I've only seen Headmasters, RID & the Unicron trilogy, so of that bunch, I have to give it to RID & Cybertron. Tie: RID & Cybertron 3. Armada 4. Headmasters 5. Energon
I haven't had experience with the Japanese Beast Wars, so I can't say anything for them. Japanese G1, Masterforce probably is the best to me. Victory trails along and Headmasters is just left in the dust, unless of course you count the hilariously bad English dub, then we're talking something different. Purely for popcorn action, Cybertron fits that bill. Late-Armada to Early-Energon for some of the more serious stuff. Everything else is just blegh.
Cybertron and RID 2001 are the only ones I've watched so far that I'm willing to rewatch. Well, aside from the hilarious Omni Productions dubs of the Japanese G1 cartoons.
The only Japanese series I've watched all the way through are Headmasters and Masterforce. As a stand-alone series, Masterforce is better...and doesn't work very hard to be "Transformers Season 5". But Headmasters, on the other hand, works very hard to be "Transformers Season 4"...feeling much more a part of the overall G1 story arc from Sunbow in comparison. With that in mind, it stands very well compared to Seasons 1-3, arguably the best season second only to season 1.
Damn no love for victory? Easily the best Japanese tf show. Honestly i can't speak for the beast wars Japanese shows but i hear they are ehhh, But honestly victory is the best. Not including Armada or the rest of the UT becuase they got an american airing dub but masterforce was to cringey to watch and the same with headmasters. The characters from more than meets the eye that carried over got total personality changes. Victory was 95% all new. Awesome characters, cool action, good animation and STAR SABER AND DEATHSAURUS!!! Victory for the win.
At least in Headmasters, Galvatron is less insane (just has a few insane ideas) and Rodimus acts like the professional leader he should have been in Season 3.
Tossup between Master Force and Galaxy Force. When MF is good, it's the best, but when it's boring it's much more bland than GF.
Masterforce! Also, because it represented the actual ongoing G1 toys of 1988 -1989 as being sold in EU (amongst which was Overlord.)
Only seen RID (2001), Headmasters & Armada. Couldn't get past the first dozen or so episodes of Energon & Cybertron. Never watched Masterforce, Victory or the Japanese BW shows. Although I only watched it when it was on, I think I liked RID the best.
Although I'd still say Masterforce, come to think of it Galaxy Force was pretty solid too. I seem to like TF shows with "Force" in the title.
Can I ask you guys a question why is shows like Armada and Energon be listed here? Those shows were produced in conjunction who's the American Productions team, they are not straight Japanese shows that were altered and dubed
They are listed because they were primarily takara productions. Hasbro thought up the ideas and takara contracted companies to make the show. It's how we got takara making galaxy force a stand alone show initially despite cybertron supposed to be a sequel to energon. They were also made for a Japanese audience first and then translated into english
