Size class
Size class is how Hasbro determines the size and price of a toy. It also determines the amount of budget spent on the production of a Transformers toy, such as paint or electronics. The logic behind size classes is simple; retailers can order a case of toys, knowing exactly how much they will sell for and exactly how much shelf space they will occupy. All the Deluxes in a line have identically-sized packaging and cost the same price. When you run out of Deluxes, you order a new case and put them right back where they belong. This is incredibly convenient, especially compared to Generation 1, where the sizes and prices of figures varied widely.
Size class has not been consistent from line to line, with names often changed to affect marketability.
Beast Wars
Beast Wars had five size classes. From smallest to largest:
- Basic, the cheapest at US$5.
- Deluxe, at US$10.
- Mega, at US$15. Toys of this size were often shelfwarmers.
- Ultra, at US$20. Only six toys were sold at this price point.
- Super, at US$30. This size class contained only one toy, Optimal Optimus.
Basic and Deluxe are sold on cards to this day; size classes larger than Deluxe were, and are, sold in boxes.
Beast Machines
Beast Machines continued Beast Wars' size classes, but increased the price of Basic to US$7. Supreme was introduced as a US$40 size class; Cheetor was the only Supreme in this line; a Supreme Optimus Primal toy was planned to be in this line, but was moved to Robots in Disguise. Two additional size classes, Deployers (US$5) and Beast Riders (US$10) would turn out to be short-lived. The size of Ultra toys were increased while maintaining the price.
Robots in Disguise
Robots in Disguise used the Beast Machines size classes, though the Basic price point was once again lowered to US$5. However, most of the toys at this price point were either Spychanger two-packs or redecoed Generation 1 combiner limbs, making them somewhat smaller and less intricate than previous lines' Basics (a notable exception is the recolor of Obsidian, which was sold for less than the original version). Robots in Disguise also had two Mega-priced multipacks of smaller figures (a trio of recolored Beast Machines Basics as Autobots, and the recolored Laser Cycles.
Robots in Disguise, it should also be noted, ran afoul of the differences between US and Japanese packaging policies. Namely, the members of Team Bullet Train were individually packaged as Megas, despite being smaller than the usual members of that size class, and the near-Basic-sized Wedge was sold as a Deluxe.
Armada
The Armada toyline renamed or repurposed all the existing price points:
- Mini-Con, at US$6.50 replaced the Basic price point, with 3-packs of Mini-Cons.
- Super-Con, at US$10 replaced the Deluxe.
- Max-Con, at US$20 replaced the Ultra.
- Giga-Con, at US$25 was a new price point.
- Super-Base, at US$40 replaced Supreme.
- "Unicron" became his own size class, at US$50.
The old US$15 Mega size class was effectively discontinued, taken up by role-play toys like Laserbeak.
Universe
Universe used the Beast Wars size classes, but only had Deluxe and Ultra. After the Universe line as such had effectively ended, repackaged Energon toys were sold on Universe cards as discount chain exclusives, divided into the price points Basic (US$5) and Deluxe (US$8).
Energon
Energon took a somewhat random approach to size-class naming. The second pack-in catalog introduced the size class range as
- Energon (Basic), with the price back to $7
- Combat (Deluxe).
- Mega Combat (the old Ultra price point, aka "Max-Con" during Armada)
- Commanders (the former "Giga-Con").
- Leaders (the former "Super Base").
- Unicron was given no size class.
The third catalog explicitly referred to the price points as
- Energon Class
- Combat Class
- Mega Class
- Command Class
- Leaders Class
- Omega Supreme was given no size class.
The fourth and final catalog continued using the terms originated by the third (although listed no price points for the combiners), but finally listed Omega Supreme as Supreme Class.
Cybertron
Cybertron changed the naming of some size classes, but retained others:
- Legends of Cybertron, at US$3, with tiny Market six-aimed figures.
- Mini-Con Class, at US$5 was added for the Mini-Con two-packs.
- Scout Class, at US$7, formerly Energon Class.
- Deluxe Class, at US$10, formerly Combat Class.
- Voyager Class, at US$20, formerly Mega Class.
- Ultra Class, at US$25, formerly Command Class.
- Leader Class, dropping the plural "s" from the previous "Leaders Class".
- Supreme Class, remained the same.
Classics
Classics kept the Deluxe and Voyager classes, renamed as
- Legends, at US$4 - Legends of Cybertron repaints, raised $1 in price.
- Mini-Con, at US$7, in three-packs again, replacing the Scout Class price point.
- Classic Deluxe, at US$10.
- Classic Voyager, at US$20.
Movie
Transformers, the toyline based on the 2007 live-action movie, retains many size classes from before:
- Legends, at US$4.
- Scout, at US$7.
- Deluxe, at US$10.
- Voyager, at US$20.
- Leader, at US$40.
The Ultra and Supreme classes were dropped. The Scout Class toys, which consisted entirely of redecos of toys from the Energon and Cybertron toylines, was exclusively available at Target stores in the USA, but was sold at mass retail in Europe. Additionally, there was a new US$90 figure sold as Ultimate Bumblebee.
Animated
The Transformers Animated toyline has the following confirmed size classes, as of February 2008:
- Deluxe, at US$10.
- Voyager, at US$20.
- Leader, at US$40.
- Supreme, at US$50.
Presumably the Legends and Scout classes will return to capture the sub-$10 price points, but none have been officially announced as of February 2008.
