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[griffin]

Classic/genertions/chugrubsuefsd whatever it's called, the amalgamation of figures from many different lines that are modern updates to classic toys/characters.

That's correct... the term "classics" is just one of the generic terms used for what is probably more accurately "classic-verse"... but we already had a lengthy discussion topic about what to Universally call that range of similarly designed & labelled figures (which have gone through several packaging labels now, so it needs a label of convenience, especially when referring to a "subgroup" of toys that were released over a number of those packaging labels - i.e. the Seekers).
This was why we needed a "universal" term (like Classic-verse, which started with the Classics... and that's why some still use it as the Universal term), otherwise if we resisted using a Universal term, it just makes it more difficult and/or confusing to the others who are not sure which series a particular figure was released in, when trying to refer to it in a discussion.

I think the TFwiki article "To Sell Toys" best answers that.

Like Bumblebee and Starscream started wearing bodies that look like the WFC bodies but those are new forms as far as IDW continuty is concerned, not reversions to their forms that the Aligned Bumblebee and Starscream in had at the start of the war. So you could use those to represent the characters in WFC, or as the pre-Earth forms of TF Prime Bumblebee and Starscream, or as post-war forms of G1/IDW Bumblebee and Starscream.

The question is really if the new IDW based toys are "Aligned" or not. I'd argue no but who knows what Hasbro would say. I'd say "Generations" gives any toy in that line the flexibility to be a character from any continuity.

Also keep in mind that there have been many different (cartoon and comic) continuities that use the Original Gen1 forms. It might be confusing while in release, but it is not new for us to have parallel story universes existing at the same time with the same "drawn" characters (i.e. the 80s cartoon and comic).


It's worth noting (in light of Lint's comment), that the term "Aligned Continuity" is apparently still not something (yet) used in any official publication or press-release (but I'm sure it will eventually, in a reference book somewhere).
As such, it seems to be something used by Hasbro designers and Product Managers... to give them something vague to work around without being held up by trying to find out what each other's project is doing.
I recall them saying once, the "squint test" as their rationale behind WFC and TFPrime not really blending together cleanly (and took a lot of bridging story to get there, with FOC, the books and the comics). That seems to be their Aligned Continuity rationale as a whole - to give them a basic framework to vaguely work with... but not something they have to stick to, as each series has the freedom of being produced independently of each other.

[Lint]

. That seems to be their Aligned Continuity rationale as a whole - to give them a basic framework to vaguely work with... but not something they have to stick to, as each series has the freedom of being produced independently of each other.

Which is fantastic overall because I would really hate for them to force continuity between all these different fictions, like the joke that was the link between Cybertron and Armada/Energon creating a 'Unicron Trilogy'