Now, this is a moment when ranking figures won't be easy, since some are in their own unique categories, and others I never bought. That being said, if there is one new mold that needs to have a dishonorable mention, that goes to none other than Devastation Optimus Prime. I have never seen a figure so insulting for a CHUG line for years; it's already annoying enough that fans have more than the necessary number of G1 Primes with Legacy United's Deluxe figure matching the old toy as well as the SS86 Commander Class version (and this is ignoring stuff like Reactivate or visually similar figures with TFOne Prime). What makes Devastation Prime even worse is the abysmal alt mode, the lousy budget, cheap plastic, bootleg-looking appearance for the bot mode, an axe with a lame whoosh effect sculpted permanently yet no gun, and a Matrix that is needless as much as it is underpainted. I don't want to hear people say that Hasbro is doing this to make fans have a cheaper option; $25 for a Deluxe in 2025 is NOT affordable, and I'd argue that the $20 spent for the 2006 Classics Ultimate Battle 2-pack featuring a different Deluxe Prime with a G2 Megatron and a DVD clip show of the Unicron Trilogy is better value than this lousy pegwarmer.
Another mainline release I don't have is Galvatron; many collectors who already own the Kingdom or Legacy versions can also skip this repaint without looking back. Some may consider him to be the definitive version of the mold due to the colors and opaque cannon, but what else does he have that makes him feel new??? I'd love to see him with an evil smirk for another expression, or some articulated hands to help him hold the Matrix as he failed to open it. Why not tweak up the proportions so he can scale better with Prime and Megs? How about you trade in those shitty Revenge shops so he can have some blast effects or a toy accurate blaster? Had this been what we got in Legacy instead, that would have been fine, but a slightly different shade of purple won't be enough for triple dipping. If we set aside a package refresh said to address fandom response (Legacy removing the splotches and fixing the shoulders), the Gen Selects version made a toy accurate deco with optional stickers while the Behold version was a companion piece for HasLab Unicron (clear plastic with reformatting paint apps, tiny slug figures of the 86 movie cast and the ships). This is one of the biggest waste of a slot we ever had.
Anyways, we will go over any non-exclusive, non-Constructicon figures that were released in the main waves. We had new packages, a proper use of Concept Art designs not dickriding the Bumblebee movie, and we fill in a few more Bayverse gaps while the Gamer Edition subline starts slowly dying. As always, this ranking is my opinion, so don't get mad just because I didn't put SS86 Megatron on such a high pedestal. Let's begin.
14. Elita-1 - I already said my opinion on the character being like the typical "Hollywood-mandated, corporate-approved girlboss" cliche that is as stupid as the equally-influenced "quirky and relatable himbo" as we saw in Orion Pax. Still, I was at least hoping her figure would be good! The altmode looks cool, her design is one of the better ones from that movie, and the jetpack compatibility with all the other characters sounds cool, but what the hell happened to the rest of her? The chest barely stays together; she has massive wizard sleeves that could have been broken up if Hasbro wasn't trying to save a penny or two, and her ankle pivot is lousy despite being ball-jointed. Somehow, she looks cheaper than the other characters, excluding Sentinel! Guess Hasbro lost faith in the movie doing gangbusters and decided to phone it in with her and Starscream.
13. Hatchet - Just because a figure gets demand to be released, doesn't mean it will always end up being worth the wait. Hatchet may complete the Dreads from Dark of the Moon, but he is far from perfect. Being a retool of Crankcase and Crowbar may be a good idea on paper, yet the execution ends up working like an afterthought. Not helping is that the articulation ends up being hindered somewhat due to the vehicle kibble piling on top of each other and the front legs having their ball joint stems on much weirder angles than we had before. A new mold would have worked better, or even some refinement from the solicitation photos, but sadly, this ends up looking more dated in 2025 than it would have been in 2022.
12. Starscream - Though the design is better than I expected, I can't help but find the figure held back with the quality control of his shoulder pylons, the lack of wrist and ankle articulation, and the way his cannon turned out. It's almost like Hasbro started losing interest in their One characters for a brief while. That being said, the altmode is the best out of the modern-tetrajet approach we saw since the Bumblebee movie, while the wing transformation is the best part out of the whole sequence. Still unsure if I'd buy the other Seekers.
11. Skywarp/Thundercracker - Starscream himself wasn't that great of a repaint, so I guess before the Gamer Edition subline dies out, we have Skywarp and Thundercracker released within the same year. Are they better than their Seeker leader? Barely. Skywarp is kind of cool with his paint job, even if it isn't 100% accurate.
10. Bumblebee - The original version of this figure held up about as well as it did; the inaccurate proportions combined with how fiddly it was for its size made me uninterested in revisiting transforming or even posing the mold for how annoying it got over time. Not helping is how floppy the door wings got as well as how knock knee'd be kind of looks at the legs. Even the swappable arm and face gimmicks weren't too hot. Is this Bumblebee perfect? No, because you have the mismatched yellow,s and I know some will get angry he has the door wings (the bigger problem for me is not remolding them), but I think it's the better figure of the two versions we got. I'm surprised it took Hasbro nearly 7 years to retool him to be more accurate, since we got better versions of Clunkerbee and '07 Prime a year after the first wave versions came out. Regardless, it's at least got better wing articulation and chunkier feet. A new mold would be appreciative, though.
