kid in the 80s, just had to accept it is what it is?

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by strikevalk, May 19, 2019.

  1. strikevalk

    strikevalk Active Member

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    When the Transformers first came out in the early 80s, it was Boom! What is this awesome???! Robots that can transform to different things!
    The cartoon aired, the toys release. The toys. Wait, what?
    As a kid, I thought.... this toy is supposed to be Ratchet. He looks like this as an ambulance. Definately does not look like the robot on screen!!! Same with Ironhide. Same with Bumblebee’s face. Same with Jetfire. Megatron is the same height as all the other Robots, but when he transforms, he fits in Starscream’s hands??! Soundwave, Blaster, the cassettes... their scales alter.
    So as a kid I had so many questions! As time went by I sorta just had to accept that thats just the way it was, and thats that lolol! What do u guys think? Im sure alot of you were confused back then too?
     
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  2. TheWarPathGuy

    TheWarPathGuy Tougher than Leather.

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    I wasn't as confused, cause most toys I grew up with were pretty accurate, but I can imagine a kid in the 80's confused by the designs in the toys in animation models.
    1. The lack of heads on Ironhide and Ratchet
    2. Some of the characters had yellow eyes
    3. Sunstreaker head design being changed
    4. Jetfire appearance (Though, this was a licensing thing.)
     
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  3. Macross7

    Macross7 Well-Known Member

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    I don't remember ever being confused. I just accepted that the toy didn't look like the character did on the show. Show/movie accurate just want a thing back then. Across most lines. Nobody threw a fit if the Han action figure just generally looked like Han and not a mini Harrison Ford. Besides Ironhide and Ratchet, most of them looked close enough.

    We saw Megatron shrink into gun mode so that was just accepted as well. I think today's kids just think too much into things. Stuff just happens, move on and enjoy the ride.
     
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  4. jackisking

    jackisking Well-Known Member

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    Haha, we still had imagination back then.
     
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  5. Deathcatg

    Deathcatg Well-Known Member

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    I was lucky, and figured out early on as a kid that it was probably easier to market characters like Ratchet and Ironhide as normal looking compared to their toys. I don't know if it meant I grasped marketing at a real early age, or became cynical at a early age.
     
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  6. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    It was, what it was. I figured it would be technically not possible yet, to have them look like the cartoon. I was glad for an approximation that looked like a cool toy. The comic was even different. Most toys did not look like the cartoon or vice versa. But close enough. And Megatron shrinking on screen just enabled the fact he could. Who cares if it is possible or not. He did, so he could. Everyone who did not change the size, couldn't. Simple as that.

    You know how it was : if it was on TV, it was true. They don't lie on TV. That's what we believed :lol 

    I still think it's immoral to lie on TV, but whatever.
     
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  7. FAKER II

    FAKER II Cheap Repaint

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    Before Transformers came out, I was already exposed to Star Wars figures that didn't exactly represent their movie appearances and He-Man figures that didn't look exactly like the cartoon. So Transformers was just par for the course. Then came M.A.S.K., Thundercats, etc. which all slightly differed from the cartoon. Come to think of it, virtually no toys from the 80's looked like the cartoon.
     
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  8. Macross7

    Macross7 Well-Known Member

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    I think it wasn't until the late 90's early 2000's when figures and toys started to be screen accurate.

    RID 2001 was probably the first Transformers series when the toys mostly matched the screen (at least the figures created for the series did).
     
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  9. Terrorpin

    Terrorpin Well-Known Member

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    Well, considering the host of other toys on the shelves, Transformers still seemed dynamic and awesome. I simply believed they did as good of a job as possible mimicking the show, not knowing it was the other way around. However, if Marvel Legends or worse, Figuarts, had existed in the 80's, my 8 year old self would have looked at Transformers G1 like >____>.
     
  10. BeeOtch217

    BeeOtch217 Ha Ha You're a Mini-Con!

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    Yeah RID and the UT are pretty much where the toys and animations almost exactly match up. The shows at that point where basically large toy commercial only. They even had scenes in the shows where the robots were seen elaborately Transforming in light tunnels during dramatic almost like a "how-to-transform" showcase.

     
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  11. DashCourageous

    DashCourageous Greetings Programs!

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    Most figures I had looked 70% to the show. Never had IH or Rachet.
     
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  12. Hotshotprime43

    Hotshotprime43 Well-Known Member

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    To be honest as a kid I loved though stock footage transformations.

    As someone who grew up with the Unicron Trilogy I got lucky with accurate figures but had some G1 figures too growing up and they always seemed accurate enough for me to not bug me.
     
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  13. BeeOtch217

    BeeOtch217 Ha Ha You're a Mini-Con!

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    Same

    Also same.
     
  14. strikevalk

    strikevalk Active Member

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    Don’t get me started with cartoon Man at Arms, and toy!! >.<. lolololzzz
     
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  15. GBglide

    GBglide Furst Fanatic

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    Back in '83, I painted a mustache on mine.
     
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  16. strikevalk

    strikevalk Active Member

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    very good! Confused me as a kid, where the heck is his mustache???! What if Tom Selleck didn’t have his??!
     
  17. GBglide

    GBglide Furst Fanatic

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    Tom Selleck just doesn't look right without his mustache. Oh, here is a quick picture of my Man at Arms.
    Man at Arms.JPG
     
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  18. Venixion

    Venixion Its always the middle of the night in Moonside

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    Some of them did.
     
  19. ron8675309

    ron8675309 Exploding Salamander Of Exploding Salamanders

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    This. Show accuracy was barely a consideration in the 80s, along with continuity and other concepts that we now take for granted/laugh at when it isn't there. Not only with TFs, but pretty much every other cartoon that had a toyline; nothing matched up 1:1.
     
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  20. Primeultra

    Primeultra Well-Known Member

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    “Jetfire” never appears in the g1 cartoon lol

    As a kid I didn’t think of it much

    I knew the toys cane first, and figured the animation was just trying to make them more appealing
     
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