Figure 8 - Transformers Animated
Mar 10th, 2010 | By Lee Rodriguez | Category: Columns, Figure 8The PoP! Stars give their take on the latest and greatest in Action Figures and Toy Lines in eight (succinct) parts.
I covered the overall Transformers Animated line in my Transformers retrospective last year, but with the recent release of Animated Arcee and Cybertronian Ratchet, the Animated toy line is in its death throes. Will we eventually see the Ironhide redeco? Rodimus Minor? I hope so, but in case we don’t, let’s take a look at some of the crown jewels of this spectacular toy series.
Deluxe Arcee - It only took 20 years or so, but we finally got an Arcee figure that’s a car. Why it took so long, I’ll never know, but she’s here now (and Toys R Us exclusive). Was she worth it? Hell yes. She’s got a slick transformation and a great robot mode that is just small enough to read as female without going comically small. Plus, she’s packing dual space baseball bats. Seriously, if you can find her, get her while you can. Demand and exclusivity mean this thing is going to cost you a fortune on eBay in a couple of months.
Voyager Optimus Prime - This, one of the newest Primes, was perhaps robbed of his spot on the list of all-time greatest Primes. He’s something of an engineering marvel, despite his simple appearance. The entire Animated line was heavy on large hinged sections that moved around to accommodate the unique design style from the show. As such, this ultra-articulated Optimus Prime is designed so that all four of his wheels end up on his ankles in robot mode. It’s simple, yet mind-blowing.
Voyager Shockwave - Four modes. This Shockwave has FOUR modes. That’s two robot modes and two alt modes. In the show, Shockwave had infiltrated the Autobot Elite Guard as Longarm Prime. To drive that point home, his figure pulls double-duty as two complete Transformers on both sides. He was eventually released as a Target exclusive with his “true” purple colors. As an odd bit of trivia, that exclusive was available for a meager $5 for about three days over the summer due to a glitch in Target’s pricing. Those were good days.
Leader Bulkhead - This Bulkhead cheats a little to make room for the unnecessary electronics in his head, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a damn fine figure. He’s got a great range of motion, he’s a good size, and he can even use the show-accurate kibble on his back as a chair (as seen on TV!). As a bonus, he comes packaged with the Headmaster. Headmaster can attach to any Leader class figure, but he changes the lights and sounds on Bulkhead. It’s a pretty nifty gimmick.
Leader Ultra Magnus - Oddly enough, Ultra Magnus is just NOW showing up on shelves in some places despite being released a year ago. Hard to find as he was, he’s a great figure. He’s hefty; he’s got a really unique transformation, especially with his shoulder design; and he’s loaded to the teeth with flip-out and pop-up weapons, making the Autobot high commander the most heavily-armed figure in the line.
Voyager Blitzwing - The Decepticons’ resident schizophrenic got his traditional triple-changer with a new twist. In addition to three forms, he also has three rotating faces just like the show. He pulls off the highly stylized design of all three modes with near perfection, giving collectors a multitude of display options and kids a super fun toy.
Deluxe Prowl - Prowl is a near-perfect figure. He has virtually zero kibble and has an amazing range of motion. Plus, he scores a symmetrical robot mode from a motorcycle alt mode and the wheels are practically invisible in his ‘bot mode. Hell, looking at Prowl, you’d almost never guess he even turns into anything. It’s THAT good.
Leader Megatron - The big bad has a big bad toy. Big gun? Check. Big sword? Check. Sweet transformation? Checkeroonie. He’s got it all. Megatron appropriately towers over Optimus Prime and is sleek as all get-out. After the disappointing Voyager-class Cybertronian mode figure, fans were very pleased with a proper despot to terrorize the good guys.
With so many great figures, it was hard to narrow down this list. What were some of your favorites? Pour out a forty for the line and pay your respects below.
We’re “supposed” to be seeing Rodimus Minor, Ironhide & Blackout sometime in the future.
And, Arcee has swords, not bats, lol. XP
It’s more fun if they’re bats.
