Why so much love for the F-14? Really? I mean, what meaningful engagements did it EVER conduct to justify "legend" status. Is it simply the fact that it's retired that makes it a legend? I would actually argue that it's retired status is more of a black mark on it than a plus; it was retired because there was no need for it. After all, the F-15 only entered service a few years later, and it's still in service. And the F-15 to date has, what, 104 aerial kills? And produced a top-notch strike variant. And they're STILL keeping it in service and in production.
The Tomcat has a record of 5:0. 2 Su-22 Fitters, 2 MiG-23s, and an Mi-8. I'm not certain the ratio of bombs delivered by F-15E vs F-14D, but I'd wager a SUBSTANTIAL part of my life savings that the F-15E blows the Tomcat away there, too.
So the Tomcat is so beloved because, what, it starred in a vaguely homoerotic Tom Cruise bromance flick?
Wait, what? You would say the P-51 is just a "Warbird", despite thousands of sorties over occupied Europe and Imperial Japan, despite hundreds of kills, despite active CAS employment in Korea? And yet the F-14's whopping three aerial engagements qualify it as a "Legend"? Wow. I really hope that was sarcasm....
I mean, I don't particularly like the F/A-18 (the A-D in particular), but I can at least understand why others might be interested in it; it has broad multi-role capabilities, and is used by numerous nations.
.....though it's combat record isn't any better.