Transformers (2010 toyline)

This article is about the subtitle-less Hasbro toyline released in the real-world year. For the TakaraTomy franchise named for the in-fiction year, see Transformers 2010 (franchise).

Transformers (2010)

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Identity crisis.

Transformers is a Hasbro toyline that ran from 2010 to 2011 with the intention of re-envisioning the live-action movie toyline into a broader celebration of the history of the brand. The line featured many characters who had not appeared in the movies, but at the same time Hasbro was able to plausibly present it as a movie tie-in to retailers who (naturally) were very eager to stock merchandise related to the highly popular and successful films.

It included the Hunt for the Decepticons promotion in 2010 which transitioned directly into the Reveal the Shield rubsign-based subline imprint in late 2010 to early 2011. Given the line's lack of a subtitle, fans have commonly referred to it simply by these names, for lack of any clearer alternative. Internally, Hasbro apparently referred to the line as "Autobot Alliance" (the same name it was known by in Japan), as this was the name that appeared on the toys' identifying placecards at various 2010 conventions and internal store computer listings for the products.

The line had two different styles of packaging: yellow and red. The red packaging was less common, mostly getting used for exclusives, and was very similar to that of the Generations toyline—only lacking the Generations subtitle. Confusing matters further is the fact that several Generations-styled toys were, for whatever reason, released as part of this toyline with little to differentiate them from the movie figures. Both toylines saw the replacement of the plastic-coated twist-ties of previous lines with paper tie-downs.

Hasbro Hunt for the Decepticons promotion

General retail

Legends Class

The Legends Class was an eclectic mix of Revenge of the Fallen redecos and brand-new molds as a mixture of on-and-offscreen characters. New characters Sandstorm and Hound were eventually ascertained to be movieverse characters, even though their molds were originally designed for Universe.

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Legends Class Rampage

Scout Class

The Scout Class consisted of four new molds and various Revenge of the Fallen redecos, all as new characters.

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Scout Class Hubcap

Deluxe Class

The Hunt for the Decepticons Deluxe Class highlights its role as a continuation of the Revenge of the Fallen toyline. Elita-1 completed the trio of motorcycle sisters using that line's mold for Chromia, and a "Tuner" version of Skids was released to match "Tuner" Mudflap. Various other characters from the movie - Ravage, Jolt and Ratchet - were also given new decos, and brand-new molds were even created for Bumblebee, Ironhide and Sideswipe. A variety of new offscreen characters were thrown into the mix - redecos Jetblade and Axor, and new molds Hailstorm, Terradive and Tomahawk.

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Deluxe Class Hailstorm

Voyager Class

A mixture of redecos, retools and new molds made up the Hunt for the Decepticons Voyager Class. Sea Spray was the only new mold created for Hunt for the Decepticons that was unambiguously based on a "Generation 1" character - despite his fictional appearances treating him as just another movieverse character. With Hasbro's stance on the matter being confusing at best, fans seemed happier to accept some of Sea Spray's contemporaries (such as Banzaitron and Axor) as updated versions of older characters than they might have been with similar "homages" in older movie lines.

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Voyager Class Sea Spray

Larger figures

The Leader Class offering consisted of Optimus Prime (a retool of his Revenge of the Fallen figure) and Starscream (a brand new mold). The roughly-Leader-sized "Battle Ops Bumblebee" was released on his own under a distinct assortment, in a slightly differently-shaped box. Starscream and Bumblebee were released by Takara as the first two figures in their Masterpiece Movie Series - a series that would then remain dormant for seven years, only to continue in 2017 with more brand new molds.

Leader Class

Other

Battle Ops Bumblebee

Leader Class Starscream

Human Alliance

Jazz was the only new "Human Alliance" mold released for Hunt for the Decepticons; Bumblebee and Sideswipe were redecos of their Revenge of the Fallen figures.