9. Double Punch - I always thought the ROTB Scorponok mold was pretty decent despite how sticky the ball joints for the hips were, in contrast to the looseness of the ankles, while the hands looked goofy. What I liked most was the design for the bot mode, for how much potential it had in representing what the Predacons could have been like if we didn't just have Scorponok. Double Punch is thankfully as good, though possibly even better, thanks to his paint job and tolerances improving on what Scorpy had. Sure, he was in a "filler" wave before we had the new package reboot starting in 2025, but it's one of the better repaints we got. I wonder if we'll get one more version of the mold in green...
8. Sentinel Prime - For as been-there-done-that and uninspired as this version of Sentinel is, especially with a not-so-convincing performance by Jon Hamm, I will say I appreciate the ideas of this figure compared to the execution. For positives, the design is pretty solid for a higher-power character, even if the wings are inaccurate to the movie. I love that he comes with the battle mode, even a mouthplate that is integrated, given how that is barely a gimmick we see on Optimus Prime toys apart from Cybertron, the Animated Voyager, and both Armor Knight & MPM versions of Movie Prime. The altmode can't really be judged for accuracy, given he never transformed, and he admittedly feels too much like a seeker with his design, altmode, and Dirge-esque deco. However, the cheese-yellow instead of gold, the loose tolerances for the ball-jointed shoulders, and the lack of a dual-blade sword are enough to knock some points off this figure. I know people will wish he could be split in half, but will it be enough to make up for the other issues this toy has?
7. B-127 - To him and his friends, he may think he's Badassatron. To me, he's very midassatron, but that doesn't mean the figure may end up as mediocre as the character & his movie. The altmode is already the best part, with how much it's influenced by the WFC game, but the transformation is fairly satisfying, while the bot mode isn't as bad as I anticipated, given how lean his design was in the movie. It could be less like how DOTM Leadfoot had a barely segmented belly gut, but I appreciate this figure for not being too much like the Prime Changer of the mainline (even if I never got it). The weapons are inaccurate, but hey, at least he can shoot enemies instead of yelling out what we, the audience, are already watching. Yes, we know you got weapons, stop acting like the typical modern-day writing style where characters say "Erm, well that just happened! I just beat that guy up with powers pulled out of my ass", someone rip that bastard's voice box out before they even make a sequel that'll flop even harder!
6. Megatron - This is easily going to be many fans' number one Studio Series figure of the year, especially because it is the super duper most accurate version of G1 Megatron, only behind MP-36. Honestly, Hasbro making him a tank mode is predictable, but I don't think he's 100% perfect. Main issues include the shoulders being slightly lower than normal, the sword not going into his hand as easily without risking his thumb, the fusion cannon not being 1:1 with the cartoon (ironic, since Energon Universe Prime has it), and a tank mode that looks mediocre. He could use a few more accessories, and he looks fine with SS86 Optimus, but he is far from the best.
5. Que - We finally got the Einsteinbot in mass retail after years of Hasbro failing to sell the original DOTM Que back in the early 2010s. Sure, it's ironic that the old Deluxe goes for huge demand in the aftermarket while this is a fairly prominent pegwarmer, but apart from the severe lack of paint, I still find this to be even more accurate to the CG model in comparison. Instead of being gangly at the arms and using baby blue joints in addition to a weird interpretation of his head, we get better proportions (as good as they can be on an old bot, I suppose), and while he should have the thighs and shins swapped, color wise, in addition to a black roof and better paint/darker blue in general, it's great seeing a new Que that's not just closer to the movie but also not awful for anyone who couldn't cough up all that extra money for the original Deluxe. The spear weapon barely going into his hand is stupid, though.
4. Apelinq - While paying for a Leader Class figure that's a Voyager with Benefits seems like a huge pill to swallow, it's doubly so when it's a retool with very few alterations and has only one or two new accessories to distinguish itself as a separate character or different version of the same guy. While Apelinq has new heads for both modes as well as different arm tooling and a pair of curved arm blades instead of an axe and scimitars, he is not all that distinct from Optimus Primal, the character his mold originally came from. Sure, it's easy to say that they shared the same designs with a few tweaks here and there in the movie, but if you already paid full price for Optimus back in 2023, would it be easier to do the same with Apeling? Regardless, it's still a great figure all around thanks to the engineering, articulation, and accuracy; the major issue is how samey and pricy he comes off after getting Primal.
3. Ironhide - Ratchet was already a great figure from the Gamer Edition subline, and the same can easily be said for Ironhide when it comes to this wave. Granted, he still comes with the same axe accessory when I'd argue we should have things changed up with his melee weapon, but I appreciate how Hasbro was able to make the tooling somewhat distinct between the brawler and medic, even if it's not easy to do given they're Cybertronic and once again back to sharing designs a la G1. It sucks how slow the Gamer Edition subline is with doing the WFC/FOC cast, and even worse, how half of them suck, but Ironhide is one I find no issue with.
