There's some buzzing on the message boards about what might be coming for Transformers in 2022 or thereabouts. (As an aside, I certainly don't follow the message boards religiously. I also don't follow the fandom politics, keep track of which leakers are well-liked by the fandom and which ones aren't, etc. I just report the stuff I hear.)

So word on the street is that after Kingdom, which will be the final chapter in the War for Cybertron trilogy, the next trilogy will be called Transformers: Legacy. Chapter one of the new trilogy may be named Evolution, but this could be a placeholder name.

Characters on the slab, reportedly, include Tarantulas and Inferno from Beast Wars, G1 Skids (Deluxe), Blaster (Voyager), Straxus (probably called Darkmount again, retool of Kingdom Galvatron). From less reliable sources, Fuzor Silverbolt and Throttlebot Goldbug are also reported to be coming.

They're also talking about looking at the Stunticons again. Breakdown, Wildrider, Dead End, and Breakdown are all rumored to be coming, with a Commander-class Motormaster to complete the team (Commander-class might jump to $100 instead of $80). I would assume that at that price point, Motormaster would have his trailer this time. It feels like a little too soon for a redo of all the Scramble City characters, but if anybody needs it, it's Motormaster. They may look at doing new Protectobots if the Stunticons perform well.

I mean, I was happy with Combiner Wars, certainly. But a lot of the toys were redesigned versions of the G1 characters instead of the more slavish updates we're getting nowadays. I look at the incredibly authentic versions of Drag Strip, Swindle, etc. that the third-party market is putting out and I ask, "Man, why couldn't Hasbro have given us THAT?" So maybe this is a good move.

For Studio Series, in additon to some of the stuff we know about already (Gnaw, generic Sweep, Wreck-Gar, generic Junkion) there is also allegedly a Deluxe-class Perceptor coming, a Leader-class coronation Starscream, and Leader-class versions of the remaining Dinobots, with Swoop planned to be the next one on the way after Slag. Less reliable sources are reporting that Studio Series '86 Deluxe-class versions of Bombshell and Kickback and Shrapnel are on the way.

There's also supposedly a new Leader-class Blitzwing coming to match Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain, with some kind of extra parts count or accessory to justify the price point.

We might be seeing Titans Return Decepticon Targetmasters in retro "vintage" packaging, similar to the Autobot Headmasters that Walmart got. There will reportedly be a second wave of vintage Beast Wars reissues.

Some things we're probably NOT seeing any time soon include Needlenose (he's lost two fan polls now so Hasbro has reportedly "lost faith" in the character; apparently he's neither chic nor hip enough) and Studio Series editions of live-action movie Skids and Mudflap (they are reportedly "never happening") and Studio Series Devcon (the parts count and complexity would make it too difficult; I assume this is within the context of it being a Studio Series Scourge remold).

Discuss!

Zob (this is what I do while my wife takes a long nap on Mother's Day)

On Sunday, May 9, 2021 at 4:03:03 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> There's some buzzing on the message boards about what might be coming for Transformers in 2022 or thereabouts. (As an aside, I certainly don't follow the message boards religiously. I also don't follow the fandom politics, keep track of which leakers are well-liked by the fandom and which ones aren't, etc. I just report the stuff I hear.)
>
> So word on the street is that after Kingdom, which will be the final chapter in the War for Cybertron trilogy, the next trilogy will be called Transformers: Legacy. Chapter one of the new trilogy may be named Evolution, but this could be a placeholder name.

Bah, I don't care what they call these lines. The one word chapter names really don't mean much to me. The only Evolution I see related to these toys is in the engineering. Thematically it's still the same merry go round of characters from G1 plus a few Beast Wars leftovers. If there were Beast Machines planned then Evolution would tie in nicely, but mostly the line names lately really have little to do with anything. The last good chapter name that kind of tied in with the toys was Earthrise, maybe. Power of the Primes and Combiner Wars were great and directly related to the offerings, but calling anything Transformers Evolution is really kind of ironic in a toyline that's just rehashing old characters over and over.

> Characters on the slab, reportedly, include Tarantulas and Inferno from Beast Wars, G1 Skids (Deluxe),
> Blaster (Voyager), Straxus (probably called Darkmount again, retool of Kingdom Galvatron).

Galvatron's a leader, right? Maybe they'll pack in some extras like they did Wheelie and Daniel with the Studio Series dinos. I do so hope we get a more comic accurate Scrounge packed in with either Straxus or Blaster. I would take a non-transforming Scrounge like they did non-transforming Kranix.

> From less reliable sources, Fuzor Silverbolt and Throttlebot Goldbug are also reported to be coming.

