Transformers unboxing events started in 2018 where fans would gather off-site from New York Comic-Con to get a first hand look at upcoming
Transformers products. In past years this took on the form of a gathering of fans from web sites, Youtube channels and more. However, in 2020 we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic which has forced most meetings to become virtual for safety reasons. That means this year's "unboxing" event was also virtual, held over Zoom Conferencing. The featured product? The
entire first wave of
War for Cybertron: Kingdom figures! The box of toys was shipped to several venues ahead of the event, so there were several days where I had to ignore these figures, and believe me that was a challenge.
On hand from the Hasbro side were several members of the
Transformers team. They included Ben Montano, Rachel Fleming, Ran Sun, Leonard Panzica and Mark Maher. From the media side folks from
Transformers mainstays including Seibertron.com, TFW2005.com, TFU.info and Radio Free Cybertron were on hand as well. Hasbro guided us in terms of which items to open and when. As we opened toys we would offer feedback and questions about the items. There were a lot of compliments all around for the
Kingdom toys.
Kingdom is notable for being the line where long time Senior Design Manager on
Transformers departed (joining the
Power Rangers team). Taking over is Leonard Panzica and his team, most of whom have had past
Transformers experience on lines such as
Dark of the Moon and
Prime.