Well done, I agree with everyone on the list bar Hotshot. I don't know any non fans who like Armada etc. Nor have I seen a kid who can pick Hotshot from a crowd.

As for the rest of the list I think its pretty much what I'd say only a lot of the postions are interchangable. Starscream, Soundwave are both eligble for spot 4. likewise Grimlock and Devestator could swap spots with no problem either, but thats just nitpicking.

I think you have pretty much nailed it as far as G1 characters go, ask a non fan about transfromers and they'll often say how cool Optimus Prime and Megatron was, They'll probably remember the Volkswagon one even more so thanks to the movie, and maybe even Starscream.

Soundwave, Devestator and Grimlock are all well known becuase so many people loved the ideas behind them when they were kids. I'm not talking about thier personality (or lack of in the case of toon soundwave) or potrayal in the show or comic I just mean the idea or robots who merge together, or have little robots pop out of them, or are dinosaurs were all absolutely mezmorising to kids. I recently gave all my old transformers videos, and lent some of my old storybooks to a work friends 6 year old son. And aparently the ones he was most intrested in were the green ones who combine, and the tapedeck.

So well done STL I thought I'd find something to argue about on a list like this, but not this time. Although I'm not sure about Hot Shot more research or surveys needed there.