I'm pretty excited for the g2 sideswipe. It means we'll finally have all 3 auto bot cars in g2 colours.

Hopefully generations selects gives us more

 

Sure thing:

 

The Aerialbots

(unfortunately severely yellowed)

 

Your figures are legit. Here are my slag and grimlock stamps for comparison.
PM me for $$.

 

At least the Slingshot isn't in a million pieces.

 

Okay, braved the transformations to bring you these, I rarely transform my customs. Shows you what a great job Spurt Reynolds did (although I should have requested painted teeth for Grimmy).

You can probably tell by the washed out chrome on Sludge I used the KOs for some of these, but not for Swoop.



Keeping the G2 thread alive...

So, one of the few Transformers lines I actively dislike is Machine Wars, they took some of my personal favourite Euro molds and made them shabby and dull, such a shame. They did however have four unique basic molds which weren't released in G1.5 / G2, these were Hubcap / Hoist, Prowl / Mirage, and on the Decepticon side Megatron / Megaplex and Skywarp / Thundercracker. These solidly designed molds keep the basic flip transformation gimmick carried over from Beast Wars basics. Despite these molds apparently being designed and cancelled during G2 (Not sure if that's true given the flip gimmick), the Machines Wars releases were true to the line and also very dull decos.

Problem is, I want those molds for my G2 shelf. Thank goodness for Repro Labels, Beast Wars 2, Robot Masters and RID for giving us lots of repaints to chose from.

There is more than enough choice out there for people who want all 8 Machine Wars basics represented, but I'm happy enough with one of each mold for now.

Presenting the four Machine Wars molds in what I consider to be very G2 colours.

 

I love those lines, they were so eclectic. Like if Thrilling 30 had a cartoon. G2 FOREVER!

 

A G2 update would be awesome. It's an extremely colorful line.

 

Here are some lesser seen Japanese and Korean only Beast wars 2 releases. Originally designed and planned for G2 release in 1995, only two of these made it to the US and European market as Dirtbag and Roadblock in very Constructicon-esque colours.

3 years later all four molds made it to market in Beast Wars 2 as the Autorollers. To further complicate matters they were released in Korea as Autobots in Car Robots / RID packaging as the Scoutforce. I've included all the names below.

(For the sake of my personal collection I display these with my G2 figures, hence the repro labels. I divided them between Autobot and Decepticon because G2 lines were often a equal split of the two.)

Autostinger / Scoutstinger / Dirtbag



Autocrusher / Scoutslasher / Roadblock



Autojetter / Scoutjet



Autolauncher / Scoutlauncher

 

You know the figures. Know the brewery. Tired Hands.
(I am in no way affiliated with this brewery. The beers are fantastic).

 

Those are works of art. I love the Dinobots and I love G2 decos, so they're two great tastes that taste great together!

 

Here we go again, another cancelled Generation 2 mold and design that was repurposed for Beast Wars II.

While this originally started life as G2 Dreadwing and Smokescreen, the repurposed mold was intended to be released as Megatron and Starscream in the final year of the product line (and was actually released in very limited quantities), an odd pairing considering their somewhat combative history, but it was probably a cheap way of bringing leader class versions of both Optimus Prime and Megatron to market.
However, the Japanese only Beast Wars release changed Megatron to a new character called BB (Black Bomber or Big Brother), considering the lack of a new head sculpt for Megatron I think this made sense, and the idea of Starscream having a big dumb bully backing his play is something I want to see play out in fiction.

This mold is stuffed with playability, a triple changing tank, jet and robot with a companion jet / robot who can pop inside the bigger jet for some combined action. As well as 8 firing missiles, these bright accessories can also be used as bombs which can be dropped by tapping the wings in stealth jet mode. And what an alt mode that Stealth Fighter Jet is! It more than makes up for the lacklustre tank mode.

As much as I love this black repaint, I'll always remember how much I wanted Dreadwind / Smokescreen when I first saw him in stores, and that version of the mold will always be my favourite.

 

I remember getting Dreadwind and Smokescreen for Christmas as a kid. All the features you mention above are favourites of mine too. I particularly love the ratcheting noise the cannon makes while firing the missiles.
As mine was intended for a mainland Europe release (not a word of English on the box) I always knew him as Ace Evader. Never found out their English names until I was an adult with access to the internet.

 

My kingdom for a G2 Vocainicus!

 

Ready for some more G2 love?

Here are G2 Hero molds of Megatron and Optimus Prime (I guess Voyager equivalents of main characters for those who couldn't afford the big Leader releases, another G2 first), but I've sort of always known them by their European Hero names of Archforce and Sureshot.

Technically the guy below is Megatron, because he has the "Megatron Rules" sticker which is blank on Archforce. I like the idea that Archforce is just that big a fan of Megs he wears that badge proudly.



And technically this is Sureshot, because he lacks the Optimus Prime branded sticker across the chest.




Both were redecoed for the RID/Universe line as the iffy Bludgeon and the very cool Scourge, however I sold them many years back and have yet to replace them. There were other repaints planned and not released, but the coolest re-use of the Megs mold was the retool into Reverse Convoy for the Robot Masters line, the gimmick with this guy was; is he an Optimus or a Megatron? The answer is both! Check the two heads below.



Hope you enjoyed a look at this awesome pair.

 

My first Megatron.

 

That would also have made a good sticker.

 

Thanks for the great write up!

 

How can the Siege thread have 792 pages in less than a year and G2 takes 7 years to get to 42 pages? Damn shame that, haha.

G2 Optimus Prime with light blue plastic and new missile launchers, includes repro labels for faction logos.

 

A couple of alt mode pics of Skyjack.