Who are the ten most popular Transformers?

[anarky]

Not your favorite. Not the ones that geeks in their parents' basement yell the loudest about (because no one gives two shits about Erector). Who do you think are the ones that people remember years later, who they love the most?

Here's my stab at it:

1) Optimus Prime
2) Bumblebee
3) Soundwave
4) Starscream
5) Devastator
6) Jazz
7) Laserbeak
Rumble
9) Grimlock
10) Omega Supreme

My thinking is this: Optimus and Bumblebee are given. Soundwave seems to be the Decepticon who comes to mind first for most people, followed by Starscream. Everyone remembers Devastator; they probably can't tell you the name of a single Constructicon or other gestalt. Jazz has the most personality of any Autobot (who are mostly interchangeable if you get rid of their looks and special abilities). Laserbeak narrowly beats Rumble, since most people seem to think a bird with laser guns is cooler than a guy with piledriver arms. Grimlock seems to be the only Dinobot who people remember. Omega Supreme, despite a mediocre toy, was the first "city" Autobot and stands out.

Honorable mentions go to Megatron (who, really, most people just recall as "the bad guy who orders Soundwave and Starscream around and who Starscream shoots at") and Wheeljack, who really seems to be the only other early Autobot with much personality on the show, as well as one of the better toys.

I'll also wager these would be the bottom three--not referring to toys and characters people didn't care about, but those they actively hated:

3) Galvatron: Most folks see him as a shitty Megatron replacement.
2) Wheelie: He really fucking grates on most people I know. Even Simon Furman has gone on record talking about how much he loathes Wheelie.
1) Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime: No matter how cool they make him in later incarnations, he's always got the same problem as Galvatron: he's seen as a shitty Optimus Prime replacement. Plus kids actively blamed him for Prime's death because of his intervention in his final battle.

Yeah, this is a weird question for this site, but the post about Grimlock in the video games forum made me think about this.

[jjreason]

My friend thinks you might have made an unfortunate omission from your list. Honorable mentions are not honorable to a Decepticon.

[anarky]

If it were my personal list, Megatron would be much higher. Much, much higher. But I honestly think that, barring the appearance of a character who shares his name in the Bay-verse, Average Joe would rank the others more highly.

Megatron on the cartoon, which is most folks' exposure to the franchise, was barely a step up from Cobra Commander in the "constantly launching stupid schemes and failing miserably" department.

[jjreason]

I would think most nerds nearing 40 would HAVE to remember the Transformer that turned into a GUN though. That was pretty awesome, and some parents hated it.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Megatron's a Pimp. He's definitely Top Ten. I would also have Ravage on there. He's more memorable than either Laserbeak OR Rumble.
You could also make cases for Ratchet and Blaster if you were an avid comic reader, but I suspect most people are familiar with these characters thanks to the cartoon.

[Ran]

When I was leaving Guyana, there was a list of banned items at the airport. "Transforming Toy Gun" was on the list. I wish my friend would have sent me the picture he took of that sign. Megatron should be on the top 10 list.

[anarky]

You fellows have convinced me about Megatron. Omega's out of my list.

I personally think Ravage beats the shit out of any other cassette, except, of course, for Ratbat, who's a virtual tie because he's such a fucking sleazebucket, but most non-geeks I know remember "Soundwave, the bird cassette, and the cassette who caused earthquakes."

As for "if most Transformers fans were fans of the comic," Rollo, the top ten would be way the hell different:

1) Grimlock
2) Ratchet
3) Shockwave
4) Bludgeon
5) Scorponok
6) Optimus Prime
7) Nightbeat
Blaster
9) Starscream
10) Thunderwing

Yeah, just a bit different. I'd wager most people have never heard of three of them for sure. More likely four, unless you're counting the re-use of the Scorponok name in the Bayverse.

[Ran]

Wasn't Scorponok in Beast Wars? And you are correct, I've never heard of Bludgeon or Nightbeat. Not entirely sure I know who Thunderwing is, but I thought I saw the toy recently.