What is YOUR classics-verse?

[mentok27]

I love g1 classics..... I love the g1 toons(American and Japanese) I love the comics, the characters and the designs but with a few exceptions of repurchasing toys I had as a kid I have no desire to collect the actuall g1 figs.

This is why I love the classics lines.... The allow me to have toys to represent all these characters I love without buying hundreds of colorful bricks, I actually remember being in a TRU when the first classics were coming out and liking the idea of an uber homage line but I didn't collect toys at the time and whilst it was tempting I couldn't get over bumblebee not being a VW or prime having so much damn yellow! LOL how things have changed.... It took me until the generations line for me to buy the first toy(thrust) of my adult life and I've certainly not looked back since.

The thing that I'm finding now though is I can(and have started too) make a list of all the g1 characters and have a full tally of figs I hope to one day have to complete my classics collection.....

But what's g1 really?

The toyline is a good place to start... the American figs are what I consider straight up G1... Then there's the Japanese "exclusive" figs and sub lines which are every bit as G1 as the American toys but of a separate path.... Then there's the late G1 euro/aus figs... How about the south American repaint toys of Estrela and Antex?

What about characters who originated in fiction? The rainmakers? Straxus?, drift? And of course Arcee!! I like the idea of new characters getting classics figs and inserted into the g1 history as well... Classics barricade? Classics lockdown? Classics slipstream?

Then there's the Diaclone issue.... I for one want classics repaints to rep the alt diaclone colour schemes as essentially previously unseen geewuners.... I love repaint characters and I love doing custom repaints so a classics diaclone line is something that appeals to the hobbyist in me for sure.

Basically I'm rambling here.... Just kinda voicing my current thoughts on where I want to take my classics and my customizations in the future.

What are your intentions gentle viewer?

Rant sent from my iPhone

Nick.

[GoktimusPrime]

G1 is technically everything HasTak released between 1984-1993 before the "Generation 2" franchise kicked in. For me personally, "my" G1 is Hasbro Anglophone 1984-93, cos that's what I grew up with. :)

[UltraMarginal]

I grew up on th eoriginal Cartoon and the Animated Movie. I never had any exposure to the comics untill the last few years so My understanding of G1 is heavily based on the animated show and toys that were released in Australia.

It is gradually expanding though as I leanr more of the old comics and Japanese animation.

I also am very partial to a classics treatment of characters like lockdown, Bulkhead and others that have only come into existence in the fiction in recent times.

[crankcase76]

G1 is technically everything HasTak released between 1984-1993 before the "Generation 2" franchise kicked in. For me personally, "my" G1 is Hasbro Anglophone 1984-93, cos that's what I grew up with. :)

+1

[Prowl]

My understanding of G1/classics is 1984-1986 & that is it. That is what I grew up on & my preference is 84/85 characters & toys.

[Paulbot]

For me, Classics-verse means new modern toys for the original Transformers universe. That universe includes any and all characters that we saw in comics, books and cartoons from 1984 to 1995. I see no reason to draw the line at "G1" because the characters in G2 were the same characters separated only slightly by time. There wasn't any other 'universe' (despite the cartoon/comic differences) until after Beast Machines.

I do draw my arbitraty line at the start of Beast Wars because the several hundred year gap in the story makes it easy to see the Beast Era as a separate thing. Plus those toys are already in a more modern style. I like Henkei Dinobot but he doesn't fit on my classics shelf.

Retrofitted characters? Well Drift I'd include because the IDW take on the G1 Universe is the only place that character exists (in any significant way) so I'm used to seeing him alongside the Classics toys (see AHM etc). ROTF Lockdown (despite IDW comic appearances) and RTS Lugnut (despite the pack-in comic appearance) are too notable as Animated characters and their toys are movie-verse designs. They just don't feel right to me.

Fracture's a funny one too, but as her notable original character comes from the right era, and an era where Female Robot toys were the exception, and the toy (along with her wave partners) weren't really movie toys, I include her (whereas BugBite is case of "who?" and "why should I care?").

[mentok27]

Yeah.... My current insane scheme for my classics and customs has me wanting to have full line of classics style figs for all 84, 85, 86, 87 and 88 US+japanese characters..... Gets a bit iffy with masterforce characters using unchanged US figs but I'm thinking I'll just double up on those....

[KalEl]

For me, Classics-verse means new modern toys for the original Transformers universe. That universe includes any and all characters that we saw in comics, books and cartoons from 1984 to 1995. I see no reason to draw the line at "G1" because the characters in G2 were the same characters separated only slightly by time. There wasn't any other 'universe' (despite the cartoon/comic differences) until after Beast Machines.

I do draw my arbitraty line at the start of Beast Wars because the several hundred year gap in the story makes it easy to see the Beast Era as a separate thing. Plus those toys are already in a more modern style. I like Henkei Dinobot but he doesn't fit on my classics shelf.

Retrofitted characters? Well Drift I'd include because the IDW take on the G1 Universe is the only place that character exists (in any significant way) so I'm used to seeing him alongside the Classics toys (see AHM etc). ROTF Lockdown (despite IDW comic appearances) and RTS Lugnut (despite the pack-in comic appearance) are too notable as Animated characters and their toys are movie-verse designs. They just don't feel right to me.

Fracture's a funny one too, but as her notable original character comes from the right era, and an era where Female Robot toys were the exception, and the toy (along with her wave partners) weren't really movie toys, I include her (whereas BugBite is case of "who?" and "why should I care?").

I tend to run down this track too

[snazzbot 101]

To me True Gen1 will always be a cartoon/self imagined toy-play hybrid because that was all I was exposed to growing up (it's strange to look back and realise how little time that actually was but how much it has affected me).

I enjoy the separate reiterations of the same basic concept - I suppose because I'm more about the toys than the story - but I very much see them very much as being separate. If IDW wants to retconn Drift into Gen1 I'm fine with that - because it's just not My Gen1, it's their's.

Classics-verse in my opinion can be anything - there are no true story contraints - and in certain ways that's great. For better or worse there would be no way Hasbro have released a dedicated War for Cybertron line... and now we should be getting WFC Devastator. That sounds like a decent trade off.