New second-tier toyline for 2018 - Transformers Authentics

A lot of new styled character art has been showing up recently, on licensed items, the Carnival Cruise announcement, and leaked packaging artwork... and now we have a sneak peak at one of the toys (Grimlock) from the back of one of the backing cards... looking like a follow up to the recent Cyber Series (Battalions and Commanders), so might not show up here at all.

In the leaked Power of the Primes slides, there was a set of four toys on their own (Optimus, Starscream, Megatron, Bumblebee), but Grimlock wasn't one of them... so if this Grimlock is part of that, it must be a later wave.

After years of Pat Lee art on officially licensed items, promotional materials and toy packaging, followed by Generations art in the last few years, this looks like it could be the official style of character art for the next few years.

It's also on that childrens play book coming out. I don't mind it at all.

Photos of the Optimus and Bumblebee toys have leaked - robot mode and vehicle mode.

Here's another link: https://www.seibertron.com/transform...evealed/39636/

Admittedly, I'm a bit more excited about this than I am for PotP (which is still a very VERY cool line). I guess I'm looking forward to something 'cheap and basic' after going nuts on TR. Also, these 'generic' G1 Transformer lines tend to be smaller and focus more on famous characters, so there's less figures to buy.

Looking at these, I'd be keen to get the Optimus Prime when I see it, but might only get the Bumblebee if cheap (or if I have extra money burning a hole in my pocket). Looking at the Bumblebee, I imagine it transforms like the Legion Blurr figure from RiD. The characters I'm most looking forward to are the Megatron and Starcream (as always! :D). I hope we see Soundwave in a later wave.

Official images of Starscream and Megatron have now been leaked.

As expected, the Megatron and Starscream aren't perfect, but they're just what I've been waiting for - cheap basic versions of the main G1 villains. I hope these are cheap (like less than $10... or maybe $15 given their size). Otherwise, in my mind; it'll contradict the appeal of them. I'd might as well look for slightly more expensive but 'good' versions of these characters.

Upon further inspection of the Optimus Prime, I noticed he has no elbow articulation.. Man I hope these are cheap.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FatalityPitt

Upon further inspection of the Optimus Prime, I noticed he has no elbow articulation.. Man I hope these are cheap.

---

If they're Legends/Legions, then they'd be around $7 each. They don't personally interest me though, but I think they look fine for that price point. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

If they're Legends/Legions, then they'd be around $7 each. They don't personally interest me though, but I think they look fine for that price point. :)

---

Apparently they're 4.5 inches, which is half-way between a Deluxe and a Legends (TR Kickback, Brawn, etc). I think $10 would be reasonable given the size. But now that I think of it, if they end up being $15 or more; I think I'd just get my favorite out of the assortment and call it a day.

I liked the idea of this line, and I thought the figures would be decent; but the lack of elbows on the Optimus Prime plus the fake vehicle-mode kibble on the torso (among other things) is kind of disappointing.

I think prime and bee are legion classed, where as starscream and megatron look like they're legend class.

Although in the photo of the predaking mock up from a few months ago they had a megatron just like the evergreen megatron and it looked like a voyager class toy.

The name has been found for these new toys - Transformers Authentics... which could mean that these toy versions of iconic characters are meant to represent their most recognisable forms (in one or both modes)... without being an exact replica or homage to a specific previous version.

Official images of Grimlock has been leaked now as well.

These are now out in the Philippines (photo from facebook somewhere).

They look to be Legion sized.

From the Philippines come photos of Optimus out of packaging, with some comparison photos to show its size.
Looks like wave 1 only has Bumblebee, Megatron, Optimus and Starscream.... which probably means that Grimlock is in wave 2.

The first wave have now been listed on Amazon America, with full size official images.

Some clearer renders of four of the Authentics on the Hasbro website - Megatron, Bumblebee, Starscream, Grimlock.
(these are publicly released/viewable images, so I'm not sure why TFW is watermarking them... so I've linked to Seibertron's news post instead, which has clean versions)

Is it known if these will show up here?

Well we weren't able to get the previous line of low cost Voyager sized transformers (Optimus, Megatron, Grimlock, Bumblebee, Starscream, Jetfire, Prowl) so I won't hold my breath. Soon as its available on Amazon I'm buying

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by reillyd

Well we weren't able to get the previous line of low cost Voyager sized transformers (Optimus, Megatron, Grimlock, Bumblebee, Starscream, Jetfire, Prowl) so I won't hold my breath. Soon as its available on Amazon I'm buying

---

Yeah but don't forget that those figures weren't initially released in the US. If this is what's replacing RID then yeah we'll get them here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by reillyd

Well we weren't able to get the previous line of low cost Voyager sized transformers (Optimus, Megatron, Grimlock, Bumblebee, Starscream, Jetfire, Prowl) so I won't hold my breath. Soon as its available on Amazon I'm buying

---

Hasbro Australia are still trying to find a home (a retailer) for the Cyber Series here. Product is still available to them... but I imagine it probably won't be for much longer.

These Authentics are a lot smaller (cheaper), which is more appealing to retailers here.
We got those plain packed Legions a couple years ago here, which didn't get much of a release in America... so I'd like to think that the Authentics will show up here too, at places like Coles and Woolies, now that the RID Legions are finished.

More official images (probably the same as before) of the first wave of Authentics, from the HasbroToyShop website.

Looks like the Authentics line will have two sizes, similar to the Cyber series (Battalion & Commander), as a larger sized Optimus and Bumblebee have been found on the Hasbro website (looking like they have the same engineering, but just upsized with a couple extra joints).
The larger size is said to be about 7 inches (about 17cm - the size of a Voyager), and the product numbers match up with the mystery "project storm" items that were leaked a couple weeks ago.

It also suggests that the Authentics Grimlock toy that was leaked a few weeks back, that was assumed to be wave 2 of the smaller size, now looks to be part of this new larger range.

The London Toyfair has wrapped up and it was noticed that the new character artwork for this Authentics toyline (which is being called Evergreen Branding artwork), was everywhere for Transformers... particularly for licensed materials.

This actually isn't that unusual, as Hasbro tries to have a unified look for their Brand when license-holders are producing products to sell, and every few years Hasbro updates their overall visual elements of their licensing (character art, trims and logo), and it looks like this Authentics/Evergreen art and trim will be on everything this year (a lot of licensed items have already been seen or revealed with this new character artwork and trim on them).
Something for fans to look out for here, or get used to, after the RID imagery and character art disappears.

Sorry if this is old news, but I saw the Authentics at Woolies today.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Sorry if this is old news, but I saw the Authentics at Woolies today.

---

Which size class Goktimus? The smaller ones for $7-8 or the larger size class?

Me too. Saw Starscream and Optimus.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Sorry if this is old news, but I saw the Authentics at Woolies today.

---

They were first sighted two months ago, at the beginning of April.


(I need to update the checklist, so that people can keep track of these things. :o )