TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Okay, in order to explain what I just found out, I need to explain something first:

Every toy released by Hasbro has a "product code" number. That's usually a five-digit number these days, and it starts with an "8" for most Transformers toys (exclusive releases used to start with a "2" during earlier lines, and a few rare instances of exclusives toys start with a "1" these days.) This product code number is mostly used for internal purposes, since it's easier to give each toy a number and then refer to it by "83467" instead of "Transformers Animated Deluxe Class Bumblebee original deco" or somesuch. Also makes it a lot easier to file and look up in internal Hasbro computer databases.

When Hasbro intends to release more than one toy in a price class for a line (say, Animated Deluxes), they will also give the whole price class an "assortment number". Those are technically the same thing as a product code number (it's also often very close to the product codes of the individual toys in the assortment in numerical terms), only they don't refer to a single product, but to an entire product range. The assortment number will not change when Hasbro releases the next wave. So when Hasbro releases Animated Deluxe Class Bumbebee in June of 2008 and Animated Deluxe Class Blurr in September, both toys will have different product code numbers, but the same assortment number. The assortment number only changes when Hasbro launch a new line (so, for example, Movie Deluxes have a different assortment number than Animated Deluxes). On the other hand, Animated Deluxes also have different assortment numbers than Voyagers or Activators, since they're different price classes.

Redecos have different product code numbers than the original deco except for very very rare instances where Hasbro considers them a "running change" variant (odd exceptional case: non-US-market exclusive Movie Legends Class single packs wave 4, with minor-redeco Autobot Jazz and Recon Barricade having the same product code numbers as the original iterations of the mold, despite Barricade having a very different deco and even a slightly different NAME).

Multi-packs (which are often store exclusives) also have different product codes than the individual toys, regardless of whether the toys included are redecos or not. That has one practical reason: Hasbro doesn't think of the individual toys included in a multi-pack as "individual" products. The ENTIRE multi-pack IS the product.

Store exclusives are also generally treated as separate from the mass retail assortment. Thus, a Target exclusive redeco of Movie Deuxe Class Autobot Jazz has a different assortment number than the regular Movie Deluxe Class assortment, even though the packaging might have an identical shape and might even say "DELUXE CLASS".

Multi-packs and store exclusive redecos sometimes don't have an assortment number at all (when Hasbro has no intention to release more than one pack/redeco in that price range that is exclusive to the store in question). When they have an assortment number, it usually means that Hasbro at least intends to release more than one product in that price range (that will be exclusive to the same store again).

That being said, here's what I found:


This is the regular Animated Activators Bumblebee. Its product code number is 83618, whereas its assortment number is 83617, which is the regular Animated Activators assortment number.

This is the regular Animated Leader Class Megatron. Its product code number is 83637, whereas its assortment number is 83501, which is the regular Animated Leader Class assortment number.

In addition to these two, however, I found this mystery Activators Bumblebee, with the product code number 83885 and the assortment number 83886.

And then I found this mystery Leader Class Megatron, with the product code number 83887 and the assortment number 83886. The same one "mystery" Activators Bumblebee had.

A Leader Class toy sporting the same assortment number as an Activator? Odd.

But then I also found the instructions for "mystery" Activators Bumblebee listed under "Bulkhead", and the instructions for "mystery" Leader Megatron listed under "Starscream". And now this starts to make sense:

About a a month ago, we saw these packaged samples of Toys'R'Us exclusive "value" packs containing Leader Megatron with Activators Starscream and Leader Bulkhead with Activators Bumblebee.

Makes sense?



But that's not all:

This is the regular Animated Bumper Battlers Autobot Jazz that is going to be released soon. Its product code number is 83711.

This is the regular Animated Bumper Battlers Autobot Ratchet that's already out in stores. Its product code number is 83710.

Both have the same assortment number, 83504, which is the regular Animated Bumper Battlers assortment number.

This is another mystery listing for Bumper Battlers Autobot Jazz, with the product code number 83966 and the assortment number 83955.

Likewise, this is a mystery listing for Bumper Battlers Autobot Ratchet, with the product code number 83967 and the assortment number 83955 again (see "mystery" Jazz).

I also found the instructions for "mystery" Bumper Battlers Jazz listed under "Bulkhead", and the instructions for "mystery" Bumper Battlers Ratchet listed under "Optimus Prime".

So, analogous to what I concluded above, this probably means that there will be some kind of (probably store exclusive) Optimus Prime/Bumper Battlers Ratchet and Bulkhead/Bumper Battlers Jazz combos coming out soon.

But which Bulkhead, and which Optimus Prime? Can't be Leader Class Bulkhead, since there's no Leader Class Optimus Prime. Can't be Supreme Class Optimus Prime either, since there's no Supreme Class Bulkhead.

So that only leaves the Voyager versions.




Lastly, this is the regular Animated Supreme Class Roll Out Command Optimus Prime. His product code number is 83613, and the assortment number is 83612.

And this is a mystery Roll Out Command Optimus Prime, with the product code number 89449, and the assortment number 15213.

As explained above, assortment numbers starting with a "1" instead of an "8" usually mean "exclusive".

Yeah, I got no idea on that one.

its posts like this that make my girlfriend genuinly fear my fandom.

well done, sir! i salute your product-numbery goodness!

*head explodes out the side*

I don't know what's cooler. The fact you figured it out and made it make sense to me, or the fact that you just more or less broke the system. Congrats. You did the Transformer equivalent of dividing by zero.

So... resolving some of this.

Toys"R"Us exclusive Animated Leader Class Bulkhead with Activators Bumblebee and Leader Class Megatron with Activators Starscream are out.
See the other thread for those.

And the "special" Roll Out Command Optimus Prime appears to be a weird packaging variant that has been found both at BJ's Wholesale Club and at Costco.
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-new ... me-165805/
http://shop.bjs.com/Transformers-Animat ... ewprod.htm
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... eased.html
http://tformers.com/article.php?sid=10300

That still leaves the Bumper Battlers Autobot Ratchet and Autobot Jazz bonus packs (possibly with Voyager Optimus Prime and Bulkhead) unaccounted for.

According to the Hasbro Q&A at Ozformers:
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=2498

- Optimus Prime (Voyager) w/ Autobot Ratchet (BBat) (repacks) (US unknown) I think this has now changed to an assortment of Voyager Sunstorm w/Activator Ratchet and Voyager Shockwave w/Activator Bumblebee. We are looking to do this in 2009 but TBC.

A fan theory is that "Sunstorm" was actually a working name for Skywarp.

Now who's your favorite detective?

Well, it would be nice if the Sunstorm actually turns out to be Sunstorm, AKA the Suck-Up. Hasbro does have a very convenient excuse to repaint all three versions of Animated Starscream (Legends, Activators, and Voyager) several times.

i heard that if you add all the tf product code with assortment codes and divide by 13 it spells out primus in binary code

Holy crap Nevermore. +brain explodes+ how did you do that?

I Like the Seekers, though I haven't owned any Animated versions.

Will probably get the LoC version, as it resembles my favourite seeker-the generic one.

megatron103 wrote:i heard that if you add all the tf product code with assortment codes and divide by 13 it spells out primus in binary code

WOW, so that's why it takes so long to release new toys. Because they have to make sure the new product code doesn't scr*w up Primus. Yeah right. Id like to see the source of that.