A colleague of mine was walking past my desk years ago (back in the Before Times when I had a desk and colleagues who could wander by) when he stopped and took in my collection of Transformers littering my workspace.

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” he said sagely.

I chuckled and said, “Yeah, they keep making these and I keep buying them no matter what.”

“No, I mean enjoy them while you still care.” When I raised an eyebrow at him, he chuckled and continued. “Yeah, your 40s is when nostalgia hits you hard and you start accumulating crap. Then you turn 50 and you’re like, ‘Why am I holding on to all this junk?’ and you start getting rid of it all.”

Hasbro might have heard the same thing and is seeing the writing on the wall as their core fans – the ones they hooked 46 years ago – reach their fifth decade. If that’s the case, then it casts their Studio Series pivot to the 1986 Transformers: The Movie in an even clearer light.

Toys for the First Generation

Part of the reason for the shift is that, after creating figures of the handful of bots from 2018’s Bumblebee, there just aren’t any modern Transformers movie characters left that are toy-worthy (though they could have mined the three glorious minutes on Cybertron at the beginning of the Bumblebee film some more). But I think that it’s also the knowledge that its most dedicated fans, the ones who were hooked back in the mid-80s when they were around 10, might be growing tired of the never-ending collecting game as they slump into their fifth decade.

That’s especially evident in the mainline toy focus. Hasbro finally exhausted the last of the late-80s catalog characters with the Micromaster bases in the War for Cybertron: Earthrise line (though we still don’t have Monstructor). Kingdom shifts to capture the early 90s Beast Wars fans. The message is clear: these are the adult fans with money who Hasbro wants to capture. Now that they’re having kids, they’ll buy the toys that remind them of their childhood. And that childhood does not involve red and blue transforming Peterbilt trucks and yellow VW Beetles.

So it’s time to go out with a bang and squeeze the last bits they can out of the original Transformers fans.

Last year’s HasLab Unicron and this year’s Quintesson Pit of Judgement PulseCon exclusive both pointed toward a major focus on the pinnacle of our young fandom, the 1986 Transformers feature film.

That continues with the latest characters unveiled during Hasbro’s most recent Pulse Fan Friday. If you didn’t have a chance to catch it, you can see it here:

Studio Series 86 – Wave 1

Hot Rod, Kup, Grimlock, Jazz, Blurr, and Scourge are all perfect renditions of their onscreen animated counterparts, instead of using their original toys as the inspiration.

Heh. In yer face, Magnus.

Hot Rod comes with an impressive amount of accessories to re-create key moments in the film. He has his buzzsaw hand for battling the giant robo-squid on Quintesson and a glowing Matrix of Leadership to re-create the moment before his transformation into Rodimus Prime (his box backdrop lets you create a diorama of that exact scene). There is clever engineering previously only seen in Masterpiece-level toys, such as a hidden visor that pops out of his head and an arc-welder in his forearm.

…Did I ever tell you about this one time that a 40-something human paid twice as much for me as an adult as his parents did back when I first came out?

One glance at Kup’s head and you can tell that this is movie Kup and not toy Kup. He looks like the lumpy-faced old bot that has a million stories. He comes with his canteen of energon goodies, and his limbs detach so you can re-create the carnage of the robo-squid fight (which dominates his toy packaging backdrop).

Me Grimlock no toy! Me Grimlock 3D render!

Gone is the shiny gold and silver of toy Grimlock. Instead, you get animation cel-faithful yellow on his torso, with bright primary stripes on his shins. For a character that’s been created in toy form so many times, it’s striking to see how a deco like this can make it seem new. He comes with the biggest accessory of all, a semi-articulate “figure” of Wheelie. Wheelie is non-transforming and his legs are sculpted in a sitting position so he can ride Grimlock into combat or stand in a crouch. The pair will make the perfect addition to the Pit of Judgement display that Hasbro’s already provided the backdrop for.

Jazz. Blurr, and Scourge are the odd bots out, having not been a part of the scenes on Quintesson, but their figures gives us insight into what else we can expect from the Studio Series 86 line. (Hint, everything.)

I’m the bot that’s cool with everyone and every-OH MY GOD THE MOON IS EATING THE MOON

Jazz was there at the beginning of the movie so our young adolescent minds weren’t confused by the sudden appearance of all new characters (and also to get eaten so we knew the movie meant business). He’s faithful to his animation model rather than to the toy (i.e., no door “wings” over his shoulders). The focus is obviously on bot mode since his foreshortened hood, though screen accurate, makes for a car mode that looks a little squished. Still, his appearance in this first wave makes it clear that Hasbro isn’t just focusing on a single scene of the movie. Everything is on the table. I’m looking forward to getting more classic characters in this animation-faithful style.

Hi!You’llforgetmebeforeyouleavethetheater!

Blurr is… Blurr. Honestly, I forgot this figure existed until I went back to get pictures for the rest of the crew. His single shtick was that he was voiced by the fast-talking guy who did the Micro Machines commercials. He’s gotten several toys that have all looked extremely faithful to his original appearance. And as far as emotional attachment in regards to the Transformers movie… was he in even more than five minutes of the movie? The Junkions got more screen time. He’s also the only Studio Series 86 figure that isn’t yet sold out on HasbroPulse.com if that tells you anything.

Nails, flawless.

The sole Deception is the best rendition of Scourge we’ve ever had. The figure is accurate right down to his pointed, pink fingertips. He was one of the first preorders to sell out on Hasbro Pulse, most likely because it wasn’t just Scourge but “Scourge and his Sweeps” that Unicron created. So collectors need one Scourge to menace with his perfect manicure and another one or two figures behind him to back him up in space-boat mode.

I’m not sure if we’ll see Galvatron and Cyclonus in Studio Series 86 since they’re both getting Kingdom toys (well, Cyclonus definitely is; Galvatron is just a rumor based on Kingdom box art). That’s a shame, though, because I’d love to see Galvatron, especially, in animation-faithful form to go with Scourge.

Proceed on Your Way to the Toy Aisle

It’s a fantastic showing for Hasbro’s return to the classics in the Studio Series 86 line, and it’s got me excited for what’s next. Could we see Sludge and Slag (who flanked Grimlock as he stormed the Pit)? Will we get Springer and Arcee to complete the awkward love triangle between them and Hot Rod? Will we get Ultra Magnus with an “Open, damnit. Open!” sound clip?

Hopefully the answer is “yes.” After all, if Hasbro is going to lean this hard into giving their adult fans a swan song on their collections, they might as well go all in. Especially with Unicron finally showing up on collector’s doorsteps sometime in the next year to anchor a 1986 movie display, we’ll be seeing a lot more Studio Series 86 figures soon.