Will G1 ever be "dethroned"?

[Paulbot]

And as Beast Wars fans mature and become more active as collectors I can see it becoming stronger. Many kids watched BW and played with BW toys and they are just getting to the age where they have more disposable income. We've got a few members here that started off with Beast Wars. Give it 15 years and the five year olds watching Animated today won't care about that small, clunky, non-poseable easily broken toys from some 1984 cartoon show.

[kup]

Yeah the closest thing we have to somthing matching G1 is indeed Beast Wars. It' up there for some of the same reasons as G1 and that is great fiction and excellent toys.

Both G1 and Beast Wars were revolutionary for their time and BW engineering still stands up very well to modern toys, some would say that its superior.

However something else which I have also mentioned earlier that kept Beast Wars from supplanting G1 was its lack of overall variety even though the line as a whole was great. It was just Beasts, of various shapes and forms but that's it. If you weren't into Beast Transformers, then the line had nothing or very little to offer you.

To this date I also believe that the success of G1 is also due to its massive variety which pretty much had something for everyone. They had vehicles modes, Beast modes, gimmick toys, Sci-Fi alt modes, role play toys (Microchange molds) and on and on. Even during the Pretender years there was still a lot of variety as they also had realistic toys such as Headmaster Jnrs (Nightbeat, Siren, Hosehead), Powermasters as well as throwing in bizzare things like Beast Pretenders to keep fans who liked that sort of thing happy. This variety endured until it became a bit thin with late 89-1990 when the line was dominated by Micromasters and Actionmasters killing variety so if you were not into any of those, you were not intrested.

To this date, no other line has been able to offer as much rich variety as G1 did and I think that is a massive contributor to why it lasted for so long even after the TV show was long over.

The only series in my opinion that would 'dethrone' G1 is one which offers that huge variety in its toy line but also offer captivating fiction that most of us can agree to be great. Animated may be loved by many in the fandom but its hardly something which everyone loves as many also hate it due to the many reasons we have already discussed. Although Animated also offers some variety when it comes to alt modes, the stylized designs null that because if you don't like that, then that's it since everything is stylized. In a sense Animated is similar to Beast Wars in which if you don't like the Beast Transformers, you won't like BW in a similar way that if you don't like the stylized designs, you won't like Animated.

[Hereticpoo]

The extinction of G1 Transfandom doesn't count as the "dethroning" of G1 btw. I'm talking about whether or not something else can ever replace current Transfandom's love for G1 - I believe that was the spirit of jaydisc's question (correct me if I'm wrong jd). Making a new generation of fans like something else is fairly effortless - converting existing fans, especially those of us who grew up with G1 to switch to something else is much harder. Beast Wars came the closest, but never replaced Transfandom's love for G1 - not that BW ever intended to.


Dude... that's still G1, just reimagined - like the live-action movie, Armadaverse, Animated, IDW Retro-G1 et al. As I said, I think the closest has been Beast Wars - something which was drastically different from G1 and was the second most successful TF franchise next to G1.

I'm picking up what your putting down Gok, and you're right. Nothing will ever be as loved as the original G1. Transformers IS G1. In story terms the only way something could surpass it sales wise is by being an extension of it or an upgrade of it. The mytho's is sound. There's the goodies, the badies, the disputed ideals and territories, and robots with big guns. Essentially every TF series is the same, different alt modes don't change what the Transformers are. 2 factions, robots with alt modes, differences in ideals. Who knows maybe Plant Wars would surpass it!

Transformers cannot be redone drastically. You'll always need at least two factions of sentient robots, you'll always need alt modes and you'll always need a point of conflict. Anything else is not transformers. G1 has it all.

[d*r*j*]

I also think that g1 drained the concept dry. The first lines and best toys were adapted from previous japanese designs. Everything that comes out after that is just a mutation of the theme.
Unrealistic alt modes ...'86 movie onwards.
Decepticon cars/ Autobot planes... shattered glass eighties style.
Conbiners/ head masters/ jump starters/ Pretenders.

