Reading over my Toy Of The Year 2020, I was somehow disappointed with Earthrise. I kept going back to the Siege toys for fiddling with, and generally although there was nothing objectively bad about Earthrise (other than Arcee, and Sunstreaker), it didn't hold up to the previous years efforts.

My Toy Of The Year was Dead Optimus. I stand by that. Nothing quite evoked the shitshow that was 2020 like a dead version of a beloved character.

2021 is moving away from the Seasons 1 and 2 cast, into the relatively fresher territory of BW and TF:TM, with a few holdovers and redecos. Of course, this also meant dragging out the Earthrise Arcee mold again, both as Arcee and as Lifeline... the mold still sucks, although I discovered that my Lifeline holds together way better and is merely bad, rather than a complete failure. But, one of the toys that remains on my desk for constant fiddling is Crosshairs, paired with Firedrive even though I have Pinpointer somewhere (the white really works better color-wise than the black and red, as it doesn't blend in, but also matches the trim). I really liked Siege. So, there's that. We haven't really surpassed Siege.

However, we also have some great toys with this toyline. I’m not sure there are any toys that have completely blown me away, and nothing that we need a half dozen versions of (even the beloved Siege Sideswipe might be overdone at this point) but there are a lot of really good toys that come close, and I’m hoping that at some point one will suddenly get the little spark of something extra that makes it jump from very good to beloved.

So, the first pass of contenders are: Cyclonus, who has gotten his best toy ever; Scourge, who has also gotten his best toy ever, and who has a really lovely cornflower blue that will doubtless end up being a tie-breaker if it comes to a tie; Galvatron, in all his purple glory, or all original toy color glory with stickers and the like; Gnaw, our roly-poly friend with all the teeth; and Inferno, who is an improved version of Grapple (now no breaking pegs), or his Targetmaster friend Artfire.

And now checking TFWiki to see who I missed that might be a contender:

Rodimus Prime is actually quite good, but I find his transformation a bit too complex, and kind of prefer the Power Of The Primes toy. I could absolutely see someone loving him more than any other, and if we didn't have Power Of The Primes, I might. I'm fickle that way. Also, his trailer doesn’t always want to stay closed, and on a Commander Class toy, we cannot accept that.

G2 Ramjet -- We do love G2, but holy shit is that Seeker mold over familiar at this point. Great mold, mind you, just wow am I tired of it. As time goes on and I gravitate to one copy of this mold, it might be G2 Ramjet (or G2 Sandstorm), but right now... nope.

Botropolis Rescue Mission -- Is this one toy, or many? Because as one toy, it is amazing. As a bunch of toys, it is less so. It is, however, basically a 2020 toy (and would have been a contender then)

Netflix Earthrise Soundwave -- but he transforms into a box. And I never saw the Core Class version of him, so that's right out.

Studio Series Hot Rod -- he's fine. I don't think he needs to be as complicated as he is, but he's fine. He's better than the Masterpiece toy, I'll grant him that, which should be great praise, and make him an exceptional candidate for Toy Of The Year based on value, but I'm just not digging what he has to offer. Perhaps it is that little yellow spot on his roof — it’s what keeps him from being a Masterpiece toy at retail prices (even though he is very small for a Voyager, he is a great deal compared to the Masterpiece)

Fangry, Optimus Primal, Bumblebee, and Blackarachnia -- ultra rare exclusive set with a lot of filler. Fangry is great, Nemesis Primal is meh, and Bumblebee and Blackarachnia are actively annoying.

Studio Series Wreck-Gar is undoubtedly the best Wreck-Gar we are ever going to get, and features the nipple cannons on ball joints, so he can spray his life-giving nourishments into anyone's mouth even if he isn't directly facing them. Unfortunately, he is also Wreck-Gar, a character that I find as annoying as everyone finds Wheelie.

