(JAN-2013) Hasbro Gen1 Toys - Reviews and Favourites

[griffin]

During the Era of Hasbro Generation 1 (1984-1993 - any country)...

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?

What was your first one, and when?

What ones are you most looking for and why?

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.

[Ultra Mackness]

I thought I'd open this this a short review of my first Transformer ever - Wheeljack, then follow up with one of my favorites. Throwing myself back in time to 1986, although not my first choice (I'd wanted sideswipe but by the time I'd convinced my Mum that I should get this magical transforming car another kid had grabbed him!) in retrospect I'm glad that he was the first.

He came in a box like this:



I say like because as purists will note this is a repro box (from before Wheeljack was KO'd), but the rest (aside from the decals) is 100% G1:



There is a tendency these days to compare G1 toys with modern toys as though they might have been produced at the same time. Consequently debate points include things like nostalgia, engineering, articulation etc. but I think that the entire experience of a Transformer back in the day was completely different. Say a kid these days gets a Classics toy like Wreck-Gar or Perceptor, aside from a small bio on the back of the (very disposable) card and some stats to compare, the kid has no real experience of the characters. The playing experience for them then becomes almost like solving a simple Rubik's cube (in the absence of more imagination). One of the things I like about G1 toys was that not only was there a cartoon for us all to see the personalities of the individual characters, but there was almost a sense of inclusion into the faction. Tech specs weren't easily read without the decoder and the idea of the reinforcements from Cybertron plotline with the relief it brought the Autobots that left the kid in charge of trying to obtain said reinforcements was the kind of emotional leverage that it's probably illegal to use in marketting these days. Anyways, I'm rambling..must be getting old...






Sure, not as much articulation as today's model, but even after nearly 30 years there is a lovely heaviness to him (Die cast parts !), and the level of detail is still impressive.

So now the favorite (one of them anyways). Back in the day I wanted one of these so badly I made one out of cardboard! Very few of my TFs are on my "buried with me for the afterlife" list, but this is close to the top. I loved the idea of reinforcements from Cybertron, but while the powerdashers seemed simplistic, and the omnibots were also a bit meh, the Time Warrior watch caught my attention from the moment I opened the catalogue.



Although my pleas at the time to pick up more TFs then send the cut out robot points and more money to some address in Sydney was only met with stern looks from my parents, in 2007 I got lucky on an ebay auction and picked up this beauty. To this day it has been out of its packaging about 10 times (It was opened once by the seller before I obtained it) and now resides within metal and plastic display case away from sunshine. One of my absolute favorite pieces.

[Skullcruncher]

Wow Ultra Mackness two great specimens indeed!

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?
Best: Sandstorm. Non cartoon toy would be Roadbuster.
Worst: I'd say biggest let down would be Ultra Magnus. I also owned a Pipes and I thought he was a bit lame too

What was your first one, and when?
Swindle or Optimus Prime. Must of been in 1988 - turned out my Optimus was a Made in France Optimus!!! I only learned this in 2011 - NZ recieved some of these but im not going into that now.

My last one I purchased before I got back into collecting was Nosecone and I got him the same time I got my G2 Orange Constructions.

What ones are you most looking for and why?
No more. Got all that I need.

[klystron]

FIRST ONE AND WHEN?
Sideswipe, in 1984. Still have him, although I have repainted him. He'd had a hard life.

BEST AND WORST?
Original Best: Swoop. To pinch Ultra Mackness rating system, Swoop was my "bury with me for the afterlife" toy.
Modern Best: Nowadays Snapdragon is my favorite G1 toy.
Worst: not sure.... never liked UM, but was frustrated with Blaster as a kid cause he was too big to fit with the other toys.

[GoktimusPrime]

Best toy: Original Soundwave.
Worst toy: Any Action Master. Mainframe - I never even knew what his "theoretical alt mode" was when I was a kid.
First one: Brawn
When: Late 1984
One I'm most looking for: Time Warrior (your pics make me so jelly Ultra Mackness!)
Why?: Because I _had_ this toy when I was a kid, but then gave it to my cousin who lost it! Baw!! Aaah, I'll probably never find one at a price I'm willing to pay... hurry up and reissue it, TakaraTOMY!!

For pics of my collection, follow the link in my signature.

There is a tendency these days to compare G1 toys with modern toys as though they might have been produced at the same time. Consequently debate points include things like nostalgia, engineering, articulation etc. but I think that the entire experience of a Transformer back in the day was completely different.

Indeed. For those of us who collected G1 in the 1980s and 90s, we had nothing else to compare them with, and they weren't nostalgic either, because they were current... so we were able to give them a more "fair" appraisal so to speak. And for the most part, G1 toys were pretty good for its time. I seldomly got a toy and thought, "Man this is crap." I did a few times, but for the most part I was thoroughly impressed. Hence why I've kept on collecting them!

Say a kid these days gets a Classics toy like Wreck-Gar or Perceptor, aside from a small bio on the back of the (very disposable) card and some stats to compare, the kid has no real experience of the characters. The playing experience for them then becomes almost like solving a simple Rubik's cube (in the absence of more imagination). One of the things I like about G1 toys was that not only was there a cartoon for us all to see the personalities of the individual characters, but there was almost a sense of inclusion into the faction.

