Quote - As far as my modeling goes, I like to have clean looking mesh regardless of whether it makes much difference at render time.  

The purpose of this thread however is just to learn what makes the most effective topology in a figure

I think the best topology on a figure could be measured by how well it deforms.  So the answer to your question is to look at which figure you think has the widest variety of morphs, the best versatility, and the least amount of render "artifacts" or issues, and that would be the one to go by. Everything down to how successfully a model can be rigged depends heavily on how the topology is laid out.  How good the morphs look is also very heavily reliant on the layout of the quads and edges.  I think the Genesis figures have a topology well suited to a high degree of deformation and versatility.  I think the way the Gen 3 and 4 figures were created left a lot to be desired in the realm of facial expressions.  They morphed in the larger areas well, in order to create different variety of characters, but the subtle facial expression deformations left a lot to be desired, and often times they just didn't look natural.

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.