Today is the official 30th birthday for Transformers. For the United States, the line launched 1984 with the cartoon series and first wave of toys that included Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Jazz and a whole lot more. Today was chosen because its the day that Transformers #1 limited series was released by Marvel that introduced all backstory and characters we all grew to love. Shortly after the toys popped on shelves with the TV series premiering in the fall of 1984.

From there, well the rest is literal history as the franchise has become one of the most enduring in all of toy history with multiple different television shows, revisions, and lines while maintaining that near constant of Optimus Prime and his Autobots vs Megatron and his Decepticons for control of Cybertron and Earth with the theme best summarized by Prime as "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
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Just realized allowed the toy side of news to stack up. Guess was distracted by the Age of Extinction reviews. Still while AoE has been a bit underwhelming, that doesn't mean upcoming 3rd Party plans have slacked in their awesomeness with versions of not Metroplex, not Cy-Kill (yep the GoBot) and not Ultra Magnus. This isn't to say that Takara and Hasbro are not up to some none Extinction plans. Takara has revealed their 30th Anniversary plans that includes a new truck alt mode for Optimus, a look at Masterpiece Wheeljack, and agreements for a slew of products including statues, play sets and ties. In the not quite toy news department we have a look at G1 cartoon concept art and news that the entire "Unicron trilogy" is getting a DVD release. Of course no link fest is complete without a ton of reviews. The highlights include the wave 1 Generation deluxes, Masterpiece Ratbat, not Sharkticons, not Ultra Magnus, not Masterpiece Slag, first figure of a not Bruticus combiner, not Blaster and more. Basically a series of budget busting awesome. As always hit the links for more details and pictures.
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While America has Botcon, other countries host a Transformers Expo. Below is a large gallery provided by Feris O. who went to the Transformers Expo Malaysia. The expo had a tour exhibit with a substantial size collection of Transformers from G1 through to Transformers: Dark of the Moon that had me doing a mental "have", "want", "pass" as going through it. The first movie 'Bee Chevy Camaro was there along with photo op with life size of movie Prime and Bumblebee. Interactive elements include a 3D presentation video, "a light and sound display of 3D mapping technology on Optimus Prime's head", and augmented reality thing to interact with Optimus and 'Bee. More on the Expo is here. Full gallery below.
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Time to play catch-up on Transformers non-movie news. A few treats this month with the main one being a great video that from the 1983 Tokyo Toy Fair that introduces to the world what would become the Transformers. On the upcoming third party front, the theme this year is once again combiners with various companies doing their own take on the Protectobots, Combaticons, and another Predaking. Hasbro and Takara have their own non-TF4 news with MP Wheeljack tease, MP Prowl coming stateside, and new Rescue Bots inspired Transformers cartoon coming. In G1 news there is an interview with the guy that killed Optimus Prime, toy design art, official release of Transformers: The Movie score and a new TF book. Finally on the review front lots of great new toys with Warden (IDW Fortrest Maximus), Year of the Horse Prime, Mania King (Galvatron), Bii and Intimidator being on my to buy list. Hit the links and vids to learn more.

1983 Tokyo Toy Fair Video - A substantial piece of Transformers history is now available on YouTube with an old video that shows off the Generation One Transformers for the very first time. Taken at the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show, this was when Hasbro saw the concept and introduced it in 1984 to US audiences. So basically this show and a simple booth launched multi-billion dollar franchise.
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The end of 2013 is here with final toy linkfest of the year. Its been a good year in toys with Generations line, Takara's new additions to the Masterpiece line and most of the 3rd party makers knocking out some outstanding Transformers that often put Hasbro's and Takara's offerings to shame. As the the galleries show, 2014 is going to be the same, especially as Hasbro shifts to the Transformers 4 toyline. In 3rd party news we have a look at not Galvatron, not Menasor, not Ratch, and not IDW Fortress Maximus. Hasbro abd Takara are doing another repaint of MP Prime, more Generations coming, and few other official products. Other topics include Botcon 2014 has a location and time, Gingerbread Prime, new The Touch video, and movie statues. Per usual also have a bunch of new video reviews including look at latest Masterpiece Prowl, not Motormaster, not Brainstorm, new not Throttlebot, not Swoop and more.

