I think Jaydisc has summed it up best in regard to Armada. I don't like the toyline as a collector and think of it as absolute mediocrity but I do acknowledge its gimmicky appeal. I think we hold Hasbro to a too high standard of care sometimes. Sure, I get frustrated with things like quality control and the like but in terms of design, I can understand where they're going.

Animated is hardly a step in the collector direction but as collectors we were always like to fall into line and start collecting it too. But if u stop n think about, we were the last people Animated was ended at. I don't particularly mind though b/c I imagine w/ TFM movies now, we'll see a balance of Animated-kids style and more classic/realistic stuff.

I just don't think it's fair to say Hasbro are all careless and evil for nto giving a rats about collectors. They don't and we're nothing more than just an afterthought to them.

As in relation to your 10, what Lord Zed said:

Quote Originally Posted by Lord_Zed View Post
I think you missed the point a bit, although truth be told STL did say character, what he should have said is Icon. The explanation he gave implies these are Iconic characters that are recognisable beyond just the fandom. in that regard Prime is more recognisable than Megatron.

If you were writing a list of the most interesting characters or personalities then that would be a lot different. In that regard I'm not sure what your aiming for in the your list.While #4 onwards are all deserving interesting characters Megs, Soundwave and Prime are pretty simple. All 3 are iconic but their personalities are simple. G1 Megatron is your cut and dried cartoon megalomaniac, Soundwave had more personality on the comic but he was limited to just being a schemer who feigned loyalty, no development there. And Prime well you already summed that up.

In terms of TF characters with depth, no list would be complete without Dinobot and Scorponok.
The one thing all this makes me want to do is write a column about character depth. A lot of personal favourites there. You've given me an itch to write about Prime, Dirge.