Hi all! I just want to present you a little list I made in lack of (or despite) better things to do... One of the things I love about the Transformers franchise is the sheer mass of wonderful toys, and as a consequence, characters! However, there are so many continuities and toylines that it can be hard to get an overview, even if you stick to only the G1 continuity family. Here I have attempted to do that by listing what I think are the 100 most important characters therein, with names and motivations. Of course, this list is highly subjective, and you might disagree with my choices. But for clarification, here are the criteria I had when making the list: A.Stick to the G1 continuity. The characters in question must have appeared in the media of any of the main G1 American, European or Japanese continuities. Now I have read most of the US and UK G1 comics, a little bit of Dreamwave and basically all the stuff IDW have put out. I saw parts of the G1 cartoon as a child but not again as an adult; I have watched bits and pieces of the Japanese animes The Headmasters, Super God Masterforce, Victory and Zone. Hence, there might be characters from the original cartoon you find worthy of inclusion which I have missed. On a whole, my sampling is more comic than cartoon-based. Further, I haven´t seen Beast Wars, so although it´s technically a part of the G1 continuity, my list does not reach that far. Also, I have sometimes stretched the definition of G1, when there is a character I expect might become part of it "retroactively" eventually. B.Transformers only. Hence, no humans, no Quintessons and no Death´s Head. C.Occurrence. For a character to appear in this list, it should be a frequently occurring character that consistently turns up in various media and has some role of importance there. This is for example why I chose Prowl and not Blue Streak (who´s toy I prefer). D.Uniqueness. Sometimes, when a character occupies a niche that is quite uncommon, it might be worth to include on that merit, an example is Devcon. E.Depth of character. Some Transformers might have an iconic toy, but not much of a character built around it. I consider Sideswipe such a case. F.Scope. I am not a G1 cartoon purist, nor a Marvel comic purist. That is why I didn´t start off the list with the whole 1984 lineup. The closest thing I come to purist might be my love for the IDW comics, but my list is not entirely based on that either, because I didn´t include the whole DJD, Squadron X etc. But I included a large portion of the Victory character roster, due to its importance in Japan, and Thunder Clash as a representative of post 1990 European releases, for example. The G1 universe is bigger than Hasbro, Marvel and Sunbow, and post 1990 additions to this universe is welcome, IMO. One last note, I have arranged the characters chronologically after the years they were originally released as toys, up til 1990. In the last section I deal with non-toy characters, characters debuting in other continuities etc. I also tend to take the Autobots of a year first, and Decepticons/other bad guys afterwards. OK, let´s go! 1984 - Original Ark Crew (+ imposters) Autobots 1.Optimus Prime – THE most iconic Transformer ever, period. I could write a thesis about him… On this forum, a popular subject is whether how merciful and forgiving he should be. Let the arguing rage on! 2.Bumblebee – By now, the second most iconic TF character? Whether it is the little VW Beetle or the sleek Camaro, he´s almost a household name, too (to most people, mostly the latter, possibly). 3.Prowl – Optimus´s calculating stragegist/detective is the most iconic of the Datsun brothers. Also, any TF character who has a separate toy page on TFWiki kind of deserves a spot on this list by default… 4.Jazz – Optimus´s right hand man, often depicted as his second-in-command. This fun-loving music fan was one of the most recognizable guys in the cartoon show, also total badass in War For Cybertron! 5.Ironhide – A constantly recurring character, always close to Optimus, experienced and rough and grumpy. And loveable! 