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G1 how I love thee, now Die


tentagil

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With the new G1 line rumors about, and the movie in the works for next year, I’ve been hearing a lot of the normal complaints and general Starscreaming about how G1 has been done to death and they need to move on to something new and different.  So I figured since I’m in a debating mood, I’d throw up a topic here and talk about this always hot button topic of the TF fan world.

 

Now I was born in 1981, got my first TF in 1985, and little ole Beachcomber still holds a place of honor on my shelves.  Devastator whom I wanted as a kid but couldn’t find or afford till 20 years later stands tall on another shelf.  These two are the prizes of my collection, not because they are the best toys, but because they still hold the memories of my first moments of TF joy.

 

The G1 line was amazing in its day.  The engineering was pretty incredible, the figures stood up to a lot of abuse, look on Ebay at the number of near mint 20 year old bots for proof, and for kids of the 80s they were just plain cool.  Of course when you stand G1 prime next to Cybertron Prime he looks brick, and really he is.  Those old figures didn’t pose well, and really compared to toys built today they aren’t even that cool looking.  Hell Ratchet and Ironhide didn’t even have heads.

 

Over the years technology has improved and TFs have evolved.  The figures of G2 saw ball joints start appearing, of course it also figures in Day Glo colors, not sure what the designers were thinking when they painted them.  Beast Wars, which I’ve personally never liked, introduced some very poseable figures with pretty realistic beast modes and decent bot modes.

 

Beastwars also introduced a much better written story, it wasn’t really to my liking, but I have to admit that they made a much more cohesive story then the haphazard mess that was G1.  And at least they tried to stay consistent with things, G1 really is full of plot holes.

 

RID I kinda missed for some reason, never even new it existed till after it was gone.  Never seen the show so can’t speak to that, but it did make some incredible figures.  Poseability, realistic alt modes, a very nice line, but also the return of the Combining Prime (Powermaster is still the first after all), a trend that has grown to ridiculous levels.

 

Armada and Energon had a few nice bots, but for the most part I wasn’t a fan of either of those lines.  They both focused to much on gimmicks to the determent of the figures, and the cartoons were just bad.

 

Then we come to Cybertron.  Still a little too focused on gimmicks, but the general design of the line is just superior to the last two lines in almost every way.  And the story was much better then Armada or Energon I thought.

 

Now of course looking back through these all with all the changes in them you have some common links of course.  Not counting the Japanese only shows, Optimus Prime and Megatron appear in everyone of them.  Each show is in some small way tied to G1 just by those two.  And in most of them Starscream and Unicron are around to strength the G1 tie.  Homages abound, partial because it helps market it to parents who grew up In the G1 era and want cool toys for their kids, and partly because the designers now grew up with G1 as well.

 

I love G1, but I agree we need to see something new.  I want to see a series with no Prime, No Megatron, No Starscream, No Unicron, no previouse characters at all in any incarnation.

 

I want to see a series with new leaders, a new threat and villain, something just plain new.  No gimmicks like keys or minicons.  Just old fanshioned bots battling to save the universe without having to crisscross the stars trying to dig up some magical hunk of junk.  I want to see an army of Autobots and an army of Decepticons going at it.

 

Of course all of this is just my own humble opinion and your mileage may vary.

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A very well written post. I am highly impressed. It is not often on these boards that someone explains their position that well (and w/ no misspellings).

 

I agree. After G1 Neo and then the movie, or even while the movie toys are out, they should come up w/ some new characters and storylines. Actually they really should do that when the movie comes out so there is no confusion and as a way to keep the mainline TF series going. The timing would be perfect IMO.

 

Most people are getting sick of G1 in general and are longing for a change. I personally loved BW and see it as the savoir of the TF brand. It was a drastic change to the line that needed to be done. Couple that w/ a very well written cartoon and big advances in the quality of the figures and they had a success.

 

Just like in BW, get new characters, get new leaders (well somewhat new anyway), get new factions and reinvent the line and I bet if Hasbro does it right, most people (after the obligatory Starscreaming) will come to embrace it and truly appreciate it.

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A new storyline should also involve a new, cleaner look for Transformers.  I'm tired of the outlandish designs of Armada, Energon and Cybertron.  Such a move would also result in a cleaner looking animated series. The only reason the last two use CGI was because of all of the ridiculous toy designs.

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A very well written post. I am highly impressed. It is not often on these boards that someone explains their position that well (and w/ no misspellings).

 

Typing in Word first is good for the spelling deprived like me:)

 

 

A new storyline should also involve a new, cleaner look for Transformers.  I'm tired of the outlandish designs of Armada, Energon and Cybertron.  Such a move would also result in a cleaner looking animated series. The only reason the last two use CGI was because of all of the ridiculous toy designs.

 

Honestly I thought Cybertron/Galaxy Force had a nice mix of fairly realistic designs along with more alien/futuristic concepts.

