2012 Hall of Fame awards has begun

The 3rd annual Hall of Fame awards voting has begun with preliminary nominations for the character to fill the fourth slot (3 have been nominated already by Hasbro, and one is voted on by the fans after a round of nominations generates a short-list).

The first three Awards recipients have been named as Gen1 Grimlock, Gen1 Jazz and Gen1 Shockwave. (yes, significant characters from the first year and from the current year - and were the other three serious short-list voting choices for both previous years, so we could see this year's nominees as future Hasbro-selected Inductees)

As usual, this "global" Fan vote is restricted to the American run Fansites, so if you are wanting to participate in this nominations phase, check out one of those sites if you are a member. Just be aware of the voting deadlines - Nominations are only up for a week (Hasbro wants the results by March 1st), and voting will take place sometime during March (in time for the late April Awards ceremony at BotCon).
That Voting phase in March "should" be open to all fans, as it has taken place on Hasbro's Transformers website in previous years.

Since we can't take part in the Nominations phase, POST HERE whom you think should be in the fourth spot, and I'll tally up the results on March 1st (and see how we compare with other sites... and the official short-list).

NOTE - the following characters are already in the Hall of Fame, so are now invalid:
2010 - (Gen1) Optimus Prime, (Gen1) Megatron, (Gen1) Bumblebee, (Gen1) Starscream, (BW) Dinobot (fan choice).
2011 - (Gen1) Ironhide, (Gen1) Soundwave, (Gen1) Ratchet, (BW) Waspinator (fan choice).

And for a bit of fun, whom do you think the "Human" HOF Inductee should be, and whom you think Hasbro will end up choosing this year?
Previous Human inductees have been:
2010 - Peter Cullen, Bob Budiansky, Kojin Ohno, Hideaki Yoke.
2011 - Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay.


(here's hoping the global fansites that were invited to participate in this one mature thing Hasbro has given fans of Transformers, take it more seriously than some sites did last year, so that we don't have joke characters included - perhaps any sites that submit joke characters this year shouldn't be invited next year)

well for one i think that Peter Welker should be one of the human inductees, and heres hoping for another BW character to be inducted

Who do we think those geniuses will come up with this year? Drill Nuts? Windbreaker?

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Originally Posted by loophole

well for one i think that Peter Welker should be one of the human inductees, and heres hoping for another BW character to be inducted

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Certainly it should be either Peter or his lesser-known brother Frank. ;)

At TFW2005 I voted for Lugnut, Demolishor, Sky-Byte, Botanica and Bulkhead.

My vote here is for Lugnut. :)

Bw Megs, Tarantulas, Rattrap or Blackarachnia, any of those would do;):) Just noticed the mention of Skybyte, Class act that one:D

I've put in Ravage or Blackarachnia for my picks. Both of them are pretty seminal and have had a number of incarnations over the years.

So far the favourites seem to be Wheeljack (I wonder why? :rolleyes: ), Minerva, or Sky Byte. Much as I'd like to see Sky Byte he's not exactly 'famous' per se.

It should totally be Sky-Byte. Simon Furman as well.

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Originally Posted by Quickstrike

It should totally be Sky-Byte. Simon Furman as well.

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Totally Furman.

Human Nominees should be:

• The Entire Beast Wars Voice Cast
• Simon Furman
• Bob Forward
• Larry DiTillio

Fan Favourite Character Nominees should be (In-Order):

1. Rattrap
2. BW Megatron
3. Optimus Primal
4. Blackarachnia
5. Sky-Byte (Only because he's a flying shark! :D)

I've voted for Rattrap over at TFW2005, I'll have to checkout Seibertron though; IMO, if the 5 nominees end up being comprised of all G1 characters I'll be really bloody annoyed - Scott McNeil deserves this trifecta! ;):cool:

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Originally Posted by loophole

well for one i think that Peter Welker should be one of the human inductees, and heres hoping for another BW character to be inducted

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Certainly it should be either Peter or his lesser-known brother Frank. ;))

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that was very silly of me but you know who i meant :o

Head to the various sites guys and cast your votes; if Hasbro wont recognise OTCA to have a voice, at least we can utilise elsewhere to have it heard! ;):cool:

