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There's been a lot of designs for Optimus Prime. Like, a lot. Whilst obviously the G1 design is the most iconic, there's been so many radically different- not to mention pretty cool- designs for him that I thought I should rank the top 10 best ones.

Note that this is purely based on the aesthetics of the design, not whether the toy/fictional depiction is any good or not. Also note that this list excludes any character that hasn't been called “Optimus Prime” such as Primal, Big Convoy etc. RID Prime, despite having a different name in Car Robots, does count because in the West he IS an Optimus.

Anyway, let's get the party started.

10: Animated Optimus Prime. I love Animated, and even though ironically Prime isn't my favourite design from the series by a long shot, he's still a really cool look. He's immediately apparent as a Prime, but with a sleek, curvy look rather than traditional boxiness. The truck mode in particular looks awesome with the pointed front and streamlined silhouette, and the robot mode looks like Optimus Prime ala Bruce Timm, which is no bad thing. I'm not so keen on the face, but still, he's good.

9: RID2015 Optimus Prime. He's a very different style to regular Primes, but I like him. The chest in particular is nice with its “mono-window” and the proportions are nicely exaggerated, with long legs and a good “wide to narrow” ratio (if that makes any sense). The truck mode is cool too.

8: Movieverse “Knight” Optimus Prime. Whilst borderline impossible to render in plastic form, I actually like this design a lot. It's very different, but the armoured knight look is undeniably cool, especially with the sword, and the colour layout's bias towards blue and silver is definitely interesting. Also the truck mode is very, very cool, even if there's no way in the universe it can actually transform into that robot mode. He is a bit too “human dressed as a robot” for my liking though.

7: Movieverse Optimus Prime (1-3). I know he changed subtly between the 3 movies but they're so similar I can't be bothered to count them separately. Either way, it's a very cool design; the much-maligned truck mode looks especially cool with the orange colour fade and blue flames, and the robot mode is fairly iconic in its own right, even if it takes vast departures from tradition. Ironically enough, my biggest complaint are actually his feet, which look maybe a bit too alien on an otherwise very heroic design- I like alien designs but somehow it looks out of place on this Prime.

6: Bumblebee Movie Optimus Prime. Whilst I liked the Bay Prime designs a lot, I think I like this better. It's obviously heavily inspired by G1 OP, but with just enough tweaks to look good on the silver screen. Whilst he didn't actually show up that much in the movie he was still very cool when he did, and as a design he's probably what they should have done in the first place.

5: Laser Optimus Prime. The first truly radical redesign of the big guy, this really changed things up. The vehicle mode is now a longnosed truck with a tweaked colour scheme (the black-to-red gradiant is just to die for) and he still has a trailer, but it's a tanker now. His robot mode is hugely different, with the colour tweaks and very different proportions, but it works. The shoulder pylons, generally more powerful and intimidating physique and big ol' sword are all really nice, and the colours are a nice change of pace from some of the louder products of G2. His biggest issues IMO are that the colours perhaps make him a bit too far removed from the classic (still cool though) and the fake windows and grille on his torso seem a bit strange. Even so, a wonderful design.

4: G1 Optimus Prime. He's the classic, and absolutely iconic. There's been countless permutations on this design, and most if not all of them look great. There's not much to be said really; it's Optimus Prime, cool robo-dad and defender of freedom. He's not IMO the best design (hence the fact there's still 3 slots to go) but he is the most recognizable.

3: Cybertron Optimus Prime. It says something about the appeal of this design that the new Siege Leader is based on this guy. The robot mode is pure super-robot goodness, with just enough detail to be interesting without being a greebly mess, and a really, really cool super mode. The overall angular aesthetic is definitely cool, and the vehicle mode is awesome too- especially with the backpack forming the “trailer” with its huge cannons. His shortcomings are few- his base robot head with the exposed mouth is a bit strange, and I somewhat wish his fake window chest was a bit less obvious (you can see the sides of it on his vehicle mode). Still, absolute top-notch design work.

2: RID Optimus Prime (Fire Convoy). I'll admit I am biased here, as this was my childhood Prime toy (though I've never watched a full episode of RID ironically) but this is a superb design. For starters, he manages to do the “fake window chest” thing better than just about any other design; rather than trying to convince you it is the windows, it instead pays homage to the classic design whilst not “faking” it by going with a sort of robot muscle motif that just so happens to be coloured like G1 Prime's torso. His base robot mode is great, really dynamic and intimidating, and his super modes are pretty damn cool too. His vehicle mode is a fire engine, which is a nice departure from the traditional truck and somehow feels more heroic to me. His only glaring weakness is the fact that on the design level, he is a heavy partsformer- if he somehow couldn't get his extra kibble bits he couldn't transform.

1: Armada Optimus Prime. Very different from the classic design, but IMO one of the finest examples of a radical redesign turning out well there's ever been. It keeps the classic colour layout, and he's instantly recognizable as Optimus, but with just enough twists to make him feel completely fresh. The grille forming the chest, the smokestacks becoming arm-guns, the generally chunky yet refined proportions and the really nice take on the classic Prime head design are just delightful. He has a really cool anime look to him (no surprise as he's the last 2D-animated Japanese Prime design we ever got) and that's compounded by the badass super modes and IMO the coolest truck mode Prime has ever had (especially noteworthy for having a trailer with distinguishing features beyond “wheeled box”). And whilst Armada's animation was occasionally...questionable, when it was good (especially in Micron Legend with its improved visuals) he looked amazing. Personally, I think Armada Prime wins the award for the best Prime design there is, and I'm looking forward immensely to the recently revealed new figure.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. What would be your picks?