I like high black on leopards, Russians, and redfoots
and I like like high light (white, yellow, orange, beige, etc) on stars, radiateds, sulcatas, boxies, & spiders.
I'm with Tom, I think normal variations and colorations are beautiful to me. I'm not huge on the morph industry either, but I completely understand why people do it. I love them all lol.
I'm with Tom, too- I prefer the colors that occur in nature, just personally. But a wide variety is the spice of life! I don't dislike any animals (except fire ants, and it's not really their fault they got accidentally introduced into the US).
I also vote for natural colors, but with appreciation for patterning and contrast.
For those of you that have the book "South American Tortoises", there is a redfoot pictured on the bottom of page 79 that is just about the most beautiful tortoise ever, in my opinion.
I like it when tortoises are the slightly more contrasted versions of what happens in the wild. So the midrange is pretty, but the 'natural' extremes are rather stunning, too.
Here is an example: our two baby Marginated tortoises. Side by side their contrast is rather exciting, isn't it? On their own, they look like just another adorable cute baby tortoise...
I actually would prefer a mix of both, but between the two, I like lighter tortoises overall. I think they are less "intimidating" looking to people who don't care for reptiles. Certainly, I don't think so, but I know if my mom ever came to visit she would probably freak over a darker tortoise than a lighter one. Both are beautiful in their own way though.