My "go to" figure depends on the demands of the project I'm working on. Some have been based on character design. I usually start with a figure I like, morph it till I get the look I want and find outfits for it that fit the "style" and personality I want to portray. Ones I've used in the past include LaFemme, Miki2, Miki4, the old SM G2 figures, and a number of random figures like Little One.

Another project required a lot of characters with unique outfits and ethnicities, so I started with clothing and decided which figure has the required outfit styles. Since my collection is old, it's mostly V3/M3 or V4/M4 stuff. I could refit what I have for better figures, but I don't have as wide a range of skin textures for any other figures either. The characters are mostly posed standing and full-clothed, so clothing and textures were more important than "posablility". The old Daz figures were good enough. Since a Poser "fix" has been created for Genesis 2 & 3 I've started using them for some very specific outfits I needed.