6.Ratchet - The hard-as-nails Autobot medic, heck, he took out Megatron in "Repeat performance" in the Marvel Comic! His bout with his evil twin Pharma in IDWverse was epic as well! He´s the toughest doc around!!! 7.Wheeljack – The engineer with a completely unique head/face design. Those blinking earflaps! And as said many times before, the first Transformer we encountered in the classic cartoon. 8.Sideswipe - While never really becoming developed as a character, this guy has one of the most iconic TF toys ever, which his and his mold-mates inclusion in the Masterpiece line is testament of. 9.Sunstreaker - Another Lamborghini bot, this one having the distinction of being the first ever toy fully transformable from car to robot! From a historical perspective, that´s more than enough reason to include this vain Autobot brother... Decepticons 10.Megatron – An unquestionable icon as well. Initially evil personified, later described as more of a troubled, lost soul… I look forward to follow his adventures as an Autobot on the Lost Light! 11.Starscream – The fourth of “the big four” of Transformers in terms of being recognizable alongside Prime, BB and Megs. We all love this treacherous, sleek guy with grand plans of Decepticon leadership! 12.Skywarp – Starscream couldn´t be leader of the Seekers without subordinates, Skywarp seems to have become a well-loved character on two merits; one, the color-scheme of his toy, two, teleportation! 13.Thundercracker – The third iconic seeker brother. He is interesting personality-wise with the doubts he has about the Decepticon cause, and how he learns to appreciate Earth in the IDW comics. 14.Soundwave – Super-iconic character, whose chest contains an army of iconic mini-Decepticons! Master of spying, sound and communication, dead loyal to Megatron, or even more so, to the Decepticon cause. 15.Laserbeak – The most iconic cassette character? Evilishly perched on the shoulder of Soundwave… 16.Ravage – I seriously thought Ravage was a wolf as a child, but hey, he´s awesome as panther, too! 17.Frenzy – Sound-warrior, master of the high frequencies… 18.Rumble - …the earthquake-maker, nuff said! 1985 – “Reinforcements from Cybertron” Autobots 19.Jetfire – The original G1 toy (taken from Macross) is considered a classic masterpiece, and his character also earns a place on this list on the merit of being the Autobots most recognizable airborne warrior! 20.Grimlock – Leader of the Dinobots, and this lists representative of that group. While it could be said that all Dinobots are iconic, Grimlock is the one who really is a standalone icon. Rough, tough and awesome! 21.Blaster – In the Marvel Comic, he (and Scrounge) basically was the lone resistance against the Decepti-cons on Cybertron before taking out Straxus, being teleported to Earth and beefed with Grimlock. Royal! 22.Perceptor – Earns a spot on this list through being a rare bird in the TF Universe, a scientist! In the IDW comics he was further upgraded to genius and master sniper! 23.Omega Supreme – The original base bot, that´s enough reason. But he also has a unique design that stands the test of time regardless of what new incarnation he receives. Save Omega Spreem… 24.Whirl – “The Autobot without known weaknesses”; first, just a unique looking toy, later given a place in the Wreckers in the Marvel comic. In IDW loveable madman and elevated to extreme fan favorite!!! 25.Roadbuster – Together with Whirl, one of the two toys lifted from the Takatoku Dorvack line. Although still not being super-developed as a character, we love his design!!! Generations Voyager 2014 FTW!!! Decepticons 26.Shockwave – The original mad scientist, cold, calculating schemer with the perhaps most unique face in the TF Universe. When IDW gave us the backstory about how he got that face, we were mindblown!!! 27.Blitzwing – Maybe not super-developed as a character, but iconic enough to receive his own Voyager toy in the Generations line. He is also the triple-changer whose alt-modes are at least remotely in scale with each other, which cannot be said about… 28.Astrotrain – Earns a spot here as the Deceptions´ eternal transport. “Space Bus”, as Galvatron said… 29.Bombshell - Representing the Insecticons, and easily the most iconic of them. His mind-controlling skills are quite a unique feat in the Transformers Universe... 