Hasbro had the foresight to put their Transformers segment first, rather than making us wait through hours of Star Wars and Power Rangers reveals. Not gonna complain about that!

The reveals were a little less exciting for me this time, mostly because of their decision to shy away from G1 and do these seemingly pointless updates for characters that I don't think anybody is asking for. Also, I think there's a real need to read the room here. Nostalgia comes in cycles, and there are some iterations of Transformers that I just don't think are old enough to warrant strong adult nostalgia yet. (For example, if you were three years old when Transformers: Animated came out, you're eighteen years old today. That's the point where people yearn to become adults and enter the world and get jobs and do adult stuff. It's too early for them to become wistful and nostalgic about their childhoods.)

Anyway, they unveiled the Core-class Megatron toy from Energon, who looks just like a tiny version of Energon Megatron. Energon is going to be a weird series to do Core-class version of, since so much of the character identity was tied to the original toy gimmicks. Is anybody going to want a tiny Core-class Energon Optimus, for example, without a storage locker trailer or tiny submarines and helicopters and things to form his arms and legs?

We also saw Tasmania Kid from Beast Wars II, aka Snarl. I know he was a major character in the BW2 animated series, but he's such an unremarkable character in the USA, with no media presence to speak of. The coolest thing about the original Beast Wars toy was his jumping gimmick, which of course this new version doesn't have. Yawn.

So, Bouldercrash is an Armorizer (basically the new version of Weaponizers, Fossilizers, etc.) who is styled to look like he's made of rock. The Hasbro team was trying to make the connection to an obscure episode of the Headmasters cartoon in Japan called "My Friend Sixshot" which featured a planet with living rock creatures, but they also admitted that Rock Lords were also an inspiration. However, the fact that they're being marketed as part of the "Infernac Universe" is actually an allusion to the Inhumanoids.

Anyway, Bouldercrash transforms into a weird-looking rock motorcycle, brown with streaks of red-hot lava. He does not particularly resemble the Rock Lords toy named Boulder at all, as everybody was predicting.

The other rock dude revealed was Magneous (he has nothing to do with Rock Lords Magmar), who is grey with protruding rock formations all over his body, and he turns into a weird-looking rocky Hummer-shaped truck thing. Looks like something Fred Flintstone would drive. As with the Junkions, you don't have to dismantle him to transform him, but he can be disassembled to form armor for other characters. I mean, at this point we've gotten bone armor and junk armor, so rock armor is the natural (?!) evolution of that.

There's a new version of Animated Bumblebee, looking slightly less like a Derrick J. Wyatt design without completely diminishing his style and influence. In my mind, Animated is still so new that it doesn't warrant tribute toys. But, I guess 2008 was fifteen years ago. (As a frame of reference, in the year 1999, people were saying, "G1 began 15 years ago...")

And for some reason, we're getting a toy of Chase from Paw Patrol. Wait, no. Wrong guy. It's Chase from Rescue Bots. He looks like a Playskool toy with better articulation. I'm just not sure I see the point. However, the Hasbro team said that the toy is getting reused for something pretty exciting down the road. I see him and I can't help but think Throttlebots. (It would be hilarious on so many levels if Chase got a redeco as that OTHER Chase.) The pairs or wheels embedded in the feet isn't right, but he's got the right cockpit-on-the-chest look, anyway.

Windblade returns. She had such a strong presence for a while and then she just disappeared, but now she's back. I think I acquired three or four versions of her without even really trying. Her jet mode looks awful. I don't get why they keep trying to make her a thing. Nobody loves her.

Thundertron. He's a dude who turns into a cat. It's cool-looking, I guess, and I'm sure some people will buy him, but I don't know the character and I have zero interest in him.

Animated Optimus looks like Animated Optimus. I think I remember reading he's going to be recycled as Animated Motormaster later on.

Leader-class Tigerhawk looks pretty good. He's got purple as a secondary color this time instead of blue, to more closely match his animated look. Mark Maher said he's got sculpting elements from the Kingdom toys for Tigatron and Airazor. No shiny Transmetal parts, though the team said they're aware the fans want this and they did promise that "we'll get there... hopefully."

Laser Optimus Prime is geting a package refresh for United, and the Leader-class toys are transitioning to an open-window box.

There was also a commercial for the Robosen auto-trans... uh, auto-converting Grimlock, in case you've got $1600 you can't think of anything else to do with. Complete with Gregg Berger himself doing an absolutely awful Grimlock voice. Oh, well. Nobody sounds like they did 40 years ago.

No Gears or Sureshot, but they were part of the same retail computer listing as the guys revealed above, so they're likely in a second wave. Now those will be toys I will actually get excited about!

Zob (when Hasbro ignores G1, they're just telling me they don't want my money any longer)

Only the Beast Wars stuff interests me out of that list.

Rock Lords would have been cool, but I knew that Hasbro doesn't actually
have the rights to those character designs.

On Friday, September 22, 2023 at 2:42:44 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:

> Oh, I hadn't realized the stuff was actually going on sale today. I don't remember them actually saying that.

Tigerhawk is already sold out, so hopefully anybody who wanted him managed to order him!

Windblade and Animated Optimus Prime also sold out, which honestly kind of surprises me. Predictably, all those other loser nobodies are still available.

Zob (imagine being on Reddit and thinking that Tigerhawk and Tasmania Kid are G1 characters)

On Friday, September 22, 2023 at 11:26:10 AM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:

> Hasbro had the foresight to put their Transformers segment first, rather than making us wait through hours of Star Wars and Power Rangers reveals. Not gonna complain about that!

Oh, I forgot to mention that the artwork for United was also revealed, and it showcases a few characters whose toys weren't part of the big reveal. This is the only link I can find right now that shows the whole thing:

https://allsoymade.com/product/new-hasbro-pulse-con-2023-transformers-legacy-united-poster/

So that's Magmatron front-and-center (the Beast Wars Neo character who made his way into the USA toy line during the Beast Machines era) and also in evidence in the top right corner appears to be Tidal Wave, in his purple coloring from the Armada cartoon (I guess if they make him a Titan-class toy, people can finally just SHUT THE HELL UP about making him a Titan-class toy).

Zob (my wallet is breathing a sigh of relief, but I can't help but feel a bit crestfallen)