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 Transformers Combiners Post G1With Hascon taking place during the week-end, we preffered waiting to post a new list after the excitement. The main reveal at the show was indeed combiner related with an new Abominus coming along with a Dinobot combiner and in theme with all this combiner talk, I give you a new list featuring the best combiners we have had so far after G1. Enjoy!
5. Transformers Robots In Disguise Rail Racer (JRX)The turn of the century Robots in Disguise line brought brought combiners into the new millennia in a big way with two combiners in that line: Landfill and Railracer. While Landfill has his charm, I don’t find him very solid nor fun to play with. That is totally not the case with Rail Racer though who is a stellar design and a fun combiner. He is like the new age Raiden with modern trains that become individual robots along with having a combined form. But you wouldn’t know that from just looking at the trains which look like toy models, with nice detail and smooth surfaces (the Takara version has the bodies fully painted since they are all made in clear plastic to have clear windows, making the paneling even more subtle). You really wouldn’t think these could transform, let alone combine. And he is a sleek combiner too. Not big of course, since it is only three, and the middle bot does not contribute too much, hence why this toy only makes it to 5th place. But the fresh design just overshadows thee complaints. I especially love the combiner head and chest, along with how strong all the connections are. The guns combine as well, which is always a fun feature to show another layer of connectivity among the bots.
Transformers Robots In Disguise Railspike (J-5) GalleryTransformers Robots In Disguise Rapid Run (J-7) GalleryTransformers Robots In Disguise Midnight Express (J-4) GalleryTransformers Robots In Disguise Railspike (J-5) GalleryTransformers Robots In Disguise Rapid Run (J-7) GalleryTransformers Robots In Disguise Midnight Express (J-4) GalleryTransformers Robots In Disguise Railspike (J-5) GalleryTransformers Robots In Disguise Rail Racer (JRX) Gallery4. Transformers Club Exclusive Nexus Prime (Nexus Maximus)I rarely, if ever, put figures from license holders on lists. It’s because they are usually redecos of toys that are more readily available and that we probably had more experience with. Basically, you guys get to know what I am talking about and share your experience. But I am making an exception with Nexus Prime for a few reasons. Firstly, this is the only toy of the first Transformers Combiner in fiction, one of the 13 Primes. Plus, I wanted to highlight the Energon combiners on this list but there were none that I liked due to all the mold repeats they had. Nexus Prime not only has a stellar deco but also doesn’t repeat molds, showing the variety of all the combining components in the Energon line, which were pretty good for their time. He’s pretty much a “best of” Energon combiner.
Transformers Club Exclusives Topspin GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Topspin GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Landquake GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Landquake GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Breakaway GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Breakaway GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Heatwave GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Heatwave GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Skyfall GalleryTransformers Club Exclusives Skyfall GalleryTransformers Convention & Club Exclusives Nexus Prime (Nexus Maximus) GalleryTransformers Convention & Club Exclusives Nexus Prime (Nexus Maximus) Gallery3. Combiner Wars / Unite Warriors DevastatorThis was a dream come true for many, including me and he has incredible presence due to his immense stature. Devastator will always be the most iconic combiner so it is great to finally get a toy that represents his raw power. My only beef with him, and why he ends up in the middle of this list, is because while the Constructicons are as big as voyager, they don’t feel like voyagers and give you more the feel of those upscaled toys we get sometimes. Like they were deluxes and someone made everything bigger, except for the plastic which is very thin. Plus there is a lack of elbows on the Hasbro version which does make a significant difference (to anyone who thinks it doesn't matter that much, tell me, is Scrapper your favourite in the set?). It’s fun to have a giant combiner, but I feel we could have gotten a higher quality, or at least better feeling toy, if everything was made a tad bit smaller. Still awesome though and forever imposing. He is a real joy to build as well.
2. Transformers Beast Wars TripredacusYes, I truly believe that Tripedicus is a better toy than the Devastator we got 20 years later. Of practically any combiner ever, I really feel this is the one that has absolutely nothing hindered by the fact that he combines. What I mean is you have great looking diverse beast modes that share the same complexity as any of the other non-combining Beast Wars deluxe when converting to robot mode. And then… they also combine! Unlike his Maximal counterpart Magnaboss (and our previous entry, Railracer), each robot contributes as much to the combiner with one being the legs, the other the chest and the other the arms. And no partsforming. This makes for a well balanced and solid combiner that isn’t back heavy and has a nice colour variation that works really well. The combiner looks complete and like he is a unique form as opposed of being made up of various bits. It’s quite impressive. And the engineering still holds up.
1. Unite Warriors Grand Galvatron and Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors ComputronOf course Combiner Wars was going to be the top pick. Those toys brought back the hay day of combiners for a whole new generation and are without a doubt the very best combiners we have ever had (although revisiting that Tripredicus above did give them a run for their money, at least for me). They improved over G1 in terms of their size, poseablity, integrated combiner head, transformations, and port technology which means they can finally have differently shaped heads. Now most of these were not sold together in the Hasbro line and there was ths whole idea of official configurations from Hasbro being different from the configurations from g1 since they were adding new characters and all sorts of stuff. So Combiner Wars is the number 1 pick, but what from it? So to make this number 1 pick comply with the others, I went for Combiners that had a clear idea of which components made up the combiner and I picked the ones that I feel are truly the best examples of what this line had to offer. Computron will go down in history as one of the most different offerings between Hasbro and Takara. Usually, between the two versions, you could get some differences in the paintjob or even the molding. But here, it was practically two different toys where only one of the 5 was the same mold. Takara went completely in one direction and Hasbro in the other. And you know what? I think we all win with that. Either way you go you have something the other side doesn't have. Both had unique molds and distinctive decos. Takara might have had new heads but Hasbro's had new feet and hands as well as more accompanying toys. And both were made up of a variety of molds, giving you a very good look at the breadth of the line, while also being unified in theme and deco (to an extent).
And while Computron is hard to beat, there was another offering that just keeps amazing me: Grand Galvatron. This one was only from Takara but all of the molds (except for some of the heads) are available from Hasbro in one way or another so the new mixture of molds can be recreated. And that's the whole idea behind this combiner, that he is completely random (aside from being made up of zombies, mostly). He is something completely new, made up of characters that never combined before, from different fictions, using a few molds that on the Hasbro side of things were for new characters. He really encompasses the play value of the line perfectly. And he looks incredible. Easily the combiner with the best deco in either line, bar none.
For fans of combiners, we are truly living in its golden age.
Honourable Mentions:
PCC GrimstoneGrimstone came out the best he possibly could given what the Power Core Combiner line was all about. He pulls off the automorph drone combination better than any other toy due to how good he looks in both his individual Dinosaur modes and his combined mode, which has a very unified look thanks to the colour scheme.