Unicron is the size of Jupiter, Fortress Maximus stands 3 kilometres tall and Metroplex 800 metres, while Omega Supreme, the biggest robot on the original cartoon’s own chart, is 12. Eighteen Generation 1 Transformers from the 1984 cartoon, the 1986 movie and Japan’s G1 sequels, ranked by their official heights.
Illustration: 18 G1 cartoon Transformers, from Jupiter-sized Unicron to the 10-metre Skyfire and Masterforce Godmasters.
Rank
Transformer
Height
Imperial
Faction
Series of the figure
Height source
1
Unicron
~140,000 km
~87,000 mi
Unaligned
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Hobby Japan (“Jupiter-sized”; planet mode)
2
Fortress Maximus
3 km
9,843 ft
Autobot
The Headmasters (1987)
The Super Robots Chronicles (1997)
3
Metroplex
800 m
2,625 ft
Autobot
The Transformers (1984–87)
Comic Bom Bom (Feb. 1987); Hobby Japan
4
Scorponok (as BlackZarak)
25 m
82 ft
Decepticon
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
5
Star Saber
22 m
72 ft
Autobot
Victory (1989)
Victory scale notes
6
God Ginrai (later Victory Leo)
20 m
66 ft
Autobot
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
6
King Poseidon
20 m
66 ft
Decepticon
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes; TV Magazine (July 1988)
6
Overlord
20 m
66 ft
Decepticon
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
9
Devastator
~16 m
52 ft
Decepticon
The Headmasters (1987)
Headmasters scale chart
9
Predaking
16 m
52 ft
Decepticon
The Headmasters (1987)
Headmasters scale chart
9
Raiden
~16 m
52 ft
Autobot
The Headmasters (1987)
Headmasters scale chart
12
Omega Supreme
12 m
39 ft
Autobot
The Transformers (1984–87)
G1 cartoon scale chart
13
Skyfire
10 m
33 ft
Autobot
The Transformers (1984–87)
G1 cartoon scale chart
13
Lightfoot
10 m
33 ft
Autobot
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
13
Ranger
10 m
33 ft
Autobot
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
13
Road King
10 m
33 ft
Autobot
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
13
Hydra
10 m
33 ft
Decepticon
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
13
Buster
10 m
33 ft
Decepticon
Super-God Masterforce (1988)
Masterforce scale notes
No matching rows.
Method and caveats: “G1” here is the original cartoon continuity: the American series (1984–87), The Transformers: The Movie (1986) and their Japanese continuations The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce and Victory; Beast Wars and later series are left out. Heights come from TFWiki’s “Official sizes and heights” page and character articles. Each character’s figure comes from the cartoons’ own scale charts and Takara’s series notes where they list it; for the three giants they don’t cover, Unicron, Fortress Maximus and Metroplex, it comes from Japanese guidebooks and magazines of the period. Figures from other continuities are left out: Marvel’s comics (698 ft for Metroplex), IDW’s, manga-only characters such as Battle Gaia, and later collector-toy bios (Masterpiece gives Optimus Prime 36 m). TFWiki flags the original-cartoon and Headmasters charts and the Masterforce and Victory notes as lacking a citation, and the animation itself ignores scale freely, so these are the official numbers, not on-screen measurements. One row per character, at its tallest listed form (Ginrai, Scorponok); combiners count as characters of their own. Unicron’s figure is the diameter of his planet mode. Trypticon has no official height anywhere and is described below the ranking. Imperial figures are converted.[1]
The Top 12
#1
Unicron — about 140,000 km
The planet-eating villain of The Transformers: The Movie (1986), voiced by Orson Welles in his final film role, is a world that transforms into a robot. Japan’s Hobby Japan made him “Jupiter-sized,” roughly 140,000 kilometres across; that is the size of his planet mode, not a robot-mode height, and no official source gives one. On screen his scale changes from shot to shot, at times small enough to grab Galvatron in one hand and swallow him. Hot Rod, becoming Rodimus Prime, destroys him from the inside with the Matrix of Leadership.[1][2]
#2
Fortress Maximus — 3 km
The Autobots’ giant Headmaster, a three-stage robot whose head is Cerebros, whose own head is a human partner, is given three kilometres in the 1997 Japanese guidebook The Super Robots Chronicles. In the American cartoon’s final story, “The Rebirth” (1987), Spike Witwicky and Cerebros form him on Nebulos and he beats Scorponok on Cybertron; in Japan’s The Headmasters he leads the Autobot Headmasters from the planet Master. His toy was by far the largest of the original toy line.[1][3]
#3
Metroplex — 800 m
The Autobot city that transforms into a giant robot is listed at 800 metres by two Japanese sources, the February 1987 Comic Bom Bom and Hobby Japan. He is the core of Autobot City in the 1986 movie, where the Decepticons’ attack destroys the transforming cog he needs to stand up, and in the third season Swindle steals his cog so that Galvatron can send Trypticon to flatten the helpless city. The animation draws him far smaller, about 100 metres when he lifts St. Basil’s Cathedral, and Marvel’s British comics gave him 698 feet.[1][4]
