"Reincarnation Megatron"

• Main article: Super Collection Figure

The first Transformers toy/merchandise line to use the chase figure concept, Takara's Super Collection Figure line is a series of blindpacked soft-plastic PVC figurines faithfully based on the animation models of characters from across the series, a fairly rare thing at the time. Each display case has twelve figures, with six full-color figurines, then those six again in either all-clear or pewter-painted variation. Two out of every ten cases, however, would replace one of the full-color figures with one of two different "Secret Figures", typically a redeco of one of the other figures in the assortment. Often these were just fancier versions of characters in metallic paint, or in a very scene-specific deco, and/or holding a new accessory of some sort, but a few were new characters or extensively reworked with new parts, making them highly desirable to collectors.

Acts 3 through 8 also had "build a figure" parts added into the mix, where pieces to a larger figure were split up and packed with multiple figures in the case. While most of these appeared in roughly four cases out of ten per Act, a few can definitely be considered chases: the full-color and clear Fortress Maximus figures were each only in one in ten cases, pewter Grand Maximus in only two out of ten, and the pewter Victory Saber add-on parts also in only two of ten cases.

When Hasbro brought the figures over as Heroes of Cybertron, several of the more notable/desirable chase figures got released as normal figures. However, the Heroes releases are all different from the SCF versions to varying degrees (the fundamental difference being painted-over clear-plastic rather than solid colored plastic), so while this did drop the demand for the original chases in the West, it didn't really do a lot to the prices for the originals anyway.

Act 1 (12-2000) Sortie! Cybertrons chapter Convoy with Ax Megatron with Chain Weight		Act 2 (3-2001) 2010 chapter Megatron & Convoy Matrix & Rodimus		Act 3 (6-2001) The Headmasters chapter Damaged Convoy Reincarnation Megatron Fortress Maximus (color & clear BAFs)		Act 4 (9-2001) Resurrection of Convoy chapter God Ginrai ("Fire Guts" gold) Grimlock (metallic)		Yeah, good luck with either of these two. The reveal of chase-figure Dirge made a lot of team-completion-minded people... less than happy.
Act 5 (12-2001) Super-God Masterforce chapter Convoy (silver w/ Matrix) Starscream (clear "ghost" version)		Act 6 (2-2002) Road to Earth chapter Dirge Galvatron (metallic) Grand Maximus (pewter BAF)		Act 7 (5-2002) Victory chapter Deszaras (w/ Eaglebreast) Victory Saber (gold) Victory Saber (pewter BAF add-on parts)		Act 8 (8-2002) Overseers of Justice chapter "Nurse of Paradron" Starscream (coronation)
Act 9 (12-27-2002) Legends of the Microns Series 1 chapter Convoy ("Cybertron" mode) Megatron ("Cybertron" mode)		Act 10 (3-2003) Legends of the Microns Series 2 chapter Convoy Super Mode (w/ Star Saber) Ratchet ("Cybertron" mode)

MyClone

• Main article: MyClone

Released in 2002, Takara's MyClone line is a multi-brand series of "buildable" figures based around a common core body, similar to how Minimates figures work, only far less hideous than Minimates. As one of these other lines was "adorable animals", this could result in some hilarious and/or adorable parts combinations. Three series of Transformers figures were released, each one with two chase figures. Unfortunately, at present we do not have hard numbers on case assortments and rarity. The third wave of figures, however, reportedly have much harder to find chases than the prior two.

Hunting "lava" Galvatron down could drive a person crazy.

TF AS-01 Convoy (clear) Megatron (clear)

TF AS-02 Thundercracker Galvatron (lava)

TF AS-03 Red Alert Dirge

Smallest Transforming Transformers

• Main article: Smallest Transforming Transformers

Micromaster

"Red Mode" Windy

• Main article: The Transformers: Micromaster

Running from 2002 to 2003, Takara's Micromaster series consists of six assortments of redecoes/re-releases of Micromaster combiner teams (and one "DX Micromaster" set of not-actually-Micromasters), sold mainly through convenience stores. Each case of twelve individually-boxed figures had six characters at two apiece, but starting with the second assortment, two of the toys in each case would be "chase" color variants, and all six toys were available in said variants, which meant a lot of looking.

Making things slightly easier though is that the toys are not actually blindpacked like many other Takara convenience-store series: a small hole in the front of each box shows off a part of the pack-in instructions that reveals a number, telling you who's in the box (the box-sides displaying the numbers next to the corresponding figure). So while you knew who was in the box, you still couldn't see the figures proper until you opened the boxes and removed them from the opaque bags inside, so it was still a crap shoot as to which two chases you'd get when you bought a complete case, but at least if you only needed a few chases you could narrow the search.

Turbo Team (December 25, 2003) Solid-black "Reverse Evolution" variants of: 1 — Road Police 2 — Glide 3 — Circuit 4 — Neo-Wheel 5 — Discharge 6 — Sireen		Wing Team (February 2003) Solid-white "Berserker" variants of: 1 — Chain Gun 2 — Missile Run 3 — Raker 4 — Supersonic 5 — Flanker 6 — Falcon		Build Team (March 2003) "Constructicon" green versions of: 1 — Bonecrusher 2 — Scavenger 3 — Gren 4 — Scrapper 5 — Long Haul 6 — Mixmaster		Train Team (July 24, 2003) Solid-red "Red Mode" variants of: 1 — Desire 2 — Atlan 3 — Raise 4 — San D-Go 5 — Windy 6 — Converter		"Reverse Evolution" Sixturbo
Multiforce (December 25, 2003) Solid-black "Stealth Mode" versions of: 1 — Wing 2 — Waver 3 — Dash 4 — Tacker 5 — Mach 6 — Tackle

Micron Booster

Saber, the first of the (thankfully few) chase Microns.

