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With the anniversary coming up, and the all but confirmed Commnander Class G1 Prime which no doubt will be the basis for the confirmed but as of yet unseen Commander class studio series 1986 Ultra Magnus, I though it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane of what we have seen of G1 Prime in the past.

While working on the Collection Manager, I found out the G1 mold has apparently seen 28 releases, since the first one in 1984. There may be more, if you consider separate country's releases plus G2 and the Ultra Magnus uses of the cab which I am counting separately. No doubt there may be some obscure ones not listed in TFu.info or TfWiki so far, but in general 28 uses of G1 Prime.

We are fairly sure to get a 29th release of G1 Prime next year, I doubt Hasbro would pass up the opportunity of releasing him again in some way maybe even in a set with other G1 Primes?

Notable releases:
There was the Good Bye Convoy set with Red Alert and Mirage celebrating his death on the movie. A bit dark, but hey, it was Japan.


He saw several giftset releases in Japan which never made it to the west, with Megatron, other autobots and even other versions of himself such as Action Master Prime (minus his truck accessory).


There are of course the iPod dock releases which replace his trailer with a set of speakers and 30pin connector dock for iPods / iPhones of the time.
The many Pepsi versions, and the unending releases of him alone celebrating different anniversaries.

The Chronicle Release in 2011 with Dark of the Moon deluxe Prime and a completely new trailer.

and the 2019 release with BB Optimus Prime, though packaged separately in matching G1 styled boxes, were sold together.


You can see the full list at Optimus Prime(1984)-TFSearch

What do you expect we'll see in 2024? A release with Earthrise Prime? A release on his own, with a blu-ray with the cartoon episodes?

Will you buy G1 Prime again in 2024?

I never had a G1 Prime before, so maybe.

Overcracker wrote:With the anniversary coming up, and the all but confirmed Commnander Class G1 Prime which no doubt will be the basis for the confirmed but as of yet unseen Commander class studio series 1986 Ultra Magnus, I though it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane of what we have seen of G1 Prime in the past.

The leakers say Ultra Magnus wont have a white Prime bot mode so there wont be any sharing there.

What do you expect we'll see in 2024? A release with Earthrise Prime? A release on his own, with a blu-ray with the cartoon episodes?

Will you buy G1 Prime again in 2024?

Well we already have MP-44S in toy colors for next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro or TT release the Earthrise figure in toy colors as well with tampographs.

I also wouldn't be surprised if they do more straight G1 reissues at Walmart after they've had their fill of the movie repaints. Maybe even some 2 packs pairing things like G1 Bumblebee with Netflix Bumblebee in toy colors. But it's also not just G1, I could see them doing reissued character selections from all over the franchise.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Overcracker wrote:With the anniversary coming up, and the all but confirmed Commnander Class G1 Prime which no doubt will be the basis for the confirmed but as of yet unseen Commander class studio series 1986 Ultra Magnus, I though it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane of what we have seen of G1 Prime in the past.

The leakers say Ultra Magnus wont have a white Prime bot mode so there wont be any sharing there.

What do you expect we'll see in 2024? A release with Earthrise Prime? A release on his own, with a blu-ray with the cartoon episodes?

Will you buy G1 Prime again in 2024?

Well we already have MP-44S in toy colors for next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro or TT release the Earthrise figure in toy colors as well with tampographs.

I also wouldn't be surprised if they do more straight G1 reissues at Walmart after they've had their fill of the movie repaints. Maybe even some 2 packs pairing things like G1 Bumblebee with Netflix Bumblebee in toy colors. But it's also not just G1, I could see them doing reissued character selections from all over the franchise.

Emerje

I just don't see where the Commander Class price can go to without an inner white prime. combiner Wars Magnus proved even Leader Class Price was more than enough for that. Unless they stuff the box with a ton of accessories or make him inaccurately large, I just can't see where they'd need all that budget.

