Huffer - I use PCC Huffer as G1

I use G1 Huffer as G1. I have used PCC Huffer as Classicsverse Huffer though. The official Classics Huffer is too rare and the aftermarket prices would be too expensive to make it worth it.

 

I don't have:

Mirage - no interest. When I see Mirage I see a blue Crasher.

Mirage came first - so really Crasher is a black, white and whatever Mirage. Mirage was a lot more common and easier to get than Crasher too - at least here, cos Crasher never came out here (whereas Mirage was everywhere). Wasn't she a store-exclusive in the US?

 

Ratchet - I use CYB Red Alert. I was so disgusted by Ironhide I couldn't bring myself to buy Ratchet. Anyone tried Universe Ratchet's head on Specialist Ratchet's body yet?

Dude... it's just a Deluxe (I paid $28 for my Henkei Ratchet). And the head thing isn't that bad. And I heard that it is fixable (though I haven't tried it myself).

 

Windcharger - never even saw him, and he wasn't a priority like G2 Prime or Wreck-Gar

I saw too many of him. :P He is a darn fine Scout Class toy I must say.

I can see rts perceptor being retooled into trailblazer

Huffer - I use PCC Huffer as G1

I use G1 Huffer as G1. I have used PCC Huffer as Classicsverse Huffer though. The official Classics Huffer is too rare and the aftermarket prices would be too expensive to make it worth it.

I see the distinction you're making there, but to me, Classics+ are G1 toys I can feel comfortable playing with, while original G1 is just for display. Sure, it's not the original franchise, but the toys are meant to be the same characters.

 

I don't have:

Mirage - no interest. When I see Mirage I see a blue Crasher.

Mirage came first - so really Crasher is a black, white and whatever Mirage. Mirage was a lot more common and easier to get than Crasher too - at least here, cos Crasher never came out here (whereas Mirage was everywhere). Wasn't she a store-exclusive in the US?

 

Yup, Walmart had her. And now that I think about it, Machine Wars Mirage would probably be my Classics Mirage. The Classics version just didn't feel right to me for some reason. But in black as Crasher, it's absolutely perfect.

 

Ratchet - I use CYB Red Alert. I was so disgusted by Ironhide I couldn't bring myself to buy Ratchet. Anyone tried Universe Ratchet's head on Specialist Ratchet's body yet?

Dude... it's just a Deluxe (I paid $28 for my Henkei Ratchet). And the head thing isn't that bad. And I heard that it is fixable (though I haven't tried it myself).

 

It's not just the head, it's the entire overblown design. I've never - never - successfully gotten him back into van mode, even with the instructions. It's just a horrible, needlessly complicated design that should never have been attempted at the deluxe scale. Voyager might have worked, but not deluxe. I really wish Hasbro would do a general release of Energon Towline decoed as Ironhide & Ratchet. They managed to make the remaining Seekers different enough from the Botcon release to keep the set exclusive, why not these guys? Besides, Ironhide & Ratchet without their MARBs just don't seem right.

The problem with Ironhide/Ratchet is that you're looking at an impossible design from the cartoon and trying to engineer that into real-life physics with an actual toy. In the G1 cartoon Ratchet and Ironhide's mobile platforms just vanished into thin air. The robot forms were really based on the core robots which only transform into the front portion of the vehicle -- the platforms that transformed into the bulk of the vehicles always disappeared into thin air.

 

So there's only two ways of dealing with this:

1: Maintain a detachable platform, like with Timelines Ironhide and Ratchet (which as you know are redecos/retools of Energon Tow-Line)

2: Try to incorporate the platform portion of the vehicle into the robot

 

HasTak went with option 2 for Universe/Henkei Ironhide/Ratchet, which is why it's so damn fiddly and complicated. I guess in a way HasTak wanted to challenge themselves and also to make them more distinct from Timelines Ratchet/Ironhide. Also, remember that the primary demographic market is kids - and I'm not sure if most kids would've understood Ironhide/Ratchet having platforms (let alone cared about it). Overall I do find Henkei Ironhide to be better looking than Timelines Ironhide, even if the transformation is fiddly. It might have worked better in Voyager (some people say Generations Galvatron would've been better as a Voyager too)... for whatever reason Hasbro have kept Generations as an exclusively Deluxe Class line... which on the whole works great. I find on the whole that carded Transformers are often, relative for their size and price, better engineered and offer better value than many of their more expensive boxed counterparts. Although Voyagers are usually alright... it's Leader Class and above that I often find really poor value for money.