Then animals...

Plus G1 came at a magical time for boy orientated animation. He man, GI Joe, Centurions, Votron, Transformers, Go bots... Even the Turtles, although they came after the golden age.
What do the kids have today? Power Rangers?, Pokemon?, Ben 10?, Animated?... Those other asian power up card type shows?

Or reissues of the good eighties toys? G1 check, Turtles check, GI Joe check... anymore reissues in the house?

[GoktimusPrime]

However something else which I have also mentioned earlier that kept Beast Wars from supplanting G1 was its lack of overall variety even though the line as a whole was great. It was just Beasts, of various shapes and forms but that's it. If you weren't into Beast Transformers, then the line had nothing or very little to offer you.

To this date I also believe that the success of G1 is also due to its massive variety which pretty much had something for everyone. They had vehicles modes, Beast modes, gimmick toys, Sci-Fi alt modes, role play toys (Microchange molds) and on and on. Even during the Pretender years there was still a lot of variety as they also had realistic toys such as Headmaster Jnrs (Nightbeat, Siren, Hosehead), Powermasters as well as throwing in bizzare things like Beast Pretenders to keep fans who liked that sort of thing happy. This variety endured until it became a bit thin with late 89-1990 when the line was dominated by Micromasters and Actionmasters killing variety so if you were not into any of those, you were not intrested.

G1 never offered true beast modes - merely robotic and cybernetic animals. The closest were the Pretenders' shells... but they don't really count.

And to HasTak's credit, they did offer a good variety of animal modes, especially in the Beast Wars Neo line. And they gave us Cyber Beasts, Transmetals, Fuzors, Mutant Beasts, Transmetal IIs etc.

[kup]

G1 never offered true beast modes - merely robotic and cybernetic animals. The closest were the Pretenders' shells... but they don't really count.

And to HasTak's credit, they did offer a good variety of animal modes, especially in the Beast Wars Neo line. And they gave us Cyber Beasts, Transmetals, Fuzors, Mutant Beasts, Transmetal IIs etc.

They were still beast modes and did offer variety.

[GoktimusPrime]

Then technically Beast Wars did offer vehicle modes too, like Transmetal Tarantulas' motorcycle mode and Optimal Optimus' all-terrain vehicle and jet modes etc.

Beast Machines offered the greatest amount of variety with beasts, animals and - as far as the show was concerned - a plant.

[SilverDragon]

I seriously doubt it would be. While it would be interesting if it was, I do not think it ever would.

This is primarily because it's just so iconic. You see it everywhere, and it's about the only incarnation of Transformers that is ever referenced by other works. No other Transformers incarnation has ever been 'bigger' than G1, not even the 2007 movie, since that didn't manage to last for a year, and the toys shelfwarmed like crazy after it left cinemas.

The only way G1 would be dethroned would be if it vanished completely one day-all the toys, cartoons, comics, everything-and everyone somehow forgot it's existence. This is incredibly unlikely (unless some alien comes along and decides to do just that since it's a spiteful bastard), to say the least.

[kup]

Then technically Beast Wars did offer vehicle modes too, like Transmetal Tarantulas' motorcycle mode and Optimal Optimus' all-terrain vehicle and jet modes etc.

Beast Machines offered the greatest amount of variety with beasts, animals and - as far as the show was concerned - a plant.

As I recall, Razorclaw transforms into a lion, a robotic lion but still a lion.

The other 'vehicle' modes in Transmetals are mostly 'in between modes' still largely ruled by their beast modes - eg Rattrap looks like a rat on wheels. There were a few exceptions in which the 'secondary' alt mode was more elaborate with its own unique look aside from the present beast mode but they are very few.

G1 had beast modes. If we say that they do not then we better stop classifying Rampage's crab mode and Depth Charge's manta ray mode as beast modes.

[autobreadticon]

i reckon Disneyformers will, as soon as there is a Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus crossover