By this point, the nine million other websites in attendance at the Hasbro media event more than beat to death the coverage of Transformers. So instead of discussing the minute detail of each thing announced at the show, I thought I would do this a little differently.
Amongst all the companies showing goods at Toy Fair, Hasbro alone shows no sign of slowing down. Each of their flagship boys lines still has that one WOW vehicle, in some cases, some lines have more than one. Their showroom is still off-site, their presentation grand, and their staff plentiful. However, there were some signs that even Hasbro was being affected by the current economic climate.
So, the toys...
Masterpiece Grimlock
Masterpiece Grimlock will be hitting the states, only the US version will come with a crown and a sword.
Mail-away Ravage
Collect points from the NEST promotion and mail away for a special edition Ravage figure - this one has vacu-formed chrome limbs. Apparently, they needed help (or permission) from TakaraTomy to pull this off.
Leader Class
The biggest standard class for Transformers we will see a new prime (with battle damage and arm blades), Starscream, and ironhide.
Power Core Combiners
These looked really nice. They are basically a series of combinable figures that come in a two pack or a 5 pack. the two packs feature a vehicle and a minicon. The minicons look really great with silver and TRANSLUCENT parts. The main robot can transform from vehicle to robot, and can also serve as a "core" robot to the 5 pack. The 5 pack consists of 5 vehicles. One vehicle can transform from robot to vehicle to 'core". The other four vehicles only have a vehicle mode and a "limb" mode. Transformation is automatic - clip the vehicle into the peg and the arm springs out of the vehicle. You can mix and match "cores" and limbs to create new vehicles.
Remember that exclusive you paid too much money for? Well here it is at mass-market.
Battle Ops Bumblebee
Another larger sized toy is the Battle Ops Bumblebee. This figure has some neat gimmicks. this is an all-new sculpt by TakaraTomy (as opposed to the Ultimate Bumblebee, which was done in RI). In vehicle mode, Bumblebee has pop-out missile launchers. but in Robot mode, there is so much more. Depending on what mode Bumblebee is in, different sets of sounds are activated. When his battle armor mask is down, the sounds are aggressive battle sounds. When it's up, the sounds are more playful. Another cool gimmick is with the arm cannon. The cannon lights up, and when you move it a certain way a hand comes out. Very cool. The press release says:
"BUMBLEBEE continues to be one of the most popular TRANSFORMERS heroes as he acts as both a defender and a warrior for good. The new BATTLE OPS BUMBLEBEE action figure continues to push the boundaries of TRANSFORMERS toy innovation and showcases two sides of BUMBLEBEE with features unique to each of these roles. For example, when serving as a guardian, BUMBLEBEE features more playful phrases along with authentic engine sounds and lights. Then, when converted into battle mode, BATTLE OPS BUMBLEBEE has missile launchers that pop out, a converting plasma cannon that lights up, and phrases that change to reflect his battle personality. "
Generations
Generations will be the catch-all line for things from universe, video games, etc. The focus of this is figures from the upcoming video game War for Cybertron. Two figures were on display (bumblebee and Optimus) and both looked.... okay. Optimus seemed mis-transformed. We got a preview of the game which looked a little busy, but it was still a work in progress.
Action Fleet
Action fleet are kind of like MASK, but not as cool and smaller. No figures to fit inside the vehicle. But one push of a button, and weapons and such pop out of the transformers vehicle modes. They do not transform into robots.
Human Alliance
Human Alliance continues, with the only one planned to be Jazz. Looks good though. They'd love to do a bigger one (Prime) but don't feel the market could support it right now.
Speed Stars
This overlooked toy was not with the other transformers. It's basically a large, kid-friendly size version of those RPM cars, but with lights and sounds. Cool thing about this one - the car alarm noise when you turn it on or off.
Weebles
Yeah, weebles. Weebles wobble and they don't fall down. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron. Take that for what you will.
We took a ton of photos of Transformers at the Hasbro Showroom. Hop on over to our gallery and check them out. Hasbro also sent over a bunch of PR images which you can view here.
