I think I'm gonna have to go with G2Pat Lee here. Also maybe FP bruticus

 

My suggestions would really hinge on what you're trying to achieve with the cover. Is it just supposed to look cool? Represent the spectrum of 3rd party toys, either through time or across brands? All of the above?

Items I think represent what 3rd party items are about would be:

City Commander - as others have repeatedly mentioned, this was the gamble that broke the damn. We probably would have seen another company attempt something, but the success certainly ushered the era in faster. 5 years ago this set BLEW my friggin mind!

Knight Morpher Commander - introduced the idea that fiction only characters that would never get toys could be translated to plastic (and awesome plastic at that!)

Collossus - While Hercules and Giant are notable for being the first full 3p combiners, this project showed combiners could be viable and were within the 3p realm. In many ways, I think they pulled it off more successfully that Herc and Giant as well.

Unicron.com's sets - be it the energon cubes, goldens disks and reader, BM add-ons, Unicron stand, or vector sigma, these little tidbits were one of the early ways to augment your collection

Shapeways/Repro makers - Before shapways you had people who could repro parts for you and now you've got whole new accessories for your bots, both real and 3rd party, made to order.

Quintessons - Impossible toys was one of the only names in the game for a while and these guys (their quints) still have no viable competition. Most everything else is rather blah

There have been a few STINKERS too. Xovergren's first effort, one of the new heads for CC - that one was just horrible. I don't think these should be highlighted on the cover though unless you're showing the spectrum as above.

I don't think Herc/Giant/Uranus/Screacher/Defender/Ninsecticons/Cyclops/PE are revolutionary enough to make the cover, as awesome as they are.

Now, what is something that shows what 3p products can be? I've mostly mentioned early items and none of them are perfect...I just don't think there is one. We've got caterers (iGear, Toyworld), nichers (MMC), modernizers (MMC, FP, MT, TFC, PE, Toyworld), innovaters (FP, MMC, MT, TFC), adders(FP, Shapeways, Venksta, dozens of others) and more. I don't think you can really capture an "ideal" from all of that variety, so focusing on the history makes sense to me.

 

Since the Justitoys Desert Warrior Snarl is one of the very first commercial, boxed, and professional third party Transformers, I'd love to see it have a place in the Transforming Collections book.

Also, I'd hope that all the 3rd party Transformer TFcon exclusives have places there.

 

City Commander, that is pretty much the one that started me and a lot of other into Third Party IMO

 

Gotta have a covergirl so I'll vote for MGT-01 Delicate Warrior, the most accurate 3rd party Arcee!

Perfect Effect Not Reflector (either version) is small enough to fit somewhere on the cover...

 

Would have posted sooner but was at work and Mr. G2PatLee here took most of my idea. I would add MMC's Starscream. One figure to "lead the way into the future."

I have my bundle of the 3 Seekers on the way but I can tell from all I have heard and seen about these figures that just about every loves them. From flat out detail to engineering they seem amazing and further the HOS line. You can just look at that line and see how MMC has grown. From HOS Prime(s) to Cyclops to their newest release also the growing success of this line only goes to show their is clearly money outside of straight G1 transformers lines. & With such I feel some companies may try new things because of these.

 

City Commander
Hercules
PE SFX or FP collossus

 

Go with themed covers of the different companies offerings so people can buy their faves. MMC cover (HOS guys), Maketoys cover (tanker, Giant), FP cover, PE... you get the idea (although I agree with Vangelus' list)

 

city commander
herc(i'm a giant fan, but herc really is the icon for 3p combiners taking over from colossus)
mmc airborne

 

City Commander
Hercules
TFCon iGear Shafter
Renderform Bumper and Hubcap
Battle Tanker

 

I can't really single out one (or a few) that I think encompasses an "ideal" cover representing 3rd parties. Although I do like a lot of the more popular ideas that keep coming up.

As long as they just aren't standing there in a static, upright, boring pose (something I know we don't have to worry about with TJ behind the lense), I think it'll be all good.

Also, maybe something showing interaction between two or more 3rd party products would be cool. Something like this one maybe...



Not the perfect example, but you get my drift.

 

City commander , Herc, Weapon specialist, Hegemon, Maketoys power glide in alt mode, PE Rossana or Ratbat, and Sonicron (good with the bad) MMC Optimus. Have em fighting or some stuff. with some renderformer, and Maiden bits scattered about.

 

How about FP's Cliffjumper kit? That was one of the pioneers as well.

 

igear ironhide, and brawn.

 

The "staples" of 3rd Party "cornerstone" if you will:

City Commander ( first to pushes 3rd party role to almost mainstream and must have)
FP Bruticus (first attempt at combiner)
TFC Hercules (first attempt at full blown combiner)


Others that you may want to consider:

Knight Morpher Commander
PE Refector

Some of the pieces I mentioned are not "the best"; but they shaked the 3rd party world during it's time of release.

 

Definitely seeing some answers I expected, but definitely finding some that I never would've even thought of, so glad that I made this thread.

TigerBlade - Hegemon will be there: Don't you worry, lol.

Tfao - The poses won't be "static" but whether or not I do more intimate scenes between characters like the one you posted will depend on how many characters are in it. With 3 or 4, that's fine, but with 15 in a confined image area, that'll look like a hot mess.

Keep em coming guys.

 

Wow. I didn't realize that you'd be trying to sqeeze that many figures into a cover pic.

I totally agree with you though that with that many figures "interacting" it would look like the floor of some kid's playroom or something. lol.

I really am looking forward to seeing what you come up with though dude. No wonder I haven't seen you post around here as much lately. Seems like you have a lot more (I mean even more than usual, lol) on your plate at the moment.

 

City Commander, FP Bruticus Upgrade, iGear MP Coneheads, Renderform Scouts (HubCap Bumper and GoldBug) and MJ Junkions are some of my favorites and my suggestions.

 

I didn't state that... was just giving a hypothetical, but I think you got the gist of it.

And yes on the busy part. Pics for a store, a toy maker, this book... and then full video and written reviews on my OWN site and the wedding/life photography I do is a lot of clicks on the shutter button, lol. It's all good... keeps me outta' trouble... or something. I'onno.

One thing I do wish is that there was a front and back cover to this. It'd be great to have one cover bots the other cons.

 

What I would do:

Hegemon (on the right side), engaged in melee combat with City Commander on the left side. Far in the background, FP Classics Cliffjumper is aiming his BFG at Hegemon. Closer to the front (but still in the background), Defender in helicopter mode and Assaulter in jet mode are attacking Hercules.

And to top it off, Perfect Effect's reflector in camera mode is on a cliff nearby filming the whole scene.