If you visit my humble site then I'm sure you're following all of the news as it's released from San Diego as part of SDCC '19. I've been geeking out all weekend about the comic, movie and toy news...especially when it comes to some new Transformers that are on the horizon.
I began to think at how Hasbro and Transformers specifically would laying siege on fans' wallets with all of the news that has been officially revealed. There were already several great Siege pre-orders in place (such as
Omega Supreme) and now we have even more great toys coming. Hmm...I wonder where I can donate some plasma?
Many of these new pre-orders that are just now hitting the web are exclusive to stores, such as Amazon, Target, Walmart and Hasbro Pulse. I've tried to provide links to these retailers to make it easy if you wish to drop a pre-order or two.
We'll start off with Amazon's 3 exclusive offerings.
(available 10/15/19) - $69.99
This set includes deluxes of Holo Mirage, a partially translucent blue Mirage to mimic his invisibility ability; Powerdasher Aragon, a repaint and slight retool of Six-Gun; and Impactor. While I think these figures look nice, I think this will be an easy pass for me.
(available 08/15/19) - $49.99
This exclusive 4 pack contains the Decepticons Skywarp and 3 Battle Masters: Fracas, Shrute, Terror-Dactyl. Who wouldn't want to at least complete the original seeker trio? This one is an easy purchase for me.
(available 08/15/19) - $49.99
This 3 pack includes Covert Clone Sideswipe, a G2 redeco; Slamdance, a redeco of the Decepticon Skytread (Flywheels); as well as one Battle Master, Trenchfoot (redeco Aimless).
There was a time where I would buy any exclusive Transformers release, but today I have to be a little more picky about what I buy. Part of me really likes this set. Sideswipe looks awesome in black and Trenchfoot is sporting some great colors. Slamdance is, well...interesting. Comprised of Raindance and Grandslam, originally combining cassettes during the G1 days, I don't know if Hasbro has pulled this off or not. With so many releases coming out around the same time this one will be a tough sell for me.
Target is providing additional Decepticon seeker jets in the form of Redwing and a 3 pack of "rainmakers". Currently
Redwing is only available to Red Card holders, but hopefully that will change soon. I can't find an online listing yet for the 3 pack, but there have been confirmed sightings in the US already at select Target stores. Happy hunting!
Not to be outdone in the exclusives department, Walmart also had a few surprises for us collectors.
(available holiday 2019?) - $19.99
When Siege Prowl was released I guess I should have seen the inevitable releases of the other "Datsun Brothers". Bluestreak looks beautiful and is a must buy. Sadly by the time I found the link on Walmart's website the pre-order had already sold out. You can sign up for updates, which I have, so I'll just have to wait and see if they re-open the pre-orders or not.
(available October 2019) - $29.99
It's hard for me to comment on Megatron (or Optimus) as I still haven't opened the original versions of this mold, but I have to say this classic animation deco is beautiful. I don't know if I'll pick him up or not, but this is cool none the less.
(available October 2019) - $29.99
I'll buy just about any version of Optimus Prime and this one is no different. This classic animation deco is absolutely beautiful and I'm sure it'll look better in hand. October can't come quick enough for this one!
(available October 2019) - $29.99
Hasbro has been on the Soundblaster train for sometime now, repainting/retooling various Soundwave toys into his rebuilt Japanese counterpart. It looks fantastic, I'm just not sure there will be a place in my collection for him.
Walmart will be continuing their line of G1 reissues with Soundwave and multi-packs of Frenzy/Laserbeak and Ravage/Rumble. I haven't bought many of these re-issues as I already have nice specimens of the original toys, but I'm sure these 3 releases will sell good assuming the prices aren't too high. I don't believe these are available for pre-order at the time of this post.
Hasbro Pulse also has a few exclusives of their own that I'm sure will tickle the fancy of old school collectors.
(available 09/01/19) - $69.99
Having just found my 3rd and final Refraktor figure, I'm excited about getting the 3 figures together and forming the 35mm camera. While I'm just fine with the regular deco of the figures, I do think this new G1 toy deco looks great. The additional parts added to the set also really help sell the alt mode. This one is tempting, but I'm not made of money so I'll just had to admire the pictures on the 'net.
(available August 2019) - $19.99
My eyes!! Wow, this sucker is a bright toy. This looks like something from the last few years of GI Joe. I'm sure there are fans that are happy to get another fembot and be able to complete their all female combiner...but I'm not one of those.
(available 09/08/19) - $34.99
Oh. My. Gosh. While I'm not totally floored to see Gurafi and Noizu coming, I'm super excited. Last year Hasbro teased fans with the translucent G1 dino cassettes in their Bumblebee SDCC releases and now fans everywhere can finally complete their cassette collections without having to pay an arm and a leg. Pre-ordered.
War for Cybertron: Siege - Ratchet
(available ?) $19.99
Last but not least we have Ratchet. He will be an upcoming exclusive at Walgreens drug stores in the US. He's already been released in Hong Kong as a Toys 'R Us exclusive there. I am hoping Walgreens offers Ratchet online so it's not the whole Marvel Legends the Thing fiasco all over again.
As you can see there are a lot of great new Transformer toys coming out later this year. If you plan to pick up every figure on this list along with the others that are coming, good luck. I haven't been this excited about a main line Transformers series in a long time. Hasbro and Takara Tomy are hitting it out of the park with Siege and I can't wait to see what else they may have in store for us. I just hope they give all of our wallets a change to breath and recuperate!
