You know, as I finish the year off, and engage in a bit of introspection, I’m realizing there may come a time when I have to back off of collecting a little bit. But if that ever happens, it’s going to be hard if every year of Transformers continues like this. For all the complaining fans do about price hikes, budgets, distribution, all that stuff, I really feel like Transformers as a hobby continues to be on an upward climb in quality, both in terms of how good each figure is, and in terms of what they’re making, with a lot of stuff aimed at Me, Specifically. The tail-end of Kingdom was great, and Legacy is even better this year, to say nothing of the great stuff Studio Series has been doing. So, let’s look back at 2022, and see what my personal top 15 things I picked up were (and if you’re interested, here’s my 2021 and 2020 best-of lists). This was a hard one to write, and there’s a lot of great stuff that I just didn’t have space to talk about here. Oh, and you can click through for my longform reviews of each. But before we get to the bots, first, this:
Best Non-Bot Release: Lego Ideas Sonic the Hedgehog
In his world.
This is my favorite non-Transformers toy I picked up this year, as much for the story behind it as the product itself. I spent the last few years slowly watching this fan-built project be designed, get chosen, and get officially produced, and it was a pleasure watching it become real.
It was also a pleasure making it real with me and my partner’s own hands.
As for the final release, I’m not much of a Lego guy, and only a casual Sonic guy, but the appeal of it was universal enough that I still managed to vibe with what it is. Building the whole shebang was a fun activity, and at the end of it, you get a nice little slice of video game level, complete with characters and enemies.
There’s something primally appealing about this.
It makes for a fun kind of self-contained ecosystem, plus it fits on your shelves nicely.
Sonic can be a chill guy, sometimes.
Anyway, onto the bots:
Honorable Mention: Premium Finish Deluxe Bumblebee
Be nice to him.
I’m well aware I’m just about the only guy out there that likes this figure.
The mold that has people like this.
I know about the tooling’s flaws, but the original version of it was, against all odds, a favorite of mine, warts and all. Bee makes for a cool-looking, if kibble-laden robot mode with a nice set of accessories, and a great-looking vehicle mode, with, granted, a ludicrously complicated transformation. But it’s one that, trust me, you too can learn to with no issues, I certainly did.
You can do this!
And this high-end repaint is the absolute best version out there. It’s an honorable mention, though, because, while I love it, I don’t think I’d recommend it in good conscience to anyone that doesn’t have my particular breed of weirdness about actually liking the core figure.
Things made for me, and only me.
Now, onto the REAL list.
No longer theoretical.
Sometimes all it takes to be a winner in my books is a well-executed figure of a character I like. I joined the Transformers Wiki Discord’s Comic Book Club this year (where we read a handful of issues, and gather each weekend to discuss them), and as a result, read all of the original Marvel Transformers Comics, which is where Skids first got his chance to shine as a character.
In search of cowgirls.
So, getting a new figure specifically based on his classic look hit differently as a result, and that’s before getting into the figure itself. Skids is a solid brick of a guy, feeling like he’s built to last, with two strong modes, and a fun group of accessories.
Plus he’s a good vehicle for Wacky Roadtrips ™.
Most importantly, he captures the character’s energy really well, and works just as well on my Lost Light shelf, as my G1 Autobots shelf.
Road Rage has a problem with it, though.
14. Studio Series 86 Voyager Wreck-Gar
*Unintelligible heavily-processed speech*
On the flip side, sometimes a great figure can redeem a character I’m not especially into. While I don’t hate them or anything, the Junkions were my least favorite part of the ‘86 movie, and I was planning to skip this release as a result, until buzz around him reached my ears. And, well, the hype was real.
Good for more than just re-enacting movie scenes.
Somehow, this guy feels like he takes the entire vibe of Floro Dery’s Transformers: The Movie art, and translates it into real space, in a figure that’s pleasantly chunky, yet incredibly poseable.
