Transformers Animated (toyline)

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Putting the "cool" in "Playskool".

The Transformers Animated toy line merges the more expressive design style of the cartoon with extremely poseable robot forms (to a degree which seemed pleasantly surprising even to Hasbro). Unlike the franchises immediately before it, there is no overarching, line-wide gimmick (such as Mini-Cons or Cyber Planet Keys). Rather, transforming is the gimmick, and the toys have other special features unique and appropriate to the character (such as triple-changing or interchangeable tools). While the designs originated with Hasbro and the Cartoon Network team, TakaraTomy stepped up to the plate to engineer the toys. The line debuted on July 1, 2007, at Hasbro's Future Products panel at BotCon.

Hasbro, citing the strength of the movie toyline, postponed the official release of the Animated toyline to June 22, 2008 in the US. However, some toys began showing up at retailers in the Cincinnati area to coincide with BotCon, followed by wider releases in Canada in May and the U.S. shortly thereafter.

Toys

The core toys of this franchise are available at most of the traditional size classes.

General retail

Deluxe Class

Wave 1

File:Bumblebee anim toy.jpg

• Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Lockdown
• Prowl

Wave 2

• Blackarachnia
• Autobot Ratchet

Wave 3

• Autobot Jazz
• Oil Slick
• Snarl
• Soundwave

Wave 4

• Swoop
• Elite Guard Bumblebee
• Sentinel Prime

Wave 5

• Blazing Lockdown
• Blurr
• Swindle

Wave 6

File:Samuraiprowldeluxe.jpg

"That's 'Prowl-san' to you, young one."

• Waspinator
• Samurai Prowl

Wave 7

• Electrostatic Soundwave
• Freeway Jazz

Uncertain release

• Toxic Oil Slick
• Fugitive Waspinator
• Vortex Blurr
• Mercenary Swindle

Voyager Class

Wave 1

• Bulkhead
• Cybertron Mode Megatron
• Starscream

Wave 2

• Earth Mode Optimus Prime

Even though Optimus Prime officially debuted in wave 2 of the Voyager Class toys, he was found at US retail later than the wave 3 toys Grimlock and Lugnut.

Wave 3

File:Lugnut animated toy.JPG

Comes with a Gopher grabber arm.

• Grimlock
• Lugnut

Wave 4

• Blitzwing

Wave 5

• Shockwave/Longarm
• Skywarp

Wave 6

• Wreck-Gar
• Atomic Lugnut

Uncertain release

• Hydrodrive Bumblebee
• Goldfire Grimlock
• Thundercracker
• Blackout
• Wingblade Optimus Prime
• Mudbuster Bulkhead

Leader Class

Wave 1

• Bulkhead
• Earth Mode Megatron

Wave 2

File:Leaderclass animated ultramagnus battlemode.jpg

"Hot Shot ain't got nothing on me."

• Ultra Magnus

Wave 3

• Shadow Blade Megatron

Wave 4

• Roadbuster Ultra Magnus (redeco colored as a Generation 1 Roadbuster homage)

Supreme Class

Wave 1

• Roll-Out Command Optimus Prime

Entertainment Packs

Half & half

Wave 1

• Optimus Prime vs. Megatron - The Battle Begins

Wave 2

• Jetstorm and Jetfire

Activators

The Activators subcategory consists of chunkier, simpler, Scout-class-sized toys with one-touch, spring-loaded transformations.

File:Activatorsstarscream.jpg

"Come on, Hasbro. You can still make some redecos of me."

Wave 1

• Bulkhead
• Bumblebee
• Starscream

Wave 2

• Lockdown
• Optimus Prime
• Autobot Ratchet

Wave 3

• Patrol Bumblebee
• Thundercracker

Wave 4

• Megatron
• Grimlock
• Bandit Lockdown

Wave 5

• Cliffjumper
• Dirge

Wave 6

• Fireblast Grimlock
• Soundwave

Wave 7

• Armor Up Optimus Prime
• Battlefield Bumblebee

Bumper Battlers

An expansion on the Cyber Slammers subline from the 2007 live-action movie toys, Bumper Battlers feature "bump-and-transform" action. Hitting the front bumper causes the toy to change into robot mode, and pressing the toy's sigil activates sound effects and speech gimmicks.

