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Transformers Animated

Toyline

Cartoon

Comic

Books

The Transformers Animated toy line merges the more expressive design style of the cartoon with extremely poseable robot forms (to a degree which seemed pleasantly surprising even to Hasbro). Unlike the franchises immediately before it, there is no overarching, line-wide gimmick (such as Mini-Cons or Cyber Planet Keys). Rather, transforming is the gimmick, and the toys have other special features unique and appropriate to the character (such as triple-changing or interchangeable tools). While the designs originated with Hasbro and the Cartoon Network team, TakaraTomy stepped up to the plate to engineer the toys. The line debuted on July 1, 2007, at Hasbro's Future Products panel at BotCon.

Hasbro, citing the strength of the movie toyline, postponed the official release of the Animated toyline to June 22, 2008 in the US. However, some toys began showing up at retailers in the Cincinnati area to coincide with BotCon, followed by wider releases in Canada in May and the U.S. shortly thereafter.

Toys

The core toys of this franchise are available at most of the traditional size classes.

Deluxe Class

Wave 1

• Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Lockdown
• Prowl

Wave 2

• Blackarachnia
• Autobot Ratchet

Wave 3

• Autobot Jazz
• Oil Slick
• Snarl
• Soundwave (includes Laserbeak)

Wave 4

• Swoop
• Elite Guard Bumblebee
• Sentinel Prime

Wave 5

• Blurr
• Swindle
• Blazing Lockdown

Wave 6

• Waspinator
• Samurai Prowl

Wave 7

• Freeway Jazz
• Electrostatic Soundwave (includes Ratbat)

Upcoming release

• Cliffjumper

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Hot Shot

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Earth Mode Ironhide

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Vortex Blurr

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Toxic Oil Slick

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Mercenary Swindle

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Fugitive Waspinator

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

Voyager Class

Wave 1

• Bulkhead
• Cybertron Mode Megatron
• Starscream

Wave 2

• Earth Mode Optimus Prime

Wave 3

• Grimlock
• Lugnut

Wave 4

• Blitzwing

Wave 5

• Shockwave/Longarm Prime
• Skywarp

Wave 6

• Wreck-Gar
• Atomic Lugnut

Wave 7

• Mudbuster Bulkhead
• Thundercracker

Upcoming release

• Wingblade Optimus Prime

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Hydrodive Bumblebee

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Goldfire Grimlock

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Powermaster Optimus Prime

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Blackout

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Grinder

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Dirge

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Ramjet

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Thrust

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Slipstream

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

Leader Class

Wave 1

• Bulkhead
• Earth Mode Megatron

Wave 2

• Ultra Magnus

Wave 3

• Shadow Blade Megatron

Wave 4

• Roadbuster Ultra Magnus

Upcoming release

• Marauder Megatron

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

Supreme Class

Wave 1

• Roll-Out Command Optimus Prime

Entertainment Pack

Wave 1

• Optimus Prime vs. Megatron - The Battle Begins

Wave 2

• Jetfire & Jetstorm

Activators

The Activators subcategory consists of chunkier, simpler, Scout-class-sized toys with one-touch, spring-loaded transformations.

Wave 1

• Bulkhead
• Bumblebee
• Starscream

Wave 2

• Lockdown
• Optimus Prime
• Autobot Ratchet

Wave 3

• Patrol Bumblebee
• Thundercracker

Wave 4

• Megatron
• Grimlock
• Bandit Lockdown

Wave 5

• Dirge
• Cliffjumper

Wave 6

• Soundwave
• Fireblast Grimlock

Wave 7

• Battlefield Bumblebee
• Armor Up Optimus Prime

Upcoming release

• Hot Shot

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Autobot Ironhide

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Rodimus Minor

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Ramjet

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Skywarp

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Sunstorm

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Thurst

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

• Slipstream

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

Bumper Battlers

An expansion on the Cyber Slammers subline from the 2007 live-action movie toys, Bumper Battlers feature "bump-and-transform" action. Hitting the front bumper causes the toy to change into robot mode, and pressing the toy's sigil activates sound effects and speech gimmicks.

Wave 1

• Bumblebee
• Optimus Prime
• Ratchet

Wave 2

• Autobot Jazz
• Bulkhead

Wave 3

• Sting Racer Bumblebee (redeco)
• Nightwatch Optimus Prime (redeco)

Wave 4

• Soundwave
• Lockdown

Wave 5

• Stealth Jazz
• Workzone Bulkhead

Power Bots

Wave 1

• Cyber Speed Bumblebee

Wave 2

• Street Patrol Bumblebee (redeco of Cyber Speed Bumblebee)

Exclusives

Toys R' Us

• Arcee (Deluxe Class)

• Elita-1 (Deluxe Class)

• Cybertron Mode Ironhide (Deluxe Class)

• Cybertron Mode Ratchet (Deluxe Class)

• Rodimus Minor (Deluxe Class)

• Bulkhead (Leader Class) with Activators Bumblebee

• Megatron (Leader Class) with Activators Starscream

Target

• Stealth Lockdown^[1] (Deluxe Class) with Legends Class Bumblebee and Legends Class Optimus Prime

• Rescue Ratchet (Deluxe Class) with Legends Class Starscream and Legends Class Prowl

• Sunstorm (Voyager class) and Ratchet (Activators)

• Shockwave/Longarm Prime (Voyager class) and Bumblebee (Activators)

Upcoming release

• Chromia (Deluxe Class)

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available.

McDonald's Happy Meal toys

• Megatron
• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Ratchet
• Starscream
• Lugnut

Toys of Animated characters released as part of other lines

Movie (2007)

Wal-Mart exclusives

• The Legacy of Bumblebee three-pack (movie-inspired minor redeco of Classic Deluxe Bumblebee, regular Movie Deluxe Class "Premium" Bumblebee and regular Animated Deluxe Class Bumblebee)

Universe (2008)

Legends Class (wave 3)

• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Prowl

Hasbro stated at BotCon 2009 that other Animated Toys like Voyager Class Ramjet & Slipstream or Supreme Class Omega Supreme may be released in this line in 2010.

Criticisms

Since the first wave of Animated toys were released, there have been multiple complaints of poor quality paint applications, sloppy paint applications, and very greasy ball and hinge joints. There are also complaints over certain breakage issues, such as Lockdown's wrists, and toy functionality being limited by support struts added to prevent breakage, such as with Voyager Megatron's cannon and Bumblebee's stingers being unable to position properly.

Most of these issues can be fixed with relative ease.^[2]

The less easily solved problem with the Animated toys seems to be that some of the toys are very much out of scale with the series, not only in vehicle mode (which is relatively normal) but also in robot mode. Lanky characters like Deluxe Lockdown have a tendency to end up much taller than squatter figures like Voyager Bulkhead, when they should be the same height or shorter.

References