So I've been watching Cybertron and I like a lot of the toy designs, but before I get any, I was wondering if any of ya'll who have them could tell me about them. Do the cyber key gimmicks take away from the toy itself? These are the ones so far I am thinking of getting...... Optimus Prime Wing Saber Vector Prime Crumplezone Landmine Ransack Cannonball
I have a few, but Optimus is easily one of the bet of the line, if not one of the best Optimus figures ever. The cyberkey gimmick is unobtrusive, only really activating the missiles and the big gun (which can be triggered with a little button).
Vector Prime and Wing Saber are a little underwhelming. The rest are solid imo. It's generally pretty easy to find Galaxy Force/Cybetron toys for low prices too. With possible exception of Optimus, but if you're patient...
nope which is probably the coolest part. Also I have Canonball if you wanna buy him just shoot me a pm
I thought Vector was pretty coold myself. He lacks a true key gimmick but I do like the sword, alt mode, transformation, and adorable little buddy he comes with.
Cybertron has one of the best toylines of any TF line, IMO. The Cyber Key gimmick, while nonsensical in the fiction, actually makes for some pretty neat toy features and is usually very unobtrusive. The line also has great variety, with Earth vehicles, Cybertronian vehicles, and beast modes all mixed in. As others mentioned, Optimus Prime is pretty great, and Megatron is also a fantastic figure (the Galvatron redeco has nicer colors, but is usually crazy expensive). I'd also recommend the Cybertron Defense trio, Crosswise, voyager Starscream, Downshift, and Menasor as some of my personal favorites. There really aren't many bad toys in the line. It's also worth noting that a lot of Cybertron toys got repaints in the movie and Universe lines, some in better colors than the original, like Universe Countdown (redeco of CD Red Alert) and Movie Big Daddy (redeco of Downshift).
The Cannonball mold is a bit meh. Somebody not on your list who should be: Evac. One of the best helicopters Hasbro's ever done.
Cybertron had really nice engineering, and good chunky figures with some great realistic Earth vehicles. I mostly ignored the Cyber Keys, and the gimmicks were far less intrusive then the similar ideas applied in Armada. It's also notable for being the only Unicorn Trilogy line that had good Autonbots, as pretty much everything not Minicons was trash in Armada, and most of the Energon Autobots were hamstrung with the universal combining gimmick that made everyone have awkward proportions plus the all-time worst Optimus Prime. (Scouts and Ultras were still good though.) Optimus Prime - Friggin' Awesome. Wing Saber - Kinda Meh. Vector Prime - i dig him. Crumplezone - kinda meh on this mold, didn't feel like it had come as far as the rest (I wasn't into most of the Aspeed planet or any of the Giant Planet molds). Landmine - Simple but fantastic, just a solid deluxe. (great head sculpt) Ransack - he's not great, but not bad. Cannonball - a really unique transformation, but has kinda dumpy proportions. This. 1000x this. CDF Scattershot is one of my all time favorite molds. I also really like Mudflap, Evac (best Helicopter Transformer ever, it's not even close.) Soundwave, Downshift, the voyager Starscream mold (released as Starscream in Thrust colors in Cybertron @ TrU and Universe 2.0 (??) as Dirge), Snarl & Excellion (Great Hot Rod homage redeco) I also have a soft spot for Longrack ~ takes one of the best Armada molds (that has semi-acceptable articulation), and gives him a brilliant head sculpt of a super obscure Beast Wars Neo character.
Of the ones you list, no the cyberkey doesn't detract from the figures. Overall it was one of the best gimmicks Hasbro has had in quite some time. It struck a great balance between a fun play pattern, and a good transforming robot. I do also recommend any of the following molds: Clocker/Swerver Hardtop/Swindle Sideways Any of the Cyb Defense Trio Megatron/Galvatron Primus Evac
Pretty much the same as a lot of people have already said. Personally, I prefer the repaints over the original figures as I never really watched the Unicron trilogy so I had no real attachment to those characters. Big Daddy over Downshift Getaway over Hot Shot Countdown over CDF Red Alert Crackcase and Cannonball over Red Alert Grindcore over Landmine Springer over Evac Roadbuster over CDF Hot Shot (they really, really need to use this mold again) I would also suggest picking up the Cybertron Landmine/Landquake mold and the Bulkhead/Quickstrike mold. Both are insanely good but Landmine is a bit better in my opinion. The connection gimmick is more fluid and looks like in goes together compared to just slapping a backpack on.