 

Considering the overall concept of “Robots in Disguiseâ€? that the brand was built on depending one where the Transformer is the alt mode should be different.  Bots that have spent most of their time on an alien world would have designs alien to earth.

 

And bots that aren’t on a planet where they have to hide would simply have designs most practical for the job they do.  One of the reasons I don’t mind the Megalo Convoy design is because I look at him not as transforming to hide, but transforming just to make the job he’s doing easier.  Thus his is alt mode is more a practical change then any kind of normal TF transformation.

 

I think a toy line and story focusing on another group of TFs in a different part of the universe, dealing with a species other then Humans would be interesting.  As long as TFs have been at war you know that many scouting parties have no doubt been sent out, and G1 showed a few failed TF colonies.  So why not track the lives of one of those colonies or scouting parties for a short series.  Would allow for a mix of unique designs, and with them encountering new species you could get back to the “Robots in Disguiseâ€? that started it all.

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A new storyline should also involve a new, cleaner look for Transformers.  I'm tired of the outlandish designs of Armada, Energon and Cybertron.  Such a move would also result in a cleaner looking animated series. The only reason the last two use CGI was because of all of the ridiculous toy designs.

 

Honestly I thought Cybertron/Galaxy Force had a nice mix of fairly realistic designs along with more alien/futuristic concepts.

 

Considering the overall concept of “Robots in Disguise� that the brand was built on depending one where the Transformer is the alt mode should be different.  Bots that have spent most of their time on an alien world would have designs alien to earth.

 

And bots that aren’t on a planet where they have to hide would simply have designs most practical for the job they do.  One of the reasons I don’t mind the Megalo Convoy design is because I look at him not as transforming to hide, but transforming just to make the job he’s doing easier.  Thus his is alt mode is more a practical change then any kind of normal TF transformation.

 

I think a toy line and story focusing on another group of TFs in a different part of the universe, dealing with a species other then Humans would be interesting.  As long as TFs have been at war you know that many scouting parties have no doubt been sent out, and G1 showed a few failed TF colonies.  So why not track the lives of one of those colonies or scouting parties for a short series.  Would allow for a mix of unique designs, and with them encountering new species you could get back to the “Robots in Disguise� that started it all.

More good points, esp about putting the TFs on another planet w/ another species. I like that. I also really like the idea of instead of them hiding, the TFs would transform into something useful. I used to love it when the Autobots would change into their cars and drive somewhere b/c it was faster than walking, hehe.

 

A very well written post. I am highly impressed. It is not often on these boards that someone explains their position that well (and w/ no misspellings).

 

Typing in Word first is good for the spelling deprived like me:)

 

Good idea. I just wish that more members would think of that. Or at least when they are reading, see how other people spell things and copy them.

 

If I see "rediculous" one more time...  :slap

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I like G1 myself, but they are overkilling it a smidgen. BW had ties to G1 without being directly related to it, but the new shows are kinda bleh...Animeformers isn't my cup of tea. About other species...they sorta had that idea going with the Nebulans, but Rebirth isn't the best example from G1, admittedly. Unfortunately, we'll get more GEEWUN shoved down our throats with the planned movie spin-off series...

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I'd like Transformers to have more interaction with other aliens.  I want them to be a part of a larger alien universe.  There was an episode back in G1 that had, Cosmos I think, on another planet filled with aliens.  It was a Star Wars cantina type of situation.

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With the new G1 line rumors about, and the movie in the works for next year, I’ve been hearing a lot of the normal complaints and general Starscreaming about how G1 has been done to death and they need to move on to something new and different.  So I figured since I’m in a debating mood, I’d throw up a topic here and talk about this always hot button topic of the TF fan world.

 

Now I was born in 1981, got my first TF in 1985, and little ole Beachcomber still holds a place of honor on my shelves.  Devastator whom I wanted as a kid but couldn’t find or afford till 20 years later stands tall on another shelf.  These two are the prizes of my collection, not because they are the best toys, but because they still hold the memories of my first moments of TF joy.

 

The G1 line was amazing in its day.  The engineering was pretty incredible, the figures stood up to a lot of abuse, look on Ebay at the number of near mint 20 year old bots for proof, and for kids of the 80s they were just plain cool.  Of course when you stand G1 prime next to Cybertron Prime he looks brick, and really he is.  Those old figures didn’t pose well, and really compared to toys built today they aren’t even that cool looking.  Hell Ratchet and Ironhide didn’t even have heads.

 

Over the years technology has improved and TFs have evolved.  The figures of G2 saw ball joints start appearing, of course it also figures in Day Glo colors, not sure what the designers were thinking when they painted them.  Beast Wars, which I’ve personally never liked, introduced some very poseable figures with pretty realistic beast modes and decent bot modes.

