I think it's time we discuss this. PM or post your nomination(s) for best Generation One figure ever to me, and we'll set up a poll. Guests, too! We want accurate representation! Please note this pole is for the toy design itself, not the character in the comics for the show. So you can't pick on Wheelie for being infantile, but you can pick on him for having an ugly toy. Take everything else into account: proportioning, accessories, coloring, stylistic details, and whatnot else to do with the toy itself. erratta: Powerdashers and Jumpstarters are not eligible for nomination, I think I'd be too upset if you think these were the coolest of all Transformers toys.
As soon as I have a formidable list of nominees, we'll take a vote! Hope to hear all your input!
P.S. If you like a particular subgroup, nominate the individual characters. I.E. 'I like the autobot headmasters' means 'my nominations are brainstorm, hardhead, chromedome, and highbrow.'
if he's brand new, he usually doesn't. so we'll consider him at that stage. did you know perceptor was originally a triplechanger? his third mode was a tank. pretty cool actually.
Hmmmm.....for sheer prettiness then nothing really tops a mint Prowl. Not the most complex, but looks great as a car and when transformed is pretty spot on with regards to resembling his picture on the box. Grimlock, Snarl and Slag are all similarly great models. The shiny metal of Snarls spine and tail makes him stand out - plus his red hind quarters and dinolegs. Grimlocks opening chest and head flipping back was great - but his legs unfolding looked ungainly as a toy. Inferno was lovely. Grapple less so because yellow is 'teh suck'. As for Decepticons...Shrapnel and Thrust, Starscream and Skywarp stand out from the crowd (Dirge and Ramject just being ugly colours).
I nominate:
1 - Snarl (shinier than Grimlock and looked great in either mode),
2 - Inferno (red, big extending ladder and bits that hung on the side of him like hose and ropes to make him look like a real Fire Engine - great guns and also had spring loaded hands for missile shooting!)
and
3 - Skywarp (Dark Black and Purple...the best Decepticon colour combination...Thrust is my favourite Seeker Jet, but probably not as pretty).
"That which does not kill you will only lead to your eventual demise at an old age from a related series of complications."
nope. except which cassettes? i'm presuming you're referring to frenzy/rumble/laserbeak/ravage? if yes, then consider them on the list.
a character i'd like to nominate is actually the unsung hero metroplex (1986). he is THE autobot city, and he has more guns than a battleship. the black and white colors set a background that made the maroon touches really stand out, and you've got to admit there is some power in that long chrome face with red eyes, framed by the maroon antennae. the city mode is classic, and the battlestation actually looks mobile, unlike the others like trypticon. i didn't even realize fort max's (1987) battle station mode had wheels til i got him a few weeks ago. of course, even though mine is plastic-wheeled, i'm nominating the superior rubber wheeled version.
my second nomination is sixshot(1987); whose articulation gracefully allowed him to pull off six modes, unlike his failed autobot counterpart, quickswitch (1988). somehow, he does it all, in a cool coat of colors, and still maintains that dark 'transformer ninja' appeal. screw nightbird. sixshot's the king.
and my last nomination is fortress maximus himself, for several reasons. mind you he is cool not because of his sheer size, but the detail the design retained despite that size. this titan is fleshed out down to a fine point. the integrated weaponry, the fitted seat for headmaster spike, the working elevator/launcher, the large metal pieces included throughout (something that dwindled off in 1986). someone really put a lot of thought into this artistic design.i think it would be a travesty to allow something this noteworthy to go unnominated.
Back in 87 Toy and Hobby had a big display, Maximus and Metroplex being pretty much the centrepieces.....immense it was. I think it was to celebrate the creation of the headmaster/target master line of toys, so there was a whole lot of toys I wanted for Christmas that year.
But I prefer my bright red fire engines, jets and dino's.
"That which does not kill you will only lead to your eventual demise at an old age from a related series of complications."
The list so far: Perceptor, Devastator, Snarl, Inferno, Skywarp, Sounwave, Ravage, Frenzy & Rumble, Laserbeak & Buzzsaw, Metroplex, Fortress Maximus, Sixshot.
Any more? i was hoping there'd be a few more inputs here. *pokes all the guys who haven't posted in forever* there's got to be some more input. some more tastes to include...
TT--did you get the idea for your new avatar from my 'best TF quote ever' poll suggestion?
Coolest G1 figure...for the early years, I'll have to say, in my expert opionion, Megatron deserves to be nominated. We should probably also include some figures that were unique to the TF line, in which case, I would nominate Sixshot (props to TT for already seeing this), and Punch/Counterpunch for their unique (at the time) gimmicks. Also, since we're including tapes, I would nominate Ratbat
no, actually, just thinking about some ofe the interesting creatures in transformerdom. kremzeek, B.O.T., Autobot Spike, etc. Kremzeek is the coolest. as for your noms, they're on the list. did you know punch/counterpunch's vehicle mode is a genericised version of a pontiac fiero? (i happen to drive an 86 fiero GT)
i'm making a motion to adjourn nominations. with all the cassette nominees, they really can't stand alone w/o soundwave. so i guess i apologize, and permit them as a group:
soundwave, frenzy, laserbeak, rumble, ravage, ratbat, and buzzsaw.
also on the list:
1984
megatron
skywarp
wheeljack
sideswipe
1985
inferno
snarl
perceptor
devastator
shockwave
1986
metroplex
silverbolt
kup
1987
punch/counterpunch
sixshot
fortress maximus
1988
slapdash
1989
ummm....
