Sunday, December 6, 2015

G1 Crews

Tech Deck's first generation of dudes and dudettes is comprised of 15 Crews.
This means almost all of the armless figures were put into these 15 unique series.

As noted elsewhere, Crews 1 through 3 were released both with and without magnetic feet and rolling boards. Crews 1-3 without magnetic feet came out in 2000.  Crews 1-3 with magnets came out in 2001.  Crews 4-15 came out in either 2001 or 2002.  Some figures debuted in 3-packs before they were put in single packs.

The numerical order has nothing to do with the release order.  First, the numbering-system was not created until Crew 10.  Second, when the numbering system was introduced, they used this random-but-not-really-random gimmick of assigning numbers non-sequentially.  For example, when numeration first appeared on the Crew 10 packaging, it featured #3, #6, #59, #79, #82, and #85.

By the time X-Concepts was ready to add some arms and revamp with Generation Two, they had made a total of 96 original G1 sculpts representing 92 characters. This ends up being #1 (Billy) through #88 (Barbie), #99 (Cluckers), #117 (Mikey), #119 (Phinger Tut), plus the Crew 4 character "Tag" who was left out of the numbering-system altogether.

By the end of G1, Billy was the only character with three unique sculpts. Stevie J and Petey were the only additional characters to get a second G1 sculpt.

To get a sense of their release order, let's look at the G1 checklists exactly as they appear on the figure cardbacks:

Crew 1
Lenny - Shik - Stevie J - Tank - Spin - Tek
Petey - Nick - Crash - Flake - Zobo - Bruce

Crew 2
Tiki - Dr. Digit P.I. - Mikey - Billy - Rozz - Fletcher

Crew 3
Shik again?  
Julio - Sumo San - Slam - Super Finger - Shik - Fu Man Finger


Crew 4
There is Tag - who will never be added to the numbering-system.
Booger - Norman - Tag - Cosmo - Manga - Phinger Tut



Crew 5
Fred - Bonz - Rap Masta Thumb - Duke - Rusty - Woody


Crew 6
Draco - Dakota - Al Pine - Sergei - Homer - Ace


Crew 7
Biff?  aka Scott (#43)
Sludge - John - Biff - Frank N. Finger - Roger - Syd


Crew 8
So, the first dudettes released were Laverne (#67) and Laura (#69). 
Laverne - Laura - Rasta - Eddie - Rick - Ronin


Crew 9
This is our first re-sculpt: Billy (#1) Version 2. 
Yoko - Billy - Erik - Donnie - Bull - Reginald


Crew 10
We now have numbers!
And there is our second re-sculpt: Stevie J (#5) Version 2.
Andie - Stevie J - Art - Barney - Simon - Natalie


Crew 11
Here is the third and fourth re-sculpt: Billy (#1) v3, and Petey (#14) v2.
Billy - Petey - Willy - Pierce - Dave - Barbie


Crew 12
Suzy - Crystal - Candie - Big E - Splinter - E. N. Stein

Crew 13
Mort - Brad - Jack - Helen - Sven - Rex

Crew 14
Henry - Arnie - Chuy - Larry - Ralph - Adam

Crew 15
Timbo - L.A. Rock - Minga - Whitney - Cutie - Fuse

Questions:

1. Where is Cluckers? 
Cluckers is the only G1 figure to not show up in a crew checklist.  This is because he was released in early 2003 when the first figures with non-bendable arms were also being released.  This makes him the only G1 figure to come out in 2003, at a time when other characters were already in the G2 phase. Of course, he was further redesigned in G3 with full-on bendable arms.  Concerning the armless sculpt, three versions exist.  Here are his three G1 figures compared to one of his many G3 figures.


2. Was Shik really released in Crew 1 and Crew 3?
Noted above, Shik shows up on the Crew 1 checklist and the Crew 3 checklist. I know for certain that Shik was a part of Crew 3 because I have seen the figures for sale in such packages.  My guess is that Shik was intended to be released as part of Crew 1 but was delayed.  Maybe some clearance was sought with DC because of a passing similarity to Harley Quinn.  Maybe.  Others have noted how much G1 Adam looks like Batman and how a cease-and-desist was likely ordered by DC comics.  Of course, the G3 design of Adam became a zombie. I have never noticed anyone point out that the same thing could have happened to Shik.  Originally a jester, the G3 re-appearance became that of a mime.

Other questions explored on their character pages:

3. Why was "Biff" (#43) renamed as "Scott"?
4. Whatever happened to Tag?
5. Is Barbie (#88) a Dude or a Dudette?

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