G2 Faction Emblem Bruhaha

[LordGigaIce]

So this is a special kind of glandular obsession but hey, that's what we do here.

I've always loved faction symbols. I think they're a huge part of the charm of the franchise, and I think they're a reason why it became so memorable.
It's a longstanding belief in child psychology that boys need tribes, groups to feel they belong to. This can manifest in deeper forms, such as close friend groups or groups centred around specific deep interests or beliefs or cultural identities, or it can manifest in superficial but fun ways, and the Transformers faction emblems play into the latter.
The vast majority of Transformers fans, at least in the line's formative years, were young boys, and the line gave you a "tribe." You could be a fan of the Autobots or Decepticons, compete with a spiffy logo.

Or to strip it down to its most basic explanation- they just look fricken sweet, bro.

To me, a faction symbol is something I'm rather OCD about with the franchise. I always try to find a spot for one if a figure doesn't have one.

This has led me to the G2 clusterf**k. Where some G2 releases had the new faction symbols Hasbro designed for the line, others kept the G1 symbols, and others didn't have either. The last group is important and I'll get to that at the end...

Anyway this came up amongst myself and a few of my friends in the fandom. Someone was complaining that the G2 Dinobot releases from AotP used the G1 symbols. I explained that's actually accurate to the G2 Dinobot releases and that got me thinking about why some G2 releases used the G1 faction symbols. I had a theory so being insane I did a thing...

***G2 YEAR ONE***

Constructicons (yellow)- G1 moulds, G1 symbols
Inferno- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Jazz- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Sideswipe- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Grimlock- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Slag- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Snarl- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Ramjet- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Starscream- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Optimus Prime- G1 mould, G1 symbols

***G2 YEAR TWO***

Beachcomber- G1 mould, no faction symbols
Bumblebee- G1 mould, no faction symbols
Hubcap- G1 mould, no faction symbols
Seaspray- G1 mould, no faction symbols
Constructicons (orange)- G1 moulds, G1 symbols
Grimlock- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Slag- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Snarl- G1 mould, G1 symbols
Rapido- new mould, G2 symbols
Skram- new mould, G2 symbols
Turbofire- new mould, G2 symbols
Windbreaker- new mould, G2 symbols
Megatron- new mould, G2 symbols
Afterburner- new mould, G2 symbols
Eagle Eye- new mould, G2 symbols
Terradive- new mould, G2 symbols
Windrazor- new mould, G2 symbols

***G2 YEAR THREE***

Aerialbots- G1 moulds, G2 faction symbols
Combaticons- G1 moulds, G2 faction symbols
Leadfoot- new mould, G2 faction symbols
Manta Ray- new mould, G2 faction symbols
Powerdive- new mould, G2 faction symbols
Ransack- new mould, G2 faction symbols
Electro- new mould, no faction symbols
Jolt- new mould, no faction symbols
Sizzle- new mould, no faction symbols
Volt- new mould, no faction symbols
Megatron (hero)- new mould, G2 faction symbols
Optimus Prime (hero)- new mould, no faction symbols
Dreadwing and Smokescreen- new moulds, G2 faction symbols
Breakdown (BotCon '94)- G1 mould, G2 faction symbols

***G2 YEAR FOUR***

Blowout- new mould, no faction symbols
Double Clutch- new mould, no faction symbols
Firecracker- new mould, no faction symbols
Gearhead- new mould, no faction symbols
High Beam- new mould, no faction symbols
Motormouth- new mould, no faction symbols
Megatron (GoBot)- new mould, no faction symbols
Optimus Prime (GoBot)- new mould, no faction symbols
Frenzy- new mould, no faction symbols
Bumblebee- new mould, no faction symbols
Ironhide- new mould, no faction symbols
Mirage- new mould, no faction symbols
Sideswipe- new mould, no faction symbols
Soundwave- new mould, no faction symbols
Hooligan- new mould, no faction symbols
Skyjack- new mould, no faction symbols
Spacecase- new mould, no faction symbols
Air Raid- new mould, no faction symbols
Jetfire- new mould, G2 faction symbols
Strafe- new mould, no faction symbols
Road Pig- new mould, no faction symbols
Road Rocket- new mould, no faction symbols
Dirtbag- new mould, no faction symbols
Roadblock- new mould, no faction symbols
Megatron and Starscream (Bomber)- new moulds, G2 faction symbols
Optimus Prime (Laser)- new mould, G2 faction symbols
Nightracer (BotCon '95)- new mould, G1 faction symbols

The takeaway here is that there are three distinct eras of how G2 handled faction symbols. Which is impressive for a line that only lasted four years.

