Whether one finds it a positive or not, we are interested in a usually long-term and costly hobby. Some figures that we want are worth too much for us to afford, others haven't been made yet and won't be for a number of years. A short term solution is to find stand-in figures to temporarily fill the gaps.

I virtually never buy stand-ins anymore, after discovering how difficult it is to sell them off once the real deal arrives, but nevertheless, I still have a few and I'm interested in hearing what everyone else has.

For my own:

• Energon Shockblast for Classics Shockwave
• G1 Soundwave for Classics Soundwave (prefer Voyager size and Masterpiece cassettes)
• FOC Blaster for Classics Blaster (see above)
• Platinum Edition AOE Optimus trailer until I find a U.F.O. Annular for a decent price

In the past:

• WFC Megatron for Classics Megatron
• Universe 2003 Ratchet for Classics Ratchet
• Prime Kup for Classics Brawn
• Prime Hot Shot for Classics Skids
• Arms Micron Wildrider and Rumble as Classics Wildrider and Dead End

To clarify, this isn't quite the same as repurposing - a stand-in is a figure that you bought when thinking something along the lines of "I'm fed up of waiting, this'll do", rather than one which you bought with confidence, and then replaced later (e.g., remember when we all thought FOC Bruticus was the be-all-end-all?).

 

The figures that I have used to round out my for my "Classics" collection have mostly been retired due to an actual figure being produced. I have used the following:
1. Energon Shockblast as Shockwave (still in use)
2. Energon Superion Maximus, Bruticus Maximus, and Constructicon Maximus as Superion, Bruticus, and Devastator respectively (retired)
3. Energon Rodimus as Rodimus Prime (retired with 3rd Party add-on kit and Classics Rodimus)
4. Energon Downshift as Wheeljack (retired)
4. Energon Arcee (retired). Blue Movie repaint also used as Chromia also retired.
5. Energon Towline as Skids (retired)
6. Energon Swoop (still in use)
7. Energon Inferno (retired)
8. Energon Roadblock as Grapple (retired)
9. Energon Bulkead as Springer (retired)
10. Energon Skorponok (still in use)
11. Energon Voyager Megatron as Galvatron (retired)
12. Cybertron Armorhide as Pipes (still in use)
13. Cybertron Blurr as Blurr (retired)
14. Cybertron Runamuk as Runabout
15. Cybertron Smokescreen (retired)
16. Cybertron Brakedown GTS as Kup (retired)
17. Cybertron Soundave retired to FoC Soundwave. Scrapmetal Drones used as Rumble/Frenzy. Black Takara repaint and Universe Blaster both used and retired to FoC mold too.
18. Energon Scourge as Predaking. (no longer in use because of Combiner Wars).
19. 2007 Movie G1 deco Jazz (retired)
20. 2007 Movie Energon Strongarm Repaints as Brawn and Outback.
21. 2007 Movie Breakaway as Getaway (about to be retired soon).

 

Not too many anymore, with Generations getting a broader and broader reach, but...

1) Prime Ratchet for Classics Ratchet
2) Arms Micron Ironhide for Classics Ironhide
3) Reissue Soundwave for Classics Soundwave
4) Masterpiece Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage for Classics versions
5) Prime: Beast Hunters Abominus as Classics Abominus
6) Beast Hunters Knockout as Classics Iguanus
7) RiD (2015) Steeljaw as Classics Carnivac
8) San Diego Con Dinobots (and Amazon Sludge) as Classic Dinobots

 

I tend not to repurpose figures because I have a strong focus on what I want to collect and try not to deviate if I'm confident a figure will be made for that character eventually.

FoC Soundwave as CHUG Soundwave, soon to be replaced.

RiD Fracture as Iguanus. I picked him up because I really liked his design and thought he'd make a nice pretender homage. He's so cool that I graduated him to my shelf of special items.

Gen. Orion Pax as Crosshairs. Another one that was so cool he got moved to the interesting stuff shelf.

I can't really think of any others honestly.

 

Cybertron Megatron has been my Classics Overlord for a while, but once I open the Carnifex I got myself for Christmas he's just going to resume being a really awesome Megatron figure.

 

I once used RotF Brawn as a CHUG stand in, but I hated it like that and never used stand-ins again.

 

The few stand-ins I have are slowly being replaced with their Generations counterparts. But I still have:

Titanium Rodimus Prime
DotM Guzzle
Universe Repungus
Titanium RID Optimus
Titanium BM Cheetor
Titanium Optimal Optimus
10th Anniversary Optimus Primal and Megatron
RotF Bludgeon
Zoom whatever for Reflector
Energon Galvatron for S3 G1 Galvatron (TR version is S4)
Armada Unicron
Cybertron Primus

 

KBB MP-10V = CHUG Optimus Prime
RiD '15 Ratchet = CHUG Ratchet
Arms Micron Ironhide = CHUG Ironhide
Legends Armada Starscream Super Mode = CHUG Thundercracker
RiD '15 Skywarp = CHUG Skywarp
HotD Bludgeon w/Head Robots kit = CHUG Bludgeon (might be replaced with RiD '15 Bludgeon)

 

at this point, i dont think im useing any there are characters that are missing from my collection mostly scrop could be used because he got a energon toy, outside of that its hard to do that with the missing beasts and characters from classics, kinda disappointing most these characters havent even been looked at over the last 30 years, but heck they could be done soon and i look forward to it

 

Good points! If I knew the cw line was coming I would'n't have bother with FOC Bruticus or his 3P Add on's. Plus I have like 5 Shockwaves, 3 Starscream's, Megatron's and Soundwaves (just to name a few) because of the growing need for perfection (best version of my fav characters possible) at a decent price. So I mentioned these 4 because I know I'll be buying more of these.

