The 10 Strongest Transformers Ranked

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“Transformers” is first and foremost an action figure franchise, one set within an intergalactic war. That means fights between different characters, whether animated on your TV screen or unfolding in your living room with carefully manufactured figures of plastic, are the ethos of “Transformers.”

Transforming robots from planet Cybertron are split between two sides: the Autobots, who believe in freedom and self-determination, and the Decepticons, who proclaim peace will only come through tyranny. Their war goes on so long it bleeds Cybertron dry, forcing the two sides to the stars. The war eventually reaches Earth, where the Decepticons try to conquer and pillage the planet while the Autobots vow to defend it.

There are so many different iterations of “Transformers” from cartoons to comics to movies and back again. However, the core premise has never transformed that much over its 40 years of existence, and many characters appear again and again from series to series. Of those lucky members of the ensemble, who are the Autobots and Decepticons’ heaviest hitters?

Let’s rank the strongest Transformers from the long-running franchise.

The Autobots believe in freedom and peace, but they aren’t blind to what war demands. Their last line of defense is the enormous “Guardian robot” whose name conveys the weight of his purpose: Omega Supreme. He’s a rather terse bot, speaking in sentences of few words bridged by colons. (ex: “Mission: Accepted. Target: Decepticons,” etc.) But Omega Supreme doesn’t need command of words on his side when his other capabilities are so awe-inspiring. Built only to protect his friends and destroy his enemies, his enormous frame is packed with weapons. His left forearm is an enormous cannon, his right one is an imposing claw that can emit both a laser blast and a mini-tractor beam to suck up Decepticons into his grip.

Omega is so tall that when other Transformers stand beside him, they’re as dwarfed as humans are standing next to them. He transforms not just into a single vehicle but a whole structure, including a rocket ship and base. He can send Decepticons quaking in their transistors and scurrying away, with good reason. During his debut in the original Marvel comic run, “The Transformers” #19, he singlehandedly destroys about half the Decepticon army.

While Omega wasn’t quite as destructive in the original cartoon, he got a prominent spot in the season 2 title sequence. Whenever ’80s kids tuned into a new “Transformers” episode in 1985, the experience began with the sight of Omega Supreme stomping the Decepticon Blitzwing into scrap. The 2007 series “Transformers: Animated” later reinterpreted Omega Supreme as the Autobot super-weapon that ended the war with the Decepticons.

If you’re still not convinced of his might, the video game “Transformers: War for Cybertron” features Omega Supreme as the Decepticon campaign’s final boss, letting you experience his power firsthand.

One of the long-running gimmicks in “Transformers” is combiners, or when five (sometimes six) individual robots can combine into an even larger robot. For Hasbro, it’s a great way of incentivizing people to buy all the individual toys in the set.

Both sides have combiners, but the Decepticons have more. The original combiner, Devastator, forms out of the six Constructicons (featured in the abysmal “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”). Then came Menasor, created by the five united Stunticons, and Bruticus, formed from the five Combaticons. The problem the Decepticon combiners have is they don’t just merge their bodies, they merge their minds. Multiple violent and antisocial personalities trying to coordinate is already difficult enough when they’re individuals. When their personalities merge into one? It’s a recipe for discord. As a result, the Decepticon combiners are almost all extremely stupid or outright insane, straining to even think and limiting the utility of their great strength.

There is one exception: The animal-themed Predacons (the lion Razorclaw, the tiger Rampage, the vulture Divebomb, the bull Tantrum, and the rhinoceros Headstrong) are hunters that know how to work together as a pack with a unifying purpose and common quarry. When the Predacons (featured in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”) unite into the gargantuan Predaking, the fusion is harmonious, resulting in a sane, resourceful (if single-minded), and frighteningly powerful warrior. Predaking is already one of the strongest and most well-armed combiners. Combined with his high-functioning mind, any other combiner that tries to face him down is likely to end up in pieces.

The Transformers are all shapeshifters, moving back and forth between one form and another at will. Sixshot takes that ability to a whole new extreme. True to his name, he has six forms: robot, tank, jet, armored truck, laser pistol, and a dog-like beast. Described as a “one robot army,” Sixshot’s sole appearance in the original “Transformers” cartoon featured him wiping out the Aerialbots singlehandily, using one mode each. He’s about the most versatile warrior in the Decepticon ranks, and Sixshot’s many modes ensure there is no battlefield or opponent he cannot adapt to.

IDW Publishing’s “Transformers” comics added a disturbing new layer to Sixshot’s power. Decepticons follow an “infiltration protocol” when invading planets, accomplished in six phases. The early phases mandate the Decepticons stay hidden and work in the shadows to escalate existing conflicts on the planet and destabilize power structures. When that has been achieved, it’s time for open invasion.

