Transformers Studio Series Elita-One review

Like with a lot of characters in Transformers One, Elita-1 was forged without a transformation cog. She was an Energon miner whose sole purpose was to supervise the rest of her cogless bots. While she maintained a spotless record in hopes of being promoted, it wasn't until the "less-than-perfect" Orion Pax got her fired and was reduced to working in waste management. From there, she grew into being more of a corporate Hollywood girl boss cliche somewhat like Princess Peach in the 2023 Mario movie, being mostly dismissive towards any of the quirky and relatable types who would eventually become more like the status quo versions of themselves. I bet the way Elita-1's lines were written would lend themselves to the eventual fan cam with motion sickness-inducing edits. That being said, she was decently tolerable after Pax told everyone to roll out, in addition to respecting him bit by bit compared to Bee and Deez. And hey, it's also better than her role in the shitty Netflix WFC trilogy. So let's see if the toy's any good!

Here we have Elita-1 in her Cybertronian motorcycle mode. While making fembots as cycles is nothing new, this is at least reminiscent of her altmode in Revenge of the Fallen. The design isn't quite Tron-like, though compared to the design used for T30 Chromia, there is nowhere for a human to ride on her. In fact, this looks to be wholly new compared to Optimus, Bee, Megs, and Screamer, who feel like rehashes from prior figures. I'd expect this to be closer to someone like Cybertron Ransack or Beast Machines Thrust, but no! Her unique design is greatly appreciative in a time where Transformers creativity is sucked out by the Evergreen aesthetic as corporate-approved as her role in the movie.

The side profile does have a bit of robot kibble visible, but those shoulders are indeed accurate to the design. Thankfully, that saved the engineers some practicality, though the wheels don't really roll that great.

The jetpack she comes with can peg into the back of you want to fill it in. And while you can fold the peghole away it is at least able to complete the look somewhat. It also has a bit of paint on an otherwise flat grey plastic. The gun can tab on the side with a foldable handle. Kinda.

For an altmode size comparison, here she is alongside Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Bumblebee. I'm not sure if the scale is right or not (and I doubt they were as concerned for scale as they were with recycling B-tier animated movie tropes), though this can be stemmed from Hasbro wanting to make all the figures seen here as Deluxes. It makes sense with the Beelita duo, but despite what Hasbro said in making Prime and Megs Deluxes, $25 for a Deluxe barely counts as affordable in mid-2020 standards compared to 2-packs we used to get. I'm referring to the faction leader sets sold in Classics, Animated, and Prime; sure, those figures weren't the best, yet for $20, you got affordable versions of Optimus and Megatron from three different continuities (the first two examples having play features), a DVD featuring episodes from their respective shows (or for Classics, a Unicron Trilogy clip show), and a trio of humans exclusive to the Prime set.

Setting aside the rant I made that has little to do with Elita-1, one funny thing about this figure is that the head could be lifted up for an intentional mistransformation whenever she is flipped over. Kind of reminds me of Energon Ironhide but with the inconvenience of looking like she was hit by an EMP.

Transformation is mostly panel heavy with the legs, which are the more involved part of the toy than the upper body. In fact, while the rear wheels folding in half to fit in the chest is a cool idea, there needs to be much better tolerances to keep her from flopping around without any good tabs. At least the backpack folds up fine. The resulting robot mode looks accurate to the character model (assuming there aren't any outdated aspects pulled from any concept art). I like that she has a pretty slender build that fits her the best compared to the other characters. I will have to take points off for how cheap she feels. I already talked about her floppy chest (no not like that), I swear that the panels for the legs and the forearms give me mid-2010s quality vibes. Not helping is that her hands are etched onto the panels, making them appear nonexistent from the side. Also, her ankles feel sticky likely do sub-par molding used on the ball joints. Her heel spurs pop off like on AOE Optimus, but while his are easier to attach back on an otherwise robust figure, hers are much smaller and don't like staying in place that great. It sucks too since I almost want to really like this figure outside of my opinions on her character, but either the budget & quality being scaled back or Hasbro not caring too much about Transformers One anymore (much like the audience numbers after seeing how over hyped it was for a mid movie) compromised this figure greatly.

Her head sculpt is still accurate to the character design, and thankfully has some etched details that are easier to spot even without a wash or a coat of paint. Her eyes still lack pupils like a lot of Studio Series versions of the cast. With her blaster in hand, her articulation consists of ball joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles (the latter not giving her the best range), swivels for the waist and thighs, and hinges for the knees. There technically is a double joint but it is suited for straightening her legs for transformation.

The jetpack is not only able to attach onto her back without issue, but it also utilizes tabs meant for the backs of Optimus, Megatron, and B-127 where little slots lie for their own compatibility. I always appreciate it when there is a bit of compatibility between both figures, even if the development on these figures has a much smaller time gap than that of DOTM Megatron and Evasion Optimus Prime in regards to the latter's shotgun.

Though they may appear similar  in sculpt, Elita's blaster is detailed differently from Bee's and has no hole in the circular area. Also, we have a bit of deco which is appreciative.

For a bot mode size comparison, here she is alongside the other members of the not-so-kooky quartet that went from pretend panicking on that train to being mostly in line with their established personalities. They match up with the scales shown when they were cogless and before Orion became a Prime and D-16 took the -us from Megatronus. With these being the final forms Prime and Megs took, they would have to be Voyager scale. As for Elita, I think she's just as mid as her character in the movie. I would have forgiven the forearm panels and maybe the thin plastic if it weren't for how easy it is for her to untab or fall apart. The jetpack compatibility is nice, but if one didn't feel compelled with the figures we got before, what would make them want to hunt down Elita? If it weren't for the shit show known as Devastation Optimus Prime, this would have been the worst figure of the whole 2025 line-up.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