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, HasKen 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).

The intended class of a toy is relevant to all phases of its design process. To sell at a given price, there are tight formulas for how much plastic can be used, how many paint applications are allowed, whether electronics can be included, and how complex the transformation and articulation can be. Further, since a size class is literally a size class, toys are limited in their measurements, so that they will fit into the same size packaging as other toys in their class. (As an example, the Voyager Lugnut toy, in robot mode, is very short compared to other toys in his class. This may be because he transforms into a mostly-linear plane, with his weapon added on as a tail assembly, making him even longer. Most Transformers are packaged in their altmode. Regardless of whether there was room in the budget for more plastic, there may not have been room in a Voyager-sized box for him to be any bigger.)

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, 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 eight toys were sold at this price point.
• Super, at US$30. This size class contained only one toy, Optimal Optimus.

Basic and Deluxe are sold on cards to this day; size classes larger than Deluxe were, and are, sold in boxes.

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.

Several of the line's toys ran afoul of the differences between US and Japanese packaging policies. The Team Bullet Train toys were individually packaged as Megas, despite being smaller than the usual members of that size class. 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.
• Super-Base, at US$40 replaced Super, but used the Supreme price point.
• "Unicron" was in his own class using the Supreme size, at US$50.

The old US$15 price, previously used by the Mega size class, was effectively discontinued, taken up by role-play toys like the Star Saber and the Dark Saber.

Universe (2003)

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 exclusively 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 smaller profit margin (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 US$7
• Combat (Deluxe) - US$10.
• Mega Combat (the former "Max-Con") - US$20.
• Commanders (the former "Giga-Con") - US$25.
• Leaders (the former "Super Base") - US$40.
• Unicron was given no size class - US$50.

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 Class, at US$4.
• Scout Class, at US$7.
• Deluxe Class, at US$10.
• Voyager Class, at US$20.
• Ultra Class, at US$25. (Consisted of two Toys "R" Us exclusive Cybertron redecoes.)
• Leader Class, at US$40.

The Supreme class was 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 and Canada. 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

Thus far, the Transformers Animated toyline has the following size classes:

• Deluxe Class, at US$10.
• Voyager Class, at US$20.
• Leader Class, at US$40.
• Supreme Class, at US$50.

In addition, Hasbro introcuded a new gimmick-based size class named Activators, which sells at US$8 and more or less replaces the Fast Action Battlers from the movie toyline. Legends Class toys of the Animated cast are released as part of the Universe toyline instead.

Universe (2008)

The 2008 Transformers Universe toyline has the following confirmed size classes:

• Legends Class, at US$4.
• Deluxe Class, at US$10.
• Voyager Class, at US$20.
• Ultra Class, at US$25.

Size class chart

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

Price	BW	BM	RiD	Armada	Energon		Cybertron	Classics	Movie	Animated	Universe
$3							Legends of Cybertron
$4								Legends	Legends Class
$5	Basic		Basic				Mini-Cons Class
$7		Basic		Mini-Con	Basic	Energon Class	Scout Class	Mini-Con	Scout Class
$10	Deluxe	Deluxe	Deluxe	Super-Con	Combat	Combat Class	Deluxe Class	Classic Deluxe	Deluxe Class
$15	Mega	Mega	Mega
$20	Ultra	Ultra	Ultra	Max-Con	Mega Combat	Mega Class	Voyager Class	Classic Voyager	Voyager Class
$25				Giga-Con	Commanders	Command Class	Ultra Class		Ultra Class
$30	Super	Super	Super
$40		Supreme	Supreme	Super-Base	Leaders	Leaders Class	Leader Class		Leader Class
$50						Supreme Class	Supreme Class
$90									Ultimate Class