 

As for the Seekers comparison, I think that's a bit different. The BotCon Seekers were really releasing what Hasbro should have done so for retail, but Hasbro didn't want to so BotCon "filled in the blanks" so to speak. Also the BotCon Seekers already utilised Classics Starscream and Ramjet's moulds - so they were already Classicsverse moulds to begin with, whereas Timelines Ironhide and Ratchet weren't.

 

I'm assuming that MARBS refers to their platforms? I think Universe/Henkei Ironhide/Ratchet look fine without them because the toy is going for cartoon-likeness, and in the cartoon we never saw their platforms (except for Ratchet's like really briefly that one time). I remember when I first got Timelines Ironhide, the first thing I did was flip his head down because it seemed weird to have this toy-accurate homage of Ironhide on platform, but with this robot head sticking out from the top! It took me a while to accept the hybrid cartoon-toy likeness of that toy, and quite frankly I've never been a huge fan of it - even as someone who greatly prefers G1 toy accuracy. If I want to play with a G1 toy-accurate Ironhide and Ratchet, I'll go play with my Encore Ironhide and Ratchet. :) I tried attaching the little heads that those reissues come with, and I think they look stupid - and it's not because they're cardboard. I've seen other people who bought the 3rd party heads for them and attached them, and I think it looks silly too. To me, their true heads are what Hasbro originally intended -- the stickers attached to the seats behind the windows! (just like my avatar :D)

 

I personally can't see Ratchet in Cybertron Red Alert... if anything I'd be more tempted to repurpose him as First Aid. ;) I have a friend who missed out on getting Timelines Ironhide and Ratchet -- he got himself a spare pair of Energon Tow-Lines and had them repainted as Ironhide and Ratchet. :)

Heroic Decepticon has something similar:

http://heroicdecepticon.blogspot.com/p/my-classics-henkei-generations-united.html

 

But I do not know where that Teletraan-1 playset is from!

 

he downloaded it from somewhere and printed it out. No idea from where though.

 

:lol It's made of plastic, not paper.

 

It's iGear's Computer Control Center. http://www.igeartoys.com/?p=107 Pretty pricey for what they released. From what I remember reading about it, it didn't really stay together that well for the price iGear wanted for it.

It seems out of stock everywhere... But even for that price I would probably get it too. Its too unique to pass up really. And if only there was a Decepticon one too... not that black version they made.

Well, having recently gotten Frenzy and Rumble in the mail (and almost right away, without consious thought, posing the blue one with his pile drivers deployed, so I guess I now know which side of that debate I am on!) I then had to put Ravage with them, and got Real Gear Booster X10 out of the box I had put it in and gave it a promotion. "Congradulations, unless something better comes along, you're now Classics Lazerbeak."

 

I had hoped I could stop there, but no... They just seemed to be incomplete. So, damn it, I now have a Music Label Soundwave on the way.

 

I thought I could stop there, too. But no, then I started thinking, "You know, one more purchase, and that would pretty much be it for the original Decepticon cast." So now I have the Perfect Effect PE-11 sitting in my Pile of Loot at BBTS. (I really hope all of my pre-orders come in soon, so I can ship the damn thing and stop thinking, "Well, it is just adding a bit more to an already existing order. Surely it can't hurt." When that thing does finally come, it is going to be the biggest damn box of toys you'd ever see outside of Christmas!)

 

Well, when I do finally have everyone (and that should also give me all of the Autobots I'm seeking other then poor, non-existing Gears) I shall post some pics.

unless something better comes along, you're now Classics Lazerbeak."

Couldn't secure the rights to the name "Laserbeak" I see. ;) Sure beats calling him Tankor though. :P

It seems out of stock everywhere... But even for that price I would probably get it too. Its too unique to pass up really. And if only there was a Decepticon one too... not that black version they made.

 

That was my thought pattern also -- I simply liked it too much to pass up on it - even at the higher price point.

 

They are exactly right tho - that it did fall apart really easy. The actual design for construction was horrible.

 

I simply crazy glued mine together. No taking it apart now. But I like it.

I envy you guys. I started collecting TF when the live-action movies came out. The few G1 figures I had when I was a kid have been lost and gone many metacycles ago. I wished I would have started this hobby earlier but I had different interests at that time. If I could go back. I would have collected the Classics and Generations. I know I still have time to get the Generations figures but the online prices for the Classics figures are way too expensive for me.

 

I guess I'll have to settle with my Bayverse, Animated and my soon to be Prime collection which I'm very happy with. But nothing can beat the original G1 aesthetic and looking at those pics bring me back.