30.Devastator/The Constructions – The original combiner, nuff said! 1986 – The movie era/Scramble City Autobots 31.Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime – After having withstood thousands of children´s disbelief as he had to fill in the gigantic boots of Optimus, he became an iconic character in his own right. I love him in the IDW comics! 32.Ultra Magnus – In a way, he represents failure since his first appearance in the 1986 movie, but maybe that´s one thing that makes him identifiable? Plus, he is totally badass as Tyrest Accord enforcer… 33.Kup – Alongside Ironhide, another loveable war veteran, with a lot of stories to tell… 34.Blurr – In the cartoon I remember him as being slightly hysterical and annoying, in IDWverse he is the opposite, a totally cool, laid back guy who retired from racing and has his own bar. Like this version! 35.Springer – Never one of my personal favorite, but I see the enormous appeal in this Han Solo-esque hero. Being leader for the Wreckers demands you´re a total badass, which is the case for this triple-changer. 36.Arcee – The first truly iconic fembot, finally she´s getting an official toy! Again, I totally prefer her IDW persona where she is less of a babysitter and more of a raving mad close-combat expert. Awesome! 37.Wheelie – Annoying in the movie, yes, butt-ugly joke of a toy, yes, but these two things alone qualifies him for this list. Also, I have to say I like how IDW explored his survivalist skills and kinda made him cool! 38.Wreck-Gar – Leader of planet Junkion, first motorcycle-former, two reasons for being here! 39.Sky Lynx – The Decepticons have Astrotrain and the Autobots have Sky Lynx. Unique design! 40.Defensor/The Protectobots – As a toy, Defensor might be the most good looking one of the Scramble City combiners. The idea of a blue fire truck alone is quite interesting… And his face reveal(s)! 41.Superion/Aerialbots – Silverbots is something of an iconic character himself, while the rest of the members are the most anonymous character-wise, along their rival Stunticons… 42.Metroplex – The original city-bot. Nuff said!!! 43.Swerve – Made famous as bar owner, Blurr fan and prankster in the IDW comics! Decepticons 44.Galvatron – Sometimes an upgrade of Megatron, sometimes a separate character. I tend to prefer the latter, it seems he has strived to be one since the Marvel comic days. He certainly deserves it! 45.Cyclonus – Iconic by design (those horns), and also loved as a character. And again, interesting in IDWverse 46.Scourge – The original beard-former! The original flying bathtub-former! Has an army of clones! Need I say more? 47.Ratbat – Could have been just an anonymous cassette-con, but Budiansky turned him into a unique breed of Decepticon leader. Also, his bat-form was explained in IDW, and Senator Ratbat rocks, too! 48.Predaking/Predacons – Alongside Devastator, the most iconic combiner ever? Maybe the most powerful… 49.Bruticus/Combaticons – The third most iconic combiner ever? Concept-wise, he might be the one who makes most sense… He is basically an army (ehm, plus a Space Shuttle) coming together to crush the Autobots! Honorable mention: Swindle! He might be the only limb-bot who is a really loved character! 50.Menasor/Stunticons – Yes, he´s an icon, too, one third party release already, a second on the way… 51.Trypticon – A mechanical Godzilla that transforms into a city, when not crushing other cities! 1987 – The Headmasters Autobots 52.Fortress Maximus – Whether he is base-sized as in the cartoon, bigger than average as in the Marvel comics or just normal-big as in IDW, we love Fort Max! Also, the size of his toy, double headmastery! 53.Brainstorm – Basically unknown as a character before IDW put him on the Lost Light and chained a mysterious suitcase to his wrist… The voyager toy is coming! 