The Energon Pub

Downbeat wrote:Woooooow, opening with transmisogyny, classy.

I'm pretty sure stating the plainly obvious and objective fact that poor ROTF Arcee does not look the slightest bit feminine (and certainly not attractive, even to a mechaphile like me) is not even the teeniest tiniest bit controversial, and is only "offensive" to Tumblrite lunatics who think that something doesn't have to in any way, shape or form resemble or be a female to be a female (yeah, wrap your brain module around that if you can) and anyone who disagrees is a filthy "transphobe". And that's even before we remember that ROTF Arcee is an inanimate object made of plastic with neither sex nor sentience.

Ah so that's oilmaster! His pretender shell reminds me of the zoid gorilla...and the monkey from rampage.

ZeroWolf wrote:...and the monkey from rampage.

Ya, that paint job is pretty hid on that Pretender. You could fill a whole list of ugly with club figures.

Cobotron wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:...and the monkey from rampage.

Ya, that paint job is pretty hid on that Pretender. You could fill a whole list of ugly with club figures.

Awe now don't say that! It's not their fault that the club makes interesting characters with interesting paint jobs, interesting designs and interesting heads

Victorion is incredibly ugly, those colors... I really hope they stop with these fan vote things because that figure is the epitome of too many cooks spoiling the broth. I'd probably take Ironhide and Ratchet off and put this miserable little pile of suckage on the list instead.

The thing with Ironhide/Ratchet is there were other factors in play, if they hadn't completely gone off book with the cartoon character models, I don't think anyone would call them ugly, just different, or maybe weird. They certainly make more sense in their original Diaclone intent where they'd be piloted mechs.

I don't see at all how Arcee there is in the uncanny valley, certainly not with the stock face deco. It's probably the furthest from the uncanny valley that any Arcee has ever been, not that I think any of them reach the criteria. It is certainly an ugly thing though, and certainly at home in the list.

Wheeljack808 wrote:G1 Ratchet and Ironhide aren't "ugly". Stupid looking yes but not really "ugly" per se. They basically are just headless robots that need a pilot instead due to the whole diaclone thing.

It's basically as he said a bit of an excuse to not just throw an entire list of Movie toys on here because yeah 95% of them are the most hideous designs ever.

As for other ugly TF toys...how about that botcon exclusive pretender..what was his name? Oilmaster or something like that?

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Yeah for me he ties with Optimus Minor for just being the most hideous toy ever.

Thats not ugly hes a double pretender plus its a great mold hes supposed to be a fierce gorilla bounty hunter but that doesn't mean hes ugly the toy is an great toy plus like who doesn't like finally getting a character that never got a release with an new and great toy (talking about pretender shell) plus if your calling him ugly look at the comic verison of him (not e-hobbey the botcon comic)

Optimum Supreme wrote:Victorion is incredibly ugly, those colors... I really hope they stop with these fan vote things because that figure is the epitome of too many cooks spoiling the broth. I'd probably take Ironhide and Ratchet off and put this miserable little pile of suckage on the list instead.

I would respectfully disagree. Her colors are loud yes but they are uniform loud. Look at G2 combiners: loud neon that is not uniform. Those are some outlandish paint schemes. But none of them really qualify for ugly transformers, just beauty to a different beholder

Prime Riblet wrote:There's not much point in trying to make a list of the top five ugliest OR most beautiful transformers. Everyone has their own opinion, and it is way to subjective to nail it down on a list. Just not possible.

I agree, this is more to inspire conversation and to have fun on this Halloween time.
The reason this list is all over the place is because it was actually chosen by you fellow fans. I took these options from this thread from last year when I started writing these lists in advance. I picked what I felt more comfortable writing about and tried to make it fair, with some G1, beast Wars and Movie toys.

I love reading this feedback. There is this idea almost taken for granted by the "hardcore" fan community that most movie toys suck and their aesthetic is a betrayal to the TF brand. Demolishor himself is said to be one of the worst TFs ever:


BUT here I see great love for them. I am glad to see how all these TFs which are said to be disliked all have a place in people's hearts.

ScottyP wrote:You know what makes me feel like a crotchety, ornery, old man Geewunner that wants to tell everyone how much better things were in the old days and how everything new is terrible? Seeing G1 Ratchet/Ironhide on "ugly Transformer" or "terrible Transformer" lists. You want ugly G1 toys? Go pick on Powerdashers. Y'all be actin' ignorant on this Cherry Vanette hate hype train lately

I hear you Scotty P but sadly, I was basing it off fan opinion, and in this thread which I used for this list, he seemed to have come off the victor. I didnt find it fair, but excluding him wouldnt have been fair either. I gotta admit, Ironhide as portrayed in the first issue of the Marvel Comic (which I read when I got the humble bundle) is quite repulsive. I dont get why they insisted he move around on his sled.

I think this thread should be merged with that other one. Interesting that a lot of the same figures were mentioned in both threads. How many fans can be wrong?