Also, Vote #1 BW Megatron! - The candidate most deserving! :D
(Also, feel free to use this Banner)

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/...annerFinal.jpg

This whole Hall of Fame thing is inconsistent. What... it covers all incarnations of characters with the same name except the Megatron from Beast Wars? That is, a vote for Arcee is for all Arcees (G1, Bay, Animated, Prime, etc.) But Beast Wars Megatron is like... a multiversal singularity or something. If everyone realises that he counts individually then of course Beast Wars Megatron is going to win, but the naming thing is illogical.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

This whole Hall of Fame thing is inconsistent. What... it covers all incarnations of characters with the same name except the Megatron from Beast Wars? That is, a vote for Arcee is for all Arcees (G1, Bay, Animated, Prime, etc.) But Beast Wars Megatron is like... a multiversal singularity or something. If everyone realises that he counts individually then of course Beast Wars Megatron is going to win, but the naming thing is illogical.

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Nothing that the Club, Botcon and related does is logical.

I voted BW Megs 'cos he's my all-time favourite TF character, but I was wondering the same thing. Would have gone for Sky-Byte or Swindle next, with Sky Byte being my preference but Swindle being the most realistic and 'iconic' option, but who likely wouldn't make it in on his own under the current overly-broad rules anyway. Sky Byte is a fan favourite for sure (this fan included), but he's way too obscure for a Hall of Fame IMO.
I still think it should be Ravage this time around.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

This whole Hall of Fame thing is inconsistent. What... it covers all incarnations of characters with the same name except the Megatron from Beast Wars? That is, a vote for Arcee is for all Arcees (G1, Bay, Animated, Prime, etc.) But Beast Wars Megatron is like... a multiversal singularity or something. If everyone realises that he counts individually then of course Beast Wars Megatron is going to win, but the naming thing is illogical.

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It's not all that hard to understand dude, BW Megatron is a valid nominee as he isn't G1 Megatron whereas all other Megatons are simply reinterpretations of G1 Megatron.

BW Megatron and Optimus Primal are separate beings existing within the same universe as G1 Megs and Prime - That is why they are eligible for nomination. ;):)

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Originally Posted by kup

Nothing that the Club, Botcon and related does is logical.

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The Hall of Fame is a Hasbro thing though isn't it? :confused:

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Originally Posted by Ode to a Grasshopper

I voted BW Megs 'cos he's my all-time favourite TF character, but I was wondering the same thing.

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It's as I've mentioned above man, but I'm really glad you've chosen to support BW Megatron! :D

I've also cast my vote over at TFwiki, Seibertron and the AllSpark; some like the TFwiki are still asking for 5 nominations from each voter, so in this case I voted for Arcee, Megatron (BW), Minerva, Rattrap & Sky-Byte. :cool:
(They asked for names to be issued in Alphabetical order :))

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

It's not all that hard to understand dude, BW Megatron is a valid nominee as he isn't G1 Megatron whereas all other Megatons are simply reinterpretations of G1 Megatron.

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Yes, except other than BW Megatron it's not individual Transformers who are nominated - it's their names. The Bumblebee in the hall of fame is G1, Movie and Animated Bumblebee. Those aren't the same character. People are nominating 'Prowl'. There are like... twelve different Prowls, some of which exist in the same universe as each other. People are nominating 'Scourge'. That means they're nominating a hovercraft, a truck, a three-headed dragon and a locust. It doesn't make sense! (Head explodes.)

To be fair, a three-headed locust hover-truck would be interesting...

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Yes, except other than BW Megatron it's not individual Transformers who are nominated - it's their names. The Bumblebee in the hall of fame is G1, Movie and Animated Bumblebee. Those aren't the same character. People are nominating 'Prowl'. There are like... twelve different Prowls, some of which exist in the same universe as each other. People are nominating 'Scourge'. That means they're nominating a hovercraft, a truck, a three-headed dragon and a locust. It doesn't make sense! (Head explodes.)

