Top of the Bots 2025 - part 2!
Javelin just exudes cool from every robot pore. Cool robot, cool vehicle, even quite a cool transformation. And perhaps even cooler, she's not a character you already have a hundred times! I cannot emphasise how important this is! I don't want any more Bumblebees! I want weird obscure little guys like Javelin! and lets be honest here, she wears the mould far better than SSBB Arcee, who was fine, but in the end you already have an Arcee and don't really need any more. Slightly more angular, more self-assured in the shape, whereas Arcee could look like anything so long as she's a bit pink.
Another wonderful find from Leicester Old and Vintage Toys, which has been a really good source of robots this year. I think they've been a little more friendly with their prices, as I've found far more affordable stuff from them than in the past. May it continue into 2026.
This doesn't happen often - I went to TFN hoping to find a Quickmix... and I found a Quickmix! And at a good price too! Genuinely, there's no better feeling than getting a good deal on a robot you've wanted for ages by poring through the big storage bins that the best sellers have there. It's very rare that I go to TFN looking for a new release, but the strange and obscure toys I passed on 20 years ago, those are the absolute gold. Sadly the robot head is missing a piece, giving him a slightly lopsided look, but it's a minor point.
Quickmix is such a fullsome package. You get a decent bot, with a nearly-perfect alt mode (I have to deduct a point for the awkward turning drum gimmick, which doesn't really work as the support arm is on a weaker hinge than the ratcheted rotation joint), and one of the best uses of a minicon I've ever seen. Not only can wee Stripmine turn into a scale-appropriate alt mode, not only can he awkwardly latch onto Quickmix's nipples in robot mode, but he can sit up top on the control platform while Quickmix is in alt mode. It's great!
#3 - Robot Toys Working Leopard (Cheetor)
2025 was the year I finally dipped a toe into the waters of 3P Legends class toys. I'd always been hesitant before, as they'd invariably be too small to interact with any of my other figures. Ah, but Beast Wars characters gets around that problem - they're supposed to be small! And while, yes, these are still a little on the hefty side when placed next to deluxe cars, 1:43 scale figures and the like, it's pretty moot in the wide scheme of things.
I chose Cheetor over Optimus Primal for the list because there's a little more character and liveliness on show here. Primal struggles to pose much in beast mode, and has a more angular, robotic look that Robot Toys clearly abandoned quickly. The back legs on Working Leopard (and moreso on his evil counterpart, Lurking Weopard) are rather untidy, but you can see iterative improvements on every release they do. I'm highly tempted by their upcoming Tarantulas, not because I desperately love the character, but because the toy just looks that good.
#2 - Studio Series '86 Springer
Just so handsome. It's a mark of a great figure that they have the effect on you, that looking at them just brings you a moment of unalloyed joy. So it is with Springer. I didn't like the look of Siege Springer at all - too boxy, too faded and pale, not nearly enough life in him to tempt me away from the still-fantastic T30 Springer toy. And those swords! Just terrible. Of course, SS86 Springer has an absurdly over-compensating array of accessories, far more than he'd ever need, but they needed to excuse the big pricetag somehow.
Oddly enough I have this Springer in car mode far more than helicopter. While both are good the one serious negative I can give the toy is the lack of landing gear for the helicopter - I would have gladly sacrificed a couple of accessories and that piddly wrist-gun for fold-out struts. Historically the car mode is the one Springer uses the least, but there's something about its weird front-heavy form that makes me imagine its use more as a battering ram than anything else.
Anyway, Springer's handsome, I love him.
And the number one figure I got in 2025 is...
#1 - Energon Omega Supreme
£30! That's all this was! And the only thing missing is the missiles! That alone would have endeared me to Omega, but then he's such a wonderful toy anyway. He's big - but not so big to be unwieldy. Titans seem almost bloated by comparison. His transformation is so quick and simple you'd assume the alt modes would be rubbish, but they're not! Okay, the train-with-a-crane might not be to everyone's liking, but those people are wrong and kind of ugly, so that's okay! The battleship though is an all-timer. Tidal Wave is the only ship that's going to give Omega a run for his money on the high seas, and that could be a job for next TFN. The headmaster (most commonly lost) is cute and fun! The 'battle station' modes are bobbins, but even then are daft fun to mess around with.
I was a little giddy getting this at TFN, but the joy it sparks has remained with me the whole year. As with SS86 Springer, as with Quickmix, that's the mark of a truly great toy. One that makes you happy to look at, to touch, to fiddle with, to have on a shelf or down in your lap. Collecting robots shouldn't just be about dutifully getting preorders of the newest waves four times a year, it should be about seeking out the thing that gives you the most silly pleasure, be it a big daft idiot like Omega, a unique weirdo like Javelin, an intricate puzzle like Sandstorm or anything else. Even after 20 years and more of being an on-and-off collector, finding something like this that makes me happy reminds me that wasting money on plastic robots isn't a total waste.
Happy Christmas you lot. Let's do this again next year.
