COUNTDOWN: 8 Transformers Toys That Felt Impossible When They First Appeared

Some Transformers toys are impossible to fully appreciate in hindsight.

Not because they’re bad — quite the opposite. It’s because they did something so groundbreaking at the time that it has since become commonplace. Today’s collectors are spoilt for choice, with countless Optimus Primes released annually, Titan-class behemoths as regular price points, and articulated vintage reimaginings treated as just another product line. But there was a time when each of these things seemed unthinkable.

The toys on this list shook things up. They did something unprecedented — something that changed what we thought was possible. And whilst their innovations may feel routine now, understanding their original context reveals just how truly special they were.

Here are eight Transformers toys that felt impossible when they first appeared.

#8: Powermaster Optimus Prime (1988)

Be still, my beating heart. pic.twitter.com/7HHM2ItWcN

— Sixo | Transformers (@SixoTF) February 4, 2026

It’s hard to fathom now, all these many years later, but back in the 1980s, it was not commonplace for individual Transformers characters to receive multiple different toys. Today, no one would bat an eyelid at numerous Optimus Prime figures being released in the same year — even in the same month — but that tradition began in 1988 with the first return to plastic for the Autobot leader, and the toy many of us still hold up as one of the most treasured Transformers designs of all time: Powermaster Optimus Prime.

The character’s death in fiction was a widely controversial choice, but in some meta sense, it paved a path for his real-world revival as a powered-up super robot, complete with combining trailer gimmick and plenty of bells and whistles besides.

It proved several things: that Transformers could return to the well of existing characters and give them new life with a significant makeover, and that certain A-list franchise names would always be required to lead the pack in creating interest in the line. More importantly though, as a kid, this was just about the most exciting prospect you could ever dream of, which is no doubt why it remains in such high regard even today.

A timeless classic.

#7: Beast Wars Rampage (1998)

This might seem like a leftfield pick to some, but hear me out. The Beast Wars toy line was in general a masterclass makeover for Transformers, providing articulation, gimmicks, and creative character design on a level that felt like a significant breath of fresh air. Couple that with a captivating cartoon, and honestly, it’s difficult to overstate what a powerhouse the animal-themed iteration of robots in disguise was at the time.

Then we entered the Transmetal era in year three, and everything went up a notch. Hitherto unmatched levels of animation accuracy (something else which is often taken for granted now) and toys with a degree of detail and polished finish that blew fans’ minds. Sure, the chrome may not have been built to last, but just imagine seeing those shiny specimens new at the time — it was glorious!

Into that arena stepped Rampage. The character was a watershed introduction in fiction: massive, intimidating, a game-changer in every way. And the toy on which that portrayal was based most certainly lived up to expectation.

I can genuinely recall the awe of assessing it for the first time — that stunning orange chrome adorning the impossibly huge crab form with its massive claws and incredible detail. Yet it was the tank mode that really put it over the edge, with its working rubber treads — working rubber treads! — still blowing my mind even today.

This was the kind of toy that felt incomprehensible at the time, and it’s still a beauty to behold even years on.

#6: Masterpiece MP-1 Convoy (2003)

Masterpiece has undergone many iterations since, but it’s difficult to believe anything will ever quite capture the lightning-in-a-bottle that was MP-1 Convoy when it was first released. Known in the West as 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime, this figure is the very definition of right place, right time — arriving at the perfect moment for now-adult Transformers fans who were hungry with nostalgia for the franchise they’d loved for almost twenty years, but were also looking for a little something beyond the classic toys of youth.

And MP-1 delivered in every regard.

Built like a literal brick, it was robust, laden with diecast metal, lathered in glorious paint, and decked out to the nines with stylistic flourishes and features. True, higher-end releases are commonplace in today’s crowded, collector-oriented market, but nothing like this existed for the robots-in-disguise crowd in 2003. Indeed, many of the features we now consider standard on Optimus Prime designs were first introduced here.

An opening chest cavity! A Matrix of Leadership (with light-up effects, no less)! A moving mouth plate! Little pistons in the arms and legs! And all of that is to say nothing about what a revelation it was to see a fairly cartoon-accurate rendition of the Autobot leader in the first place — something else which is challenging to appreciate now, given how well-served we are.

There’s a reason this thing’s reveal broke the Transformers internet — nothing would ever quite be the same again.

#5: Binaltech Smokescreen (2003)

It’s impossible to talk about the impact of MP-1 without intertwining it with BT-1 Smokescreen. The association may not be as overt to modern fans now, but at the time, this was a deliberate two-pronged attack from Hasbro and Takara that delivered clear companion designs — stylistically similar in several regards and scaled to sit alongside one another if preference dictated, but still separate enough to work independently as standalone endeavours.

Make no mistake, though: the first Masterpiece Optimus and the early days of Binaltech and Alternators were certainly singing from the same hymn sheet. The double-whammy reveal of Smokescreen alongside the Autobot leader was just about the most exciting thing the fledgling online fandom could imagine back in 2003. Both toys were on display at a Takara retailer event as early as 17th July, and taken together, they ushered in a new era for Transformers.

The Impreza was absolutely the right choice for the overhaul, too, with a degree of real-world rally pedigree that appealed beyond the obvious excitement of seeing uber-detailed licensed reinterpretations of the classic Autobot cast. It felt new and exhilarating! Sure, the original 1980s toys had paved the way, and Takara’s Car Robots line had nudged that door back open several years prior with facsimiles of realistic vehicle modes, but Binaltech was a different level altogether.