• Main article: Micron Booster

Takara's Micron Booster series was a series of redecoed Mini-Cons (called "Microns" in Japan), sold in blindpacked boxes primarily through convenience stores from 2003 to 2007. While the first two assortments had an even one-per-case of every Mini-Con, the third (labeled "Vol.2", just go with it) introduced a one-per-two cases chase figure, which continued into the following waves, the last assortment going a step further with two chase figures, each at one per two cases.

• Saber (Vol.2, Super Link)
• Bug General (Ver.3, Galaxy Force)
• Detectas (Ver.4, The Transformers)
• Chromebite (Ver.4, The Transformers)

Due to some manufacturing kerfuffles, it was possible to buy a solid case of Micron Booster Ver.3 and not even get all the non-chase figures: some of the Microns were doubled up rather than the usual one-per-case, presumably because they were gang-molded with other toys sold at normal retail and Takara wanted/needed to get rid of their larger numbers somehow. No pattern so far has been determined as to who got replaced in any given case. So while none of the other figures in that assortment are technically chases, several of them kind could be considered chases by accident.

The Loyal Subjects

• Main article: The Loyal Subjects

Collectibles company The Loyal Subjects acquired the Transformers license in 2020, creating a series of 3-inch vinyl figurines in a big-headed, squat, cartoony style, with swappable parts. They are primarily sold in cases of sixteen blindpacked figures. There are multiple chase figures per wave, with the rarity ratio of every figure in the set given on the packaging (though the exact decos of the chases are often kept a mystery, another common thing among this kind of collectible). Common figures generally come two per case, but there are a small number one-per-case toys. Chase figures come in three rarities: 1/24 (or one packed in per every 1.5 cases), 1/48 (one per three cases), and 1/96 (one per six cases). Good luck!

A textbook example of the modern collectible line with chase figures.

Wave 1 Illest Jazz - 1/24 Cybertron Megatron - 1/48 Cybertron Bumblebee - 1/96

Variant Wave 1 Metallic Megatron - 1/24 Gold Jazz - 1/48 Cliffjumper - 1/96

Wave 2 Dirge - 1/24 Skywarp - 1/96

Wave 2 Hot Topic Variant Dirge - 1/24 Bluestreak - 1/48 Skywarp - 1/96

Wave 3 Sunstreaker - 1/24 Hound - 1/48 Frenzy - 1/96

Wave 3.5 "Power Pak" (Hot Topic) Sunstreaker "Diaclone" Ed. - 1/48 Hound "G2" Ed. - 1/96

BotBots

Of these three packs, only the one on the right has a "Winner's Circle" BotBot in the blindpacked bubble: Goldie Terrortwirl, who does not appear in any other package in the entire Series. The other fourteen bots in these packages can also be found in other packs in the Series.

• Main article: Transformers: BotBots

As BotBots is itself modeled after the trade-encouraging blind-packed mini-collectible figures that were very popular in the mid-2010s (Shopkins being the big one), this line plays up the figures' relative rarity to the point where many of its figures can be considered "chase" toys. While buying a full case of each assortment will guarantee one of every possible figure, in most cases that's not strictly necessary: most figures in any given Series will be in two to three (and on rare occasion four!) different packages, leading to a lot of redundancy, and a "recommended minimum buy" scheme has been worked out for each Series so you can skip buying a good number of the packs but still net you at least one of every BotBot, including all the ones who only appear in a single package.

For Series 1 through 3, the supposed "chase" figures were the Lost Bots, who could only be found in the blind-packed portions of the varying packages. However, most of these were found in multiple different packs, so they don't quite count. In Series 4, they were replaced with the Winner's Circle Bots, who truly were rarer, with only one of each golden trophy Bot found in only one blindpacked section across the entire Series, with some "common" BotBots showing up in the blindpacked bubbles as well. These were followed by the multicolored Oil Slicks in Series 6. The contents of these bubbles are not randomized though, making the task of collecting them all a bit easier.

There are also single-Bot blindpacks, which arrive in cases of twenty-four, and each one is a different BotBot, no multiples. In each series, there are several BotBots who are found only in the single-pack assortment, including characters from the aforementioned "rare" teams, so yeah, under those circumstances, we're gonna call 'em chase figures. Luckily, each package has a small, easily-missed code on the back that tells you what's in the package (if you know the code), so at least that frustration is lessened somewhat as well.

We're... not going to go over every one-per-entire Series figure here. It's a lot. Quite a lot. Best to check the main BotBots toyline page for a complete breakdown.

Notes

• Jeez, Dirge gets relegated to chase figure status a lot, don't he? While this makes some degree of sense in Japan, where Dirge was one of several figures only available as a mail-away item in the original toyline... what's The Loyal Subjects's rationale?

See Also

• Lucky Draw figure