Missing G1s

Working area for reviews.

Moderators: Skyquake87, ganon578

Post Reply
User avatar
The Reverend
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 6:26 am
Location: Knoxville, TN

Missing G1s

Post by The Reverend »

Hey guys, in case anyone is interested...

I looked through the G1 section, and just for informational purposes I went through the first three waves of G1s and made a list of the ones we don't have listed. I don't own the *'d ones (well, I have KOs or reissues of some, but not originals).

Some of these have been reissued as Encore or Commemorative Series, but those reviews are elsewhere on the site.

1984
Bluestreak
Hound
Mirage
Optimus Prime
Jazz

Laserbeak
Buzzsaw

Starscream
Thundercracker

1985
Perceptor
Hoist*
Inferno*
Red Alert

Thrust*
Dirge
Ramjet*
Ransack*
Venom*
Chop Shop*
Bombshell

1986
Steeljaw
Rewind
Broadside*
Sky Lynx*
Pipes
Outback*
Hub Cap*
Ultra Magnus*

Combaticons/Bruticus*
User avatar
The Reverend
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 6:26 am
Location: Knoxville, TN

Post by The Reverend »

Oh, and humorously, I just noted Galvatron91 got the credit for the Sideswipe review I did eons ago. Not that I mind, but it was pretty funny to see.
User avatar
Blackjack
Posts: 9112
Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 1:04 pm

Post by Blackjack »

Which Sideswipe review? The G1 one? I can fix that in a jiffy, but I'd like to have confirmation first.
Cliffjumper
Posts: 32206
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am

Post by Cliffjumper »

Why do we differentiate between the reissues and the originals again? They're the same basic toy aside from minor tweaks (which could be covered in the text) and surely it makes more sense to fill the high-profile gaps rather than be bound by Wiki-esque standards? I mean, a review of TF Collection Hound has little that's going to be different to 1984 Hound; a simple caveat in the price score would do.

EDIT: I don't have Chop Shop but I had the Beetras version recently enough that I could do a review of him, I reckons. Also up for doing Hound/Mirage/Bluestreak/Jazz/Prime if we're throwing it open to reissues. Actually, Prime might be an original, I have absolutely no idea if he's vintage or the early 1990s UK reissue (which kinda goes to prove my point above).
User avatar
The Reverend
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 6:26 am
Location: Knoxville, TN

Post by The Reverend »

Blackjack wrote:Which Sideswipe review? The G1 one? I can fix that in a jiffy, but I'd like to have confirmation first.
yeah, the G1 Sideswipe.
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

Cliffjumper wrote:Why do we differentiate between the reissues and the originals again? They're the same basic toy aside from minor tweaks (which could be covered in the text) and surely it makes more sense to fill the high-profile gaps rather than be bound by Wiki-esque standards? I mean, a review of TF Collection Hound has little that's going to be different to 1984 Hound; a simple caveat in the price score would do.
I think that's something the fandom made a bigger deal about in the early 2000s when the reissues came out than it does now. IMO it makes sense to toss the reissues in with the rest of G1. I'd just tag them as Jazz (Commemorative Series) or Megatron (Encore) and be done with it. That's how we handled the Beast Wars reissues, too, just tossed them into the main index and labelled them as Rhinox (10th).

I think we talked about simplifying the way the reviews section is laid out a few months ago, and then I went and completely forgot to actually do anything about it. One of these days I actually need to get on that. :glance:
User avatar
The Reverend
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 6:26 am
Location: Knoxville, TN

Post by The Reverend »

Cliffjumper wrote:Why do we differentiate between the reissues and the originals again? They're the same basic toy aside from minor tweaks (which could be covered in the text) and surely it makes more sense to fill the high-profile gaps rather than be bound by Wiki-esque standards? I mean, a review of TF Collection Hound has little that's going to be different to 1984 Hound; a simple caveat in the price score would do.
I tend to concur. I assume we put them in separate lists because of notable issues like mold degradation (ex: Seacons). Plus there's all the recoloring-of-old-molds-as-new-characters going on, and then there's the out-of-nowhere unofficials that pop up (like the Headmaster Teens set I reviewed). But then again, I don't really agree with the general layout of the toy index in the first place. :) Heck, if nothing else, put two lists next to each other "G1" / "G1 reissues and related" so that people aren't having to circumnavigate the site like Magellan to read the damn things.
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

If you've got any other suggestions, I'm all ears. I don't like the current layout either, not at all, but reorganizing it is liable to be a lot of work so if I'm going to change it I'd like to make sure I get it right the first time.
Cliffjumper
Posts: 32206
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am

Post by Cliffjumper »

I definitely think we should have a system that allows us to file reviews under multiple headings - an Encore Jazz could go under G1, Reissue and even JTF. I get the thing about moulding problems and the like but I do think largely the core of the review would be just as applicable to a 1988 example as to a (2009?) one; it's no more different that the varying QC results there've been with some recent figures IMO. Possibly a disclaimer at the top if the review doesn't mention it?

