History of Transformers - 1984 | Year One: G1 Toys, Cartoon, and More

Vintage toy history! Were you a fan of Transformers figures and their original Saturday morning cartoon stuff? What did you collect? Autobots or Decepticons? Hope you enjoy my documentary style summary and review / overview, where you can learn anything from basics to advanced stuff about Transformers here.
Support my work on Patreon:
/ toykennections
Here is the history from my personal perspective of the old school Generation 1 / G1 vintage Transformers action figures. Many photos are from my own G1 collection display.
Witness the discussion from toy to media form of the Ark crew of Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Jazz, Wheeljack, and other favorites! Also the Decepticons of Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream and the rest of the Nemesis crew.
Chapters:
0:20 Pop Culture in 1984
1:05 The Toy Industry in 1984
4:25 The Transformers begin
5:40 Brief overview of DIACLONE and MICROMAN / MICROCHANGE
6:55 The Opening year of Transformers, 1984 original year
7:55 Gobots tries to take over
8:40 Reissues for Autobots and Decepticons
9:50 Optimus Prime and his variants as well as Peter Cullen the voice actor
11:10 Ironhide the bodyguard
11:30 Ratchet the medic and 3rd party head accessories
11:55 Bluestreak aka Silverstreak and his blue diaclone
12:49 Hound the scout and his holograms!
13:25 Jazz the porsche
13:48 Mirage the invisible spy
14:15 Prowl the military and police strategist
14:31 Sunstreaker - Sideswipe - our fast lamborghini racers!
14:53 Wheeljack the mechanic and repair bot
15:15 Trailbreaker and his force field
15:35 Autobot G1 minibots
15:45 Bumblebee - his friend Spike, and espionnage
16:02 Brawn the grunt
16:12 Windcharger and his magnetic field
16:22 Huffer the pessimist
16:36 Gears the 4x4 pickup
16:50 Cliffjumper and his bravery
17:40 The Evil Decepticons - the bad guys
18:36 Megatron - his fusion cannon - Frank Welker in voice acting
19:28 Starscream the air commander and traitor
20:06 Seekers - Thundercracker and Skywarp jets
20:28 Soundwave the communications officer
20:45 Cassettes - Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage
21:38 Figures for LATER years and 1985 - Shockwave, Insecticons, Jetfire, and later mailaway Reflector
22:03 Wrap-up and our favorite characters
Special thanks to the Patreon supporters:
- Troy Kryvak
- Mark Olsson
- GenXToysGeek[Jody]
- Peter Johnny
- Stephen Plett
- Serpentorslair.com (Adam)
- Sgt Slaughter's Slaughterhouse
- Todd MacKenzie
- Ryan Sweeney
- Scuba Pete
#g1transformers #vintagetransformers #optimusprime #morethanmeetstheeye #megatron #originaltransformers #vintagetoys #80scartoons

Пікірлер: 40

  • @ToyKennections
    @ToyKennections2 жыл бұрын

    Megatron's abs/chest arent transformed correctly lol. It's what I get for not paying attention! 😆😆 Comment pinned in case anyone else notices.

  • @bobahicks
    @bobahicks2 жыл бұрын

    Great overview of the 84 crew 👍 Starscream was my favourite Decepticon and Optimus Prime my favourite Autobot when I first discovered Transformers.

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    1984 forever!

  • @Steven-ip8xo
    @Steven-ip8xo2 жыл бұрын

    Great video but also outstanding overview of the 1984 G1 crew, my favorite Autobots are 1.Optimus Prime and 2.Bumblebee, and my favorite Decepticons are 1.Megatron, 2.StarScream and 3.Soundwave also I'm looking forward to the next video as well,also thank you for sharing Ken keep up the good work and let's transform and Roll Out 😀😊👍🦸

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    I appreciate all the support Steven. These are some iconic names you listed. Roll out!

  • @visionop8
    @visionop82 жыл бұрын

    I was 4 years old and my first was Windcharger and my sister got Bumblebee. I was SO jealous of her's because it had a great head sculpt and rubber wheels! Mom solved that dilemma in a few weeks with Skywarp. I never stopped collecting them and today me and my wife both collect them. She has MP 45 Bumblebee. Again, I'm a little bit jealous. Thanks for this video man! This looks like a lot of hard work and it's amazing.