I find the problem with that is that the toy bios just aren't nearly as well written as they used to be. Remember that G1 toys came out before we saw them appear in comics or the cartoon, so often the toy bio was your first port of call for imagining what the character is like. e.g. when I first got Wheelie, he hadn't appeared in the cartoon or comics yet, so I played with him according to his toy bio and made him to be a lot like Mowgli Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, or like a little Tarzan. Then I got the book "Wild Boy of Quintessa," which pretty much portrayed Wheelie as he's described in the toy bio, which visualised how I initially played with him.

Then I saw the movie, and retconned my play of Wheelie. No longer the jungle boy, he became a weird rhyming toy. No amount of cold Milo, could bring back the boy from the toy bio.

*clears.throat* But yeah, the difference is that G1 tech specs were written by comic book writers from Marvel - so they read like comic book characters. They have distinct personalities, distinctive personality quirks (like Huffer's homesickness, Thundercracker's moral ambiguity, Breakdown's paranoia, Groove is a pacifist, Bluestreak never shuts up etc.), individual special abilities (Skywarp teleports, Mirage can create illusions etc.) and weaknesses (Ravage is disoriented by bright lights, Steeljaw suffers from chronic rust etc.). Post G2 tech specs are written by toy execs... who really don't know how to create superhero/villain characters like comic book writers, and that's why most tech specs today pale in comparison with G1.

But to be fair, we have had a few periods of good tech specs from Hasbro, most notable examples include Beast Machines (the toys and cartoon may not have been popular, but the toy bios were pretty well written IMHO) and Transformers Cybertron, which really harked back to making the Transformers quirky again like in G1 -- look at Shortround... a Transformer who collects transforming robot toys! Freakin' hilarious! But yeah, I haven't seen any decent quality tech specs from Hasbro since Cybertron.

Tech specs weren't easily read without the decoder and the idea of the reinforcements from Cybertron plotline with the relief it brought the Autobots that left the kid in charge of trying to obtain said reinforcements was the kind of emotional leverage that it's probably illegal to use in marketting these days. Anyways, I'm rambling..must be getting old...

Those tech specs were EASY to read without the decoders! Hands up anyone here you used to stand in toy store aisles reading all the tech spec bios and stats of ALL the toys on the shelves and pegs? I know I did!

[Megatron]

During the Era of Hasbro Generation 1 (1984-1993 - any country)...

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?

I don't have very many G1 toys at all yet because I'm still new to collecting, and even if I did they'd probably be all MISB, but I will always choose the best toys to be those of my favorite characters, whether I have them yet or not, and regardless of engineering/quality! Coincidentally though, the only character I do have so far (G1 Megs, loose and MISB), I love. It's fragile and needs to be held with care to keep it intact in alt mode, but yeah, it's awesome. My worst toys? Hmm... by the look of them alone I'll say some of the Autobot cars and Throttlebots simply because of their ugly blocky appearance in robot mode.

What was your first one, and when?

G1 Megs, last year.

What ones are you most looking for and why?

I must get Soundwave, Starscream, Jazz, and Astro Magnum/Galactic Man/Shockwave (preferably MISB).

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.

Here's one of my loose ones:

[BigTransformerTrev]

During the Era of Hasbro Generation 1 (1984-1993 - any country)...

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?
*Best toys were G1 Optimus Prime (so much play value!!!) and the G1 Combaticons who were great for setting up little battle scenes.
*Worst toys: The smaller Terrorcons and frankly the Battlechargers look awful in robot mode

What was your first one, and when?
Dirge, late 84. When I went nuts and completely ignored all my other presents, suddenly a month later TF's were all I got

What ones are you most looking for and why?
*Looking for an affordable complete Hardhead (under $100) because I love his tank alt-mode with 3 big guns sticking off of it. Have reached that point though that besides the odd micromaster, action master or pretender every gap I have in my G1 collection consists of a figure that would cost over $100 (Apeface, Venom etc). Also looking for a complete Computron.

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.
*Am only a basic member so cant post pics but I think I have finally figured out how to put a photobucket link on here (I hope):

http://s1294.beta.photobucket.com/us...1c84d.jpg.html

I will also put links to my Gen 1 Facebook albums (they are open to the public so hopefully viewable. Otherwise Bartrim or Gok can show ya ):

My G1 Decepticons
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...5327559&type=3

My G1 Autobots
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...5327559&type=3

[liegeprime]

During the Era of Hasbro Generation 1 (1984-1993 - any country)...

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?

Best would be Soundwave, the Dinobots, Constructicons

Worst I guess are the battlechargers... in vehicle mode thy're ok, thy even have the pull back and charge action, but their botmodeis just meh... they cant even hold they gun properly.. ou have to tab them in their shoulder not their hands. Shame really coz these two characters as henchmen thugs of the road would have been great had hey got the same engineering of the early 84 autobot cars. but then, the pullback gimmick would b lost I guess. Good thing there's newer version now that does the old toy justice albeit quite expensive (Botcon exclusives ;()

Second worst would be the ones suffering fom GPS - coz its just poor qualit , you cant play with it. - Bristleback, Roadblock


What was your first one, and when?

