The Energon Pub

We said last year that 2025 would be very transformative for our community and it was. Firstly, the output was less than we were used to due to less waves and the new show toyline doing away with anything even remotely made to attract collectors (ie no deluxe class). Add to that the new normal of companies outside of Hasbro/Takara making mainstream official Transformers toys and a new collecting landscape has emerged, where collectors are branching out. You'll see that reflected in our pics this year, especially from Podcaster extraordinaire Scotty P. I'd like to thank him and fellow Seibetronians Kuhlio, Emerje, and Bounti76 for helping me write our pics for the best Transformers toys of 2025. Let us know which ones you liked best!

Best Toy

AMT Rodimus and nothing else came close. To me, this may be the best Transformer released since MP-1. This toy is both beautiful to behold and fun to handle. Both modes look near-perfect and the paint work is stellar. The transformation is fun too, with incredible engineering used to achieve everything that it does. It's mind-boggling to me how many of these yearly top lists I've seen online (both on fan sites and social media) that don't mention this guy at all, which is probably why there aren't more toys like it. -ScottyP

Seaspray. A very impressive figure I'll be happy to buy again in cartoon colors later on. The number of little folding panels is impressive for a modern Deluxe. -Emerje

Seaspray for me too. I don't need something crazy complex or heavily detailed, nor huge, I just want a well made Transformers product and Seaspray was as perfect as can be. He is the ultimate representation of that classic character, looks great in both modes and has an effective yet efficient transformation. Just perfect.- William-james88



SS Megatron. You get a fantastic looking figure, with a great, satisfying transformation, and for those purists who won't accept Megatron as anything but a gun, they even included a figure of him in gun mode, IN SCALE. Best of both worlds. -Bounti76

QC Issues aside--- HasLab Omega Prime was a key figure for me. RID2001 is the line that got me into the fandom. Clear God Fire Convoy has been a grail that I acquired a couple of years ago, so I was super excited to get a new version of this guy on my shelf. This set provides some great stability for the character and may remove some action features, but lets face it--- sometimes you don't want the toy to shoot missals across the room to be lost! -kuhlio

Best Age of the Primes Toy

Solely based on how much I have both played with it and invested in upgrade kits to enhance it further, I must put Prima down for this category. Simple, big, chunky, but still a rad design, plus it's a character that doesn't have 4,820 toys made of him already. -ScottyP

Slingshot (and by extension Firebolt). He's a really impressive little figure that looks great in both forms, has no "underbot", and no weird jet proportions like Air Raid. -Emerje

Sky-Byte impressed me. I was fond of the previous attempt to remake him even though I was not blind to its shortcomings. This toy gets rid of all shortcomings and just gives you a satisfying toy. It's fun when a character outside of G1 gains enough popularity to be a mainstay in the franchise and now he has an excellent toy to his name made just for him, which is pretty cool for a character which started out as a redeco of a toy from a previous line (ie Transmetal II Cybershark). - William-james88

Bumper. Not a great mold, but he wears and uses it better than Bee, and is it's so cool to have an official release of this toy after 41 frickin' years. -Bounti76

Megatronus takes this spot. He really felt like a return to form of the Leader price point with a bulky, heavy figure. He also provided a real answer to the missing figure of the "Fallen Prime" and allowed me to put up the Titanium 6" floppy figure that was anything but imposing on my shelf. -kuhlio


Best Studio Series Toy

I don't want to give it to a Megatron toy because there are too many of them, but it's Megatron. A great complementary piece to last year's Commander Optimus and a seriously fun Transformer. -ScottyP

Megatron. I'm not entirely sold on his tank form's turret or his oddly shaped canon, but it's nice to see a fairly complex transformation and our best Megatron bot mode at retail. -Emerje


Devastator. I hope you'll allow me to ranking him as one because he truly is greater than the sum of his parts. And those parts aren't bad at all. Devastator is one of the most iconic Transformers of all time, he is THE combiner, and we finally have an uncompromised version of not just this big bot but of all the Constructicons who make him up. - William-james88

Soundwave (found before 2025 ended!). Looks great, feels good in hand, and poses really well. -Bounti76

SS86 Megatron surprised me. I did not know what to expect, but they managed to capture the original Megatron look. I understand the alt mode issues, however they managed to hide the tank parts incredibly well, and the figure finally replaced one of so many Siege molds/remolds that held the leader spot on my shelves. -kuhlio

Best Exclusive

Blokees Transformers x Line Friends Mokoo Mega Optimus Prime x Brown (Pink version), which was limited to 999 copies and exclusive to the overseas Blokees website plus some assorted real-life events in Indonesia and other places in SE Asia. I will not be taking questions about this pick. -ScottyP


