Hasbro have opened the final vote for their 2018 Hall of Fame. The finalists are:
Favourite Transformers character: Blackarachnia, Unicron, and Omega Supreme
Toy of 2018: Leader class Movie Blackout, Power of the Primes Optimus Prime, Power of the Primes Battleslash & Roadtrap aka Battletrap
You can find out more about how to vote (using hashtags via replying to a Facebook post) on the official Transformers Facebook page and Instagram account.
How will you vote? Will you go for the Beast Wars femme fatale, the last role of Orson Welles and Transformers’ biggest baddie, or the Autobot big guy who featured in this author’s favorite combat scene (Key to Vector Sigma Part 2, in case you were wondering)? On the toy front, will you go for this year’s cool new model of Optimus Prime (& Orion Pax), the leader class toy we’d been asking Hasbro for since 2007, or a very fun pair of toys who merge into an unexpected homage?
The closing date to cast your vote on Facebook is this coming Sunday, 15 July.
Super4Ever
Hell yeah Cheetor.
Razzy
Fuck yeah we gonna!
Cya
Raziel-chan
SG Roadbuster
we gonna try for Cheetor next year?
Razzy
It's simple, really, as much as Hasbro keeps insisting that there's no interest in Beast Wars, we (as in BW fans) gotta keep calling out their bullshit via the votes.
Congrats Spider Tits! Here's to a BW character winning next year too. *makes a toast to his Legends Blackarachnia*
Cya
Raziel-chan
Jetbolt
Beast Wars block voting?
Between 2010 and now in 2018, only five Beast Wars characters were placed in the HOF by fan votes. The other 21 members of the HOF all have roots in the G1 era. Breaking down, there were 10 characters automatically placed in from 2010 to 2012 by Hasbro. Wheeljack was the first none BW character to win the fan vote in 2012. From 2013 to now another 10 non Beast Wars characters were placed in the HOF by fans.
Stardust262
Glad Blackarachnia won out of those three. Not that Unicron shouldn’t also be in there (Omega Supreme I’m really not behind, but since this was his second time making it to the final 3 I wouldn’t be shocked if he eventually gets in).
I do wish Hasbro still did auto-inductions for characters, that way ones like Unicron, Primus, maybe Vector Prime or the Fallen or whoever could just be thrown in by them. That always seemed like the point of the auto-inductions when we had them, get some super important characters or mult-year runner ups in so the fan vote picks can be relatively fresh each year.
Anyway, I don’t really think this’ll be the last BW character to at least be nominated. Rattrap and Cheetor seem like obvious ones to get their chance next, maybe Rhinox as well. I would like to see some non-G1 or BW characters get a chance though. Vector Prime (as mentioned before), Hot Shot, Sideways, Demolishor, Override, UT Red Alert, UT Scourge, Sky-Byte (who at least got to the final 5 in 2012), maybe Bulkhead or Knockout, etc. But I still think characters like the BWs ones I mentioned deserve to win too.
NotRamjet97
I don't really care about Blackarachnia winning, but screw Blue Jeans.
cutestprincess
While I still think Primal would have likely won anyways, they really shot the Japanese G1 fans in the foot with that poll by bringing Deathsaurus up from defeat. I could have seen Star Saber winning the vote if he had been the de facto Japanese g1 option, but with those fans divided and Ultra Magnus being an extremely boring choice, Primal was the strongest option.
Blackarachnia1996
Again, out of the 9 years of the HoF, 4 of them beat out Beasties, which until yesterday was half (and many of those times G1 had a split vote)… y’all are believing whatever you want to believe. Maybe G1 isn’t as great as you think it is and people are voting in more deserving characters…
SG Roadbuster
It's much simpler actually. The Beasties keep winning fan polls left and right because it's usually only one per poll. All of the geewun guys split the vote.
Take the popt Prime poll, one Beastie vs vs 8 g1 dudes.
WishfulThinking
Yeah, I'm not saying the Beast Wars characters won't contend. But rather, they all have a higher hill to climb. Blackarachnia is one of those picks that any generation of fan can agree is deserving thanks to the strong writing AND the legacy of the character/impact on the franchise. The others you mentioned have the strong writing but not the legacy, unfortunately.
Next year, I think my picks will come from the following (and hopefully, others will consider):
G1 Scorponok – While his appearance in The Rebirth was okay, it was the character's appearances in Headmasters and, especially, Marvel Comics that makes him a standout. In the Marvel comics, Scorponok went from classic villain to honorable anti-hero with a character arc that rivals Dinobot's in Beast Wars. In toy form, he is the second largest G1 Decepticon, beat out by Overlord by less than an inch. His legacy saw a direct homage in Energon and more "in name only" appearances in Beast Wars, the live action movies and nuRiD. Truly, the fact he hasn't received a retail Generations update is tragic. As such, next year, he will be my top pick.
Unicron – He's not really a well-written character in so much he's a character at all. Rather, he's pan-generational force of nature. His legacy is enormous, appearing as a harbinger of character death in G1, Beast Wars, The Unicron trilogy, Prime, and Marvel/Dreamwave/IDW comics. If a writer wants to upset the balance of his narrative or bring it all to a crashing finale, Unicron is your go-to guy. Without a decent narrative for Unicron, though, I do think there's a bit holding him back from the HoF. He's not really a character…he's Armageddon. Perhaps someone will eventually turn that around.
G1 Spike Whitwickey – Hey, you can't tell me he's not a Transformer. He has a G1 toy, you know (as the head for Cerebros). But seriously, Spike is the first human the Autobots befriend and to this day serves as an example of a human that adds flavor to the story but isn't particularly intrusive. And Marvel's Spike was a hero. And yes, he has a legacy. He appeared in 4 seasons + the movie of the G1 cartoon, many issues of the G1 comic, made a cameo in Animated and was the basis for Sam Whitwickey in the Transformers movies. If more humans were written like Spike, there'd be far less complaints about humans.
Sammael
TFW vote 2017: Blackarachnia
TFW vote 2015: Optimus Primal
I can't find 2012 and 2014 threads, but I think you know what I mean.
Blackarachnia1996
I mostly agree with this, although I think Rhinox, Rattrap, Tarantulas, Cheetor, Beast Wars Inferno, Silverbolt, and Rampage are all contenders for the Hall of Fame. That said, I think there are G1 characters that are more deserving than them… like Unicron for example
Blackarachnia1996
Again, bullshit.
Wheeljack won 2012
Arcee and Rodimus won 2014
Prowl and Predaking won 2015
Galvatron won 2017
Blackarachnia1996
Beast Wars lost 4 years to G1 characters… quit your biased bellyaching.
WishfulThinking
Rattrap is good…but he didn't launch a thousand ships in future lines, either.
Scorponok has at least perpetuated through legacy homaging…Beast Wars (if mostly in name only) and Energon. And Bayverse (if, again, mostly in name only). And nuRiD…
Sammael
Watch it be Rattrap.
Super4Ever
Talk about conspiracy theory. I’m a huge Beast Wars fan, so I voted for Blackarachnia when she was announced as a finalist but I initially voted for Cheetor. There was no big hidden Blackarachnia agenda.
WishfulThinking
I think this will be the last Beast Wars vote for while, though. The rest of the cast aren't quite as strong and iconic. Blackarachnia holds a lot of "firsts" and has been legacy homage in other series to the point that she's every bit as iconic as certain G1 characters now. Really, her inclusion is a bit late in coming.
I think next year, there's a strong case to be made for G1 Scorponok (especially in light of Marvel's version) and Unicron though. I think either of them will be in the finals.