ID help please - maybe G2?

[jena]

I donated these two transformers to my mum when we did a clean out of my toys a while back because she does child care and I thought these two were knock offs. She came across them today and showed me and I recognized the G2 autobot logo. I looked underneath and found 1992 Hasbro and Takara. So I'm assuming these guys are possibly legit. But I have no idea who they are. Please help! Thanks!

[Sky Shadow]

They are G2 - that' s Turbofire in blue and Rapido (who outranks everyone in an emergency) on the right. I believe both are the 'European' versions (which meant they had G1 packaging, but G2 sigils.)

[bowspearer]

They are G2 - that' s Turbofire in blue and Rapido (who outranks everyone in an emergency) on the right. I believe both are the 'European' versions (which meant they had G1 packaging, but G2 sigils.)

I agree with most of your assessment and was about to say that that's not Turbofire but Hotrider. However because of that I'd argue that they're actually G1 and not G2. The reason is that the Turbomasters and Predators were never a G2 release and with the exception of a small European release, neither were the Stormtroopers. Yet in the Euro catalogs the Axelerators and Skyscorchers were shown with all of the above and there was no Generation2 logo present anywhere in the catalog, making that release of then conclusively G1 rather than G2.

They're actually quite interesting because due to distribution choices in different markets, they wound up simultaneously being the last G1 figures and the first G2 figures.

[canofwhoopass_87]

Don't hurt yourself over-analysing there champ! I think the general consensus amongst the fandom is that they sort of sit in both G1 and G2.

I personally regard them as G2 (because of their new insignia) and am very fond of Rapido. One of my first store bought Transformers back in the days! Be careful not to over transform him. The bonnet section tends to wear down and becomes detachable after awhile

[jena]

Don't hurt yourself over-analysing there champ! I think the general consensus amongst the fandom is that they sort of sit in both G1 and G2.

I personally regard them as G2 (because of their new insignia) and am very fond of Rapido. One of my first store bought Transformers back in the days! Be careful not to over transform him. The bonnet section tends to wear down and becomes detachable after awhile

Sadly he already has that problem, it stays on quite happily but pops off during every transformation. He is gonna stay in his vehicle mode now.

You guys have made me very pleased that I found these, I never would have thought they'd be so interesting.

[bowspearer]

You guys have made me very pleased that I found these, I never would have thought they'd be so interesting.

They're definitely brilliant toys. I was talking to Raymond T once on msn who told me that Transformers was essentially dead in the water after the Action Masters and it was only because of the success of the Euro G1 line in foreign markets, that Hasbro actually went ahead with G2.

[bowspearer]

Don't hurt yourself over-analysing there champ! I think the general consensus amongst the fandom is that they sort of sit in both G1 and G2.

I personally regard them as G2 (because of their new insignia) and am very fond of Rapido.

Except that personal preference is irrelevant when it comes to figure IDing. I know of one person for example, who regards the Pretenders as G2. I know of others who regard anything post animated movie as G2. Much like them, if you personally regard them as G2 then that's your opinion and your entitled to it.

However this isn't about personal preference, this is about specifically identifying a toy. Since the consensus is that these are the Euro versions then we're talking about G1 toys, rather than G2 toys if we were talking about the US versions.

Granted, with Rapido, you could argue that it's being a little pedantic, however with Hotrider (be glad it's Hotrider and not Zap/Rush), who was incorrectly Id'ed as Turbofire, it's necessary, and saying that IDing it as Turbofire is "close enough" is heading into the sort of territory where you could claim that identifying G1 Thundercracker as say, Skywarp was "close enough" (Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp are all essentially variants of the same toy).

As I said, be glad it's Hotrider where it's an issue and not Rush/Zap/Windbreaker, where you even have variations based on where the figure was released in the Euro G1 line-up .

[Cat]

I agree with most of your assessment and was about to say that that's not Turbofire but Hotrider. However because of that I'd argue that they're actually G1 and not G2. The reason is that the Turbomasters and Predators were never a G2 release and with the exception of a small European release, neither were the Stormtroopers. Yet in the Euro catalogs the Axelerators and Skyscorchers were shown with all of the above and there was no Generation2 logo present anywhere in the catalog, making that release of then conclusively G1 rather than G2.

They're actually quite interesting because due to distribution choices in different markets, they wound up simultaneously being the last G1 figures and the first G2 figures.

They're the Mitochondrial Eve of modern Transformers...

[Hursticon]

Hey Jena, I think you'll find that both are indeed genuine G1 Euro/G2 figures by the names of:

• Turbofire
• Rapido

Hope that helps mate.

*Beaten by mere seconds by the mighty SS!

[jena]

Awesome, thanks guys! I'm pretty stoked that they're genuine, especially since I remember the day my parents bought them for me (I just remember leaving the shop with them and a smile from ear to ear) and how much I loved them as a kid.