The Energon Pub

Seeing all these BotCon figure reveals brought to mind a question. Obviously, the headsculpts are getting a ton of attention, but good/bad headsculpts go well beyond the figs FunPub puts out.

What are some of your favorite (and least favorite) robo-noggins of all time?

For favs, I gotta say BotCon 08 Goldbug and Megatron (marvel comic head mixed with blue eyes)and G1 Shockwave just to name a few.

For worst, G1 Ratchet/Ironhide (the non-head) is notoriously bad and G1 Wheelie isn't far behind.

Thoughts? I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of good (and bad) ones!

In G1 Ironhide and Ratchet's defense, they were never meant to have heads! In Diaclone, the "heads" behind the windshield were actually seats for the pilots, as they were mere powered suits.

The best that comes to mind is C-Optimus Prime for its functionality. Built in battle mask and decorative fins make all the difference.

As for the worst: look no further than the G2 Power Masters... They don't even have mouths!

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:In G1 Ironhide and Ratchet's defense, they were never meant to have heads! In Diaclone, the "heads" behind the windshield were actually seats for the pilots, as they were mere powered suits.

That may explain the suck but that doesn't excuse it.

off the top of my head

Best (if 3rd party counts): iGear Kup. So much personality in that face, especially with the cygar.

Worst: Que. That head creeps me out a little :/

Classics Bumblebee has a really nice head. Classics Jetfire too, although I prefer Energon Skyblast's as my Skyfire/show-head for the character. The iGear Kup head is an improvement, but the original wasn't terrible...it just depicted a different Kup than I like seeing (it's very Spotlight: Kup) and honestly, most of the recent toys I've bought have had good heads. Those which I haven't liked tended to be because they were not too posable or were smaller in proportion than I think they should be (Classics Hot Rod, take a bow).

The worst head sculpt to pop into my head is 2010 Bludgeon. Dear Primus, what were they thinking?

But what necessitates a good head? Toon accuracy? Great character likeness? A bitchin' head of hair? The Laser Optimus from G2 has about the most perfect noggin from the first 15 years of Transformers and is still one of the coolest. The screen accuracy of the 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal is second to none. And I challenge anyone to find a better head of hair than Metalhawks. It can't be done, I say!

I like WHeeljacks. Especially in the G1 cartoon when his ears light up when he speaks.

Classics Sunstreaker. Love the head reveal on him when those horns/ears open up. Like the rising sun. Brilliant if you ask me.

Classics Mirage. Great light piping. Same goes for Cyclonus in that category.Most CHUGR heads are pretty sweet to be honest.

I really like FP Ultra Magnus' head sculpt aswell.

I'm a fan of Skystalkers head sculpt. It just has this lethal, cold and heartless look about it.

Octopunch with and without helmet.\

RID Megatron. Very detailed and a clean design. It looks smart.

Torca in alt mode. It's just so fluid and creative. Great example of when ugly is beautifull.

I like all the alt mode and bot mode heads of the Monsterbots.


I very much dislike G1 Wreck-Gars head. It's a bit ridiculous.

I'm forgetting lots but off the top of my head these are some of my likes and dislikes.

I absolutely hate this head, it is horrible. If the placement of the mouth just didn't exist I think it would be 100% better

The reason Generations/United Kup's head looks weird is that Tomy/Hasbro ditched the "cygar". Take a look at he United box's stock photo, the figure had it in his mouth.

Now as for the best headsculpts.................a lot!

1. G1 Jazz
2. G1 Shockwave
3. iPod Optimus Prime and THS-02
4. G1 Soundwave
5. Galaxyforce Soundwave
6. Apeface robot mode
7. G1 Prowl
8. Starconvoy
9. neo G1 Breacher
10.Binaltech Optimus Prime and Alternity Convoy
11.Bigconvoy and RM Lioconvoy
12.G1 Bumble B(from the TFC version)
13.CR God Convoy aka Omega Prime
14.RTS Windcharger
15.G1 Mirage and henkei Mirage

Worst head sculpts

1.Cyberverse Powerglide (wtf is that?)
2.Lio Convoy (not the RM version which was awesome btw)
3.E-Hobby Orion Pax ('nuff said!)
4.United Laser Convoy
5 GF Sonic Bomber (1st version)
6.GF Chromia
7. G1 Wheelie (not much for the headsculpt per se but on the wonkiness of his robot body)
8. United Straxus (for gutting out the light piping....okay, not the design but the redundancy of the dropped feature.)

DISCHARGE wrote:

I absolutely hate this head, it is horrible. If the placement of the mouth just didn't exist I think it would be 100% better

An expression commonly found in the closing minutes of adult movies.

Some great responses here.

monstergrotusque wrote:Classics Sunstreaker. Love the head reveal on him when those horns/ears open up. Like the rising sun. Brilliant if you ask me.

I was transforming him without instructions and was ready to hit him with a hammer after struggling to figure out how that head worked. When it did appear, it was certainly impressive.

zodconvoy wrote:The screen accuracy of the 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal is second to none.

