Transformers Movie toys transform green paper into silver plastic

Like Howie Mandel, the Transformers have been given yet another shot at a career -- but unlike Howie, we are like, totally love the Transformers. We'll do our best not to wax on with all the Transformers lore and all, but we'll just say the death of Optimus Prime made some pre-pubescent Engadget editors reevaluate their young lives. So it's with no small amount of nostalgia that prior to the release of the Michael Bay Transformers live action movie later this year, Hasbro's launched a new line of change-'em-up-robots. The new Prime, which keeps kind of in line with his original old school truck body (we have mixed feelings about the painted flames) will drop for $40 on June 2nd; a cost-crazy 14-inch tall 1/14 scale $80 Ultimate Bumblebee comes out this fall; also look forward to the $30 Optimus Prime Battle Rig Blaster (hey, wasn't that Megatron's gimmick?), and the $30 Prime Voice Changer Helmet, which makes your tykes sound a little more like Peter Cullen than you might like. Oh, how joyful this resurrected 80s mania for robots makes us.

[Via Autoblog]

Gallery: Transformers Movie toys transform green paper into silver plastic

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[Meltz; @ Feb 13th 2007 11:09PM]

oh...i get it.
took me a while

[Tom Reinke @ Feb 14th 2007 1:20AM]

Yea.. took me a while to get it too, I was wondering how they could turn paper into plastic...

For those of you who are still scratching your head, I'll give you a hint.

Money --> _____

[kuzu-b @ Feb 13th 2007 11:13PM]

Deal Or No Deal > Engadget.

Bobby's World 4 life.

[Ryan Block @ Feb 14th 2007 1:24AM]

Harsh! Well, no one's keepin' ya here!

[aaron r @ Feb 13th 2007 11:15PM]

Damn, I wish I still had all of my original G1 transformers. KA-CHING!!!!! Man, I loved those things.

[AG @ Feb 13th 2007 11:19PM]

Meh. The 'MetroPlex' posting was cooler than this.

Geez, Prime looks disgusting.

Thanks for ruining a great Childhood memory, Michael Bay

[Allen G. @ Feb 13th 2007 11:28PM]

Seriously these toys are just ugly....So sad...

[Crazylink @ Feb 13th 2007 11:32PM]

Do a barrel roll!

That contest was rigged man...

[TwilightGhost @ Feb 13th 2007 11:37PM]

I'm sorry, but just like the new Beetle and the new Mini, these remakes are nothing but ugly pieces of shit. I agree with the above comment... Thanks for ruining yet another great childhood memory.

[Tim UF @ Feb 13th 2007 11:54PM]

I liked optimus better when he was a flt fronted tractor. And how can bumblebee be anything but a VW bug???

[buehldot @ Feb 14th 2007 12:00AM]

To everyone who's upset about the movie toys because they wreck the nostalgia, check out the Transformers Classics line. I have every figure except Prime and they are all great. Check out Mirage for an inexpensive sample of just how great they are!

[MattM @ Feb 14th 2007 12:16AM]

They probably won't do a Soundwave (Radar/Soundblaster) figure will they. Not with all of today's cassette hatin' MP3 lovin' and all. *sigh*

[lotech @ Feb 14th 2007 12:44AM]

Check out http://toyvalley.150m.com/ also - they have some dope asian remakes of G1 Transformers - die cast though with more details on all the parts.
'Takara Masterpiece MP-03 Starscream' is particularly cool - spot the retracting arms and stand. I think I need one.

I think Bumblebee looks pretty cool, Optimus would be if they lost the horrid flame detailing (unpimp that ride I beg you).

[Shmoe @ Feb 14th 2007 2:13AM]

Prime is a cab-over rig, not this ugly POS. Someone needs to hang Michael Bay for that. Bumble Bee doesn't look too bad, although he's suppsed to be a VW, not a camaro.

