Licensed Optimus Prime Dog toy

[griffin]

That's right... a licensed Transformers Dog toy.
Found at Woolworths (https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/208091/hasbro-optimus-prime-dog-toy), the details on the back of the card says that it is from an American company, so it isn't an Australian item.

It is said to be $13, but not many stores still have them, when looking on the site.
(in-hand photos from Graeme Paterson)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2022/051511.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2022/051512.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2022/051513.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2022/051514.jpg

[Thurmus]

I saw one last week at a Coles. I thought it was $15 but that tag was on the opposite end of the shelf from the product. It was on the end of an aisle.

[KELPIE]

Yup, I picked a few up at Coles a couple weeks ago. Pretty happy with the end result.

[Paulbot]

It says it's for not kids but many parents have wanted a soft Transformers toy. Softimus Prime and Slumberbee are 15 years old now! Kids can't read...

[griffin]

Looks like it was at Coles as well (https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/product/optms-prm-crnch-wtr-bttl), for $20... but says unavailable, so I can't search to see if any stores still have them.
They call it a water bottle, but I'm sure it is just a chew toy.

After a little playing with the website, it will only list stock availability if you have a specific store selected (https://shop.coles.com.au/a/sunnybank-hills/product/optms-prm-crnch-wtr-bttl)... it doesn't appear to let you look up the product and then do a search for stores (like the woolies site).

[Skyfire]

I had a feel of one. The feet contain that plastic squeaky toy part common in squeaky toys. And the torso and head contain some hard plastic box-like object - not sure what that is for. The toy is not really for hugging as there are too many hard bits inside. It says Light Up but I couldn't see how to activate it as there is no external on-off button or a pushable button inside that I could determine. Must be a typo. I guess the Crunch bit is the hard plastic inside.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52077096966_fc0d0690ea_k.jpg

[griffin]

Hasbro have really gone into the pet toy market in a big way... and I think it is only new because I don't recall seeing this amount of Hasbro (Nerf and Tonka) pet toys.
I had always noticed the Disney themed pet toys, so maybe Hasbro found out and figured that they should be competing and dominating that field of "toys".

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2022ww03.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2022ww04.jpg

[KELPIE]

And the torso and head contain some hard plastic box-like object - not sure what that is for.
Might I suggest...

It says Light Up

[Skyfire]

I thought it have might been some battery box but I couldn't see or feel a switch. Maybe I'll have another look.

Anyway it's on special at Woolies $7.20 and Coles $17. At $20 I put it down, but I'd buy it at $7.20.

[griffin]

I can't imagine there being electronics in a chew toy, that is intended to be destroyed by dogs (it even notes it on the backing card)... so I think it would be too unsafe to have a dog chewing on electrical components that they could swallow, or injure their mouth on.

Besides, the packaging would need to say what batteries it takes, or note if they are already included.

[High_Q]

I read the thread title and expected to see a licensed Optimus that transforms into a dog, say a German shepherd, and thought i might preorder one.

Lol Wasn't expecting an Optimus toy for dogs.

[Skyfire]

Ok so I bought one and there are 2 things inside. Behind the face is a hard, blue transparent ball of about 5cm diameter that pushes the face mask/eyes/nose forward to give shape to the head. It can be seen through the eyes but one of my eyes has a bit of plush material in the way. The ball on mine is also not perfectly centered. From the feet to the waist is a soft plastic that is the squeaker and joined to the top of that, behind the chest, is a cylindrical bit of about 3x2cm, which is hard. It feels like the top of a wine bottle (hence water bottle?). There are no electronics or light up features (except for light reflection through the ball).

The arms are slightly beanie.

There are no openings or zips etc.

[Skyfire]

There are no electronics or light up features (except for light reflection through the ball).

I take it back. It does light up electronically. I discovered it randomly by slapping the back of his head. There's some accelerometer(?) inside the blue ball that activates when you bang the back of his head. It strobes a blue light, and I can also see a pink light in there, for about 15 seconds then switches off.

Also, there are moulded pupils on the blue ball, which I saw before but didn't mention as they didn't stand out much, but they show when the light is activated. There is no way to change the batteries, which I assume are inside the blue ball, unless it has some self-powered mechanism.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52085253502_aa56a65ca5_k.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52086309723_be67f68cd1_k.jpg

[Autocon]

They dont expect it to last that long that you need to change batteries :p

[griffin]

I take it back. It does light up electronically. I discovered it randomly by slapping the back of his head. There's some accelerometer(?) inside the blue ball that activates when you bang the back of his head. It strobes a blue light, and I can also see a pink light in there, for about 15 seconds then switches off.

Also, there are moulded pupils on the blue ball, which I saw before but didn't mention as they didn't stand out much, but they show when the light is activated. There is no way to change the batteries, which I assume are inside the blue ball, unless it has some self-powered mechanism.



Thanks for all that investigative work there... it is definitely a fascinating item in the end.



It still looks creepy.

[Skyfire]

there are moulded pupils on the blue ball

I take that back too, ha ha. After more playing around, the blue ball rotated and that "O" I thought was a pupil is actually the letter "O", as there is an "N" next to it. It looks like "ON", so I guess that's the user manual ;).

[griffin]

After disappearing from most Woolworths stores, the one near me just got in a fresh full pre-pack display of Hasbro licensed dog toys, including the Optimus Prime figure... for $7.20 (discounted from the regular $18).
The price tag says that the discount is just for this sale week (ending Tuesday June 7th), but they are noted as being on clearance, so could remain at that new price.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2022ww08.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/2022ww09.jpg

[griffin]

After I had speculated that this licensed dog toy must have been released in America (because it was being made by an American company), it did end up showing up in America in mid-July (https://news.tfw2005.com/2022/07/15/officially-licensed-transformers-optimus-prime-crunch-squeak-dog-toy-found-at-us-retail-460717) (or at least, that was when fans on fansites first saw it, as it isn't in the toys section, so just like here it could have been out there for a while before it was discovered).