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Bumblebee / Sam Witwicky

"Human Alliance" Jazz and Captain Lennox

Exclusives

The previous movie toylines had included a veritable deluge of exclusive redecos, and Hunt for the Decepticons was far from an exception. Around the summer of 2010, Walmart and Target each received an assortment of 'versus' two-packs.

Walmart - Deluxe/Legends two-packs

"Bombing Run Battle"
(Bumblebee, Grindor)
"Desert Ruins Brawl"
(Decepticon Brawl, Jolt)

Target - Deluxe two-packs

"Crash Landing Attack"
(Bumblebee, Thrust)
"High-Speed Spy Battle"
(Autobot Skids & Mudflap, Sideways)

"Hunters Rumble"
(Barricade, Sideswipe)
"Rotorwash Rumble"
(Arcee, Tailwhip)

"Bombing Run Battle"

The Most Wanted Decepticons

Later in the year, Hasbro launched a range of exclusive multi-packs across multiple retail partners labelled The Most Wanted Decepticons. Most of the packs were inspired by specific scenes from the Revenge of the Fallen film, and each included a collector card spotlighting that set's prime Decepticon target. Unfortunately, the range's rollout saw significant setbacks, and ultimately two of the revealed packs would go completely unreleased, while one saw release only in the United Kingdom.

Kmart "The Victory of The Fallen" (The Fallen, Jetfire, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Starscream)		Sainsbury's (UK) "The Ravage Infiltration" (Ravage, Flak, Rollbar, 3 human soldier mini-figures)		Target "Sideways Sneak Attack" (cancelled) (Arcee, Chromia, Elita-1, Sideways)				"The Victory of the Fallen" "Starscream's Assault"
Toys"R"Us Constructicon Devastator (Hightower, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Overload, Rampage, Scavenger, Scrapper) "Rampage Among The Ruins" (Bumblebee, Rampage, Ravage)		Walmart "The Fury Of Bonecrusher" (Bonecrusher, Ironhide) "Starscream's Assault" (Mudflap, Starscream)		Unknown outlet "Megatron Rising" (cancelled) (Megatron, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Rampage, Scrapper)

Hasbro Reveal the Shield subline

Evidently unsatisfied with the amount of Classics-style product being released in Generations and not wanting to be restricted to the Deluxe size class, Hasbro began the Reveal the Shield subline imprint in November 2010 and started introducing a variety of G1-and-beyond characters alongside the movieverse characters.

I'm too sexy for Generations, too sexy for Generations, too sexy for that location...

Aside from the packaging, the main difference between Reveal the Shield and Generations was the former's use of rubsigns much like those of the original "Generation 1" toys. Because this subline's entire theme hinged on the characters' factions being unknown until you activated their rubsigns, those who had previously required "Autobot" or "Decepticon" prefixes in front of their names for trademark purposes instead had unique descriptive words added to their names to keep their allegiance a closely guarded ultra secret mystery. A mystery, that is, to anyone who hadn't paid any attention at all to any Transformers fiction or merchandise in the past 25 years or so - and who'd ignored the faction-specific logos and bios on the back of the packaging, the latter of which did occasionally use the "Autobot" prefixes or identify characters' factions for no apparent reason at all. The European-market packaging omitted the prefixes from the heavily-truncated multilingual bios due to a different trademark situation in Europe, but were otherwise no better off. To top it all off, the released figures only ended up including five Decepticons compared to seventeen Autobots anyway!

Honestly, you've got to wonder why they bothered in the first place.

Unfortunately, while Generations carried on strong, it was the Reveal the Shield figures that fell victim to "tail-end-of-the-line syndrome", with many retailers in the United States passing on the entire segment in favor of the then-upcoming Dark of the Moon line. While most of the figures were comparably easy to find at retail in many international markets (even Europe for a change!), they weren't made available in the United States until many months later, and then only at closeout chains such as TJ Maxx, Ross or Marshalls. Three Scout Class figures were never released at all - they'd have made for six Decepticons to nineteen Autobots, which we suppose are slightly better odds...