Helllloooo! TFW Community I have a very some what noobie question, I've always wonder what is considered the G2 era? And what with the different symbols they have on them? I always thought the G2 era was TF-Robots in Disguise since Hasbro is doing the G2 Bruticus, and the new exclusive figure of G2, Scourge. I've watched most of G1 season 1-2, all of Beast wars, and half of Beast Machine. So yea is G2 Era, RID? Because I'm getting a bit side track with these new re-release re-paints of certain figures like that 4 pack toy including the G2 deco of Jazz, and Optimus Prime.

this is the symbol I am talking about it's what the Bruticus G2 Repaint has on his chest why is it so different?

 

"G2" Is the term used to describe the Transformers: Generation 2 line, that was released loosely between 1992 and 1995 (there is some grey areas in terms of what counts as "G2"). It consisted of a comic series by marvel, a cartoon that was essentially the G1 cartoon with new scene transition animations, and a toyline, containing numerous repaints of G1 toys into new colorschemes, many more garish than any other era. G2 Bruticus is one of those.

Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise) - Transformers Wiki

The faction symbols were changed for G2, and again in BW. The G2 Autobot logo resembles Optimus Prime's head and the Decepticon logo is a new design that by some accounts resembles G2 Decepticon jet Afterburner's head.

 

I always think of G2 as the time G1 toys got wild re-colors and revamped faction symbols, with very heavy emphasis on wild re-colors 

 

It was a failure that nearly killed Transformers.

 

i was able to get my first optimus prime thanks to generation 2.

and some of the best toys ever made were from g2.

hero megatron, and optimus, the laser bots, cyberjets, and ect. before these, transformers were basically just blocks with arms and legs that did nothing, or barely moved at all.

but now all the sudden the cyberjets had ball joints!

sure some of the colors are a bit odd, like g2 pink starscream, for example, but others were fantastic, like bruticus. He looks awesome in his g2 colors.

and then we have what is in my opinion, the best jet mold made until the masterpiece jets, Dreadwing and Smokescreen. and then you have megatron *the large green and purple tank* with that automatic reloading canon of awesomeness.  

g2 was an awesome time of weird recolors, new innovations that would soon lead into beast wars, and then you had this;

Transformers Generation 2 intro - YouTube

 

That video wow! ....A bit speechless here now.

 

It was the 90s, you had to be there.

 

The original Transformers series, first "The Transformers" and later just "Transformers", essentially "died" in several steps. After 1986's The Transformers: The Movie turned out to be a colossal financial failure at the box offices, the cartoon was canceled with a very short season 4 in 1987. The toy line was eventually canceled in 1990, and the final issue of the Marvel comic came out in 1991.

But that was only in the USA. The Transformers franchise still continued in Japan, which is a different story, but Hasbro also still released new toys as well as reissues of older toys in other parts of the world in 1991 and 1992, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and various European markets (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain), with their Italian licensee GiG coordinating its own domestic releases more and more with Hasbro.

Because the brand turned out still to have a huge staying power in Europe, Hasbro decided to attempt another push for the Transformers on the US market as well, starting in 1993. Named "Transformers: Generation 2", the toy line was a mix of old toys in new colors (and in many cases, with new accessories), toys previously only available in Europe/Canada/Australia etc. and entirely new toys. Marvel released a new comic book that picked up where the original title had left off, and a bunch of episodes of the original cartoon were given an overhaul with a new intro and new computer effects. Because of the name "Generation 2", everything that came before it was retroactively called "Generation 1" by fans, or "G1" in short. A lot of newbies and casual fans mistakenly assume that "Generation 2" refers to everything after 1986's "The Transformers: The Movie", but Generation 2 is in fact the name of the line from 1993 to 1995.

Ultimately, Generation 2 wasn't the big revival Hasbro had hoped for, so they decided to assign the future of the brand to their newly-acquired subsidiary Kenner. Kenner was given pretty much free reign, and the end result was "Beast Wars". Despite the initial fan outcry, Beast Wars ended up becoming the next real big hit for the Transformers brand after Generation 1. It was followed by Beast Machines (with Machine Wars along the way as a store exclusive mini-line), Robots in Disguise, Armada, Energon, Alternators, Universe 1.0, Cybertron, Classics, the 2007 movie and many more.