Who is your favourite G1 Gestalt?

[GoktimusPrime]

As with the previous polls, we're just looking at G1 and just with what was your personal favourite toy as a child. Mine is Defensor. Devastator was a pretty easy gestalt set to complete being the cheapest to complete (thanks to not having any expensive boxed figures; the other being Monstructor). But Defensor was definitely my favourite. It's the most aesthetically pleasing to me and I've always loved how it has a self-contained head; arguably the first G1 gestalt to have a self contained gestalt robot part. Devastator's feet are formed from Scrapper and Mixmaster's vehicle parts, which is cool in itself, but they're more like incidental gestalt parts. Defensor's was the first explicitly purpose-made part made for a gestalt which was contained in the robot rather than being a detachable accessory.

As an adult, Lio Kaiser is my favourite G1 toy (even though I don't own one), but it's not a toy that I was exposed to when I was a kid, so I have no childhood memories or impressions of this toy (so it doesn't count for me).

Due to the 15 option poll limit, all the Micromaster gestalts have been lumped into one option, and there's no separate option for King Poseidon (which, toywise, is virtually identical to Piranacon anyway, and since this poll is exclusively concerned with toys, we can consider them as being one and the same)

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Never had him as a child, but yeah...Predaking. And he still is at that.
Made from animals/beast-formers? Check.
Has a sword? Check.
Kick-ass wings? Check.
Huge and imposing and powerful-looking? Check.
And then there's always this... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g98Y43Ngm0w)this one moment/scene made the Predacons/Predaking my favourite characters as a kid.:cool:

Back in the day I managed to pick a loose complete G1 Predaking up as a poor student from a market...I was eating those awful Mi Goreng noodles for weeks to cover the cost but it was worth it dammit. I don't normally 'do' doubles of characters/molds, let alone triples, but the Predacons are a rare exception - I've got the G1 Predacons, MMC Feralcons, and if TakaraTomy ever makes MP Predacons I'll get those those too.

Toy-wise I rather like Hasbro Combiner Wars Defensor as well. I expect MMCs Feralcons to be great, but to see an official, compromised-by-price-point gestalt team like the Hasbro Protectobots turn out to have decent robot, vehicle-mode, and combined-mode forms is pretty clever IMO. I also really appreciate the variety of molds (the Stunticons and Aerialbots all look a bit too same-y for my liking), not to mention Groove being at least slightly more to scale in alt-mode.

[GoktimusPrime]

I personally didn't know anyone with a Predaking as a kid, probably being such an expensive set (since every member is a dearer boxed figure). I knew kids who had individual Predacons and who cooperatively could've formed Predaking, but I didn't know anyone who actually owned the entire set. I never had any of the Predacons, because my thinking was that I could collect 3 carded figures from another team for the price of a single Predacon. And I knew it was a set that I could never complete, so I never bothered starting.

I only finally owned Predaking when it was first reissued. :o I did grow up playing with other kids' Predacons, but I never saw them all at the same time to form Predaking (because these friends of mine weren't mutual friends of each other). If only we had a social media platform in the 80s...

Bob Smith
3 June, 1986 at 12:00
This week I got Divebomb, Razorclaw and Headstrong!
👍 You liked this.

David Yamamoto
11 July, 1986 at 2:00
Just got Tantrum and Rampage and the latest Kylie Monigue album. She's never going out of style!
👍 You and 15 others.

Suggest Friends for David
Does David know any of your friends? Help him find them.
Bob Smith [Suggest Friend]
Sydney, NSW

Gokuu
1h
My said that you guys can come over to our place this Saturday. Bring your Predacons and let's form Predaking! Uh oh, I gotta get off the modem cos dad wants to make a phone call. :/ Bob; David
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👍 Bob Smith and David Yamamoto

[MayzaPrime]

I wanted to vote for Menasor cause he was my first complete combiner... but Predaking is my pure favourite

[GoktimusPrime]

Remember guys, we're voting for who was your favourite as a child, not necessarily who's your favourite now as an adult. :) Adult me would vote for Lio Kaiser, but child me would've voted for Defensor (and thought, "Who's Lio Kaiser?" :p), so I voted for Defensor. :cool:

[DaptoDog]

I personally didn't know anyone with a Predaking as a kid, probably being such an expensive set (since every member is a dearer boxed figure). I knew kids who had individual Predacons and who cooperatively could've formed Predaking, but I didn't know anyone who actually owned the entire set. I never had any of the Predacons, because my thinking was that I could collect 3 carded figures from another team for the price of a single Predacon. And I knew it was a set that I could never complete, so I never bothered starting.

I only finally owned Predaking when it was first reissued. :o I did grow up playing with other kids' Predacons, but I never saw them all at the same time to form Predaking (because these friends of mine weren't mutual friends of each other). If only we had a social media platform in the 80s...