I also think we're probably unlikely to get any new members with, say, a minty fresh original Sky Lynx or Jazz any time soon, not while the Encores are kicking around. TBH, I thought the snobbishness of TF Collection/Encore etc. not being 'real' was limited to Big Board's lunatics in the first place.

RE: the reorganising of the menu, I'm still very much in favour of streamlining the main menu (G1, G2, BW/BM, CR/RiD, UT, LAM, GEN), possibly with sub-menus then sorting them by year to make scrolling easier. Redoing the logos so they're more uniform would also make it look a lot slicker. And a search engine and tags would be superb.

And if you could move the moon a few foot to the left while you're at it that would be fab.
User avatar
The Reverend
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 6:26 am
Location: Knoxville, TN

Post by The Reverend »

Yeah, I don't see the point of sticking each review in one category only, for sure. We're not working with ENIAC here, surely we could label review headers in the same group as, say [ENCORE], [REISSUE], [KO] (for those toys which obviously are copying a previous official mold) and so on.

So you could conceivably have Jazz, Jazz [ENCORE], Jazz [KO] in the same list for the collecter's perusing. (The reason I used brackets instead of parenthesis was just to differentiate from variants in a toyline itself, like Grimlock and Grimlock (Pretender).
User avatar
The Reverend
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 6:26 am
Location: Knoxville, TN

Post by The Reverend »

Theres one other question that complicates this though, and I imagine Warcry has already thought of it. How do we list the third-party remakes which aren't based on a straight copy of the mold? (IGear's Seaspray comes to mind, along with BTS Ratbat and Headrobots Snake and stuff like that)
User avatar
Warcry
Posts: 13934
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 4:10 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

There's certainly enough third-party stuff to justify a separate index, nowadays. Most of the "Other Merchandise" list right now is KOs and 3P stuff now, in fact.
Cliffjumper wrote:I definitely think we should have a system that allows us to file reviews under multiple headings - an Encore Jazz could go under G1, Reissue and even JTF.
This seems fairly reasonable to me. The biggest stumbling block would be that the back-end database isn't set up to accommodate it, so that would have to be completely rebuilt if we were going to use the same behind-the-scenes architecture.

However, we do still have an install of MediaWiki sitting on the server somewhere, I think, from a few years ago when we were considering ways to make the toy and comic review-upload process less painful. I seem to recall it working pretty well for the handful of reviews we dummied up, and it would be a lot more flexible than the current PHP-and-SQL system that we've got going now in terms of categorizing stuff, and it would come with the search feature already built in. If we're going to do a total rethink of how we manage the toy section that might just be the way to go.
Cliffjumper wrote:And if you could move the moon a few foot to the left while you're at it that would be fab.
FOOL! The moon moves itself! This was the easiest part of your request! ;)
User avatar
The Reverend
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 6:26 am
Location: Knoxville, TN

Post by The Reverend »

Warcry wrote:There's certainly enough third-party stuff to justify a separate index, nowadays. Most of the "Other Merchandise" list right now is KOs and 3P stuff now, in fact.
Thats the thing. As it stands its INCREDIBLY hard for someone unfamiliar with the site to find that section. Its just shoved off into the "Older Lines" page's corner as a catchall, which seems awfully silly with the strong effort 3Ps are making now.
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Warcry wrote:This seems fairly reasonable to me. The biggest stumbling block would be that the back-end database isn't set up to accommodate it, so that would have to be completely rebuilt if we were going to use the same behind-the-scenes architecture.
I can think of a way of band-aiding a tag mechanism to allow multiple categories without changing any of the content files, depending on when you think might be able to look at the MW.

Plus it'd probably be fairer if I handled the hacking around with shit code I cobbled together years ago, and you got to focus on the way forward...

edit: Weekend job, hopefully, if I get a weekend this week.
Post Reply