Let me start by saying I was a child of the 80's. I grew up w/Generation 1. Out of all the popular franchises back then, Transformers was my favorite. It wasn't even close.

I was in my late teens when Beast Wars came around. By then, I was in the "I'm too old to even look at toys" stage in my life. G1 is and always will be "it" for me.

The Classics line (and when I say "Classics" it refers to all official HasTak lines that update and homage past lines. I refuse to use that popular acronym) is the ultimate line for me.

So many of my all time favorite G1 characters updated to be more screen accurate and with better articulation. These were the figures I would've dreamed of having back in the 1980's.

But as I get further into collecting, I find myself favoring the few G1 figures that I own.

As fantastic and perfect as my Classics collection is, and even though I love them and will continue to to collect them, I have an empty feeling when I look at them on my shelf.

Something's missing. Why was I favoring my G1 Figures over these fantastic updates in the Classics line?

Then it occurred to me. As great as the Classics figures are, I have no connection to them. I don't feel the same adoration that I do with G1.

When I look at my Classics figures I do feel nosalgic. It's one of the reasons I collect them. (Other than them just being amazing all around figures) But, I don't have that complete and total nostalgic child-like wonder return to me like it does when I look at and handle a G1 figure.

As inferior as the G1 Toys are to the wonderful updated versions we get today, (face it poor articulation, weird designs, etc are just a couple of problems w/G1) I love them more than the Transformers that come out today.

Who has experienced the same thing?

 

Interesting.

I was raised on the Bayformers, my experience with G1 started in 2007 when I rented the first season from a rental store. While I liked the movies but I was hooked to Transformers when I saw the original G1 cartoon. I ended up going on to watch Season 2, 3, Headmasters, & Super God Masterforce on Youtube & the 86 movie on Netflix when I learned about them from Tfwiki.

My very first G1 Transformers was the reissue of Perceptor in 2009 for Christmas, got him alongside my first CHUG figure Universe 2008 Prowl. I loved Prowl more then I did Perceptor. It has continued on like this for years now. I continued to get more and more CHUGs with the 2010 Generations line with WFC Optimus, Megs, & G1 Red Alert to name a few. Meanwhile I did not seek out a G1 figure, they did not look as interesting as CHUG, but I did end up getting Encore Trailbreaker at my first Botcon in 2011 then two years later got Cosmos at Botcon 2013.

To me I prefer CHUG over the original figures. Maybe its because I started collecting and was use to the movie figures, they had all this articulation, details, and better accuracy to their screen counterpart then what a G1 toy did for their cartoon counterpart. I don't know the real reason, all I know is that I prefer the articulation and looks of a CHUG figure over the honestly mediocre looks of the original G1 toys, the price difference doesn't help either. Sure I can appreciate them because hey its where it all started but for me CHUG is my definitive G1 Transformers.

 

I think we're proving that this is an interesting case study of how the time period (80's, 90's, 2000's and beyond) you spent the bulk of your childhood in and when you were subsequently introducted to Transformers, affects how you feel about the toylines and which ones you favor.

I'll also add that at one point, I collected Classics and thought to myself "why do I even need the original G1 figures when I have these updated versions which are much, much better?"

But, because of that hollow feeling that I have from having zero childhood connection to the Classics line, I have recently found that between the two I prefer G1.

 

Tyrant, I know where you are coming from regarding the G1 toys. "Wonder" is a great description because at the time it was amazing to my child mind that you could take a car and turn it into a robot. I remember literally spending hours fiddling with my friend's Bumblebee -- it was such a small thing and yet absolutely magical. Even though I can still touch those feelings like they were yesterday I can also see how someone who didn't experience it could not make that connection. You really had to be there and have lived through it.

I'm sure there are hundreds on this site who would echo the same comments.

 

I'll use an analogy to explain my feelings and why they're intriguing.

Comparing a G1 toy and a Classics toy is like comparing a Model T to the cars that come out today.

