My intention of this thread is to do more than merely show off my selections, but to start what I hope will be an interesting discourse. Over the years, I've posted about this and have gotten likes and replies, so now that I have a complete 1984 lineup, I figure we can start a thread to discuss it. The only thing I ask is that if all you're going to do is point out the obvious "This isn't Sunbow/Marvel/G1 toys", then, no need to post. That's the point of this thread. Nor are TL;DR's needed either. Some history. It started in 2012, with the idea of the 30th on the horizon. I had also wanted to give my collection some focus and this seemed like a good idea; I started with the idea of a "Best of" line. The thought exercise being what if Hasbro re-issued the 1984 linup, using more modern figures instead. Animated Leader Megatron, Classics Prime, Prime Voyager Starscream, etc. I had also wanted to break up some of the heavy mold re-use, allowing some characters to break free of being merely a redeco of another bot. Or even they're a small bot because the original toy was. However, that gave way to my reading the original profiles and thinking that there's some leeway there, that they don't have to slavishly be the figures we've seen ad nauseum in the Sunbow/Comics, but something a little different. That began a new string of collecting ideas and a new focus. The thought exercise was this, imagine every modern Transformer laid out, and a person who knew nothing about Transformers was only given the original full length profiles, who would they choose for each figure? That stayed the train until sometime in 2020, when I saw an interview with Bud Budiansky and the discussion was on the tech specs. With a revisit of the tech specs, the "code" became clear, there was a method to them. With the early tech specs, one could merely look at the numbers and see the alt mode, without even looking at the words or character (for the most part). The key wasn't in looking at one number, but several together, and from that, the alt mode could generally be inferred. In addition, there was a remarkable consistency. (The movie and later years fouled this up, and by the time of European only figures, things like all 9's and 10's became a thing that has forever since corrupted the value of the tech spec, but that's a different thread as well.) This refined the thought exercise to, "What if a newbie who knows nothing of the franchise; never seeing a show, a comic, nothing, were given the back of the box tech specs with the portrait cut out. Who would they choose from an assortment of more modern figures?" From there, this "collection" was born. Consider it an appreciation for the original source of Transformers, an idea that wasn't based on anything but a civil engineers imagination and some pictures of some toys (and in a few cases, in hand versions). There are plenty of sites and you can even google them, so I won't repost every tech spec, but you can follow along for yourself using Botch The Crab and NTFA's Tech Specs which includes the corrected specs for the seekers. With those early tech specs, some patterns became apparent about alt modes that one could use to build a collection, with the edited profiles, more information to be had, forming a new picture and from that, I used as the basis of the collection. My personal collecting goal has been to get the 84, 85, and a few favorites from 86, then basically call it quits with collecting save for a few oddball entries from later series, but that's besides the point. I've completed the 1984 lineup, hence the creation of this thread. So without further ado, let's get into it. The tech specs work for me upon reflection as they're more "final". Things like Megatron's infamous "Peace Through Tyranny" is from the edited back of the box profile. The original full length was "Everything is Fodder". That, along with other changes drove my idea to use the original back of the box profiles rather than some amalgam of the original full length profiles and original tech specs. I'll admit, one of the things that I'm sad that we've lost as a franchise is that all these original ideas had these special bots, that the homogenization of the media almost instantly destroyed is something that I wish would return. And, in my own way, I'm returning to that original idea. Some of these choices may seem obvious, some may be off the wall, hence I think the opening for discussion. Though I will admit, budget, what I have, and other factors are part of this line-up. Yes, I will admit, it's a lot heavier on more recent figures, but isn't that the point of some of these more recent figures? Some still have remnants of the full profiles I'll admit. Part of that is due to not wanting to change characters merely for changes sake, but because of a good reason. For mixed accessory figures, I'll list the parts. I'll also admit, these aren't necessarily my favorite figures or versions, but the most tech spec/profile accurate. So, without further ado, grab your tech specs and follow along. In alphabetical order: Autobots Bluestreak Bluestreak is a real play on the name: A motormouth A real fast mover A wordplay on Lightning It only seems right to add in another, that he's blue. The tech specs say that this is a fast normal car. This one is pretty straightforward. So, to me, there's only one choice. The awkwardly named Target exclusive Silverstreak. Brawn