The age of the collector had firmly begun.

#4: Titan Metroplex (2013)

There had been massive Transformers toys before, but nothing like this. After all, the previous record holder for largest release, 1987’s Fortress Maximus, had firmly retained that title for over a quarter of a century, with nothing else even coming close — not even a turn-of-the-millennium housecat-sized Supreme folly.

Then Metroplex arrived as the veritable centrepiece of the new Generations roster and the brand’s third-decade Thrilling 30 anniversary celebrations, and all previous notions of “large” went right out of the window.

At two feet tall, this wasn’t just a big toy — it delivered on the promise of what the city-scaled Autobot always represented in our imaginations. The classic 1986 design remains an untouchable early staple of the original series, but whilst that relied on implying stature through sheer presence and imagination, Titan Metroplex made it happen much more literally. Seeing it up close was the stuff of childhood fantasy, capturing in plastic everything our tiny minds could have only dreamt of.

Again, with so many Titan releases nowadays — the size class having been made into a regular price point in more recent times, to the point where many of us cannot contemplate finding the room in our house for more of the things — it’s impossible to explain what a big deal this toy was to anyone who wasn’t there to witness it firsthand.

Admittedly, it was imperfect in many regards, but that’s not the point. The level of ambition on display was there for all to see, and the game had well and truly changed.

#3: Haslab Unicron (2021)

Not to make this list into ever-increasing levels of toys getting bigger and bigger, but I’d be remiss not to include the colossal crowdfunded Chaos Bringer himself!

Sure, the 27-inch-tall figure may split opinion in some quarters, with even its mere existence inspiring all kinds of heated debate online. But regardless of all that noise, one thing remains objectively true here — this is the Unicron that many of us had imagined in our mind’s eye for three-and-a-half decades prior.

Tales of a toy on this level had been whispered for years, with 1980s playground gossip often repeating the erroneous idea that such a thing could ever actually be real. There was always That One Kid who owned a Unicron, but his mum had packed it away whenever you went over to see it.

Well, it took a while, but at least I can honestly say that my son now is that kid who’s growing up with such a toy in the house, with the HasLab offering proving that sometimes, ambitious imagination can be made real.

And yes, there are practical nitpicks to be had or criticisms to be made about how well this ridiculous beast of a thing actually operates in reality. But honestly? Seeing the supremely spherical planetoid form up close puts it all to bed.

The very definition of a dream project, the likes of which we may never see again.

#2: Missing Link Convoy (2024)

The notion of “classic toys but poseable” is not new. It’s been done previously in other lines, with Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins largely defining the template and other brands picking up the baton since. But even before that, fans had loudly touted the idea of articulated makeovers for the vintage 1980s Transformers designs for years — and yet somehow it always seemed unlikely, perhaps too retro even for a franchise as increasingly steeped in reminiscence as the robots in disguise.

As it turns out, Takara first considered the concept decades ago, around the time of Masterpiece first being introduced. But arguably, Missing Link Convoy was not only worth waiting for — the waiting meant it landed at exactly the right time.

As fun as it would have been, such an overhaul would not have been as revelatory back in the early 2000s, especially with reissues aplenty and original copies of the OG toy still widely available. It might have proven an intriguing curio of the era, but perhaps little more than a novelty compared to the real deal collectors could easily get their hands on.

Fast forward over twenty years, and it’s difficult to imagine a better time for such a thing. Convoy debuted into a landscape where vintage collecting is harder than ever, with artificially-inflated aftermarket prices for increasingly fragile specimens threatening to suck the joy out of the endeavour.

Sure, the whole premise of Missing Link may be neck-deep in nostalgia at a point when the brand arguably needs some fresh blood focus, too. But none of that takes away from what a true thrill it all is for long-term collectors — in many ways, the purest “new” idea Transformers has had in some time.

#1: Missing Link Arcee (2025)

I’m sure it seems like a choice to put two quick-succession Missing Link figures on a list spanning forty years of remarkable toys, but given that both entries represent very different ideals, I feel it’s justified — especially as they elicited equal amounts of awe on their respective reveals.

Where Convoy is about recreation — enhancing something that already exists and delivering it in a way that evokes the tactility of memory — Arcee is something else entirely. She represents the realisation of the road not taken, a Missing Link in the most literal sense.

Convoy may be the toy we always imagined we owned in our brains, somehow, but Arcee is the thing so many of us wished existed — the piece of the puzzle not present to complete a picture-perfect animated movie roster.

And make no mistake: for all the bluster of 1980s corporate groupthink that dictated there was no place for female characters in a “boys’ toy line” (their words), the truth is that plenty of us would have loved to have seen her made real at the time. And now, finally, she is.

Honestly, it’s still difficult to believe it actually happened, and I think that wonder is an intrinsically important part of what makes Arcee so special. Her very existence already has us speculating about what other previously unthinkable ideas might now be realised in her wake, but perhaps that’s inevitable.

After decades of glaring at fuzzy photos of a long-forgotten prototype, Missing Link Arcee is proof positive that you really should dare to keep all your dreams alive.

The toys on this list share something beyond their innovation — they all changed what we thought Transformers could be. Some introduced concepts now taken for granted. Others delivered on promises whispered for decades. A few simply arrived at exactly the right moment to reshape the hobby.

What makes them impossible to fully appreciate now isn’t that they’ve aged poorly — it’s that they succeeded so completely that their breakthroughs became the new standard. And perhaps that’s the greatest compliment of all.

What Transformers toy felt impossible to you when it first appeared?

TTFN