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Well, I suppose that in the end it's up to Hasbro as they're the ones who've decreed that BW Megatron and Optimus Primal are eligible candidates; most of whom you've described though, say in the case of BB, are definitely not the same 'being' but are definitely interpretations of the one archetype and therefore represent that universe's X character. :cool:

Unless the character/toy is specifically stated as not having been related to a previous incarnation, take G1 Silverbolt & BW Silverbolt for example, then it is safe to assume that it is a reinterpreted character. ;):)

That's the unfortunate thing about the HOF now that it has gone beyond being a one-off event. The first one it was more about the name over the ages... so the displays and presentation videos would include all toys with that name.
What they should have done is specifically induct an actual character, kinda like what they do with the Human inductees. That way, the HOF concept can actually go more than a few years, as the most famous characters would all be eliminated by just a dozen names. See... just like the Beast Wars characters with Gen1 names are popular and iconic, there are characters from other series since Gen1 that are iconinc enough for HOF on their own, but will either be eliminated by the name already being inducted, or wont get inducted because the other versions of that name aren't iconic enough. I'd think BW Inferno, BW Silverbolt, Movie Barricade... would all eventually deserve to be inducted, but under the current system, the earlier toys that shared that name would have to be included, or even featured as the primary Inductee.
If I remember it, I'll see if I can talk one of the Hasbro people at BotCon into maybe reworking HOF into inducting specific characters instead of "global names".
Otherwise they are going to keep having people getting frustrated for not having different characters of the same name being honoured.

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The Hall of Fame is a Hasbro thing though isn't it? :confused:

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Yes, this is a Hasbro thing, not FunPub. They instigated it and utilise BotCon as the best event to host it (which they usually do themselves - at least last year's was all Hasbro hosted).

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Originally Posted by griffin

Yes, this is a Hasbro thing, not FunPub. They instigated it and utilise BotCon as the best event to host it (which they usually do themselves - at least last year's was all Hasbro hosted).

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Thought so, cheers for the clarification as usual dude. :D

It certainly would be worth while putting that forward to them (Hasbro) and getting their thoughts on the matter though, as it will certainly in time start to really cause deeper divisions and confusion, more so than what is seemingly occurring with some fans at the moment. ;):cool:

I don't think it helps that a lot of people seem to have it in their heads that a successful Nominee will equal a new toy, which is silly as there is absolutely no evidence for this... yet. :o

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

Unless the character/toy is specifically stated as not having been related to a previous incarnation, take G1 Silverbolt & BW Silverbolt for example, then it is safe to assume that it is a reinterpreted character. ;):)

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Really though? G1 Scourge, RiD Scourge and Cybertron Scourge are all iconic Transformers, but I'm not convinced that they are "the same guy" (as Astrotrain would say.) People are voting for "Swindle" - does that include the train, Mini-Con and red movieverse car? People are voting for "Wheeljack" - does that mean Armada Wheeljack and that guy in DOTM who may or may not have his name are included too? And "Ironhide" is already in the hall of fame, does that mean Energon Ironhide is him?

Some of it is common sense, but if people ever vote in Mirage, Jetstorm or Bonecrusher, good luck to Hasbro at working out which ones are or aren't in the Hall Of Fame. :)

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

It's not all that hard to understand dude, BW Megatron is a valid nominee as he isn't G1 Megatron whereas all other Megatons are simply reinterpretations of G1 Megatron.

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RiD Megatron isn't a reinterpretation of G1 Megatron. He was originally an entirely separate character called Gigatron in Japan, but Hasbro renamed him Megatron for RiD.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

People are voting for "Wheeljack" - does that mean Armada Wheeljack and that guy in DOTM who may or may not have his name are included too?

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They could even be voting for Energon Downshift (who was called Wheeljack in Super Link ;)) - then could that, by extension, expand to G1 Downshift? And if G1 Downshift seems too obscure a character to be considered for the Hall of Fame, let's not forget the whole "Erector" incident. <shudder>

It should come down to the individual character image that Hasbro uses on the night or on their website. If the Inductees from the first two years only had their Gen1 character images/art used (for the non-BW ones), then it should make it less confusing to just be those specific characters of those names are being inducted.

Perhaps they wanted to avoid having a dozen Primes and Megatrons padding out the HOF lineup after the first few years... if so, they need to re-define the criteria soon to allow for multiple character names in the HOF. And since they choose 3 of the 4 anyway, if they are wanting to make the roster as varied as possible in terms of names, then they can make sure original iconic names make up 3/4 of the Inductees each year.

