I have read here that G1 toys like Jetfire will never be reissued due to licensing issues and that Swoops mold was lost/destroyed early in its life. Can anyone confirm any other G1 toys that will have the same issues?

From This Article

 

Molds specifically said to be worn out beyond a condition where further use is still viable include:

 

Deterioration

- Essentially all of the mass-released Armada Mini-Con teams.

- The Robots in Disguise Autobot Brothers: Prowl, Side Burn, and X-Brawn.

 

Molds that seem to be on their way out include:

- The Alternators Subaru Impreza mold in its various incarnations started to show major signs of deterioration with Binaltech Asterisk Alert.

- Generation 1 Combaticons.

- Generation 1 Seacons are considered by many to have been beyond this point already when the Transformers Collectors' Club released the Timelines versions.

- Generation 2 Cyberjets.

- Legends of Cybertron Optimus Prime.

- Classic Voyager Optimus Prime.

- Classics Starscream.

- Movie Deluxe Class Concept Camaro Bumblebee.

 

Broken

- G1 Wheeljack

 

Lost/Stolen

Known lost/stolen molds are:

- Generation 1 Grimlock

- Generation 1 Slag

- Generation 1 Sludge

- Generation 1 Snarl

- Generation 1 Swoop

- Generation 1 Mirage

- Most if not all of the Beast Wars basics

 

Molds rumored to be lost:

- Generation 1 Sunstreaker

- Generation 1 Constructicons

 

Legal issues

- All of the GoBots (Bandai owns the molds but Hasbro owns the characters)

- G1 Shockwave

- G1 Skyfire/Jetfire

- Omega Supreme (ownership reverted to Tomy of TakaraTomy, everything A-OK)

- Sky Lynx (ownership reverted to Tomy of TakraTomy, everything A-OK)

- Deluxe G1 Insecticons (Barrage, Venom, Ransack and Chop Shop)

- Deluxe G1 Autobots (Whirl and I dont know who else)

- Deluxe G1 Autobots (Whirl and I dont know who else)

Roadbuster. Ya know, that dude in G1 who died from a malfunctioning weapon (as did Misfire and Finback). Ouch.

I thought there were rumors to the effect that G1 Sunstreaker's Mold was damaged as well?

Wow, I'm amazed that stuff as recent as Classics molds are already blown out. Prime didn't see that much action, did he?? Starscream I can kinda see based on the number of recolors and volume of total figures produced, but even being a Prime mold I figured it didn't get *that* much use. I mean, geez - G1 Prime is still minty fresh for its 43rd release whenever HasTak wants to trot it out again!

C'Mon Bandai, I could use some GoBots. ^_^

 

Classics Prime? Now, that was a surprise! Too bad about the Dinobots though. I wouldn't have minded buying ToysRUs exclusive Dinobots. Thhat would have been awesome especially if we could have seen a blue Swoop of a reissue of the G2 Dinobot colors.

I mean, geez - G1 Prime is still minty fresh for its 43rd release whenever HasTak wants to trot it out again!

Mmm... not quite. The original 1984 Optimus Prime mould was recast in 1993 for Generation 2 - so presumably the original G1 mould was lost or destroyed after that. After this time, the arms for the G2 Prime mould was irrevocably damaged. In 2000 when Takara reissued Convoy, they had to recast the arms for the G2 Prime mould from scratch, and Takara has stated that this was a VERY expensive venture for them - and as you've seen, HasTak have definitely tried to make their money back from that investment by milking the restored G2 Prime mould for all it's worth. But yeah, every reissue 1984 Optimus Prime toy since 2000 has actually been a G2 Prime mould with restored arms - so it's not quite as old as one may think. ;)

I mean, geez - G1 Prime is still minty fresh for its 43rd release whenever HasTak wants to trot it out again!

Mmm... not quite. The original 1984 Optimus Prime mould was recast in 1993 for Generation 2 - so presumably the original G1 mould was lost or destroyed after that. After this time, the arms for the G2 Prime mould was irrevocably damaged. In 2000 when Takara reissued Convoy, they had to recast the arms for the G2 Prime mould from scratch, and Takara has stated that this was a VERY expensive venture for them - and as you've seen, HasTak have definitely tried to make their money back from that investment by milking the restored G2 Prime mould for all it's worth. But yeah, every reissue 1984 Optimus Prime toy since 2000 has actually been a G2 Prime mould with restored arms - so it's not quite as old as one may think. ;)

I does not surprise me that they would spend a lot to remake the original prime mold, being a key character and all. They probably count on people like me who buy almost every release of that toy.

i wonder how "expensive" a mold costs? does anyone know the actual cost?

No idea what the actual numbers are, but considering how much Takara whinged about the cost of just building Prime's arms alone, I imagine it must be quite expensive. To date Optimus Prime has been the most extensively reconstructed (and thus most expensive to recreate) reissue mould. Takara have never rebuilt a lost mould from scratch. With Optimus Prime they got away with the expense of partial reconstruction because he's arguably the single most iconic and popular character in Transformers history - so they can get away with milking the mould over and over again to make their money back. So logically a complete reconstruction would be a LOT more expensive, and I'm not sure if HasTak could get away with like 50 different reissues of Grimlock or Wheeljack. :/