 

Beastwars also introduced a much better written story, it wasn’t really to my liking, but I have to admit that they made a much more cohesive story then the haphazard mess that was G1.  And at least they tried to stay consistent with things, G1 really is full of plot holes.

 

RID I kinda missed for some reason, never even new it existed till after it was gone.  Never seen the show so can’t speak to that, but it did make some incredible figures.  Poseability, realistic alt modes, a very nice line, but also the return of the Combining Prime (Powermaster is still the first after all), a trend that has grown to ridiculous levels.

 

Armada and Energon had a few nice bots, but for the most part I wasn’t a fan of either of those lines.  They both focused to much on gimmicks to the determent of the figures, and the cartoons were just bad.

 

Then we come to Cybertron.  Still a little too focused on gimmicks, but the general design of the line is just superior to the last two lines in almost every way.  And the story was much better then Armada or Energon I thought.

 

Now of course looking back through these all with all the changes in them you have some common links of course.  Not counting the Japanese only shows, Optimus Prime and Megatron appear in everyone of them.  Each show is in some small way tied to G1 just by those two.  And in most of them Starscream and Unicron are around to strength the G1 tie.  Homages abound, partial because it helps market it to parents who grew up In the G1 era and want cool toys for their kids, and partly because the designers now grew up with G1 as well.

 

I love G1, but I agree we need to see something new.  I want to see a series with no Prime, No Megatron, No Starscream, No Unicron, no previouse characters at all in any incarnation.

 

I want to see a series with new leaders, a new threat and villain, something just plain new.  No gimmicks like keys or minicons.  Just old fanshioned bots battling to save the universe without having to crisscross the stars trying to dig up some magical hunk of junk.  I want to see an army of Autobots and an army of Decepticons going at it.

 

Of course all of this is just my own humble opinion and your mileage may vary.

 

 

:thumb Buddy, I got chills reading your statement and thought "how eloquent and well devised". 

 

I'd love to see a brand new series done in another part of the universe.  I thought that Beast Wars and Beast Machines were such a staple of story writing and planning for the TF Universe and would love to see this type of story once again.  I also believe that CGI workes for a story like Transformers.  Mainframe and the company that does Cybertron/GF are outstanding in the designs and concepts that makes Transformers what they are today.  I honestly would loveto see Mainframe hired once again to create a Transformers storyline that involved the armies as well as the regular citizens of Cybertron. 

 

Autobots in a newer series should be functional like Landmine and Landfill for the new series just as Decepticons should be all jets.  Almost bring it back to a simpler time as well as giving us complexity in the stories. 

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Season three of G1 started to explore how Transformers were seen and handled on other planets and the like, but it just wasn't done that well.  And Season four got a budget cut that ended up forcing them to try and debut about 20 new figures and characters in just three episodes. 

 

I always thought that season four had a lot of squandered potential.  Of course I also thought Prime should have stayed dead.  As much as I love him, I hate it anytime a series kills a main and loved character and then revived him a year later.  It takes so much away from the original death and just turns it into a trick for shock value.  I honestly think that they should have stayed with Rodimus, or found a new leader rather then reviving prime.

 

Like I said before, I’m not a big Beast Wars fan, neither the toys the nor the series really caught me the way G1 did.  But then that’s probably because when it was coming out in the 90s I had moved on from Transformers and wasn’t really paying attention it.  Watching some episodes now that I’m older its definitely a better written show, and I like that though the characters share some name similarities In the leaders, for the most part it’s a brand new cast.  Plus rather then hiding among human beings and having little scraps over Energon, those guys were in a true war for survival on a barren rock far from home.  They didn’t create gates home every other episode, they really were alone.  I can see how that helped make people care a bit more for those guys.

 

The show really was a new beginning, it refreshed a brand that had gone 15 years or so and was starting to stagnate.  Whether you like it or not doesn’t change the fact that it probably saved the brand.  They need to do something like that again.  They probably won’t since the current setup that they’ve used in the last three lines is working well, but it feels at times more like Pokemon or one of those other Japanese collect them all shows rather then transformers.

 

Things need to go back to basics.

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The show really was a new beginning, it refreshed a brand that had gone 15 years or so and was starting to stagnate.  Whether you like it or not doesn’t change the fact that it probably saved the brand.  They need to do something like that again.  They probably won’t since the current setup that they’ve used in the last three lines is working well, but it feels at times more like Pokemon or one of those other Japanese collect them all shows rather then transformers.

Things need to go back to basics.

I am not sure about that. I think that it is pretty well universally accepted, at least by the fandom, that Armada and Energon were almost total POS and that while Cybertron is a big improvement, things still really need to change.

 

I really hope that Hasbro makes a real effort to bring the production of the cartoons back to the US and that they go another route w/ the next series. The A-E-C continuity has been played out I think.

 

Things need to go back to basics.

Hell yeah. They need to quit using gimmicks like mincons and cyber-keys and whatnot and just make bigass transforming robots that fight each other.

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