My Top 10 Favourite Transformers: Legacy Toys

Continuing from last week's post, I'm back with another list of my favourite Transformers toys. This time, I'm covering the toys from the Legacy toyline.

Unlike the WFC Trilogy, these three toylines (Legacy, Legacy: Evolution and Legacy: United) weren't just based on the classic G1 versions and designs of the characters. Instead, the main draw of the Legacy toyline is that this wasn't just about G1 Transformers, but the Transformers MULTIVERSE. This toyline included toys based on Transformers characters from various universes from the Unicron Trilogy to Animated to the Aligned universe and many, many more. Just about all aspects of the TF franchise got represented here, including the comics!

Like the WFC Trilogy, I've had a lot of fun collecting and playing with the toys from this toyline, and I'm counting down 10 of my favourite ones here today. I'll be including toys from all three portions of the Legacy toyline here and all size classes will be included too, so any toy of any size can appear on the list.

Without further ado, let's transform and roll out as we count down my Top 10 Favourite Transformers: Legacy Toys...

Number 10: Deluxe Class Animated Prowl

Who'd have thought the designs of Animated would translate well in a more G1 design style? Well believe it or not, they made these two seemingly incompatible designs work wondrously together and as a result, we get toys like this.

Based on the Animated incarnation of Prowl, this toy takes the original design of Animated Prowl, gives it a G1 twist and makes it look surprisingly good. I'd even say this looks better than Animated Prowl's design, which isn't really saying much since any design looks better than the Animated art style if you ask me (no offence to Animated fans!) He still looks recognizable as the incarnation of Prowl he's supposed to be from his black and gold colour scheme to the helmet he wears and the twin gold shuriken he wields. The only real differences is that his proportions aren't as lanky as the Animated version with a little more bulk on him, he doesn't have such an exaggeratedly large chin and he overall looks closer to a classic motorbike Transformer than what we'd see in Animated. He's very posable too, which helps given he's a ninja-like warrior and so with the toy's articulation, you can get a lot of ninja-like poses with him.

Just like in the show, this Prowl turns into a police motorbike and it looks very dynamic and cool. The Transformation can be a bit fiddly as you have to try and remember which way round the wheels go, but it's not too tricky. I like how his shuriken store as hubcaps on the sides of his wheels in this mode and he also has a kickstand in order to stand while in bike form. It never ceases to amaze me how well they translated the Animated design into this G1 style toy and made it work so beautifully.

There have been other toys in the Legacy line based on Animated characters such as Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, but I think Prowl's the best of the bunch and it's why he's the one that makes this list. He looks super slick in both modes, is a faithful depiction of his Animated counterpart and very fun to pose. Now if only they gave him a sidecar that turns into a suit of armour...

Number 9: Leader Class G1 Sandstorm

I do question if this toy can really be classed as a "Leader Class" figure since he's honestly not that much bigger than a Voyager, but I also member that TF toys have gotten smaller since the days of old anyway, so this is pretty much "Leader Class" size by today's standards.

Anyway, Sandstorm is based on his G1 counterpart and from pictures I've seen of the guy, he looks like a very faithful depiction of the character all the way down to his mouth plate, box-shaped head and bright orange colours. His orange colour scheme especially stood out to me and his design didn't hurt either, hence why I got this toy. He looks very powerful, like he could send even Megatron flying with a single punch, and that he's an Autobot you don't want to mess with. Given his adventurous personality, I imagine he likes to get into a fight whenever he can. He's got good articulation and his huge heels make him very sturdy when posing him and I like how he can wield that cage in robot mode. I like to pose him as if he's swinging it towards his enemies like a mace or something. XD The one thing holding this toy back though is that the chest section doesn't stay in very well, so it comes out easily when posing him, thus making the robot mode not as sturdy as it could be. He would've rated higher on the list if he didn't have this design flaw. As is, I still think Sandstorm's cool.

Cooler still, he's a triple-changer and can turn into a helicopter...

...or a dune buggy. Of the two, I think the helicopter is the best mode, so I often transform it into helicopter form. It's the more solid mode of the two and also the cleaner looking in my opinion. Also we don't have many Autobots with helicopter modes, so why not have Sandstorm in the more unique looking mode? Still, both vehicles are fine in their own way.

