Sometimes I go to toy shows and see ungraded single Pokemon cards for hundreds of dollars and I think, 'Wow this stuff makes Transformers seem like a cheap hobby!' But how much do those old G1s cost if what you want is virgin unopened MISB or MOSC? eBay really isn't the secondary market barometer it seems to be when trying to determine how much vintage unopened G1 figures go for. Although loose or loose-with-packaging examples are plentiful, when it comes to sealed G1 specimens it's rare to find auctions where the seller lets the market decide. Nowadays its tough to figure out what the honest, buyer determined market prices really are with crazy high Buy It Nows and insane AFA graded specimens. But recently some G1 era sealed specimens have popped up so I thought it would be neat to do a quick and dirty look at what G1 is really pulling nowadays. This first post is only going to cover a few '84-'85 era figures.

--------1984 Hasbro TRANSFORMERS Autobot G1 Mini Minibot HUFFER Sealed New on Card Vtg !
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334491715722
Jul 12, 2022 , 7:08PM
Winning bid: US $810.00

First up is a carded Huffer from '84. The '84 minicars packaged in vehicle mode are super tough to find sealed. The '85 versions are plentiful for every version including red Bumblebee and yellow Cliffjumper but to find any of the original 6 (or 8 w/red BB & yellow CJ or 9 counting Bumblejumper) is very hard. Huffer for some reason has been the most common sealed example lately. Nine bidders put up 14 bids and drove this from a start of $300 all the way up to $810. (EDIT: apparently the winner flaked and this is now back up but the seller is starting it at $799.99.

--------Vintage Hasbro Transformers G1 Red Alert 1985 Sealed Mib Rare!!!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185449421498
Jun 08, 2022 , 7:39PM
Winning bid: US $1,225.00

Red Alert is one of those white plastic figures that is hard to find even loose in nice unyellowed shape. This sealed example had 12 bidders placing 26 bids to go from a starting price of $199 all the way up to $1,225.

--------Transformers Original G1 1985 Autobot Car Hoist MISB Sealed
https://www.ebay.com/itm/115423118574
Jun 19, 2022 , 8:13PM
Winning bid: US $735.00

Arguably less popular than Red Alert would be Hoist and this one had ten bidders placing 16 bids from a start of $199 to an end at $735.

--------旧ダイアクロン　カーロボット フェアレディZ 一部破損品TAKARA 超合金
(Former Diaclone Car Robot Fairlady Z Partially Damaged TAKARA Chogokin)
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/l1057087773
198,644yen(including tax)(≈ 1,507.71 USD)

Okay this one isn't sealed nor eBay but just for some persepective a really nice loose Diaclone Blue Blueatreak complete with the driver sold on YahooJapan for $1,507.71. Makes you wonder what a sealed one would go for.

---------G1 Transformers Optimus Prime PEPSI MISB SEALED NEW AUTHENTIC 1984 Hasbro Takara
https://www.ebay.com/itm/374139281634
Jun 26, 2022 , 12:48PM
Winning bid: US $5,250.00

Someone had a US Pepsi Prime lying around so they put it up starting at $9.99 and 16 bidders and 32 bids later it ended at $5,250. What this means about the price of non-Pepsi versions is up for interpretation. Would a metal plates version go for this much? Who knows.

----------G1 Transformers Soundwave rub sign MISB SEALED NEW AUTHENTIC 1984 Hasbro Takara
https://www.ebay.com/itm/354117433781 38 bids/start $9.99
Jun 26, 2022 , 12:52PM
Winning bid: US $1,525.00

Kicking off the baddies is this sealed rub version of Soundwave. 14 bidders took it from $9.99 to $1,525.00. I imagine the pre-rub would probably pull about 15 to 20 percent more. If a no-grey border version exists I imagine that would pull 5-10x more.

---------Vintage TRANSFORMERS HASBRO LONG HAUL G1 1984 CONSTRUCTION DEVASTATOR NEW SEALED
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175261177379

May 08, 2022 , 5:00PM
Winning bid: US $510.00

Constructicons are a total crapshoot lately with all the bootlegs and counterfeits out there but this Long Haul managed to drive 21 bidders crazy enough to bid it from 99 cents to $510 US.

---------B-795 MINT FACTORY SEALED VINTAGE 80'S HASBRO G1 TRANSFORMERS KICKBACK
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325198350003
May 25, 2022 , 11:27PM
Winning bid: US $280.00

Initially it got $521 US when it first sold May 27th, but this rather normal looking Kickback pulled just $280 on its second try. The original winner had 0 feedback and is not not a registered user anymore. It's kinda hard for me to imagine paying so much for what I clearly remember being massive shelfwarmers back in the day day.

