Transformers:
The Last Knight (2017)
For its fifth live-action
Transformers movie, The Last Knight,
Hasbro followed a somewhat similar strategy to Age
of Extinction, with the toyline largely divided into a large portion
of simpler releases for younger kids and a slightly smaller portion of
more complex, "traditional" Transformers toys for older kids and collectors.
Unfortunately, much like the movie itself, the toyline largely didn't seem
to know what to do with itself, and followed the character emphasis in
the movie only peripherally. In a move that seems to only be explained
by Hasbro not entirely sure what the movie was going to be like at the
time they had to get the toys ready, some characters who barely appeared
in the movie-- such as Berserker-- got several new-mold toys, whereas some
characters who had a noticeably larger part-- like Mohawk-- got no toys
at all. (Grimlock also got a LOT of emphasis, and a fair number of slots
were still dedicated to the Dinobots, despite barely being in the movie.)
Additionally, the earliest waves for many of the assortments were laden
with redecos from Age of Extinction, with the later waves featuring
more of the original, more interesting molds. As a result, much of the
toyline flopped harder than the movie, with the earliest wave selling very
slowly and the later waves being very rare and hard-to-find, despite there
only being a maximum of three waves for any assortment. The combination
of this, along with the so-so-at-best box office performance for the movie,
is almost assuredly what led to the relatively last-minute "soft reboot"
approach for the Bumblebee movie the following year.
Despite the short lifetime
for the line-- only from roughly late Spring to Fall 2017-- quite a few
assortments were released around the same time. "Premier Edition" toys
covered the traditional-complexity Transformers, using the usual Deluxe,
Voyager, and Leader classes, and this continued into the Movie-centric
"Studio Series" line in 2018. Small, Legion-class figures were back, as
were roughly $10 (U.S.) simple 1-Step "Turbo" Changers and large ~$15 (U.S)
Titan Changers for the kids. (All 1-Step Changers for mass-release had
a "Cyberfire" gimmick, in which some hidden paint was on the front of the
toy, which could be revealed by opening the mouth of Mega 1-Step Dragonstorm
and shining its light on the toy-- or another ultraviolet light, if you
had one.) Knight Armor Turbo Changers were $20 (U.S.) larger-- but still
simple-- toys that also had knight "helmets" that could flip over the regular
robot heads. Allspark Tech toys were rather expensive for the size (~$15
U.S. for the "normal" toys, ~$25 U.S. for the Starter Packs which came
a similar-sized toy, as well as a USB cord to charge up the included Allspark
cube). Each Allspark Tech toy had a large hole in the center of the robot
chest for you to insert the Allspark cube toy, which would automatically
detect what toy it was in and give out appropriate sound effects &
lights for said character. "Tiny Turbo Changers" were new, simple, blindpacked,
~$3 (U.S.) toys of various Movie characters in a superdeformed style, and
were one of the few hits from the line, continuing for another few years
in various iterations for both more Movie designs and, later, Cyberverse
characters. Store exclusives were plentiful as per usual, though due to
the subpar performance of the line, many later store exclusives were shunted
from Wal-Mart or Target to either Toys "R" Us or discount retailers and
became difficult to find. For the 10th anniversary of the first movie,
the Movie Masterpiece line also began during The Last Knight's time
in the sun, though the designs were of the 2007
movie variety.
(NOTE: Non-transformable
figures, such as Allspark Tech Sqweeks, Radio-Controlled Sqweeks, and Voice
Changer Masks, are not reviewed on this site.)
Premier Edition
Barricade
Berserker
Bumblebee
Bumblebee
(new mold)
Cogman
w/ Headmaster
Crosshairs
Dragonstorm
(Dragonicus & Stormreign)
Drift
Grimlock
Hound
Megatron
(Leader)
Megatron
(Voyager)
Nitro
Optimus
Prime (Leader)
Optimus
Prime (Voyager)
Scorn
Slash
Slug
Sqweeks
Steelbane
Strafe
Legion
Barricade
Bumblebee
Crosshairs
Dragonstorm
Drift
Grimlock
Hound
Megatron
Optimus
Prime
1-Step Turbo Changers
Barricade
Berserker
Bumblebee
Cogman
Dragonstorm
(Mega)
Drift
Grimlock
Hound
Megatron
Optimus
Prime
Scorn
Knight Armor Turbo Changers
Bumblebee
Grimlock
Hound
Megatron
Optimus
Prime
Allspark Tech
Barricade
Bumblebee
Drift
Hound
Megatron
Optimus
Prime (Starter Pack)
Optimus
Prime (Shadow Spark; Starter Pack)
Tiny Turbo Changers
Barricade
Berserker
Blackout
Bumblebee
Bumblebee
(Knight Strike)
Chopter
Cogman
Crosshairs
Drift
Grimlock
Grimlock
(Shadow Armor)
Hot
Rod
Hound
Lockdown
Megatron
Optimus
Prime
Shockwave
Sideswipe
Soundwave
Sqweeks
Starscream
Starscream
(Sky Camo)
Titan Changers
Bumblebee
Megatron
Optimus
Prime
Store Exclusives
1-Step
Changer "Reveal the Shield" 6-pack [Target Exclusive]
Bumblebee
(Flip & Change) [Wal-Mart Exclusive]
Bumblebee
& Hot Rod (1-Step Changer 2-pack) [Discount Store Exclusive]
Bumblebee
& Hot Rod (Legion 2-pack) [Discount Store Exclusive]
Bumblebee
& Megatron (Legion 2-pack) [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Bumblebee
(Masterpiece) [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Cybertron
[Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Hot
Rod (Deluxe) [Wal-Mart Exclusive]
Hot
Rod (Flip & Change) [Wal-Mart Exclusive]
Hot
Rod (Legion) [Wal-Mart Exclusive]
Infernocus
5-pack Combiner Set w/ Quintessa [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Megatron
& Berserker (Legion 2-pack) [Wal-Mart Exclusive]
Megatron
(Deluxe) [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Optimus
Prime (Masterpiece) [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Optimus
Prime (Voyager; Reveal the Shield) [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Optimus
Prime & Cybertron Optimus Prime 2-pack [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Optimus
Prime & Grimlock (Legion 2-pack) [Toys "R Us Exclusive]
Optimus
Prime vs. Ravenspar (Legion 2-pack) [Discount Store Exclusive]
Optimus
Prime, Steelbane, & Bumblebee (Tiny Turbo Changer 3-pack) [Target Exclusive]
Skullitron
[Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Snarl
[Universal Studios Exclusive]
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