Design flaw with the chest aside, Sandstorm is still an awesome toy with a cool design, cool vehicle modes and some fun playability with his accessories. Just the toy to whip up a sandstorm in the fight against the Decepticons...

Number 8: Voyager Class Cybertron Vector Prime

I remember as a kid thinking that Vector Prime was one of the coolest looking Transformers I'd ever seen. Sadly, I didn't watch much of Cybertron and I never got any of the toys from the Cybertron toyline back in the day, so I never owned this incarnation of Vector Prime. That all changed thanks to the Legacy toyline and getting this figure for Christmas in 2024.

Needless to say, I love it and am glad I have this incarnation of the character in my collection at last. Vector Prime is a faithful recreation of his appearance from Transformers: Cybertron from his white, magenta and gold colours to the sword accessory he wields and even his head sculpt and chest design. I love how his design looks somewhat hi-tech, yet ancient at the same time, which is fitting as Vector Prime has the powers of time on his side. I like how his sword and wings are in that special kind of glittery plastic and he looks great when posed while holding the sword in his hand. I also found it pretty cute how he includes a Cyber Key to reference the old gimmick from the Cybertron toyline where they had keys to activate hidden gimmicks. Of course, the key doesn't do anything on this toy and is purely cosmetic, but it's still nice they included it. I especially like how the key can attach to the sword's hilt to make it look more whole.

His alternate form is a Cybertronian jet, so naturally it has a more alien appearance and isn't clearly based on any particular jet. It looks convincing at least and I love the detail on the nose of the jet where it's got a blue sword decal sculpted on it as you can see in the picture. It's a cool way to reference his weapon in robot mode and gives the jet a striking appearance.

Overall, my childhood self would've definitely been happy to get this toy. It's a fantastic depiction of Vector Prime's Cybertron counterpart, it's got great articulation, lots of lovely detailing and just looks great when posed while wielding his sword. This is a toy I'll treasure time and time again...

Number 7: Deluxe Class Cybertron Hot Shot

And funny enough, we're still on the subject of Cybertron as here's another toy based on that portion of the franchise.

Hot Shot was basically the Unicron Trilogy's answer to Bumblebee (and in my opinion, a vastly superior character to Bumblebee since at least he was ACTUALLY a character and not a glorified mascot!) and appeared in all three shows of that era. I have the Legacy toy based on his Armada counterpart as well and while that toy's great, I think this one's even greater. Cybertron Hot Shot just looks so flipping awesome! His design is very slick and striking, and also unique from other Hot Shots as he's blue rather than yellow,, the black and red balances out the blue nicely and the see through yellow plastic on the windows and his gun give him a more energized look to me. Like all the other Legacy toys, he has great articulation and can pose dynamically, but the feet on my copy don't always balance him too well unless he's on a flat, hard surface. As is, he still looks cool when displayed like so and I think the toy does this version of Hot Shot justice.

The car mode is no exception to this either. This thing just screams "fast and furious" and looks super slick and sporty. It's so easy to imagine going at 100 miles an hour down the motorway in this thing! I like how the gun can store on the top of the car so Hot Shot can at least fight back while in vehicle mode. Like Vector Prime, he also comes with a Cyber Key that's purely for cosmetic purposes and doesn't actually do anything, but it's still a nice little Easter Egg to include. In both car and robot mode, he also has flip out red fins that can recreate his appearance from when he gets a power-up from his Cyber Key, so that's cool they included that feature too.

I love both Hot Shot figures, but the Cybertron version wins out for me for a cleaner looking robot mode and being a cooler design compared to the Armada version. This is a version of Hot Shot that I'm happy to have as part of the Autobot army...

Number 6: Voyager Class IDW Tarn

I did say the Legacy toyline covered in the comics too, and who else but Tarn was going to get a toy out of all the comic book characters there is in Transformers? He is one of the most popular comic-created characters in this franchise. I haven't read any of the comics myself, but I knew I needed a toy of Tarn anyway because Tarn is one EPIC looking Decepticon!