At the start, G1 moulds that got recoloured used G1 symbol stickers. This presumably had to do with them using recoloured versions of the G1 sticker sheets. Sure, the designs and colours may have been altered to account for new G2 decos, but the shapes weren't altered. Which meant they were "stuck" with the G1 symbols.
This is contrasted with the original moulds used for G2's first year, which used the G2 symbols. Likely because they had original sticker sheets designed and cut from scratch and could use the new designs.

This created a disconnect with the figures that used the old moulds, though. G2 was not a rush job. It was a major relaunch of the line, and there was genuine effort put into it, including a redesigned brand logo that included the new faction symbols. So the toy didn't really match the packaging. This bugged me, even as a kid. And it clearly bugged someone at Hasbro too.
The early G2 moulds that reused the G1 sticker templates and thus G1 emblems all had tampos that included the appropriate G2 faction symbol with an "AUTOBOT" or "DECEPTICON" wordmark. Someone clearly felt this was needed. Still, it seems weird. I'm not a toy industry person, I'm not in the know of how these budgets work, but it seems strange that they'd put in the effort to rebrand the whole franchise but not re-do the sticker sheets to account for the new logos they clearly wanted to promote.

Anyway... this leads us to our second era, starting in year three of the line. Here we have a winding down of the G1 mould reuse, with the Aerialbots and Combaticons being the only cases of it. Well... also BotCon '94 Breakdown. All of these figures finally see Hasbro getting away from using G1 emblems on G1 moulds, as all of them exclusively use the G2/faction wordmarks, and forgo the G1 symbols. We also see more of a willingness from Hasbro to redesign the stickers, being less tied to the sticker templates of the G1 releases.

This brings us to the third era, no faction symbols at all, in the forth and final year of the line. This had been creeping up since year two. The original G1 minibots got re-released (in chrome because XTREME) had faction symbols. Year three had a smattering of new moulds that didn't feature them. And now, in year four, it's become the norm.
Year four of G2 is made of entirely new moulds (ie no G1 mould reuse) and of the entire year of figures only Jetfire, Optimus, and the BotCon '95 releases had faction symbols. Nightracer, the BotCon figure, used the G1 Decepticon symbol, but that was down to the character being developed by a fan who really loved G1 and insisted on it. Optimus and Jetfire in the main retail line used the G2 symbols. As did the planned deco for the Megatron/Starscream two pack that was eventually cancelled.
Everything else in the final year, however, just ignored faction symbols entirely. I mentioned I'd come back to that, and here we are.

This leads into Beast Wars, perfectly. One thing I've been fascinated by recently is how much G2 bled into Beasties. The controversy around BW and how some people really hated it and had to be won over, has created the idea that BW was a radical departure from everything that had come before. In some ways it was, but by focusing on that aspect we lose the realization that G2 as a product line flowed really seamlessly into BW.

The Cyberjets of late G2 pioneered ball joints for articulation, which became the standard in BW. And while the flip changers that would get life in MW, RiD, and Universe never saw their planned G2 releases, that engineering is practically unaltered in the original BW line of basics. There's a lot of flip changer and Cyberjet DNA woven into BW.
And this holds for the larger toys too. You can't tell me that the original Ultra class Optimus Primal and Megatron don't feel like they share a lot of gimmicky DNA with Laser Optimus Prime.

The faction symbol situation at the end of G2 is part of this- namely that they didn't have them.
Beasties figures didn't have faction symbols, even their show models did. And while it might be tempting to assume this is because an animal has no natural place to put that compared to a vehicle, I don't think that's it. Instead I see BW's disinterest in using faction emblems as a continuation from the last stage of G2 where they were all but abandoned.

Anyway that's my obsessive deep dive on this. It was bugging me, and in many ways has been bugging me since the 90s when I got G2 Optimus Prime for my birthday.

Machine Wars also had mismatched symbols, with the packaging using G2 symbols but the toys using G1 symbols except for Skywarp who DOES use the G2 symbol... but MW was cobbled together by like one guy over a long weekend (I assume) so the rushed and mismatched nature makes total sense to me.
G2 having this kind of disconnect is just really fascinating, so if nothing else it's neat to see some patterns to how it all unfolded.

 

[Haywire]

I always thought the G2 Autobot faction symbol was a pretty cool update of the G1 version. (Took me way too long to realize it was Optimus' head!) Never much cared for the Decepticon one, though it's arguably closer to the G1 version.

