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In my third and final interview with Hasbro at SDCC 2025, I got to speak with the Transformers team, who had a lot of exciting reveals, including new releases across different versions, lines, and universes that encompass all that is Transformers from the current Energon Universe, Generation 1, the movies, and more. They did announce a Hot Wheels collaboration with Mattel after my interview, and pictures are included below. Check out the whole world they’re building in 2025 and 2026.
The interview has been edited for clarity
Julian Lytle: So what’s new with Transformers at San Diego Comic Con?
Nate Purswell: We got a lot. So, I got to first highlight the Comic-Con exclusive. This is our boy Jetfire, who comes with two all-new, newly tooled O-ring (‘80s style G.I. Joe-like) figures, Darak and Salila [from Void Rivals]. It comes with an exclusive Void Rivals #1 issue drawn by our good friend Marcelo [Matere], who did all the artwork.
But really, the big story, I mean, my personal favorite, we’ve got our first Titan Scale Studio Series figure, that’s Age of Extinction Grimlock. That was the big reveal, which comes out in about a year. People [have] been asking about the Dino Bots, getting those true to scale, so you can see in this version he’s got Nemesis Prime, but that’s really just a re-deco partial off of our Age of Extinction Optimus. Obviously you can see scales real nicely with that. Then on this shelf we’ve got our entire Wave One of studio series for 2026. Also, Megatron from our last wave, ’86 Megatron, is another figure people have been asking about forever. I’m going to hand it to Mark for the Unbelievable Age of the Megatron stuff.
TRANSFORMERS AGE OF EXTINCTION DINOBOT GRIMLOCKMark Maher: We have a leader-class Razorclaw, and we have a leader-class Big Convoy, who’s a woolly mammoth from the Beast Wars Neo series. We’ve been trying to get him out for a long time since we did Commander Magmatron, his arch nemesis, in 2024. This was just an absolute must-follow-up because Optimus Prime as a woolly mammoth is absolutely nuts. These two are going to be amazing pieces in your collection.
And then to bring over more of the Age of the Primes reveals, which we had a lot, obviously, you’re trying to collect all 13 ancient god primes. So we have Amalgamus Prime, who’s a shapeshifter. He’s actually a weaponizer. You can form all kinds of different alt modes with him. He comes with the ancient artifact, the transformation cog. I think it’s the first time we’ve ever done a transformation cog in toy form, which is really cool. And then there’s Quintus Prime, another amazing character. He’s in the Deluxe scale. He comes with the Ember Stone. And he actually turns into a crazy spaceship.
Then we have a plethora of other reveals up at the top of the case, as you can see. We got two more Combaticon members to obviously form Bruticus sooner than later. Blastoff and Brawl. Blastoff is Deluxe. Raul is actually a Voyager. He does come with all his blasters, and he does have that delicious tank mode, but I didn’t have an extra sample, so he’s not there.
We have a resurgence of some Junkion members. A couple of years ago, we did a bunch of new Junkions. So, Jalopy is a brand-new character. I’m very excited for him because it’s the whole gimmick of the Junkions being able to split apart. And then reconnects with each other and all other figures. So, just a lot of fun play value there. And then Rek’Gar from the animated series, which is another character that we were trying to finish out the main cast of the animated series. So he’s a nice add-in.
And then Quickstrike, which I’m sure everybody’s pretty amped up about Beast Wars, we’ve been trying to finish that main cast of characters for a while. So this is the first time he’s been released without the translucent and metallic shine. Then also Target Master Sure Shot with Spoil Sport. I love my Target Masters, so ever since we released Crosshairs a while back, and then we did Point Blank, it was only necessary to do the trio together so you could flesh out that shell.
TRANSFORMERS AGE OF THE PRIMES LEADER CLASS MAXIMAL BIG CONVOYLytle: What’s going on with the combiners?
Purswell: This is the first time we’re showing off the completed Devastator. We saw so many fans asking for combiners, and the first one we’ve done in the modern era is Menasor [Stunticons], which we had done over a couple of years, and just saw how much love there was for that. So we wanted to make sure that with the new ones, we got them all out in one year. So, of course, these are the Constructicons from the ’86 movie and our Studio Series line. The last two guys should be coming out just about two months from now, in September. And then on the other side, we got the Aerial Bots that form up to Superion.
Lytle: So you can collect all these characters in 2025?
