For pure personality, I like Wolverine. I admire his “never surrender” approach.
For actual powers, Mystique. I want to be able to shape shift too, dammit.
My favorite of all time though is…and I can hear the purists sharpening their swords…
Gambit. I like his style and when I used to watch the old Fox Kids cartoon, the actor who did his voice had the sexiest voice.
And yours?
Wolverine 'cause he’s Canadian and he’s a badass. Ok, ok, last I heard, no one knew where the hell he was from, but we gotta have something, dammit.
SNIKT!
Nightcrawler - Because he’s a posative outlook kinda guy. He enjoys his work and mannages to have fun. Meanwhile everyone else has a terminal case of dark-and-broody.
Cyclops. Three reasons:
[li]Sack time with Jean Grey. Who wouldn’t want to make it with a telekenetic?[/li][li]Those groovy wrap-arounds![/li][li]I can’t go an hour without seeing something I’d just as soon blast into oblivion. Now, I know that if I could really do it, the novelty would wear off. But at least I’d still be able to do it.[/li]
Though I gotta admit, Nightcrawler’s got the cooler sound effect.
BAMPF! (isn’t it? it’s been a long time!)
I have had a thing for Kitty Pride (Shadowcat) since I first saw her in Excaliber. Teen hormones and all that. She also struck me as the most normal of all the characters. Just a normal girl who happens to have powers. Most of the others leave me flat.
I do have to agree with KneadToKnow and Trion, Nightcrawler is cool too.
Rogue, because she’s fuckin’ hot.
Other than that, I was always partial to Angel/Archangel. First of all, that dude persevered through some rough stuff. Second of all, he didn’t just have some telekinetic power–he had to fly for real, with wings and everything. Pretty damned cool.
Storm, because IMO she could kick everyone else’s ass if needed.
All she had to do was summon a wintering storm and actually freeze or drown the wrong-doers. That an the ability to fly at whim makes her the most powerful of them all.
Havok
Particularly in the early years. He had that whole “I have a terrifying power I can’t control!” thing going for him.
one word . latex paint.
ok thats 2 words.
any women with that costume is my favorite.
isn’t it funny that the wolverin guy who was the lead character in the movie isnt anyones favorite? what gives?
any news on a sequel?
Dunno. Are you sure you read the OP? And the post right after it? 
Maybe I’m misunderstanding them, but they sure seem to like him.
so sorry, I was thinking they liked the tall bad hairy guy when I read it.
Forge has always been my favorite. He can build any damn thing he can imagine. They usually only showed him building weapons but he could probably duplicate anybody else’s powers. He even used to live in his very own holodeck.
Make mine Magneto. God, he’s so 3-dimensional, he’s 4-dimensional, if you dig. 
Speaking of “tall, hairy bad guys,” I like Sabretooh, too. He’s so…feral.
You’ve just explained my admiration for B.A. Barracus on The A Team.
I always liked Angel/Archangel. His ability was so pure, so easily explained (“He has wings, thus he can fly.”). Once Apocalypse changed him and he had metal wings that could shoot metal “feathers,” my like of him diminished. He’s still cool, though.
I was 12 when I started reading X-Men so I fell in love with Rogue. (This was when Storm had a mohawk and I didn’t find her very attractive.)
I don’t read X-Men anymore, haven’t regularly for 10 years, but I have read some of the Silver Age stuff, and I’ve begun to appreciate Cyclops. (This was when he was already the thoughtful, responsible one but still a teenager. And before all the tragedy.)
–Cliffy
You think with a moniker like mine it would be an easy decision. But sadly, my name does not derive from the Marvel comic book heroes.
Instead my favorite character is Cyclops. I think this is because he lives a tragic life. Not so much what he’s been through, but that he can’t see the world through his own eyes. Due to an early childhood accident he lost the ability to control his eyebeams. Now he can’t look at anyone or anything with his own eyes without destroying them. (Rogue might be possibly more tragic but it is harder to control your sight than flesh to flesh contact.)
The other thing that I like is his never give up attitude. He has a force of will unlike few others in the comic book world. This drive often puts him at odds with his teammates, amongst others, but he will do whatever it takes to defeat the enemy. This includes pushing those around him and correcting their mistakes. They might not like it; they ultimately respect him for this.
I think I could give a dissertation on the X-Men and superheroes in general but I’ll keep that to myself.
The Beast, how can you not like him? He is a blue furball, that happens to be fast, agile, strong,( I do believe they said he could lift 1000 pounds), and best of all brilliant. I’ve always liked heroes who could solve problems with their mind, not just thier fists.
My favourite is Storm. I think I like her because she is strong and powerful in a subtle kind of way, not in the boring obvious ‘oh I’ve got lots of reeeallly big guns’ kind of way. But mostly because of the hair. Lovely long thick bouncy platinum mane that nobody could ever have in real life. When I read those comics when I was seven (and consequently made them fall to bits, and they would be worth serious money now! sigh!)I was really spellbound by Storm and Phoenix’s hair. I couldn’t work out why real life redheads were carroty orange and not bright letterbox red like Jean Grey’s hair was…
(and why comic book blondes were bright canary yellow and real life blondes were sort of dirty beigey light brown, and how come there was nobody with black hair with blue highlights for that matter!)
Well anyway, Storm is my favourite. Just because she is ultra cool! and I love the way she looks! Oh and her paganism (which has been downplayed in recent years I think)All of her talk about her ‘bright lady’ really intrigued me and got me into my interest in paganism (and when I said this in a pagan chatroom they all laughed at me and got all snobbish on me grumpy grump)
I hated it when Claremont made her go punk. My reaction was much as Kitty Pryde’s was when she first saw it (“Oh Ororo what did you do to your hair!?!”) Her first costume and hairstyle have never been bettered. They never should have changed it!
What I am saying in my longwinded way is-I think I liked her because of her hair! (fantastic hair!)
Apocalypse. Because he’s awesome.
Other than that, Cable and Bishop are favorites. Plus Wolverine, of course.
Gotta go with Beast and Iceman, because they both haven’t lost their senses of humor after all they go through, and I admire that.
Of course everyone loves Wolvie, and I’m partial to Nightcrawler too, for much the same reasons that Trion suggested.
But in terms of best power, it’s gotta be Longshot. His sole power is that he has amazingly good luck. How cool is that?