Well, we know who I'm voting for.

Me too.

Dang, I was hoping for Octus.

Well, Dinobot has my vote.

dinobot all the way.

he lived a warrior and died a hero. let his spark join the hall of fame as the gratest of cybertron

I'm not positive about this, but I believe there were five sites to participate in this event, Unicron.com being one of them. I have no way to know this for sure, but I believe that they took the top choice from each of the sites and that is your 5 nominees! Due to extenuating circumstances, I submitted our entry a bit behind schedule, thus:

DINOBOT was the 5th character to be announced!

WAY TO GO UNICRON.COM FORUM MEMBERS AND NEWS COMMENT PARTICIPANTS!!!!! WO-HOOOO! DINOBOT IS THE BEST!

In all honesty, Dinobot seems to be not only the best choice, but the only logical choice.

I mean, sure, all five are memorable characters, but the other four are mostly remembered for the wrong reasons and can seem a bit overrated. They each are usually remembered for at least one of four things:
1. Their voices
2. Their altmodes
3. Their toys
4. Their gimmicks

This Hall of Fame is not intended to honor particularly any of those four factors. It's to honor the character itself.

Soundwave falls into the category of all four. He's mostly remembered as the guy with the deep voice, the articulated toy, the tape player bot, or the guy with cassette tapes inside him. But, what about his personality? Well, he was a loyal follower of Megatron and... that's it. He was basically Megatron's Yes Man and an outright tool for his master's evil plans. Soundwave never did anything on his own, never acted on his own, never took his own stand in the Decepticons, never stated his own opinions and objectives. He was always, "As you command, Megatron" without question. But in all fairness, he did once say "No" to Galvatron, but that was the terrible "Carnage in C-Minor" episode where Soundwave was the (unnecessary) translator of those musical aliens. And as far as character development goes, he remained fully static all throughout the G1 cartoon. He never went through any trials or challenges that dealt with him having to cope with and overcome his personal flaws or anything deep like that. He was a lackey with a music gimmick in the beginning, and stayed the same till the end.

Grimlock was a little better of a choice, but not by much. Sure he had a little more personality, what with him being dumb and brutish and having some development episodes of his own, but he's still basically recalled as the shiny T-Rex with the dim-witted dialogue. His shining moments were far and few, and most of them were just to show him as "the bot who's toy all kids should buy", instead of fleshing out his character further. There were several missed opportunities that could have gone further with this guy. There were times where the Dinobots seemed like they would form their own splintered group away from the rest of the Autobots, only for them to kiss and make up by the episode's conclusion. Had this idea been taken a step further, it could have led to some very interesting arcs involving not just two factions at war, but three. Another opportunity was when Grimlock became smart. Now I get the nobility in sacrificing his super-intellect to grant it to Computron, but they could have had something interesting to twist the plot of the series better with Grimlock remaining a super genius for more than one episode. Sadly, this did not come about.

Jazz was another generic "famous name guy" choice. Sure, he had some personality, being the "cool guy" of the Autobots. But like Soundwave, that's it. We know nothing about him personally other than his likeness of Earth music and slang. He may have had a hip voice and a sweet altmode, but the voice and ride do not solely make the character. He was mostly used as another soldier who shot at the enemy, and had no development episodes of his own either. If anything, Jazz can referred to as something similar to "robot eye candy". Not in the sense of a sexual appeal, but in the sense of an "I'm awesome!" appeal. He was the cool guy. Why was he the cool guy? Dunno, he just was. We don't even know why he supposed to be cool. We don't even know why he is who he is. What's his story? What is it that makes him have the "cool guy" shtick? He's basically the "unknown soldier who spoke in slang".

Shockwave is another category four. Deep, charismatic voice. Space gun altmode. Highly accurate and fun toy. Gun mode & electronic gimmicks. But what about he himself? He was mostly portrayed as the Decepticons's house sitter. He stayed on Cybertron to watch things, but there was hardly anything for him to watch, what with the planet being almost uninhabitable. And he did this for four million years! Like Soundwave, he was also loyal to Megatron, and did little else in regards to being his own character. Though, on occasion, he would have to act on his own to protect the Decepticons's Cybertron HQ, but this was still out of loyalty to Megatron. I will admit that there's nothing wrong with loyalty, but it's not a good thing when you've got little else going for ya. And like both Soundwave and Jazz, he was also lacking in the character development department.