That's a pretty good ppoint Griffin,
I also think that they weren't quite sure what they wanted to do with it in the first year or two, thye might still not be sure. lack of direction leads to lack of definition which is where we are right now.

generally though, it seems that apart from Prime and Megatron there seems to be a lean towards the G1 interpretation of a chracter unless that character just didn't exist in G1, like Dinobot and Waspinator and this year Bulkhead.

I voted for Wheeljack so far, mainly with the G1 interpretation in mind.
I would put in a secondary nomination for Bulkhead and Prowl if we were voting like the Australian political system...:D

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

RiD Megatron isn't a reinterpretation of G1 Megatron. He was originally an entirely separate character called Gigatron in Japan, but Hasbro renamed him Megatron for RiD.

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My bad, that is one that I indeed knew about but didn't define/specify - Bad Hursty, bad! :p

The question has been put forward though on TFW; "Should RiD/Car Robots Megatron be 'shoe-horned' in with BW/BM Megatron?". :)
My response was that a good argument could perhaps get him included, but that I would not be the one able to provide that argument. :o

@UltraMarginal: I think Wheeljack has a good chance of getting into the final Official short-list of nominees, so best of luck :cool:, he'll make a good auto-entry next year after BW Megatron wins the title (Hopefully) this year. :D

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

The question has been put forward though on TFW; "Should RiD/Car Robots Megatron be 'shoe-horned' in with BW/BM Megatron?". :)

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I wouldn't include him. Lumping RiD Megatron with BW Megatron isn't any better than lumping him with G1 Megatron - in the end they'd still be lumping together two entirely different characters who happen to be called Megatron.

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

The question has been put forward though on TFW; "Should RiD/Car Robots Megatron be 'shoe-horned' in with BW/BM Megatron?". :)
My response was that a good argument could perhaps get him included, but that I would not be the one able to provide that argument. :o

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RID Megatron is a Predacon too with a beast mode. He's got a bit more in common with BW Megatron because of that than with G1 Megatron.

I like the argument that BW Megatron is a different robot who existed in the same universe as G1 Megatron as a valid reason to count them separately.

But the awards are about "brand names" not "characters" and the name Megatron has been awarded.

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

I wouldn't include him. Lumping RiD Megatron with BW Megatron isn't any better than lumping him with G1 Megatron - in the end they'd still be lumping together two entirely different characters who happen to be called Megatron.

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Exactly why I can't provide the convincing argument. ;):cool:

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

But the awards are about "brand names" not "characters" and the name Megatron has been awarded.

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Thing is though, this is Beast Wars Megatron and that seems to cover both bases in Hasbro's eyes; else they wouldn't of given him the thumbs up for nomination. ;):cool:

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

Thing is though, this is Beast Wars Megatron and that seems to cover both bases in Hasbro's eyes; else they wouldn't of given him the thumbs up for nomination. ;):cool:

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I don't think Hasbro has given any characters the thumbs up for nomination have they? Or has an official shortlist been announced now? Otherwise it is just fan sites listing ideas.

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

I don't think Hasbro has given any characters the thumbs up for nomination have they? Or has an official shortlist been announced now? Otherwise it is just fan sites listing ideas.

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Apparently according to TFwiki; Hasbro gave the go ahead for fansites to vote on BW Megatron & Optimus Primal being short-listed for submittal as potential Official Nominees, as Hasbro views them as separate entities from Megatrons & Optimus Primes. :)

TFW2005 has chosen Megatron...yesss.:cool:

And on a not-entirely unrelated note...http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-2...homper/3860604

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Yes, except other than BW Megatron it's not individual Transformers who are nominated - it's their names. The Bumblebee in the hall of fame is G1, Movie and Animated Bumblebee. Those aren't the same character. People are nominating 'Prowl'. There are like... twelve different Prowls, some of which exist in the same universe as each other. People are nominating 'Scourge'. That means they're nominating a hovercraft, a truck, a three-headed dragon and a locust. It doesn't make sense! (Head explodes.)