#4
Scorponok (as BlackZarak) — 25 m
Lord Zarak, ruler of the planet Nebulos, rebuilt his city into Scorponok, a giant Headmaster body to bond with, in “The Rebirth”; in Japan’s The Headmasters he is MegaZarak, Decepticon leader after Galvatron. No source gives that body a height. In Super-God Masterforce the alien Devil Z built him a new one, BlackZarak, listed at 25 metres, the tallest robot in the Japanese G1 series’ own scale notes.[1][5]
#5
Star Saber — 22 m
The Autobot Supreme Commander of the 1989 Japanese series Victory is known as “the Universe’s Greatest Swordsman.” He stands 22 metres tall on his own and can merge with his partner Victory Leo, the rebuilt God Ginrai, to become Victory Saber.[1][6]
#6
God Ginrai (later Victory Leo) — 20 m
The hero of Super-God Masterforce is a human trucker, Ginrai, who becomes a Godmaster by merging with a robot body: 10 metres on its own, 15 metres as Super Ginrai with his trailer, and 20 metres as God Ginrai once the drone Godbomber’s parts attach as armor. That robot later gained a life of its own and, rebuilt as Victory Leo, became Star Saber’s lion partner in Victory, also at 20 metres; this ranking counts each character once, at its tallest form.[1][6]
#6
King Poseidon — 20 m
The combined form of the Seacons is controlled by their leader Turtler alone. In his first fight he pinned Ginrai under his foot, until Ginrai’s trailer came to life and the two fused into Super Ginrai, who body-slammed him.[1][7]
#6
Overlord — 20 m
The robot formed when the Decepticon leaders Giga and Mega combine. In Super-God Masterforce Overlord flew to the Moon to meet BlackZarak as he approached Earth.[1][5]
#9
Devastator — about 16 m
The Constructicons’ combined form, the first combiner of the original cartoon, is listed at about 16 metres on the Japanese Headmasters charts. The American series’ own model-sheet charts never agreed with each other: 10.5 metres beside Omega Supreme, 12 metres beside the Constructicons and 15.5 metres beside the other Decepticons.[1]
#9
Predaking — 16 m
The Predacons’ combined form, led by Razorclaw, is listed at 16 metres in The Headmasters, where Razorclaw alone is 5.5 metres and Optimus Prime 6 metres.[1]
#9
Raiden — about 16 m
The Japan-only combiner of six Trainbots, built from bullet trains and other Japanese rail engines, keeps a running rivalry with Devastator. The Trainbots merge into him in The Headmasters to fight the Decepticon Sixshot.[1][8]
#12
Omega Supreme — 12 m
The last of the Guardian robots, who transforms into a rocket and a defense base, is twice Optimus Prime’s 6 metres on the original cartoon’s scale chart. In “The Secret of Omega Supreme” he was guarding Cybertron’s Crystal City when the Constructicons, turned evil by Megatron, tricked him into leaving it and destroyed it, and he chased them across the galaxy to Earth for revenge.[1][9]
Not ranked: Trypticon
No height
Trypticon
The Decepticons’ answer to Metroplex, a city that turns into a giant mechanical dinosaur, was built by the Constructicons out of a human city in the third season and flattened Autobot Headquarters on his first mission. The cartoon draws him at about Metroplex’s size, and their duels are his signature fights, but neither Hasbro, Takara nor the Japanese guidebooks and magazines ever gave him a height, so he can’t be ranked. In Japan he is called Dinosaurer.[1][10]
TFWiki, “Official sizes and heights” (tfwiki.net), the source for every height and rank: The Transformers cartoon scale charts; Transformers: The Headmasters scale charts; Super-God Masterforce and Victory scale notes; TV Magazine, July 1988 (King Poseidon); Comic Bom Bom, February 1987, and Hobby Japan (Metroplex); Hobby Japan (Unicron); Super Robots Guide (Fortress Maximus); and, for the figures left out, the Marvel UK booklet, IDW and Masterpiece bios.
TFWiki, “Unicron” (tfwiki.net), and “Scale” (tfwiki.net), on Unicron in the 1986 movie and the problem of his on-screen size.
TFWiki, “Fortress Maximus (G1)” (tfwiki.net), for “The Rebirth,” The Headmasters, his toy, and the 3 km figure from the 1997 Super Robots Chronicles.
TFWiki, “Metroplex (G1)” (tfwiki.net), for his transforming cog in the movie and season 3, and his roughly 100 m on-screen size beside St. Basil’s Cathedral.
TFWiki, “Scorponok (G1)” (tfwiki.net), for Lord Zarak, MegaZarak, BlackZarak and Overlord.
TFWiki, “Ginrai (robot)” (tfwiki.net), “Godbomber” (tfwiki.net) and “Victory Leo” (tfwiki.net), for God Ginrai, his rebuilding as Victory Leo, and Star Saber.
TFWiki, “King Poseidon” (tfwiki.net), for the Seacons’ combiner and his first fight with Ginrai.
TFWiki, “Raiden” (tfwiki.net) and “Terror! The Six Shadows” (tfwiki.net), for the Trainbots’ combiner.
TFWiki, “Omega Supreme (G1)” (tfwiki.net), for “The Secret of Omega Supreme.”
TFWiki, “Trypticon (G1)” (tfwiki.net), for his creation, his attack on Autobot Headquarters and his rivalry with Metroplex.