G1 Transformers are back!

[spanky]

Originally posted by: robbin
The transformers were always overpriced, even in the 80s. My mom flatly refused to pay 50 dollars for one toy.

i remember at toys r us... they had a "fortrus maximus" on display.... it was HUGE and like hanging off the ceiling. $80 tho

 

[rimshaker]

Fotrus Maximus.... someone refresh my memory again... I keep thinking about Metroplex, that big city dood, an Autobot... which i still have by the way

 

[usernamemax20charact]

Looking at my old Transformers fold-outs and posters....

Transformers. More than meets the eye!

It is a world transformed. Where things are not what they seem. It is the world of the Transformers... A world of heroic autobots and evil decepticons!

The Transformers -- Mechanical beings from the planet Cybertron -- Searching for life-giving fuel, and energy here on earth. The evil Decepticons and heroic Autobots battle for control by transforming their bodies into vehicles, creatures, weapons, and more. While the Decepticons plan to drain the earth of all her energized resources, the Autobots strive to defend the planet!"

Good times!

 

[corinthos]

Transformers were nice, but where is GI JOE?

 

[So SimpaL]

Originally posted by: MisterJackson

where's jetfire!

They have a new Jetfire out in the "Armada" series. He's all plastic and a space shuttle


I have 3 of the original Jetfire's though. One is near mint with box (These things were going for between $400-$600 about a year or so ago). My second one belongs to my son to play with, and the third has been totally disassembled for a full restoration.

My son has an equal amount of new Transformers and my old one's. He prefers playing with my old one's. I overheard the neighbor kid telling my son that he was cooler because he had the new (read "crap") Unicron. My son proceeded to ask him how many "Gen One's" he had and the kid just looked retarded.

Next up for restoration, my old Shockwave (the olny old school Transformer I know of that had a 9volt battery!).

Autobots, transform and roll out!!

I still remember my Jetfire very vividly. These G1's do not appear as solidly built in craftsmanship as the original though. The old they-dont-build-them-like-they-use-to addage is quite apparent here.

 

[webley]

Great memories of all the Transformers looking out of their boxes at curious shoppers in the store. Maybe if we buy lots of these they'll bring back more of them!

 

[RichC]

Not to knock Thundercats, they were pretty cool, but the toys just didn't cut the mustard. They had less articulation than He-Man and were a little too big and clumsy. Oh, and their paint chipped too easily, especially around the hands when you would try to put weapons in them. Silverhawks had better toys, but that was just a plain crappy show. No guns to satisfy the PC crowd, let's just have them shoot lasers out of their shoulders! Just plain silly.

 

[Ian@CDRlabs]

Originally posted by: rimshaker
Fotrus Maximus.... someone refresh my memory again... I keep thinking about Metroplex, that big city dood, an Autobot... which i still have by the way

Fortress Maximus was the biggest Transformer toy ever made.. yes bigger even than Unicron.

http://www.tfu.info/1987/Autobot/FortressMaximus/fortressmaximus.htm

 

[batmanuel]

The weirdest thing I've ever learned as an adult about the "gestalt" transformers is that with the Stunticons, Aerialbots, Combaticons (and whatever the rescue vehicle set was) could attach to Metroplex because in the original Japanese version they were all a part of the same toy line. The Constructicons didn't have the same basic design (one big bot as the body with the smaller ones making up the legs and arms) as the other gestalts, so they couldn't. It is just weird looking at the info online about all the Microman and Diaclone and seeing how whole TF line was put together out of a bunch of distinct Japanese toy lines.

I'm glad the Microman fan pages explained why all my TF vehicle toys had those little seats inside (which fit the "driver" figure in the Microman line). That mystery bugged me for most of my childhood. SOMETHING was obviously supposed to sit in Optimus Prime's chest, but what? Finally after all these years I know, and can now die a happy man. If you are a TF fan and haven't checked out where they all came from, google "Microman" and "Diaclone". Lots of interesting stuff. Like how what became the Transformers was a later evolution of the Microman line that most of the Micronauts were taken from. I spent way too much time a few years ago going through all these sites and learning the backstories of my beloved childhood toys - it was a lot of fun.

 

[mngisdood]

They don't offer a G1 Starscream? What a rip.

 

[JoshMKiV]

Yes they have a Starscream, saw it at ToysRUs.

I'd talk about the five Jetfire's I have in my toy case but I don't want to brag. (Hey, $5 each, favorite toy from childhood)

 

[bbrontosaurus]

Originally posted by: So SimpaL

Originally posted by: MisterJackson

where's jetfire!

They have a new Jetfire out in the "Armada" series. He's all plastic and a space shuttle


I have 3 of the original Jetfire's though. One is near mint with box (These things were going for between $400-$600 about a year or so ago). My second one belongs to my son to play with, and the third has been totally disassembled for a full restoration.

My son has an equal amount of new Transformers and my old one's. He prefers playing with my old one's. I overheard the neighbor kid telling my son that he was cooler because he had the new (read "crap") Unicron. My son proceeded to ask him how many "Gen One's" he had and the kid just looked retarded.

Next up for restoration, my old Shockwave (the olny old school Transformer I know of that had a 9volt battery!).

Autobots, transform and roll out!!

What the??? The new Jetfire is a space shuttle?? I thought Sky Lynx was supposed to be the Autobot space shuttle!!

I still remember my Jetfire very vividly. These G1's do not appear as solidly built in craftsmanship as the original though. The old they-dont-build-them-like-they-use-to addage is quite apparent here.

 

[oblivion]

Originally posted by: EF9
G1 = generation 1

These will become collectors items! Buy it for $35 and keep it in mint condition for however many years and then sell it for more than what you bought it for. Mint condition unopened original Transformers go for a couple of hundred. I saw an auction on ebay for 5 original g1 transformers in mint unopened box go for over $1k, and people were bidding on it! $35 might seem a lot now but just think of it as an investment.

