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1. Blitzwing
2. Sludge (moreso than Grimlock!!!)
3. Grimlock

Voting will end tomorrow. Probably.

The vote goes to .................................

1. Perceptor
2. Devastator
3. Insecticons (although I don't really like them in cartoon)

Voting for 1985 closed. Feel free to start voting for 1986 while I tally up.

1985

3rd Place: Devastator: 12 Points

Green and purple? It'll never catch on. Despite his articulation-destroying miniskirt he's still an incredibly popular figure to this day. Anyone who can have drills for hands is okay in my book ( Picking Your Nose In Style by Diem, available at all imaginary book stores).

2nd Place: Jetfire: 16 points
As you probably already know the Jetfire mold was not a Hasbro original but unlike most of the other early toys it was taken not from an obscure toyline but from popular up-and-coming anime Super Rainbow Adventure Macross. To put it in context, it would be as if the next FOC combiner were a repaint of the Megazord. As a result of HasTak's casual and hilarious theft the figure was one of the larger and more sophisticated early toys.

1st Place: Grimlock: 30 points

It's no surprise Grimmy is a popular guy. After all he is a T-rex, and those are so popular that our ancestors had to invent dragons just because they hadn't discovered them yet. In the cartoon he and his fellow Dinobots were basically sulky teenagers who hid in their room and only came out to help with much cajoling. After the movie Grimlock slowly developed into a stupid comedy character instead (right around the time Wheeljack died he started getting stupider? Hmmmmmmm). In the Furman-penned comics Grimlock was a super-strong, super-smart, super-skilled, super-important, super-always right character.





Grimlock and his prehistoric playpals originated in the Diaclone Dino Robot line and they fit into the pre-existing cast of cars and planes like a monkey in an expensive-antiques-balanced-on-top-of-unpeeled-bananas exhibit. That said, the quartet had a good consistant colour scheme, decent enough articulation and (apart from Slag) smooth transformations. Grimlock in particular came out well despite his general dino-body-build resembling less an actual T-rex and more a flamingo. He had lots of moving bits, including a big snappy jaw perfect for inflicting modest torture on a younger sibling and he also had a cool sword and gun. And then one day you discovered his little flip-out chair and everything you previously knew was wrong.




In short he's a great toy despite his failings as a character and he got a well-deserved Masterpiece figure which was a perfect scale replica of a robot dinosaur from the eighties.

1986

1986 was an exciting time for Transformers. The cartoon was airing on more channels than actually existed and the comic won a Pulitzer prize for Best Made Up Winner Of A Pulitzer, Plus A Pulitzer Is Probably For Journalism Not Fiction Anyway. For the first time toys were being made for the line rather than being appropriated from other lines. Amongst other figures the year 1986 introduced the mighty Metroplex and the Typical Trypticon. A number of combiners appeared making Devastator look like old news. Movie stars started to appear and even a Sharkticon showed up.

So 1986, let's see it happen!

Diem wrote:So 1986, let's see it happen!

Predaking - The pinnacle of G1 combiner toys. He was the most massive combiner and he actually had leg articulation.

Honorable mentions:

• Trypticon - He was the most massive Transformer to date; had interactivity with the 5-member team combiner leaders; and he could walk. Oh, yeah, and he was a T-Rex, too. On the down side, his base mode was just not all that impressive.
• Springer - One of the best robot modes of any triple-changer to date; and even if his car mode didn't differ greatly from his helicopter mode, the helicopter was pretty impressive. Got lots of screen time in the movie and cartoon 3rd season, too.

Damn it, I missed 85.

86 was a great year. My top three are as follows.

1)Metroplex. I loved this figure as a kid and still do today. Great playability and a towering robot mode get him over the line for me.

2)Predaking. A gloroius combiner. And I loved the fact that the individual predacons were huge cons in themselves.

3)Skylynx. I believe that this one may be a little left field but as far as toys and playability go he had some pretty neat gimmicks. I was never a fan of the character in the cartoon and I never had him growing up, but after purchasing him a few years back I instantly became a fan of him.

Honourable mention - Sandstorm. A really great transformation from dune buggy to chopper IMO.

Nice to see grimlock righty crowned king!

1986
1) Bruticus
2) Metroplex
3) Superion

Just missing out Menasor and Cyclonus. hate Predaking with a passion!! ...looks more like a power ranger