Flight stand

I'm the luckiest boy-slash-truck in the worrrrrld!

"Flight stand" is a common term for objects designed to display items off the "ground" to make them appear suspended in mid-air. They can range from simple one-piece pillars that plug into the bottom of an object, to complicated multi-jointed armatures with wide, detailed bases.

As the nickname implies, the most common use is to make something look like it's flying, but depending on the stand and what it's supporting, they can also be used for dynamic action snapshots. With posable figures, a "flight stand" can sturdily support poses for leaping, swimming, running, lunging, being blown back by impacts or explosions, etc. Many stands are simple colorless-clear plastic, but they can come in a variety of colors and styles, even being designed to look like jet exhaust, flames, energy beams, background elements, and the like. Many are customizable, coming with multiple attachments to support different items, such as flat support beds, cradles for specific joint areas (notably Gundam under-the-armor-skirt hip joints), pegs designed for specific support points, gripper claws (typically for around the waists of action figures), and so on.

While the general concept has been around more or less forever, "flight stands" have become such a staple of the Japanese mecha model kit hobby scene that certain standards for pegs sizes and the like have become nigh-universal. Many Western companies have begun to take advantage of this, either designing toys to be compatible with these standards, making their own display stands, or both.

As far as Transformers is concerned, they've gone the "both" route; some toys come with flight/support stands included, and most any modern Transformers toy will have a hexagonal/circular flight stand port fitted to the standardized 3mm flight stand joint somewhere on them (if not multiple somewheres). The flight stand you buy at the hobby shop may be labeled for Bandai's Gundam franchise, but the included attachment peg will (or at least should) work perfectly with your Legacy Needlenose.

Official Transformers flight stands

• Transformers Age of Extinction Figure Stand (2014)

This colorless translucent display stand was given away by Toys"R"Us Singapore with any purchase over $30 Singapore Dollars. It included a base embossed with the Age of Extinction logo, and two arms with claws.

• Transformers Exclusive Display Stand (2015)

Shown in the picture on top of this page, this display stand was sold by TakaraTomy Mall and marketed as attachable to the Transformers Masterpiece Series, Movie Advanced Series, and Legends Series. Made of colorless translucent plastic, it consists of a base with the Autobot logo, and a triple-jointed arm with a 3mm-peg to insert into flight stand ports.

• Transformers Masterpiece Stand (2015) (version 1)

This display stand was a re-deco of the "Exclusive Display Stand" above, and was provided as an accessory with Masterpiece Tracks and Loudpedal, in solid black and translucent purple, respectively.

• Transformers Masterpiece Stand (2018) (version 2)

The second type of Masterpiece display stand, with a serrated square-shaped base, was included with Beast Wars Megatron, Dinobot, Starscream Ver. 2.0, Skywarp Ver. 2.0, Thundercracker Ver. 2.0, and Skyfire - with the base being recolored each time to better match the character. The same stand was also made available for Raiden, though it was packaged with the "bonus accessories" version of Kaen.

• Legacy Victory Saber Flight Stand (2022)

When the HasLab crowd-funded Victory Saber project passed 17,000 backers, it unlocked the inclusion of a translucent blue flight stand featuring the Victory logo and the Autobot insignia. The stand features a removable "arm", which can attach to the base in two different ways to support Victory Saber in both vehicle and robot modes.

Now you too can wield the eldritch magic of anti-gravity, for the low price of $17.99!

• Anti-Gravity Pedestal Tenseg Base (2022)

A decidedly odd release, these uniquely branded flight stands stand out from the rest by featuring a tensegrity mechanism that makes the upper platform appear as if it is floating in midair. A silver base is included with a redeco of Kingdom Ultra Magnus' inner robot as Optimus Prime, and two alternately colored bases are sold separately; one in heroic Autobot red and the other in EVIL Decepticon purple.

• Legacy Deathsaurus Flight Stand (2023)

As with Victory Saber, HasLab's Deathsaurus crowd-fund included a posing stand that was unlocked after reaching 17,000 backers; its mounting arm could attach in different configurations for displaying the robot or monster mode. The stand also served as the base for Deathsaurus' throne.

• Legacy Omega Prime Flight Stand (2025)

Once the HasLab Omega Prime campaign reached 16,000 backers, it unlocked the inclusion of a pair of display stands that can hold either Omega Prime or his individual components. The paired stands can also be clipped together to depict the roadway inside the Global Space Bridge.

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available at mass retail.

3mm flight stand compatible molds (pre-Prime Wars)

It is important to note that this is NOT a complete list of every toy with a 3mm flight stand port, as their inclusion had started to become fairly common by the mid-2010s. Kicking off with Age of Extinction and the opening Prime Wars Trilogy line Combiner Wars, the port became incredibly commonplace, a trend that has continued on to this day. Studio Series, the War for Cybertron Trilogy, Cyberverse, and so on and so on into the foreseeable future, just about any new normal-retail Transformers toy is likely going to be compatible with the 3 mm flight stand peg.

Thus, this list section will be limited to toys from before that time, or from lines where the overwhelming majority of toys lack flight stand peg compatibility. Otherwise we'd be listing nearly a decade's worth of toy releases here, and that'd be ridiculous.

Generations

Age of Extinction

• Evasion Mode Optimus Prime
• High Octane Bumblebee

TBA

Movie Advanced Series

• Classic Optimus Prime
• Classic Bumblebee

TBA

Robots in Disguise (2015)

• Stormshot

Masterpiece

• Tracks / Road Rage / Loudpedal

TBA

The Last Knight

• Autobot Sqweeks (found in the undercarriage of both forms behind the kickstand)

Movie The Best

• Optimus Prime

Revoltech

This one may be cheating, hence the separate category. Certain Revoltech figures come with stands and extra holes for those stands. Those figures will be noted, but all Revoltech figures have 3mm peg holes in their feet to use the base instead should they include one.