Transformers line is officially called 'Autobot Alliance'

[Robzy]

Oh, how I miss the 80s... the days when we just had one name for these awesome toys... "Transformers".

Nowadays, there are just far too many variations.

[GoktimusPrime]

The 90s too. We didn't have multiple concurrent lines of Transformers until the 00s.

[1AZRAEL1]

Funny thing I noticed is the Toys R Us catalog had the toys written with the 'Autobot Alliance' tag.

Edit: Says exactly "Transfomers Autobot Alliance Dluxe Generations" right next to the picture of WFC Prime.

[griffin]

It seems that Hasbro are also putting the 'Autobot Alliance' before 'Generations' but now 'PowerCore Combiners'. So if you want to be exactly 'Hasbro', then Generations would be labelled as 'Transformers Autobot Alliance Generations'. But it is easier to just call them 'Generations' - it was only necessary for the main line to have a sub-title for convenient reference.

[blackoptimus]

The new mid-year 2010 assortments have been Generations, PowerCore Combiners, Yellow packed toys that have the 'Hunt for the Decepticons' promo until January, and Red packed gimmick lines (like Activators).

Until now, the toys that aren't part of Generations or PCCs, were just known as 'Transformers', and often referred to as HFTD by fans. But since that is just the name of the promo that ends in 6 months, it seems that the toyline actually does have a name, according to Hasbro.

It was even mentioned in the Exclusives update we got from Hasbro Australia a couple weeks ago, but I just thought it was just an error.

Now looking at the Product display at BotCon, all of the toys not part of Generations and PCCs were listed as 'Transformers Autobot Alliance'. Even most of the store exclusives, including non-movie themed ones.

So from now on, I'll be referring to the yellow packed figures, activators, Powerbots and probably anything else not in the Generations/PCC lines, as 'Transformers Autobot Alliance', Autobot Alliance, or TFAA.

It's just more convenient referring to them, and Hasbro should have had it on the packaging already. It's just confusing to customers and retailers having one Transformers subline, just called 'Transformers' with no other wording/sub-title.

Didn't Transformers movie 1 have there toys packed as just TF without a name?

[tinyJazz]

Yes, I assume because the movie was just called "Transformers" :/

[GoktimusPrime]

Indeed. And they also had a distinct packaging style and used the movie font. But then again, so did Real Gear Robots -- and it's debatable as to whether or not they count as movieverse toys or not (well, TakaraTOMY markets them as being movie toys, but if you purchased a Hasbro one it's not as clear).

It was like Classics all over again. We had most Classics toys with the word "Classic" printed on the packaging, but some didn't. Then you had Hasbro's G1 Soundwave reissue and MP Starscream which were also sold in the same Classics packaging style... are they Classics or G1/MP??

AAAAAAAAAAARGH! So... damn... confusing!

[Sharky]

at teh end of the day i stick em on a shelf and refer to it as my transforemers collection... i dont really care what they call them.. and neither do kids they just want bumblebee

[SharkyMcShark]

Yeah I just sort mine by association - Energon Energon Starscream, Inferno and Bulkhead sit with the Universe figures, and Universe Cheetor and Dinobot with the Beast Wars stuff.

[griffin]

I'm certainly not wanting to force people to associate toys into groups, away from their own pre-conceptions, as we often have toys from one packaged line fitting better into another line on the display shelf.

I'm just posting this as a news item so that members here are aware of what I'm referring to when calling something 'AA' or 'Autobot Alliance' (because it makes my cataloguing of figures in news postings easier).

Technically, when it comes to packaging/product-lines, there are just the two Transformers mainlines (Autobot Alliance, PowerCore Combiners), with the AA mainline being split into sublines (AA, AA-Generations, AA-Powerbots, AA-Activators).
Then there are the other non-Transformers lines - Speedstars Transformers and Crossovers Transformers.

As to how fans see lines and individual figures, based on the character or alt-mode, is entirely up to them.
Toys like Bludgeon, Seaspray, Tracker Hound, Sandstorm, Scout Windcharger, Mindset, Fallback (Outback), New Legends Optimus, Megatron, Starscream and Prowl, Voyager Grapple, etc. would all fit better into the Generations line, but as noted by Aaron Archer, Hasbro wanted a secondary product line for non-Movie characters, but could only get support for Deluxe class. Everything else is in the AA subline, including moulds that originated in the Movie lines.

It's just way too confusing to try to understand it all, and because of retailer requirements, we have characters being reworked after their initial purpose, to fit into the subline/storyline they ended up getting packaged in.

Best advice is to just ignore the packaging and bios and just go by the character name and personal preferences/imagination when collecting anything leading up the next movie.