My very first one is Soundwave (with Buzzsaw)back in 1985. Got it as a present from my aunt back in Philippines. She was on holiday back to Phils from here in Australia. years later I wound up living here and migrating the toy back ....full circle.



What ones are you most looking for and why?

The big Bases - Overlord is the only one left among these that Im looking for so I can complete my G1 collection (US released characters/figures) - Although Im dabbling every now and then on Euro and Jap figures, if i can just get Overlord even if it's a reissue Im happy. Some people are indeed strict in saying oh but it's not G1 its an encore yadda yadda yadda. I DONT CARE for me and my collection it falls in G1 finished. Im looking forward to Encore fort Max, which is why I retired Brave Max back to RiD where he originally belongs to anyhow.

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.

let me just say I didnt like Actionmasters back then, but once Ive started collecting them, I warmed up to them quick. An old photo of a battle scene play...





Micromaster fun


More current shot of the G1 shelves in the collection room

[1AZRAEL1]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?
I have to say I really like my Actionmasters simply because I love the way alot of them look.
Worst is a hard one because I like them all for what they are. Possibly Quickswitch though because he is just a hulking mass of plastic lol

What was your first one, and when?
I think it was either Soundwave or Hot Rod, and picked up both from a trah and treasure market. Also did get a boxed Optimus Prime from Kmart I think that was missing a few accessories that I got around the same time too.

What ones are you most looking for and why?
A few of the harder to get Actionmasters, and after Japanese Transformers now.

[tinyJazz]

Thanks for sharing, Ultra Mackness, I really enjoyed your review. It's always interesting to hear the stories behind sentimental pieces.

And Liege, I never get tired of seeing those shelves, just an awesome set up!

During the Era of Hasbro Generation 1 (1984-1993 - any country)...

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?
*Best toys were G1 Optimus Prime (so much play value!!!) and the G1 Combaticons who were great for setting up little battle scenes.
*Worst toys: The smaller Terrorcons and frankly the Battlechargers look awful in robot mode

What was your first one, and when?
Dirge, late 84. When I went nuts and completely ignored all my other presents, suddenly a month later TF's were all I got

What ones are you most looking for and why?
*Looking for an affordable complete Hardhead (under $100) because I love his tank alt-mode with 3 big guns sticking off of it. Have reached that point though that besides the odd micromaster, action master or pretender every gap I have in my G1 collection consists of a figure that would cost over $100 (Apeface, Venom etc). Also looking for a complete Computron.

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.
*Am only a basic member so cant post pics but I think I have finally figured out how to put a photobucket link on here (I hope):

What? You should totally have gone up a rank by now. :U You should still be able to use IMG tags regardless of rank. Just click the box next to "IMG code" on photobucket and paste into your reply.
So, it was all Dirge's fault! Do you still have your original?


Also, here's me being on topic

During the Era of Hasbro Generation 1 (1984-1993 - any country)...

What are your Best and Worst toys of this series?

Ravage. I have never owned a G1 Ravage, but he is awesome.

Around 1998, while I lived in the UK, I had an orange and yellow oversized Ravage knock-off that I bought from the Post Office down the street. On subsequent trips I picked up a yellow "Squawktalk" and green/blue? "Ramhorn".
Ravage, I loved him to bits. Literally. His back leg fell off because I played with him so much. (not because he was a knock off mind you, he actually had decent metal pins holding him together)
Anyway, he continued to go on adventures, minus a limb, and he was always the hero type. Sorting out pollitical disputes between the residents of Pride Rock and Jurassic Park. Fending off attacks from evil Slizers and outsmarting the Dragonzord. You know, hero stuff.

Autobot Car Jazz - I'm biased of course, he just looks good. (Possibly the best looking Autobot...ever? lol.) Only picked up the Encore after first watching G1 in '07/'08.

Don't really have a worst as I don't collect or handle G1 that much. :/ I don't like the headmasters concept though.

What was your first one, and when?

In 1999 at a school fair, 20 pence bought me: Micromaster Flak, along with (since destroyed), Detour, Hyperdrive and Roadhandler. THEY WERE ALL GOOD GUYS.
Roadhandler was a bit of a hothead, Flak was the leader, Detour the All-Star second in command and Hyperdrive was forgettable.


What ones are you most looking for and why?

Out of G1, I just collect Jazz stuff. So, MIB Hasbro G1 Pre-rub, Rubsign, Euro Classics and G1 Takara Jazzes, because in my five years of collecting I haven't seen the right ones yet.


Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.

Mail-away Cookie with his double-stickered doors. Don't mind the scruff in the background.

A sometimes thing by tiny jazz robot, on Flickr

Pretender Pals. Need a better box for these guys. Also the robot stickers are a bit eh, but you can't tell in the photo.

Serious Battlefield Boogying by tiny jazz robot, on Flickr