Thanks for the advice guys. I'm thinkin' on the same line with finally owning Vintage. Especially since the KO seems to be kinda pricey too. Why put the $ into a fake former when you can use it for the real deal ???

 

GO VINTAGE OR NOTHING :con

 

Back on topic. Dinobots, dinobots, dinobots...

I think it would be really neat if Has/Tak came together and took a good look at everything g1 that they still have that may be good for potential reissues and let fans in a bit on the process.

 

The problem with hoping, is the fact that none of us know what molds still do and don't exist anymore. If we knew what molds were lost forever it sure would help us get over some of the anxious hoping for a figure that will never come.

 

That might be asking too much. Perhaps they don't want to run the risk of people going crazy demanding figures they still have molds for but don't plan to reissue. Why blow a good cover.

 

That won't happen, but who knows, maybe they can at least give us a small list of options and let fans vote it out. That would be a bit fun and interesting I think.

 

 

With that said, I'd like to see Targetmasters and Headmasters. I still hope we see a focus on them again sometime in the future lines as well. The original figures were neat, but the concept itself I think is still the best part that has yet to be explored enough.

Here is a list of moulds known to be lost/broken as well as those rumoured to be lost/broken. They're pretty believable rumours too - let's face it, Takara WOULD have already reissued Sunstreaker if they could.

My problem with the broken mold excuse is that KO companies are putting out the broken mold figures. To top that, in an interveiw last year (sorry no link but it was read on this site) Hasbro said the reason why they can't reissue Shockwave is because the rights for the figure aren't there's alone, and the mold was broken.

 

They followed to say though that they could recast off an existing figure.

 

Thats the part that gets me. Concerning Sunstreaker, Mirage, the Dinobots, and who ever else I may have that they need, I would happily give over the figures I have for the recast cause.

 

Either way, they said they can recast, KO companies are recasting, so the broken mold excuse just doesn't hold water with me.

Things to consider:

 

+ Everything is more expensive when done legitimately. HasTak have all kinds of expenses that KOers don't, such as R&D, marketing, legal (trademarks, licensing etc.); these are all very large expenses.

 

+ Recasting is f***-off expensive for HasTak when done legitimately. Back in 2000, Takara had to extensively repair the G2 Optimus Prime mould in order to make the first Convoy reissue. The arms had been destroyed and had to be recast from scratch. Takara said that it cost them truckloads; but of course, it's Optimus Prime so Takara knew that they would make their money back on it; and let's face it, HasTak continues to _milk_ that reissue mould for all it's worth (I can think of no other toy that's been reissued so many times!). Now... Takara kicked all that fuss over a pair of arms; just imagine how much more prohibitively expensive it would be to have to recast an entire toy.

 

+ Shockwave was a non-Takara mould. Assuming that the original mould still exists in a salvageable condition, either TakaraTOMY or Hasbro would need to firstly secure the rights to this mould from its original owner. Prior to Takara's merger with TOMY we _never_ saw a non-Takara mould Transformer reissued before. Since the merger we saw the reissue of Sky Lynx and Omega Supreme. Because these moulds were originally owned by ToyBox which since the 1980s was acquired by TOMY, thus TOMY owned the rights to them and were able to reissue them for Encore. I don't know which company originally owned the Astro Magnum (Shockwave) mould and whether or not TakaraTOMY or Hasbro have been able to secure rights for that mould or not. Unlike KOers, HasTak have to operate within the law!

 

Previously Takara has stated that they didn't want to reissue Devastator because they refuse to compete with KOs (as it is an unfair competition; there's just no way Takara can possibly price-match KOs). This is because Devastator was bootlegged quite early on, around the time Takara started doing reissues. To Takara's credit, they did quickly push forward the reissue of Predaking in late 2004 when news of an upcoming KO cropped up, heading them off at the post. Now I do believe that Takara would have reissued Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, Mirage and the Dinobots by now if they could have. Think about it, they've reissued most other early G1 Transformers; including every other Autobot Car from 1984-85. They've even reissued far more obscure figures like Stepper and Star Convoy... I find it difficult to believe that they wouldn't have considered reissuing these figures before if they could.

 

Furthermore, a lot of their reissues have been based on what fans have requested. The early reissues all came with self-addressed survey cards which allowed you to nominate up to three characters you'd like to see reissued in the future. A lot of my requests came true (e.g.: Hound, Skids, Inferno etc.)! :D And I'm not delusional enough to think that Takara were acting solely on my request, obviously many other people must've demanded those toys too. :P I also requested Sunstreaker, Mirage, Wheeljack and Swoop (he's the rarest of the Dinobots IMO so I figured that if they're going to reissue one Dinobot it might as well be him; and you'd know that they'd reissue the blue "show accurate" Diaclone coloured version as an eHobby exclusive!).