And an easy source of photos.
Plus, having a bike for figures to ride is always great, and he’s just the right size to accommodate lots of different riders.
He thinks people will like him better if he has a cool bike.
13. Kingdom/Legacy Voyager Blaster with Eject
A good father listens to his son talk about his special interest (sports).
This is another guy I got to fill a hole in my Transformers: The Movie display who turned out to go way harder than I was expecting. In an era of shrinking budgets, Blaster feels like an especially complete, well-engineered release, pleasant and chunky to handle, *and* they somehow managed to let him actually come with a fully-featured Cassettebot companion, while still selling him at the standard Voyager pricepoint, which just puts War for Cybertron Soundwave to shame.
Plus, this guy’s got the all-important Electro Scrambler.
I’ve heard reports from some that Eject’s clear plastic joints could crack in the future, but it hasn’t happened to me yet, so I’m going to go ahead and discount that potential problem.
Let the boy dance.
The star that shines twice as bright burns half as long, anyway.
The tinyness only makes him more charming.
12. Kingdom/Legacy Leader Galvatron
Beef Bot.
Galvatron’s an old release that I only got this year, though he’s got a Legacy variant without the battle damage on shelves right now, which makes it still feel appropriate. Leaders are expensive, so finding one that feels worth it is a particular challenge, and this guy fills that brief!
He’s got more going on than the non-trailer part of Rodimus Prime!
He’s a solid, dense mound of plastic, with a surprisingly ornate transformation, and a ton of accessories, really feeling like they used all of the budget to fill him out.
Come after his Stuff at your own risk.
Plus, he’s the first unquestionably good G1 Galvatron update ever, somehow.
The better to blast Starscream with.
11. Premium Finish Voyager Optimus Prime (Bumblebee ver.)
Hey look, he’s doing the Thing from the Scene.
The original release of this figure was great, but hard to find. This repaint puts him back in circulation, with better colors.
“Well, soldier, time to put billions of innocent neutral aliens into the line of fire.”
The inevitable Studio Series Rise of the Beasts Optimus Prime figure (his design’s pretty similar in the new film) will be hard-pressed to outdo this one for sheer presence, personality, and fun. He just gives off Good Optimus Prime vibes, and even if you’re not collecting Bumblebee movie stuff specifically, makes for a great all-purpose Optimus in general.
The only thing he’s missing is a trailer, but the Earthrise one can sub in pretty well.
Admittedly, if the original Studio Series version gets, say, a Buzzworthy Bumblebee reissue, as rumored, I’d say to go for that release instead, but right now, this is the best way to get a great tooling.
The worst way, for Starscream.
10. Shattered Glass Deluxe Flamewar with Fireglide
He tells her to burn things.
Sure, Flamewar’s expensive, especially if you’re Canadian, but they used the price tag to make her a bit more premium.
Just claim she intimidated you into buying her.
This Legacy Girl Bike tooling’s not perfect by any means, but they used it here to make a character I enjoy, from a comic I love, and rendered her very well with the inflated paint budget, plus they included a bonus Battle Master that really fits her character.
No matter the universe, this is her character.
What’s not to love? It’s enough to make me forget about the financial strain of importing her from Hasbro Pulse.
I’m sorry, I can’t see my bank statement, this sick guitar solo’s too loud.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Justice for Hauler!
This is how he got justice.
I didn’t just get him for the memes, though. Earthrise Grapple was already a good figure, pleasant to handle, with an entertainingly mundane construction-toy alternate mode, who just happened to have a critical design flaw (which lowered him to Honorable Mention on my 2020 list).
More like dishonorable mention.
This new version gives him a slightly more lush colorscheme, but more importantly, fixes that design problem. Even his weird screaming face grew on me over time.
AAAAAAAAwwwwmmm *crunch crunch*
His only flaw is a new instability in his vehicle mode, ironically caused by that design fix, but it can’t cancel out his fundamental good vibes.