54.Chromedome – Also anonymous until IDW turned him into “mnemosurgeon” and partnered him with… 55.Rewind - …and finally an Autobot cassette got a nice characterization as well. I wonder what Chromedome thinks if he goes cuddling inside Blaster´s chest? 56.Computron/Technobots – The Technobots has never got much characterization in the media, but the combiner toy is, as all Scramble City combiners, a rock-solid classic! Quantron and the upcoming 3P effort are proof… Decepticons 57.Abominus/Terrorcons – Another Scramble City combiner who was reincarnated in Beast Hunters, but he has no 3P interpretation yet. Fansproject or Maketoys, pretty please? 58.Scorponok – The whole concept, a claw-handed scientist robot that turns into city and then giant scorpion is just plain mad, but maybe that´s why we love him? His BlackZarak incarnation is cool, too. 59.Sixshot – The original sixchanger and one-man Decepticon army. “Phase Sixer” in IDWverse. Badass!!! 60.Raiden/The Trainbots – He could have been one of two original combiners together with Devy, but maybe US kids weren´t as crazy as Japanese about trains? In 1987, he finally got a TF release in Japan. 1988 – Powermasters/ Super God Masterforce Autobots 61.Powermaster Optimus Prime/God Ginrai – I normally wouldn’t let the same character appear in this list twice, but technically he is a different character in Japan, where he toghether with Godbomber achieves his ultimate “God-mode” only seen in Japan… 62.Quickswitch/Sixknight – While not as Iconic as Sixshot neither as a toy nor as character, this toy nevertheless pulled of the impressive six-change gimmick a second time. That´s enough for me! 63.Nightbeat - The 1988 Headmaster toys were, as characters, if possible even more anonymous than their 1987 predecessors, but Simon Furman and later IDW stole the cool shades from Siren, put them on Nightbeat and made him detective! So now he´s getting a second toy, shades and all… Decepticons 64.Piranacon/King Poseidon – The last of the classic Scramble City-combiners was also according to many the crowning achievement for the concept with additional cannon-modes for the limbs and a targetmaster function! And Snaptrap was the spiritual predecessor of Blastoise in Pokémon 65.Doubledealer/Double Clouder – Why weren´t Doubledealer made the Decepticon leader in 1988, when no one else could fill the spot? His toy was unique and kinda scary-looking… But better yet… 66.Overlord - …why didn´t Overlord get released in the West this year in the first place?!? A toy so jam-packed with gimmicks… But IDW has restored Overlord´s (dis)honor through Last Stand of the Wreckers… 1989 – Pretenderfest/Victory Jumbled up from hereon... 67.Monstructor/Pretender Monsters -Dinoking/Dinoforce – Again, a fairly anonymous toy (albeit cool) that IDW elevated to near-iconic heights through his many appearances, seeming unstoppability and status as the first combiner! The Japanese versions of the Pretender Monsters, the Dinoforce, were mostly used for comic relief in the Victory anime, it seems… 68.Bludgeon – I´m not sure any Pretender would have gotten remembered as characters if it wasn´t for Furman´s love for Bludgeon and Thunderwing. Master of Metallikato, we love you, too! 69.Thunderwing (/Black Shadow) – Thunderwing was something unique as a Decepticon with a natural affinity for the Creation Matrix. His retool Black Shadow was killed off too soon by IDW, IMO. 70.Star Saber – The most iconic not-so-known in the west Japanese Transformer? His upcoming Masterpiece toy is however telling of his status here in Japan. His design takes a cue from. Optimus, but he´s a distinct character. Especially in IDWverse. Hero of villain, which one do you prefer? 71.Victory Leo – A rebuilt God Ginrai, badass and combines with Star Saber to form Victory Saber. Need I say more? 72.Greatshot – A retool of the Sixshot toy but given a distinct character in the Victory show. His design was also the template for Brave´s Shadow Maru, who we hope becomes a retool for Hexatron soon… 73.Road Caesar/Brainmasters – The combined form of the Brainmasters, included on this list simply for the unique approach it took to combining, post Scramble City… 74.Landcross/Multiforce – Another unique Victory combiner, consisting of three combiners, consisting of two robots each! The name “multi-force” was certainly befitting… Ammonites, anyone? 