Since I haven't found a similar poll as of recently, I thought I might make one for people to vote and express their reasons why.

For me personally, I'd narrow it to a list of five in order of they were made: Beast Wars, Armada, Cybertron, Animated, and Prime.

And speaking of narrowing, I couldn't fit all of them in the poll due to the apparent maximum of choices.

 

G1, Armada, animated, beast wars, RID01. They were awesome, introduced new stuff or old stuff in different ways. I especially liked the animation style of g1, Armada and RID01.

 

Disappointed by the lack of RID 15

 

i haven't watched a lot but my vote will go to the series with most natural dialogue. i could barely get through the first episode of rid 15 and cyberverse due to how unatural and headache inducing the dialogue is, i don't even know how i managed to finish prime wars

 

My number one pick would have to go to Animated. The characters were an absolute delight. They were all altered for this series, and most (if not all) changes were for the better. It was an ingenious move on the writers' part to start our heroes at the bottom. After all, it's much more fun watching someone become a hero than just being a hero. The characters were down-to-Earth, and they actually felt like real people with real flaws. Their actions had consequences and they have made decisions that they weren't able to take back. The villains were terrifying and the Decepticons were actually made a threat instead of a punching bag for the good guys. The human supervillains, though I'm not fond of them personally, served their purpose well and were at least entertaining to watch. I loved how fun the series was - it's probably the most fun I've ever had with the franchise. It was serious when it needed to be but also a genuinely entertaining show. It's great from start to finish and is in desperate need of it's fourth season.

Second place would probably be Beast Wars. I haven't seen this show in a while (really should rectify that) but from what I remember it was rather enjoyable. I feel like the first season dragged on a bit, though it was still entertaining if mildly tiresome at times. The second season is absolutely the best Transformers has ever been on the small screen. Fantastic character development and storylines, all with a heavy sci-fi lean that the franchise sorely lacks these days. It ended in a phenomenal season finale. Unfortunately, I never really liked the third season of Beast Wars. It felt kind of goofy after how dark the previous season had been. Stories aren't as great this time around and I did not like the ending much. At the end of the day, it's the inconsistencies that drag Beast Wars down for me.

Honorables mentions would be G1, Beast Machines, and Armada. Though the G1 cartoon isn't the most sophisticated series in the franchise, you have to give it credit for how much of the universe it established. It also had some really great characters that were fun to watch and fantastically performed by their voice actors. It also easily has the greatest legacy of any Transformers series, so there's that. I'd argue that Beast Machines has the opposite problem of G1 - it's too smart but unfortunately comes off as preachy at times. I liked the more philosophical take on the Transformers and liked how Megatron actually had a motivation and ideology instead of just "being evil" for the sake of it. Hopefully the upcoming War for Cybertron animated series takes some inspiration from that and explores concepts like freedom, peace, tyranny, and what that all entails. Armada was great in it's second half and I absolutely adore the things that this show did with Optimus, Megatron, and, of course, Starscream.

 

Yeah, like I said, I couldn't fit of them in there, which is why I had the Other option.

 

For me, it's down between G1, BW, RID 2001, Prime, and Victory. They're all great for a multitude of different reasons.

 

Beast Wars
Beast Machines
Armada
Cybertron
Animated

 

G1 is still my favorite. It was the one I grew up with, and it's still nostalgic and fun to me.

Honestly, RID2015 might be my second favorite of the ones I've seen. It had problems (especially during the second and third seasons), but I think it accomplished what it set out to do very well, and it had a somewhat unique premise behind it.

I could see Animated becoming my second favorite, I really liked the little bit I've seen of it. I used to really like Prime, but the more I think about it, hear about the making of it, and rewatch bits of it, the more I dislike it, and honestly kind of see it as a failure. Plus, I've really grown to dislike the design aesthetic.

 

Animated is my favorite, then Cybertron since it was the first TF cartoon I ever watched. Last would be Prime, since it had a lot of good ideas but also had a lot of wasted potential.

 

Beast Wars/Machines...

Best writting, the cast stayed relitivly small. Honestly it's the perfect size cast for everyone to get a decent amount of screen time. Characters die, but not just for the sake of trying to be dark and gritty. There are no characters who she up just to say one or two lines and die five minutes later. It's the only show where characters actually develop naturally. Cheetor unlike some other kid friendly characters, he matures over time not magically all the sudden out of no where, not staying a teenager forever, he starts as a teen and is an adult by Beast Machines.

 

Prime is my favourite although i do feel it got a little too dark towards the end .
The zombie vehicons were horrible and I didnt like Airachnid and Breakdown's fates . Overall though i loved the animation and the more mature feel of Prime .