----------Transformers Evil Decepticon Skywarp Vintage 1984 G1 Hasbro Toy Sealed Box New
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334491706043
Jul 12, 2022 , 7:07PM
Winning bid: US $1,425.00

The next few Decepticon jet auctions seem to indicate that Skywarp is the least popular of the original trio. This was a pre-rub in a beautiful grey border version box with only one corner dinged noticeably. Maybe everyone who wants a sealed Skywarp already has one as evidenced by only four bidders driving this price up from $1.200 to a finish of $1,425.

----------Transformers Evil Decepticon Starscream Vtg 1984 G1 Hasbro Toy Sealed Box New !!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325252952154
Jul 12, 2022 , 7:07PM
Winning bid: US $2,026.00

The same seller who had the Skywarp had a Starscream in comparable condition. Ten bidders took it from $1,200 to $2,026. I kinda thought Starscream would pull the most of the three sealed '84 seeker jets from this seller but it turns out Starscream is a distant second.

----------G1 Transformers Thundercracker MISB SEALED NEW AUTHENTIC 1984 Hasbro Takara
https://www.ebay.com/itm/354096132699 37 bids/start $9.99
Jun 12, 2022 , 3:46PM
Winning bid: US $709.00

Before we get to the Thundercracker that sold on July 12 there's a notable one that went for a fraction of the price a month earlier. It's crazy because this Thundercracker that barely cracked $700 was a treat for variant collectors. It's a rubsign version but in a TM box, proving that there wasn't a hard and fast correlation between rubs and the TM or R version of the boxes they came in.

---------Transformers Evil Decepticon Thundercracker Vtg 1984 G1 Hasbro Toy Sealed New
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334491699425
Jul 12, 2022 , 7:07PM
Winning bid: US $3,050.01

And here's the surprisingly popular to five bidders Thundercracker from July 12th. Pre-rub in a TM box as expected and just a beautiful specimen. It broke three grand thanks to five guys.

On Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 1:18:26 AM UTC-6, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> eBay really isn't the secondary market barometer it seems to be when trying to determine how much vintage unopened G1 figures go for. Nowadays its tough to figure out what the honest, buyer determined market prices really are with crazy high Buy It Nows and insane AFA graded specimens.

I would guess that there's only a very small percentage of people out there who have an idea of what the pricing on a MISB G1 toy should actually be. I don't often pay attention to sealed, unopened G1 toys (they're way out of my price range) but I do come across the auctions during my eBay hunting, and the pricing does seem to just be all over the map. It's not so much a matter of "how much does this toy usually go for?" but, I think, more like "how much money can I extort from people who simply don't know any better?"

> Huffer for some reason has been the most common sealed example lately.

I wonder how many of those are authentic and how many are Chinese knockoffs.. I saw a year or two ago that loose, minty Huffers with no stickers were hitting the secondary market, so I assumed that meant a Zhong Jin version was on the way at some point. I didn't want a stickerless one, so I was content to wait. I wonder if they have finally been produced, and that's why you're seeing so many now?
> Red Alert is one of those white plastic figures that is hard to find even loose in nice unyellowed shape.

I imagine any white-colored toys that are still in the package to this day have seen their fair share of sunlight exposure in second-hand shops and comic book stores and such. I didn't always know that the sun ruined toys, so it stands to reason some people are putting these things in picture window storefronts and not realizing they're devaluing their own merchandise with each passing day.
> Arguably less popular than Red Alert would be Hoist

Less popular, or just harder to find in acceptable condition? Even a slightly yellowed Hoist wouldn't be immediately noticeable, but the way Red Alert's plastic contrasts against the white painted die-cast means that even a tiny bit of yellowing would be super obvious.

> Okay this one isn't sealed nor eBay but just for some persepective a really nice loose Diaclone Blue Blueatreak complete with the driver sold on YahooJapan for $1,507.71. Makes you wonder what a sealed one would go for.

There's probably a little bit of overlap between Diaclone collectors and Transformers collectors, especially when it comes to blue Bluestreak. That's a lot of cash to drop on a single toy. I don't think I'll ever be able to play with the big boys.
> Someone had a US Pepsi Prime lying around so they put it up starting at $9.99 and 16 bidders and 32 bids later it ended at $5,250. What this means about the price of non-Pepsi versions is up for interpretation. Would a metal plates version go for this much? Who knows.

Can you even see whether it's the metal plate version when he's in the packaging? How would you know?

> Kicking off the baddies is this sealed rub version of Soundwave. 14 bidders took it from $9.99 to $1,525.00.