Dinobot, on the other hand, was much more than just a raptor with a cool voice. He was deep, torn between his own morality and his own ambitions. There were times where it was hard to tell whether he was good or bad, a hero or an anti-hero. He sometimes seemed like he wanted to slaughter anyone and anything around him. It seemed like he hated his comrades no matter whose side he was on. But, underneath this cold, brutish attitude lay one thing that is rare to find in a good villain: a sense of honor (I say "villain" because he started out as a Predacon). In spite of his generally negative appearance, his loyalty never wavered to those he was sided with. With the exception of the episode "Maximal, No More", but that was also part of his development and he learned from his mistake afterwards, accepting his errors and coping with them. Even if he didn't always see eye-to-eye with his allies, he remained firm in his word as their comrade. And to the very end, in his final, crowning moment, he gave the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of humanity's future. I'm even willing to say that I'd still choose Dinobot over these other four even if "Code of Hero" never existed. He's simply more than just a sword-wielding, toy dino with a nasty attitude-esque voice. He's his own fully-fleshed out and characterized person. Or at least, he was, until he met tragic, but heroic end. He lived as a warrior, a true soldier, a brother to his comrades. And died a hero, a savior, a legend to all. May his spark live on in the Matrix, the Allspark, the Well of All Sparks... the Greatest of Cybertron.

Okay ya of course Optimus, Megatron, and Starscream are hall of famers but to me really Bumblebee never once liked him throughout G1 he was kinda like that kid from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom annoying and just there to be in awe of Optimus. So to me I have a lot of other transformers over him that should be there. Also we should look past just the tv show but also the comics. Sabrlade pointed out Grimlock was just the dumb big strong t-rex the comics through gave him the respect he deserved where he was a more then competent leader being one of the better battle strategists just a lot more crueler which irked many autobots and he definitely wasn't dumb just his voice was damaged making him sound dumb. People love Jazz because he was fun and cool. Shockwave like Grimlock was more prominent in the comics where he was more ambitious and badass. Then Soundwave just a fan favorite no idea why he is just beloved. Then of course the beloved Dinobot not much more can be said but a legendary warrior of honor and just kick ass and he could have made Beast Machine a hundred times better if they kept him alive.

I have to say in defense of Shockers, he was a badass in the Marvel stuff, and I think that's why some people will be voting for him.

I agree Pathora, Bumblebee doesn't belong on this list. Yeah he was fortunate enough to get the "Classic Pretender" and "Action Master" treatment, but Jazz and Grimlock were each featured more prominently, had cooler toys and just plain better characters than B. Until the live movies resurrected his prominence (w/ 50+ toys of the same character!...)

I vote Dinobot #1 best choice and think both Grimlock and Jazz should get in ahead of Bumblebee.

Unfortunately for me, I haven't read any of the G1 comics (Marvel, Dreamwave, IDW, etc.), so I can't fully comment on how these characters were treated there.

Neither have I, I'm just going on what I've read. xD

My choices: 1. Soundwave 2. Grimlock 3. Jazz 4. Shockwave 5.Dinobot Why does everyone like him so much?

Because he's an actual character and not just some toy advertisement with a cool voice or neat gimmick.

Dinobot is an amazing character that really deserves a lot of respect and he was very deep. While he had the battle lust of a Predacon in the end he had the heart of a Maximal and he went out so freaking awesome. He took down every Predacon. Also he said of the coolest lines in that episode.
"The question that once haunted my being has been answered. The future is not fixed, and my choices are my own. And yet, how ironic...for I now find that I have no choice at all! I am a warrior...let the battle be joined." and then at his death quoting Shakespeare.
"Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest...is silence..."

The Beast Wars were just so well written that any of the 12 first characters could be Hall of Fame worthy. The least being Scorponok, who is very similar in personality to G1 Soundwave.