1990
erm...
what the hell...? oh yeah, the action masters.
well, there it is. satisfactory? say aye and the voting may begin!
My vote still stands for Soundwave and the Cassettes. Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Ravage and Ratbat.
Wether we are talking about the cartoon characters or the toys.
The characters are all great in their own special way and the toys for each are very close to looking like the cartoon. The only thing is why did they make the toy Rumble red and the toy Frenzy blue? I personally just reversed the names to match the cartoon.
*grumbles* i made the poll last night, and had to take a ton of the nominations off cus it only allows a handful of options. i'm thinking it be best that we just keep discussing here.
*slays stupid vote thingy cus of option limits*yeah, just keep posting such discussion here. perhaps i'll keep a running tally of recommendations on my computer. savanna, i 'learned up' on the mazda rotary engine story from my dad, who knows everything about cars. after hearing all about it, i want one. lol. and he says they're unbelievably loud unmuffled... you should straigt pipe it and taunt the cops
don't listen to me. i'm a bad influcence.
Thanks to a computer glitch, i am now aware that this thread is only for G1 figures (even though it's supposed to be the "best ever TF figure". At any rate, for whatever use it may be, i will nevertheless post what i already typed.
i don't feel like i've been exposed to enough of the toys to vote, or even make formal nominations, but i will use my limited knowledge of the toys to see if anybody else thinks the ones i mention are worth nominating or voting for.
For example, i might ask why no one here has mentioned 20th Anniversary Masterpiece Optimus Prime or any of the Alternators. Admittedly, i've only actually handled the unopened packages, looked at them through said packages or at pictures of them online, but leakin' lubricant! they look awesome! And to judge from the things i read around this board, i think the rest of you feel the same way, if not more so for having actually touched the figures themselves.
You also seem to think the Unicron toy is pretty cool, although i beg to differ. Unicron deserved a toy a long time ago, but from what i've seen (as with Masterpiece Prime and the Alternators, i've only seen, not touched), the toy they have of him is an insult to the character featured in the original movie--especially the repaint (although i hear that one looks good under a blacklight). Maybe the toy suits the character from the Armada storyline, but since i don't know that storyline--in fact, i only know bits and fragments about any of the non-G1-cartoon storylines, and i know less about G1 than i thought i did--i forgot how i was planning to end this sentence. But i think i've made my point.
Then there's the World's Smallest Transformers. These i haven't even seen in person the way i have the aforementioned ones, but i think they're kinda cool, although more as novelty items than as figures.
This is the part where i realize that we're only talking about G1. Oops.
Hmm. Well, i like the original Optimus Prime (mostly the cab, Combat Deck/the trailer and Roller being just kind of incidental). The figure is pretty close to the look of the cartoon character, and captures that blocky-utilitarian-but-strong-and-noble look. Or maybe i'm reading into things. More objectively, it has always bugged me that his legs don't move forward of standing upright, and it seems that it would have been easy enough to make his head swivel (now Armada Prime, the one who came with Over-Run, he has a good head between his shoulders), but the articulation of his arms is pretty fantastic.
You know, since we're ignoring the characters' personalities, i think Ultra Magnus might outdo Optimus Prime--same cab, superior trailer alt-mode. The downside, though, is that the cab is albino except for the face, which looks really out of place with the rest of the cab all in white. (Random comment: Owning a second-hand Magnus with a broken trailer that left him, shall we say, unarmed, i used the cab to reenact the scenes from *The Return of Optimus Prime* where he's coated with that anti-sun-spore stuff.)
No one else is coming to mind right now who hasn't already been mentioned, so i guess i'll move on to discussing Rumble and Frenzy.
The way i hear it, the toys were named such that Frenzy was blue and Rumble was red and black, and they accidentally made Rumble blue in the cartoon, and as a result, Transfans often declare allegiance to the perspective of RIBFIR (Rumble Is Blue, Frenzy Is Red) or the idea that RIRFIB, and RIBFIR advocates and RIRFIB supporters get into debates as fierce as the "Who would win if Unicron battled the Death Star?" debates. Personally, i say RIBFIR, under the logic that if they (meaning Hasbro, etc.) really wanted RIRFIB to be canon, they would have corrected rather than perpetuated the RIBFIR "myth" in the rest of the TV series. i'm not a RIBFIR zealot, though, and it's worth noting that in the DreamWave comics (if i correctly recall what i read in the bookstores, being unable to actually buy), they avoid naming Rumble and Frenzy in any way that definitively states that one is one and the other is the other.
One shall stand; one shall fall; and the one who stands shall help the one who falls to stand once again.
--Rhymus (also known as STARS Commando 539, also known as transit)
Please note this pole is for the toy design itself, not the character in the comics for the show. So you can't pick on Wheelie for being infantile, but you can pick on him for having an ugly toy. 
Take everything else into account: proportioning, accessories, coloring, stylistic details, and whatnot else to do with the toy itself.
oh yeah, the action masters. 