And speaking of good vibes…
8. Generations Selects Deluxe Lift-Ticket
Just a friendly helper.
Speaking of good vibes, here’s another perfect little guy, repainted into an even more perfect figure via the addition of Hot Rod’s colors.
“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!!!!”
This figure feels like myself represented in plastic form, and just gives off a great sense of personality, especially as a non-combatant.
Unless there’s bugs around. Then it’s on like Diakron.
It’s one of those releases that isn’t flashy, but manages to have few-to-no flaws, and quietly pulls off its assignment really, really well.
Even when the assignment is “be a road.”
7. Kingdom Voyager Tigatron (and Golden Disc Collection Voyager Mutant Tigatron).
“I’m a pacifist, but,”
Another case of a figure being near-perfect.
Meditations on perfection.
The original Tigatron figure was a straight Cheetor repaint, but for this update, he gets his own extra-large tooling that bass-boosts the engineering of the already-good Kingdom Deluxe Cheetor figure to Voyager scale, adding a few extra nips, tucks, and flourishes to make it even better.
One of those flourishes is “has a girlfriend.”
He looks flawless in both modes, poses well, is fun to transform, and is a beast warrior who’s been under-represented for a long time.
Vanilla or orange?
I personally prefer the show-accurate version, but the Amazon-exclusive Mutant version has all the same strong points, he’s just orange, and has a different face, so pick whichever one you like best.
The white one’s got the better Bird Rider, though.
6. Studio Series Deluxe Brawn (Bumblebee ver.)
He’s gonna aim his gun carefully, and then just throw the knife.
The Bumblebee Movie Prologue releases in Studio Series were, overall, a surprisingly strong run of figures, and there’s probably an alternate version of this list that’s entirely them.
“I beat them all! Including quality-wise!”
This is one of the highlights of the line, though. It’s just a good Brawn, period, before even getting into the fact that it’s a good version of the guy from the movie, and if you like any iteration of the character, it’s a good modern update.
The cutest little buggy.
He makes for a cool-looking robot, comes with an inventive vehicle mode, and a great set of accessories.
“What’ve you got there?” “A KNIFE!” “NO!”
5. Kingdom/Legacy Core Soundwave
Pays for itself with photos like this.
It might not be at the top of this years list, but this is the one thing on here where I can confidently say everyone should own a copy, because he’s an incredibly well-executed, shrunken-down version of the familiar boxy tape-deck we all know and love, preserving his good points, and even coming with a tiny little cassette.
Every song on it sounds like the Chipmunks.
It’s hard to explain what makes him work, especially since the Kingdom and Legacy Core offerings have been so hit and miss, and are kind of pricey for what’s there, but somehow, everything fell into place on this particular release, and he does everything right, while fitting into the palm of your hand.
Only Swerve’s better, but you can buy Soundwave in stores right now.
And he just got a Legacy reissue, too, so he’s out there for you to grab, if you’re somehow missing one.
Don’t you want your troops to have a dance party?
4. Studio Series Deluxe Arcee (Bumblebee ver.)
Effortlessly cool.
Making a good G1 style Arcee figure seems to be a bit of a fixation for HasTak lately, and it’s something I’ve followed with great interest. This might not strictly be G1, but this is by far their strongest Arcee offering yet with those basic design cues, and it gets its strength from taking a great-looking, 90’s manga-esque design, giving it wonderful engineering and articulation, and a cool altmode.
Akira-sliding into her opponents.
Right now, this is my favorite Arcee, and the best thing to come out of the Studio Series Bumblebee figures.
Wonderful things came from a one-second cameo.
There’s nothing else to say, really, aside from it having the same energy as Brawn, where she aesthetically feels like she can go on almost any mainline shelf.
Including an IDW matchup.
Master of the 90’s squat.
