Excluding the figures whose molds are broken, degraded or lost (Wheeljack, The Dinobots, Sunstreaker, Mirage, The Combaticons, etc.)
Which G1 toys will likely never be reissued?

My moneys on Jetfire specifically, because I don't think Hasbro and especially TakaraTomy are allowed to use that mold even if they wanted to (Harmony gold will get angsty again"

I also think that we won't see most of the 1987 to 1990 cast again because let's be real here there isn't as much nostalgic value to the general public for characters like Treadshot, Bomb-Burst and Birdbrain as there is for Optimus Prime, Soundwave and Starscream.

We also definitely won't ever see the mail-away figures like the Omnibots, Powerdashers and Reflector.

Swivelbot

On Sunday, August 13, 2023 at 3:51:56 AM UTC-6, Swivelbot wrote:

> Excluding the figures whose molds are broken, degraded or lost (Wheeljack, The Dinobots, Sunstreaker, Mirage, The Combaticons, etc.)
> Which G1 toys will likely never be reissued?

I think that, realistically, we've seen all the G1 molds brought back that we're ever going to see. Takara is in a better position to do it than Hasbro due to their closer proximity to the manufacturing facilities. I think if any other molds were going to turn up, they would have done so years ago..

And with neo-G1 toys for pretty much *every* major character from 1984-87 except for a handful of outliers, the *characters* have been readily available for consumers even if the vintage versions of them have not been. And with the advent of Missing Link, we will likely be getting G1-styled versions of additional characters, only as new toys, made from new molds, that are measurably better (but still hit that sweet spot in terms of visual nostalgia).

There's very little reason at this late stage in the game for Takara to foot the expense to repair or recreate damaged G1 molds. They would have to pour a lot of money into mold restoration, and then they would have to turn around and charge consumers a lot of money for these antique toys with their various springs and metal pins and countless screws and die-cast bodies and rubberized tires. My thinking is that not many people are going to spend $50 on a reissue Snarl or Swoop when you can get a Studio Series version that's twice as big, has ten times the articulation, and has more fidelity to the media characters we know and love. (The G1 Swoop toy has Jazz eyes! Only Jazz should have Jazz eyes!)

That's the main reason I started going after original vintage G1 toys on eBay to start completing my collection... the likelihood of more G1 reissues is very small. We'll get the same vintage toys over again in the form of cartoon-accurate redeco toys, but we won't get anything that hasn't already been reissued two or three or four times.

It's quite possible that I'm dead wrong, and Takara will surprise us all with, like, an official Monstructor or Thunderwing reissue or something crazy like that. But, I doubt it.

Zob (called the cops on the neighbors last night, and this morning I had a flat tire. Coincidence, or sabotage? Hmm...)

On Sunday, August 13, 2023 at 2:09:23 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, August 13, 2023 at 3:51:56 AM UTC-6, Swivelbot wrote:
>
> > Excluding the figures whose molds are broken, degraded or lost (Wheeljack, The Dinobots, Sunstreaker, Mirage, The Combaticons, etc.)
> > Which G1 toys will likely never be reissued?
> I think that, realistically, we've seen all the G1 molds brought back that we're ever going to see. Takara is in a better position to do it than Hasbro due to their closer proximity to the manufacturing facilities. I think if any other molds were going to turn up, they would have done so years ago..
>
> And with neo-G1 toys for pretty much *every* major character from 1984-87 except for a handful of outliers, the *characters* have been readily available for consumers even if the vintage versions of them have not been. And with the advent of Missing Link, we will likely be getting G1-styled versions of additional characters, only as new toys, made from new molds, that are measurably better (but still hit that sweet spot in terms of visual nostalgia).
>
> There's very little reason at this late stage in the game for Takara to foot the expense to repair or recreate damaged G1 molds. They would have to pour a lot of money into mold restoration, and then they would have to turn around and charge consumers a lot of money for these antique toys with their various springs and metal pins and countless screws and die-cast bodies and rubberized tires. My thinking is that not many people are going to spend $50 on a reissue Snarl or Swoop when you can get a Studio Series version that's twice as big, has ten times the articulation, and has more fidelity to the media characters we know and love. (The G1 Swoop toy has Jazz eyes! Only Jazz should have Jazz eyes!)
>
> That's the main reason I started going after original vintage G1 toys on eBay to start completing my collection... the likelihood of more G1 reissues is very small. We'll get the same vintage toys over again in the form of cartoon-accurate redeco toys, but we won't get anything that hasn't already been reissued two or three or four times.
>
> It's quite possible that I'm dead wrong, and Takara will surprise us all with, like, an official Monstructor or Thunderwing reissue or something crazy like that. But, I doubt it.
>
>
> Zob (called the cops on the neighbors last night, and this morning I had a flat tire. Coincidence, or sabotage? Hmm...)

Zob, I feel like you are correct. If anything, the recent TFTM-inspired G1 redecos have underscored how much more expensive it is to produce and release these vintage toys in today’s world.

And - I mean - if we’re balking at paying north of $30 USD for a vintage Insecticon, I wonder - who else is buying these toys? Who is their intended market?

Curious also about other toys that are simply legally never going to be made available again. My money is on G1 Shockwave and the Deluxe Insecticons.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Joseph

On 8/16/2023 10:41 PM, Joseph Bardsley wrote:
> Curious also about other toys that are simply legally never going to be made available again. My money is on G1 Shockwave and the Deluxe Insecticons.

Takaratomy should really buy the rights to those molds/designs. There
were never any Astro Magnum or Beetras anime. They're dead IPs on their
own without Transformers.

Jetfire and the Deluxe Vehicles do have anime attached to them, and in
the case of Jetfire, a VERY popular one. I don't see Jetfire,
Roadbuster, or Whirl ever being reissued.

On Friday, August 18, 2023 at 10:28:05 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> Takaratomy should really buy the rights to those molds/designs. There
> were never any Astro Magnum or Beetras anime. They're dead IPs on their
> own without Transformers.

That would be the logical move. I wonder if Takara considers them less of a priority since the Deluxe Insecticons, for example, were never part of Transformers in Japan. They might look at the Bandai toys as "extra" American add-ons and not part of the true Transformers toy line, sort of like the way most American fans dismiss the Battle Beasts as not "really" part of Transformers G1.
> Jetfire and the Deluxe Vehicles do have anime attached to them, and in
> the case of Jetfire, a VERY popular one. I don't see Jetfire,
> Roadbuster, or Whirl ever being reissued.

I'm surprised the Zhong Jin counterfeits were going so strong and then just stopped dead in the water. Recently, I saw that they have a Rewind/Steeljaw set and an Eject/Ramhorn set now, which didn't used to be the case. So, evidently they're still churning them out, but not nearly at the pace they once did. They did an unlicensed Shockwave "reissue" (which I own, and it is of reasonably good quality) and it seems like an unlicensed Jetfire reissue would be hugely popular. They clearly have no qualms with swiping Hasbro/Takara IP without permission, so I can't imagine the problem is that they're unwilling to go up against Harmony Gold.

Zob (there are always little things that bug me about reissues, though, be it official or unofficial)