Differences between rubber and plastic wheels on G1 figures?

[Fifor1941]

I've been going through my G1 collection and noticed that some figures (like Optimus Prime, Jazz, and Mirage) have rubber wheels, while others (or even different versions of the same character) have plastic wheels.

I'm curious — were these changes due to cost-cutting, region differences (e.g., Hasbro vs. Takara), or specific to certain years?

Also, does one version tend to be more sought-after by collectors?

[Time Traveller]

So, this is the problem with generative AI. Though it looks like a totally legitimate question a new user might ask, the above post is by a user whose email was all over Stop Forum Spam, and often these sorts of users will pop up google results for a whole slew of disparate forums.

[Seph-Blade]

That's unfortunate! But your right it looked pretty legit.

So what's the point? What are they really up to?

[Time Traveller]

Who can say? Stealing our data? Trying to prove Dead Internet Theory correct?