(If the powers that be had decided to make Nemesis Primal a better color scheme, and packaged him with a matching redeco of Wreck-Gar, perhaps riding Wreck-Gar's motorcycle mode, and packaged diagonally to be doing a wheelie, that set would have made the list -- I'm a sucker for toys interacting)

We also have the big Dinobots starting up, but I keep having parts fall off.. I would rather they didn't include the little companions (Wheelie and Spike) and put that budget into improving the engineering. I think the Dinobots are actually the biggest disappointment of the year.

So, I forgot about as many decent contenders as I remembered, but honestly.... they were kind of forgettable for me.

I am disappointed that none of the beasts made the list, but they just haven't been great. They're fine, mostly, but nothing truly exceptional. I really want to like them more than I do, but the originals were so fun, and these have failed to capture that.

Ok, so back to the original contenders.

INFERNO is overbearingly red. And last year's mold, despite fixing the disqualifying flaw of last year's Grapple. But overbearingly red. It's a bit boring to have someone with basically just one color. Rejected on the basis of being monochromatic.

The monochromatic problem is fixed with Artfire -- rather beautifully fixed, in fact -- plus he has a Targetmaster, so he is inherently better. As an aside, I think they should have changed the color schemes of all the legacy Autobots who came back as Targetmasters -- just enough to add interest, but not enough to change who they are. Artfire really would make an excellent Targetmaster Inferno.

But, he's still basically last year's mold, even if he is missing his disqualifying flaw.

If Artfire was Targetmaster Inferno, rather than just another character who looked suspiciously like Inferno, he would probably feel like more of an essential toy. But, as it is, I don't know who Artfire is. If he has a personality, no one on TFWiki has recorded anything about it. His Targetmaster is just Nightstick, although presumably a different Nightstick.

So, inessential toy, and basically last year's mold. Artfire probably would have gotten the nod last year, but there are enough strong contenders this year that we don't have to resort to a remold/redeco/improvement of an old mold.

CYCLONUS is so lavender. His contrast color is a slightly different lavender, and then there's a slightly lavender sand color. I get it, it is entirely in keeping with the cartoon, but he's boring. Plus, he should have come with a Targetmaster. And some of the parts seem a bit thin for the metal pins, and I fear for his long-term survival, despite seeing no signs of problems now.

(I like my toys a bit chunkier, which feels more stable and solid, even if it isn’t any more durable in the end)

Other than the colors being so boring, he is great. I'm 95% certain he will be Zob's Toy Of The Year, and he won't be wrong -- just, you know, wrong.

I’m hoping Studio Series Armada or whatever gives a bit of contrast to the colors on this mold. This is a great mold dragged down by a boring color scheme.

Compatibility with Universe 2.0 Nightstick is really nice.

I like gaudy color schemes. If they did something silly like Cyclonus in Skywarp colors, representing a future where the influence of Unicron has been removed, I would buy it.

GNAW is adorable. Absolutely adorable. And has a great deco with many colors. And those teeth. He's not perfect, but any problems are basically nitpicking: viewed from the side and held up to the light, you can see a gap under his head where he isn't solid, and the feet tilts are a little severe. But he's great. And a little too short.

It's probably just a matter of being around Voyagers that make him feel too short, rather than just short.

Plus, we had Cyberverse Gnaw and Titans Return Gnaw, and although this is clearly the best Gnaw… in a few years, he might be my favorite of the year, but he doesn’t seem fresh.

SCOURGE is similarly amazing, and I love the extra wings that fold out. The way he can reveal his head in vehicle mode is super fun. And he has that cornflower blue.

I don't like his gun, or how it mounts asymmetrically. If there were posts on either side of the gun, so you could put two on (because we all know that we have many Scourges, and one could hold more weapons in flight mode...), or if the gun had a more central mount where it could be replaced with a Targetmaster, he would likely get the nod.

(Given how closely his vehicle mode resembles TR Astrotrain and Sentinel Prime, I long for an orange and red redeco as Sentinel Prime. I really like bright, gaudy color schemes)

Which brings us to the Toy Of The Year... GALVATRON.