That’s where Sixshot comes in: he is a “Phase Sixer,” a super-soldier designed to raze worlds to the ground during the final stage of infiltration. To make him extra indestructible while carrying out planetwide conflagrations, Sixshot’s frame was bonded to the indestructible, star-harvested element Ununtrium (a fictionalized portrayal of the real element now known as Nihonium). Animating that indestructible shell is a dark matter fission power core. The only weakness Sixshot has is a shutdown code installed by his leader. (Come on, you don’t think Megatron would ever allow a Decepticon stronger than him, do you?)

What’s even cooler than robots and dinosaurs? Robots who are dinosaurs! The Dinobots transform not into vehicles but mechanical replicas of prehistoric life. Their leader, Grimlock, of course transforms into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or king tyrant lizard. Grimlock lives up to the savagery of his dino-mode’s name. The Autobots are lucky that the only thing Grimlock hates more than weaklings or pacifists are bullies like the Decepticons.  

Grimlock is the Wolverine of the Autobots; a berserker with no time for politeness and who often butts heads with his leaders. He especially resents Optimus Prime, thinking of him as a soft leader who bends when action is needed. As Grimlock himself puts it in “Transformers: Fall of Cybertron” — “Optimus expects us to turn tail and retreat? Not happening. If I turn my tail, it’ll be to crush another wave of Decepticons with it!” 

Optimus can and should watch his back around Grimlock, because the Dinobot leader is one of the largest and strongest Autobots. He typically wields a sword and rocket launcher when in robot mode, but when transformed he favors his jaws as a weapon (both for their bite force and the fire blasts he can unleash from them). 

Grimlock’s personality — specifically his intelligence — is inconsistently written. In “The Transformers” cartoon, he was on the slow side and spoke like a caveman (complementing the prehistoric theme of the Dinobots). In the “Transformers” comics, Grimlock was plenty intelligent and spoke normally. New “Transformers” media, such as the illogical “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” vacillates between the two interpretations, but what always stays the same is how powerful Grimlock is. He’s a spectre in many Decepticons’ (and even a few Autobots’) nightmares. 

The robot D-16 began his life as a lowly miner, but he was forged into Megatron in the gladiatorial pits of the city-state Kaon. One of the two figureheads of the “Transformers” brand, Megatron’s design has varied over the years (he’s been a gun, a jet, a tank, a truck, an attack helicopter, a dragon, and more), but what’s never changed is his power.

Affixed to Megatron’s right arm is his enormous fusion cannon that fires destructive energy blasts, which have been the death of too many Autobots to count. When fighting up close and personal, Megatron favors an Energon flail or simple swords. The battlefield is his element and he champions survival of the fittest, but Megatron is no brute. A master strategist, he concocts plans within plans. “[Megatron is] always ten steps ahead in every direction […] Every eventuality is prepared for, every possibility entertained,” explains the Decepticon Ravage.

Different iterations of Megatron boast different, even more incredible powers. His earliest toy bio suggested that he draws power from a black hole and can unleash streams of antimatter as a weapon. In “Transformers: Prime,” which inspired the animated “Transformers One,” Megatron infuses his spark with Dark Energon, amping his power up and giving him the ability to reanimate and then control the dead. In the recent “Transformers” comics from Skybound Entertainment, his handgun alt mode is given a new power: other Decepticons may wield Megatron’s gun form, but he puppeteers the wielder with mind control.

The greatest testament to Megatron’s strength isn’t any one battle but the army he leads. Megatron sits on a nest of cyber-vipers out to usurp him: Starscream, Shockwave, Scorponok, Overlord, Bludgeon, they aren’t called Decepticons for their loyalty! A lesser leader would’ve been deposed long ago, but Megatron keeps the Decepticons under his heel through strength, genius, and will.

Despite all of Megatron’s power, his track record doesn’t match his potential. That’s because Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, is there to oppose him. Optimus almost always transforms into a trailer truck (or sometimes a fire truck, the most heroic of all trucks), i.e. a tall, imposing car that rules the road. 

Once a simple bot named Orion Pax, Optimus became a Prime not through beating the competition but by inspiring his fellows to follow him as Autobots. Prime’s courage is surpassed only by his inspirational speechmaking skills; “You just wanna die for the guy,” joked the Autobot Crosshairs in “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” after hearing Prime’s rallying call.

The burden of leadership can weigh heavily on Optimus, because that burden is a physical talisman — the Matrix of Leadership — that he carries within his chest. But he never lets that burden weaken or harden him. Peter Cullen, Optimus Prime’s original and defining voice, drew on some advice from his older brother Larry Cullen to play the hero. That advice? “Be strong enough to be gentle.” 

Don’t think Optimus Prime is not a bot of action, though. In his spark burns conviction that “freedom is the right of all sentient beings” and he will fight to the bitter end for that belief. Without Optimus leading them, the Autobots would be lost. Some time traveling in “Beast Wars” reveals that Optimus’ leadership was the deciding factor in the Great War; take him off the table, and the Decepticons win.

In battle, Optimus typically wields a handheld rifle known as an “ion blaster” and fights with an Energon axe. With those weapons, he can and has mowed down entire legions of Decepticons all on his own. In the words of Stan Bush, Optimus Prime has got the touch and the power.

