What are some of the figures that everyone should have in their collection? Something you shouldn’t miss and should experience transforming once?

Personally, I think TE-01, Peru Kill, MP-13, and MP-36 are some solid cornerstones of a varied collection.

Honorable mentions go to Earthrise OP, SS-49 Bumblebee.

 

Anything from Weijiang in the "plain" variety and in the deluxe variety (they also made bargain variants too). AND especially if you can, NE 01 Megamaster.
WJ/Viimee Sqeeks/Megatron
Cloud 9 Quake Blast
And I will stop there cuz otherwise list will be large and entirely subjective...For example, I know nothing of MMC Assualtus but bought the entire set due to engineering...and I still don't have any of them (on the way)...subjective! ;D

 

MMC Stray mold
MMC Carnifex
MMC Kultur mold
ROTF Lockdown
RTS Lugnut
Siege Spinister
T30 Springer

 

Looking at my own collection, I'd say the following:

1. One of UT's movie figures (Challenger, Peru Kill, and Dragoon all have the "wow" factor of "How does THIS transform into THAT???").

2. ROTF leader Optimus. The best transformation (and possibly the best mainline figure) that Hasbro has ever done. I still prefer him over the MPM.

3. Prime first edition Optimus & Bulkhead. Hard to overhype these figures; their quality and design was astounding for a voyager pricepoint.

4. Generations Thrilling 30th Springer. Best triple-changer ever made. No competition.

5. One of MMC's IDW figures. Their comic-based designs are so clean, smooth, and solid. Stray is my favourite, like the post above; spectacular in both modes.

6. A Binaltech figure (probably Meister or Smokescreen, but Overdrive would work too). Hard to describe how impressive the alt mode looks or the transformation feels without handling one of these figures yourself. So much diecast!!

7. Some Animated figures. Turning these stylized cartoon designs into 3-dimensional transforming figures resulted in some of the best engineering ever seen in a retail transformers line. Prowl, Blurr, and Lockdown are highlights, but there are just so many great figures in this line.

8. Classics Bumblebee. He takes about 20 seconds to transform and has so much character in both modes. Great example of how not every transformer needs to be complicated. A good design can be SIMPLE and still EXCELLENT.

9. Some G1 figures. Gotta see where it started, if only to appreciate how far transformers have come. The original figures still have tons of charm. I'd go for a carbot like Jazz or Sideswipe since their alt modes are so great.

10. An MP figure. Which one is obviously up for debate, but I'd go with MP-10. Possibly the most iconic figure of the most iconic character, and still one of the pinnacles of the MP line as far as I'm concerned.

Honourable mention: Magic Square Ultra Magnus. Such an amazing, clean little legends figure. Puts MP Ultra Magnus to shame, at about 1/10th of the size.

Big question deserves a big answer!

 

FansProject Smart Robin

 

Wei Jiang's MPP-10 or M-01 Commander. Yes, there are better/newer interpretations out there, but these are cheap and affordable and very well made that you can pick them up and play without kid gloves.

 

Fanstoys Galvatron
Fanstoys Cyclonus
Fanstoys Dinobots
MP 36
MP 44

 

Nice. I have a simpler sort of thread here Your Masterpiece Style Top Ten!

I would say I'm very glad I din't miss out on JX Jiang Xing Metalbeast-01 Winged Dragon.

 

Fanstoys Dracula and Fansproject Mindwipe.
The first for how fun it is and the second for the creativity of the design.

Fanstoys Sovereign . Because the bot mode is such an amazing actionfigure.

Studio 01 Cell. Because of his presence and the transformation is a little difficult at times but really not as bad as some reviewers make it out to be and it's a little marvel to transform a robot into a planet.

Titanium Saint. Another figure that was designed with a lot of love. The bot mode is beautiful and it's great having a figure that transforms into one of those typical eighties spaceship designs.

Iron Factory's TM2 Megatron. The dragon mode is so very cool.

MMC Kultur. A cool design translated into a toy with a really fun transformation that could have been perfect if it had some bloody wheels for alt mode.
A tank is not a car, but neither is it a doorstop.

And if we are including official figures:

MP-10, MP-13, MP Bluestreak +, Legends Sixshot, Seaspray, Beachcomber, Doublecross, Grotusque, Triggerhappy, Misfire, Scourge, WJ Chromedome, Mindwipe, Hardhead, Weirdwolf, UW Computron, T30 Earthrise Grapple...