That blows me away, especially considering Soundwave is a toy that's been reissued multiple times. The authenticity of a true G1 specimen still reigns supreme, it seems.

> Constructicons are a total crapshoot lately with all the bootlegs and counterfeits out there

I really would have thought all the many, many versions of them in existence would lower the demand for G1 units. It would seem not.
> It's kinda hard for me to imagine paying so much for what I clearly remember being massive shelfwarmers back in the day.

There are lots of toys that were super plentiful during the G1 days. You could walk into Toys "R" Us during any month in 1986, and you couldn't swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting Shockwave or Roadbuster or Whirl or the Battlechargers. But, I think that's largely meaningless now.

> And here's the surprisingly popular to five bidders Thundercracker from July 12th. Pre-rub in a TM box as expected and just a beautiful specimen. It broke three grand thanks to five guys.

I wonder what it is about Thundercracker. It's obviously got nothing to do with the character's popularity. I'm sure he was produced in quantities equal to Skywarp, at least (Starscream was still around in 1986, so he was a bit more plentiful). I don't get it.

I'm really not qualified to be commenting on any of this. I know blessed little about the market for sealed G1 toys, aside from them being far too rich for my blood.

Zob (my goal is to be able to transform the toys and handle them enjoy them, and I could never in good conscience devalue a sealed G1 toy at this point)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
>
> You could walk into Toys "R" Us during any month in 1986, and you
> couldn't swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting Shockwave or
> Roadbuster or Whirl or the Battlechargers. But, I think that's largely meaningless now.

Toys R Us security was doubtless grateful once that trend stopped and
people started break dancing in the parking lot or something.

(I think my middle aged goal is to convince young people that all of these
old timed expressions just came from stupid fads. Once had some coworkers
convinced the phrase “chew your ear off” came from the Tyson Holyfield
fight — they didn’t believe the ear biting, but when they verified that
they were far more likely to believe the rest)

On Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 3:11:28 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> > Huffer for some reason has been the most common sealed example lately.
> I wonder how many of those are authentic and how many are Chinese knockoffs. I saw a year or two ago that loose, minty Huffers with no stickers were hitting the secondary market, so I assumed that meant a Zhong Jin version was on the way at some point. I didn't want a stickerless one, so I was content to wait. I wonder if they have finally been produced, and that's why you're seeing so many now?

When I say sealed '84 Huffers are the most common I've seen lately, I mean I see maybe 1 or two a year over the last decade. Carded original '84 minicars are still extremely scarce. The fake carded minis are always easy to spot-fake backer cards have the peghole centered whereas Hasbro offset the pegholes on the originals to offset the weight of the figure so the card would hang square on the pegs. And the battle scene on the back of a fake is centered way too high so Optimus Prime's body is cut off from the neck down. Only Cliffjumper and Bumblejumper fakes have been packaged in car mode-the rest are all in robot mode like the '85 versions. And Cliffjumper fakes are always yellow and Bumblejumper fakes have the wrong sticker on the back of their heads.

> > Red Alert is one of those white plastic figures that is hard to find even loose in nice unyellowed shape.
> I imagine any white-colored toys that are still in the package to this day have seen their fair share of sunlight exposure in second-hand shops and comic book stores and such. I didn't always know that the sun ruined toys, so it stands to reason some people are putting these things in picture window storefronts and not realizing they're devaluing their own merchandise with each passing day.

> > Arguably less popular than Red Alert would be Hoist
> Less popular, or just harder to find in acceptable condition?

When it comes to the deluxe assortment '84-'85 toys, the cars always go for more than the trucks and vans. But I understand Hoist may have been a more popular character on the cartoon show so the more cartoon centric fans may bid a bit more passionately.

> There's probably a little bit of overlap between Diaclone collectors and Transformers collectors, especially when it comes to blue Bluestreak. That's a lot of cash to drop on a single toy. I don't think I'll ever be able to play with the big boys.

There was a pretty decent fixer upper that went for $200 recently:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275339637051

Deals are always out there. I will always remember the boxed one that sold for 80 bucks back around 2002 because the seller didn't know what it was when he found it in his closet and just put it up on ebay as "Takara Fairlady-Z".

> > Someone had a US Pepsi Prime lying around so they put it up starting at $9.99 and 16 bidders and 32 bids later it ended at $5,250. What this means about the price of non-Pepsi versions is up for interpretation. Would a metal plates version go for this much? Who knows.
> Can you even see whether it's the metal plate version when he's in the packaging? How would you know?

The metal plates version has rectangular holes along the sides of the trailer just above and below the silver and blue stripes. Easily viewable through the window.

