What is G1?

The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone!
Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
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Dominic
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Re: What is G1?

Post by Dominic »

The thing of it is, Transformers is kind of inherently supposed to be 'interactive' fiction. I would almost argue that TF fanfiction is more "acceptable" than something like Star Trek or Harry Potter fanfic--because everybody makes up their own storylines as a kid playing with toys. That's what they're meant to do. And these kind of retroactive bits 'add' to that whole rather than subtract from it.

Yes and no. Even the toys came with some back story in the form of box profiles and blurbs. And, this is about defining era of the hobby, (toys/comics/cartoons/whatever), more than play patterns.
(I've always kind of retroactively liked to pretend that was Megaplex.)
Why reduce either character though?
Fact of it is, we see Acid Storm (or the guy who would become Acid Storm) doing stuff. He exists and he can be fleshed out. Maybe he never does anything else important besides that one episode. The rest of the time he just shoots at cardboard cutout Female Autobot characters.
And worked with dangerous chemical weapons.
It's funny because I legitimately bring up Hitler up there.
Aw damn. Sorry.
I always thought they should just use his Japanese name...Streak.
Fleshmasters!
Ha haaaa! Drift.
Drift actually started in comics. And, I maintain that if McCarthy had the right cult of personality brand, (like Furman or Roche), he totally could have gotten away with bringing in a new character.

It's when you start doing meta-existential crap like that that I always step away. I mean, Chrissake. It's like arguing Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man are supposed to be fundamentally different characters. They're still fucking Spider-Man!
Ah, but they are different. 616 is older, even post OMD. "Ultimate" is younger and more modern in terms of sensibility and pacing.

The Golden Age Batman died long before "Crisis on Infinite Earths" nullified him. It was a really badly written comic of the sort that resembled a little kid saying "what if Batman died?!?!?!?!?!". But, they were shown to be two different characters. "Infinite Crisis" brought the point home even more when the original Superman commented that the original Batman was never overcome with gloom and doom.
What about those late RID toys, like Dreadwing/Smokejumper, and Urbanation?
I count them as RiD, based on the packaging. But, there is basis to count them as "Universe" as well.
Likewise, Sideswipe is clearly supposed to be Sideswipe no matter what minor differences there are--he's still a red Lambourghini with the back of the car turning into his legs and the hood becoming his chest, and the doors are hanging off his arms.
That is one of the more similar toys though. What about Mirage? The robot modes are very different between G1, G2, RiD and "Classics". Sunstreaker is another example. The arms and legs are meaningfully different on "Classics" toy when compared to the G1 toy. I am not disputing the consistency of the characters. But, the control art is meaningfully different.

That's pretty much my thought process. Star Trek and it's subsequent shows are set in the same timeline continuity essentially being part of the same story. I tend to regard G1, BW and BM the same way.
For purposes of context yes. But, what about breaking it down by series. How then would the different iterations of G1, (many being contemporary to others during the 80s), be counted? What about blatant revisions, like the '09 "Star Trek" movie or the IDW G1 comics?



Dom
-is pretty sure "Harry Potter" is responsible for more bad fanfic than any other story. Ever.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by Shockwave »

They're other universes. It's like making the distinction between the regular Star Trek universe and the "Mirror" universe. Mirror Spock is not the same Spock as regular Spock. By that same token, Spock from the '09 film is not the same Spock as TOS Spock. It's a different universe even if the core characters are the same. So AHM Megatron, while I still regard him as "G1" Megs, is not the same Megs from the Marvel G1 comics. Even though they're the same core characters. I would kind of regard the '09 Trek film as a retelling of TOS using the same characters and that's how I tend to regard things like the DW and IDW comics.

And a little something to further bake your noodle: Since the G2 comic was a direct continuation of and set in the same universe as the G1 Marvel comic, I regard G2 as G1 as well. Enjoy.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by andersonh1 »

Shockwave wrote:And a little something to further bake your noodle: Since the G2 comic was a direct continuation of and set in the same universe as the G1 Marvel comic, I regard G2 as G1 as well. Enjoy.
Simon Furman regarded the two as the same universe, which technically they are. G2 characters turned up often enough when he was writing the comics. I think Deluge, who created the Insecticons during the flashbacks in AHM is also a G2 character. So is Pyro, even if he straddles the line between G1 and G2, so both McCarthy and Roche have included G2 characters in their stories. And it makes sense, since many of the initial toys in G2 were G1 figures repainted with new weapons.

So when it comes to the fiction, it makes sense to regard them as part of the same continuity. The same is true of Beast Wars and Beast Machines. But when it comes to toylines, it's useful to divide them up to more easily discuss the differences between engineering and stylistic decisions. A Beast Wars figure is completely different than a headmaster in just about every way, and vice versa.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by Shockwave »

Yeah, I was just speaking in terms of how I regard the fiction. Conversationally, Hasbro solves this problem for us. If I'm talking about G1 Prime, that usually refers to the original 84 version or one of the subsequent reissues. Classics Prime is Classics Prime. The different lines have different names specifically to differentiate which version of the character one is referring to.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by Dominic »

Ah, and this brings us back to the original question. How to descrive things by era. For example, I am a huge fan of current IDW. I am much less a fan of the old cartoon, nor was I terribly in love with DW's ongoing. (I did not hate the latter, but was not a huge fan of it. And, I rather liked DW's "Unicron Trilogy", for what little time it lasted.)

Is it fair to say that I am a fan of G1? And, if not, what am I a fan of?


Dom
-notes that "Kiss Play" is arguably part of G1.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by Shockwave »

Dominic wrote:Ah, and this brings us back to the original question. How to descrive things by era. For example, I am a huge fan of current IDW. I am much less a fan of the old cartoon, nor was I terribly in love with DW's ongoing. (I did not hate the latter, but was not a huge fan of it. And, I rather liked DW's "Unicron Trilogy", for what little time it lasted.)

Is it fair to say that I am a fan of G1? And, if not, what am I a fan of?


Dom
-notes that "Kiss Play" is arguably part of G1.
Yes, you are a fan of G1. You are also a fan of Transformers as a brand in general (even if that doesn't extend to all genres of it). Although I think this question has pretty much been answered. Most of us think of G1 as the original toy line and pretty much anything that either stems from or is directly based on it. I'm making a distinction here between say Classics Prime being based on G1 vs. the UT being based on it. But even though we think of G1 that broadly, conversationally we break it up into it's different parts. And then there's officially which Hasbro has done for us by naming the various parts of it.

Shit, completely forgot about Binaltech/Alternators/Kiss play.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by BWprowl »

Shockwave wrote:Shit, completely forgot about ...Kiss play.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by Shockwave »

BWprowl wrote:
Shockwave wrote:Shit, completely forgot about ...Kiss play.
You have accomplished something the rest of us only dream of doing.
Wait, wait wait wait! This from perverted sigpic man? Really? :lol:
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Re: What is G1?

Post by Shockwave »

I don't remember where we were talking about the Henkei/Classics seekers but this seems like as good a place as any to pick it up. Dom was talking about a consistent aesthetic. I just noticed that out of the 6 Henkei seekers, only Ramjet doesn't have shiny launchers.

I see what you mean, Dom. I see what you mean.
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Re: What is G1?

Post by BWprowl »

Shockwave wrote:Wait, wait wait wait! This from perverted sigpic man? Really? :lol:
Eh, maybe I wasn't being too forthright with my own opinions on the matter (though I know a large portion of the TF fanbase would rather forget about Kissplay). Truly, Kiss Convoy is actually pretty high on my want list.
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