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in: Toys, Universe (2003)

Universe (2003 toyline)

Revision as of 11:44, 14 August 2008 by Nevermore (Message Wall | contribs) (→‎Cancellation and continuation)
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The original Universe toyline, launched in 2003, was originally conceived as a line entirely made up of redecos (and occasionally retools) of toys from older lines.

Even though the line was effectively cancelled in its original form after a little more than a year, it still continued in other forms (such as rebranded toys from older lines) for nearly three more years, coupled with the odd delayed release from its original run.

The current Universe line launched in 2008 shares its name with the old line, but has a different underlying concept.

History and overview

Precursors

The Universe line was, in a way, a continuation of the extended Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]] line, which also consisted of redecos of toys form older lines, most of which were avalavle as store exclusives.

The Wal-Mart exclusive Dinobots mini-line that was available concurrently with the Armada line was also a precursor of the Universe line in some ways.

Lastly, the name of the line originated with the BotCon 2002 exclusive toys, which were branded with the title Expanded Universe.

Initial conception and original run

The Universe line was originally intended to run concurrently with the main Energon line and the Alternators and Commemorative Series lines and consisted of the mass retail price points "Deluxe" ($10USD) and "Ultra" ($20USD). In addition, an unusually huge number of store exclusives single toys and multi-packs (often with additional Mini-Cons or Mini-Con teams) was released as well. Some of those multi-packs were even available at lower prices than the original releases of those molds combined. The OTFCC 2003 and 2004 exclusives were also branded "Universe".

The molds used for the Universe line spanned from as far back as late-Generation 1 to the most recent lines. Molds from Beast Machines and Armada were particularly common in the line. Some molds that had previously only been available in Japan (such as Big Convoy or the Micromaster Sixcombiner teams) were also made available to Hasbro's target audience for the first time that way.

The first wave of toys came with a pack-in CD-ROM featuring related stories and games.

The line was officially only available on the American market, although some toys (the aforementioned Micromasters, in particular) were released in some European countries in Energon and Cybertron packaging, coupled with a few American imports (such as the Battle in a Box sets) that were sold by online retailers and specialty stores.

Cancellation and continuation

The Universe line effectively died as a mass retail line when Wal-Mart decided to dicontinue the Ultra Class assortment in late 2004 due to low sales. Earlier that year, Wal-Mart had already stocked half a dozen of exclusive Universe toys, which had also ended up as shelfwarmers. The Deluxe assortment was cancelled by Hasbro shortly afterwards.

Incredibly enough, the Universe line was still continued for nearly four more years (!) following that, but now only in the form of rebranded toys from more recent lines such as Energon, Cybertron and Classics, with no redecos whatsoever. Those toys were mostly available from liquidator stores such as Dollar General, Family Dollar or Tuesday Morning. Even a new mold, which was available as a Chevrolet online store exclusive in 2008, used the old Universe logo in its instruction sheet.

Hasbro ultimately launched a "new" Universe line in 2008. The widely accepted way to distinct between toys from the two lines is the different logo. The old Universe logo was last used for Swerve, the aforementioned Chevrolet exclusive.

Universe toys

The redeco line (2003 - 2006)

Tiny Tins (mass retail)

Wave 1

Note: An odd exception to the "redeco" rule of the early Universe line, these three Mini-Cons, released individually with additional Tiny Tins, were unchanged from their original releases as part of the Armada Race Mini-Con Team.

Deluxes (mass retail)

Wave 1

Wave 2

Wave 3

Wave 4

Wave 5

Wave 6

Wave 7

Wave 8

Wave 9

Ultras (mass retail)

Wave 1

Wave 1.5

Wave 2

Wave 2.5

Wave 3

Wave 3.5

Note: A fully-fledged fourth mass retail wave was planned; but ultimately the new toys that would have been included with it ended up as Target exclusives.

KB Toys exclusive Micromasters

Series I (Protectobots)

Note: The Protectobots were also available as non-exclusive releases on Energon cards in Europe.

Series II (Constructicons)

Note: The Constructicons were also available as non-exclusive releases on Energon cards in Europe.

Series III (Railbots)

Note: The Railbots were also available as non-exclusive releases on Cybertron cards in Europe, even before the US versions came out.

Series IV (Aerialbots)

Note: The Aerialbots were also available as non-exclusive releases on Cybertron cards in Europe, even before the US versions came out.

Other store exclusives

KB Toys exclusives

Note: The packaging for these two toys was odd insofar as it featured Cybertron-specific logos and other design elements. In addition, the assortment number (27271) was identical to that of the KB Toys exclusive Energon redecos of Armada Demolishor and Cyclonus, which were released a year earlier, a rare instance where an assortment number was carried over from one toyline to another one.

KMart exclusives

"Market Six" exclusives

Note: These two-packs were available from stores such as Kohl's, Meijer, Menards and ShopKo. A third two-pack was also planned, but ultimately never released.

Sam's Club exclusives

Target exclusives

Note: The three two-packs above were originally planned to be released as wave 4 of the Universe Ultra assortment. However, when Wal*Mart decided to cancel the Universe Ultra assortment, the toys - which had already been produced by that point - were put on hold, and were ultimately released as Target exclusives more than a year later than originally intended.

Toys"R"Us exclusives

Wal-Mart exclusives

OTFCC exclusives

OTFCC 2003

OTFCC 2004

Note: Only Megazarak was actually available at the convention itself. Sentinel Maximus was delayed and was later shipped out by Hasbro themselves following the bankruptcy of 3H Enterprises.