 

Transform Element OP Leader
Masterpiece Optimus Prime V3 - Knock Off
Masterpiece Megatron V2
Fans Toys Quietus
Fans Toys Roadking
Unique Toys Dragoon
DX9 La Hire
Fans Profect Smart Robin
New Age Lucifer
Masterpiece Hound - Knock Off
Masterpiece Sunstreaker
Jiang Xing Winged Dragon
Gigapower Superator
Transform Element Speed Star

 

Yep. When first transforming it, I got to what the chest does and thought "wow, Hasbro did that with a design?"

T30 Sandstorm also had a couple of "oh wow" moments for me.

Pretty much anything by Magic Square and New Age should be checked out for their transformations - MST Megatron is insane (but incredibly good fun).

 

Completely subjective question, as everyone collects different styles and scales, so even if something is superb, a lot of people might never experience it, as that particular piece will have no place within their collections.

However, I'll answer this from the slightly different point of view which is, "Which single piece in my collection do I use to demonstrate what modern TF's are capable of?" Whether, it's to someone who knows sonething about TF's or someone who has no interest and just wonders what the hell that weird display is all about, there is one piece in my collection that has never failed to amaze anyone... FansToys Maverick. How a big, boxy robot turns into a slim, sleek Concorde, with barely any visible kibble, is nothing short of pure voodoo, and (in my opinion) one of the single greatest examples of engineering within this hobby.

Not true. I used to think the same way, but Siege Springer is just as impressive. HasTak don't always have the best products these days, but someone over there clearly has a lot of love for that character, as both their most most recent versions have been top shelf... even beating what (so far) has been put out by 3P for MP versions.

 

TF Dream Factory Steelclaw/Bonecrusher. The biggest version of the character available, afaik. But he has more than size going for him- he has excellent details and looks fantastic in both modes.

 

How long that demonstration would take tho...

 

Subjective, of course, haha. I just like the modern-looking IDW design (that the Thrilling 30 figure is based on) WAY more than the G1 look that the Siege figure goes for. To each their own!

But yeah, it would be nice if they could give Blitzwing or Astrotrain some of the love that they've shown Springer! Their figures have been extremely underwhelming in comparison.

 

For sure, can't believe I forgot about the T30 Springer mold.

 

Magic Square Ravage

 

• Fanstoys Cyclonus - I love how heavy this figure is and how cleanly they pack away everything in both modes. Its transformation is intricate, yet intuitive and a great showcase of third party abilities.
• Zeta Toys Unicron - This thing is a marvel of engineering. It has a 99.9% kibble free robot mode that looks absolutely brilliant and transforms into a very round planet that also has no kibble. The planet mode, while not exactly accurate is still decent given what the robot mode offers (it looks way better in person). The Transformation is complex and I'm amazed at the design of this thing. I cannot recommend this figure enough. And the fact that I got it for $250 its pants-shittingly crazy.
• Toyworld WWII Bumblebee - This is a great legends scale figure with a an oddly complex transformation for such a little guy. He looks perfect in both modes and is honestly better engineered than a lot of larger figures.
• Masterpiece BW Dinobot - Straight up magic transformation. Beast Wars masterpieces in general are impressive as hell, jumping right out of the screen, but this guy has a pretty cool transformation that often leaves me wondering how I turned that velociraptor into this robot. They took the impossible cheating CGI transformation and were like, "yeah we can do that." I think Infinite Transformation's improved KO of it (IT-02) is pretty good at covering up the robot kibble that is visible in beast mode so you could check that out too.
• G-Creations IDW Optimus Prime - IDW Optimus is one of my favorite optimus designs. He's great looking with a very complicated transformation. I like complex transformations and he's up there at the top.
• Wei-Jiang M01 Commander (evasion optimus prime) - I love this figure. It's a massive improvement on the original figure and he looks amazing. Masterpiece quality and it's great to see the movie robot mode transform into a G1 style truck for like $80. This guy iswhat I credit as what got me into the 3rd party and KO world.

Agreed. It looks great in every mode. I love that figure.

 

Ocular Max Azalea, any version is good because they’re all beautifully made but share one commonality. A fix to the Arcee design complex that involves a genius and enticing transformation. Resulting in an extremely posable robot. Something definitely set apart from a lot of the competition, and a great piece on its own terms.

 

Someone list all the hardest to get figures, just for kicks.