The Energon Pub

should i collect classics first or g1?

That depends, are you feeling nostalgic and want to acquire figures you may have had as a kid?

Or do you want updated versions of the characters you may have seen on TV, with better articulation, and slightly more complex transformations?

Price wise, depending on the figure you may pay more for a classics one than a G1 Encore re-issue of the same character.

If you want figures that are actually G1, and nor re-issues, then that is likely going to be more expensive.

Also there are obviously less figures to buy in the Classics line than in G1.

What he said^ is good advice, however, as you asked which you should collect first that suggests you want to collect both. If that is so, do you need to concentrate on one line? After all, collecting ALL the G1s would take years.

Why not by from both at the same time? In that case you could by the Classics and G1 version of the same character and display them together.

Personally, I'm more a G1 fan but why not just buy what you like the look of from either line. I wasn't a fan of Classics starscream but Acid Storm and ramjet won me over.

I do feel the Diaclones, while lacking in articulation, come across more realistic with the metal and realistic alt modes.

As I said though, just go with what you think is cool, from either line.

fowlowl2626 wrote:should i collect classics first or g1?

How much money you willing to spend? Are you going to try to get them all? The rabbit hole is deep.

There are fewer Classics and they are great renditions of familiar characters. A Classic collection will be cheaper than a full G1. Then you will have fun choices such as 'Henkei or Hasbro?' or 'which figure from Armada/Energon/Cybertron etc... would fit in as a Classic figure?'

Of course, G1 has some great figures (especially the rarer Japanese figures such as Star Saber, Victory Leo, Deszaras etc...).

G1: more nostalgia, but more expensive; figures are poorly articulated and not good for posing

Classics: less nostalgia, but less expensive: figures have more articulation and are good for posing

So what is nostalgia worth to you?

For me, it's enough that I have some of my original G1 toys, and occasionally I get commemorative re-issues like the recent Insecticons, Perceptor, and Soundwave. I'd rather spend most of my TF budget on newer toys.

Look, I am in love with the G1 figures and the G1 characters as much as anybody can be. But I'm going to be honest here, the G1 toys are garbage compared to todays toys. The nostalgia factor will always be there for me but the more figures I buy from newer lines the more I realize just how bad those toys were when I was a kid. Sure I loved them back then but 20 years later I can look at them with a less biased eye. The likenesses were terrible and posability was terrible. The technology is just far more advanced and the result of that is far superior figures.

You can answer your own question by asking yourself another question: what is your goals concerning your collection? If you are keeping your figures MIB or you want to have a collection to brag about to forums or at conventions the go with G1. If you want a collection that actually looks good on display, that you can have fun posing and staging then go with classics.

For me, I'm a new toy guy. I prefer to change the look of my display shelf from time to time by reposing all of my much more articulated newer figures. I will never deny the "classic-ness" or the impact that the G1 toys had. But honestly there is only so much you can do with them. You can keep them in the box. Or you can display them in vehicle mode or in of the two possible poses that each one had in robot mode.