Oh man, comic colored versions of Blaster, Straxus, Goldbug, and Grimlock would be kinda neat. Getting the band back together.

> It feels like a little too soon for a redo of all the Scramble City characters, but if anybody needs it, it's
> Motormaster. They may look at doing new Protectobots if the Stunticons perform well.

A Commander torso might be a step in the right direction. I thought the Combiner Wars gestalts got the limb proportions all wrong, mainly just the length of the arms. As deluxes the arms were way too long for even a Voyager torso. Transformers really needs to go with the Voltron school of 5 man combiner proportioning and make the arms a class smaller than the legs. There was not a big enough size difference between voyager and deluxe in the Combiner Wars stuff. Now if they use a Commander for the torso and deluxe limbs, that may solve the arm proportion problem but I get the feeling it's all gonna depend on how those legs attach to the Motormaster core.

> I look at the incredibly authentic versions of Drag Strip, Swindle, etc. that the third-party market is putting out and I ask, "Man, why couldn't Hasbro have given us THAT?" So maybe this is a good move.

Four wheel Drag Strip was a slap in the face to Stunticon lovers everywhere.. Actually that whole CW Menasor was a big disappointment.

> For Studio Series, in additon to some of the stuff we know about already (Gnaw, generic Sweep,
> Wreck-Gar, generic Junkion) there is also allegedly a Deluxe-class Perceptor coming,

I think Warden was kind of unhappy with making certain characters Headmasters when they originally weren't, so I am not surprised about Perceptor. But that last deluxe Perceptor in Titans Return was pretty good so I wonder how they'll 'top' it besides having a more traditional head.

> a Leader-class coronation Starscream,

Damnit, they are just itching to find ways to make me buy that new Voyager Seeker mold I despise.

> and Leader-class versions of the remaining Dinobots, with Swoop planned to be the next one on
> the way after Slag. Less reliable sources are reporting that Studio Series '86 Deluxe-class versions
> of Bombshell and Kickback and Shrapnel are on the way.

I think it's kind of hard to justify going up a size class to deluxe with the Insecticons, which have always been able to get the job done at smaller sizes. They're really not that complicated transformation-wise. Unless they're planning to do like that one third party company did and give redecos down the line as the Bandai deluxe Insecticons. That would be neat.

> There's also supposedly a new Leader-class Blitzwing coming to match Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain, with
> some kind of extra parts count or accessory to justify the price point.

It would be neat to have him be so big that you could pose Kup tugging on Blitzwing's tank turret.

> We might be seeing Titans Return Decepticon Targetmasters in retro "vintage" packaging, similar to the
> Autobot Headmasters that Walmart got.

Yay for another chance at Misfire that I never got, boo that I'll have to rebuy Triggerhappy and Slugsliner because they'll have gun mounts. Wave 1 of the retro Headmasters never hit any stores I went to, so boo to that, too. I wonder if they'll do any rescultping beyond the obvious Targetmaster mounting points. I also wonder if the price will jump much given that they're essentially giftsets now instead of straight reissues like the retro Headmaster remolds were.

> There will reportedly be a second wave of vintage Beast Wars reissues.

Wake me up when they're doing updated vacmetallized Transmetal 2s.

> Some things we're probably NOT seeing any time soon include ...

blue Bluestreak. They just can't ever pump that one out like they do even black hooded versions of any Bluestreak mold.

On Sunday, May 9, 2021 at 6:49:23 PM UTC-6, Steve L.K. Macrocranios wrote:

> Bah, I don't care what they call these lines. The one word chapter names really don't mean much to me.

It's just a marketing tool to keep retailers interested. It's not like the old days when they could just continue selling the same old toy line called "Transformers" for years and years. (If they had marketed G1 nowadays, they probably would have had to split it into chapters. 1985 would be Transformers: the New Generation. 1986 would have been Transformers: 2005. 1987 would be Transformers: Nebulos Wars...)

> Calling anything Transformers Evolution is really kind of ironic in a toyline that's just rehashing old characters over and over.

I guess it kind of works on a few meta-levels. The characters continue to evolve as newer and bigger versions of them are released. It may be tied to a gimmick, or it might just be buzzword that means nothing.

> Galvatron's a leader, right? Maybe they'll pack in some extras like they did Wheelie and Daniel with the Studio Series dinos. I do so hope we get a more comic accurate Scrounge packed in with either Straxus or Blaster. I would take a non-transforming Scrounge like they did non-transforming Kranix.