> > Kicking off the baddies is this sealed rub version of Soundwave. 14 bidders took it from $9.99 to $1,525.00.
> That blows me away, especially considering Soundwave is a toy that's been reissued multiple times. The authenticity of a true G1 specimen still reigns supreme, it seems.

There have been so many mold changes that reissue Soundwaves just look wrong with their big bulging PLAY buttons.

> I wonder what it is about Thundercracker. It's obviously got nothing to do with the character's popularity. I'm sure he was produced in quantities equal to Skywarp, at least (Starscream was still around in 1986, so he was a bit more plentiful). I don't get it.

It's like a spectrum with toy fans on one end and cartoon fans on the other.. Toy fans are different from cartoon fans in what they like. I skew more towards being a toy person myself. I just cannot understand people who need fiction to sell them a robot. A good robot toy is a good robot toy no matter what the toy company selling it says about it on the package.

> I'm really not qualified to be commenting on any of this. I know blessed little about the market for sealed G1 toys, aside from them being far too rich for my blood.

Well just wait till part two of my post when you see what an MOSC Wheelie went for.

On Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 8:43:13 PM UTC-6, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> It's like a spectrum with toy fans on one end and cartoon fans on the other. Toy fans are different from cartoon fans in what they like. I skew more towards being a toy person myself. I just cannot understand people who need fiction to sell them a robot. A good robot toy is a good robot toy no matter what the toy company selling it says about it on the package.

Yeah, but a fun personality and memorable characterization can elevate a not-so-good robot toy to becoming incredibly desirable, simply by merit of being a physical representation of that character. What put Transformers above similar franchsies like GoBots or Convertors was the well-developed media filled with epic storylines and well-developed characters, and it's likely the main reason why the Transformers brand is still celebrated to this day.

Zob (I mean, sure, a good robot toy is a good robot toy, but that's not going to hold my interest for 38 years)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 8:43:13 PM UTC-6, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> It's like a spectrum with toy fans on one end and cartoon fans on the
>> other. Toy fans are different from cartoon fans in what they like. I
>> skew more towards being a toy person myself. I just cannot understand
>> people who need fiction to sell them a robot. A good robot toy is a good
>> robot toy no matter what the toy company selling it says about it on the package.
>
> Yeah, but a fun personality and memorable characterization can elevate a
> not-so-good robot toy to becoming incredibly desirable, simply by merit
> of being a physical representation of that character. What put
> Transformers above similar franchsies like GoBots or Convertors was the
> well-developed media filled with epic storylines and well-developed
> characters, and it's likely the main reason why the Transformers brand is
> still celebrated to this day.
>
>
> Zob (I mean, sure, a good robot toy is a good robot toy, but that's not
> going to hold my interest for 38 years)

Cybertron Downshift is still one of my favorite toys 15 years on, and
Transmetal Rhinox almost 25.

You can make a case that Rhinox inherits a character from his previous toy,
but there is nothing for Downshift. Or Energon Landmine.

This is such a cool idea, and thread. It really does make you realize: nowadays, there really doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason in terms of pricing, demand, or response. It really is more case-by-case, and situational.

Other toys I've seen wildly fluctuating prices for in he last little while:

a) The Omnibots
b) Beastbox and Squawktalk
c) Deluxe Insecticons
d) Action Masters
e) Metal-chest versions of the Scramble City limbs.

Curious if anyone else finds these particular characters somewhat volatile?

JB

On Saturday, July 30, 2022 at 8:44:08 PM UTC-4, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> > On Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 8:43:13 PM UTC-6, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> >> It's like a spectrum with toy fans on one end and cartoon fans on the
> >> other. Toy fans are different from cartoon fans in what they like. I
> >> skew more towards being a toy person myself. I just cannot understand
> >> people who need fiction to sell them a robot. A good robot toy is a good
> >> robot toy no matter what the toy company selling it says about it on the package.
> >
> > Yeah, but a fun personality and memorable characterization can elevate a
> > not-so-good robot toy to becoming incredibly desirable, simply by merit
> > of being a physical representation of that character. What put
> > Transformers above similar franchsies like GoBots or Convertors was the
> > well-developed media filled with epic storylines and well-developed
> > characters, and it's likely the main reason why the Transformers brand is
> > still celebrated to this day.
> >
> >
> > Zob (I mean, sure, a good robot toy is a good robot toy, but that's not
> > going to hold my interest for 38 years)
> Cybertron Downshift is still one of my favorite toys 15 years on, and
> Transmetal Rhinox almost 25.
>
> You can make a case that Rhinox inherits a character from his previous toy,
> but there is nothing for Downshift. Or Energon Landmine.