Five figures have been announced for November 2026, all carrying the “40th Anniversary” label. They celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, the 1986 film. The same film that wiped out half the cast to sell a new line of toys.
A wave celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1986 film
Funko's catalog is explicit about all five figures. Each one carries the (40th Anniversary) suffix and the same description: « Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie by making this Autobot the next addition to your POP! Retro Toys lineup. »
The figures are therefore part of the Pop! Retro Toys line, which Funko uses for toys and franchises from the 1970s and 1980s, rather than the regular Transformers line. Since the movie was released in the United States on August 8, 1986, the anniversary will already have passed by a few months when the figures hit shelves.
Five Autobots are included: Optimus Prime #178, Grimlock #179, Prowl #180, Wheeljack #181 and Mirage #182. No Decepticons.
The great toy massacre of 1986
To understand exactly what this wave is celebrating, it helps to remember what that movie actually was.
The Transformers: The Movie killed Prowl, Brawn, Ironhide, Ratchet, Windcharger and Wheeljack in its first act, during the attack on Autobot City. Then it killed Optimus Prime after his fight with Megatron. All of this happened in an animated movie made for children and released in theaters.
The reason had very little to do with storytelling. Hasbro wanted to clear out the 1984 toy line to make room for the 1986 range, including Kup, Blurr and Rodimus Prime. Screenwriter Flint Dille summed it up bluntly years later: « It was a toy show. We were simply getting rid of the old product line. »
The reaction was not anticipated. Children left theaters in tears, Hasbro received enough complaint letters for the backlash to leave a lasting impression on the teams involved, and Dille has recalled stories of children shutting themselves in their rooms for several days. Forty years later, the death of Optimus Prime remains one of the defining childhood traumas associated with animated entertainment.
Three of the five figures die in the movie
This is where the wave gets interesting. Of the five Autobots chosen by Funko, three do not survive the movie they are commemorating.
- Optimus Prime – POP #178: the leader of the Autobots dies on screen in front of millions of children. At 14 cm tall, he is the largest of the five, around four centimeters taller than a standard POP.
- Prowl – POP #180: shot down during the attack on Autobot City in the opening minutes. 11.7 cm.
- Wheeljack – POP #181: killed during the same sequence. The Autobots' engineer, the one constantly building inventions throughout the series. 11.4 cm.
Forty years after being removed to make way for new toys, all three have become toys again. Funko obviously says nothing about that in its marketing, but that is essentially the story this wave tells.
Grimlock and Mirage, the two who make it out alive
- Grimlock – POP #179: the leader of the Dinobots, and the only one in the group not to appear among the movie's casualties. His broken speech pattern remains one of the most frequently imitated elements of the entire franchise. 11.2 cm.
- Mirage – POP #182: the spy capable of turning invisible, another character absent from the casualty list. 11.2 cm.
Choosing these two helps balance the wave. Without them, Funko would have released three figures of characters who die in the movie, which would have made the collection rather grim for a line of collectibles.
Sizes well above the standard format
One point buyers should pay attention to: none of these five figures is 10 cm tall, despite what several French product listings claim.
The official sizes range from 11.2 cm for Grimlock and Mirage to 14 cm for Optimus Prime, with Wheeljack at 11.4 cm and Prowl at 11.7 cm. That is consistent with the Retro Toys line, which allows for slightly larger formats, and it changes the way the set will look on display.
As for pricing, Optimus Prime is listed at €15.99 by the first French retailers, while Funko's US price is $14.99 for all five figures.
The wave forty-something collectors have been waiting for
Five Autobots from the original lineup, generous sizing, a Retro Toys range that fully embraces the vintage toy angle, and not a single exclusive or Chase to hunt down. Funko is clearly targeting collectors who saw the movie when it was released, or discovered it on VHS in the years that followed.
Optimus Prime is the obvious centerpiece because of his size and what he represents. But Prowl and Wheeljack are rarer in modern collectible lines, making them the two most likely to become harder to find six months from now. Release scheduled for November 2026.
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