Let's face it: No one design is universally loved and every bad design still has at least someone who loves it. this really is just a popularity contest, and the movie guys do get a bad rap since they are so different. Demolisher especially deserves more credit than he gets

A "Top 5" list is going to be subjective no matter what, no? Unless we're counting them by completely objective like height or something. But I suppose even then there'd be great debate on how tall a Conehead is -- do you measure up to their actual head, the cone helmet, or even their wings/jet kibble?



But anyways, as a fan of monsters and horror, ugliness is an interesting topic to me. All too often people conflate it with "I don't like this" and leave it at that, which is a shame. I mean, Sky Lynx, Demolishor, G2 Bruticus, RiD Bruticus, Nightscream, and Transmutate can all be considered "ugly", but there's a lot of different kinds of ugly going on. Demolishor is a mindless monster, Transmutate is pitiful and sympathetic, G2 Bruticus is gloriously ridiculous, Nightscream hits uncanny valley, RiD Bruticus is a formless mess, and Sky Lynx is meant to be ironic.

Noideaforaname wrote:Sky Lynx is meant to be ironic.

I didt know that, how was he meant to be Ironic? I thought he was just from the old Zoids line from Tomy that got brought to the Transformers brand when they merged with Takara.

The vain and egotistical modest and dashing Sky Lynx is a giant terrifying monster that splits into two smaller beasts. It's unexpected. Literally every other bestial Transformer (and bestial character in media in general) is a dumb brute, then there's Sky Lynx going against every expectation.

Incidentally, Injector's got a similar twist, too:

Injector's Bio wrote:He's got a face only a Predacon could love, but according to Injector, the vainest of the Predacons, he is the best thing to happen since Energon.

Post Armada Sky Lynx's name seems like a pun, on Powerlinking referring to him being made of two pieces as much as it does refer to him having a cat and dino-bird component.

Ratchet and Iron hide can be fixed with the third party clip on heads which look great.

The Rotf twins and Nightbeat should be on this.

And Chromedome who had one of the most horrible colour schemes ever.

And let's not forget the horror that is Stranglehold.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Optimum Supreme wrote:Victorion is incredibly ugly, those colors... I really hope they stop with these fan vote things because that figure is the epitome of too many cooks spoiling the broth. I'd probably take Ironhide and Ratchet off and put this miserable little pile of suckage on the list instead.

I would respectfully disagree. Her colors are loud yes but they are uniform loud. Look at G2 combiners: loud neon that is not uniform. Those are some outlandish paint schemes. But none of them really qualify for ugly transformers, just beauty to a different beholder

At least G2 had an excuse, it was the 90's. Everything was colored like that. Victorion is just ugly and you can't blame the era it's coming out in for it.

Optimum Supreme wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Optimum Supreme wrote:Victorion is incredibly ugly, those colors... I really hope they stop with these fan vote things because that figure is the epitome of too many cooks spoiling the broth. I'd probably take Ironhide and Ratchet off and put this miserable little pile of suckage on the list instead.

I would respectfully disagree. Her colors are loud yes but they are uniform loud. Look at G2 combiners: loud neon that is not uniform. Those are some outlandish paint schemes. But none of them really qualify for ugly transformers, just beauty to a different beholder

At least G2 had an excuse, it was the 90's. Everything was colored like that. Victorion is just ugly and you can't blame the era it's coming out in for it.

I'm not blaming the era she is coming out in, and I still find her colors to be pretty cool and I like them. Not really ugly as more like loud and obnoxious

The colours would be OK if there was a little more white, and the red was darker. They're still definitely very, very ugly toys though, namely due to being very blatantly male figures with token effort retooling to make them look vaguely female.

Honestly, I can agree with the color pallet and how it could have been done better, But 3 of the 6 molds were remolded to be more "feminine" and it works well, and the other 3 still work using an unaltered main design. I am satisfied with the look and cannot wait for it to be released. speaking of which, it wont be released for another 6-7 months, so there is still time for changes to be made or decisions to be reconsidered. I'll be good though

My DOTM Wheeljack has to stay in Vehicle mode because of the head-sculpt. I would like to get the G1 Style DOTM Wheeljack with the remoulded head just so I can display the figure in Robot mode.

munkimus prime wrote:My DOTM Wheeljack has to stay in Vehicle mode because of the head-sculpt. I would like to get the G1 Style DOTM Wheeljack with the remoulded head just so I can display the figure in Robot mode.

lol, at that point you should've reconsidered getting the figure

Hellscream9999 wrote:

munkimus prime wrote:My DOTM Wheeljack has to stay in Vehicle mode because of the head-sculpt. I would like to get the G1 Style DOTM Wheeljack with the remoulded head just so I can display the figure in Robot mode.

lol, at that point you should've reconsidered getting the figure

but but but, it's Einstein!

Considering Rapido is the same colour as Victorian and looks fine - I think the main reason Vicky looks ropey in the colour department is the lack of inter-limb colour to block her out more she needed some silver or white in some spots then she'd have been perfectly fine - still ugly - sure but not hideously ugly like she is now.

Hm, now that I look closely I think RiD Bruticus looks okay. It seems like the design of the toy that makes it look ugly. And the beast mode? Unless I can get a clear look at that I won't be having any criticism on it.