After the 11 "Best" toys that were released earlier this year that featured the main characters from the first four movies, the 5th Movie toyline begins this month in Japan, under the banner of "The Last Knight King"... suggesting that the movie isn't about any Knight, but the King of Knights (Cybertronian or Human).
As noted on Seibertron, the toyline title for the 5th movie is unusual, as it is Japanese words in Kanji, as opposed to the previous movie toylines which had "English" words in Katakana.
What is also unusual, is that the Deluxe & Voyager toys and packaging look to be regular Hasbro product from their production run, with just a few stickers on the box to note their original country of release (Japan). I haven't seen the packaging for the 1-step (speed change) toys yet, to see if they are boxed up or remain on Hasbro cardbacks.
The first wave of toys has a release date of April 30th in Japan (and Asia), and consist of the following figures...
- TLK-01 - Bumblebee (Deluxe - same as Hasbro version?)
- TLK-03 - Decepticon Berzerker (Deluxe - same as Hasbro version?)
- TLK-04 - Dinobot Slash (Deluxe - same as Hasbro version?)
- TLK-05 - Grimlock (Voyager - same as Hasbro version?)
- TLK-06 - Speed Change Bumblebee (1-step - same as Hasbro version?)
- TLK-07 - Speed Change Optimus Prime (1-step - same as Hasbro version?)
- TLK-08 - Speed Change Barricade (1-step - same as Hasbro version?)
- TLK-09 - Speed Change Hound (1-step - same as Hasbro version?)
See anything missing?
Yes, TLK-02 is missing... which has been found to be Deluxe Barricade (as originally expected). It was missing on all of the pre-order websites, most likely because it was Hasbro's "secret" first wave toy, and if it was meant to be a global secret, then TakaraTomy had to tow the line.
No word on the next wave at all yet, so that should mean that there won't be any released during the month of May in Japan. If that changes, it will be noted here.
And hopefully, like with previous movie toylines in Japan, we see some new characters included, as the ones so far don't even have fancy, improved colour schemes as an incentive for non-Japanese fans to buy them.