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Worlds & Stories
Meet the characters behind the models. Explore their worlds, identities and interpretations.
Pegasus Seiya
The gold Seiya looks ready to make every other figure on the shelf seem underdressed. But its full name contains a useful little interruption: New Bronze Cloth, Gold Commemorative Edition. Gold is the finish here. It does not automatically change which armour the toy represents.
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Optimus Prime
A huge red chest, heavy blue legs, a weapon in hand. Optimus Prime hardly needs help looking strong. The interesting part is what Peter Cullen was told before the audition: “Be strong enough to be gentle.” His brother Larry had given the robot a direction before it had a voice.
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Bumblebee
Bumblebee’s face looks full of little mechanical pieces. The surprising discovery was that the director wanted fewer distractions there. Travis Knight asked his designers to simplify it, then drew on Hailee Steinfeld’s performance to help the animators work out how the robot should respond.
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Soundwave
Open the cassette door and the supporting cast comes out. That was the trick with the original Soundwave toy: the player became a robot, and the tapes had identities of their own. A very ordinary place to keep a cassette turned into a very good place to hide another character.
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Spider-Man / Peter Parker
Everyone knows Spider-Man. New York’s wall-crawling hero, still yapping halfway through a fight. New stories, new looks, more toys. I’m skipping the spider bite this time. There’s a busy Marvel Rivals suit, a cleaner Brand New Day look, and a little preCOOL Spidey with eyes that take up most of his face.
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Transformers
Two factions. Countless identities. Discover the world behind the robots, then find its many interpretations in miniature.
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