WishfulThinking, you keep trying to "unclamp" IDW from G1 but Hasbro and Takara don't treat it that way. Prime/RiD/AEC/NuRiD all had their own toylines. Generations, which consists of CHUG, CW, TR, are all a modern re-imagining of G1 and are tied to IDW in some shape. You have IDW comics packaged with the Generations toys.

So, on the one hand, fandom treats CHUG/CW/TR as a re-imagined G1. Hasbro and Takara links up IDW with the CHUG toys. But you keep insisting, "but its not G1." Yeah, it's re-imagined. AEC was not re-imagined G1. Animated was not re-imagined G1. NuRiD and old RiD were not re-imagined G1. But you keep lumping IDW with them because you dislike it. There is a distinction there that you refuse to see.

 

I seem to not be able to reiterate this enough, the combiner wars cartoon has NOTHING to do with the idw combiner wars in regards to the story. Even trying to say it's based on the comic crossover is like saying the age of ultron movie is based on the comic.

 

Neither were the G1 cartoon and the G1 Marvel comics. And yet, both are considered G1 family continuity because of the era they were born out of. Which is kind of the point...IDW is not born out of the G1 era, nor does it purport a direct correlation to it the way the Beast era does (which is why the Beast era remains G1 family).

IDW and the Machinima cartoon are born out of the same era and operate on similar enough principles (post-Great War, female Cybertronian colony, Windblade as a City-speaker, etc.) that they end up in the same "family" unit.

 

I don't mind when 3rd parties make Decepticons from the IDW comics as I don't feel pressured to use them as they are intended (I guess) instead I tend to see them as some sort of off-camera team - remember how people grouped the non-TV show Prime series Autobots together into a Team-Ultra Magnus with the likes of Kup, Swerve & Ironhide in it. I can see that idea working with IDW inspired Decepticons : I can see them being Other Commanders of a city or area or subset of activities on Cybertron in charge of say interrogation or just another sort of character like Straxus or Thunderwing was - someone in charge of a set area.

Also with regard to the Wreckers you can set your own roster up based on which era or source you prefer it could contain Impactor or not I like that we get options. I wouldn't want one to subsume the others completely.

IDW was useful in terms of a thought experiment I guess as it gave you an excuse for what all the non TV show beast wars Characters might have been doing - where as the TV show didn't really allow much room for extras. The Comics gave them a scenario to fit into at least.

 

It's less that Hasbro is "linking up" G1 and IDW and more like allowing IDW to influence their toy updates (and vice versa) because the adult fanbase is using IDW as their favored media right now. The two are still separate, as the more a toy moves toward IDW inspiration, the farther it moves away from G1.

But Aligned (WfC, FoC, Prime, nuRiD) is absolutely re-imagined G1 to the point that WfC, in vacuum, could be mistaken for a G1 pre-quel to Sunbow or Marvel. But it does not get G1-family designation. If it does not, then neither does IDW. Plain and simple.

It really has nothing to do with like or dislike. It has everything to do with a franchise evolving out of one thing (G1) and into something entirely different that moves the entire boat into new waters, dragging a sub-set of toys along with it.

 

I honestly feel it's lessened just a bit for Titans Return..? Blaster has his Marvel head and turns into a boombox, Blurr is VERY G1, Scourge is pretty G1 with the alt mode, Hardhead has a G1...head.

 

I agree. Chromedome is kind of the odd man out this time around...which is why I'm opting for the TT version instead. I want the same aesthetic down the line.

 

In, my opinion, there are four pillars to G1- Sunbow, Marvel, Japanese and IDW. You know what they all have in common? All of them were heavily tied to the G1 toyline at one point-- IDW is tied to the re-imagined G1 toyline that is called CHUG. All four of those continuities went in wildly different directions but I think you can consider them to all be "G1".

You can include or exclude WfC-FoC-Prime-NuRid into that but at the end of the day, Prime and NuRid became their own toyline. Fandom and HasTak have treated Prime/NuRid as its own separate thing, apart from IDW/CHUG.