I think I would have gone with the Target exclusive purple Shockwave over the normal blue, just because it’s awesome. Also, Samurai Prowl trumps normal Prowl in my book. Aside from that, I can’t argue with the list. I feel like Swoop should be in there, but honestly I wouldn’t know who to take off for him.
As an aside, I’m a bit annoyed with the paint job on both Ultra Magnus and Blitzwing. In the official pictures they both look to have lighter, almost white, colors on them but the toys are blue & light-brown, respectively.
This post just serves as a reminder to how annoyed I am that this line is all but dead. It was one of, if not, the best Transformers toy series’ ever. The only other line that gives me pause is Beast Wars, which was phenomenal as well. I’m sure that makes me some sort of Transformers heretic, putting BW and Animated above everything else.
@ Z-R0E - All versiaon of that Shockwave are pure win. Samurai Prowl, on the other hand, comes out to be a BIT too bulky for my taste when its predecessor is one of the most streamlined TF figures in the history of anything. It would be DAMNED hard to improve upon that kind of perfection.
Blitzwing’s color didn’t bother me TOO much, but UM’s were a bit weird. I’m considering painting mine, but going white on blue that dark would be a serious pain.
@ Joshua - Yeah, you would be a heretic… Were you not so completely right.
I love Leader Bulkhead, but I’d remove him for Swoop. Swoop is just so much win. I even bought an extra to have on my desk at work. #^_^#
Josh, I’m with Lee. You are not a heretic. It was not only one of, if not the best toyline, the same could be said for the cartoon. Anyone who thinks otherwise is.
I’m still pissed that I never grabbed a purple Shockwave. I was unconcerned with a “GeeWun repaint”, until SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! he turned purple at the end of Season 3. And I’m all about show-faithful. Plus, then, I could’ve had Longarm be a separate character on my shelves. *sigh* <:-(
Man… I wish I had a time machine so that “old Chris” could yell at you for disparaging other peoples’ opinions.
1) G1 launched it all and, while inferior by todays standards, was AMAZING at the time.
2) Beast Machines had some fantastic transformations and sweet designs, regardless of what you think of the show.
3) Animated’s anime style isn’t my favorite look for Transformers, but the toys DO indeed rock.
4) Beast Wars toys were ridiculous. Wave one was robots hiding under skin suits, and then the absurdity of Transmetals and Fuzors were flat out abysmal. I’d rather have Cybertron toys than Beast Wars toys.
While the TM2s were pretty damn hit or miss and most of the Fuzors were awful, I find the bulk of Beast Wars figures to be great toys. Animated may be the better series, simply because it’s more consistently good. While I’m not usually prone to anything that looks remotely like anime, I think the highly-stylized look of the Animated figures is what really sets them apart from other toy lines. They just look so damn striking on a shelf. Plus, the vehicle modes and the robot modes rarely, if ever, suffer for the sake of the transformation.
As for G1, I understand that for 1984 they were revolutionary but toy technology has come a long way in the last 26 years. I get that they’ll always have a special place in some peoples’ hearts (nostalgia tends to do that), but I’ll never understand the die-hard fans who think it’s the superior of all the toy lines. People who think diecast is better than plastic are fools.
Swoop is great, but he’s a little weirdly proportioned in dino mode, I think. The legs don’t quite work for me.
And the Beast Wars toys are pretty revolutionary. They introduced ball joints to the line and any sort of automorphing. For every generally weird toy, you had an equally great one. All the Primes, 2 of the 3 Megatrons, Inferno, Silverbolt and TM Tarantulas come to mind as great examples of BW toys done right. I could go on for days about those damn toys.
I look at it like this… as engineering and computer technologies advance, it stands to reason that the overall quality of toys will improve. A Transformers line released in 2050 DAMN WELL better be an improvement over the ones on shelves now. So to claim that Animated is better than G1 because the transformations are smoother etc is a poor man’s argument. It’s like saying a 2009 Honda Civic is the ebst car ever, over a ‘57 Chevy, because it has air conditioning and a CD player. Or, for that matter, looking at box office results that aren’t adjusted for things like inflation and IMAX.
