New York's American International Toy Fair February 24, 2011
Autobots, Transform and Roll Out... Again! The biggest line by volume and seemingly interest was Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which is based on the (seemingly) last movie of the Michael Bay movie trilogy. Maybe he'll do another one, maybe he won't, but it seems that this time around the aesthetics have changed a bit and there will now be a large micro segment called Cyberverse. What were "Legends" and "Scout" figures (i.e., the $5 toys and the $7-$9 toys) are now the basis of a micro line with playsets. As such, characters have vehicles that turn into battle stations, and there's even a giant Ark playset which is arguably the centerpiece of the line. A new Powerglide and Blackout should help kick the line off with collectors, and cheaper versions of Optimus Prime should be exciting for parents.
A giant Ultimate Optimus Prime with trailer is nifty, but quite expensive-- this will probably push $100. The container turns into a sort of a rocket pack/wing pack.
The line-wide gimmick this time around is Mech-Tech, which allows you to snap guns to other guns on these action figures. Basically, you can cobble together a giant weapon of ridiculous size and the only limits are your budget and, of course, gravity.
The Human Alliance line takes a cue from M.A.S.K. this year, as the vehicles are much smaller and go from vehicle to weapon-packed vehicle to robot this time around. This is probably going to replace the Power Core Combiner Commander figures at that price point, and they look like they might be fun to futz around with.
As I mentioned in the Prime section, no "classic" toys were shown-- the focus on Toy Fair was all movies, Prime, and (not shown) Kre-o, a LEGO compatible line. Construction is a huge category, so it's no surprise that they'd want to do Bumblebee, Starscream, or Optimus Prime in a massive blocky configuration with tiny 2-inch Kre-ons, a new figure that sounds like a crayon. Based on the life of Built to Rule, I'd say get them while you can because it probably won't last.
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