75.Deathsaurus – Another-not-so-known-in-the-west-but-really-cool Japanese toy, with some unique design. Personally, I hope he as well as many other Victory characters turn up in IDWverse… and then, Generations toy updates!!! 76.Liokaiser/Breastforce – Yet another unique Victory combiner, consisting of the Breastforce… This combiner might be the most powerful ever, he´s scaringly powerful in the Victory anime, until… 1990 – Action Masters/Zone 77.Dai Atlas – The fearless Autobot leader of Transformers Zone! Or the leader of the pacifist Cybertron exiles The Circle of Light, if you will… The toy is awesome, the character has a rather prominent role in IDWverse and Maketoys seem to be working on a homage to him… 78.Axer – Maybe not an obvious choice, but those who have read the Fall of Cybertron novel know that he has a rather prominent role there, although it of course can be discussed if this bounty hunter is the same character as the G1 one who tries to assassinate Optimus in IDWverse… The movieverse toy Axor is however an obvious homage to the original Action Master, who I always assumed would be a triple-changer would he get a proper transforming toy. Motorcycle, car, robot! Latter year additions/had-no-toy characters 79.Primus – Basically God in the Transformers Universe. His altmode is Cybertron, the home planet of Transformers. His omission here would be a glaring one… 80.Unicron – Evil incarnate, the Yang to Primus´s Yin (or the other way around?). A planet for alt-mode, that devours other planets… What could be a more massive threat? Heard about Unvorsum? 81.Alpha Trion – Sage, Autobot elder, one of the original Thirteen. He is finally getting a cartoon-accurate figure, non-transforming, but still! He is at least a partsformer, switch his beard to an elegant moustache and he turns into beardless Frank Beard, drummer of ZZ Top! 82.Sentinel Prime – Constantly recurring as Optimus´s more or less direct and/or corrupt predecessor. He was also the main villain of Dark of the Moon, until Megatron had enough of the sidelining, that is… 83.Impactor – Impactor also finally got a toy just recently. But what we really want for this badass original leader of the Wreckers is the seemingly lost 3P effort Presser… Personally, I think he is the Deluxe Vehice the Dorvack toy Bonaparte Tulcas was never turned into… But it´s never too late! 84.Drift – Although parts of the fandom has questioned why we should suddenly be fans of this fairly novel character, most fans now at least accepts this awesome Autobot Samurai. He switched from being Deadlock in the Decepticons, was trained in swordsmanship by the Circle of light and has a bromance with Rodimus… What´s NOT to like about this guy? 85.Thunder Clash – His toy is from the glorious post 1990 European G1 era, whose many gems of toys were given the spotlight in the Last Stand of the Wreckers. As for Thunder Clash, though, who in my eyes is the ultimate ambassador of that forgotten era, the best is seemingly yet to come… 86.Devcon – Maybe too obscure for this list, but the Autobots need their own badass bounty hunter, and through this year´s Botcon he finally got a toy as well! 87.Rung – The Autobot psychiatrist/psychologist/psy-ops specialist hasn´t got his own toy yet, it´s about time, don´t you think? With moveable eyebrows, please! 