Looks like Galvatron is going to come with a tiny version of the Decepticon mothership—two of them, actually, so he can carry them like guns. And they also scale with HasLab Unicron, so that's neat. And I'm right there with you about Scrounge. Wrong-colored Cosmos during the Combiner Wars days wasn't enough of an incentive for me to get the Hasbro version of Computron. The Takara release was infinitely superior.

> Oh man, comic colored versions of Blaster, Straxus, Goldbug, and Grimlock would be kinda neat. Getting the band back together.

That reminds me, some day I need to get the Lord Scorpion toy by Iron Factory. And a tiny Fortress Maximus to go with it.

> A Commander torso might be a step in the right direction.

The size disparity between Motormaster and the Stunticons makes sense, because they're cars and he's this massive tractor trailer. Hopefully, the entire truck will turn into Motormaster's robot mode. If they start redoing Scramble City teams, though, and every one of the team leaders is a huge Commander-class toy, then we're going to go back to the G1 size discrepancy where the guy who forms the body is gigantic and the guys who form the arms and legs are tiny.

Well, I guess now I gotta do some online research and get some measurements..

STUNTICONS

Kenworth K100 Aerodyne (Motormaster) is about 60 feet, including trailer and cab.
Tyrell P34 (Drag Strip) is approximately 13 feet long (I think; hard to get accurate measurements).
Porsche 928 (Dead End) is about 15 feet long.
Lamborghini Countach (Breakdown) is around 14 feet long.
Ferrari 308 GTB (Wildrider) was almost 14 feet long.

So, here a giant team leader and small teammates makes perfect sense.

AERIALBOTS

SST Concorde is 202 feet long.
A-10 Warthog is 53 feet long.
F-15 Eagle is 64 feet long.
F-16 is 49 feet long.
F-4 Phantom is 63 feet long.

Putting aside for the moment that the Aerialbots should be much, much bigger than the Stunticons, the relationship between the team leader and his teammates still makes sense. Silverbolt should be huge compared to the others.. But, in the cartoon he's only *slightly* taller than the others. There's no real way to reconcile this.

COMBATICONS

This one is harder to figure out since Onslaught isn't based on a real-life vehicle.

NASA Space Shuttle (Blast Off) is 122 feet long.
Kaman SH-2 Seasprite (Vortex) is 52 feet long.
Leopard 1 tank (Brawl) is 23 feet long.
Willys Jeep (Swindle, cartoon) is 11 feet long; FMC XR311 (Swindle, G1 toy) is 14 feet long.

We see already, regardless of Onslaught's size, that there's no way this can work.

PROTECTOBOTS

Mitsubishi Fuso fire truck (Hot Spot) is nearly 33 feet.
Bell UH-1V Iroquois helicopter (Blades) was 57 feet.
Nissan 380ZX (Streetwise) is almost 14 feet.
Datsun Vanette (First Aid) is nearly 13 feet.
Honda Goldwing motorcycle (Groove) is about 7 feet long.

So, uh, basically impossible. My brain hurts now.

> Transformers really needs to go with the Voltron school of 5 man combiner proportioning and make the arms a class smaller than the legs.

Voltron was beautifully proportioned. I loved that toy. There's a lot to be said for the individual lions not having to transform into robot modes. The fact that all they could do is combine really worked for them.

> Four wheel Drag Strip was a slap in the face to Stunticon lovers everywhere. Actually that whole CW Menasor was a big disappointment.

They did a really good job on Breakdown. He was the only Combiner Wars Stunticon I really loved, though.

> I think Warden was kind of unhappy with making certain characters Headmasters when they originally weren't, so I am not surprised about Perceptor. But that last deluxe Perceptor in Titans Return was pretty good so I wonder how they'll 'top' it besides having a more traditional head.

I predict they're going to lean in hard and do a super cartoon accurate version. They don't even really have to get the microscope mode close. Just nail the robot proportions, and then whatever they can make that fold up into, that's the microscope.
> Damnit, they are just itching to find ways to make me buy that new Voyager Seeker mold I despise.

Not sure why you hate it so much. It's kind of amazing.

> I think it's kind of hard to justify going up a size class to deluxe with the Insecticons, which have always been able to get the job done at smaller sizes. They're really not that complicated transformation-wise. Unless they're planning to do like that one third party company did and give redecos down the line as the Bandai deluxe Insecticons. That would be neat.

If you look at the Sunbow scale charts, the Insecticons in robot mode are about the height of Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. So, for the purposes of neo-G1, they make sense as small Deluxes. Maybe they will come with energon cubes or something to justify the price point.