It’s wild this guy exists as his own tooling to begin with. It’s even wilder that, in this era of hyper-cartoon-accuracy, they made a figure with a design that’s ripped right from the pages of Marvel’s Generation 2 comic, a kind of accuracy we don’t usually see.
The best use of Coronation Starscream’s chair.
Getting to read that comic this year, in all its grimdark edginess, has also given me a special appreciation for getting a Marvel shout-out in a mainline Transformers figure.
Even if he is just a Twisted Seeker.
But on top of that, someone was clearly a fan of the character, too, because this figure’s huge for a Voyager, and seems to have had extra effort put into his design and engineering, and it shows.
He holds his own against both G2 leaders, in more ways than one.
2. Legacy Leader Transmetal II Megatron
He’s mad he’s not number one.
Speaking of stuff where it’s wild it exists, this hits me right in the nostalgia, as a Beast Wars fan who owned the original.
He had to know this late in the show that Waspinator’s mostly a speedbump to his enemies.
Getting updates of late-series Beast Wars stuff is inherently miraculous, when you step back and think about it. But as for the figure itself, he exists in that Galvatron space of being a Leader-class figure that’s actually worth the price tag.
“Indubitably.”
He’s huge and sturdy, comes with two gorgeous-looking modes, and a ton of articulation, but most importantly, just has a great set of vibes.
And those vibes are “really good at camping.”
Full of good looks and charm, the whole package.
Okay, look. I love this, ok? I knew the second I saw the initial images that it was going to be on the list, but it surprised me just how much I loved the execution of this great concept once I had it in-hand.
There’s room in my heart for both of these, but the new one blew me away.
The original Hot Rod’s a G1 figure that I’ll actually cape for as a release that holds up in the modern era, as a good-feeling fidget-toy with a great-looking retro design, even with its lack of articulation.
They traded joints for vibes.
And HasTak could have just hue-shifted the reds of the original to pink, but instead, they made it even better with an entirely reworked deco, a new screen-accurate color scheme that really feels like it goes the extra mile to make the tooling look as good as it can possibly be.
Transformers. Jpg
This is peak Transformers to me. Great character, great figure, great colors, and a genuinely fun surprise. Even if you don’t collect G1 stuff, this is something you should track down, because it’s just plain fun.
They speak for themselves, and they say they’re the best.
One last recommendation: Get some Gundam Markers.
My weapons of choice. If you’re after specific colors, I believe the “GM” followed by a number is what designates each shade.
These were a great discovery this year, one that I need to recommend to everyone who collects Transformers, the same way a friend of mine recommended them to me. I’m a little bit obsessive about the paint on my Transformers, particularly when it comes chipped or scratched, and, even though I have zero customization skills, Gundam markers quickly became my idiot-proof way to easily fix minor QC problems. I got a silver one that specifically matches the kind of silver used on Transformers, and a multi-pack of a few colors that have either done perfect, or good-enough jobs at fixing multiple figures I’ve gotten this year. Flamewar and Retro Hot Rod, both of whom made this list, came with paint chips that I was able to just get rid of, and going forward, it’s great knowing I don’t have to worry about stuff like that on anything else I get. Plus, you can do a little bit of customization with them, like when I filled in the missing paint on Premium Finish Bumblebee’s forehead, the one bit of deco he was missing.
A touch of silver to the forehead adds a dash of sophistication.
The more challenging part was carefully swiping the marker along the ridge above the crest, so it got some silver, too.
It’s an investment that’s made the whole hobby more enjoyable.
And so has this group of excellent Transformers.
Well, that’s it for 2022, and I can’t wait for 2023. I’m going to get me an Inferno, a Tarn, some Mini-Dinobots, see Rise of the Beasts (I’m super executed for that), and whatever else is coming that I don’t even know about yet. Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and I’ll be back on January 9th to do it all over again. To everyone that’s read, and continues to read my ramblings, thank you for listening, and I hope you keep finding joy in this hobby.
I know I do.
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