On rare occassion, a little. But most of the time, no. Optimus Prime: incredibly awesome. One of the best Optimus figures. Wing Saber: pretty good. Bit unstable feet and weird hands, but solid figure. Vector Prime. Pretty good, but do get the Japanese version for better colours (hasbro is white, TT is greyish) and better plastic Crumplezone: never had him Landmine: pretty solid deluxe. Ransack: never had him Cannonball: not bad. Bit fiddly in some parts Other recommendations are: - the Cybertron Defense team (CD Scattershot, CD Red Alert and CD Hot Shot) - Hot Shot or the red repaint (excel-something), which makes for a nice Hot Rod btw - Jetfire - Evac or perhaps the Springer repaint - Downshift (lovely shade of green) - Megatron - Soundwave perhaps for the originality of the design. - voyager Starscream: and you can troop build with these: TT for the show accurate colours, Hasbro as Thrust, Universe version for Dirge and Botcon for Ramjet - Thundercracker perhaps.
Wingsaber is actually a homage to G1 Sonic Bomber and Prime to Ginrai so technically 4 figures (plus they can combine!! )
Depends which version you get, the first versions (Takara & Hasbro) had a (frankly underwhelming) sound chip key gimmick, a 'Charging Up' noise and a sort of laser SFX (quite reminiscent of the old He-Man series blaster noise) sound activated by moving the right arm, which changed into a sword cash noise with the key inserted. IMHO it's worth tracking down the Takara release to avoid the soft wing panels and sword syndrome of the western release, plus the cyber key/force chip looks heaps better silvered up.
I have a few for sale. Check my link. Excellion is a fun toy. I really enjoyed collecting during this line.
There are a lot of solid designs in the Cybertron line. Off the top of my head, I really like Crumplezone, Sideways and Evac. Just really nice, well-designed, solid figures. And FUN! I admit I never liked Cybertron Megatron. The big car parts that go on his back in robot mode get in the way too much, IMO.
Optimus Prime- A great Optimus Prime figure, and possibly the best figure in the line. His Cyber-Key Power is opening his cannons Wing Saber- He's alright, but he's not worth getting without Prime. His Cyber-Key Power is some sounds and opening up the front of his plane mode. Vector Prime- Go for the Takara Version. It's more expensive, but it's worth it for sturdier plastic. His Cyber-Key Power is just some sounds. Crumplezone- The original is really good, but the Dark variant, while much cooler looking, has slightly worse articulation because of some remolding decisions. Still, I recommend them. His Cyber-Key Power is to have giant cannons flip out with sounds. Landmine- He's simple, fun, and kind of embodies what the Cybertron line was; not too complicated, but they have satisfying transformations. His Cyber-Key Power is to flip out blades on his wheels to form "turbines" in robot mode. Ransack- He's my personal favorite scout class figure, and he looks great alongside either of the two Crumplezones. His Cyber-Key power is to have some cannons fold out of his little bike backpack. Cannonball- Cannonball actually isn't too great. His articulation isn't very good due to the kibble he has in robot mode, and his Cyber-Key Power (Flip out some cannons on the back) is kind of lame. This is definitely my personal bias, but I think that the entire Cybertron line is just full of great toys. The Cybertron Defense Team, the Gigantion figures (All three of them), the Earth Toys (Evac, Crosswise, Hardtop, Downshift, Mudflap, and Jetfire primarily), some of the Velocitron figures (Crumplezone, Ransack, Clocker, and Breakdown), a good portion of the Beast Planet Figures (Scourge, Undermine, Snarl, the BW 10'th anniversary repaints, and Brimstone), the Planet X figures (Soundwave, Sideways, and Unicron), and most of the figures with Cybertron Cyber-Keys. While some aren't very good, like Overhaul, Runamuck, and Thundercracker (That's just personal preference), the majority of the line is good.