Preferred members of bonus squads?
I have fewer than half my TFs leveled to or near 15, so I'd like to throw around some ideas that would help me prioritize. In particular -- which TF(s) from each squad would be best to run with in competitions? Here's where I'm at so far.
First, some generalities:
-- Slower is better than faster, because fast TFs might run off the screen before they've destroyed everything.
-- Energon-powered survivability is nice.
-- Delays in firing aren't good.
-- In most competitions, it's useful to destroy "trash" -- random pigs, wood blocks, ice blocks, whatever. Grimlocks are good at that. So are TFs with explosive capabilities. So are those with true area-of-effect attacks.
-- It is useful to be able to kill missiles at a distance. Grimlocks can do that. So can Shockwave. So, I think, can Galvatrons and Epic Optimus.
-- Grimlocks are perhaps the worst at killing WMTs, because they can't shoot and then run away; they need to say engaged with an opponent until it's dead.
-- TFs that push or pull targets are terrible against gold blocks.
-- For most of a run, it really doesn't matter to your score whether you kill a balloon pig or a missile, or whether instead you just let it hit you in the face; you score either way. But at the end of the run, the ability to kill them quickly can get you points you'd otherwise lose out on.
As for specific squads:
RESCUE BOTS: Optimus Prime is the clear winner, if you equip him with the explosive rounds accessory. In that case, he's surprisingly good. Bumblebee is fast and doesn't hit very hard; blech. Heatwave shoots very slowly, and is only good against WMTs, and perhaps not even those.
INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION: I don't see much difference between Soundwave and Soundblaster. They're both strong in most competitions, although I get frustrated that they sometimes can't easily nab distant energon cubes. My Soundblaster has somewhat better accessories, so I usually use him -- but even so, I don't see much difference.
TARGET 2006: None of these seems good against trash. Jazz seems weak against everything (too fast if nothing else). I leveled up Ultra Magnus ahead of Galvatron; I suspect that of having been a mistake.
PURE WARRIORS: Lockdown and Energon Lockdown both seem very strong with the competition accessories. I've been using Lockdown because my accessories for him seem better, and because he's two levels higher than my Energon Lockdown, but really both do a great job. I doubt Brawl can compare.
SEEKERS; Energon Starsream has an explosive rounds accessory. Thundercracker doesn't. Huge difference.
ENERGON FUELED: Grimlocks are great.
VARIANT VERSIONS: Grimlocks are great.
LEADERS: Grilocks are great. However, if the target of the day is WMTs, it's tempting to take Sentinel Prime instead.
VALKYRIES: All my TFs in this squad are in the Levels 6-8 range. None is terribly effective. Any thoughts?
BROTHERS IN ARMOUR: I have no idea what the difference is between Prowl and Bluestreak, if any.
ICONIC: Epic Optimus is the only one I have. He's been shockingly effective at Level 6.
HOTRODS: I don't have any.
CYBERTRONIANS: Shockwave should be great against missiles, but he shoots a bit slowsly. Generally, he seems fairly weak. I haven't leveled up Acid Storm to compare.