“Transformers” goes back to Japan; Hasbro imported several Japanese action figures and rebranded them. One of the clearest examples of Japanese pop culture bleed over is with the character Trypticon, who is a Decepticon Godzilla.

Trypticon easily dwarfs almost all other Transformers, enough that he could easily crush them under his feet like a man stepping on ants. He stands several hundred feet tall and transforms into a whole city. Later iterations have given him different, just as enormous alternate modes, from a space station to the Decepticon warship, the Nemesis. Trypticon is so huge that he can grasp and lift a whole aircraft carrier in his jaws. In “The Transformers” episode “Thief in the Night,” he’s sent over the Earth to steal several national monuments — from Fort Knox to the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower — and carries them away two (and red) handed. Normal-sized Transformers named Wipe-Out, Full-Tilt, and Brunt even dwell in Trypticon’s battle station mode, ready to serve their titanic master (not that he needs their help to crush any enemies).

The most irksome and convincing demonstration of Trypticon’s power is in “Transformers: War for Cybertron,” where he’s the final boss of the Autobot campaign. Dueling the relentless Trypticon (he falls out of orbit and is no worse for wear) makes battling Omega Supreme in earlier levels look like a cake walk.

The Decepticons aren’t the only ones who understand how, in warfare, size matters. To counter Trypticon, the Autobots have Metroplex, an equally huge Transformer whose vehicular mode is a Cybertronian-sized city. Like Trypticon, Metroplex is home to some normal-sized Transformers (Six-Gun, Scamper, and Slammer) because his enormous form is big enough to house them.

While Trypticon’s true form is a bestial saurian to reflect his untamed destruction, Metroplex is much more humanoid. True to that form, Metroplex lacks Trypticon’s savagery and simpleness. He is a more thoughtful and verbose soul than his Decepticon counterpart. Far from a walking weapon who only finds purpose smashing Decepticon bases to rubble, Metroplex is a noble, self-deprecating warrior happy to put his life on the line for his fellow Autobots (and not just because he’s programmed to).

But while the Autobots appreciate that heroic sentiment, few things pose a true threat to Metroplex. In the video game, “Transformers: Fall of Cybertron,” Metroplex stands before Megatron and pulverizes the Decepticon leader with one fist.

Many later “Transformers” series have depicted Metroplex as one of many so-called “Titans.” But while Metroplex may no longer be one-of-a-kind, he’s doubtlessly the original, one who was strong enough to leave an impression and inspire copycats.

What’s more powerful than a Transformer that transforms into a city? A Transformer that transforms into a whole planet! That right there is Unicron, best described as Marvel’s planet eater Galactus and the Death Star from “Star Wars” fused together into a single entity.

Unicorn was designed as the villain for 1986’s “The Transformers: The Movie.” He was a nebulous character, but his power was indisputable. He remakes a dying Megatron into the even more powerful Galvatron, then enslaves the Decepticon leader to his will. Unicron appears only in his planet form for most of the movie, before revealing himself as a Transformer and attempting to destroy Cybertron.

Simon Furman, writer of the Marvel U.K. “Transformers” comics in the 1980s through the early 1990s, was taken with Unicron. He reused the villain in his stories and made him an even grander villain. While in the cartoon Unicron was a robot superweapon out of control, in Furman’s comics he was an ancient avatar of darkness, the embodiment of universal entropy. He exists only to destroy and to return reality to the void from whence it came. He consumes planets not for sustenance, but to unmake the beauty of creation. Though too proud to be a giggling sadist like lesser beings, never doubt that Unicron does enjoy his work.

As Unicron boasts in the animated film “Transformers: Predacons Rising” — “I am the bringer of chaos, the destroyer of worlds, and the lord of the undead!” Unicron’s sole weakness, and which has been his undoing time and time again, is the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. The Matrix, which contains the collective wisdom of every leader who has carried it, is antithetical to Unicron’s darkness and so its power can destroy him.

In darkness, there must also be light. The aforementioned Mr. Furman realized that when writing his origin for Unicron — an origin he tied to the origins of the Transformers themselves while answering another question: why is the Autobot leader called “Prime”? 

Because Optimus and all those who came before him carry on the lineage of Primus, the creator god of the Transformers. Primus has battled Unicron since time immemorial and turned the tide when he created the Transformers to help him battle his evil twin.

These days, Primus rarely intervenes in his children’s squabbling. Autobot or Decepticon, all Transformers are equal in his eyes. If he was to pick a side, the war would be over yesterday for the unlucky team.

But while Primus is rarely an active character in “Transformers” stories, his presence is heavily felt; Cybertron itself is his transformed body. Energon is no mere fuel source, but Primus’ literal life blood, just as Dark Energon is the blood of Unicron. But that right there illustrates a key difference between the two counterparts. Primus can create life, while Unicron can only pervert or destroy it. 

The power of creation triumphs over destruction because in a story like “Transformers,” the good guys always win.