Well, Series 1 was surprisingly fun - and there's a Series 2 of the new Transformers mini-series! No word yet on Series 2, though there will be a special Target-exclusive multipack in the near future. As a quick summary, these are small 2" Transformers with minimal paint apps and just enough articulation for a Transformation. There's something about them that makes them great handheld fidget toys, and they're surprisingly cheap. Also, if you look on the back of the bag, you will find a serial number, and a single letter that indicate which figure is inside. Series 2 is as follows:
A – Shockwave
B – Megatron
C – Berserker
D – Cogman
E – Bumblebee (identical to series 1)
F – Sqweeks
G – Chopter (repaint of Blackout from series 1)
H – Barricade
I – Optimus Prime (identical to series 1)
J – Starscream (repaint of Starscream from series 1)
N – Drift
P – Hot Rod
Yeah, they didn't even repaint Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. It's kind of a weird choice, and the two get another set of variants in the upcoming multipack. Also, it's odd that Shockwave doesn't have his own silvery repaint as Nitro Zeus, which would tie into The Last Knight - but hey, they're still great toys. So let's take a look! We'll start with Megatron, handle the repaints, and then look at the rest of the new guys, ending with Shockwave. Onward!
Megatron's new movie design is a tusk, smoothly-contoured knight, and e translated extremely well to a tiny size. Seriously, look at that. He looks like some sort of ancient pagan idol, ready to guard a tomb. The wings on the back of his arms stick out a bit, and the nose of the jet looks a little odd behind his head, but he honestly has less kibble than any of the car transformers in this set.
In jet form, Megatron is the biggest Tiny Turbo Changer, which is a pretty cool effect.
Megatron and Optimus Prime fit together reasonably well.
"Chopter" is a brand-new character, and the figure is a repaint of Blackout. Admittedly, this is kind of weird, though the figure at least looks nice in this color scheme.
As a helicopter, he has a painted windshield, which Blackout lacked.
Again, it's weird that they picked this guy for a repaint and didn't even name him after another helicopter Decepticon, but it looks decent enough.
Starscream's repaint isn't more movie-accurate, and again one must ask why they didn't call him Thundercracker or Skywarp. The new paint is nice on the eyes, and actually stands out a little more than the first figure's gray.
Starscream's got completely different paint deco work - instead of the pseudo-camouflage on the original, he's now got red stripes.
Again, it's nice, but there are a lot of questions behind the figure selection.
Hot Rod already didn't resemble his classic self, but this figure lacks even the red highlights he had in the movie, thus making him... Charred Rod. Ah, well, poor guy. He's probably the most "basic" in the set.
They skimped a lot on his paint.
Hot Rod and Bumblebee fit in well which each other, which fits their bash bros characterization in the film.
For a more colorful option, there's Drift. Drift looks pretty good in this tiny format, and he rounds out the three new Autobots from Age of Extinction. He also transform in the same way as Lockdown in series 1, as you have to pull his torso out. How does he look if you don't do that, you ask?
Hahahahaha!
As a red sports car, he seems to be missing a windshield - though it's that way so there is no paint over the hinge, one may surmise.
Cogman didn't change into a car in the movie, though all his toys turn hi into Sir Edmund BUrton's Aston Martin. It could be that his human-sized form was a headmaster to the car, which is how one of the toys is set up. You also transform him by pulling out his torso.
The car's hinge is really visible, too.
Rounding out the Autbots is Sqweeks, which is one of the best figures in either set! It's uniquely-shapd, its transformation is convincing, and it's just great! Look at those little feet.
The scooter form works great, as well. Good transformation method, too, with the wheels turning into feet and the body cmpletely folding in on itself.
The people who make the movies caught on that fans like Barricade and his constant survival, so he got a much-needed visual overhaul, and survived yet again. This figure looks surpriisngly like an ant, come to think of it. You can also see his brass knuckles, though without "PUNISH" and "ENSLAVE" written on them.
He really needed paint on those dome lights.
It's crazy. There are like five new Decepticons in the movie. Mohawk has no toys. Onslaught has no toys. Dreadbot has no toys. Nitro Zeus is going to get a new toy eventually. Berserker has like three or four toys... but has a grand total of six seconds onscreen. Crazy, isn't it? Thankfully, he looks great, wand this figure turns his Predator-esque details into something that looks a lot like a spider.
As an SUV, he actually has painted dome lights, and is slightly bigger and heavier than other car-based Tiny Turbo Changers.
And finally, we have Shockwave. With a unique body type, paint scheme, and articulation model, he looks fantastic in robot form. Of course, I may be biased, as I really liked Shockwave's movie design. They could have swapped one of the weird repints for a Nitro Zeus repaint, of course.
Unfortunately, Shockave's tank mode is the least convincing of all the vehicle forms int his line. The main issue is that he has no texturing on the souls of his feet, even though the instructions make it look like there is some detailing. Weird, as that small thing would have helped this form a lot.
Well, there you go. They're small and cheap, but they look surprisinly good, and they're a lot of fun to mess around with. Even with issues such as the illogical repaints, or Shockwave's tank mode, the toys are extremely fun - and isn't that what they should be? Here's hoping for a series 3!