Wave 1

• Bumblebee
• Optimus Prime
• Autobot Ratchet

Wave 2

"At least I have a better shade of blue than another Nightwatch Optimus Prime."

• Autobot Jazz
• Bulkhead

Wave 3

• Sting Racer Bumblebee
• Nightwatch Optimus Prime

Wave 4

• Lockdown
• Soundwave

Wave 5

These two toys have been released in Australia and Mexico in small quantities. At the current point of time, it's unclear if they will be included among the upcoming releases of the remaining Animated toys in the USA.

• Workzone Bulkhead
• Stealth Ninja Jazz

Power Bots

Wave 1

• Cyber Speed Bumblebee

Wave 2

• Street Patrol Bumblebee (redeco of Cyber Speed Bumblebee)

Exclusives (United States/Canada market)

Target/Zellers

• Stealth Lockdown (Deluxe Class) with Legends Class Bumblebee and Legends Class Optimus Prime

• Rescue Ratchet (Deluxe Class) with Legends Class Starscream and Legends Class Prowl

Both packs were also available as Tesco exclusives in the United Kingdom, Zellers exclusives in Canada and Warehouse exclusives in New Zealand.

• Sunstorm (Voyager Class) vs Activators Ratchet.

• Shockwave (Voyager Class) (with a new show accurate color scheme) vs Activators Bumblebee

Toys "R" Us

• Bulkhead (Leader Class) with Activators Bumblebee

• Megatron (Leader Class) with Activators Starscream

• Arcee (Deluxe Class)

• Cybertron Mode Ratchet (Deluxe Class)

• Rodimus Minor

• Ironhide

Wal-Mart

• "The Revenge of Blackarachnia" two-pack (Deluxe Optimus Prime from "The Battle Begins" two-pack and Deluxe Class Blackarachnia)

• "Battle in Space" two-pack (Deluxe Class Prowl and Deluxe Megatron from "The Battle Begins" two-pack)

Foreign market exclusive releases

Multi-packs

• Autobot Ratchet & Bumblebee two-pack

Thus far this pack has only been found at Toys "R" Us stores in the United Kingdom and Germany.

McDonald's Happy Meal toys

North America

• Megatron
• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Ratchet
• Starscream
• Lugnut

Latin America

• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Megatron
• Starscream

France

• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Megatron
• Blitzwing

Poland

• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Megatron
• Starscream

Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Megatron are the same molds from the North American release but with more detailed paint applications. Blitzwing is a new mold.

Toys of Animated characters released as part of other lines

Movie (2007)

Wal-Mart exclusives

• The Legacy of Bumblebee three-pack (movie-inspired minor redeco of Classic Deluxe Bumblebee, regular Movie Deluxe Class "Premium" Bumblebee and regular Animated Deluxe Class Bumblebee)

Universe (2008)

Legends Class (wave 3)

• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Prowl

Legends Class (wave 4)

• Starscream

TakaraTomy releases

Beginning in 2010, TakaraTomy's release of the Animated toyline will consist of the same toys released in Western markets by Hasbro, but now with extremely glossy paintjobs.

Criticisms

Since the first wave of Animated toys were released, there have been multiple complaints of poor quality paint applications, sloppy paint applications, and very greasy ball and hinge joints. There are also complaints over certain breakage issues, such as Lockdown's wrists, and toy functionality being limited by support struts added to prevent breakage, such as with Voyager Megatron's cannon and Bumblebee's stingers being unable to position properly.

Most of these issues can be fixed with relative ease.

External links

• Hasbro's official Transformers Animated homepage