:pfx

http://TFormers.com/article.php?sid=820

 

Including the comments.

http://TFormers.com/article.php?sid=820

 

Including the comments.

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Thank you.

Reverse engineering... there's a thought.  If the Chinese KO companies can reverse engineer the old stuff and reproduce it (however illegally), why can't Hasbro and/or Takara legally reverse engineer thier own toys and produce new molds, for items like Sunstreaker, the Dinobots, etc.?  Obviously the smaller, less financially endowed companies can do it, so it is physically possible.  Why, then, can't HasTak "steal" thier own designs from themselves to reproduce them?

 

Surely the market value of a Sunstreaker reissue would warrant the price of the company buying a few MISB copies of the bots in question, even if from Ebay.  Hell, they may even be able to find a few collectors willing to donate items for reproduction.  I know if I had one, I'd gladly give Takara a MISB Sunstreaker or Swoop, just to be known as "THE GUY" who made that re-release possible...

 

Thoughts?  Nevermore, if there's a "real" reason that's impossible, I'm sure you can enlighten us...  :thumb

My sentiments exactly. Reverse engineering should theoretically work, though, since I'm not working for either Hasbro nor Takara, I have no idea about the actual figures we're talking about. I've even suggested in the past that Hasbro/Takara should have convicted bootleggers reverse-engineer old, seemingly lost molds for free instead of having them confined to jail sentences, assuming they ever get hold of bootleggers.

As for your "donation" ideas... I'm pretty sure someone at Takara will still have some old Sunstreaker, Wheejack and Mirage toys. ;)

Revirse Enginering would only go so far, a RE Sunstreaker would have rounder Edges than a G1 Sunstreaker

Just think about the advances in today's technology. They can put anything back together these days. I think it could be done. It's just that it would cost a great deal of money.

Would cost no more than producing a mold for any relative size/complexity TF figure, if anything less as the modelling doesnt need to be done.

Revirse Enginering would only go so far, a RE Sunstreaker would have rounder Edges than a G1 Sunstreaker

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Only if they used the exact RE molds, without any additional tooling to bring them back to original status.  Hell, for that matter, a dissassembled Sunsteaker (since we're using him as the example) could have each part scanned into a computer and a mold made just as if it were an original prototype, could it not?  I don't know exactly how the process works, but I would think that at some point, they make a mold from a handmade prototype... I could be wrong though.  I'm just typing a few letters on a keyboard, I'm not an expert...  :tftongue ;)

Revirse Enginering would only go so far, a RE Sunstreaker would have rounder Edges than a G1 Sunstreaker

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Only if they used the exact RE molds, without any additional tooling to bring them back to original status.  Hell, for that matter, a dissassembled Sunsteaker (since we're using him as the example) could have each part scanned into a computer and a mold made just as if it were an original prototype, could it not?  I don't know exactly how the process works, but I would think that at some point, they make a mold from a handmade prototype... I could be wrong though.  I'm just typing a few letters on a keyboard, I'm not an expert...  :tftongue ;)

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probably like the REAL-SCAN technology which is used in manufacturing everything from photography equipment, "pimp my ride" automobile parts, even FULL SCALE EXACT REPLICAS OF A PATIENTS SKULL for surgeons to practice facial reconstructive surgery, full size bones for implantation etc...

the process looks cool tho. the object for reproduction goes onto turntable and is scanned by lazers taking exact measurements of objects surface. a computer then controls high intensity lazers to heat a liquid within a "bath" at the precise measurements taken during the scan. at the end of this obviusly complicated process a basket looking like those found in English fish n chip shops rises out and

 

BING

 

BANG

 

BOUM

there is your exact duplicate!

(well obviusly it is a different material but that is semantics!)