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    Sounds like a great childhood story!

  • @JONNYSORENSEN_AU
    @JONNYSORENSEN_AU Жыл бұрын

    A well put together video thanks Ken. In addition to his brother, for anyone that watched classic westerns and Transformers the intentional John Wayne style voice delivery, dialogue and mannerisms was a clear influence/homage. And for more minutaue, Ratchet was written as the first female Transformer (from the nurse in One flew over the Cuckoos Nest) the legacy of which is shown in the French only toy tie in comics and shown / documented over on Maz's TF-1 blog. 😂 the Marvel comic showed the intended name of the cassette bots, it was the animated series staff that first accidentally swapped them around. I grew up with the show and never saw the comics till decades later, so,i go with in-accurate but familiar toon names 😅 only bots i had a kid were Streetwise, Doublecross and Beachcomber that i still have now. They xmas/bday gifts. TF were super expensive in NZ so never had any more back then.

  • @vassa1972
    @vassa19722 жыл бұрын

    In '84 I was 12 years old and loved the original g1 transformers series and toys

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    They are so timeless. Glad you got to have fun with them Peter.

  • @andrewgrant2990
    @andrewgrant2990 Жыл бұрын

    This was an awesome- thanks for doing & posting it! A great delivery & mix of info combining the cartoon & toys. I am hoping to get some reissues (box format) to round out a few holes. As for a favorite, that's hard to say as it could be Hound, Optimus or Soundwave w/ Ravage. I loved that the classics came with 2 of the 3 I named.

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    Жыл бұрын

    Some good favorites indeed! Thx for the comment.

  • @corbralang1351
    @corbralang13512 жыл бұрын

    Great video! Soundwave was my childhood G1!

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    He's always a classic choice

  • @impossiblepie
    @impossiblepie2 жыл бұрын

    Awesome video Ken! Jazz and Devastator.

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    🤜🤛

  • @SpeekyGeeky
    @SpeekyGeeky2 жыл бұрын

    Oh heck yeah! Love this, great job very interesting and educational!

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hey man! Glad you enjoyed. Chat soon 😎

  • @peppermintspacecapsule9898
    @peppermintspacecapsule98982 жыл бұрын

    For Christmas in 1984, I had two particular stocking-fillers that were my first ever Transformers. The second was RED BUMBLEBEE... but the first was HUFFER! He was my favourite. It seems that Transformers killed him off (even though that never happened in the movie)..., but GoBots brought him back... as Road Ranger! (So I'm a GoBot now!) That's cool though, I was into GoBots before I got into Transformers, and in 2004 I was lucky enough to pick up the Takara eHobby G1 GoBots set that included ROAD RANGER HUFFER! Who knew the price of that set would skyrocket in the years since???

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    Ah nice you had a Red Bumblebee too! We'll have to chat as i am not familiar with Gobots Huffer.

  • @peppermintspacecapsule9898

    @peppermintspacecapsule9898

    2 жыл бұрын

    He's the exact same mold as the 1984 HUFFER (which I still have! 😊 ) but black and orange instead of orange and indigo. He has red windshields too! All of the eHobby Takara G1 GoBots were given the names and personas of characters from the 1980s GoBots. Road Ranger, often seen in the CHALLENGE OF THE GOBOTS cartoon, was a red and blue lorry, so it seemed natural for him to take over the Huffer mold, alongside Pathfinder, Bug Bite, Bad Boy, Treads, and Small Foot; the SPATIOTEMPORAL CHALLENGERS!

  • @visionop8

    @visionop8

    2 жыл бұрын

    Is that the one the cool kids call Bumblejumper?

  • @peppermintspacecapsule9898

    @peppermintspacecapsule9898

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@visionop8 - The Red Bumblebee? Yes, he is... but the *G1 Familia 1500XG* and the *Yellow Cliffjumper* also get called Bumblejumper sometimes too! 😆

  • @treasuresfortrigger915
    @treasuresfortrigger9152 жыл бұрын

    Great video Ken! Totally agree on the reissues, the ability to open up and enjoy the thrill applying the stickers etc on a good condition figure just can’t really be done now with the original G1s unless you want to remortgage your house 💰

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thx for watching Phil!

