Size class

Size class is how Hasbro determines the size and price of a toy. It also determines the amount of budget spent on the production of a Transformers toy, such as paint or electronics. The logic behind size classes is simple; retailers can order a case of toys, knowing exactly how much they will sell for and exactly how much shelf space they will occupy. All the Deluxes in a line have identically-sized packaging and cost the same price. When you run out of Deluxes, you order a new case and put them right back where they belong. This is incredibly convenient, especially compared to Generation 1, where the sizes and prices of figures varied widely.

Up until Generation 2, toys with a uniform gimmick were sold as their own distinct assortment, which often resulted in an assortment consisting of no more than four or six different toys. Since Autobots and Decepticons often had their own distinct gimmicks, this resulted in separate Autobot and Decepticon assortments. Starting with Beast Wars, however, Hasbro introduced uniform price points which continued as ongoing size class assortments throughout the line (although, in the case of longer lines, an assortment could occasionally be reset while still retaining the same size class name).

Size classes have not been consistent from line to line, with names often changing to affect marketability.

Beast Wars
Beast Wars had five size classes. From smallest to largest: Basic and Deluxe are sold on cards to this day; size classes larger than Deluxe were, and are, sold in boxes.
 * Basic, the cheapest at US$5.
 * Deluxe, at US$10.
 * Mega, at US$15. Toys of this size were often shelfwarmers.
 * Ultra, at US$20. Only six toys were sold at this price point.
 * Super, at US$30. This size class contained only one toy, Optimal Optimus.

Beast Machines
Beast Machines continued Beast Wars ' size classes, but increased the price of Basic to US$7. Supreme was introduced as a US$40 size class; Cheetor was the only Supreme in this line; a Supreme Optimus Primal toy was planned to be in this line, but was moved to Robots in Disguise. Two additional size classes, Deployers (US$5) and Beast Riders (US$10) would turn out to be short-lived. The size of Ultra toys was increased while maintaining the price.

Robots in Disguise
Robots in Disguise used the Beast Machines size classes, though the Basic price point was once again lowered to US$5. However, most of the toys at this price point were either Spychanger two-packs or redecoed Generation 1 combiner limbs, making them somewhat smaller and less intricate than previous lines' Basics (a notable exception is the recolor of Obsidian, which was sold for less than the original version). Robots in Disguise also had two Mega-priced multipacks of smaller figures (a trio of recolored Beast Machines Basics as Autobots, and the recolored Laser Cycles.

Robots in Disguise, it should also be noted, ran afoul of the differences between US and Japanese packaging policies. Namely, the members of Team Bullet Train were individually packaged as Megas, despite being smaller than the usual members of that size class, and the near-Basic-sized Wedge was sold as a Deluxe.

Armada
The Armada toyline renamed or repurposed all the existing price points:
 * Mini-Con, at US$6.50 replaced the Basic price point, with 3-packs of Mini-Cons.
 * Super-Con, at US$10 replaced the Deluxe.
 * Max-Con, at US$20 replaced the Ultra.
 * Giga-Con, at US$25 was a new price point.
 * Super-Base, at US$40 replaced Supreme.
 * "Unicron" became his own size class, at US$50.

The old US$15 Mega size class was effectively discontinued, taken up by role-play toys like Laserbeak.

Universe
The original Universe line used the Beast Wars size class designations, but only had Deluxe and Ultra (the latter at US$20). After the Universe line as such had effectively ended, repackaged Energon (and even later, Cybertron) toys were sold on Universe cards as discount chain exclusives, divided into the price points Basic (US$5) and Deluxe (US$8).

Alternators
The Alternators line was unique insofar as it only consisted of one single price point (US$20). This was owed to the uniform scale of the line at 1:24, as well as the fact that all the toys from the line were based on licensed vehicles. Some retailers actually listed the toys under the "Mega" price point, but this designation was never officially used by Hasbro. In fact, there was an official "Mega Alternators" assortment of sorts, which consisted of shrinkwrapped two-packs consisting of two individual toys (mostly limited to shelfwarmers such as Smokescreen, Side Swipe or Windcharger, available for the price of a single Alternators toy exclusive at Toys'R'Us. Hasbro later replaced the original mass retail Alternators assortment with a second one, which remained at the original one's price point. In the case of Alternators Optimus Prime, Hasbro reportedly accepted a loss in profit (since the toy was more expensive to produce than other Alternators toys) so they could still sell it at the US$20 price point.

Energon
Energon took a somewhat random approach to size-class naming. The second pack-in catalog introduced the size class range as
 * Energon (Basic), with the price back to $7
 * Combat (Deluxe).
 * Mega Combat (the old Ultra price point, aka "Max-Con" during Armada)
 * Commanders (the former "Giga-Con").
 * Leaders (the former "Super Base").
 * Unicron was given no size class.

The third catalog explicitly referred to the price points as
 * Energon Class
 * Combat Class
 * Mega Class
 * Command Class
 * Leaders Class
 * Omega Supreme was given no size class.

The fourth and final catalog continued using the terms originated by the third (although listed no price points for the combiners), but finally listed Omega Supreme as Supreme Class.

Cybertron
Cybertron changed the naming of some size classes, but retained others:
 * Legends of Cybertron, at US$3, with tiny Market six-aimed figures.
 * Mini-Con Class, at US$5 was added for the Mini-Con two-packs.
 * Scout Class, at US$7, formerly Energon Class.
 * Deluxe Class, at US$10, formerly Combat Class.
 * Voyager Class, at US$20, formerly Mega Class.
 * Ultra Class, at US$25, formerly Command Class.
 * Leader Class, dropping the plural "s" from the previous "Leaders Class".
 * Supreme Class, remained the same.

Classics
Classics kept the Deluxe and Voyager classes, renamed as
 * Legends, at US$4 - Legends of Cybertron repaints, raised $1 in price.
 * Mini-Con, at US$7, in three-packs again, replacing the Scout Class price point.
 * Classic Deluxe, at US$10.
 * Classic Voyager, at US$20.

Movie
Transformers, the toyline based on the 2007 live-action movie, retains many size classes from before:
 * Legends, at US$4.
 * Scout, at US$7.
 * Deluxe, at US$10.
 * Voyager, at US$20.
 * Leader, at US$40.

The Ultra and Supreme classes were dropped. The Scout Class, which consisted entirely of redecos of toys from the Energon and Cybertron toylines, was exclusively available at Target stores in the USA, but was sold at mass retail in Europe. Additionally, there were a gimmick-based sub-line named Fast Action Battlers, which also sold at US$10 (like the Deluxe Class toys), and a new US$90 figure sold as Ultimate Bumblebee.

Animated
The Transformers Animated toyline has the following confirmed size classes, as of February 2008:
 * Deluxe, at US$10.
 * Voyager, at US$20.
 * Leader, at US$40.
 * Supreme, at US$50.

Apparently, the Legends-style toys have been merged with the Fast Action Battlers concept from the movie toyline into the new Activators class, which will presumably sell at the former Scout price point.

Size class chart
Class names, organized by toy line and approximate price point: