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#10
Prime Bulkhead (First Edition Voyager, 2012) – Bulk Smash!
Voting Percentage: 26%
Average Ranking: 11.85
Transformers Prime was the second series after Transformers Animated where the toys came out quite a bit after the series had already started. In fact, there was a rumor for a time that there would not be any toys for Prime at all, though that turned out to be a fake, unsurprisingly. Still, we had to wait quite a bit before finally the so-called First Edition wave came out, a sort of prequel series to the actual toyline that would come out still later. It contained only a small number of characters from the core cast (Ratchet and Soundwave were the only ones missing from the initial line-up) and initially the toys were pretty hard to find. In fact the Voyager class toys never made it to the toy shelves at all apart from Japan, Canada and some parts of Asia. It was only later that Toys R’Us brought them out in bigger numbers, by which time many had already dished out the money for the more expensive import.
Much like with the Prime RID Vehicon, though, the money was well spent. First Edition Bulkhead is another fine example of excellent engineering. Given the animated character in the series, many figured it would be very, very hard to accurately portray him in toy form. But while TV Bulkhead naturally looks a bit more wholesome than the toy, the designers still did themselves proud here. The chest assembly of Bulkhead alone is a thing of beauty and the entire figure very faithfully brings the TV character to life. He also avoids the fate of his Animated Voyager-class predecessor, who had to invest so much of his mass into width, he ended up standing less tall than most Deluxe-class figures. Not First Edition Bulkhead. He’s tall, he’s broad, he’s everything the TV character is and a very nicely articulated toy to boot.
First Edition Bulkhead makes it into the Top 10 by a hair, edging out G1 Optimus Prime and his better average ranking by a slight lead in votes. But despite my childhood love for G1 Prime, I must say I’m glad this guy has made it into the Top 10. I may not be a big fan of the Prime TV series, but the First Edition toys – and especially this one right here – really deserve to be ranked among the top.
Honorable Mention: Almost every single one of the First Edition toys (except the Deluxe Optimus Prime and the NYCC exclusives) managed to snag some votes in this contest. Apart from Voyager Prime at 26, the others were ranked as follows:
- Cliffjumper (66)
- Starscream (85)
- Arcee (219)
- Terrorcon Clifjumper (392)
- Megatron (459)
- Bumblebee (494)
- Vehicon (495)
Voter Comments:
- Another engineering marvel and portraying a sympathetic character to boot. - MK
- Remember when the show came on and we all laughed about how impossible a toy would be? And then they go and make him perfect. - Warcry
- A very satisfying transformation and appropriately weighty build. - Anguirus