Galvatron is PURPLE. Really, really purple. Overwhelmingly so. He is also way, way better than the Titans Return toy, which I loved, and more accurate than the Energon toy, which I also loved. But he's sort of dull looking, because he's so purple. I love purple. I love the color purple, I love “The Color Purple” and one of my favorite bands is Deep Purple, but this is too purple even for me.

(For a few years, I kept finding purple dress shirts in my size, which given that I have 37” arms is surprising. So, I wore purple every day… that was also too much purple)

He sat in the corner of my desk, loved but ignored, because he was unrelentingly purple.

But then Hasbro offered the redeco based on the original toy's colors. And I nearly passed on it, because Galvatron was really good, but kind of a singular character, so you don't need multiples. Plus, the cannon alt-mode has never been my favorite.

I'm not sure what sparked my desire to buy this -- I am certain that it was NOT the green matrix on a chain. But I did buy it. Probably because I just have a problem.

I have vague memories of the British Transformers comics, with Galvatron from the future coming back to do something, and the gorgeous painted colors, and in person, as I am applying the stickers... this toy kindled a nostalgia that I didn't know that I had, and that's special, and should be rewarded.

I don't remember a lot about the British comics other than the painted colors. They were really, really good. The colors, that is -- the story was apparently forgettable. I assume Galvatron was defeated or something, and that Ultra Magnus was a bit stiff and boring.

Galvatron is a Leader class toy, and a slightly higher price point than Scourge or Cyclonus, so that should be a strike against him, but price is a pretty subjective thing.

I suspect that this year, Toy Of The Year will be dominated by Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus. If there was a box set featuring the three of them, I would cheat and call that one toy. Of the three molds, Galvatron is probably the weakest, but the G1 Toy Colors version sparked something unexpected in me, so right now, he's my favorite of the three, and the difference in price doesn't really matter too much to me.

But, honestly, we have five great toys among the contenders, and at any given moment my opinion might change. Maybe four great contenders, as Artfire isn't very representative of this year's toyline, and that should count a little bit.

I am still stuck on the Primal/Wreck-Gar pairing, and wish someone had done something with it, since robotic gorilla on a motorcycle is such an obvious bit of awesome. I don't think Nemesis Primal was a good use for the Primal mold, but perhaps had they gone with Toxitron? Pea green fur with a purple face... Remold Wreck-Gar's head to be anything else, and give him an at least semi-complementary colors. Although… Toxitron and Oil Slick would make a great pairing of names, not that Wreck-Gar would make a particularly good TF:Animated Oil Slick…

That's what I want out of Habro Selects for 2022. That or remolds of the Beast Toys in the style of the BW2 Cyberbeasts. Or both. Cyborg gorilla on a motorcycle would be better.

Bonus: 2011 — This year was a bit of a letdown, as Dark Of The Moon was released. That was not a good movie, but it had a few nice toys, like Nitro Bumblebee, which I still love. And Deep Dive, who rescued the amazing 2010 SeaSPRAY toy mold from just being a very wrong seaspray. But, 2011 also had the release of TF: Prime First Edition Deluxe Megatron and Optimus Prime with figurines of Jack, Miko and Raf. The Megatron is amazing, the Prime is very good, and we get the kids. One set, so one toy.

https://www.tfu.info/2011/Autobot/PrimeEPOptimusPrime/boxed.jpg

If that is wrong, and we have to break up the set because of rules, then fine, it’s Jack. Best human character in any iteration of Transformers, followed closely by his mom, which sounds like a joke but isn’t.

(Although Deep Dive has been part of the permanent display for a decade, and is truly excellent, and might deserve the nod because he put in the time.)

Bonus Bonus: 2001 was RID, and there was one mold that stood above all the others — Megatron/Galvatron. I prefer the Galvatron colors. Oh, wait, I claimed him as a 2000 toy last year, because of the Japanese release, when I was surprised to discover that BM Tank Drone was a 2000 release.

Tank Drone, the best toy of 2001. Hands down.

And Scourge was a 2002 release, although that means he will be up against Armada.