[DrewBlank]

I think I've had every toy on this list so far (except for the VF-1 Valkyrie) and my vote for best toy ever has to be the original G1 Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime had a simple transformation and was visually interesting in every mode.

The trailer could be a base for GI Joes, Matchbox cars and 1/72 toy soldiers or be used to haul a GI Transformer in car mode. It was a battle station, a repair bay or an armored cargo crate.

The truck mode played well with transformers, toy cars or little green army men. It could carry cargo to my O-Scale train, or ram Godzilla in the shin until his fist launched off and he died (which is how Godzilla died back then).

The robot was a solid action figure in bright, primary colors. Optimus Prime was John Wayne, Captain America and a Kurosawa samurai with a giant gun and racing stripes. His fists were made for pounding, his smokestacks were machine guns.

If that wasn't enough, he was a robot. If his leg broke off, he would turn into a car and keep driving. When he finally fell apart, even his head had playability - the autobots and decepticons would fight over it to bring new robots to life (usually dollar store knockoffs that turned into slot machines and bats) because that's how he worked in the comic books.