The Energon Pub

WalMart's Universe Hardhead takes the cake. I was not interested in that mold as Onslaught, but it fit in my collection perfectly as Hardhead.

I vote for Gentei Ghost Starscream!

Electro disruptor Liger and clear screamer are both tied at a very high spot for fav of the year for me.

I also love Buster prime, does he count?

If we are talking Us release I'm going to go with MP skywarp. I love how they made him very G1 ish.

Of toys that I have I'd plump for Banzaitron, great repurposing of a mould, makes me feel foolish for all the times I chimed in with the Divebomb/Shadowhawk as Banzaitron vibe.

Ghost 'Scream would probably just asay top him, unfortunately I've recently had to cancel my preorder due to money woes. I WILL be picking one up early next year once work picks up, but I can see myself having to part with some serious cash (grr...). Until I've got one in hand to see how well the mould's holding up (including the coneheads I make this the 15th version of the Classic Seekers mould, and Henkei 'Cracker was less than inspiring, although all six of my Acidstorm air force are nice and tight) Banzaitron will remain in the top spot.

Honourable mentions for TRU Countdown and DarkWING (Wing damnit!). I've got a Micromaster themed sub section amonst my Classics that Countdown makes a nice centerpiece for and I had the original as a kid, and getting a modern Darkwing to partner with GoD Dreadwind was a nice treat, even if the 2 figures are a little missmatched height wise.

at retail, has to be Animated Purple Shockwave, I resisted buying the blue one on the gamble they would repaint him.

at Botcon, my vote is for the sweeps, very very cool. I love the mold choice.

My favorite is the Insecticon set. Putting the stickers on was a blast from the past, just like with Encore Optimus Prime. Musta taken me an hour to do Prime, about 10 minutes for each Insecticon. Fun!

Real Talk?

Gentai Dirge.

There's a lot of really nice figures out there, but Gentai Dirge is just amazing. Those new wings are one of the few new things you'll see on any of the exclusives and they push Dirge past Electo Disrupter and the other decent competition this year has produced.

On top of that, the toy fills a need that many collectors have or had. He's something that any collector could add to his Classics collection and be proud of.

I'd have to say Botcon Banzaitron. He was my favorite action master as a kid (I loved his colors) and they chose the PERFECT mold to repaint into his character. He's definitely one of my favorite figures in my collection.

If you mean general retail figures, I'd have to go with Target Universe Leo Prime. I know I'm in the minority here, but I think the original Leo Prime sucks. The Robot Masters one is good, but it doesn't fit in with the Beast Wars II line's scale. After sticking Leo Prime in my BWII Display, he fits in PERFECT with Galvatron and I've always liked/wanted the Leo Breaker mold.

Target repaint of Energon Superion.

I had a lot of fun with this guy doing some minor customizations.

While not perfect, a little parts swapping and replacing one or two of the limbs with the original Energon guys makes for a very convincing Gee-wunny Superion.

Second choice is Purple Shockwave.

Fun mold and he looks great next to his blueish counterpart.