 

Put yourself in HasTak's shoes; it makes _no_ sense to reissue so many early G1 Transformers, and reissue some of them _repeatedly_, and not consider reissue Sunstreaker, MIrage, Wheeljack and the Dinobots. I strongly suspect that it's just not viable for them to reissue these toys without making a financial loss, which makes no business sense; after all, HasTak employees have families to feed too, and unlike bootleggers in China, they would paid in USD and JPY and on top of salaries also pay for superannuation, sick leave etc., heck, they even pay for international exchange programmes! Eric Siebernaler was living and working in Hasbro's Sydney branch for a year under this scheme! I doubt your average bootlegger would treat their employees so well.

 

Eric Siebernaler chillin' out with TF fans at Sydney's Parramatta Collectables Fair

OK, I see your point and understand about the recasting.

 

As far as reissuing, you really have to take the HAS out of Has/Tak. Outside of Prime, it's been 5 or 6 years since Hasbro has done a Encore scale reissue series, while Takara has been dipping that well alot.

 

My answer to that, Do like Fansproject and quote the import retail price. People get tired of paying rape dollars. Hasbro, if you reissue n retail, heed that same advice. Thats why Commemorative and 25th Prime really failed to sell. You can't ask a vintage price on a reissue new figure.

 

All the leg works already done, your just putting it in a box and shipping. They charge to much, the retailers have to match that, we can't afford it all, BANG, the line just failed. Even worse, the message gets sent to Hasbro that there's no intrest in these reissues.

 

There's plenty of intrest. Rightfuly though we shouldn't have to pay $40-50 on something that shouldn't cost more then $15.

 

Another good idea, multipack these reissues into teams. Ratchet may not sell alone, but Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Red Alert I bet would do just fine. Again, these are vintage molds, not vintage figures. Take some liberties!

 

Hell if they did the Insecticons one by one, we'd have 3 shelf warmers. Granted they are their own subgroup, but the multipack makes them cheaper and more desirable to everyone, not just G1ers.

 

It'll never happen, but it's a good idea.

 

I'll wrap this up going back to point A. Front paged on this site is an article saying that even in the global ressecion, Transformers is one of the top 10 booming markets. Cry me a friggin river about recasting costs, and step up Has/Tak!

 

You have our money and our intrests, and a little effort will most likely get you alot more of both.

I agree. The issue is not lack of interest in the North American market, it's the bloated price. What's more, is that you have to take into account all the people who already bought Takara reissues and really had no need to buy Hasbro's versions.

 

Now if the price were more reasonable, then I would think more collectors would take the plunge and buy up more of the Hasbro reissues if for nothing more than to keep the Takara versions sealed. Takara's reissues are typically better than Hasbro, which is another thing that hurts a domestic reissue line. If a collector could only pick one, they'll most likely take the Takara version. It will be available first and no worries of tampering with original parts to get them past safety standards.

 

Most of that list of damaged/destroyed/lost molds are the ones we already knew and it's not really all that long of a list. What about all the various late g1 sub-lines? Micromasters, MM bases, Headmasters, Targetmasters etc? Perhaps they think nobody wants these figures reissued or something, at least not enough to financially justify the cost to reissue them.

 

Either way, I'd like a more thorough list of what is possible, what may be possible, and what is definitely out. Not just for the big g1 characters but for all of g1. With Universe we'll get plenty of repainted older molds so I don't see any need to incorporate anything from Beast Wars on just yet into a reissue line.

<----Would love to see the Micromaster bases re-issued in some fashion. Action Master partners, too. (I almost typed in Action Mater. Would that be a follow up to Kiss Play? :tfhuh ) Actually, now that I think about it..I'd love to see a lot of the late-G1 stuff reissued.

I have some of the bases, large, medium, small and extra small, and they are fun!

 

Especialy with all the Universe Micromasters reissued, that seems like a no-brainer!

 

Also, I agree with MadMan!

 

 

(Maiden Kicks Ass)

I kinda wish we would get some base's...although we may never see another version of fort max :(

 

On a side note... the way hasbro has been revamping molds, wouldn't it be cool if hasbro took the energon shockwave and redone him as an attack satelight for TF3?