Let's see, which ones come to mind from my youth....

 

-Magnus Cab = Ghost/Hate Plague Optimus Prime (only because I lost my original Prime)

-Shackwave = Shockwave (because my original Shockwave broke)

 

From my current collection...

 

-KO Devastator = G1 Devastator

 

Oh and just for Xbob, the d00d that everyone else calls Ultra Magnus is actually Fudrucker McChugnuss in my collection.

My Transformers were always in-canon, but my Transformers would often collaborate with G.I. Joe and their shared universe would often collide with other universes such as Star Wars, Robotech etc. I guess this could be one reason why I'm not totally freaked out by the basic concept of Star Wars Transformers -- I sure wish the execution could've been done better (i.e.: NOT have the robots based visually based on the pilots) but the basic concept itself I don't mind at all. ;)

 

What would happen is that some plot device (like a wormhole or some space fold malfunction) would bring these universes together. Each faction would be separate, i.e.: Autobots, Decepticons, G.I. Joe, COBRA, Empire, Alliance, RDF, Zentraedi etc. - much like say a really big multi-factioned war game. Then alliances would be forged and a war would be waged between those coalitions. Things got a bit messier in the 1990s when Beast Wars rolled along and I added the Maximals and Predacons into the mix.

 

These days I rarely have time to play with my toys, but when I do I don't mix universes anymore (except for Star Wars Transformers, but even then it's controlled - the continuity I use is like the one in my fanfic). I will occasionally mix Transformers continuities -- such as Armada & Binaltech -- I once imagined that the BT TFs were from an alternate dimension but they were in every way superior to Armada Transformers -- smarter, stronger, faster etc. -- they were like "elves" whereas the Armada TFs were like men. Again, alliances were forged between the Armada and BT Autobots/Decepticons -- the Autobots had the advantage since most of the early BTs were Autobots, so the Decepticons drew reinforcements from other universes. This was during Dreamwave's "Worlds Collide" saga where I was using that warpgate thingymabob that they found on Cybertron. It was pretty neat having Bludgeon go up against BT Smokescreen.

 

I've got an idea for the next time I play with my Classics...

Classics Optimus Prime = Ginrai

Classics Megatron = Megaplex (to be possessed by the Spark of Straxus)

Ultimate Battle Optimus Prime = Optimus Prime

Ultimate Battle Megatron = Megatron

I didnt have that problem cause I didnt have much Transformers,back then I was just some poor kid but now I am happy to report that I have all the Bots I ever wanted. On a side note I only had 3 Construcitions and my Brother had 1 so we used to pretnd the other 2 were on assiment somewhere else. :tfsad

When I had incomplete gestalt sets - which were a lot - I would pretend that the missing members were already KIA and that other surviving members of other teams got together to form new gestalts. For example, I would have some Technobots merge with some Protectobots to form a Defensor/Computron hybrid - the excuse being that the other members of their respective teams were killed. It was much like the Survivors, only with gestalts. ;)

 

That's one thing I liked about a lot of the special teams that Furman created during G1 -- they weren't all from pre-set factions established by Hasbro - which is often what the cartoon used - but they would be a mix and match of several different sub-groups forming a special ops team. For example, the Wreckers were a combination of Triple Changers, Deluxe Autobots, Jumpstarters etc., the Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad was another similar style combination of different sub groups as were the Survivors, Earthforce et al. - it was great because that was the kind of special teams that you would create with your toys as a kid growing up. Unless you were lucky enough to receive a complete gestalt gift set, you had to collect your gestalt members individually. In Australia, the gestalts gift sets were never available, so we had no choice but to collect these teams individually. And I wasn't the kind of kid who would focus on collecting one sub group at a time, I wanted to have members from each team. So the result was that I spent several years with mixed gestalt teams until I could eventually complete entire sets of gestalts. The first gestalt team I completed was the Constructicons/Devastator - but that was largely out of necessity. Being a non-Scramble gestalt means that I don't have the luxury of mixing and matching members from other teams . But after Devastator, I had a lot of "bastard gestalts" which were just combos from different sub groups - in some cases, Decepticons mixed with Autobots (in my toy play, that Decepticon would be "enslaved"). The first Scramble gestalt I completed was Defensor - then I spent the rest of the 80s looking for any remaining stock of Scramble gestalt members I could get... I managed to complete Defensor and Superion entirely with original G1 figures from the 1980s. Then when the reissues rolled along in 1990 I was able to complete Menasor by nabbing reissue Dead End, Drag Strip and Wildrider.

Using different team members to make a "bastardgestalt" now that is sad.

 

But out of nessecity I did it too. :tftongue No longer have to though. All I need is Vortex and then I will have Devastator, Menasor, Superion, Bruticus, Defensor, Predaking, Abominus, Computron and Piranacon. Computron, by the way, was the only one I completed when I was young.

I never had any kind of Iron Hide or anything that looked remotely like one so the "Iron Hide Decoy" became my iron Hide.... or maybe it was the ratchet decoy :schin

 

RID Hightower makes a great Ironhide sub while we wait for the movie toys to come out.

 

I used Smallfoot for Ironhide as a kid.

bigds9fan: lol - it was only something I did as a kid. I don't do it now - if I have an incomplete gestalt set, then I just display them as individual robots. For example, I have all the Technobots but I'm missing the head and chest plate for Computron - so until I at least get the head I'm display my Technobots individually rather than combining them as some mongrelised Computron with Scattershot's head. Ditto my Targetmaster Seacons - I have no Piranacon parts other than his weapons - need hands, feet and head. They're the only "incomplete" Scramble gestalts that I have now. My only other incomplete gestalt is Lio Kaiser because I only have one Breastmaster (Jalgar).

my defensor consists of hotspot, blades, streetwise, lightspeed and drag strip (dragstrip has no stickers and seeing how i want a combiner with all four limbs he fits the bill perfectly)

It's also a matter of shelf space. When I was living with my folks, my Transformer collection was crammed into only two shelf cases - one for G1/G2 and the other for BW/CR/BM - I had a small space between the two shelves for MW and other TF stuff like happy meal toys etc. It was extremely crowded to the point where I was standing Transformers on top of other Transformers. Combining bastard gestalts simply became a way of economising space. I stopped doing it when I completed my gestalt teams - because it meant that I would still display my gestalts as a single space-saving combined unit, but at least properly completed instead of being bastardised with members from other teams.

 

So although it's a practise that I've long since abandoned, it is something that I used to do and I can understand the practical reasons behind doing it, particularly in terms of saving shelf space, which to me even now is extremely precious.

Mainly, whatever I had, if it transformed, it was considered a TF.