88.Windblade – The first fan-made (to which degree, we can discuss) Transformer, one of the few female ones to boot, with her own IDW miniseries and a toy coming out deserves a spot on this list! 89.Elita One – The original fembot! Fembots ftw! 90.Bulkhead – Originating in the Animated universe, Bulkhead has now seeped into the G1 universe retroactively through IDW comics, and into the Aligned continuity family as well. And kids love him! 91.Straxus – Lord of Darkmount, such a monumental badass! He might be content with ruling his own little corner of Cybertron, but there is seems even Megatron won´t challenge him. “Mercy is not dispensed here, fools, only DEATH!” Epic quote! “The smelting pool” was an epic story, much thanks to Straxus. He finally got a toy, too! 92.Jhiaxus – Wherever he appears, be it in G2, Regeneration One or IDWverse, he is always a major player. Shockwave´s former teacher, creator of Monstructor! Toy coming up, with his chin gloriously reproduced 93.Megatronus/The Fallen – Another one of the original Thirteen, and inspiration for Megatron´s new choice of name. He is absurdly powerful, and got a Bay movie named after him. Nuff said! 94.Nova Prime– Former Prime, scientist and expansionist, engineer of the golden age, and eventually lord of the Dead Universe, bent on world domination… a captivating character, to say the least! 95.Nemesis Prime – Although in IDWverse, Nova Prime eventually turns into Nemesis, there are many iterations of this character. He almost seems to be more of a concept than a proper character, but given his frequent occurrence in various continuities, he should definitely be on this list! 96.Lockdown – Also originating in Animated, Lockdown has also seeped into other continuities and became a main character in Age of Extinction. Oh, and he´s the Decepticon´s foremost bounty hunter… 97.Lugnut – Yet another Animated character breaking out of his continuity. Decepticon strongman and utterly loyal to Megatron. First I thought he was an empurata victim, but he seems to have FIVE eyes? 98.Tarn – Leader of the Decepticon Justice Division, wearing the Decepticon Insignia as a facemask and able to TALK his victims to death… That´s badassery on a high level. So when do we get a voyager toy? 99.Tyrest – The former Chief Justice has only appeared in IDWverse, but has all the grand ingredients of a classic lunatic; delusions, grand ambitions and an utter disregard for his fellow robots. He failed with his “undo all the cold-constructed cybertroians” plan, but I have a feeling we haven´t seen the last of him… 100.Empty slot!!! BONUS ENTRIES - "Hope to the them in G1/IDWverse soon": 101.Predaking/Dragotron – As seen in Prime/Go! and leader of a whole new faction. Further, I don´t see it impossible that a character of this awesome dragon design will one day appear in proper G1 media. And to avoid confusion, name him Dragotron! 102.Thundertron – Same thing here, Aligned continuity, leader of a new faction, and seemingly badass! 103.Blackarachnia – Having appeared in two different continuities already I think she is likely to turn up in IDW-verse at some time eventually, the way Rattrap and Waspinator have. That´s all, folks Agree/disagree? Lemme know what you think! EDIT: Now I´ve included Ratchet (and sacrificed Tailgate). His omission was just a mistake on my part, as a list like this without Ratchet would not be trustworthy... EDIT 2: Removed the three characters that has not actually appeared in any G1 continuity yet to outside the top 100, included Sideswipe and Sunstreaker on the basis of their toys´importance. I also removed Chromia who I like but who´s inclusion I can´t really justify. Left an empty slot where you can choose who should be included!
"9.Skywarp – Starscream couldn´t be leader of the Seekers without subordinates, Skywarp seems to have become a well-loved character on two merits; one, the color-scheme of his toy, two, teleportation!" To me, there is a third merit; This loyal decepticon, with no ambition whatsoever, was rewarded for his millions of years of loyality by being given the rank of second-in-command in the decepticon army as; Cyclonus the warrior!
Thank you! Wow, Ratchet fell out of the list somewhere... He should obviously be included, for the others, not so sure... I love lists
Thanks a lot! My little attempt at celebrating the TF Universe... I had great fun writing it, hopefully some people can get inspired reading it, too
cliffjumper definitely should be there. also, kickback always seemed more the iconic insecticon to me. i would also more likely include reflector. he basically filled in as the decepticon army in the g1 cartoon.