Design wise, he's extremely faithful to his comic book appearance from the Decepticon logo inspired head sculpt to the treads on his shoulders, the guns on his back and his tall, lanky proportions. Even his colours are spot on with that grey, purple, black and gold mix that screams pure Decepticon and makes for a menacing looking con. It's like he leapt out of the pages into toy form. He's very well articulated and his big feet make it easy to display him in a variety of poses without falling over and he has a variety of ways he can be display with his twin blaster cannons. They can store on his back and he can either hold it in his hand or have it attached to his arm. He can even dual wield the cannons if you detach them from the swivel platform they come with! That's so cool!

Tarn's vehicle mode is a tank, and a pretty robust looking one at that. It's a shame he doesn't have any actual moving wheels here, which does make his tank mode feel a little cheap, but it couldn't be helped. There was no realistic way they could've gotten actual moving wheels on this toy, so I'm fine with it. I love that large plough on the front of the take and how the cannons can move up and down and swivel all around like an actual tank's cannons can do. It's so neat that the toy has a platform the guns attach to and can swivel all the way round in order to make it possible.

I'm not even a comics fan and I still feel proud to have this guy in my collection. Tarn's toy was so good that I even bought the mould a second time when they recoloured it and retooled it to make Bludgeon. It works just as well for Bludgeon as it does for Tarn. As is, I put Tarn on the list because while I like the Bludgeon mould, Tarn's just cooler in my opinion. Megatron's biggest fanatic more than deserved a place on the list...

Number 5: Deluxe Class Beast Wars Tarantulas

As mentioned in my previous post, not every Beast Wars character made it to the Kingdom toyline. Tarantulas was one of them, and I'm always confused about that. Why did they save him for this toyline instead? Ah well, better late than never.

Like every Beast Wars character from the Kingdom toyline, Tarantulas is an extremely faithful, updated depiction of the cunning Predacon spy that captures all of his trademark design features from the spider legs on his arms, his head design, his purple, green and black colours and even his pincer hands. This figure is so faithful that I can still hear Alec Willows's Tarantulas voice hissing at me just by looking at it! He comes with two accessories, a crossbow and a saw respectively, and he looks cool and menacing wielding either one, or both as I've done in the picture. Like the other Beast Wars characters, he's very well articulated too with even the spider legs able to move in order to create some dynamic looking action poses with him.

For readers who have arachnophobia, you may want to skip this part.

As his name suggests, he turns into a tarantula. It's a clever feature how his hands form the tarantula's mandibles and he looks just as striking as ever with that lovely purple colour scheme and yellow stripes on his mandibles. I like how he's sculpted with hair details to further enhance the tarantula's appearance and with all eight legs able to pose. you can pose him with either all eight legs on the ground or rearing up and ready to strike.

I honestly hope to see more Beast Wars characters get new toys, because Hasbro keep nailing it with these new figures. The Kingdom toyline gave us plenty of great new versions of the characters and Legacy keeps it going with this awesome take on Tarantulas. A great addition to my Predacon army indeed... (cackles evilly like Tarantulas)

Number 4: Voyager Class Armada Starscream

Like with Vector Prime, I never owned any toy of the Armada Starscream growing up, which is a shame as not only was he my first exposure to the character of Starscream, he was one of my favourite Decepticons in Armada. Funny enough I did get Armada Skywarp (and still have it), which was a recolour and retool of Armada Starscream, but I never had the toy as Starscream himself. Thanks to the Legacy toyline, I do now.

This figure is a winner from top to bottom for how faithfully it recreates the Armada incarnation of Starscream while also being an update of the figures that came before. This figure has more articulation compares to his old figures for starters, allowing for more dynamic poses and he also has no Mini-con activated gimmicks or sound effects, which benefits this toy in the long run as now they don't have to sacrifice anything just to accommodate a soundbox. The toy matches the design of Armada Starscream perfectly even down to his black head and white face and the twin cannons on his shoulders that can be pointed ahead to shoot at his enemies. They didn't replicate his wing's ability to form into a sword, the sword is instead a separate accessory, but I'm fine with that. What I'm NOT fine with is the inclusion of the Star Sabre and how it's positively tiny. The sculpt itself is fine enough, but why is the Star Sabre so small? It's more like a Star Dagger! They should've made it much bigger. Still, he does look cool dual-wielding his swords in my opinion, so there's that.

