I gave up on the whole 'have to do X because they did X' years ago. I still have the Ultra electronic Onslaught. Great incredibly solid if somewhat boring toy, though I outfitted mine with the HeadRobots Butcher set and that wound up awesome.
...in MY day, 3rd parties made UPGRADES, not figures! And they added those parts uphill in the snow both ways, Yetis attacking at every turn and Optimus Primal was the same guy as Opimus Prime but that meant that Cheetor had to be Hot Rod, or maybe Bumblebee, and-
Still got the classics too, I just went into the loft oday to remind myself what a leader class figure used to be, lo and behold, I grabbed Revenge of the Fallen Leader class Optimus Prime, I tugged his body and got "I am Optimus Prime." with two flashing leds, one in his head, one in his body, both different colours.
Then I saw Hunt for the Decepticons leader class Starscream in his gorgeous deco, one button press and we get "No one can defeat Starscream."
Both solid, both posable, both awesome.
Then I went back down to look at the recent leader Blitzwing and wept. (
Not really wept)