This was an interesting study of the evolution of faction symbols in G2; I honestly had not noticed some of these details, even though I thought I had paid more attention to faction symbols at the time! (Always bothered me that the Tonka Gobots didn't have any, at least on the figures that I had!)

 

[Fullstrength Motleypuss]

Bruhaha? HAHA!

 

[LordGigaIce]

I always thought the G2 Autobot faction symbol was a pretty cool update of the G1 version. (Took me way too long to realize it was Optimus' head!) Never much cared for the Decepticon one, though it's arguably closer to the G1 version.

This was an interesting study of the evolution of faction symbols in G2; I honestly had not noticed some of these details, even though I thought I had paid more attention to faction symbols at the time! (Always bothered me that the Tonka Gobots didn't have any, at least on the figures that I had!)

My unpopular opinion is that I prefer the G2 symbols. I think making the Autobot badge Optimus' face is a great idea.

It's also kind of interesting how long they lasted. The "TRANSFORMERS" sub branding under the "BEAST WARS" logo was in the G2 font, and the G2 symbols were used on the packaging for Machine Wars.
Ironically the same thing doomed them there, where MW was a rush job and used barely altered stickers sheets. Optimus, Sandstorm, Soundwave, and Starscream all used the G1 emblems because the moulds they used were late G1 moulds, and those stickers used the G1 symbols. Only MW Skywarp actually used the same faction symbol as his box, because his mould was a late G2 mould so ofc that sticker sheet probably had the G2 emblem on it already.

Still, it's entirely possible that the G2 symbols could have been rolled out for CR/RiD as the ranking Autobot and Decepticon badges. Going back to the G1 versions as they ultimately did wasn't a foregone conclusion.

 

[Sabrblade]

Still, it's entirely possible that the G2 symbols could have been rolled out for CR/RiD as the ranking Autobot and Decepticon badges. Going back to the G1 versions as they ultimately did wasn't a foregone conclusion.

The CR Combatrons did use the G2 Autobot symbol upside-down, but only because Takara didn't want to retool the projectile discs of the Laser Optimus mold to remove the molded G2 Autobot symbols off of the discs for Black Convoy.

Then when CR got imported as RiD and the Combatrons were rebranded as Decepticons, Hasbro did what Takara was too lazy to do and retooled the discs to remove the molded G2 Autobot symbols for Scourge, anyway.

 

[lastmaximal]

Over time I've grown leery of the "laziness" explanation/accusation and more open to other possibilities. I mean, this was a line that was characterized by a clutch of very involved new toolings and another of dusted-off available molds. Spending on modifying cosmetic aspects of the reused tooling was probably outside the remit of that plan. Hasbro saved a lot on bringing existing assets in (both the reused molds and new molds), and probably had room for cosmetic tooling changes.

In any case, it's kind of an asspull justification that I nevertheless wound up kind of liking as it created a new little faction and added to this new(-seeming) world. I do also like Hasbro reusing an existing faction as there was room to use Decepticons for the purpose anyway.

 

[LordGigaIce]

Part of me really likes that there is a continuity out there where the Autobots and Predacons were the two major factions.

I tended to prefer Scourge and the Ruinination Boys as Decepticons at first, because RiD was what I watched/had experience with.

Thing is, I've come around to the Commandos as their own faction since then. It helps give Scourge more of a distinction from Nemesis Prime, and fleshes out the franchise with another distinct faction.

 

[Sabrblade]

Thing is, I've come around to the Commandos as their own faction since then. It helps give Scourge more of a distinction from Nemesis Prime, and fleshes out the franchise with another distinct faction.

I've speculated that if there were to have ever been an American-original continuation of the English RiD dub, Scourge would probably eventually regain his old memories and break away from Galvatron to form his own separate evil faction distinct from the Predacons and Decepticons, and lo and behold did we get the perfect possibility in the extended retail-exclusive RiD toyline for what Scourge's new faction could be called: Destructicons. Sure, there were only two released in the line, them being Scourge and Bludgeon, but every new team has to start somewhere.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Part of me really likes that there is a continuity out there where the Autobots and Predacons were the two major factions.

I like how it basically flipped the script from Beast Machines -- especially since a lot of people liked the Vehicons more, anyway.

As for the placement of symbols on reused molds, I'm not sure that "because the new symbols weren't made for them" is a good reason. The Combiners using new symbols anyway aside, remember that the G1 molds they reused weren't made to have those faction symbols at all originally.

Plus, the stickers usually had a bit of a vague outline to them, anyway, so they could probably have fit the new symbols in that space if they wanted to.