Transformers Animated (toyline)

The Transformers Animated toy line merges the more expressive design style of the cartoon with extremely poseable robot forms (to a degree which seemed pleasantly surprising even to Hasbro). Unlike the franchises immediately before it, there is no overarching, line-wide gimmick (such as Mini-Cons or Cyber Planet Keys). Rather, transforming is the gimmick, and the toys have other special features unique and appropriate to the character (such as triple-changing or interchangeable tools). While the designs originated with Hasbro and the Cartoon Network team, TakaraTomy stepped up to the plate to engineer the toys. The line debuted on July 1, 2007, at Hasbro's Future Products panel at BotCon.

Hasbro, citing the strength of the movie toyline, postponed the official release of the Animated toyline to June 22, 2008 in the US. However, some toys began showing up at retailers in the Cincinnati area to coincide with BotCon, followed by wider releases in Canada in May and the U.S. shortly thereafter.

Toys
The core toys of this franchise are available at most of the traditional size classes.

Deluxe Class
Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4 Future waves
 * Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime
 * Bumblebee
 * Lockdown
 * Prowl
 * Blackarachnia
 * Autobot Ratchet
 * Autobot Jazz
 * Oil Slick
 * Snarl
 * Soundwave
 * Swoop
 * Elite Guard Bumblebee
 * Sentinel Prime
 * Blurr
 * Swindle
 * Sidecar Samurai Armor Prowl
 * Chainsaw Lockdown

Voyager Class
Wave 1 Wave 2
 * Bulkhead
 * Cybertron Mode Megatron
 * Starscream
 * Earth Mode Optimus Prime
 * Note: Even though Optimus Prime is officially released in wave 2 of the Voyager Class toys, he was found at US retail later than the wave 3 toys Grimlock and Lugnut.

Wave 3 Wave 4 Future waves
 * Grimlock
 * Lugnut
 * Blitzwing
 * Skywarp
 * Wreck-Gar
 * Jetfire & Jetstorm two-pack

Leader Class
Wave 1 Wave 2 (Still unreleased)
 * Bulkhead
 * Earth Mode Megatron
 * Ultra Magnus

Supreme Class
Wave 1
 * Roll-Out Command Optimus Prime

Multi-packs

 * Optimus Prime vs. Megatron The Battle Begins

Activators
The Activators subcategory consists of chunkier, simpler, Scout-class-sized toys with one-touch, spring-loaded transformations.

Wave 1 Wave 2 (Still unreleased) Wave 3 (Still unreleased)
 * Bulkhead
 * Bumblebee
 * Starscream
 * Lockdown
 * Optimus Prime
 * Autobot Ratchet
 * Patrol Bumblebee
 * Thundercracker

Bumper Battlers
An expansion on the Cyber Slammers subline from the 2007 live-action movie toys, Bumper Battlers feature "bump-and-transform" action. Hitting the front bumper causes the toy to change into robot mode, and pressing the toy's sigil activates sound effects and speech gimmicks.

Wave 1 Wave 2 (Still unreleased)
 * Bumblebee
 * Optimus Prime
 * Ratchet
 * Autobot Jazz
 * Bulkhead

McDonald's Happy Meal toys

 * Megatron
 * Optimus Prime
 * Bumblebee
 * Ratchet
 * Starscream
 * Lugnut

Others
Bumblebee will be available in a non-transforming "Animated Power Bots" version, in the style of the Cyber Stompin' Bumblebee and Optimus from the 2007 live-action movie.

Legends-class versions of the Animated characters Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Prowl will be released as part of the Universe toyline, rather than as part of Animated's own tie-in toyline.

Criticisms
Since the first wave of Animated toys were released, there have been multiple complaints of poor quality paint applications, sloppy paint applications, and very greasy ball and hinge joints. There are also complaints over certain breakage issues, such as Lockdown's wrists, and toy functionality being limited by support struts added to increase durability, such as with Voyager Megatron's cannon and Bumblebee's stingers being unable to position properly.

Most of these issues can be fixed.