I'm just repeating myself though. You'll describe IDW as you see fit but its not in the same category as any of the other continuities we've had after Beast Machines aired because none of those continuities were tied to a G1 toyline or a re-imagined G1 toyline. IDW is the only one that is tied to the re-imagined G1 toyline and because of that it does carry a special status. Furthermore, if it already hasn't, it will surpass all other "flavors" of G1 in its longevity.

 

All that I really care about is that the heads are accurate to some form of TF media I like. That is why I'm trying to get a Legends Hardhead, since none of the fiction has him with a mouthplate. Though I could go either way with Brainstorm.

 

Wow. So much back and forth...

Touching on Aligned... The reason the games are SO G1 are because the creators of the game were making it a G1 game. It was Hasbro who decided to make it part of Aligned and other bits got added in. That's one of the reasons it clashes so much. So "officially" the games are part of Aligned, they weren't originally designed with that in mind.

Also, Beast Wars (the show) wasn't going to be connected to G1. Hasbro didn't even want them to connect anything. Bob and Larry (with help from the fans on att) did all that. Even Beast Machines wasn't supposed to be connected to Beast Wars, much less G1, but Bob and Marty did it anyway...

 

for me classics has always been about geting the characters i like in modern day interpatations which with the whole idw thing is more then fine for me, if i wanted my collection to look like g1 i would have gone g1 or just MP.

i look at my collection seeing these idw only characters and think these little guys add something to g1 that wasnt there in the 80-90 era, i admit i have brought upgrade kits to make them look more g1 but at the end of the day there only weapons lol.

 

That's just one more thing that I've added to the list of things that bother me about early Aligned. Everything was clear cut in what was and wasn't G1 until Aligned came along, and took so much inspiration from G1 that it really should've been considered G1, yet it wasn't. Although, even ignoring that, IDW still should probably be considered its own thing, considering the ever increasing amount of characters, planets and concepts it's taking from outside of G1.

 

Transformers Devastation and even perhaps FOC/WFC (No I do not consider them related to Transformers : Prime whatsoever) seem more G1 compliant even with internal inconsistencies between the various gaming formats.

One reason IDW may not sit well with some people & the "G1" label is in part time+variance.

Some may be quite happy to adopt Sunstorm or Crosscut into the 'G1 Family' even if they are later additions (more or less) as they have that G1 compliance they have actual toys that match existing 1980's toys or they are presented to us along side them.

Speaking of crosscut you have a choice there you can look at him as a modern retake on the Ehobby character or you can look on him as more like the IDW.

But here is another thought to consider which is internationality - in America these IDW inspired toys come with IDW comics packed with them to someone in Europe. South America or Asia they don't have that. and the vast majority of consumers do not buy the comics or may have even read them - excepting where they got a US toy giving them a comic with it.

So Dreamwave's Sunstorm may more or less remain the definitive version to some - to other people he's that guys who worked for Shockwave., or an animation error bot.

But the factor here I'd suggest considering is Time & Difference and that is why IDW Bumblebee seems like 'IDW Bumblebee' and not just "Bumblebee" and yet FOC Bumblebee seems like Bumblebee (to me anyway).

Like the distinction between A&E Hotshot and "Blue Hotshot" from Animated/Movie toys and TF Cybertron - even if you consider the Blue one is the same guy in some sense to me Blue Hotshot (like in Prime, Animated or AOE) seems like someone else "Conceptually" as he's presented to me as if he's someone else.

IDW is in someways not so far away from core G1 but in other ways it's more different than even the 'Inspired by' TV shows are.
It's that difference that is I would say what makes the distinction.

Like I don't think Movie Landmine is the same Landmine in the Pretenders line as there is a combination of time and Difference.

***

Though quite how that thought process would jell with something like Twinferno or the other examples of renaming in Titans Returns is a whole other kettle of Kippers.