Rugged, tough Brawn, among the strongest of the Autobots (and all the first year bots). See's the world as a challenge and is excited for it, sorry for those not as tough as himself. The tech specs of high strength, high endurance, low speed, and virtually no firepower says Truck or something similar. So, my choice is Amazon Wrecker Bulkhead. Bumblebee I'll admit, Bumblebee has been a sticking point. I wanted to do away with mass shifting, so trying to find something apt was an issue, as well as finding something to reflect his tech specs of no strength, no firepower, and the kid brother aspect. Eventually I decided on him turning into a Power Wheel or something similar to get by the idea, and the Buzzworthy tiny Bumblebee it is. Cliffjumper Cliffjumper was another relatively easy one, the tech specs say car, but the lowered stats say a smaller car, so the recent Earthrise Cliffjumper with an added Autobot symbol, and the Centurion packs Glass Gas gun and I think we're set. Gears IMHO, I don't think any toy more poorly matches the description from the profile and tech specs than Gears. Virtually nothing is really represented from the profile and tech specs, save that he should be a truck or the like. So, something that can carry large loads, someone who can shoot air out of his arms to float down 20 miles, and someone who looks like he'd have special visual detection systems. And someone who incidentally, has specs close to Huffers. So, my selection is the Amazon exclusive Puffer. Hound A scout, carries a radar gun and a hologram gun. Likely normal sized. If it isn't broke, don't fix it, so the 5-pack Hound it is. They're not all complicated. Huffer Like Hound, there's not that much to say here. High strength and endurance, low firepower and speed, he's a working vehicle. He's close to Gears tech specs wise, so Huffer is uh, Huffer. Ironhide Ironhide is about toughness, his chemical arsenal, multiple detectors, and with such a low speed, isn't a car. So, I need someone with a variety of nozzles and something that can pass as a detector. Fortunately, we've got such a figure, that's an Ironhide no less. Amazon Ironhide. Jazz Far and away the hardest Autobot for me, and one that's changed several times. RTS G2, Cybertron Mode, Jackpot, and a few others. The tech specs says he's a "standard" car, with middle tier strength, upper middle speed, and some firepower, and outside of 2 weapons, a photon rifle and a flamethrower, not much else. Personally I wanted to move away from a race car, since a Spec Ops bot like Jazz should want a less noticeable alt mode. One fault on my part is that for quite some time, I thought the ailerons from the full profile was included on the abridged, only to recently find it wasn't there, but I suppose that one idea did stick a bit more than it should've. Ultimately, the choice was made for me with the Autobot 5-pack, Jazz, with one of the Elita-1 guns as his flame thrower. Mirage Tech specs say car, profile says elite/wealthy, so again, not much needed here, a formula racing car encompasses that, so no need to make a big change here. The Amazon version is used only because of the lack of clear plastics. Optimus Prime The big guy. As of note, for those following the tech specs at home, there is actually an error from the intended; in the interview with Budiansky, with his original tech specs, Optimus should've had a speed of 6, not 8. (Though in Hasbro's defense, if it was faxed, it would've easily looked like an 8) A clear truck, in line with the likes of many others. And with him being a threefold bot, there's really only one choice. Earthrise Prime, with the Centurion add on Roller, Trailbreakers dish, and Reflector camera, along with Thrilling 30's Orion Pax's rifle for Roller and the Centurion Rifle for Prime (A hold-over I admit from the full profile days where it's a laser powerful enough to work over miles, it needed to be a big gun). As an aside, I think it's a real shame that the Prime deck/Command Center and Roller have been lost in later iterations of the franchise. Prowl Mid-size car, shoulder launchers, rifle, similar to Bluestreak. So, not much choice here, Amazon Prowl with Silverstreak launchers (My first Silverstreak broke and I got a replacement from Ollies) Ratchet From the tech specs, his low endurance and low strength says not a truck, and low speed says not a car. From the profile, he's got a ton of tools. No choice at all, WFC Ratchet. Sideswipe It's known that among the many screw-ups of G1, one of them was that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker got mixed up. This is extremely obvious when you read the profile and realize which figure has the things that are discussed. In Sideswipes instance, shoulder launchers and a backpack jetpack. So, the choice is easy, Spin-Out. Sunstreaker (Sunstreaker) Like Sideswipe above, it's obvious that the profile is talking about a different car, streamlined alt mode, shoulder launcher, and rifle. Tigertrack it is. Trailbreaker There's not much to say here, it's a truck or something similar according to the tech specs, profile has some tools like a radio jammer. I'd use the default Trailbreaker, but this is a personal preference, I just like the 5 pack's charcoal gray and deco more. Wheeljack Fast car, shoulder cannons. I'd use without a doubt, the WFC version, except that mine has a QC issue with one of the front windshield