1) Animated Shockwave >>>> Target Exclusive Animated Shockwave >>>> DOTM Shockwave >>>> Deluxe FOC Shockwave (Current Stand in with 3 Legends Shockwaves as minions)
2) Classics Voyager Megatron >>>> WFC Deluxe Megatron >>>> Henkei Voyager Megatron (Current Stand in and will likely pass on the TR Megatron unless Takara's is better)
3) Classics Starscream>>>>> 2.0 Classics Starscream >>>> FOC Starscream (Current Stand in)
4) Classics G1 Soundwave >>>>> WFC Deluxe Soundwave >>>> FOC Voyager Soundwave (Current Stand in and TR Leader class is a pass)
5) Classics G1 Ravage >>>> 2.0 Ravage (came with Hound) >>>>> MP Ravage (Current Stand in with 4 or 5 mini ROTF Ravages as minions, aka "Rav pack"

Hastak has been remaking a lot of Classics figures these days but unless I rate the new version a 8.5/10 or better I'm passing on it. MP Laserbeak and Buzzsaw for instance are top notch so I don't see Hasbro ever topping those.

As for Decepticon Triple Changers I have Classics Astrotrain, 2.0 Tankor aka Octane and Thrilling 30 Blitzwing as my current go to's but I'm definitely getting Takara's TR Astrotrain next January. Still waiting on if I'll replace Blitzwing and Tankor with the pending TR versions.

 

Energon Omega Supreme as G1 Omega
Armada Megatron - Megatron (soon to be retired)
PRime Megatron - Megatron
Prime Shockwave - Shockwave
Prime Kup - Kup
g1 soundwave - soundwave
Unique Toys Soundmixer - Blaster
UT Mania King - Galvatron

 

None. I only buy great toys, not something that is just good enough out of impatience. We've waited over 30 years to get great versions of the characters we want so I'm willing to keep waiting until the right figures come along. If another version of the same character comes out and is also great, I'll buy that too but it doesn't take away the greatness of the previous version. Just means I have another great version of a figure I like.

 

I don't currently have the shelving for a display but if I did, there would be plenty of stand-ins. For My voyager/Deluxe stand-ins:
1. Beast Hunters Prime Shockwave as G1 Shockwave.
3. The only Voyager or Leader sized Megatron I own is the Prime Sharkticon version, which would not fit on the shelf at all. I plan on picking up a CW Megatron soon, so that will solve that problem.
4. I'd probably have to put one of my Legends sized Bumblebee's on this shelf because I currently lack a deluxe sized one.
5. Most of the early G1 Autobot cast I only own in Combiner Wars forms, which I would trade for more traditional CHUG counterparts in a heartbeat.
6. I need to get similar sized versions of the main cast of Seekers. I have a CW Leader Starscream, a FoC Skywarp, and a Legends-sized Thundercracker. Honestly, with a leader class Megatron, I would like voyager sized Seekers, but there have actually been no releases of that size since I began collecting 4 years ago.
7. I am completely missing any suitable version of Kup and Hot Rod/Rodimus to finish up my movie cast collection, which I should be able to rectify soon.
8. RiD Ratchet for G1 Ratchet.

 

RID2015 Ratchet doubles as both Prime/RID Ratchet and Generations Ratchet
RID2015 White Drift doubles as RID Drift and Generations Drift
I repainted RID Power Surge Optimus Prime into Pyro. Thinking of painting him back into RID colors and retiring him...
I also repainted RID Scorponok into G1 Scorponok. He's recently been painted back into an RID show-accurate color scheme.
I also got knock offs of DOTM Legion Sideswipe and RTS Legion Optimus Prime which I painted into Sideburn and Toxitron. I plan on keeping them as is.

 

Scratch Repungus and Galvatron. The TR version moved down to the S3 shelf while Legends Galvatron stands on S4.

 

He was Cosmos at one point, now he is Siege War For Cybertron Bumblebee in Cybertronian mode.

Do you see it or is it a longview?  
 




 

 

The shelf of interesting items?
Such a high honor!

 

Combiner Wars Ironhide stands in right now for an actual good CHUG Ironhide.
(bought both Uni.2.0 and Siege molds as Ratchet because I like the character more, but they both were so bad I couldn't justify getting a repaint)

 

I generally don’t do stand-ins. I’ll get a figure if I like it, and if a better version of the same character happens to come along later that I actually want to get, I keep both.

 

I had Siege Red Alert as a stand-in for Sideswipe (I missed him in the first wave). But my most notable stand in was Prime Wheeljack as my CHUG Jackie. (old photo):



Even though I plan on getting the ER one I couldn't get rid of them, so this is where hie lives now,