Missing Link Arcee from Japan. This is unfinished business that can easily slip into a G1 display with vintage figures or other ML figures. Getting two options really seals it. -Emerje

Masterpiece Rattrap. Glad we got another Beast Wars MP toy for the collection and they pull out all the stops, as usual. - William-james88

AOTP Trypticon. An unexpected but genius re-use of a good mold to give us a cartoon accurate(ish) version of the big fella. -Bounti76

Hotwheels Crossover Bone Shaker and Twin Mill were exciting additions to the collection. Crossover toys have been so hit-or-miss that I had not clue what to expect from these two. Once I had them in hand, it was incredible to finally get to add new recruits to the Autobots! -kuhlio

Your best TF moment of 2025

Mr. Starscream may have died in Twincast / Podcast kayfabe, falling to the forces of 40 oz. malt liquor, but his indestructible spark moved on to taking more aspects of his business seriously which seems like a worthy endeavor. To that end, he's been running live shows on Whatnot since last Spring, and they're worth tuning in to for the entertainment value alone. These shows have been a bright spot in our darkest hour and helped me through some very long, difficult work week nights, so they're my highlight here. And no, I was not asked to write this nor am I being compensated for it, sorry for sounding like an ad though! -ScottyP

The unexpected explosion in popularity of Blokees. The right figures at the right price at the right time. Yolopark may have come first, but Blokees getting into big box retailers, having a massive Black Friday sale generating interest in the brand (if only to move dead stock) and expanding beyond Transformers was quite the achievement. It always impresses me what we actually get for our money in Blokees blind boxes compared the simple stuff other companies sell for two or three times the price (looking at you, Super 7). -Emerje


I've been actively looking for Transformers toys in thrift shops for over a decade and this has finally been the year that I found a good amount of G1 toys. Trailbreaker, Aerialbots, Wheeljack, Yellow Cliffjumper and a GIANT LOT of Battle Beasts/Beastformers. These were some incredible finds. -William-james88

I was going to say finding Sureshot and SS Soundwave on the same day, at different Targets, just a few days after Christmas, but really....
... wrapping Missing Link Arcee up and putting her under the Christmas tree just to have the thrill of opening a figure I should have been able to open 39 years ago. -Bounti76

Being a father it was great to go to Botcon 2025 in Ft Wayne Indiana. This con was the first time I was able to take my wife and daughter to a show. Also, being on the podcast, it was great to get to spend some time with Mr. Starscream, as well as meet the Epic Voice Guy Jon3.0, and xRotorstormx in person instead of on a screen. -kuhlio

What you are looking forward to in 2026

AMT Rodimus in Lost Light colors and finishing up The 13. -ScottyP

A near movie accurate scale Studio Series Age of Extinction Titan Grimlock. Also, if the leaks are accurate, Commander Class Armada Jetfire. Plus, Transformers the Movie 40th Anniversary! -Emerje

Completing the 13 Primes is my main priority in terms of my Transformers collection this year, it's going to be an incredible collection when it's all said and done. -William-james88

Finishing the Primes in physical form, or getting closer to completing a modern roster of deluxe sized Minibots. -Bounti76

I am looking forward to more casts with the Twincast Crew, and hopefully a few more shows where I can grow my Transformers-Friend group and hopefully get to hang out with more Seibertronians! -kuhlio

Outside of toys: The website got a re-work under the hood and a new paint job, while Heavy Metal War continues to exist.

Great write up. Enjoyed the opinions. Thanks for sharing.

william-james88 wrote: I'd like to thank him and fellow Seibetronians Kuhlio, Emerje, and Bounti76 for helping me write our pics for the best Transformers toys of 2026. Let us know which ones you liked best!
*snip*

? Should read 2025.

megatran wrote:Great write up. Enjoyed the opinions. Thanks for sharing.

william-james88 wrote: I'd like to thank him and fellow Seibetronians Kuhlio, Emerje, and Bounti76 for helping me write our pics for the best Transformers toys of 2026. Let us know which ones you liked best!
*snip*

? Should read 2025.

Yup, thanks

Hooray, I was getting worried you were going to skip it this year!
In total, I added 61 Transformers toys to the collection in 2025, but looking them over many were actually older figures. My picks for best toys actually of 2025 are a bit more limited, but here -

Studio Series WFC Ironhide: I'll put Ironhide as the representative of this mold since Ratchet was 2024, but this is one of the best Gamer Edition figures. The transformation is unique and vey fun to do, it's poseable, and just looks great.

Onyx Prime: There is much more to do with this figure than seems at first! A successful realisation of a very unorthodox design with a variety of play and display option between his four modes.

Vintage Seaspray: This is Masterpiece Seaspray. Certainly function-wise, as has been said, he looks perfect in both modes and has a great transformation, but I think he scales better with actual Masterpiece. The deluxe minibots have nearly all been excellent toys, but I still see them as a little too big for Generations scale. He rivals HFTD Seaspray for greatest Seaspray of all time.

