I was thinking about the thread on mainline figures that have been hard to find, and wondered what other people think about mixing-and-matching CHUG campaigns, e.g. will you be content using Studio Series Rumble with your Siege/Legacy Soundwave…or must you have the siege Frenzy because that’s the one that was part of the “campaign”?

I didn’t want to say “lines” because I am not really thinking about whether you would put Cyberverse alongside your CHUG.

 

I'm not overly fussed about making sure teammates hafta be from the same line/wave/campaign. In part due to bad distribution in my area, because a character design may not always appeal to me, or be over my personal budget.

 

I mean generations stuff is under the same umbrella so whether it’s legacy or velocitron they still all go together. Velocitron cosmos goes with legacy skids and kingdom blaster etc

 

For me it's about whether the aesthetics work together or not. I'm probably not going to get SS86 Rumble but if I did I'd probably still mix him in with WfC because the aesthetics mesh decently. In general I think they did a good job of having studio series 86 figures emulate the cartoon aesthetic while still fitting in with the mainline CHUG aesthetic. They're less greebly but otherwise you can see a lot of shared design elements.

In contrast, I find that old CHUG figures, e.g., Thrilling 30, stand out like sore thumbs.

 

I think my Crossroads comic answers that question quite nicely. I don't really care if the characters come from the same line/theme/campaign, as long as they look good together. I use toys from the entire history of TFs from my extensive collection in one storyline, but the point of the comic was to actually use my collection rather than just keep them displayed or in storage ...

Though I do try to get characters with interactive features from the same line so they can work together properly. The WFC Cassettecons look ok with ML Soundblaster, but he is only designed to fit a mini-SD card, not cassettes. So I might be having Soundblaster and his crew refit to their TR forms, since that's the most complete set of the core tapes I have. I have Buzzsaw, Ravage, Rumble and just got Laserbeak. I just need to get Frenzy, and I'll have the important ones.

I could get SS86 "Rumble" to serve as Frenzy, but then I'd still be missing Buzzsaw.

There's no TR Ratbat, of course, but he's the Fuel Auditor, so wouldn't necessarily be hanging out in the Communications Officer's chest anyway. It's not like I've shown Glit (Decepticon Chief Medical Officer) ejecting from Soundblaster ...

I feel that most lines work together well enough, with the exception of the ones which were actively trying to be different, like Bayverse and Animated. And I even have some Bayverse in Crossroads (since it's a multiverse-based story, the Bay characters don't have to match the "locals".)

 

It's not essential for me. As long as the aesthetics aren't too jarring like Animated or early Bayverse with CHUG.

I'm happy to include most of the Bumblebee cast with mainline CHUG figures.

 

In regards to your last statement, im finding more that doesnt bother me. Different designers, budgets, aesthetics have come and gone since CHUG.
JUST as G1 was a blend of different styles.

 

If you've seen/read my True Origin story and seen many of my pictures, you'd see that for me, as long as they scale in a fair way and the esthetics are compatible enough, I have no trouble whatsoever.

If anything, I consider it great whenever I find a new figure that works as to stick to single lines, I would find that you'd lose on all the potential of the mix and matched with what each figures brings.

Heck, this is me today...

 

I just put all of the CHUG bots together without much heed to the branding on the box.

 

I completely agree with this. In my comics, I often have movieverse figures with Siege/Earthrise/etc. I don't have a G1 Ironhide (yet) and because I prefer the look of movie Ironhide, I use Studio Series.
I will definitely be getting SS86 Rumble (or is it really Frenzy?  ) to pair with my Legacy Soundwave.

 

I'm definitely not opposed to some mixing and matching. My Generations shelf for my Autobots is a mix of Thrilling 30, Prime Wars trilogy, the WFC trilogy, and Legacy currently, with my Decepticon shelf even including the MP versions of Soundwave's cassettes. And in the past, it's included even older stuff like Universe 2.0 and or that Prime Cliffjumper that had a G1 head.

Just whatever I think the best representation of the character is. Is some visual consistency desirable? Yes. Reveal the Shield Jazz was eventually phased out for PotP and then 86 Jazz, just because he was a little too differently styled for me.

 

Whatever campaign they're from doesn't matter, it just depends on how they look together in all their modes. So long as it looks like it can exist on the same road/in the same sky/in the same battlefield then I am pretty cool with it even if there are minor differences. Given that Transformers by nature are pretty varied in looks, it can be pretty broad and sometimes I do stretch things to justify some toys together. For example, Burnout and Punch/Counterpunch honestly look more like they should be with each other and Prime Wars toys but both end up getting tricks done for them to work out in WFC.

My "WFC" collection is more like everything that's been released recently close to the standard articulation and with robot+a self inflicted loose vehicle scale. I'd say just about any SS86 toy fits this and the Hasbro Generations Selects too, as well as T30 Whirl, T30 Chromia, CW Rook, CW Blackjack, CW Rust Dust, POTP Blast Off, and CW Swindle. There's an "earlier Generations part of my collection which the majority of Prime Wars and T30 is part of because I find they look disproportionate to WFC.

Similarly, my large scale movie collection is a little short but HFTD Crankstart next to SS Bee isn't half bad so he stays. I'd hunt down a HFTD Legends class Ravage for sure if Grindor hadn't make a more in scale (but admittedly inferior) one available.

 

The idea that everything from the previous trilogy should be thrown out as soon as a new one starts is stupid. I assume people with that mentality are newer collectors who don't remember when we used to put toys from 3 or 4 lines together because that was all we had.

 

Most of my collection is Siege-Legacy with some CW-POTP figures sprinkled in where appropriate in my collection (combiners, etc.). I've been collecting a looooong time so yeah, I definitely remember the dark days of shoehorning random UT figures in as G1 characters because before Classics was a thing so mixing in older figures and lines was part of my collecting going way back.

Plus I'm an 70's kid so pulling everything out of the toy box and mixing all my toys together regardless of age or toyline has been kinda baked in since the get go.

 

I literally have some Animated Optimus Primes right next to some Movie Optimus Primes on display. I dun care.

 

not at all. if its the best possible representation or best toy of the character, its a win

 

My collection is all CHUG and a select few like Prime Bulkhead and Fix-it. Other than them, everyone is from Universe to Legacy (Generations)

My Generations Beast Wars figures are on their own shelf. I believe they need their own shelf like My G1(Generations) collection. They are my updated versions of the originals.

 

I go the complete other way and try to obtain multiple/all versions of the characters I like for comparison. The gold standard is G1, Generations, Mp (and Misc. Homages). There's never going to be a truly definitive version, and it's fun to see progress/variations.

 

As long as the aesthetics match, I have absolutely no problem mixing toys from various toylines.

Case in point: I’m displaying Kingdom Blackarachnia with my OG BW season 2 crew. Will be adding Legacy Inferno as well. Like most folks, I’ve also got my SS86 Gnaw hanging out with his Earthrise Allicon and Quintesson comrades.

 

Line/Campaign doesn’t matter to me, I just want the best available representation of a bot.