3rd Party Galleries
Unique Toys Mania King - This 3rd party figure recreates the original G1 Galvatron but with a whole lot more detail and color scheme while keeping his Cybertronian alt mode. No estimated release date or price.
FansProject not Menasor - After a bit of a delay, the final piece of Fansproject's Intimidator combiner is coming next month. Diesel (aka not Motormaster) is set for release by the end of January for $150. Hit the link for the look at their final combiner and head below for a preview review of Diesel and Intimidator. Another gallery is here.
iGear not Ratchet - Hit the link for a re-release of iGear's not Ratchet release from early last year. This version is about $30 cheaper as they eliminated most of the unnecessary accessories that came with the figure. I got the first version and do recommend getting as it is a faithful re-creation of the G1 Ratchet robot and vehicle modes that fits with the Masterpiece line. Out now for $100. Read More »

Transformers 4 movie news remains light but the toys keeps coming be it official or otherwise. In this edition we have a look at Transformers: The Movie concept art and inspired 3rd party toys, look at upcoming 3rd party Masterpiece no Dinobot Slag, more headmasters, new waves of official Hasbro toys and lots of reviews. Also of interest is a fan made transforming papercraft cigarette box, an $1000 Optimus Prime, new DVD set, and official Nikes.

Transformers: The Movie Concept Art - Hit the link for a look at some of the concept art created by animation supervisor Floro Dery for the G1 cartoon and the 1986 movie. It has lots of details that did and did not eventually get used such as am early Junkion spacecraft, Cybertron's robot mode and more. It is really beautiful and detailed art that shows that a lot of thought and care went into designing the world of Transformers. Maybe Botcon should consider him for entry into the TF Hall of Fame.
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With Transformers: Age of Extinction filming news going mostly quiet as production heads to Chian, time for another link fest. In this addition we get an update on the fantastic masterpiece line (sadly all being repaints), news of a new Transformers comic, album, commercial spook and homage video. Of course this also means lots of links to video reviews of the latest Transformers including 3rd party releases of not Blackarachnia, not Brainstorm, not Uranos along with a look at the latest Masterpiece figure with MP-17 Prowl.

Masterpiece
MP-12G G2 Sideswipe - Another repaint of the MP-12 figure, but in the G2 style in new head mold and accessories. Release date is February, 2014 with average import price of $80.
MP-13B Soundblaster with Ratbat - Look at the Masterpiece Soundwave repaint with new MP version of Ratbat. While Hasbro has released MP Soundwave stateside, even though finding it in Toys R Us has been difficult, it doesn't come with Ratbat. The foy is set for release in March 2014, average import price is around $160.
MP-18 Bluestreak and MP-19 Smokescreen - Repaints of MP-17 Prowl (out now and review below), these two additions to the line will becoming out in the next two months for average price of $80 each. As a G1 fan and abiding love of the MP line, despite being repaints, definitely going to get both.
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Not sure of the details but the Transformers China 2013 Exhibition is being held somewhere in the country. The main takeaway for fans is lots of Transformers from the last 30 years of the franchise in both in and out of boxes covering all eras. In addition it looks like they created diorama of scenes from the three movies using toys and other things. To check out the full details head to ACToys (mirror).

This weekend the San Diego Comic-Con was held. The 'Con is mostly a TV and movies promotional thing at this point (Superman/Batman movie, Avengers 2: Age of Ultron) but Hasbro did have panels for Transformers Prime and the toys. Most of the news was already covered at Botcon 2013 but a few new things were revealed like more of the Thrilling 30 line, Constructabots, the Fan Built Bot design, and more.

Thrilling 30
Hasbro issued a press release revealing a total of 11 of the 30 toys that make up this 30th Anniversary series. This line is definitely geared towards the die hard older collector as the members of the line are entirely made up of exclusives in the US and asian markets. So far we just have official images for a few of them. The list so far: Read More »

Since 2010, Hasbro has its yearly Transformers Hall of Fame ceremony at Botcon (6/27-6/30) that inducts to people that played a part in building the brand, 3 Transformers characters chosen by Hasbro and 1 character chosen by the fans. This year until June 21 you can vote from the below choices for who you think should next enter the Transformers Hall of Fame. To vote, click here.

Ultra Magnus - "If there is any AUTOBOT the DECEPTICONS fear as much as OPTIMUS PRIME, it is ULTRA MAGNUS."
Arcee - "An accomplished, street smart and powerful fighter with little patience for those who don't know their way around a battlefield."
Beast Wars Megatron - "A menacing, hyper-intelligent criminal mastermind who led a group of renegade PREDACONS in search of the Energon they would need to conquer CYBERTRON."
Rodimus/Hot Rod - "RODIMUS is young, naïve, headstrong, and daring when it comes to his own safety in the field."
Prowl - "DECEPTICONS, beware, because PROWL is one tough AUTOBOT out to bring law and order to his enemies."

Personally I voted for Beast Wars Megatron because of the group, he "accomplished" the most of any of the characters between risking all of time and space literally blowing the head off of Optimus Prime and successfully conquering Cybertron. Let us know who you voted for and why in the comments.

More Transformers are coming, official or otherwise. For 3rd party makers, combiners seems to be the main theme while Takara has truly embraced the Masterpiece line and Hasbro is moving ahead with a full Beast Hunters line despite the short final season of Transformers Prime.  Hasbro finally revealed what Masterpiece Acid Storm looks like while Takara shows off blurry images of MP Prowl and Bluestreak.  Add to that lots of reviews of upcoming Beast Hunters toys, two members of TFC Toys Uranos combiner, next Throttlebot combiner member, and more.