pieces in that it likes to pop off and get lost, so it's the 5 pack with the extra shoulder cannon. Windcharger The Magnet man. Not far from Cliffjumper, high performance to an absurd degree according to the tech specs (seriously, as a car his speed is off the charts comparatively). I think when most people think of magnets, they think of the U shape. So, someone with lots of U shapes, high performance car that's a little small. Prime Cliffjumper is my selection here, with the "claw" as another magnet. Decepticons Buzzsaw Buzzsaw is the spy with the nasty beak. Flies at 250 mph. You know what natural bird reaches 250 MPH? A peregrine falcon. Although his specs are low, they're not that low, with a strength comparable to several Autobots. This is also a case where there's no mention of cassette, no mention of being small, so with all the above, why not break the norms? Amazon Skywarp. Frenzy We begin with something unseen among the Aubobots, virtually no speed. Even sluggish vehicles for the most part don't have speeds of 2, which seem to be reserved for those with no alt-mode to increase their bipedal speed. Combine that with almost no strength, I'm looking at a diminutive bot without a mobile alt-mode. WFC Blue Boy it is. Laserbeak Laserbeak, the cowardly interrogator. 250 MPH speed and double lasers. Someone who could look nasty, but it's more of a mask than anything else. ROTB Airrazor fits nicely I think. Megatron When it comes to Megatron, there's a lot going on. Unlike the media, the toy had a ton of accessories and options, and I think that's what inspired the original tech spec. Via the numbers, we see high strength, high firepower, low speed, and moderately high endurance. Who else has these attributes? Brawl, Warpath, Hardhead, and Quake. Tanks. But there's more, he's the only regular bot who has a firepower of 10. Out of the original lot, no other Transformer even has a firepower that high. Out of the first few years, none of them have a firepower of 10 without having an assortment of weapons and have that kind of firepower without being a larger bot. And he has 2 firing modes, a particle cannon and a black hole connected super blast. So, I need a tank. I need it to have two visibly different firing modes. And I'm sorry, but an arm mounted gun doesn't cut it for me for something that should be a Godzilla level weapon. Fortunately, I have just the figure. Originally I was going to use Armada Megatron, who can fulfill my needs, but Armada Galvatron does that with 2 extra advantages, a better Decepticon robot color scheme, and as a bone tank (or even a white tank), he stands as a unique alt mode as no other transformer has a bone or white tank alt mode. The closest is Armorhide from RID, and even he is more brown. Standard Approaching Peacefully Particle Cannon Black Hole Antimatter Shot - AKA Run away! Ravage The Saboteur. Sneaky, nearly invisible in darkness, a pair of heat seeking missiles. Covert Agent Ravage I should think. Rumble No surprise here, with Frenzy being who he is, he's the red and black one. I will say, I see their alt mode as either a way to surprise a foe by deploying off of a larger bot, or by laying flat and using their tumblers to create their ultrasound and infrasound attacks respectively. Skywarp Skywarp is a jet. The tech specs says so, with the high speed, middle high strength and endurance. Skywarp carries heat seekers and variable callibur machine guns. So, with the Earthrise mold, he's sporting Redwings guns and Nitro Zeus's missile racks. Soundwave Soundwave has been a flummoxing one. Mostly because his alt mode isn't a mobile one with a speed of 2 and nothing else to hint at an alt mode via the tech specs, and the profile just being about communications. So, after much thought, I decided on him being essentially a high tech server. So a cross between a modem and a communication array, there is a Soundwave with just such an alt mode, granted it's supposed to be some sort of cruiser, but angled up, it can pass as an array. Legacy Soundwave. Starscream No one, not Jazz, not Megatron has been as difficult to narrow down as Starscream. He's a jet, but he can break atmosphere at 52 miles up (and if he carried someone, they'd be an Astronaut according to NASA), he's a bomber with cluster bombs, he sees himself as handsome and sophisticated. And so at various points, he's been a lot of figures, Earthrise with Centurion Packs Megatron, SS86, Cloudcover, Armada Starscream, Cybertron Starscream, and others. In the end, I went with someone with a bold red, white, and blue color scheme, a sleek robot mode, and a spaceship like alt mode with lots of thrusters to break atmosphere. Nacelle. With Classics Starscreams launchers and Ramjets big bombs to act as Cluster Bombs, and his regular colored rifles to be null rays. Incidentally, this makes him taller and thinner than my Skywarp and Thundercracker, which I think works out great, along with the glowing yellow eyes. Thundercracker It's probably pretty obvious, the only thing I've oscillated on was whether to give him Classics (? I think, may be Timelines) Thundercrackers missiles to act as the cruise missiles or to use his regular seeker weapons to act as them. Right now, it's the Seeker arm weapons just because the other 2 aren't using it and Starscream is using it. To fit in with the rifles, he also has WFC Thundercrackers rifles to act as his incendiary rifles.