Bob Smith
3 June, 1986 at 12:00
This week I got Divebomb, Razorclaw and Headstrong!
👍 You liked this.

David Yamamoto
11 July, 1986 at 2:00
Just got Tantrum and Rampage and the latest Kylie Monigue album. She's never going out of style!
👍 You and 15 others.

Suggest Friends for David
Does David know any of your friends? Help him find them.
Bob Smith [Suggest Friend]
Sydney, NSW

Gokuu
1h
My said that you guys can come over to our place this Saturday. Bring your Predacons and let's form Predaking! Uh oh, I gotta get off the modem cos dad wants to make a phone call. :/ Bob; David
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👍 Bob Smith and David Yamamoto

Haha I finally got a toy as a kid that you didn't Gok! :)

One of the my best friends was moving back to England and so my mum bought a complete G1 Predaking from him for all of $20 to give to me at Christmas (would have been about 8 or 9). Still have it displayed to this day, he's a glorious figure.

But I actually will vote for Computron. Still remember getting Afterburner from my Godparents which led to the hunt for the rest. And Scattershot was the biggest pain to find. I love Computrons colour scheme and bulk, I love the alt modes of the individual bots, and I particularly love Scattershot. For his time he was and remains a great Transformer. The bot mode is fantastic with pretty good articulation. And his alt mode is sublime, I loved playing with his pop-out cannon.

EDIT: What the? Where is Computron on the poll???? Surely he deserves a slot above Japanese only gestalts that few would have gotten?

[GoktimusPrime]

EDIT: What the? Where is Computron on the poll???? Surely he deserves a slot above Japanese only gestalts that few would have gotten?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/homer_doh_zpsvjbopken.gif
Mea culpa! This board doesn't allow me to edit polls so any Computron votes will need to be manually done so via replies on this thread. Je suis désolé. :o

[DaptoDog]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/avatars/homer_doh_zpsvjbopken.gif
Mea culpa! This board doesn't allow me to edit polls so any Computron votes will need to be manually done so via replies on this thread. Je suis désolé. :o

Haha no worries. Curious to see how high he ranks given the buzz so far for Unite Warriors Computron.

[GoktimusPrime]

Haha no worries. Curious to see how high he ranks given the buzz so far for Unite Warriors Computron.
It shouldn't have any bearing on this poll since we're only looking at our childhood favourites. :) The one thing I loved about the 1986-87 gestalts was the way that I could mix and match the limbs between teams. Here's a photo of me (blue collared shirt) taken in January 1988 where I've mixed my Technobots and Protectobots to form a hybridised Defensor. :D

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/G1%20toyplay/g1_1988.jpg

I don't remember why I didn't bother attaching Defensor's parts on. I know that I had them because I still have all of them even today. I must've just been ceebs. :p

[DaptoDog]

It shouldn't have any bearing on this poll since we're only looking at our childhood favourites. :) The one thing I loved about the 1986-87 gestalts was the way that I could mix and match the limbs between teams. Here's a photo of me (blue collared shirt) taken in January 1988 where I've mixed my Technobots and Protectobots to form a hybridised Defensor. :D

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/G1%20toyplay/g1_1988.jpg

I don't remember why I didn't bother attaching Defensor's parts on. I know that I had them because I still have all of them even today. I must've just been ceebs. :p

Nice childhood shot! Some of my favourite photos are one's of me opening up a Transformer or other toy on Christmas day. I actually never did mix up Scramble City Combiners, preferred to keep them in their designated teams.

Yes I know it's about what we liked as a kid, I'm just curious if a lot of people love G1 Computron, which is driving the anticipation for the Combiner Wars / UW update.

[CHILENO20]

Superion. Yes it was my first combiner but I've always loved planes & jets. So that's my choice. :)

[Arctorro]

Superion. Yes it was my first combiner but I've always loved planes & jets. So that's my choice. :)

Same with me, even ended up with a couple of extra Aerialbots (Sky Dive and 1 other I can't remember). Predaking is my fav these days though.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I voted before I read 'as a child' and voted Preadaking as he now is my fav G1 gestalt toy, the others just don't compare!

As a child it was Menasor as he was the only one I had. As a teen I got Superion, Defensor and Bruticus - I love them all too :D

Heh, I was planning to do this exact same poll Gok, but about the Combiner Wars when they finally finish :)

[Bladestorm]

I always wanted Superion as a kid. He was the only combiner I ever wanted (or even just parts of him). Autobot Planes were such an awesome concept to me both in the cartoon and as toys on the shelf, but as always I wasn't allowed them because my parents didn't approve of me having "boy toys".
So you can probably guess it wasn't hard to convince me to get the first Combiner Wars set when it came out given it was a version of the planes I ALWAYS begged for as a child.