[kingdom @ Feb 14th 2007 2:51AM]

I found this site that had all kinds of pics of many of the movie Transformers and other types including a sweet looking transforming Death Star (turns into Darth Vader)

The main site is http://transformerslive.blogspot.com/ but the link to galleries and whatnot for Transformers and Toyfair is
http://transformerslive.blogspot.com/2007/02/toyfair-2007-transformers-movie-reveal.html

[Funny MySpace Pictures @ Feb 14th 2007 4:07AM]

This is awesome! But when can we expect the REAL deal... the GoBots movie! :)

[Ed @ Feb 14th 2007 6:37AM]

VW wouldn't let them use their cars for the movie. They have a policy against having VW cars in war-related movies. It's because they don't want to be associated with WWII.

[James @ Feb 14th 2007 7:12AM]

I really wish they'd do a SoundWave! But I guess it's like someone said - tapes are a bit outdated, aren't they?!I'm sad now.

[Adam @ Feb 14th 2007 9:51AM]

Well yeah tapes are outdated, but PMP's with SD card expansion slots aren't!! Just turn Soundwave into an Archos 704 with an SD slot. Winner!

[strider_mt2k @ Feb 14th 2007 8:06AM]

I thought Optimus Prime died of Prostate Cancer?

[strider_mt2k @ Feb 14th 2007 8:07AM]

And I liked the VW Bumblebee better.

[Gordy @ Feb 14th 2007 9:41AM]

We all know why Bumblebee is a Camaro...um the new Camaro. Once again, marketing execs ruined the movie. Not feeling Prime either, but at least they progressed on the original concept in that case. I'll still watch, but I won't like it.

[X @ Feb 14th 2007 10:26AM]

I've seen the movie Soundwave.

Brace yourselves for some serious disappointment.

[Matt B @ Feb 14th 2007 10:42AM]

I too, felt immeasurable loss when Prime was killed. But that is what was great about the original movie, they cut the candy bar stuff out with a compelling story and total bot war.

[TK101 @ Feb 14th 2007 10:43AM]

Prime's original design was of a late 70's/early 80's cab design. They just don't make them like that anymore - hence the new design. Not saying I like it, just noting why they did it.

The fact the BB is not a VW makes NO FRICKIN' SENSE. Michael Bay should die in a fire.

[chris @ Feb 14th 2007 11:08AM]

I like the new designs. I liked the old ones. But Nostalgia is pretty damn lame if you let it really get to you like some of the comments imply. Get over it. Things change. Vehicles don't look anything like they did 23 years ago when I watched Transformers EVERY SINGLE DAY after school.

I didn't keep up with all the newer versions of the show (thought the more anime looking one I did see a few eps of a few years ago was a disappointment at best) but I know it went through various looks. And is that even counting Beast Wars and Beast Machines? (I loved those and they bore no resemblance to the originals).

A quick visit to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_Prime can show some various stages. If you want to complain, realize YOUR memories might be of a different prime than others. And for the record, I NEVER like the VW Beetle, so I don't care if Bumble Bee is now a redneck racer now or not.

I can't wait for the movie and I might even wear the Optimus Prime costume I made for Halloween last year to the premiere.

[Christian Martin @ Feb 14th 2007 12:17PM]

O NOES THAY ARE NOT JUST LIEK TEH ORIGINALZ.

If things stayed the same, we'd all still be using a cassette player to share Guns 'n Roses and Public Enemy tunes and waiting on our modems to load this page in ANSI glory.

As a TF fan since before G1, there have been lines and iterations I've been disappointed with , but never have I used the pathetic excuse that "it's not the same as before." Effing Luddites.

These things look awesome. Plain and simple. A lot of work obviously went into these and I'll be first in line to pick them up. Looking forward to more!

[Mez-Jr @ Feb 14th 2007 1:06PM]

@strider_mt2k:

dude robots cant get prostate cancer, but you can, so please have regular prostate checks.

[mitch @ Feb 14th 2007 9:19PM]

Optimus Prime is my hero :)

[ray @ Feb 14th 2007 10:49PM]

Seeing that new Bumblebee's face and head reminds me of Twiki from Buck Rogers

[Crillan @ Feb 20th 2007 11:53AM]

Isn't the whole idea of transformers that they adapt to whatever is around them? It wouldn't make any sense at all to have them modeled after older vehicles. When the arc reengergized all the transformers originally, it looked at what was common around Earth and adapted the robots to those forms.

I think the new models are awesome and the movie will probably be great and a lot of fun to watch. Looking forward to the toys some day when I can afford an $80 piece of plastic lol.