Reveal the Shield
| This article is about the 2011 subline imprint of the 2010 Transformers toy line. For the exclusive subline imprint of the The Last Knight toy line from 2017, see Transformers: The Last Knight (toyline). |
Reveal the Shield is a subline imprint of the 2010 Transformers line that began in November 2010. As a toy line with loosely defined fiction continuity, it's both a continuation of the Hunt for the Decepticons segment of the 2010 Transformers line (which itself was a continuation of the Revenge of the Fallen toy line) and one of the spiritual successors of the 2006 Classics line. Confusingly, it ran concurrently with the Generations line, which is also a Classics successor. Supposedly, the main reason for this was Hasbro's desire to get out as much "Classic"-related product as possible, so the decision which line specific toys were released in seems arbitrary. In two cases, a redeco/retool of a Reveal the Shield toy was even released under the Generations banner.
Ironically, it was ultimately the Reveal the Shield figures that fell victim to the "tail-end-of-the-line syndrome", with many retailers in the United States passing on the entire segment in favor of the then-upcoming Dark of the Moon line. While most of the figures were comparably easy to find at retail in many international markets (even Europe for a change!), they weren't made available in the United States until many months later, and then only at closeout chains such as TJ Maxx, Ross or Marshalls. Some figures even remain unreleased entirely. In the meantime, the Generations line continued to persist at US retail and was later even brought back for further installments.
The main difference between Reveal the Shield and Generations, aside from the packaging, is the former's use of rubsigns (last seen in Classics), which reveal the character's true allegiance, much like the original Generation 1 toys. Another notable difference between the lines is the broader range of size classes in Reveal the Shield, unlike Generations which at the time was exclusively made up of Deluxe Class figures.
Because the entire theme of this subline is (at least theoretically) not knowing the allegiance of the figures until you press(?) the rubsign, characters who previously needed "Autobot" or "Decepticon" prefixes in front of their names for trademark purposes have instead been given unique and different (and usually more appropriate) descriptive words added to their names to keep their allegiance a closely guarded ultra secret mystery. At least to anyone who hasn't paid any attention at all to any Transformers fiction or merchandise in the past 25 years or so—and ignores the faction-specific logos on the back of the packaging as well as the bios, which do use the "Autobot" prefixes in some cases, while other characters who don't need a prefix are explicitly identified as belonging to a specific faction. (The European-market packaging omits the prefixes from the—heavily truncated—multilingual bios altogether due to a different trademark situation in Europe, but still keeps the faction-specific logos on the back of the packaging, as well as the faction association in the bios.)
Toyline
Legends Class
Wave 1
- Optimus Prime
- Megatron
- Starscream
- Gold Bumblebee (redeco of Universe 2.0 Legends Bumblebee - homage to Goldbug).
Wave 2
Scout Class
Wave 1
- Windcharger
- Chopsaw (Brimstone redeco)
Canceled toys
Deluxe Class
Wave 1
- Fallback (redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Brawn)
- Mindset (redeco/retool of Hailstorm)
- Special Ops Jazz
- Turbo Tracks
Wave 2
- Perceptor
- Wreck-Gar
- Optimus Prime (new sculpt based on Generation 2 "Laser" Optimus Prime)
- Bumblebee (minor redeco of Classics Bumblebee)
Voyager Class
Wave 1
- Solar Storm Grappel (redeco/retool of Universe 2.0 Inferno)
- Lugnut
- Strafe (redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Mindwipe)
Wave 2
Two-pack
- "Battle in Space" two pack includes:
- Rodimus (Deluxe class Classics toy, with deco from Universe "Challenge at Cybertron" pack, modified with rubsign)
- Cyclonus with Nightstick (Deluxe class Universe toy, with deco from "Challenge at Cybertron" pack, modified with rubsign)
- Also includes: Autobot Matrix of Leadership from New Year Special Convoy, "Rodimus vs. Cyclonus" comic book.
Notes
- Despite the gimmick that specifically centered around the faction of the individual characters being kept a "secret", the released figures actually only included five Decepticons compared to seventeen (!) Autobots. (The unreleased Scout wave would have brought the number of Decepticons to six, and the number of Autobots to nineteen.)
- Redecos of Legends Class Optimus Prime, (Gold) Bumblebee and Starscream were released under the 2014 Transformers toy line, now under the renamed "Legion Class" price point. The figures were available at market six stores such as Family Dollar and Dollar General in the United States (but were available at general retail in other markets) and advertised a "Reveal the Shield" rubsign gimmick on the back of their packaging… yet the actual toys had regular tampographed faction insignias, initially red Autobot symbols for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and a purple Decepticon symbol for Starscream, with later running change variants changing the symbols to black for all three figures. Re-releases of these figures in 2017 utilized slightly altered packaging with the call out of the rubsigns removed.
