New Transformers Movie toyline - Studio Series

[griffin]

The release of the first wave here is getting closer, as the Deluxes and Voyagers have now been found at US Retail stores (after the advance release of the Deluxes last month through HasbroToyShop).
The Deluxes are Bumblebee, Stinger, Crowbar and Ratchet, while the Voyagers are Optimus and Starscream.

Take note of the prices though, as the Deluxes were US$25/27 and the Voyagers US$37... which is significantly more than the price point of Deluxes and Voyagers in the mainlines, and would translate to about AU$45 for the Deluxes at retail here, and about AU$70 for Voyagers at retail here (based on the price differences of those size classes in the past). They will be slightly cheaper at Walmart and Target in the US, but not by too much, as the prices for Deluxes have been going up a lot in recent years.
That means that even if our prices are bumped up to $35 for Deluxes, it is still cheaper than in America (at the current exchange rate), and way cheaper than what a US$25 toy usually gets sold at here in AU$ from Hasbro Australia.

[Magnus]

Im loving what I've seen of these, so this all welcome news.

Of the "major" "characters" that would fit at Deluxe scale, we've yet to get

- Sideswipe
- Drift
- Crosshairs
- Hot Rod
- Barricade
- Dino

Having a hard time bringing myself to count Roadbuster, Leadfoot, Top Spin, and Sideways with their combined 27 seconds of screen time, but they'd also fit for a deluxe release.

I have a feeling that because Drift, Crosshairs and Hot Rod are recent characters and toys, they may not get the Studio Series treatment; thus far, the Studio Series seems to be sticking with older characters and will later make Bumblebee movie toys.

TFWiki speculated that Dino never got a licensed Ferrari toy, despite Ferrari allowing Paramount and Michael Bay to have one for Dark of the Moon, because Mattel, Hasbro's biggest competitor, had exclusive rights to make Ferrari toys when DotM was made. Mattel's exclusive licence expired in 2014, with Ferrari replicas now being made by the May Cheong Group.

Since other model makers make licensed Ferrari models (in small numbers), it would be nice if Hasbro could get a Ferrari licence for Dino (I'd definitely buy a Dino if Hasbro made one), but there's no way to know if they can.

[griffin]

TakaraTomy have done up some promotional videos and images on their website of the first eight Studio Series toys (wave 1)... along with the Turbo Change toys (four Knight Armor, four 1-step, and the re-release of the Battle Command Optimus from 2014).

[griffin]

Some leaked images of the second wave Voyager Megatron, giving us a clearer look at this new mould of the TF2 Megatron.

[griffin]

More images of Megatron from China.

[Amalgamous]

He is a wee fella, but full of detailed sculpting. All joints on this one are tight, a few overly so, esp the shoulder hinge behind the cockpit but got a finger between the tab and hinge and it popped out.
For me the alt mode is the star, but that is probably influenced by having seen the jolly green giant in action when on deployment.

[FruitBuyer]

It seems the size of the figures in the Studio Series have been "averaged" out in the line. Blackout is a bit shorter than standard Leader figures while Grimlock is taller to make up for it (he's taller than TLK Leader Megatron). Same with the voyagers and deluxes.

[SharkyMcShark]

It seems the size of the figures in the Studio Series have been "averaged" out in the line. Blackout is a bit shorter than standard Leader figures while Grimlock is taller to make up for it (he's taller than TLK Leader Megatron). Same with the voyagers and deluxes.

I read somewhere recently that the budget assigned to the design team for figures is done so on a $X for the entire wave of that class basis. So, for example, instead of there being an individual budget for Blackout and then another one for Grimlock they draw from the same pool.

If this is correct, im really enjoying how Hasbro are using it to give us significantly differently sized figures in a single size class to try and maintain scale with the SS line.

[FruitBuyer]

I read somewhere recently that the budget assigned to the design team for figures is done so on a $X for the entire wave of that class basis. So, for example, instead of there being an individual budget for Blackout and then another one for Grimlock they draw from the same pool.

If this is correct, im really enjoying how Hasbro are using it to give us significantly differently sized figures in a single size class to try and maintain scale with the SS line.

That makes sense and I prefer it as well. It's good to see more variation instead of 3 different sizes. Does make it a bit iffy when going with other lines but I can deal.

[Deonasis]

I read somewhere recently that the budget assigned to the design team for figures is done so on a $X for the entire wave of that class basis. So, for example, instead of there being an individual budget for Blackout and then another one for Grimlock they draw from the same pool.

If this is correct, im really enjoying how Hasbro are using it to give us significantly differently sized figures in a single size class to try and maintain scale with the SS line.

^This makes so much sense. It is a bit sad it has taken so long to happen but perhaps this stop-gap line will take off like the original Classics line did, or at least, this budget allocationing will continue.