I think "it was the 80s" is actually a valid defence when it comes to toys people think are bad.

People like to say the Firecons are the worst G1 toys - but they were the lowest price point built around a gimmick that actually works (unlike some gimmicks that just don't work as intended). Sure they barely had any articulation, but then so did many other larger toys did. Same with the Sparkabots and Throttlebots.

Others like to say that Ironhide and Ratchet are the worst toys for not having a proper head. But those toys were never designed to be Transformers characters in the first place; they were supposed to be piloted by tiny figures.

Action Masters may not have been able to transform, but we did get the return of many classic characters who had never had a second toy, mostly but not exactly cartoon accuracy, better articulation, able to share each other's accessories and vehicles are some of the positives I can think of.

The actual worst toys for me are those that just can't stand up by themselves unaided with or without a holding a weapon. That's the basic requirement right? Some of the first wave of Pretender inner robots suffer from this.

 

Nostalgia is the problem. many folks do not like the idea of a beloved childhood memory be tainted by having to admit the toy they loved is a bad toy.

 

For me Jumpstarters were terrible, cheap, and lazy. Not the characters mind you but just the toys seemed like a huge step backwards.

Now today TwinTwist and TopSpin are amazing looking, clever transformers.....and megatron and Prime are 1 steppers...Oh what a topsy turvy world we live in hahaha

 

 You shut your mouth sir

Hahaha there's some truth to that, but I'll take the crappy g1s over most of the crappy tlk figures today

 

I guess for me as someone who is not held down by nostalgia its fairly easy for me to do this, first of all i grew up in the g2 era but only owned combiners that where g1 molds.

First thing to pick out the worst g1 toy, how did it hold up over time, so lets be fair anything with gold plastic syndrome gets slamed into that spot fairly quicky, alot of the season 1 and 2 characters had fairly great toys, around season 3 is when we see some designs that to be honest look cheap compared to the first two seasons.

adding all of that in and going though the list my pick for the worst g1 is Slog followed by g2 slingshot

 

Icepick or Scowl. except for the shells.

but Monstructor was the nail in the coffin of G1 for me. after 1988 being (at the time) disappointing, i saw a new combiner in an insert and was excited. then i saw them at the store and was disgusted by how tiny they were.

so uhm, to the question:

- minimal/unimagined transformation
- lack of detail
- dearth of paint and deco
- cheap feel for price point (where the Firecons get redeemed)

-

 

They're all opinions at the end of the day. Being commonly thought of as good or bad has no bearing on personal taste and what one actually likes/hates about any figure.

 

If I'm particularly nostalgic over these items from thirty years ago it's a good sign that they were good toys and highly cherished. What do you define as a good toy, something an adult can appreciate 30 years on?

There was plenty of competition at the time, so we could have our choices and weren't stuck with shit. Modern lines obviously prey on nostalgia, but we weren't so influenced as children.
I couldn't bear to get G1 Quickswitch, after all. I still cant, but understand the difficulty making a six-changer with the tools they had. No nostalgia, but an appreciation of the technical challenge.

We currently take for granted many technological innovations and material advances as well as decades of gained experience. Everyone saw the wooden Galvatron prototype. Complex mechanisms are just much easier to engineer, test and manufacture now. While I wouldn't put it as "standing on the shoulders of giants", there have been some pretty substantial breakthroughs along the way.

I think we also need to remind ourselves that there has always been a range of products within the Transformers lines, each with different objectives. Now we have varied lines such as 1steps, evergreen, etc. Back in the day Jumpstarters, Throttlebots, Firecons etc were all released under the same banner as the rest.

 

The G1 toys themselves may not be the best compared to today's toys with modern sculpting and articulation but for me it's the total package of G1 that makes it so timeless - besides toys that were fun to play with, the beautiful airbrushed character art, the gridline background, the bold Transformers logo, the tech specs, the amazing catalogs - if Masterpiece had only replicated these qualities on their packaging I would have been all over them!

 

How is nostalgia a "problem"?
Why would you suggest that a "beloved childhood memory" factually reflects what you consider a bad toy?

If opinions are like a$$holes, you most likely have a leaking colostomy.

 

I'm right here. Nostalgia is not a problem at all.

Without nostalgia, I'd have absolutely zero attachment to Transformers. I have absolutely zero interest in modern interpretations or even the franchise. I could be spending money on more objectively fulfilling hobbies, like more focus on firearms, or model kits.

I don't really know what makes for a "bad G1" toy, much less any toy. I like toys that many seem to revile. The ROTF Blazemaster mold for instance. That mold seems to be universally hated but I LOVE it. As far as movieverse Helicopter dudes go, he looks great. Great looking bot mode and an alt mode that is super clean and looks like it could fly. Others say it's horrible, I say it's great. I mean, I have all three of the decos, I love it that much.

That being said my defense for what people think are "bad toys" is simply that I like it and that I value my opinion more than the opinion of others. Unless a figure is shown to be factually horrible...as in a figure who's engineering or design completely compromises the figure, I'm going to trust what I have to say versus what others say. I have no shame or any regret for liking a figure that others think is bad. I think if anyone defends a "bad" toy then this is what it comes down to. It doesn't mean a damn thing what other people think it's bad as long as you like it.

 

Define 'bad' for me.

Oh you mean 'in your opinion', I see. Well, IMO toys should be 'fun' and my definition of fun is gonna be different to yours. For instance, my childhood Duocon Flywheels got such mileage. And he has super apparent flaws. The tank has no wheels. The turret doesn't turn. The jet has no wheels either. For a toy called 'Flywheels' he sure doesn't have a lot of wheels.

But I loved it. Still do in fact. One of my purchases as an adult was for a boxed Battletrap. And I still have it. And I love it.

What you choose to like, is your own business. And I will not disparage another persons choice because my opinion differs. And that counts for practically everything, as long as you're not breaking the law, you can do what you like.

So immagonna enjoy my One Steps thanks very much.

 

They were all pretty shit by today's standards, obviously, but I remember picking them up as a kid and just being amazed at how they could be two things at once.

 

and when they were three things or even six, that made them even more amazing. Sixshot was never released in the UK originally, but I was amazed by Quickswitch when I had him as a kid. The proportions of his robot mode just weren't an issue to me back then.

 

Yeah, exactly. When I was ten, I had the luck of tracking down G1 Sixshot at a collector's store out of town, and he blew my mind. As picky as I am as an adult, the idea behind a figure was much more important to me as a child, I was able to see past flaws and imagine genuinely shitty figures like Armada Scavenger stomping on evil minicons. I mean, he was cool from the waist up, right?

 

The idea that you cant compare a thing of the 2017 with a thing that spans a 30 year gap never crossed your mind eh?

By Comparison of todays standards the worlds wonders are shit but are considered as such because on their time, it was a real feat to make such things.

 

Well, I guess you need to define the goal of a toy. I mean, if you enjoyed it as a kid, didn't it do what it was supposed to do? Did it really matter if Springer looked awful and moved like a brick? Nah. When you were a kid he was badass. You didn't know about proportions or articulation. This bad boy was a robot, a car, and a helicopter.

I don't think it's an issue of people feeling too much nostalgia, I think it's an issue of people not feeling enough. The G1 toys were meant for robot-crazy kids, not people like us that want top tier accuracy, top tier articulation, and top tier quality. They did what they promised, robot to vehicle and back.

Ironhide is the worst though.

 

Ironhide helps you make friends which result in Grimlock been gifted to you (at least in my case  )