Haslab Omega Prime: This is a great set. It can do so much and do it really well. The infamous quality control issue may mar the legacy of the toys, but at least the community came through in alerting about the problem and sharing the fixes for it. I'm not on social media, so sites like Seibertron being able to spotlight the issue really helped me out.

Missing Link Arcee / Sunstreaker: I can't decide which of these is "better" than the other, as they are both amazing. Transforming them feels great, they look great, just perfection. Importantly as well, they each represent the fulfilment of a significant aspect of TF toy history; Sunstreaker as the first "Transformer" toy, being revisited with all of the engineering progress his conception initiated, and Arcee as a true "missing" toy that finally gets to be made.

My favourite for the year, though, is AMT Rodimus. As a MTMTE fan, I was set to get this anyway, but the fact that it ended up being a phenomenal figure really makes it the best for me. Another example of a Masterpiece toy in all but name. Breathtaking to look at, nice to handle, and poseable like no one's business. I just need to remember how expensive it was so that I won't go wishing for more from this line.

Favourite TF-related moments from this year are knocking off several figures from the grail list, such as Cybertron Defense Hot Shot (the Takara version, no less!), a version of G1 Blaster, an animated Bulkhead, and 2007 Incinerator, among others.
Also, this year, with the rerelease of Beachcomber, I finally have a Generations-styled version of every G1 Autobot from the cartoon up through the movie (with only a few obscure season three characters still to go). This was never a goal of mine, but as I've now been collecting for twenty straight years, characters have made there way into the collection, and I realised last year I only need a Gears, Brawn, Beachcomber, and Seaspray to complete the "mini-vehices" in modern form. And who all happened to be released this year?



How satisfying is that!

Things I'm looking forward to most in 2026 are that Ironhide / Blackout set that was teased a while back, what the rest of the Primes will look like, and just maybe finishing off the rest of my holy grail list. Happy collecting, everyone!

Sky-Byte was by far best figure of the year for me. One of the few shark Transformers with articulation for the tail and neck. Both modes look accurate and very detailed. I haven't stopped fiddling around with him since I got him.

I once again forgot to take part this year, so here is my catchup:

Best Toy: AMT Rodimus, for every reason Scotty said.

Best AotP Toy: Onyx Prime. I have longed for a toy of him, and he did not disappoint. By far the best thing to come out of the line, especially with all the playability he has between his various modes.

Best SS toy: AOE Optimus, by far. SS was kind of a let down this year, but Prime did not disappoint. He is great, I love that they finally got this design figured out the way they did.

Best exclusive: It is between HoS Optimus and Hot Wheels Boneshaker, both are very fun and very posable toys with some awesome aesthetic choices that just vibe with me.

Best TF Moment: My eldest daughter getting into play with my Earthspark toys, she loves the little finger flipper Hashtag and Warrior Elita-1, and we have so much fun playing bots together, makes it all worthwhile.

Most looking forward to in 2026: Titan Grimlock, by far.

Glad to see some more AMT Rodimus love in these comments. That toy feels like an evolution of what MP could be in a better timeline.

ScottyP wrote:Glad to see some more AMT Rodimus love in these comments. That toy feels like an evolution of what MP could be in a better timeline.

Agreed, the fact that we got upsized SS86 Hot Rod as an MP is at this point exhausting.

For me, I have to go with the following:

Best Toy: Boneshaker
The transformation is extremely fun and satisfying. The aesthetic is just awesome. And because his only Autobot symbol is on his voodoo shaker/club thingy and is basically an Autobot skull and crossbones, I'm head cannoning him as a Decepticon with a magical voodoo weapon that will instantly put any bot into stasis lock if we connects with their Autobot symbol. I had one of the versions of this Matchbox car as a kid, so the nostalgia was strong. Twin Mill was solid too, so I can't wait for more.

Best AotP Toy: Megatronus
Amazing and fun transformation and great look in both molds. Love the fire effects as well. Usually effects go into a storage bin until I'm setting up a scene, but these stay on him in either mold all the time, they just work so well.

Best SS Toy: Devy/Long Haul
I really like the improvements they made to Devy overall, but especially Long Haul who was always my favorite from the group. CW gave him diabetes, sideways elbows and a very simple and boring transformation. SS fixes all that and brought him from the most boring transformation on the team to the best one.

Best Exclusive: Retro G1 Seaspray
Same reasons as everyone else has already mentioned. Mini MP in both molds, very satisfying transformation.

Best TF Moment:
Popping out Code Red while watching Stranger Things with my daughter. I knew which episode we were about to watch and had him hidden in my hoodie pocket until they showed the van for the first time.