Overcracker wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Overcracker wrote:With the anniversary coming up, and the all but confirmed Commnander Class G1 Prime which no doubt will be the basis for the confirmed but as of yet unseen Commander class studio series 1986 Ultra Magnus, I though it would be fun to take a stroll down memory lane of what we have seen of G1 Prime in the past.

The leakers say Ultra Magnus wont have a white Prime bot mode so there wont be any sharing there.

What do you expect we'll see in 2024? A release with Earthrise Prime? A release on his own, with a blu-ray with the cartoon episodes?

Will you buy G1 Prime again in 2024?

Well we already have MP-44S in toy colors for next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro or TT release the Earthrise figure in toy colors as well with tampographs.

I also wouldn't be surprised if they do more straight G1 reissues at Walmart after they've had their fill of the movie repaints. Maybe even some 2 packs pairing things like G1 Bumblebee with Netflix Bumblebee in toy colors. But it's also not just G1, I could see them doing reissued character selections from all over the franchise.

Emerje

I just don't see where the Commander Class price can go to without an inner white prime. combiner Wars Magnus proved even Leader Class Price was more than enough for that. Unless they stuff the box with a ton of accessories or make him inaccurately large, I just can't see where they'd need all that budget.

Totally agree, though some suggest he might be a working car carrier therefore needing the price point to be complex enough to be both a big empty box and a big robot. Basically a literal "mini Masterpiece".

Emerje

I'm happy with the new years Prime with Action master and blue windows. It's like bread but with nowt taken owt.
But I'm guessing more walmart reissues like the optimus with no trialer that only remove stuff rather than one on one reissues or improvements

If Hasbro wants to hire some of the weijang staff and do retconned/improved molds for G1 dinobots reissues, then it's something I'd be there for, to replace my KOs or at least add to them...plus hasbro likes repaints, they could do them every which splash of paint they wanted to.


i'd like a proper action master reissue set with the truck (or do it GI joe X Transformers style and actually give the vehicles a bot mode ) mainly because I still havent got around to painting up a TR megatron as the tank to go with toyhax labelled voyager TR Optimus.

since toys have got more generationsish, a nice throwback to multiple shows would be great too, even if it was just a buzzworthy release in the style of creatures collide/troop builders and repacks of figures already released.

So, with legacy giving us new versions of old characters, comparisons inevitably ensue.

Do 11 year toys hold up to their current versions?

Let’s take a look at Legacy and Prime Bulkhead. This is the regular release version, jot the First Edition, which is objectively better.

Both both have somewhat awkward transformations.
But yes, 11 years gives us, not only wrist swivels, which the original does not have, giving him gorilla curling arms only. But ankle tilts and a waist swivel.

As cool as the light up wrecking ball was on the original, 11 years of toy tech does make noticeable diffrence.





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Overcracker wrote:So, with legacy giving us new versions of old characters, comparisons inevitably ensue.

Do 11 year toys hold up to their current versions?

Let’s take a look at Legacy and Prime Bulkhead. This is the regular release version, jot the First Edition, which is objectively better.

Both both have somewhat awkward transformations.
But yes, 11 years gives us, not only wrist swivels, which the original does not have, giving him gorilla curling arms only. But ankle tilts and a waist swivel.

As cool as the light up wrecking ball was on the original, 11 years of toy tech does make noticeable diffrence.

I'll give you one new thing that has become a standard in current Deluxe-and-up toys: ankle tilts.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

Overcracker wrote:So, with legacy giving us new versions of old characters, comparisons inevitably ensue.

Do 11 year toys hold up to their current versions?

Let’s take a look at Legacy and Prime Bulkhead. This is the regular release version, jot the First Edition, which is objectively better.

Both both have somewhat awkward transformations.
But yes, 11 years gives us, not only wrist swivels, which the original does not have, giving him gorilla curling arms only. But ankle tilts and a waist swivel.

As cool as the light up wrecking ball was on the original, 11 years of toy tech does make noticeable diffrence.

I'll give you one new thing that has become a standard in current Deluxe-and-up toys: ankle tilts.