And as expected from Starscream, this toy turns into a jet and much like the robot mode, it's an accurate recreation of the Armada character's jet mode. This to me has always stood out as one of the coolest looking Starscreams in both modes with the red, black and grey colours being a large part of the character's cool appearance. The jet itself looks very speedy and of course, you can still aim the twin cannons ahead in this mode.

This is not only one of my favourite toys in the Legacy toyline, but it might be my favourite Starscream figure I own as a whole. It got everything down so right from the robot to the jet mode and how it's a great upgrade from previous toys of Armada Starscream and I'm just so happy to own it. And we're not done with Armada, for the last three entries on this list will also be Armada related, and Starscream won't like this next entry...

Number 3: Leader Class Armada Megatron

Unlike Starscream, I DID get a toy of Armada Megatron back in the day. It was actually a birthday present I got when I turned nine and to this day, I STILL HAVE IT! No really. And while the toy was good for its time, it doesn't hold a candle to this new version.

The Legacy Armada Megatron toy is a huge upgrade from the original figure that came out back in 2003. Like with Starscream, it has much better articulation (though I wish the shoulders could move a full 360 degrees like on the original) and doesn't have any lights and sounds gimmicks taking up space, so the toy can just put articulation and detail above all else. It's a very accurate depiction of the Armada incarnation of Megatron from the green, purple and silver colours to his three-toed feet and his iconic antlers. They captured everything perfectly on this guy to the point it's impossible not to recognize which Megatron this is and it's so great to have this Megatron all over again, but better than before. What's neater still is that this Megatron is able to combine with Tidal Wave as the original toy could...sort of, I'll explain further later in the post.

Just like his robot mode, his vehicle mode is also accurate to his Armada counterpart with his visible head, rotating tank turret and the tank's overall H-shaped appearance. I like how the details reference some of his old gimmicks on the old toy where he had flip out pegs or moving parts you could attach Mini-cons to. Weirdly, the tank turret can't turn all the way around in vehicle mode. It goes so far around both way and then just stops. Why? They could've easily made it so it can turn a full 360 degrees, so why didn't they?

That aside, this toy is a worthy addition to my collection and I'm so glad that one of my favourite depictions of Megatron got an awesome upgrade with this new toy. And of course, it got recoloured into Armada Galvatron (which I don't have), so fans can get him either as Megatron or Galvatron. That's really sweet. But where would Megatron be in this toyline without...

Number 2: Commander Class Armada Optimus Prime

...his primary nemesis (Prime)?

Like with Megatron, I have a toy of Armada Optimus Prime from back in the Armada toyline, but I got the deluxe version which came with a Mini-con that turned into a gun and he had no trailer to combine with. I still have it to this day, but it really looks obsolete compared to this absolute gem of a figure.

Legacy Armada Optimus Prime is another strict upgrade from his old toys. Design wise, he's spot on to his Armada counterpart all the way down to his chunky, stocky appearance, the grill on his chest and the truck horns on his forearms. His toes aren't coloured yellow like in the show though, instead being blue like in some of his artwork appearances, which is a shame as the yellow toes would've added a bit more colour to him. As is, he still looks really great here and a faithful recreation of this version of the iconic Autobot leader. Sadly, he lacks waist rotation (a rarity in this toyline) due to the transformation needed for his super mode, but the rest of him poses brilliantly. He can stand well and you can get some good action poses with this guy.

His vehicle mode is classic Armada Optimus Prime with this powerful, heavily armoured looking truck that comes with a huge trailer. It looks like Optimus could run over his Decepticon enemies with ease given how strong this truck looks! I always thought the trailer having tank treads at the back was a cool design choice as it further emphasizes how powerful Optimus looks in this form. But the best part about the trailer...

