Top 5 Best Non Screen Accurate Transformers Toys

Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.


Top 5 Best Non Screen/Show Accurate Transformers Toys

The idea of owning a part of what you are a fan of is integral to the idea of collecting action figures. And of course, it is important for the object representing what we love to be as faithful as possible. I do remember being disappointed as a kid with the mutant heads on Beast Wars toys so much that I would remove them on Megatron and Dinobot, so even for kids accuracy to a show or movie can be important. However, there are some toys which are still pretty awesome even though they may have major inaccuracies and we will look at the best examples now.


5. Transformers Beast Wars Metals Tigerhawk (Tigerfalcon)

There was very little discrepancy between show models and toys for Beast Wars after the first season, which was great for kids. Tigerhawk was a glaring exception though. It’s not that the differences are numerous but more that they are very obvious and in your face. With this character being a combination of Tigertron and Airrazor, I understand the toy designers wanting to integrate both the alt mode heads in the alt mode, with a hawk battle mask going over the organic tiger head making Tigerhawk look a lot like one of those He Man battle cat toys. That was probably too goofy for the show, which ignored this and gave Tigerhawk a more streamlined look of a flying mechanical tiger with no Hawk head. It definitely makes the toy look way off compared to the show model, but it doesn’t stop the toy from being awesome and having excellent play value. I really like those wing missiles.






4. Transformers Beast Machines Tankor

Beast Machines will always be one of the oddest eras of Transformers with a show that people are still split on, on show transformations that were closer to morphing than changing parts, and a toyline that looked very different from the show with no sense of scale. Case in point, the toy which looks the most like the Tankor we see on the show is a small unimposing tank drone. We do have a bigger Tankor toy (called Tankor) in the toyline and while it does not look like the show it is one of my favourite toys. Especially with being even more complex than the animation shows him to be by having one head/cockpit for each of his modes.






3. Transformers Beast Wars Tripredacus (Tripledacus) Gallery

I only realized waaaay later that the three combining components of Tripredicus were supposed to be the three characters we see on the show. It’s not obvious (especially for a kid) since the three seen in shadows would not have beast modes, and the headsculpts don’t look like the three toys we did get. Plus, it’s not like the Magnaboss components were seen on the show (as part of any Maximal government). It doesn’t stop Tripredicus from being one of the best combiners we ever got of course.






2. Transformers (2007) Optimus Prime

In the later half of the 2000s, here was a big change in Transformers toys where the animated models were created independently of the toys (and have been ever since). Of course, toy designers could get a look at what the artists were working on but since a toy cycle is 2 years, there was a lot of changes from when a toy designer gets a model and what we see in the film. Add to that the fact that toy designers had never dealt with such complex designs as the live action ones and we ended up with an odd first batch of movie toys looking very different than what we saw onscreen. A great example was Optimus Prime, whose toy was much blockier than the onsceen model. But it was still a phenomenal toy with a very different transfomation scheme for Optimus, where the legs are in the front of the cab and not the back, and a new level of complexity we had not been privy to before. Plus, it being blocky made this toy a perfect hybrid easing us in on both the new types of transformations schemes and the new movie aesthetic.






1. Transformers G1 1985 Jetfire (Skyfire)

While Hasbro had obtained the license to sell a Macross toy as part of their Transformers line, the show had to change the look of the toy, especially in alt mode. So what you see on the show is very different than the sleek sexy jet we got with the toy. I don’t think too many kids minded though, especially since the toy looked so awesome. And we all know Jetfire is easily one of the best toys of the G1 era.










Honourable Mentions: Transformers Masterpiece Starscream (MP-03)

I am not a huge fan of this toy but I can't deny how lovely the jet mode is. Of course, the perfection of the jet mode means the robot mode ends up with a lot of kibble and not looking as close to the G1 model as the previous Masterpiece mold, Optimus Prime, did. And of course, the colours were completely off.