22.Whirl 41.Swerve 53.Rewind I think your confusing important with newly popular. Everyone in the fandom is all abuzz about them. But there hardly reeling in new viewers by the truck load or have cemented there place in every fiction from here on in. 23.Roadbuster 37.Sky Lynx 51.Brainstorm 91.Megatronus/The Fallen Awesome guys! Cool look, or awesome personality quark or interesting background story. But what have they done that's import to transformers or to gain fame for the brand? They seem to just be points of interest. 4.Jazz 10.Skywarp 11.Thundercracker 15.Frenzy 26.Astrotrain Familiar faces. If you have a group of guys. These guys are excepted to be there. Everyone knows them and everyone in the fandom want there there. But....important? Hardlying landmark characters, and hardly cause wave when ever they show up in toy form or in any story.There just supporting background characters for someone else most of the time. 38.Defensor/The Protectobots 48.Menasor/Stunticons 62.Piranacon/King Poseidon 65.Monstructor/Pretender Monsters One of the few combiners from G1 but, just cause they were one of the combiner doesn't that give them a place in top 100 most important? I'd hold FirstAid alone above these guys. None of these character did anything except show up to be combatants or a foil. 60.Quickswitch/Sixknight: Same mold and same release dated, but aren't these two different guys? Not sure ether would make the list to boot. 70.Greatshot 76.Axer 83.Thunder Clash 84.Devcon 92.Nova Prime 96.Tarn 97.Predaking/Dragotron 98.Thundertron 100.Tyrest These guys had there moment to shine. And it was good. (I even read the TF novels) But it's was one story and as good as it was, it wasn't for very long. Not saying they couldn't make it to top 100. but we need more on them. There's too may other transformers who's been active for 30 years. And none of these character have had lasting rippling effect through out franchize or have been so poplar to affect other Transformers lines (yet). 80.Sentinel Prime: 93.Nemesis Prime Which one? Unlike most of the name on the list where BumbleBee is BumbleBee and Starscream is Starscream (for the most part at least). All versions of these guys are wildly different. 82.Drift: Drift caused some waves in the TF fandom when he first showed up, true. And he got his own story line. But i'm not sure that makes him important. Maybe he'll pull a NightBeat and have his story so fondly remembers put will find any excess to add him to a story. But i don't think so. 87.Chromia 88.Elita One Give us a better reason than 'Being a fembot'. That alone hardly makes you important. They could claim as being technically the first. But they only showed up for 2 episodes are were forgot about other wise. Later media brought the names back but only as background characters. Chromia this year alone has made bigger impact by being a support character to someone else. 85.Rung 86.Windblade Need more info. I'm invested in Rung and Windblade. But they haven't done anything yet. Nether of them have even finish a plot thread yet. They maybe very well grab first place in a year or so, but they've have yet to finish there first chapter. WindBlade maybe be able to take some claim, with having a Female writer and artist. But her first story isn't even finished yet. The most delusions cake in all the world still doesn't taste very good if it's only half baked.
Mechanova King, thank you for your thought-out reply, you indeed raise a number of valid points! While others often have mentioned characters they miss in the list your main criticism, if we boil it down, is quite the opposite; that there are too many characters of too little importance in the list. I suspect that you don´t have suggestions with who to replace those slots with, i.e., you´d like to see a shorter list? Fair enough. However, the purpose of this list is not to filter out a small number of characters really important to the G1 franchises story-wise, but rather to celebrate the great number of characters found there, and the diversity they display! Further, judging from my poll here http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans.../992925-poll-continuity-definite-one-you.html the IDW comic universe has a pretty strong standing alongside the G1 cartoon, and thus I find it justified to include a number of characters debuting or made famous there. After all, these tend to get released in the Generations line, too... As for fembots, yes, them being female alone make them important in my book since it is still such a rare trait in the TF Universe. Elita is important because she was the first, Arcee has achieved cult status and Windblade is partly included because of her unique way of entering the franchise. Blackarachnia is important as the most iconic female villain in the TF franchise as a whole. Having that said, maybe I could have omitted Chromia? As for Sentinel Prime and Nemesis Prime, sure, I could specify one exact iteration for each of these, but I think their multiple appearances/interpretations stands testament to their prominence on a conceptual level, as in "The predecessor of Optimus Prime" and "Optimus Prime´s evil mirror image". In a way, many of the characters on the list are different characters depending on which media/continuity they appear in, like Blurr. But then again, it is proof of their importance. I can admit that I did include some characters on the merit of their toys rather than their importance as characters (like Doubledealer and Quickswitch), and therefore, I guess I could have included at least Sideswipe to represent the Lambo brothers. Or Sunstreaker, since he was an important character in the IDW "headmaster" story arc (that I didn´t like, I prefer my Transformers without too much involvement of humans). Maybe its time for a small edit again? As for Swindle, he at least got an honorary mention, but maybe you think he deserves a spot of his own?
Alright, I made some rearrangements in the list (se EDIT 2) and left one slot free, and I think YOU should choose who´s most worthy of inclusion! I already had some suggestions; Trailbreaker, Cliffjumper, Kickback... What do you think?
