So, on with the list:
#25 T-RexIt's a well known fact that any boy who has reached the age of five without developing an infatuation with dinosaurs is destined to become an interior designer. Every small boy loves the giant reptiles, and the T-Rex is literally king. The T-Rex symbolises both everything a preschooler is (a mouth on legs, a force of destruction) and everything they wish they were (taller than their parents, able to do poops the size of coffee tables).
Early in Transformer history, various figures from various lines were "borrowed" and recharacterised to join the burgeoning war. Some Hasbro executive apparently decided that some robot dinosaurs would fit right in amongst the jets, cars and cassette tapes, possibly due to being blinded by the giant cartoon dollar signs in his eyes. Either way, the Dinobots were a great success and ever since then a multitude of screen and comic writers have had to turn cartwheels trying to insert the Greatest Bots in History into their space operas.
The first T-Rex (or to give them their full name, Tyrawesomesauceus Rex) in the TF line was Grimlock. Unfortunately, he was made before Jurassic Park updated all our dinosaur sensibilities:
"What do you call a dinosaur whose hindquarters drag on the ground?" "Bethehasasaurus."
The original Grimlock was, as much as I dislike the character, a great toy. He was fairly posable, looked imposing, was a good size, and turned into a non-freakish robot mode which was a rarity at the time.
Since then, there's been a few more Grimlocks:
"Me Grimlock finally have face! Me try constipated expression"
Ross from Friends is crying right now.
"Me Grimlock home from Zoids audition."
The various Grimlocks are pretty cool, though the original is the best...until:
20th Century Toy (I wanna be your boy)
Classics Grimlock was a brave attempt to have the kind of Dino-mode that could indeed chase Jeff Goldblum into a toilet. I've never heard an enthusiastic word said about this guy though, so...what does Seibertron think?
And then there was a great disturbance in the force, as though Simon Furman's head exploded:
"Yep, looks like square one."
Despite my Grim-bashing, you've gotta love this figure. It's delightfully chunky and does everything you could expect from a giant G1 Grimlock figure.
But this article isn't just about Grimlock. He's done as much harm to the reputation of the King of Dinos as good. Throughout three seasons of G1 he had as many sickening lows as dizzying highs.
Pictured: Sickening lows; Dizzying highs.
Instead, the real star of the T-Rex show is next on the list. He's evil, he's purple and he wants to destroy all that is good...
No, but you're close.
Yeeeeeeesssssss.
Beast Wars Megatron was, as far as I'm concerned, the ideal incarnation of a big scary death reptile. He was as cold and cunning as Jafar, and as powerful and terrifying as a Narliphant, IF NOT MORESO. It's hard not to like this scheming dose of awesome, and it's hard not to like the toy with its hip-harpoons, it's water-squirty goodness and its big weird stabby tail-claw thing.
"I wish I'd never met XZibit!"
And then he got rollerskates.
...
...there's been some other T-rexes too, like T-Wrecks, Trypticon sometimes, and a couple of cassettes. But hey, we know who the real stars of the show are, right?
"Hey Utahraptor, I...I VALUE OUR FRIENDSHIP, OKAY?"
Rail Racer's gotta be one of the best combiners in TF history.
