Places 30 to 25

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#30

G1 Shockwave (1985) – The Logical Choice!
Voting Percentage: 14%
Average Ranking: 10.29

The big purple cyclops snuck into the Top 30 by a very narrow margin, only just inching past Masterpiece MP-12 Lambor / Sideswipe by a slightly better average ranking. But it’s only logical, is it not? Shockwave is one of the most enduring characters in the entire franchise and his original toy incarnation from 1985 has never really been improved upon. Shockwave was originally released by ToyCo under the name “Astro Magnum” in grey colors, later to be reused by the retail chain Radioshaq, where he was sold as “Galactic Man”. He was also one of the – if not the – first Transformer released in 1985 as part of the second wave.

Shockwave contains electronics for light-up and sound action and transforms into a futuristic laser gun in 1:1 size, meaning he was perfect for kids of the 80s to hold in hand and run through the house shooting imaginary enemies. So bottom line: Shockwave belongs in the Top 30. It’s only logical.

Comments from our voters:

Hands down, my favorite Decepticon toy of all-time! Large, imposing robot mode, light-up features and a very fun raygun mode. - Sciflyer
Classic, monstrous form. Alien and threatening. Never quite beaten. - Terome

#29

Masterpiece MP-17 Prowl (2013) – The other Logical Choice!
Voting Percentage: 18%
Average Ranking: 14.67

And we have our first figure from the Masterpiece line in our top 30 (I don’t think I’m spoiling things for anybody by mentioning that it won’t be the last). Now I don’t personally own Masterpiece Prowl, so I can’t really say much about the toy as such. I do know that he looks fabulous on the many pics I’ve seen and many have described him as a great update of the G1 toy and the definite car-former.

Much like in G1 days this Masterpiece mold has also been used to create (Blue)Streak and Smokescreen. In fact, those two versions of the mold have also received quite a few votes, coming in at rank 39 and 174 respectively. If everyone who had voted for Streak and Smokescreen had given their votes to Prowl, he’d have come in as number 8 instead of 29. Still, a place in the top 30 for this excellent Masterpiece figure.

Comments from our voters:

My all-time favorite G1 toy gets a fantastic update! Prowl, the one that started it all for me, has a great head sculpt, plenty of articulation, and looks exactly like I wanted him to look! -Sciflyer
Definitive car-former! - Anguirus
I love G1! - Black Zarak
What goes around comes around... one of the most iconic of the original Transformers, with a stylish vehicle mode… and now with a matching robot mode! - Hotmissile

#28

ROTF RA-24 Buster Optimus Prime (2009) – Give me your, eh, vote!
Voting Percentage: 12%
Average Rank: 6.33

Buster Optimus Prime, who started out as the ROTF Leader-class Optimus Prime before he was pimped up by Takara with an extra gun and lots of chrome, is our first statistical anomaly. He received fewer votes than either G1 Shockwave or MP Prowl. In fact, if we were going by vote alone he wouldn’t have made it into the top 30 at all, lounging around at number 44. But everyone who did vote for him placed him at a pretty high rank, which allowed him to rise past quite a few others who had more votes and into the top 30 as our first representative of the Movie toylines, as well as our first Optimus Prime toy (and again, I don’t think I’m spoiling this for anybody by mentioning he is not the last Optimus, either).

Buster Optimus Prime is another toy I don’t personally have and sadly none of the people who voted for him gave me any memorable quotes for him, either. So... yeah! Buster Optimus Prime. With face-cutting blades, shiny chrome, a mouth, and a big gas-tank-blaster for killing’em all! Your number 28.

#27

G2 Laser Optimus Prime (1995) – Best Prime of the 90s!
Voting Percentage: 18%
Average Rank: 14.33

Only one toy from Generation 2 has made it into our top 30 countdown and, unsurprisingly, it’s an Optimus Prime toy. And what a toy it is. When I first got and reviewed this toy I called it the greatest Optimus Prime of the 20th century and I still stand behind that statement. In a time when Transformers were only just beginning to become articulated in any meaningful way, G2 Laser Prime was a contortionist, who still managed to look cool and incorporates so many play features, it boggles the mind. Electronics that light up his gun and big sword (he was an Optimus who carried a sword before it was cool), a fully convertible trailer battle station with lots of missile and disk launchers, and a transformation that was as easy as it was fun.

Need more proof that this was a great figure? Five years after G2 was over Car Robots brought it back in black as Black Convoy, later called Scourge in the RID series (he only made it to rank 71, sorry), basically paving the way for every Nemesis Prime / Black Convoy to come. So while the G2 toyline as a whole might not exactly have been Transformers’ greatest moment, this toy fully deserves a spot among the top.

Comments from our voters:

A toy so mindblowing it has trascended its era in many redecoes - Rafael
The coolest looking Optimus toy of the 90s! Very nice robot mode, awesome truck/tanker mode, and the playability of his base mode was so fun! - Sciflyer
Still one of the most fun Optims Primes. - Exatron
Like G1... but better! An impressive, articulated Optimus, with beefed up robot *and* vehicle modes, battle station to interact with your Go-Bots and launching missiles! - Hotmissile

#26

Prime First Edition Optimus Prime (Voyager, 2011) – Greatest Prime-Prime!
Voting Percentage: 18%
Average Rank: 14.11

Man, we’re only at number 26 and this is already our third Optimus Prime toy. Edging past G2 Laser Prime by a very, very slightly better average ranking, Transformers Prime First Edition Voyager Optimus Prime (try saying this one three times fast) is the best Prime of Prime, or Prime-Prime. The Optimal Prime-Prime, so to speak. Or maybe the... nah, enough on that. Anyway, the First Edition toys were very hard to find (at first), the Voyager-class figures even more so, causing quite a few people to import them at high prices.

But we did get quite a bit for our money. A big, beefy Optimus Prime with a swimmer’s figure, a huge blaster, a cool sword, and a very streamlined version of that classic Optimus look we all love and adore (I got the numbers to prove it). The Prime toyline saw quite a few Optimus Prime toys later on (Beast Hunters Voyager Optimus came in at 154 and the Prime RID Voyager at 322), but this one here is – to me – the best of them all. The Primary Prime-Prime. The… okay, I’m done.

Honorable Mention: Prime First Edition Dark Guard Optimus Prime, the black repaint of this figure (strangely: not a Decepticon), who came in at number 242.