Design change

A design change is a modification to a toy's design prior to the sculpt's initial release. The changes can affect the sculpting of parts, the transformation mechanisms, the articulation, the gimmicks and even the assembly of individual parts.

The reasons for those changes are multifold: Sometimes the original design would have just used up more budget than Hasbro was willing to spend on the price point, so some elements (such as gimmicks) had to be gutted. Sometimes the toy is based on a third-party design (most prominently in the case of the live-action film series), and when the original design is changed, the toy's design has to follow suit. Sometimes the toy's alternate mode is based on an existing design, and Hasbro decides to modify it in order to avoid legal trouble with the vehicle's manufacturer. And sometimes things have to be redesigned for safety reasons or to fix design flaws.

Design changes can be discovered by comparing a toy to the stock photos on its packaging which use earlier prototypes. A toy's 2D designs are also a possible reference, since control drawings are occasionally published in various Japanese guide books or other supplementary material. And lastly, the instructions sometimes also reveal design changes.

Design changes are not to be confused with misassemblies. Misassemblies are errors that occur on a factory level and are contrary to the intentions of the designes. Design changes are intentional decisions, often compromises, that occur on a design level. Design changes are also not to be confused with retools: Although retools are effectively design changes, they don't occur until after the initial version of the sculpt has been released. For the purpose of this article, design changes only refer to modifications that occur before the first release of a sculpt.

Sculpting (aesthetical)

• Movie Leader Class Megatron and Deluxe Class "Preview" Starscream both had their head sculpts redesigned to reflect changes in the movie designs. The original head sculpts are used by the stock photos on the back of their packaging.

Mechanisms

• Generation 1 Octane still has a blocked-off internal mechanism which would have been used to make his torso slide to become more proportional
• Alternators/Binaltech Tracks was originally intended to feature spring-loaded arm cannons that would have deployed by pushing a button on the sides of the arms. The final toy instead features a sliding mechanism to deploy the arm cannons by moving a peg on the top of the arms. The spring-loaded arm cannons are depicted in the line art used for Hasbro's instructions, Takara's stock photos for the yellow version and an article in Dengeki Hobby Magazine that features a hardcopy ("gray model") prototype of the toy.
• Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Class Starscream's instructions refer to an additional joint inside the hand's palms that allows to fold them up in jet mode, and depict the forearm cannons in a position where they are moved forward when illustrating the push-button missile firing gimmick, even though the actual toy's hands are cast in one piece, and the cannons are sculpted in place on the actual toy.

Articulation

• Legends of Cybertron Vector Prime was apparently originally intended to sport articulated elbows, but the final toy has each arm sculted as one piece. The stock photo of Legends Scattorshot, a redeco of Vector Prime, on the back of the the Universe Target exclusive "Special Team Leaders" five-pack depicts a bent elbow. Supposedly, it's easier for Hasbro to simply rapid up a new prototype than keeping samples of older product around for the purpose of re-painting them.

Assembly

Nothing that can't be achieved with a screwdriver.

• Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance Bumblebee's legs were originally intended to be assembled the oppsite way, which would have put the wheels on the outer sides of the shins and thus made the legs as a whole more movie-accurate. Presumably, it was decided to swap the legs because the extra transformation step (rotating the legs and waist) would have been too difficult for kids to do. While a hardcopy ("gray model") prototype shown in TakaraTomy solicitations depics the originally intended assembly for the legs, the official Hasbro stock photos and the instructions show the "misassembly" as the "correct" assembly.