I've heard it said that rarely are any of the S1's as great as the parent, but their outcrosses or further S generations can really impress.
I've no practical experience though, so I'm game to try em.
I'm probably shutting down for a while, so I'm not sure when I'll get to my wedding cake S1 but hopefully it won't be more than a few months as I get settled in and buy a tent setup.
This is BS. It all depends on selection. Most S1's are extremely similar but ti depends on how big of a gene pool you are working with from the parent. IE s1'ing an MNS variety will yield a large amount fo variation because he really did keep the originals and doesnt fuck the customer out of the wide gene pool. s1'ing Sannies Skunk or Jacks will yield less variation the lines much smaller gene pool. Selfing most OG's SD or similar will yield very like results. You can definitely find plants you can't distinguish from the mother...
Careful what all of you wish for though. I have no doubts someone will drop all of Gu's lines as s1's in retaliation at 10$ a pack to prove a point. It will start to be a very boring dried up genetic pool as a result. Just like the music and movie industry no one will take risks investing in real breeding. You will be left with remake after remake even when things are fully legalized.
Also you will start to see a lot of selfed lines that were bred to the point of inbreeding depression so that they can't be used further down the line. I already do this with my female lots /shrug. When trying to breed with them it is similar to breeding with Cali-o the further you go the worse it gets from herms on down. =) Greenhouse was also way ahead of their time.
Or simply people will never release parents in pure form and will only cross to recessive mothers or fathers...(I already do this too). I will sell you flowers of my elite but you can fuck off as far as getting a cut or pollen. Most breeders here are not in the AG industry and way behind Europe. They are morons for giving their business away. And don't think there aren't people out there with endless money buying up all their genetic lines they can't copy right due to legal reasons currently only to do it for themselves in the future and Microsoft or Apple the market...