  • @xazylsclubhouse
    @xazylsclubhouse2 жыл бұрын

    Hound was my favourite. Originally featured heavily as the intended companion to Spike and then later replaced by Bumblebee in the companion roll, I was disappointed to see he had fallen to basically a side character and then a background character

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    I noticed this too. He's always a great choice.

  • @andrewgrant2990

    @andrewgrant2990

    Жыл бұрын

    Now if only Hound could be driven by Sgt. Slaughter! And yes it was a shame to see him pushed aside as he had such awesome potential & was a favorite of many!

  • @xazylsclubhouse

    @xazylsclubhouse

    Жыл бұрын

    @@andrewgrant2990 🍻 Totally agree mate

  • @Scorpions-Heart
    @Scorpions-Heart2 жыл бұрын

    First Transformers toy I ever got was Soundwave in Christmas '84, while the oldest surviving piece in my collection is the Optimus Prime I got in Christmas of '85. Sadly, I didn't have that many from the '84 or '85 assortments back then. As for favorite TFs from G1... first is a four-way tie among Optimus, Megatron, Soundwave, and Grimlock, whom I consider my "Four Horsemen". Next down is another four-way tie with Bumblebee, Starscream, Shockwave, and Jetfire/Skyfire. And rounding out my top 20 (in no particular order): Jazz, Prowl, Mirage, Perceptor, Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Ravage, Laserbeak, Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Reflector, and Cyclonus. (And if I start going into honorable mentions, we'll be here forever...!)

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    All good choices. Great to see you here Clive! I like how you chose "Four Horsemen" and not "Mount Rushmore" in this case.

  • @nathanbarger3449
    @nathanbarger34498 ай бұрын

    I had heard the term, that go bots were the poor kids transformers.

  • @gazz_N7
    @gazz_N72 жыл бұрын

    Great video! Very thorough recap of the 84's cast. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the toy line, mainly a Joe's and Legos kid back then, I did love the cartoon. Sadly given the choice at the store I'd always go with Joe's, but doesn't mean I didn't have a few. My favorite Autobots would be Jazz, Grimlock and Hound. Jazz mainly because I'd love Porches as a kid, and heck still do. Grimlock, I know he's not an '84, but he's a dinosaur and to kid me that meant he was Godzilla 😃! Hound though, overall the favorite. He was an Army jeep, and that just related him to GI Joe for me, and overall super cool! As for the badies, the Decepticons, Shockwave was the favorite, I just like his robot form, Frenzy and Rumble as well. I thought those two were cool, even though they were bad guys, they never seemed to be afraid of the bigger bots around them, if I remember correctly, plus Frenzy look cool with his black and red color scheme, and Rumble, well at least in the cartoon could do some major damage. Thanks for another outstanding video!! Jump was my favorite as well, VH and Huey Lewis and the News, two of the best 80's bands ever!! See you in the next one!

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    Very insightful comment! Also glad to see you on the live chats of fellow channels recently (saw your IG Follow as well). Yes - JUMP is a great song, tho a few years later I feel VH outdid themselves with "Right Now." Much love for the 1984 G1 cast! Grimlock "sorta" counts for cartoon reasons even if his toy wasn't out then yet.

  • @gazz_N7

    @gazz_N7

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@ToyKennections Yes, "Right Now" is an epic song. They have endless great songs in their catalog. Yup, found you IG. You have a cool channel, and we seem to round around in the same circles. 😃

  • @BuggieSmalls
    @BuggieSmalls2 жыл бұрын

    Michael Mercy would be proud

  • @k-dawgbroadcasting5444
    @k-dawgbroadcasting54442 жыл бұрын

    Do you own any GoBots, Ken? Are you planning on a history of them in a video? Not my favorite line by far, but interesting in their own right..

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    Hey bud. No I don't own any gobots presently. Currently no plans for a history video but will see what changes over the years. Could be an interesting idea

  • @ThatC0nGuy
    @ThatC0nGuy2 жыл бұрын

    Hey, should i get a G1 reissue Astrotrain, it's 70% off!

  • @ToyKennections

    @ToyKennections

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thats a big sale price!