Animated was a lot of fun and probably had the best story of all the shows I have seen .

G1 is there because it had the most transformers and I love the nostalgia .

I have recently started watching the Japanese shows and really enjoyed Transformers Go !

 

My top three would be Animated, Prime, and G1. Honorable mention goes to Beast Wars. G1 ranks higher purely because, oddly enough, I got hooked on it before watching any of the more recent TF media.

 

My top five favourite series:

Beast Wars
Animated
RID 2001
Beast Machines
Cybertron

 

I'm going to say Prime.
I was a Beast Wars devotee for many years and I loved Animated, but I enjoy Prime because it doesn't feel like I'm putting up with a show specifically made for kids. It feels a bit like what I imagine season 2 and 3 of Beast Wars would have been if they'd been made today.

 

Primes winning it seems which I'm happy with as it's my favourite series as it's one of the most solid series all around with some definitive versions of characters like ratchet and starscream. There are some issues with it like the scavenger hunt period but on the whole it has the most fleshed out world and the small cast means they are some of the best developed versions of the characters.


I grew up with armada (which is very underrated due to the slow first third of the show) and animated was what got me back into the franchise (well it's a joint effort between animated and the movies) so to me they have a special place with me. I kind of skipped energon (not by choice it's just I used to watch armada before going to school and when I moved up to primary school I never got a chance to watch energon) I caught what I could of cybertron I enjoyed it but I never got any figures. Beast wars had ended before I was old enough to watch it (I was born in 98) I vaguely remember catching bits of beast machines and I have very vague memories of RID and that was when i got my first figures.

G1 I vaguely remember reruns on pop and my nan bought me the movie on DVD thinking it was armada when I was a kid so I do have some connection with it.

Post prime I've caught rid but it's a bit of a let down following prime, not watched rescue bots as it's a bit young for me. Not a fan of cyberverse as why just retread g1 ( it's more like idw g1 for kids really) but why retread old ground.

That's my view of the shows.

I'd my top 3 would be
1. Prime
2. Animated
3. Armada


(Wow that was a longer post than expected)

 

Oh, Animated without a doubt. Prime was really the first Transformers media that I actually enjoyed, it holds a special place in my heart. But due to things like sometimes boring stories, flat characters (not all of them), I'll have to give The Best Series Award to Animated. It had such a great cast and each personality bounced off one another fantastically. The story was great, the characters were lovable, and in my opinion, that's sometimes all a show needs.

Prime is dear to me, (especially Knock Out cough cough) but Animated did a much better job with giving itself something new, fresh, and exciting. So yeah, Animated, hands down.

 

Beast Wars
Prime
Beast Machines

 

1.Beast Wars Man where to start? The setting where there are no humans on an ancient Earth was something we haven't seen before. The characters are all memorable and their personal stories and how they grew to the end of the show was amazing. I don't even have to explain how perfect Dinobot is. The natural feeling they all gave off despite the setting, was handled very well. Okay so I wasn't a G1 kid so I didn't know much about it, Beast Wars was awesome for me as they actually changed into things that weren't cars. Dinosaurs, Dragons, beasts, and Frankenstein's monster made me obsessed with the show. I could go on and on but I don't think you want an essay ahaha.

2.Prime The tone and narrative was great. The fights were pretty intense and there was great character and world building. The humans for once weren't annoying as hell. One of the few seasons where I actually couldn't wait to see what happened next. The internal fighting on both sides was also a high point in the show for me. (Also a bayverse fan so the aesthetic sings to me.)

3.Cybertron It was so damn fun to watch. Planets with transformers not on Cybertron? Hell yeah. Wish we could get more stuff like that that isn't comics. Enjoyed the Cyber key stuff too. I used to collect those. Added a lot to my personal head canon. I loved that Megatron wasn't this super invincible monster that can only be hurt/beaten by Optimus. Him losing and gaining power was one of my favorite points on the show.

I'm honestly a pretty big fan of the original RID series we got. I really liked the characters and how they were handled. Though Megatron was the weak point imo.

I might add more later as I put myself on the spot while typing this and probably didn't explain too well and not as well as I could have.

 

Beast Wars all the way, I fee up with it and I love it and I can still re-watch it and actually reallyreally enjoy it to this day. Season 2 is the absolute best the series got.
Also voted for Animated because of that outstanding third season. Seasons 1 and 2 were hit and miss (the openings and finales to those first two seasons were outstanding, with some good episodes in between but some really really bad ones too) which is why I can't call it my absolute favorite, but I still love the characters so much.