The earliest exclusives in Studio Series were hit hard by the bankruptcy of Toys"R"Us in several countries. Thundercracker was only available for a very short window at TRU, and only in store. Likewise, the Bumblebee/Charlie 2-pack was also intended for Toys"R"Us, but ultimately only released that way in Canada, which still had Toys"R"Us by the time it came out. Both releases were eventually made available through numerous online retailers such as BigBadToyStore, Entertainment Earth, ToyWiz, and TFSource.
The Bumblebee Then & Now Two-pack was exclusive to Target and BigBadToyStore in the United States and to Kmart in Australia. The Bumblebee Vol. 1 Retro Rock Garage set debuted at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 and was later also made available via Hasbro Toy Shop. The Bumblebee Vol. 2 Retro Pop Highway set appears to have been an "online exclusive" shared between the same retailers that offered Thundercracker and Bumblebee/Charlie. We say "appear" because the Retro Pop Highway set was also available at GameStop stores in the United States, and both sets were also listed in Diamond Comic Distributors' Previews catalog, so really the only "exclusivity" for these appears to be that neither of them is available from Walmart or Target.
Meanwhile, in Hasbro Asia markets: a special Bumblebee with battle damage deco was given away to customers who purchased at least 100 SGD of Studio Series and/or Power of the Primes products in Singaporean Toys"R"Us stores; and in China, the purchase of Studio Series products from Hasbro's official TaoBao online shop on May 15, 2018, entered buyers into a lucky draw with the chance of receiving one of 300 battle damaged Bumblebees or one of 88 Blackouts in camouflage deco.
As with the previous year's Vol. 2 Retro Pop Highway, the Drift and Baby Dinobots set was available from multiple online retailers. Battle Damaged Megatron was first found stocked by Hong Kong shops, long before it was available both online and in store at Toys"R"Us in Canada and Target in the U.S.
"As Seen In Parks" Megatron was officially exclusive to Universal Studios, but was released (almost a year after he had been officially revealed) in Hasbro's Asian markets first. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the toy was ended up being released exclusively via online retailers in the U.S.
2020 saw the release of Leadfoot at Target, the enormous Devastator box set at multiple retailers, and the beginnings of the Target exclusive Buzzworthy Bumblebee line in celebration of everybody's favourite little yellow Autobot. Toys in the latter line are earmarked by the addition of "BB" to their ID numbers.
The Buzzworthy Bumblebee line further expanded in 2021 to include multi-packs. Target also received reissues of Battle Damaged Megatron and the Then & Now Two-Pack.
2022 saw the first in a line of exclusives themed around NEST in the online exclusive N.E.S.T. Bumblebee, a new assortment of Buzzworthy Bumblebee Deluxes from Target, and a special commemorative multi-pack of Autobots for the 15th anniversary of Transformers available at Amazon.
In late 2022, a second wave of Buzzworthy Bumblebee Deluxes were briefly listed by the wholesaler NDA Toys, with accompanying stock renders, and seemed to fill the pair of conspicuous gaps in the Studio Series numbering system. A listing for a third wavemate was also discovered months later. Unfortunately, Target opted to cancel their release due to poor sales of the previous wave.[1] Hound was eventually released in 2024 for Generations Selects and Hatchet and Bumblebee in 2025 for the main Studio Series line.
There were further releases in Buzzworthy Bumblebee this year, some of which continued the range of NEST-themed redecoes, and none of which were released in waves or regular assortments. Another Transformers 15th anniversary set, this time for most of the Decepticons, was available on Amazon.
With the Buzzworthy Bumblebee branding being rotated out of circulation, its signature Target-exclusive cartoon-style redecoes of War for Cybertron Trilogy toys were released in normal Studio Series packaging. Another Amazon "15th Anniversary" multipack was released, this time for Revenge of the Fallen. Similar to the first year of Studio Series, a limited amount of specially painted Optimus Primes were given to people who spent at least HKD$3000 at the Hasbro Hong Kong Fans Expo 2024. There were also Target exclusive reissues of 49 Bumblebee and 51 Soundwave.
Revenge of the Fallen 15th Anniversary Autobot Multipack
2025
Deluxe Class
Exclusives
The "MTMTE Collection" is Target's new subline of exclusives in North America, replacing Buzzworthy Bumblebee. Overload's product description also labelled it as the "Power Collection." Amazon continued its trend of faction-based "15th anniversary" sets, though such branding has been omitted from this year's packaging. Similar to last year, the Hasbro Hong Kong Fans Expo 2025 saw another limited run of hand-painted Optimus Primes given out for for spending at least HKD$5000 at the booth.
In 2021, TakaraTomy decided to go back to its old ways and launched the short-lived Premium Finish toyline, featuring re-releases of some Studio Series figures with much more movie-accurate decoes. This line has its own numbering system, and, with the exception of the first Bumblebee, also notes the figure's movie of origin. Premium Finish was imported to western markets via Hasbro Pulse.
