"Generations Age of the Primes" Liege Maximo Toy Review

06/05/26

General Information
Release Date: May 2026
Price Point: $55.99 (depending on retailer)
Retailer: General Release (Amazon, BigBadToyStore, Entertainment Earth, Target, Walmart etc.)

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Official images and text in italics are from Amazon.com:

• 8.5-INCH LEADER CLASS THE THIRTEEN LIEGE MAXIMO: This Transformers figure is 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) in robot mode and features deco and details inspired by the Transformers universe
• CONVERT BETWEEN ROBOT AND ALIEN SPACESHIP MODE: Transformers toy figure converts between modes in 25 steps
• ACCESSORIES ATTACH IN BOTH MODES: Comes with blaster and 3 Liege darts artifacts. Horns can be detached and posed as an additional blaster
• ARTICULATED FOR PLAY AND DISPLAY: Age of the Primes Transformers figures feature articulation for display-worthy poses or action-packed play
• PART OF THE TRANSFORMERS AGE OF THE PRIMES COLLECTION: One of the Thirteen Primes, Liege Maximo is manipulative and strategic
• GIFT TRANSFORMERS COLLECTIBLES: Transformers action figures make a great gift for anyone who collects Transformers toys

Experience the epic universe of Transformers robots with the Transformers The Thirteen Liege Maximo figure! The 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) Leader Class figure converts from robot action figure to alien spaceship mode in 25 steps. With intricate poseability, a hand that rotates to become a blaster, and attachable accessories like a blaster with 3 Liege dart artifacts, The Thirteen Liege Maximo action figure makes an awesome addition to any collection. Look for more Age of the Primes Transformers collectible toys (sold separately, subject to availability) featuring characters like Maximal Big Convoy, The Thirteen Alpha Trion, and more to create a lineup that is — More Than Meets the Eye. TRANSFORMERS and HASBRO and all related trademarks and logos are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc.

Background:
Liege Maximo is one of the Thirteen Primes created by Primus. He is also unique in that he uses the title of "Maximo" instead of "Prime". The character was first introduced at the very end of Marvel Comic's "Generation 2" comic book series. At the time, he was described as an ancient source of evil. Later fiction would place him as one of the original Thirteen. Liege Maximo has had a couple different designs over the years, but this figure is based on his first appearance in the comic book.

Packaging:
Age of the Primes represents a dramatic shift in Generations packaging. Unlike previous years of the War for Cybertron trilogy or Legacy which went in dramatic directions with packaging shape and artwork, the designers have dialed back the look of the boxes a lot. The Age of the Primes packaging winds up looking a lot more like Studio Series packaging. The boxes are now rectangular. No weird angles or anything. The background is just plain black. The "Transformers" logo is no longer vertical (dropping a trend that began over ten years ago) and is now horizontal in the front of the packaging with the "Age of the Primes" name underneath it. Character art is featured to the right, but it's only partial art showing a bit of the character in robot mode with focus on the vehicle mode underneath. To the left are icons describing how many steps the character takes to convert from one mode to the other (25 in this case) and the age recommendation (8+ for this figure).

Liege Maximo is inside the box attached to a cardboard tray. You can see the entire figure in robot mode thanks to the return of plastic windows! Fans will recall that for the last few years Transformers toys have had no plastic windows in an effort to (ostensibly) make more eco-friendly packaging. However, this led to damaged toys with heads being yanked off and sometimes figures being outright stolen. For many fans, the return of the plastic windows is a welcome one.

The back of the box shows the character in both modes calling out a 25 step transformation. Behind the character is a sky background with a wheel showing some of the Thirteen Prime symbols. Off to the side in a small window Megatronus is shown aiming his blaster arm.

I think the designers were going for a more "adult" and "premium" appearance to the packaging and to that end it works. It looks like something you'd see in a museum shop, but I do feel some of the fun and whimsy of the dramatic Legacy artwork and visual bombast has been lost and I'm a tad sad about that.

Accessories:
Liege Maximo includes a blaster with three "Liegian Darts" (misspelled as "Leigian Darts" on the box and instruction). The design of the darts is inspired by their appearance in an illustration by Geoff Senior that was released as part of Simon Furman's "Alignment" short story.