Today's vehicles are more efficient, faster, and arguably more sleek and beautiful. But, they lack the charm and the character that those old cars that you see in pictures clearly have.

For me, it's the same thing with G1 toys. Because I grew up with them, I have this soft spot for them. Despite all of their flaws, they have more character and charm. They have a soul. Today's Classics figures lack that.

 

I will also add that *hopefully* children today who are growing up with the Classics line of Transformers are gaining that same warm adoration for the figures and the franchise in general that I gained w/G1 from having grown up with them.

 

i'm kind of more the opposite: the biggest problem i had as a kid was: why can't my TFs (or Star Wars figures) move like my G.I.Joes???

To me the Classics/CHUG world has basically given me what i always wanted (plus more modern looking alt modes in a lot of cases and much sharper sculpting), to the point that i'm pretty much decided to get rid of my G1s and G1 reissues.

to that end, i even prefer the Classics most of the time to Masterpiece, especially since MP has gone down the line of overly toon-accurate robot modes instead of the "ultimate" interpretation of the character combining the look of the toys and comics and toons...

 

It's funny you mention that. This is one of the many reasons I love today's updated Transformers. They're basically full fledged action figures that also happen to Transform (and pull it off well).

I also like the latest batch of Combiner Wars and Titans Return figures because they brought back the simplistic transformations which to me, brought alot of the charm to the G1 line. The simple, quick, efficient play value is very meaningful to me.

 

I'll always love my G1s since they were a big part of my childhood but I definitely prefer my Classics to them...probably because when I got back into collecting in 2001 with the first Robots in Disguise, all I wanted was my favorite characters from childhood with modern toys and articulation. I never really thought I'd be able to say that wish came true.

 

I feel like the diversity of designs in TR has improved that too: CW, due to it's nature, had pretty simple transformations across the deluxe scale (an unfortunate necessity of everyone needing to be a universal limb) and lacked some of the niceties i appreciate like translucent windows.

TR, while still having relatively easy transformations, has brought in some real engineering cleverness that i like: I'm over overly complex transformations, but i still appreciate clever engineering (TR Hot Rods legs for instance and Trifggerhappy's transformation)

 

I think it depends on why you collect. I as well grew up with G1 as you. I scoured trying to rebuild my collection in the early 2000's (lost all my originals in a childhood hpuse fire). I stopped collecting G1 completely when the Classics line started. For me it's the connection to the character (from the toon RIB) that I enjoy. I think the Classics line offers the best representations of them (updated however while retaining 100% accuracy) I do still love the toy aspect as well though and don't buy MP's anymore because they feel like display pieces to me and not toys. We all collect or enjoy them.for different reasons. S'what keeps it interesting.

 

As a child of the 80s, I get what you're saying and have similar feelings.

I like to collect G1s (mostly by going to local toy shows, etc. rather than just buying them all on ebay haha) and until recently did not have much pull towards Classics, just picking up an odd one here or there if the toy really appealed to me, and rarely if I had the G1 version. To me, the G1 characters and G1 toys go hand in hand, even if they didn't always looks exactly the same. I went more crazy with CW because I love combiners  .

As a recent example, in my mind I was definitely going to get the TR Sixshot after learning about him, but then I found a good deal on a nice G1 Sixshot, and I have significantly cooled on the new one, despite the rave reviews. I go back and forth, but every time I play with the G1, I lose all interest in the new.

The movie toys are actually my main modern line I collect. I enjoy them a lot and they are really a distinct experience from G1 (for better or worse, depending on who you talk to!) that they don't feel redundant to me.

 

My collection is broken down as:

G1 originals I've had for decades
G1 reissues (w/ some KOs of the ones not reissued)
CHUG
MPs

Went the time comes, my collection will be sold from the MP->CHUG->G1 reissues. Not even sure I can part with G1 originals.

I love G1 so I feel you. It's what I grew up with and I collect for the nostalgia.