[CBratron]

Huh. I thought Devastator would win this by a landslide. Only been a dozen-ish votes so far. It could change.

[leej84]

^THIS!

Devastator is imo the best looking team aesthetically, they look like a team with their colours and the combined mode is just kick ass!

second fav would be Predaking followed by Piranacon in third

[Sinnertwin]

My favourite as a child? Menasor.
Big me likes Liokaiser a lot though. :p

[gamblor916]

Devastator. The original and the best.

[GoktimusPrime]

I like Devastator -- the best thing about him is that he was cheap and easy to complete!

But reasons why it's not my favourite (especially over Defensor) include:
Unstable. Devastator falls apart fairly easily. The first time I formed Devastator was in my friend's backyard - he lived right behind a train line - and we used to play this game called "Train Scaring" (i.e. we yelled at passing trains :p). I wanted to use Devastator to 'scare the trains away' (it must've worked, because they always "ran away" :p :p). I soon learnt that moving Devastator rapidly would make him more prone to having parts fall off him, which I'd be retrieving from between blades of grass. Luckily none of the parts ever fell in the corner of the yard where his cat pooped (that cat later learnt how to use a toilet though!).
Defensor and other gestalts were far more stable. I could happily run around the house or yard with them without fearing that bits would fly off.
He's kinda gangly, mostly because his torso is comprised of two smaller carded figures instead of a larger boxed toy.
I liked having more of the gestalt members being able to directly connect together without relying on additional parts; and I'm especially talking about Long Haul's waist connector. Having the leg components connect directly to the main body of other gestalts always felt cooler to me. Call it the Voltron Effect. ;)
Articulation; okay, the articulation on Defensor and other G1 gestalts aren't great, and it was incidental rather than intended, but it was still better than Devastator. Because the connecting pegs of the limbs could swing 90 degrees (allowing them to be arms or legs), it also incidentally gave them the ability to bend their legs and have de facto knees.

And this didn't particularly bother me as a kid, but as an adult I'm not the greatest fan of the uniform green colour. When I first saw images of Devastator's Diaclone colours, I thought that they looked better than his Transformers colours as it offered a greater diversity of palette. The uniform green just looks dull. The later G1 Constructicons kinda mixed it up with a combination of yellow and grey, but of course, they couldn't freakin' combine! :rolleyes: Then G2 came along and made them all uniformly yellow or orange... just as dull. It's not bad per se, but not as exciting as having a mix of colours, such as the colour scheme on RotF Devastator. Remember how the G1 coloured variant of RotF Devastator badly shelfwarmed?

But I will say something else that I liked about him over the other G1 gestalts, and that was the incidentally self-contained feet (rather than relying on detachable foot pads). Although it's not quite as clever as Defensor's self-contained head, I still really liked how Scrapper and Mixmaster could form Devastator's legs without needing any accessories. :) Especially Mixmaster. He was my second Constructicon and initially I would form the leg mode and just playing with him as this really awesome giant leg! (much like Ambulon, only useful ;)). Scrapper was my second last Constructicon and I found his leg mode to be not quite as awesome as Mixmaster's. :)

I don't think that Devastator's a bad toy - don't get me wrong - but I wouldn't rate him as the best. Not when I was a kid, and certainly not now as an adult.

[Magnus]

Superion here.

[UltraMarginal]

For me it was Superion, 5 jets, that turned into robots and combined, awesomesauce. It was also my first combiner team.

a close second was Defensor, my only other combiner until I bought the reissue Predaking (actually no, I just remembered I bought a second hand Bruticus about 2010). Defensor was part of an epic laybuy I did in my early teens I think over a period of many months, occasionally having new transformers added to the pot before I finally paid it all off.

[5FDP]

My all-time fav was Bruticus although I never owned him as a child and the closest I have even got is when I purchased Ruination about 10 years ago. I was turned off the reissue because of QC issues.

A close second would have to be Predaking, pretty much because of issue #25 of the Marvel comic when he fought Megatron. That was epic!

[klystron]

Bruticus. Loved the Combaticons as a kid.
Still do. Think Combaticons/Bruticus are the best scramble-city team/combiner.

Nowadays I'd go with Predaking.


(I played by the rules for this poll). :)

[liegeprime]

Devastator. Love the color combo, and the difference of this gestalt. All the following gestalts have that same formula, love that Devy has that originality in combination and the combo of construction vehicles mashed in that way... looks awesome.

[GoktimusPrime]

Love the color combo
Yep, that diverse combination of green green green green green purple green green :p :p :p </cheek>

[liegeprime]

Yep, that diverse combination of green green green green green purple green green :p :p :p </cheek>

Hey dont knock it til youve tried it, lol... just look at Hulk. At least he's consistent in hue. 😆😆😆😆