Blaster:
The blaster is an unusual weapon featuring an angled body with mechanical details on the sides like tubes and a large raised circle. The top seems to feature a detail you could perhaps imagine is a targeting scope. The front features three 5mm ports which you plug in the "darts". This piece is translucent red plastic with he middle section painted green. The front is a made of dark grey plastic. The bottom has a 5mm peg that allows Liege Maximo to hold it in his hands.

Darts:
The three darts use Geoff Senior's artwork as a starting point. There designs include:

• A rocket shaped "dart" featuring some alien looking textures on the sides with three stabilizer fins. This piece connects to the blaster via its 5mm port in the back. It is made of translucent red plastic.
• Another "dart" looks like an arrow with two spheres on either side. The spheres have rough shapes on them, again hinting at a semi-organic appearance. The back of this piece has a 5mm peg and it is also made of translucent red plastic.
• The third "dart" arrow shaped with decoration on the sides that look almost like feathers. This piece also has a 5mm peg in the back and yes, you guessed it, it is made of translucent red plastic.

Robot Mode:
Our original look at Liege Maximo only showed parts of him in a dramatic splash page (that you can see here on the TFWiki). It showed a gigantic robot with tubes extending out of his chest and mid-body. He had spikes on his head, giant Unicron-esque horns on top of his head and long fingernails on one hand and a cannon on the other. It was a dramatic illustration that really stuck with me mentally over the years. The designers took this picture as their design foundation for this figure. Details from the comic book on this figure include:

• The head features spikes on top of the "helmet" section and the bottom has a piece that wraps around the chin that looks like what was drawn as his mouth in the comic book. Behind the head is a piece featuring a pointed piece in the middle and two curved horns on the sides. Under those are spikes sticking out horizontally. The designers chose to give Liege more of a standard robotic face with two eyes, a nose and mouth though at one time they considered just painting the face black to make it look more like it did in the comic book. Like the comic book, he has horns behind the head that can swing forward or be moved up.
• The chest features curved armor panels with tubes overlapping them. The middle of the chest features some raised, pull shaped designs that come right from the comic book.
• Under the chest is the mid body area that is mostly made up of sculpted details representing more tubes (Liege Maximo's artwork featured a lot of tubes).
• His hands both feature long fingers with sharp ends. In the comic book they were super long. For practical reasons these are a bit more normal in length but they do feature scarily long nails!
• In the one panel we see Liege Maximo, his legs feature points sticking up at the knees and that design is reflected on this figure.

The rest of Liege Maximo's design is largely extrapolated from the two main pieces of art that feature the character from the past. For instance, he features circles on his knees which come from the artwork by Geoff Senior for the unofficial "Alignment" story. He has tubes on his lower legs, thighs and even his waist armor which makes sense since he literally had tubes running onto the floor in his first appearance. His feet have hoof-like feet which serves as a callback to his appearance in The Covenant of Primus. Liege Maximo simply looks stunning in robot mode. The design is intricate and tips its hat to past designs in a brilliant way. I love this sculpt.

Liege Maximo is made up of a few basic plastic colors: green (light and dark), dark grey and black. There is a mixture of plastic types on the figure partly for safety reasons. For instance, the spikes behind his head are softer plastic as are his shoulder armor pieces. Paint colors on the figure include silver, metallic light blue, red and green. My favorite details on the figure are the painted tubes on his torso, waist armor and legs which are all painted metallic light blue. Sadly, the tubes on the lower legs were left unpainted (most likely due to budget constraints). Silver is used on parts like the spikes on top of his head and he knee armor. His eyes and part of his "chin piece" are red (based on his appearance in the comics). I love the colors chosen for this figure. The use of metallic colors really helps give the figure a beautiful metallic appearance.

There are twenty eight points of articulation on this figure. That includes seven in each arm and six in each leg. Being a Leader Class figure, the designers were able to work in finger articulation on the hands and despite his bulky appearance, he does have waist articulation. The figure features four 5mm ports. Two are on his back and each hand has one. Be warned, when moving his arms at the shoulders, the shoulder armor can sometimes pop off but it is easy to reattach. A final feature involves the left forearm. The hand can swing back to reveal a cannon built into the arm! This is based on his appearance in the comic book where Liege Maximo was featured with a "weapon hand" that was emitting energy/smoke. This wrist cannon can fit Blast Effects so you can simulate him blasting enemies or just sitting and smoldering.

