Quote Originally Posted by Krayt View Post
Easy answer....

DON’T

G1 is G1. But as Kelvin can’t understand, there aren’t 2 Barrages in G1 that need splitting into eras, there are just 2 transformers with the same name. One is an insecticon, one is a micro master. They align themselves with that simple piece of additional knowledge. Same for the constructions. Original, European yellow, European yellow non-combining, G2. It has nothing to do with eras.

Quote Originally Posted by Seraphim Prime View Post
I think trying to divide G1 up is so full of quandaries that it's a process that can do little but lead to madness. See the attempts by Takara to make everything up until Car Robots one continuity - here and here

What are the defining criteria that you're using to classify? Is it cartoon, comic, origin, toy style? Do we count the Gold Box reissues as early G1 when they were released closer to Action Master times? The western comics appeared to do a decent job of just saying "they all exist" and just get on with story telling so there was no real need to divide the timeline up.

Do we class Headmasters with S3, because that makes sense from a cartoon narrative and alt mode style, but then what do we do about Pretenders and the second round of Targetmasters?

I think the benefits of the subdivision you outline above are less beneficial, because the fan that knows enough about the various releases knows about the confusion between G1 yellow and G2 constructicons so knows the tell tale signs to look for. (Case in point - I know a lot of otherwise useless bits of information about Transformers, and I didn't even know that there were G2 constructicons that combined)

There are just so many ways to slice the cake that everyone is going to have their unique preference that trying to divide it into three neat divisions is not realistic.
My original deleted post was to point out the way that I have heard G1 broken up over my last 25 years interacting with TF fans of all type, so more organic than the approaches suggested above which I feel are over complicated for such as short number of years.

So I would agree with Krayt and vote a DON'T option. It's unnecessary, a form of gatekeeping, would make posts more obtuse, and creates an excuse for pedantry.

You can correct some who misidentifies a G1.5 toy without these terms (and I hate the G1.5 term personally but I understand it!).

You can use existing words like "Insecticon, Micromaster, Pretender, Action Master" to differentiate between characters with the same name. And this is Transformers: having to qualify what you mean when you refer to Starscream, Bumblebee, Inferno, Soundwave, Bonecrusher, Wheelie (and on and on and on) is a constant anyway!*

But this topic has raised something I want to ask others about but I'll start another thread for that at some point in the next few days.



*I once tried to explain to my surely confused Grandmother that I had Classic Pretender Jazz but not Classics Jazz and I would very much like Classic Jazz if that was the toy she saw. She didn't buy me Classics Jazz. I later bought Action Master Jazz and maybe 10 or more toys called Jazz since then