Masterpiece Update - Hasbro MP Acid Storm | Hasbro MP Soundwave | Takara Prowl and Bluestreak
This year is just chock full of Masterpiece releases once include by the Takara and Hasbro plans. Already this year has seen the release of Takara's Soundwave toy with two of his cassettes (review below). On top of that have MP-10B Nemesis Prime 2.0 cab (March), MP-12T Tigertrack (July), MP-16 Frenzy and Rumble (April), and now a look at MP-17 Prowl (August), MP-18 Bluestreak (October) and later MP-19 Smokescreen (September). On top of that can add Hasbro's official images Masterpiece Acid Storm which is a repaint of Starscream 2.0 in a military green and black look while Soundwave is identical to the Takara release only it will come with all five cassettes instead of separate two pack releases.
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From The Spacebridge Facebook page, below are two re-created deleted scenes from 1986's Transformers: The Movie from production storyboards. The first scene shows how Devastator was finally taken down after the Dinobots failed to while providing a bridge to what Megatron was looking at when Optimus Prime engaged him for the now most quoted fight sequence in Transformers history. The second scene explains why Ultra Magnus' (brief) death seemed oddly delayed due to being literally pulled apart by the sweeps' energon ropes. The two moments make for nice new insight on an old favorite. If you have never seen Transformers The Movie, I think its up on the various streaming sites. Worth checking out if only to so can see where so many of today's Transformers quote references and desired story plots (Unicron) come from. (via Unicron.com)
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Toy Fair showed us a great upcoming line up of toys coming out months from now but time to focus on the more immediate future with lots of new Beast Hunters and 3rd part offering in the pipeline along with a few interesting tie in products. More Beast Hunters products are starting to hit shelves so lots of reviews to look at for them. On the third party front we have a look at a not Stunticons line-up, review of not Shockwave, not Jumpstarters, not Fall of Cybertron Omega Supreme and more. Masterpiece Soundwave is out so a review for him. New not toy products include a expensive coin set from New Zealand and a Optimus Hockey Jersey. Basically as the links and reviews show, the next year is going to be a wallet buster.

Causality not Stunticons - T-Bone
From Fansproject, their next series is the not Stunticons of CA-09 Car Crash, CA-10 T-Bone, CA-11 Down Force and CA-12 Last Chance. Apparently they are designed to merge into not Menasor but have not seen that gestalt form or what these four look like in appendage mode. Even if don't merge, each looks like be great additions to a collection. The average prices is $60 with Car Crash out in February, T-Bone in March and no dates on the rest.
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Yep, that is a two foot tall War for Cybertron Metroplex. From Hasbro, not a 3rd party creation or Takara. 2014 is the 30th Anniversary of Transformers and Hasbro has made it clear they are taking it seriously with their upcoming slate revealed Saturday at the 2013 New York Toy Fair. In addition to Metroplex, there are new triple changers, bunches of Beast Hunter toys, new wave of Kre-O toys, IDW inspired toys and bunch more. Basically for Transformers fans both new and G1, the next year is going to fun. Below is a bunch of links to galleries and videos about all that is coming.

Metroplex
Based on his Fall of Cybertron appearance. Only member of the Generations line Titan class. At 24" tall, largest Transformer Hasbro has ever created, a touch taller then even Fortress Maximus. Cost is $125, hit retail in August, has light up eyes, flip down visor that controls diameters of eyes, sounds, talking phrases (from the game), and scaled for Legends class figures.
Toy Fair floor: Gallery 1 | Gallery 2 | Gallery 3
Hasbro Official: Gallery 1
Videos: One | Two (same as below)
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Been a few weeks since the last linkfest of toys news. Upcoming releases include Masterpiece Soundwave and his cassettes, Takara has a great slate coming for Japan, the third party manufactureres have more gestaults in the works, and lots of reviews including Masterpiece Prime, MP Sideswipe, Screecher and more.

Masterpiece Soundwave - Gallery | MP Cassettes & MP-10B
MP-13 Soundwave with Laserbeak was expected to be released mid-December but now that has been bumped back to January 26th, 2013. Encore 23 Fortress Maximus was already delayed with a March 30th release date. Not if that means that MP-15 Frenzy & Buzzsaw and MP-16 Rumble & Ravage are getting pushed from their February 23rd and March 23rd release dates. In the meantime hit the links to view these upcoming figures. Again no info if Hasbro is considering a stateside release (but don't see why they wouldn't at some point). MP-10B is Takara exclusive repaint of Masterpiece Prime (see video below) in the Nemesis Prime colors but without a trailer. Doubt this repaint will get a stateside release.
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