Yup. Even though OG’s feet are molded at a tilted angle, actual ankle tits add a lot to posing and stability.

40 years of Optimus Prime:

To my Decepticon-oriented brain module, audio-receptors, and optics, this translates to "40 years of Megatron" and It. Is. Glorious. XD

Unfortunately, I doubt Hasbro will re-issue anything of him unless it is Beast Wars or another series. I always felt it would be nice to get a G2 Megatron figure in G1 colors at least as part of a re-issue. I mean they can't exactly re-issue the G1 figure because the "spaceship mode" and "submarine mode" descriptors don't exactly work well there.

Tyrannacon wrote:To my Decepticon-oriented brain module, audio-receptors, and optics, this translates to "40 years of Megatron" and It. Is. Glorious. XD

Unfortunately, I doubt Hasbro will re-issue anything of him unless it is Beast Wars or another series. I always felt it would be nice to get a G2 Megatron figure in G1 colors at least as part of a re-issue. I mean they can't exactly re-issue the G1 figure because the "spaceship mode" and "submarine mode" descriptors don't exactly work well there.

True. But unlike Prime, Megatron has had tons of different alt modes and color schemes. Except for the few times Prime has been a sports car, he's mostly been a red and blue truck.

For Megs, I think we can expect a Tank a la Siege, but with a more accurate robot mode for the 40th anniversary.


As for re-issues, while Prime has seen a boatload, Megs is lagging behind. We did get Transmetal II Megs, and Armada Megs. WFC Megs is coming,

But I doubt will see a re-issue or even a remake of R.I.D 2001, or his car mode from Cybertron or the Spider Head from Beast Machines. We did get a cheap attempt at Energon in the Selects shattered Glass release.

Would we see Animated's chopper mode redone? Maybe, Earthspark got a similar alt mode to that.
Would we see the weird Prime spaceship, probably not.

The last gun mode Megs we got, Masterpiece not withstanding., was the Reveal the Shield Legends gun.


Expect a G1 colored tank Megs for next year. Probably leader class.

I wouldn't mind another leader-class G1-colored tank for Megatron, personally, I was a fan of the Combiner Wars G1 Megatron as he was and has been my go-to for Megatron figures for a while now. The criticisms that are leveled at it have been pretty fair in regards to the simplistic transformation scheme, the fact the fusion cannon is stuck to his arm, the aspect of the extending barrel on the cannon that still sticks out with the missile, the lack of ankle tilts, and lack of knees that come up in terms of pose-ability/articulation arguments. The things that do it for me are the head sculpt and I admit, I'm a sucker for those "working treads" that he has.

So I'm open to what Hasbro can do with the Siege mold as they did surprise me with the recent two-pack with Miner Megatron and Senator Ratbat. I haven't gotten it yet, but I did find the way they modified Miner Megatron to fit so well in that mold to be interesting in the engineering sense.

40 years…
The Datsun molds…
Who did the update better?

Classics, gummy paint and dirty translucent plastic aside,

Prime Somekscreen?

The current Earthrise Datsun mold?

Interestingly all 3 do very similar things, and have the robot parts in similar locations.

Honestly I think the current one is still the better one.

Both the Classics and Prime molds are super convoluted in how the work, and don’t end up capturing Prowl / Streak / Smoke

Prime is so fiddly, and Classics just has some awkward decisions like the eternally downward looking head.

I remember people loving the Universe 2 mold a lot when it came out. I tried, but couldn't like it. The doors pop off and the head is kinda awkward. And I just can't forgive the paint. It's so odd that they just couldn't get that right for this one mold. And the legs have this weird balljoint at the hip that's hard to describe. Maybe I'm misremembering; it's been a while. Never got the Prime mold. ER wins almost by default.