Purswell: And then, as you mentioned, Bruticus will be our combiner in 2026. We had Vortex. We just launched him in 2025, but the rest will be coming in 2026. So a couple more are coming. We announced that Onslaught will be the commander for 2026 in Age of the Primes. So, again, try to make sure that everyone can hunt those figures down in one year. Devastator, just last year, we announced him, and it’s crazy to see just one year later he’s complete here, but that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make it easier to collect. It’s one calendar year. These are your combiners, and then this is the final product.
Lytle: So you buy them all separately. How different is he from the Combiner Wars version?
TRANSFORMERS STUDIO SERIES VOYAGER CLASS THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE DEVASTATOR (FULLY COMPLETE)Purswell: It’s a good question. It comes up a lot. So he’s a little bit smaller, but that’s intentional because he’s from the ’86 content. We want to make sure that he scales perfectly with the rest of that lineup. Your Optimus, your Grimlock, your Megatron. If you stack up Megatron next to Devastator, it scales just like you see them in the movie. The Combiner Wars focused more on less articulation but just pure size. It scales with the other Combiners at that time. Similar scale for Superion. He doesn’t show up in the movie, but the scale is just about right so that he can fill in for that as well. However, the biggest differences are more articulation in these Constructicons versus Combiner Wars versions, and the scale is slightly smaller, but intentionally so, allowing him to work with the movie figures.
This one is an Amazon [store] exclusive. You got Sandstorm and Slug Slinger. And then here, this is a really fun one. This is a Target exclusive. And you got Horri-Bull, the first time we’ve done him in a long time. You got White Ultra Magnus. You got Bumper, another one. A lot of people probably look at that and think, “Oh, there’s another Bumblebee.” But if you look closer, you see the different head sculpt. And then finally, you got Nemesis Prime from [Transformers] Animated. It’s a re-deco of the previous one we did. Again, just a really fun multi-pack.
For the exclusives, we can get a little weird. We can get a little more niche, focusing on those kinds of deep cuts that fans are looking for. I love the Triple Changer, Sandstorm, and the handsome faces, which we like to call it. But that’s kind of the bottom shelf. Then, over here, we have Walmart-exclusive Seaspray. That’s an all-new, newly tooled figure in deluxe scale. People have been asking about him for a long time. He looks fantastic. He’s one of my favorites. And then this is a partial and re-deco of Brawn, again in that blister packaging, which I just love so much. But an all-new head inspired by the Generation 1 toy, with updated colors. And then this one we just revealed on Thursday – the [Transformers] Armada Nemesis Prime with the Minicons. People have been asking about Minicons for a long time. So getting those out there, three of them, the Air Defense Minicon team.
And then some collabs, we’ve got Naruto. We pre-ordered this one back in October, but he’s hitting shelves in the last couple of months. Again, with the collabs, we’re trying to reach those new fans, new properties that fans are going to be interested in and try to get people interested in Transformers that might not be collecting. And that’s kind of what we’ve been doing with Sonic the Hedgehog down here, which will be hitting shelves. It should be hitting shelves this month.
And then the NFL is launching with four teams this year. We’ve got a couple more coming in ’26, and a couple more coming in ’27. If you don’t see your team now, just give us some time. And then, lastly, the timelines. Available in the booth. Two two-packs. We’ve got Megatron and Bumblebee, a little choo-choo Bumblebee. Optimus Prime and Starscream, the Starscream one, that’s my favorite—that kind of Leonardo Da Vinci look.
Maher: My favorite is the Gunpoint Megatron.
Purswell: Evan did a really good job. These are inspired by the Transformers: Hearts of Steel comic book series (IDW series). It was a limited series, like 20 years ago now. The packaging that Mario did is beautiful. But again, these are available on site.
TRANSFORMERS TIMELINES COMIC EDITION OPTIMUS PRIME AND STARSCREAMTRANSFORMERS HEARTS OF STEEL TIMELINES MEGATRON AND TIMELINES BUMBLEBEE
Purswell: And this was a Comic-Con exclusive I was talking about earlier. Up here, we’ve got some of our licensed partners’ products. Robeson, the self-converting Bumblebee. That’s the latest one they’ve added to the collection. ThreeZero always does incredible non-converting statues. This is Lost Light, Rodimus Prime. Love the Energon Universe from Surreal Entertainment right there. The iconic Optimus arm is there. Daniel Warren Johnson came over and signed that, which is really cool.
Then the Lego Soundwave, that’s the third one that Lego’s done, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime before him. Finally the final painted model of our Haslab that funded earlier this year as LioKaiser ,with the first Death Cobra in forever. Just an incredible toy, love to show that one off as we progress. It’s already been funded and we’re already working on the next Haslab, which Mark’s working on.
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Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage from SDCC ’25.
English (US)