Some investment

You would be better off with a CD or some sort of actual money invest over a 20 year period I do believe. Plus you do not have to have transformers laying around the house that you can not open up.

 

[dcdomain]

One of my friends got me the Binaltech version (all metal... well mostly) of this sucker: Smokescreen (Impreza Rally Car) FREAKING HOT!!! But it goes for like $55 on the web... they have an RX-8 coming out too. I want the Skyline GTR34 though if they ever come out with one.

 

[aka1nas]

My bro and I picked up some cheap chinese knockoffs of all the gestalt sets on ebay for like $40. Too bad they are so shoddily made that my constructicons don't stay together when I make devastator out of them.

 

[TFM]

Hehe - Transformers Nostalgia!

I, too, had many of these ... still do. But i've lost some that i really miss (like Soundwave and the original Bumblebee) and the ones i do have (original Optimus Prime, Metroplex, the rocket launching station (can't remember the name), as well as many others) are so beat up it's not funny. Prime has one of his arms superglued in. A couple of them have lost heads. the little tank that roams around the space station doesn't run on its own anymore. And i dont' think i have any weapons anymore either. Man, i had a lot of fun with those things.

And whoever said earlier they weren't exactly cheap in the 80s was exactly right. Paying $20+ was a common thing according to my parents.

Anyway - here's to the Transformers!

 

[lzpoof]

Originally posted by: herkulease

Originally posted by: Staver

I hope they put out the Aerialbots(Superion when merged), the combaticons(Menosaur when merged) and the constructicons(Bruticus when merged)

Hmm, I thought the Combaticons formed Bruticus and the Constructicons formed Devastator. I forget what the Stunticons became. I may have to recheck my collection for strays.

Combaticons - Bruticus
Constructicons - Devastator
Stunticons - Menasor
Aerialbots - Superion
Protectobots - Defensor
Predacons - Predaking
Seacons - Predacon <oops its piranacon looked at my box.
Technobots - Computron
Terrorcons - formed someone started with an A

Abominus

 

[spanky]

are they also $30 in the store? i'm tempted to buy them, but $30 is kinda steep.

 

[phatboi]

in my childhood, i've gone through 3 JetFires. the 1st my uncle (oddly the same age as me) broke it when i was about 5. the second, i got from a friend but the arm was broken. the 3rd, i still have to this day. some bratty little cousin of mine offered me 1600 (his whole savings account) for it. i wouldn't let anyone touch it if i thought they would break this one. never know when you'll get another one.

 

[aircasper]

i wish i could get some of these old g1 transformers, but i think the mrs. would kill me. too expensive too, although i do recall they were about $12-15 back in the day, which wasn't cheap (optimus was $20). i'd really like to see some dinobots--snarl was my favorite along with jetfire, because i loved the veritech fighters in robotech. i remember wheeljack was my first transformer as a kid. too bad he turned out to be a bit of a weakling in the cartoon, except for that shoulder cannon of his. aah, to be a kid again.

hey, does anyone remember who was the yellow lamborghini? was it sideswipe? i loved that guy too. oh man, i think i may need to make a trip down to toys 'r us (do they even have these in stores) just to "look."

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: aircasper
i wish i could get some of these old g1 transformers, but i think the mrs. would kill me. too expensive too, although i do recall they were about $12-15 back in the day, which wasn't cheap (optimus was $20). i'd really like to see some dinobots--snarl was my favorite along with jetfire, because i loved the veritech fighters in robotech. i remember wheeljack was my first transformer as a kid. too bad he turned out to be a bit of a weakling in the cartoon, except for that shoulder cannon of his. aah, to be a kid again.

hey, does anyone remember who was the yellow lamborghini? was it sideswipe? i loved that guy too. oh man, i think i may need to make a trip down to toys 'r us (do they even have these in stores) just to "look."

It was Sunstreaker. Sideswipe was the red one, which transformed into a robot differently.

 

[herkulease]

Originally posted by: batmanuel
The weirdest thing I've ever learned as an adult about the "gestalt" transformers is that with the Stunticons, Aerialbots, Combaticons (and whatever the rescue vehicle set was) could attach to Metroplex because in the original Japanese version they were all a part of the same toy line. The Constructicons didn't have the same basic design (one big bot as the body with the smaller ones making up the legs and arms) as the other gestalts, so they couldn't. It is just weird looking at the info online about all the Microman and Diaclone and seeing how whole TF line was put together out of a bunch of distinct Japanese toy lines.

how? you got any links.

I'm looking at my metroplex right now. I still don't see how its possible. I know all the gesalts are interchangable except for the constructicons. Not sure on the predacons since I never got them. But how do they fit with metroplex. You're sying he was redesigned for the US version?

 

[batmanuel]

Here's some info from ScrambledCity.com with some scans from the Japanese manuals that came with the "Scramble City" line of toys that gave birth to most of the gestalts.

Check out the "Metroflex" page for more info, such as the Super Strong Metroflex. According to this page, there really was no difference between the US and Japanese versions, so it should be possible with yours. I know the Combaticons changed somewhat, though (Onslaught lost a spring loaded launcher for smaller vehicles on the truck bed).

 

[SweetSweetLeroyBrown]

hahaha who was the foolio with Go-Bots? HYahaha Go Bots are Transformer's biatches...but Cyclone was pretty cool.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Shockwave and jetfire's leg and wing

Which one of the decepticon jet clones had the jump jets and is maroon? I have that one still too but I am missing one of his wings. Sadly the rest of my transformers have disappeared over the years.