2. KSI Widow - THIS IS HOW YOU USE THE CONCEPT ART SERIES, HASBRO!!!! I know many Beewunners have waited long enough to jerk off at the scrapped BBM Megatron design, but I seriously doubt there was any interest towards the likes of Sunstreaker and Rumble! Thankfully, KSI Widow represents the kind of purpose we should seen Hasbro fulfill when the time came for going beyond the on-screen characters. While I would love to see her in red, she has a great alt mode that is surprisingly licensed by McLaren, a unique transformation reminiscent of the PRID Vehicon, and a robot mode that manages to be clean in spite of her proportions not exactly matching the concept art. I would LOVE to see Hasbro make Concept Art versions of characters like ROTF Springer, DOTM Que's Doc Brown design, TLK Dragon Megatron, and the Predacons from ROTB. Also, WE STILL NEED TRANSIT!!!!
1. Optimus Prime - Yes, he could use more paint than he currently has. Yes, he still has a backpack. Yes, he is shorter than his TLK Voyager. No, that won't stop him from being the #1 pick of this list. Why is that, you may ask? Optimus Prime not only manages to be better designed than prior versions, but he retains a much cleaner silhouette than what other figures could achieve. He has a more involved transformation that closely matches the way it worked on-screen, and the fact that the worst he has with kibble management is the front section without the tires STILL has people annoyed shows how long overdue this level of care was needed for Prime's redesign in toy form. I doubt we'll ever get to have official MPMs under HasTak, so for now, this figure is the best transforming AOE Prime we're going to get from them. Let's hope Nemesis Prime turned out better than he currently will.
With that line-up out of the way, let's go over the Constructicons! Devastator was honestly better than I expected as a whole, but does that make any of the individual members good on their own? Let's see who held up better than the others!
6. Scavenger - Easily the worst out of the whole set, from the mismatched thighs and hands to the poor tolerances on the canopy, and just having the worst head design out of the subgroup.
5. Bonecrusher - Not like he's any better than Scavenger, but at least he's more uniform, his head sculpt sucks less, and has fewer tolerance issues in comparison? He feels like he should have a waist swivel but the hinges lock it up, and neither he nor Scavenger have wheels.
4. Scrapper - While the transformation is basic and his altmode proportions almost Playskool-esque, I will give credit for making him a bit denser in plastic quality and not cheapening his bucket toe stability like the Combiner Wars version. And hey, the ankle rocker can double as a one-way diaphragm tilt.
3. & 2. Hook & Long Haul - Hoot thankfully has a bit more functionality than his CW version, while Long Haul has better proportions overall. The trailer being included in the set to justify the size class choice at least helps Devastator feel less like Menasor & Superion in terms of assembly. Was it still worth the $89.99 price tag? No, not exactly.
1. Mixmaster - Not saying much when I say that he's the best of the lot, but at least the transformation isn't as straightforward as Scrapper's due to the way the leg joints work and fold onto each other. I wish he had protruding missile tips, but at least he has six functional wheels.
And finally, the exclusives! A majority of them were Target exclusives part of the More Than Meets The Eye collection, so let's focus on the ones I don't have. Sideswipe is basically an opaque window version of the Kingdom retool, Wheeljack is a slightly different version of the Legacy United Autobot 5-pack version, Optimus Prime is slightly better looking than his 2023 counterpart, and while the same could be said for Megatron, they still didn't fix the knee problem. It Hasbro doesn't care, why should I? There's also the fact that Sideswipe and Wheeljack probably won't scale with their shitty Devastation Prime, so I skipped them all.
As for the exclusives I did buy, we only have two, and the one I recommend least is Perceptor. We bumped him up to the size class of a Voyager, and only because of the modified Ratbat and Core Class Ramhorn. Sure, they tweaked the scientist a bit by changing the hues of his colors, broadening his torso, replacing transparent parts with opaque ones, and adding a flap on his back, but that's it. Nor helping is that any new parts for Perceptor are molded in the same brown plastic that makes up Ramhorn and painted red. Was it hard to mold anything new other than the flap?! Not helping is the tank mode is now barely possible due to the lack of space needed to tab the legs in place.
As for the troop-building 2-pack, I ended up liking these two more than I anticipated. Sure, the Earthrise Seeker mold isn't that great and I know some people have issues with the Battlecharger mold, but the color scheme being unlike anything we got before with their respective mold histories, combined with the unique sword accessories, make them more fun and kind of an underrated pick-up. Somehow, they're a better representation of Devastation in the Studio Series line than the Optimus Prime figure we got!
And that about wraps up the 2025 Studio Series ranking list! We'll see what 2026 has to offer beyond some Bayverse slivers, a lot of 1986 wankery, and an unnecessarily overpriced Skybound Prime, but stay tuned for how each mold from Age of the Primes stacks up very soon. Until then, be sure to only buy Devastation Primes for a dollar!
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