The links Don't work. Also, what about Universe 2.0 Repugnus as Soundwave? Spinosaurus wouldn't be been very fast in real life, and he has a deployable -knife- antenna deployable from his head for communication purposes? Terrorgator could be G1 Iguanus, and his "shell" from his bio referring to his alligator snaping Turtle shell!
Very interesting. Some choices I don't entirely agree with, but I can see why. And I admire your love for the techspecs and how you've incorporated them. I still think Mirage transforming into a Formula 1 racing is a strange choice. There's nothing in his original bio that mentions him being very fast (something that is explicetely stated for characters like Bluestreak and Windcharger), and his techspec rating of speed 7 isn't that special: it's the same as Bluestreak/Prowl, Sideswipe/Sunstreaker, Tracks and a few others. Pretty fast for a car, but you'd expect a Formula 1 racing car to go a lot faster than a street car. I can understand your choice based on his elitist, rich persona, but I personally agree with the Alternators line where he was a supercar, a Ford GT, and even the RotB movie which made him a Porsche. If I were to use a deluxe figure I'd probably go with something like Cybertron Crosswise (or better a repaint like movie Jolt) that transforms into a Bugatti Veyron. That or perhaps Prime Smokescreen (a McLaren). A streetcar that looks rich. Only issue is the wrong shape of the chest, but that could be solved by using the new Cybertron Hot Shot (a Chrysler) For Ironhide the G2 spychanger was an eye opener. Not only did I feel being a pickup fits his character better, but the big chest formed from the hood perfectly fits the describtion for his tough armoured skin. Similar to how Sunstreaker (your Tiger track) has the hood for the chest and is called out for having an enforced upper body that makes him resistant to artillery fire. (PS Sunstreaker you've picked Spin-Out but you call him Exhaust.)
Thanks, I've corrected the links. Spinosaurus as Soundwave is an interesting choice, one I'd never thought of, but works in a way. I wouldn't use Repugnus as with a strength of 8, I've been using Voyagers (or better) to showcase that strength, just as the lower the strength, the smaller the bot tends to be here. This is exactly the kind of discussion I was hoping to generate. Ah, I do that for some reason, so I've corrected it to Spin-Out, my bad! Thanks, I honestly think if it wasn't for my interest in the Tech Specs/profiles, I probably would've left the fandom, this has been for me a very fun and innovative part of being a fan nowadays and been my interest for over a decade (Wow time flies). With Mirage, many modern supercars are actually faster than Formula One cars (Or comparable), which makes the Formula One with all the drawbacks against a street car seem even more elite, but I completely understand where you're coming from. For Ironhide, I used the CW Version for a very long time, with weapons from Prime Kup as his liquid weapons. I think with the Earthrise Ironhide, we get to really showcase his liquid weaponry with the roof piece which can double as a shield, and for me, that's one of the aspects I've prioritized with Ironhide. In your favor though, Kup's "actual" tech specs (Budiansky did the Targetmaster versions, which is why they make sense and aren't stupidly high), they have very similar specs when it comes to physical prowess, which would easily fit into them having similar or the same alt modes. Given how close Trailbreaker is to Kup and Ironhide, if I had Lift-Ticket, I could see myself using that one as well. For me, it boiled down to I have Earthrise Ironhide and it fits for me with all those nozzles. That exact thing, that there's more than one possible fit for some of these characters, is the fun. It's also where what I have, what I like, and other factors can come into play. I thank you for your contributions and I don't want you to think I'm dismissing any of your choices, merely giving further reasoning to my choices. As I said, I think there's a considerable amount of leeway in many of these choices. I wouldn't be using ER Prowl as Prowl and instead use someone like WFC Bluestreak, since there's nothing that says I have to use a police car and frankly, I enjoy the WFC car mold more than the Earthrise, but as I indicated before, I also tried not to deviate entirely from the original concept of the character.