I’m looking at the quality of the line overall, but I’m specifically gauging it against its time period. I’m not saying Transformers Animated isn’t GREAT, I’m just saying there’s a lot of equally impressive toys out there, these days (in my opinion) while G1 blew 90% of the competition away in its time. I’m not just going for the nostalgia nod.
G1 was revolutionary. Animated is an improvement on the old classic. I’ve GOT to give props to the trend setter in a case like this.
Now, look at something like the four He-Man lines over time. The first one wasn’t particularly revolutionary. The most recent improves on the original, but does nothing outside the box in relation to the current toy industry. The New Adventures of He-Man toys were fun, but again, nothing special. However, the Four Horsemen’s first stab at the Masters? That was art. They made Skeletor and Orko look badass by offering improved sculpts, they offered think chip technology that you were really only seeing in wrestling toys, and THEN they created the Staction Figure market. Sure, they’re less poseable than the new figs, but damn… they are EASILY the best.
:shrugs: But then, opinions are like dicks… everyone likes to whip theirs out and compare them.
All the primes?
As a kid who loved G1 Transformers and was stoked to have a new Transformers toy line, I didn’t buy a single Beast Wars toy, because so many of the main characters were just hiding under a bear skin rug. That spells fail in my book. Had I outgrown Transformers!?!? Nope, because when Beast Machines dropped, I was all over some of the better figures.
And, Joshua, I don’t care if some of the Transmetals or Fuzors looked okay, I hated so totally the very concepts behind them that I wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot pole.
That Optimal Optimus figure rocks hard. In fact, I ranked it here: http://panelsonpages.com/?p=6504
The original Optimus Primal is still one of the best Optimus toys ever. And Big Convoy from Beast Wars Neo is fucking amazing. He’s always been one of my favorite Transformers ever.
Optimal Optimus looks like Autobot X except without the amusing explanation as to why. It is in my book the single worst Transformer ever, and that’s including all the ones that don’t transform.
It’s Optimus Primal with Optimus Prime’s spark! It’s a recipe for awesomeness!
You didn’t see much of the Armada line, did you?
“Man… I wish I had a time machine so that “old Chris” could yell at you for disparaging other peoples’ opinions.”
Old Chris is wrong.
If someone doesn’t agree with my opinion, they’re wrong.
The internetz taught me that! ^_^
You’ve failed this class.
Well, at least you’re learning.
Ah, Tomer, my favorite teacher.
In truth, if someone does not share your opinion, of course they deserve all the respect in the world. “In my opinion”, it would be a boring planet if everybody liked & disliked the same things. Knize hates anime. That’s fine. I feel no differently towards him than I did before he stated that.
But anyone who throws around terms like “heretic” and “bad taste”, seriously (not in a joking manner), deserves two things: jack and shit. Just because I like something that they despise does not mean I have bad taste. So, in return, instead of whining & crying that “no one will respect me”, I’m going to “do unto others as they do unto me”. If I “have bad taste for liking something you don’t”, then you have bad taste for not liking it.
It’s only fair & logical that way.
Maybe it’s my bad memory, but I can’t remember ever being that vicious to you like New Chris is to others. You seem to take this whole negativity and “I’m right and you’re dead to me!” attitude too far, being worse than those “stupid fanboys” you used to complain about and paint as the worst creatures to ever walk the Internet. There’s a good reason why you’ve recently won the PoP! fanboy award, for better or worse (you are very enthusiast about the things you love and know everything to the tiniest detail, but are also too protective about your hobbies and offensive to those not sharing your love or opinion, mistaking it for “the way it should be”).
I know that this will fall on deaf ears and I have no meaning of hurting you with the above statement, just saying what’s on my mind, but I had to say it. Now… I know this is going to get bloody anyway…
Now, now. Play nice or you go into a timeout, everyone.
Seconded. Shake ‘em off, put ‘em away, zip up, and return to your respective corners.