The Energon Pub

Gingko wrote:Landmine

I've always thought of Landmine as Hasbro getting back at everyone that said the movie designs look like Bionicles. "You want to see Bionicles? Here's your Bionicles!" Still a neat head sculpt, it wouldn't be as good without the blue behind the mask.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Gingko wrote:Landmine

I've always thought of Landmine as Hasbro getting back at everyone that said the movie designs look like Bionicles. "You want to see Bionicles? Here's your Bionicles!" Still a neat head sculpt, it wouldn't be as good without the blue behind the mask.

Emerje

Plus Bionicles are awesome anyway. I have almost as many of the old ones as I have Transformers nowadays.

Yeah, it's true. it does look like Bionicle in a way. I liked bionicle back in the days. I made my own monster with them.

Superb list as always! Excellent picks, especially Oil Slick, Big Convoy and Noisemaze.

Myself, I can nominate a few, with an admitted bias towards certain portions of the Transformers franchise. Ahem...

RID 2001 Megatron would definitely be somewhere on my list. I'm hugely biased towards that toy, but there is no doubt it's a superb headsculpt. Even if he was a goofy villain, that headsculpt looked so goddamn menacing. I never watched RID as a kid, so I always imagined him as a no-nonsense, merciless overlord, largely because of that glorious scowl of disdain. He looks so classically evil, like a demon from a biblical painting. I completely agree with you on chromed eyes BTW- they get that super robot anime look across so well.

RID Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus would be on there too. Prime's standard head is a classic Prime, and his super robot head is a really cool, original take on the design. Ultra Magnus' box helmet, meanwhile, has a very handsome look about it, and the little details like the sculpted Autobot symbol on the crest are great. And Omega Prime's headsculpt is just gorgeous.

Energon Shockblast has IMO one of the best Shockwave heads ever. The black shrouding at the end combined with the pretty detailed neck mount and those antenna make him look like some kind of evil old-school camera, and I love it. He manages to be instantly recognizable as a Shockwave despite having a very original head design when you actually look at it.

Cybertron Dark Scorponok takes the already decent Energon design and takes it up to 11 with the silvery-blue helmet and that absolutely terrifying pitch-black face, looking for all the world like the insane zombie his bio painted him as. The red visor definitely helps, but even without it he looks positively demonic.

Armada Starscream (the original). That smirk. Enough said.

PCC Sledge has a neat little noggin, and his combiner head gimmick (in which he turns his face around and flips some flaps) is ingenious.

Most of Combiner Wars had excellent headsculpts, but my favourite might be Dragstrip. The colous work perfectly, the helmet is a wonderful departure from the usual combiner head, and that visor is just awesome. He looks like he belongs in a 2000AD comic more than a Transformers line.

Finally, one I was originally going to leave off the list because of the already large amount of RID2001 toys, Side Burn. Again, even though he was a goofball on the show his headsculpt is slick as they come. A really cool helmet that looks like a professional cyclist's, a pretty handsome, stoic face, and perfect application of translucent plastic for the detailing on the head. Also he has a monocle-visor-thing, which is an instant winner in my book.

I think it's sad to exclude G1 Shockwave.

TreyTable wrote:I think it's sad to exclude G1 Shockwave.

Its all opinions. But I am curious now, is G1 shockwave even the best Shockwave headsculpt?



I really like the animated and movie versions. And Prime is interesting too, in how its slimmer making the eye really prominent.

william-james88 wrote:

TreyTable wrote:I think it's sad to exclude G1 Shockwave.

Its all opinions. But I am curious now, is G1 shockwave even the best Shockwave headsculpt?



I really like the animated and movie versions. And Prime is interesting too, in how its slimmer making the eye really prominent.

I don't think there's been a bad Shockwave headsculpt. The DotM version is amazing with its Tarantulas-esque maw and creepy organic (but still recognizably Shockwave) aesthetics. Likewise, as mentioned earlier, Energon Shockblast has a great head- it looks like G1 Shockwave run through a late 80s mecha anime filter. Everything from the elongation of the head to the shrouding round the mono-eye to the pointy antenna is just sublime.

I'd say that several of the Titan Returns Deluxes would be in a Top 10 list. Particularly Mindwipe and Skullcruncher's headmasters. Aside from TR figures, I'd add Combiners Wars Cyclonus and Dead End to this list as well. I really like the uniqueness of Dead End's head sculpt compared to the other team members in this line.

This sad sack face that only a mother could love gets my vote.
Just kidding, it's a horrendous head sculpt but it would probably place in a "Worst head sculpt" contest.

I always really liked this far out Wheeljack head sculpt. Personally i think it's phenomenal. It's just so wild of a design for a transformer that i can't help but be impressed by it. I wonder if the light piping works?

Classics Sunstreaker. This head sculpt just nails it. For some reason this sculpt pushes all the right buttons for me. It's ,dare i say, an iconic design and the best one yet for Sunstreaker.

I really enjoy the head reveal with this figure. As his head rises from the torso and the ears unhinge from the side of his head and begin to radiate out like rays of sunshine from a rising sun. They knocked it outta the park with this design if you ask me.

MGrotusque wrote:I always really liked this far out Wheeljack head sculpt. Personally i think it's phenomenal. It's just so wild of a design for a transformer that i can't help but be impressed by it. I wonder if the light piping works?

Looks like he was assimilated by the Borg