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Yeah, if the HOF had been consistent in identifying individual characters despite the sharing of names, then I would understand. However this is not the case here, there is no consistency aside from what appears to be 'whims' of what is perceived as 'cool' which kind of degrades the character selection process.

I agree, BW Megatron is an awesome character that deserves to be individually acknowledged and separately celebrated from his G1 namesake but the inconsistent way that the HOF works makes it too confusing and degrades the entry. There are already people out there asking why Megatron is in it 'again' as the assumption was that it was a celebration of the character name rather than the individual character.

Looks like I know who I'll be voting for come the time when the international community is recognised:), That is of course if he is supported by the other fan sites;)

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Originally Posted by Ode to a Grasshopper

TFW2005 has chosen Megatron...yesss.:cool:

And on a not-entirely unrelated note...http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-2...homper/3860604

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Awesome and even more awesome! :D:cool:

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Originally Posted by kup

Yeah, if the HOF had been consistent in identifying individual characters despite the sharing of names, then I would understand. However this is not the case here, there is no consistency aside from what appears to be 'whims' of what is perceived as 'cool' which kind of degrades the character selection process.

I agree, BW Megatron is an awesome character that deserves to be individually acknowledged and separately celebrated from his G1 namesake but the inconsistent way that the HOF works makes it too confusing and degrades the entry. There are already people out there asking why Megatron is in it 'again' as the assumption was that it was a celebration of the character name rather than the individual character.

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Honestly, I don't see where they've been inconsistent but regardless, most of the negative comments coming in against BW Megatron (Not that I'm referring to anyone here) are purely based on the fact that another BW character has likely made it to the Hasbro short-list and that a ratio of 2 BW characters to 10 G1 characters already being inducted is 'clearly' way too in favour of Beast Wars. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by 1orion2many

Looks like I know who I'll be voting for come the time when the international community is recognised:), That is of course if he is supported by the other fan sites;)

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Hells yeah; BW Megatron all the way baby! :cool:
Once the list goes up, I'll be making daily reminders here for people to vote; people are going to hate me until the end of Botcon this year. :p:D

So a couple Top 5's sent to Hasbro gives us an idea of who's going to end up on the short-list for voting later this month...

TFW2005
1: Beast Wars Megatron,
2: Swindle
3: Wheeljack
4: Arcee
5: Minerva

Seibertron
#1 - BEAST WARS MEGATRON
#2 - ARCEE
#3 - DEVASTATOR
#4 - UNICRON
#5 - PROWL

Looks like BW Megatron and Arcee are early front-runners... but if the last couple years are anything to go by, we may see a third straight year of a Beast Wars fan-voted character (and with David Kaye at BotCon this year, it would be perfect timing too).
It'll give more weight to Hasbro deciding to do some Beast-themed TFs in the near future (as suggested last year at BotCon).

Indeed Griffin; according to TFW's main post on the matter, the various sites are looking like this at present:

TFW2005.com:

1. BW Megatron
2. Swindle
3. Wheeljack
4. Arcee
5. Minerva

Seibertron.com:

1. BW Megatron
2. Arcee
3. Devastator
4. Unicron
5. Prowl

Cybertron.ca:

1. Swindle
2. BW Megatron
3. Minerva
4. Wheeljack
5. Devastator

TFwiki.com:

1. BW Megatron
2. Arcee
3. Sky-Byte
4. Bulkhead
5. Rattrap

Unicron.com:

1. BW Megatron
2. Rodimus
3. Arcee
4. Wheeljack
5. Swindle

Tformers.com:

1. Rodimus
2. Devestator
3. Wheeljack, BW Megatron, Omega Supreme, Prowl, Rattrap
4. Arcee, Bulkhead, Ultra Magnus, Unicron
5. Hot Shot, Galvatron, Cyclonus

Some sites were far better organised than others (Looks at TFwiki and Tformers :p); but it's looking like a rather interesting list thus far, with the following seeming to be the top contenders (Pending Hasbro's End-Approval):

• BW Megatron
• Arcee
• Swindle
• Wheeljack
• Devastator

The one that I think is going to be rather curious is Devastator; Does Hasbro consider just the Devastator character, the 6 individual Constructicons or is he/they vetoed? :confused:

Hasbro's nominations are up so I started a new 'news' thread here: http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=13140