...is that Optimus can combine with it just like he does in the show. I LOVE displaying him in this form! It's so badass and epic and it's just like how he did it in Armada. And the best part? Unlike his original toy, he can combine with his trailer and STILL be well articulated! This Super Optimus Prime can actually move his legs and rotate his waist! it's so awesome they were able to make it do that and it allows for more dynamic displays when he's in this mode. The large gun also makes for a cool accessory for him to hold in his hand when in this mode or as regular Optimus.

What else needs to be said? This toy is incredible. It's a huge upgrade from past toys based on this incarnation of Optimus and has a lot of play value due to his combining trailer gimmick, and it's all done in a way that still makes him poseable. This toy would've been Number 1...but then this toy got released...

And my Number 1 Favourite Transformers: Legacy toy is...Titan Class Tidal Wave

There was no other option. When making this list, I knew straight away Tidal Wave was going to be Number 1. This guy isn't just my favourite TF Legacy toy, he's the crown jewel of my ENTIRE TF COLLECTION! That should tell you how much I love this thing!

I barely know where to begin with this guy! OK, I think I know how. First of all, I have his original toy, but not in his Armada colour scheme. I actually the Energon version of Tidal Wave for Christmas back in the day. It was fine for its time, but THIS toy takes the entire cake and eats it whole if you ask me. For starters, it's a Titan class figure, which is the only size glass that ever fits Tidal Wave. Tidal Wave is HUGE, even by Transformers standards, and a Titan Class figure captures that perfectly. In this size, he dwarfs just about every Transformers I own.

Even the Commander Class Jetfire from the WFC Trilogy looks small by comparison, reaching up to his hips at the highest. That's how big this guy is! And what's incredible is that due to his immense size, you can actually display him picking up a Deluxe or Voyager sized figure in his hands (he could even carry a Leader class figure if it's not too heavy) and he can carry the weight WITH EASE! That's insane and it also looks pretty funny too when you pose him dangling a helpless Autobot upside down by their legs or something. XD

Design wise, he's a perfect recreation of Tidal Wave's classic appearance from Armada and unlike his original toy from that era, his colour scheme is drastically more accurate with the dark grey, purple and silver colours you see in the photos. I especially love how they sculpted his head and that not only can this figure turn its head, it can even look up and down too. He's very sturdy and can stand up very easily thanks to strong ratchet joints in his knees and his large feet, so don't worry about him falling over due to his big weight or anything. He's also very articulated, even able to bend his knees unlike with the original toy, and they were still able to give him waist rotation. I like how his thumbs can rotate to make it easier for him to grab another figure and unlike his original toy, the guns on his torso move independently from one another and don't need a Mini-con to make them move.

And then you have his vehicle mode, which is equally as huge and awesome looking. He turns into a Cybertronian aircraft carrier, which is always neat since very few Transformers characters turn into marine vehicles, and they recreated it so well here. I would've liked it if he transformed similarly to his original toy honestly and didn't need to be divided into three parts just to transform it, but whatever. Just like his original toy, he can either turn into this whole aircraft carrier, or he can split into three smaller aircraft to form the "Dark Fleet". As mentioned earlier, this toy can combine with Armada Megatron...except not really as instead, he has smaller components of himself that can be attached to Megatron to simulate his combined form from the show. Given the size of this guy, it would've been hard to make him combine with Megatron, so this was a logical compromise if you ask me and a neat bit of extra play value for the toy.

Personally, I never understood why these Titan class figures are so ridiculously expensive. I love this toy, but £219.99 is a bit steep guys! £100 would've been just fine. But I got mine cheaper thanks to a discount anyway, so I don't know why I'm complaining. XD It was worth the money anyway for just how damn amazing this toy is. Incredibly big, incredibly upgraded from his old toys, incredibly accurate to his show design and full of play features, Legacy Tidal Wave is the crown jewel of my collection for a reason and easily my Number 1 Favourite Legacy toy...

And that's it for this post. I hope you enjoyed it and enjoyed getting a glimpse of just some of the toys this toyline had to offer. Feel free to comment down below which Legacy toys are your favourites and maybe share any stories you have of how you obtained any toys you may own.

Next week, I'll be doing a post all about three Jurassic Park/Jurassic World games I've played. See you then media fans!