Transformation to Vehicle Mode:

1. Detach the weapon and swing the rear half down. Set it aside for now.
2. I recommend taking off the shoulder armor and "back pack" but you can leave them attached, they may just fall off during transformation.
3. Straighten out the arms and legs.
4. Rotate the horns behind the head so they are pointed up.
5. Swing the piece behind the head with the horns back.
6. Swing the robot head back.
7. Swing the panel with the horns back into place.
8. Push the panel with the horns down.
9. Swing the shoulder armor pieces up.
10. Rotate the forearms to the sides so the inside of each forearm faces forward.
11. Swing the arms out a bit.
12. Swing the chest panel up.
13. Swing the arms in, then up, using the tabs on the top of the forearms to lock them into place against the chest piece.
14. Rotate the hands so the four finger pieces are on top and the thumbs are facing downward.
15. If you disconnected the back piece, reattach it and swing it up a bit.
16. Swing the foot and heel pieces together so the feet are pointing down.
17. Swing the panels on the sides of the lower legs back.
18. Push the lower legs together.
19. Rotate the lower body around.
20. On the waist, swing out the dark grey "L" shaped pieces.
21. Rotate the lower body around.
22. Swing the top half of the figure up and back.
23. Swing the legs up and connect the tabs on the legs to the open slot on the torso section (near the shoulders).
24. Swing the L shaped pieces from the waist down. They clip into the slots on the thighs.
25. Connect the tabs on the weapon to the bottom of the heel pieces.
26. Bring the two panels from the robot legs together to complete the front of the vehicle.
27. Swing the small grey parts with the curved blades on the sides up.
28. Point the giant horns on the back forward.
29. Raise the shoulder armor pieces so they are set horizontally.

Vehicle Mode:
From one of my conversations with the Hasbro design team, they mentioned that this vehicle mode was inspired in part by an Anime vehicle that was suggested by Takara Tomy's Hisashi Yuki, a prominent designer who has been with the Transformers team since the late 90's! Unfortunately they were not sure exactly which Anime it is, but it's nice to know that there was some interesting inspiration for this vehicle.

Liege Maximo never transformed in the G2 comic book, so this vehicle mode is mostly borne out of speculation. To me, the vehicle looks like the skull of a Bighorn Sheep with the curved horns in the back and a front section that narrows, almost like a snout on an animal. That may not have been the intention, but that's how it looks to me.

Many of the intricate details on this figure were visible in robot mode, but they weren't given the emphasis this mode puts on them. Specifically the back section now gets to show off its mechanical details on top. They look amazing with layers of machinery detail covered in part by armor panels. The middle to the front also has similar details including, you know it, more tubes! The result of the detailing and horns (both small and large) are a very organic look to this ship and I love it. It is a unique design among Transformers toys, looking both scary and alien at the same time.

This mode mostly shows off the green and dark grey plastic colors. Light blue paint and silver are used for the tubes and mechanical details. The translucent red bits of the weapon feature on the front end of the vehicle. The rear thrusters are also translucent red.

There are four 5mm ports in this mode that allow you to attach additional accessories. Two flank the front end of the vehicle while the other two are on the back in between the two large horns. The rear thrusters have ports that allow you to attach Blast Effects to create a "flying" effect.

Final Thoughts:
I honestly never thought we would get a Liege Maximo figure that looked like his G2 comic book appearance. The "Power of the Primes" figure was already a nice nod to the Prime and I was willing to accept that as the consolation prize. Now actually having this figure in my hand I can say it is one of my favorite releases of the past year. He looks great, joints are nice and tight and the transformation is fun. Highly recommended!

Pros:

• Excellent sculpt that calls back to the G2 comic book.
• Beautiful colors.
• Fun and intuitive transformation.
• I appreciate the extra thought given to his weaponry.
• Joints are all nice and tight.

Cons:

• I wish the tubes on the legs were painted in.