Also, making them bigger would enable them to do things they've never really been able to do before at smaller scales, like having their fists tuck into their forearms or having Bombshell's insect legs tuck away and disappear somewhere for robot mode. Maybe Kickback's robot head could be replaced with a slightly different grasshopper head with a red stripe for a mouth. I'm very excited about the idea of Deluxe-class versions of Kickback and Bombshell and Shrapnel.

And we do need neo-G1 versions of the Bandai Insecticons, too.

> It would be neat to have him be so big that you could pose Kup tugging on Blitzwing's tank turret.

That would be AWESOME.

> Yay for another chance at Misfire that I never got, boo that I'll have to rebuy Triggerhappy and Slugsliner because they'll have gun mounts.

Oh, man. I wasn't even thinking about that. I figured they would be more straight redeco versions with Takara face sculpts and tampographs that looked like the 1987 stickers. If they have legitimate Targetmaster gun points, I will rebuy all those toys in a heartbeat.

You wouldn't think there would be that much of a price jump. I mean, all the research and development on those toys is done. They made their money back on the expense of cutting the molds. Also, those toys only cost $15 when they first came out.

But, yeah, Hasbro will probably charge $25 or $30 for them just because they can. Look at the insanely inflated prices on the Beast Wars reissues.

Zob (twenty dollars for Basic-class Rattrap is INSANE)

> Zob (twenty dollars for Basic-class Rattrap is INSANE)

What's insane is the fact that I intend to pay $20 for reissue basic-class Rattrap, simply because I missed out on him the first time. As if Kingdom Rattrap and Transform Element Rattrap haven't collectively scratched that itch by now.

On Sunday, May 9, 2021 at 7:03:03 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> There's some buzzing on the message boards about what might be coming for Transformers in 2022 or thereabouts. (As an aside, I certainly don't follow the message boards religiously. I also don't follow the fandom politics, keep track of which leakers are well-liked by the fandom and which ones aren't, etc. I just report the stuff I hear.)
>
> So word on the street is that after Kingdom, which will be the final chapter in the War for Cybertron trilogy, the next trilogy will be called Transformers: Legacy. Chapter one of the new trilogy may be named Evolution, but this could be a placeholder name.
>
> Characters on the slab, reportedly, include Tarantulas and Inferno from Beast Wars, G1 Skids (Deluxe), Blaster (Voyager), Straxus (probably called Darkmount again, retool of Kingdom Galvatron). From less reliable sources, Fuzor Silverbolt and Throttlebot Goldbug are also reported to be coming.
>

BW had a limited cast of characters, so hopefully Hasbro will commit to releasing all of them in the near future. We're still missing Terrorsaur and Waspinator in addition to the two named above.

My wish list includes an Axalon playset scaled to fit the Kingdom Beasts. Impossible, but they keep pushing the price points higher, so who knows what's possible!

> We might be seeing Titans Return Decepticon Targetmasters in retro "vintage" packaging, similar to the Autobot Headmasters that Walmart got. There will reportedly be a second wave of vintage Beast Wars reissues.
>

It feels like the Retro route will be the most profitable means of reissuing toys for Hasbro. Certainly they can command a higher pricepoint than rereleasing classic molds with garish decos a la Universe 1.0.

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> On Sunday, May 9, 2021 at 6:49:23 PM UTC-6, Steve L.K. Macrocranios wrote:
>
>>
>> Yay for another chance at Misfire that I never got, boo that I'll have
>> to rebuy Triggerhappy and Slugsliner because they'll have gun mounts.
>
> Oh, man. I wasn't even thinking about that. I figured they would be
> more straight redeco versions with Takara face sculpts and tampographs
> that looked like the 1987 stickers. If they have legitimate Targetmaster
> gun points, I will rebuy all those toys in a heartbeat.
>
> You wouldn't think there would be that much of a price jump. I mean, all
> the research and development on those toys is done. They made their
> money back on the expense of cutting the molds. Also, those toys only
> cost $15 when they first came out.
>
> But, yeah, Hasbro will probably charge $25 or $30 for them just because
> they can. Look at the insanely inflated prices on the Beast Wars reissues.
>

Well, they will also come with a Targetmaster.

On Monday, May 10, 2021 at 1:28:46 AM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Well, they will also come with a Targetmaster.

I had just assumed that all the Takara Legends versions got resculpted heads, but it looks like it was just the legacy Headmasters. The Targetmaster characters appear to have the same head sculpts. So there won't even be the novelty of them being same-but-different.

You know one thing they haven't really done yet? Make Slugslinger almost-black like he appears in animation in "The Rebirth." Like, a super super dark teal. That would be appealing. Or, at least, it would help convince me to buy the same toy all over again.

Zob (doesn't need a lot of convincing to buy the same toys all over again, admittedly)