^ Non-Sequitur. My argument is against giving older figures handicaps for their age. We can debate what "Best" means through the course of the thread.
older figures aren't being given handicaps, they're being viewed as benchmarks. are pieces that moved the design and art of transformers toys forward. ocarina of time is still widely regarded as the best video game ever made. that's not giving it a handicap.
@Hardhead: Read this post. While I agree judging Transformers only by improved articulation is a limited view, I do not think it is appropriate to judge them within the context of their time when we are discussing which Transformer is the best, which is a topic that covers from the beginning of Transformers to now. Another guy mentioned that Soundwave had a gimmick that no other Transformer could match (couldn't he play actual tapes? I forget), along with everything else that makes him good, which is why he is the best. That is a strong argument. But calling Soundwave the best because he was the best in his era for whatever criteria is fallacious. DPrime did not explicitly say the word "handicap," although that is effectively what he was talking about. I would also argue against sales being appropriate. For example: Beyond Good and Evil was an excellent game, yet it barely sold any copies. Its sales is irrelevant to its quality. It was marketed poorly, not designed poorly.
My opinion is like this: everything else being equal (no nostalgia, money is no object, just someone deciding which TF to buy), is there any reason to recommend G1 Optimus over MP-10? Best is inherently subjective, but this is a topic about deciding which one is the best. We've got to have some sort of ground rules in order to facilitate discussion. I mean, there's clear room for personal preference but certain toys really are just not as good as other ones.
^ "For a G1" is not a valid judging criteria for "Best." It's a caveat, not a good quality of the figure. His tape interactivity, however, could put him in the running for his play value. @Soundwinder: Basically, yes. Nothing but the figure itself should be considered. I even think that show accuracy shouldn't be a factor, since that has little to do with the quality of the figure as a toy.
The only transformer that I own that I have like literally zero problems with is Deluxe DotM Bumblebee. Not the best, but still pretty flawless
So, here are the criteria I'm considering for this: Transformation: Smoothness. Complexity (the ideal range for this we'll need to discuss) If it part forms (binary option). Vehicle Mode: Cohesiveness Expected Functionality (if it's a car, does it roll well? If it's a tank, can the turret move?). Robot Mode: General Aesthetics. Articulation. Joint Design. Overall: Sturdiness. Plastic quality. The weighting for each category we'll need to discuss, too.
I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this but... BEST TRANSFORMER EVER MADE... In my opinion.... Transmetal Beast Wars Megatron The figure is just absolutely STUNNING STILL and represents the character's TV look very closely.
Revenge of the Fallen Leader Class Optimus Prime is where the line as a whole peaked for me. Such an excellent figure, and a vast improvement over the previous Optimus Prime. It's a true marvel of modern toy engineering, really. It's so complex and accurate in both modes, my God. No figure since has been able to come close to the same level. It's gotta be the most accurate representation of ant movie figure (that transforms) we'll ever get. Plus, minimal kibble in both modes. He also manages to combine with Jetfire. This figure does a hell of a lot, and looks good doing it. Engineered so impossibly well... I can talk for hours about this toy. I love it so much. HTFD Screamer came close to being my fave, but once the wow factor wore off, and I took a step back... He gets an honorable mention, as does MP Skywarp, MP Prime, HA Barricade, and HA Mudflap. Yeah, Mudflap. Deal with it.
I still think HA Jazz is near tops (and since i'm not generally a huge fan of movie designs the deck was stacked against him going in)
I was meaning the special effects were SW ep 3 outclasses EP4, but it only does so because it has way way better technology to work with. Therefore the comparassion is worthless as they come from diffrent eras. of course they will need handicap if they ever were to be compared, IT WAS NOT possible to do the things today in 1984. So all toys made today are better then all G1 toys in that sense, better detail, articulation and so on.G1 would be suckiest line ever.