The Energon Pub

Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:36 pm

Now that God Fire Convoy(albeit recalled) and Unicron have been given the Encore reissue treatment, does it mean that the toys in the lines associated with them are now considered vintage toys? Or do they still need a few years more to be in that level?

News Credits: 226 · Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:39 pm

An interesting question ...

Looking at cars, I saw them defined as "vintage being anything before 1950 while anything after that up to 2000 as classic".

So in terms of Transformers, G1/G2 I would consider "vintage" with BW/BM/RiD/AEC as "classic" and then from Generations/Classics onward as "modern"

MyFigureCollection.net collection · Wed Jul 11, 2018 10:42 pm

We fans were calling G1 vintage in 2000 and Hasbro themselves coined "Classics" in 2006 so I guess if you consider 15+ years vintage then sure.

Emerje

News Credits: 60 · Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:45 pm

Ebonsaber wrote:Now that God Fire Convoy(albeit recalled) and Unicron have been given the Encore reissue treatment, does it mean that the toys in the lines associated with them are now considered vintage toys? Or do they still need a few years more to be in that level?

Usually 50 years old. RID is like 18 years old. Barely even the 20 year mark ( I'm quoting this https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/age-defining-an-130615 )

News Credits: 22 · Thu Jul 12, 2018 1:21 am

I don't think they're there yet. RiD is barely 18 years old, and the UT stuff is 16-12 years old, if I remember correctly. I would think "vintage" would have to be at least 25 years old, while "classic" would be at least 20 years old. Anything under that is just a toy.

But since we're throwing around labels, how about "antique?" What age would qualify for that? Diaclones maybe? They're 35 years old by now.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · Thu Jul 12, 2018 6:30 am

Rodimus Prime wrote:But since we're throwing around labels, how about "antique?" What age would qualify for that? Diaclones maybe? They're 35 years old by now.

Antiques are typically defined as being 100+ years old.

Vintage doesn't really have a defined date, it's simply used to describe something old or original.

Emerje

News Credits: 4877 · Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:00 am

Ebonsaber wrote:Now that God Fire Convoy(albeit recalled) and Unicron have been given the Encore reissue treatment, does it mean that the toys in the lines associated with them are now considered vintage toys? Or do they still need a few years more to be in that level?

I would definitely consider Car Robots (RID) as vintage. Not Armada, since the UT trilogy is still aprt of the modern landscape, but Car Robots truly feels like a remnant of an older era, and using the ball joint technology from Beast Wars as opposed to Armada which dials back the articulation and introduces the line wide gimmick style which is an idea still happening today.

Plus, just looking at prices, RID feels way more vintage than anything after it. Some of its toys are as pricey as G1.

News Credits: 33 · Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:10 am

I'll pick up on William-james, here - I feel that RID has achieved that "vintage" status. Not just because of its age, but because when looked back at the landscape of Transformers toys - it feels like the end of an era started with late G2 and through BW and BM. The lessons learned and cues taken from earlier lines like G1 to me - all tie up into RID. The articulation of BeastWars, with the realistic vehicle modes of G1 are then squished into something new, but familar. Armada, which comes straight after "feels" entirely new and much more modern.

I think we've already seen the next sea-change, though. The pretooling, extensive reshells and move into more intelligent, elegant transformations feels like a different world from the more workmanlike, clunky Armada figures.

News Credits: 14 · Thu Jul 12, 2018 11:17 am

R.I.D is now pretty much Vintage.

Prices are escalating quickly, and finding complete and in good shape specimens is getting harder and harder. Much like what was happening with G1 at the time of R.I.D.

Armada is still fairly easy to come by at accessible prices, and are less prone to be missing parts.

R.I.D tends to have a lot of stuff missing.

News Credits: 129 · Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:12 pm

I think the application of terms in this discussion is interesting.

I haven't attempted to buy anything of RiD in a while, but prices appear to have become somewhat constant when I've sold things from that line.

Armada isn't really entering into the realm of hard to get/obtain with the exception of a small set of characters. On the other hand, it's Micron Legend counterpart is starting to become quite difficult to track down. Some of the larger figure sell for significant prices now.

News Credits: 656 · Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:35 pm

Here is the breakdown of how these terms are generally accepted for pretty much everything else you could collect in the US, unsure if this would apply to other English speaking countries:

Vintage: 20 years old or more. So most of Beast Wars is vintage and that's the dividing line right now.

Antique: 100 years old or more (does not apply to cars)

Ancient: available at Hobby Lobby