Yeah, I do appreciate how they tried to bulk up the look of the robot mode for BT Grimlock (although it looks weird on Wheeljack -- I guess he's on 'roids )... but that transformation... gah!
I'm not a big fan of Movie toys, but Human Alliance Jazz is superb - challenging, intuitive/fun, quality toy, rolls like a dream even with next to zero underside clearance - an engineering marvel!
変われ! ヘッドマスター! Kaware! Headmaster!
戦え! ヘッドマスター! Tatakae! Headmaster!
Wow I have both Grimlock and Wheeljack and didn't encounter a single problem with them. And I'm the guy who gave up on Energon Mirage and ROTF Scalpel. I'm rather surprised with this outpouring of frustration over these two figures. Maybe my brain is counter-inutitive so that I have troubles with transformations that others find easy and vice-versa.
I'm with you UM, didn't have any issues at all!
To OP: do you have a budget/is there a specific amount you're willing to spend? A budget might help us recommend a figure.
I'd like to add Age of Extinction to this list... the toy itself isn't necessarily complex to transform, but damn those side panels are nauseatingly tricky!
I had a look at my friends toy & i wouldn't consider Crosshairs a difficult transformation. A bit fiddly, yes, but he's wearing his car mode on his back. All he has to do is put his arms by his sides & fall forwards... and tuck his cape in of course
I think I did, because after I refunded my first one, the second one was a lot easier to transform (i.e. it was doable! - the first one was just impossible). But even on my second and 'easier' Crosshairs, I gotta fiddle and jiggle the tabs around a bit to make them lock in (and I also have to do the same to unlock them when transforming back to robot mode too). It's not so much complex or complicated but just fiddly because the tabs seem to have such a low tolerance for imprecision; kinda like AoE First Edition Leader Class Optimus Prime, only somehow even more irritating (possibly because it's trickier for adult thumbs/fingers to manipulate the smaller parts). So I'll say that Crosshairs is one of the fiddlier toys out there, prefaced with the disclaimer that it's subject to QC.
There's a difference between fiddley and complex/complicated.
But I'm not going to get into that here... its too complex and complicated.
Cheaper complex puzzleformers:
WFC Optimus Prime
WFC Bumblebee (think this one has already got a few votes)
DOTM Voyager Optimus
BW Ramhorn (love this, but always seem to stuff it up)
More expensive:
Alternators Wheeljack (my record for transforming this was 40mins! such a pain I sold it).
TF Figs of 2023:
1) WnR Springer
2) Legacy Bludgeon
3) Legacy Leo Prime/Nemesis Leo Prime.