The Energon Pub

Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:12 pm

My friend and I are debating which year G2 toyline started. He says 1992 and I say 1993. You can see an example of Grimlock in G1 colors shown here: http://www.transformerland.com/show_parent_g12.php?action=get_parent&toyid=3762&genid=2 that says 1992.
Who's right?

News Credits: 2 · Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:58 pm

Gonna say 1993. That was after I checked the Wiki here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Generation_2

I didn't collect the Gen 2 figs, but I was still collecting the comic then. Honestly, and it is explained in the wiki, the change in the toyline was a real downer.

Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:30 am

IIRC, it started earlier in Europe than the US. There's also a bit of a transitional phase - some figures were available in G1 over here, and G2 over there.

News Credits: 241 · Fri Apr 16, 2010 2:21 am

Valandar wrote:IIRC, it started earlier in Europe than the US. There's also a bit of a transitional phase - some figures were available in G1 over here, and G2 over there.

That really depends on the area you're living in. It started in 1993 in the US with G1 repaints with the occasional G.I. Joe accessory. The first new molds were actually European toys at first, repainted and sometimes renamed.
In Europe Generation 1 was extended with new subgroups like the Turbomasters, but the new faction symbols :G2BOT:

and

were first used there in 1993, even when the packaging still said "Transformers" without "Generation 2". That was because the license to the old symbols expired (Hasbro UK was considered a seperate company), so new ones were made. If you ask me, they were based on the Obliterators Pyro/Spark and Collosus/Clench, the main leaders for that year. The G1 toys from 1993, to say the Aquaspeeders and Stormtroopers, Axelerators and Skyscorchers, Lightformers and Trakkons, and the Obliterators were re-released as G2 in 1994.

News Credits: 3 · Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:09 pm

1992

I had bought G2 Slag, Jazz with the new weapons, and Prime with the trailer Christmas of 1992 from TRU. I should know because I had graduated from high school that year.

Thu May 13, 2010 7:47 pm

Thanks everyone. I am impressed with your knowledge.

News Credits: 3649 · Thu May 13, 2010 8:13 pm

Random wrote:Gonna say 1993. That was after I checked the Wiki here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Generation_2

I didn't collect the Gen 2 figs, but I was still collecting the comic then. Honestly, and it is explained in the wiki, the change in the toyline was a real downer.

I believe they're 1993 figures but they started showing up in U.S. stores prior to Christmas 1992 which was the first time I saw them. I bought my sister her first Transformer that year for Christmas which was Jazz.

News Credits: 668 · Thu May 13, 2010 8:16 pm

1992. I remember buying Devastator, complete, for the first time. I also remember finding orange and yellow ones and wanting the yellow (what an idiot I am...) and then '93 was when they really started to hit.

But yeah, '92.