Rebranding and other odds and ends (2005 - 2008)

Spy Changers

Wave 1

Note: These Spy Changers, found at Dollar General and Family Dollar stores, were unchanged from the "G1" Spy Changers exclusively available from KB toys a year earlier. The only change was the packaging.

Wave 2

Note: The second wave, found at Family Dollar and Roses stores, mixed Optimus Prime, Prowl and Autobot Jazz from the first wave with the new additions Autobot Camshaft, Hoist and Mirage... which were unchanged from the second version of the KB Toys exclusive clear redecos of the Robots in Disguise Spy Changers W.A.R.S., Ironhide and Mirage, respectively, other than the packaging.

Basics

Wave 1

Note: These "Basics", which were found at Family Dollar, Dollar General and Ocean State Job Lot stores, were all unchanged from the Energon Energon Class toys of the same names other than the packaging, with the exception of "Strong Arm", who was renamed (sorta) from the "Energon Strongarm" redeco from the Energon line, but otherwise unchanged as well. Windrazor's packaging omitted all references to his combiner abilities.

Wave 2

Note: These "Basics", which were found at Dollar General stores, were all unchanged from the Energon Energon Class toys of the same names other than the packaging. Terradive, Treadshot and Wideload's packaging all omitted any references to their combiner abilities.

Wave 3

Note: These "Basics", which were found at Dollar General stores, were all unchanged from the Cybertron Scout Class toys of the same names other than the packaging.

Deluxes

Wave 1

Note: These Deluxes, which were found at Big Lots, Tuesday Morning and KB Toys stores, were all unchanged from the Energon Combat Class toys of the same names other than the packaging. Storm Jet, Barricade and Steamhammer's packaging all omitted any references to their combiner abilities.

Multi-packs

Wal*Mart exclusives

Note: The toys in these two-packs were unchanged from the Cybertron Deluxe Class toys of the same names.

Other

Note: The toys in this two-pack, originally found at Dollar General stores and later also at KB Toys stores, were unchanged from the two-pack of the same name originally released as part of the Classics line other than the packaging.

New molds

Chevrolet Store exclusive

Unreleased toys

In early 2004, a large number of stolen samples of toys intended for the Universe line appeared on eBay. Even though none of those toys were ultimately released, all of them were later officially revealed by Hasbro one way or another. Also, many of them later did see a release through other outlets than originally intended:

  • Redecos of the Armada Max-Cons Hot Shot and Wheeljack as Generation 1 Smokescreen and Generation 2 Drench (but as a Decepticon like "Euro" Drench), respecrively, including their respective Mini-Con partners Jolt and Wind Sheer. These were confirmed by Hasbro as an intended third Battle in a Box two-pack that would have been available from the same stores as the Smokescreen/Ransack and Ultra Magnus/Treadshot two-packs. While the "Smokescreen" redeco of the Hot Shot mold still hasn't seen a release, the "Drench" redeco of the Wheeljack mold was later released - with slight modifications - by the Transformers Collectors' Club as the BotCon 2008 exclusive "Shattered Glass" Sideswipe toy.
  • A redeco of the Armada Giga-Con Jetfire, including redecos of his Mini-Con companion Comettor and the Space Mini-Con Team (Astroscope, Sky Blast and Payload). A listing found in a Toys"RUs computer confirmed this as an intended TRU exclusive named "Spacewarp", which was ultimately never released. However, the Transformers Collectors' Club later released the toy in a slightly modified version of this deco, sporting a new head sculpt, as Astrotrain. While the Comettor redeco (named Starcatcher) was included, the Space Team redecos were replaced by redecos of the Cybertron Giant Planet Mini-Con Team.
  • Redecos of the Beast Wars Deluxe toys Cheetor, Tarantulas/Blackarachnia, Transmetal Waspinator and Mutant Soundwave. More than two years later, an odd checklist update on Hasbro's public Transformers website (which was "fixed" days later) revealed what appeared to be the indended names for those toys... as well as their intended purpose: Leatherhide (Soundwave) vs. Blackarachnia and Nightprowler (Cheetor) vs. Waspinator were apparently indended to be two Wal*Mart exclusive "Halloween Horrorcon" two-packs. While the Cheetor and Tarantulas/Blackarachnia molds were later used again as part of the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary and Beast Wars Telemocha lines, none of these specific decos have been officially released thus far.
  • Redecos of the Generation 1 Seacons that were supposed to be available as a Wal-Mart exclusive giftset, named "Piranhacons", with the combined form named "Piranhaking". Even though the aforementioned checklist on Hasbro's public website confirmed them as having been intended for the Universe line, Hasbro themselves stated at OTFCC 2004 that Wal-Mart had asked them to release them under the Energon banner instead. Either way, Wal-Mart later decided to back out of the deal. Instead, the Seacons (now under their original Genartion 1 names again) are going to be available via the Transformers Collectors' Club in 2008.
  • In addition, a Chinese distributor list leaked to the internet in 2004 contained the names of four more toys listed under the mass retail Deluxe assortment, namely "Sonar", "Optimus Primal", "Optimus Minor" and "Thrustor". It's unclear whether there were ever any concrete plans behind those names, or whether they were merely placeholder names.

Trivia

  • The Grimlock & Swoop/Mega-Dinobot combiner was originally intended for the Universe line, which would have made it the first newly created mold(s) be initially released as part of the line. However, Hasbro ultimately decided to release it as a two-pack in the Energon line instead. As a consequence, Chevrolet Swerve was the first (and only) new mold to be released under the original Universe banner... in 2008, shortly before the second Universe line was launched.

See also

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