Smokescreen prime would be the best car if it didnt have the middle split but it's about as datsurny as the CW car is (which along with TF gos Kenzan is also a better car than ER). Classics still has the cthru lights and trying to look like a car going for it but not much else. ERs still a bit too thin and looks like it is lacking something, it def looks more like a datsun to the others but is the worst car of the bunch. Not really been an update to the G1 other than than the MP to me. Maybe 50 years down the line.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I remember people loving the Universe 2 mold a lot when it came out. I tried, but couldn't like it. The doors pop off and the head is kinda awkward. And I just can't forgive the paint. It's so odd that they just couldn't get that right for this one mold. And the legs have this weird balljoint at the hip that's hard to describe. Maybe I'm misremembering; it's been a while. Never got the Prime mold. ER wins almost by default.

I'm pretty sure they were more complains than praises for classics / universe mold. With the really sticky and somewhat stinky white paint, the dirty looking glass, the awkward transformation, (those side panels on ball joints still a pain to transform around the arms)) and the skeletal look of the robot, it was not a good update even back then.



Unlike the Sideswipe / Sunstreaker mold, which still holds up today and not only is it a really good toy, it actually gives you two fairly distinct robot modes.

Prime manages a good looking car mode, even if it's not a Datusn per-se, it does at least try to evoke the 2010's Nissan Fairlady Z GT300 which is a fair updated model to the Datsun Fairlady from the 80's.

blackeyedprime wrote:Smokescreen prime would be the best car if it didnt have the middle split but it's about as datsurny as the CW car is (which along with TF gos Kenzan is also a better car than ER). Classics still has the cthru lights and trying to look like a car going for it but not much else. ERs still a bit too thin and looks like it is lacking something, it def looks more like a datsun to the others but is the worst car of the bunch. Not really been an update to the G1 other than than the MP to me. Maybe 50 years down the line.

ER just tries to evoke the original thin Datsun as it was, and I think it works. The original Datsun was fairly thin.

Masterpiece is kind of an unfair comparison, since it's using the actual Fairlady Z body, so no.

The Universe 2008 Datsun mold is pretty ok sticky paint aside IMO (gotta find some proper ones one of these days), considering the whole "updating G1 designs" was barely coming out of its infancy after Classics and Alternators/Binaltech. Questionable decisions were par of the course for the line considering Galvatron being downsized from Voyager and not simplifying it enough, Ironhide's head, Hot Shot...

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:The Universe 2008 Datsun mold is pretty ok sticky paint aside IMO (gotta find some proper ones one of these days), considering the whole "updating G1 designs" was barely coming out of its infancy after Classics and Alternators/Binaltech. Questionable decisions were par of the course for the line considering Galvatron being downsized from Voyager and not simplifying it enough, Ironhide's head, Hot Shot...

alternators is kind of interesting thing there, because its as far as I remember the only time we have gotten all the Streaks, Smoke and Prowl, and they aren't actually the same mold.

Streak and Smoke used the Subaru Impreza mold, while Prowl was the Acura RSX.

Ohh, yeah those 3....

Galvatron is an entire post unto himself, with those vestigial legs, and awkward robot mode and transformation...


Ironhide...


I think its more egregious issue is the panely mess the alt mode is.


Hot Shot, I think was a casualty of his own design, but was he really that terrible? The other 2 have an entirely different level of bad rep.


If anybody owns all 3 Hot Shots, a comparison shot would be nice. I'm sure Ryan would do it, when he gets around to a gallery for Legacy.

Ironhide has a molding issue with the head panel in that it's blocked from looking straight ahead. Hot Shot has some clearance issues with his panels, plus the weapons that came with the Henkei version and Dion were omitted and the panels adjusted, so they get even more in the way.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Ironhide has a molding issue with the head panel in that it's blocked from looking straight ahead. Hot Shot has some clearance issues with his panels, plus the weapons that came with the Henkei version and Dion were omitted and the panels adjusted, so they get even more in the way.

Ahhh, I see, thanks.

U2 Ironhide had issues, but he was fun to transform. Glad we've moved on from him, though. On the fence on the dead version right now (I had him preordered before, but cancelled).

On U2: when I have some room I should break out U2 Powerglide to put him beside my other TFs. Just because of how out of place he is.