Even though his appearance changed a lot through the series, that head for Optimus Primal always WAS Beast Wars for me.

craggy wrote:The iGear Kup head is an improvement, but the original wasn't terrible...it just depicted a different Kup than I like seeing (it's very Spotlight: Kup)

I might be unpopular for saying this, but the worst IDW influence figure-wise certainly wasn't Kup, it was that blasted Blurr head. That dude is NOT Blurr. I bought the Cybertron Blurr just to have an accurate Blurr head and he's still my favorite Blurr.

craggy wrote:The iGear Kup head is an improvement, but the original wasn't terrible...

Didn't say the original was terrible (I actually have 2 Kups - one with the original head and one with the iGear ), I just feel the iGear face has a great deal of character, more so than many of the heads out there. Not to say the other heads are bad either, but the static same-old-same-old expression of a smile or frown lets a head with a distinctly different expression, using the whole face to accentuate it, to stand out.

fenrir72 wrote:...best headsculpt...
3. iPod Optimus Prime

Yes. A thousand times yes. I spent $120 on that head and it was worth every penny.

fenrir72 wrote:Worst head sculpts

3.E-Hobby Orion Pax ('nuff said!)

At first I didn't understand what you were talking about. I love my Orion Pax! But then I remembered this is what mine looks like:


The guy only made a handful of them and it was a random find on eBay. But yeah, that blue Kup head is the worst.

Best? Animated Blitzwing! Can't go wrong there! Three faces.
Worst? Any beast bot who uses the beast's head as it's robot head, i.e Beast Wars Ravage, and I'm sure there is more.

BeastProwl wrote: Any beast bot who uses the beast's head as it's robot head, i.e Beast Wars Ravage, and I'm sure there is more.

Not really. There's Botcon Tigatron which is the same mold and Injector. Not sure he even counts considering his face folds out of the mouth.

Beast Wars toys were far more likely to have their beast mode head as a hand than as a robot head too. 83% more likely, actually.

I just cannot ignore the most recent of unpleasantries IMHO. Botcon 2012 has unleashed some of the hiddeous of heads thus ruining the representation of those TFs that your jackolanters would freak out Holloween time. I'm referring to Botcon 2012 Ultra Magnus, Overlord, Metalhawk, and (I say with a heavy heart) Soundwave. You can deny or try to hide your dissappoint people but it is there STARRING YOU SMACK IN YOUR FACE!!!!


(takes a deep breath) But in the wake hot garbage there is greatness, I'm talking about Shockwave and Knight Morpher Annihilator. If you have Annihilator or have seen pics you know what I mean so I will say no more. Then there is that emotionless cyclops glowing eye of Shockwave, which is evil as evil can get with a kind of creepiness that commands my attention and delivers fear to all. Weather you marvel at your G1, your Binaltech or your DOTM Shockwave his head is like no other. It's good to be bad...'nuff said!

Best Ass sculpt.

@zodconvoy

Also got one via ebay the Orion Pax with the head mod and "limited edition" decals last Christmas. And a new head really turns a meeh repaint into something totally awesome.

G1 Slingshot has a truely ugly head...

then I think "I've seen you somewhere before...."

I never knew he was a pretender.

I like Ratchets and Ironhide's headsculpts...

Worst: MINICONS! Almost all of them - seriously, micromasters could manage to have faces years earlier, and then minicons just have a dot or a cilinder for eye, and nothing more. Followed closely by movieverse Bumblebee - but I'm just tired of seeing his face everywhere.

Best: MP Grimlock

aeleven wrote:Best Ass sculpt.

Yeah buddy!!

That IS an excellent scuplt.

zodconvoy wrote:Yes. A thousand times yes. I spent $120 on that head and it was worth every penny.

And now this is your quote.

I'm not going to touch the worst headsculpts because I dislike faceplates, facial hair, Movie style, Beast Wars (especially Rattrap and the beast faces in bot mode like Tigatron and Silverbolt), Animated style and Prime style heads for the most part. Though Armada Demolisher's grimace and helmetless Armada Scavenger deserve a mention. I also second the earlier post about Blurr's new head and I've always hated Kup.

My favourites:

G1 Prowl
Classics G2 Megatron
Reissue G1 Swerve
Classics Galvatron
Classics Cyclonus
G1 Rollbar (just has so much character)
G1 Sideswipe
G1 Inferno
G1 Motormaster (hate his cartoon head)
Mega SCF Hot Rod
Generations Windcharger
G1 Blackjack
G1 Snapdragon
G1 Dead End
G1 Menasor
G1 Defensor
Checkpoint
G1 Whisper
Actionmaster Prime
Actionmaster Grimlock
Kick Off
Metroplex
Device label Tigatron
Energon Prowl
Cybertron Hot Shot
Cybertron Ransack
Acid Storm
Armada Thundercracker
Armada Megatron