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Hasbro at Wizard World Chicago
Other Transformers

By Graham Weaver with Philip N. Zeman

The US reissues were on display, with what appeared to be finalized Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Major toys in and out of packaging. Boxed Takara God Ginrai and Starscream toys stood in for the later-wave Powermaster Prime (who will include "everything the Japanese toy did", as we found out later) and Starscream. The first-wave PVCs were also on display in-package, and a few others were displayed loose. Finally, a prototype of a new Big Adventures toy hung out with the four released smaller toys and a carded Aerobot.

Rodimus Major looked to be exactly like his Japanese reissue . Optimus Prime and Magnus appeared to have rubber tires and all their relevant eyes.

The packaging was something like a cross between US and Japanese G1, with no flap, and the words "Commemorative Series 1" above the figure's name. Prime's tech specs, a pale blue box nothing like the G1 tech specs setup, use the expanded text from his "Heroes of Cybertron" figure, and Magnus' are also different from his G1 toy. Finally, Magnus' boxback used the Japanese Movie-era battle scene, rather than the US one. All of the PVCs on display were US, judging by their light-piping, except for Magnus. Magnus did have more back detailing than the Japanese figure, however. Spark Attack Powermaster Optimus Prime is a translucent orange with red flame deco - ironically, it looks more like Fire Guts loose Prime PVC had his axe, despite being a US (light-piped) PVC.

The Big Adventures toy was a dinosaur with a Cheetoresque transform scheme. No name was officially given to this toy, but we can't help but think that it may be called "Dinobot". The name fits, it is owned by Hasbro, and since we have a "Cheetor" in the line, it just seems appropriate. There are no plans to end the line any time soon, though there may be changes in branding, such as emphasizing "Big Adventures" over "Transformers" to minimize confusion among parents faced with Armada, Big Adventures, and G1. On a related note, the "Fire Marshall" and "Rescue Chopper" 1-2-3 repaints are still slated for release. (The representatives appeared to know which toys they were, referring to them as "the red ones".)

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