 

Grew up with G1/G2. Own probably 2/3s of the entire retail collection, missing mostly stuff from 1988-90. But I have to admit, I've bought very few G1 figures since Classics Series came out in 2006. The most recent was the Platinum triple-changer 2-pack, just because the colors were different from what I've had before.

 

I sure understand that analogy.
I agree, the G1 toys still have a charm all their own for me. Even the catalogues fill me with a childlike exitement.
I dont collect G1 anymore, favoring the more articulated Classics toys. But i will never part with my G1 figures.

 

I grew up on G1 and I love G1 but I have very little attachment to the actual figures. I only owned a few and I just never became attached to them. I became attached to the cartoon.

I love Classics (CHUG) and I look forward to seeing new interpretations of the classic characters. But to each his own.

I also enjoy Masterpiece but not as much because those figures are more appropriate as display pieces and I actually like playing, fiddling and posing the figures. I just can't do that with MP or 3P figures. Plus, current CHUG figures are just really amazing but affordable- so it doesn't cause anxiety to mess with them.

 

I grew up on G1 figures too, but the only ones I have connection to are the ones I actually had as a kid. The ones I didn't have as a kid... I don't feel any real connection to the G1 toys. It was the media I remember, or fleeting interactions with some of them. So while I didn't much appreciate G1 Octane when I bought him (fairly recently) I really liked his Universe update.

In other words Classics/Generations feel like how I remember the G1 figures that I never had, were like. Does that make sense?

 

This is the main reason I sold off my Classics in favor of completing my G1 collection, I hadn't touched any of the classics bots since I bought them, while I regularly pull the G1s off the shelf to transform them or take pics. I do enjoy MPs more than I did classics because of the accuracy of them, but they aren't a replacement to my G1s, more of a suppliment

 

Interestingly enough, nostalgia is why I love Titans Return more than any toyline before it.
Hear me out.

I was born in '88, so I missed out on G1. Grew up on Disney instead. My older brother was into Transformers, so I'd get to handle a few, and didn't like 'em. I collected dinosaurs and crocodiles, with dynamic poses and moveable parts. The G1 figures I experienced didn't really offer that.
HOWEVER.
Our neighbor gifted me with G1 Skullcruncher, and I fell in love with it. I loved the way the crocodile looked and that a little dude could ride in his mouth (still didn't care about the transformation). Skullcruncher warmed me up to look at other figures...as long as they were dinosaurs or crocodiles. Hated the proportions of the G1 Dinobots, so those were an easy pass. Enjoyed Action Master Krok, but sold him at a garage sale later (kept Gatoraider, haha). Loved Beast Wars Megatron's alligator mode but despised the transformation. If there's spring-loaded ANYTHING, I'm out. Hated that you touch it and the whole thing transforms. Got Energon Cruellock because it's clearly GINO, but hated the spring-loaded transformation as well. That era really loved that automorph gimmick. I gave up on Transformers after that.
Cut to the live action movies. I liked the first one, and was definitely down to see any sequels, but it wasn't until Revenge of the Fallen that I took the plunge and bought a few figures. That was the beginning of the end. In only a few years, my Transformers collection rivaled the size of my Godzilla collection.
Now, Titans Return offers the first update of Skullcruncher, and I actually enjoy transforming him. On top of that, he's going to be repainted into Krok, the second Transformer I ever had. I hope that the Megaligator head that comes with ConvoBat means that we'll get a Beast Wars Megatron out of the mold too, so I can have updates of my first three Transformers, with transformations that I actually enjoy.

In sum, I always found something I disliked about the figures, even my first favorites. Fueled by nostalgia and learning that this new line fixes the issues I had, I like Transformers more now than I ever have.

 

It makes perfect sense.

For me, I'm going back and buying all of the G1 Figures I remember having in my toy box as a kid.

However, there are a bunch of G1 Figures that I want to acquire because they're ones that I always wanted when I was a kid but I never got for one reason or another.