The Energon Pub

News Credits: 20 · Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:26 pm

I'd totally be down for Fort and Grand Max reissues. That'd be fantastic!

News Credits: 11 · Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:34 am

[quote="fenrir72"]Don't expect Hasbro to release him. Remember the safety standards issue? Brave Max like flunked it in 2001(RID was supposedly almost given the green light)

As for Tomy......possibility of a release would be higher.[/]

Indeed. In fact, everyone must keep in mind that this announcement was made during the Takara/Tomy Panel. There were no representatives from Hasbro on stage at the time.

Hasbro will never be able to reissue Fort Max due to American legislation allowing the strict liability-centric safety laws. The American Supreme Court has ruled that toys cannot NOT be super safe, and since Hasbro is a business, they must conform to those safety features. It sucks, but that's what the American dream has come down to: super-safe and homogenous for mass public consumption, lest the public rise against it. But that is off the topic.

It was TAKARA/TOMY who said that "if" we can release Fort Max it will be for the 30th Anniversary. TT Produces some big toys, but TT simply does not have the storage space for 10 thousand Fort Max toys. This is TT, a company from a small archipelago, who must also take their primary consumers into consideration: namely its local Japanese market. Sure, they could potentially buy up or lease more warehouses, but tell me, would that justify the cost? They want to please us, and from watching their expressions after being asked about Fort Max, Yoke-san and Kikuchihara Takashi (Deputy Manager of TT) both seemed very enthusiastic about the idea of getting Fort Max out on the market again.

Just keep in mind that they would not be Hasbro re-issues, but Takara/Tomy reissues.

If you want Hasbro to be able to re-release Fort Max, write your congressman. Unless toy prducers are given a longer leash in regards to safety issues, there is no way Fort Max will ever be produced for the US market. Stop blaming Hasbro for that - it's the fault of complainers who force these safety laws through the Courts that tie Hasbro's hands.

Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:41 am

Hey Guys your forgetting one important thing. All those safety reg are out the window if the item is stated as being for ages 18 and up...
Which is what Matty Collector does.. If they really wanted they could have him out by Christmas..
"Just Saying"
:michaelbay:

Also.. I dont care who reissues him, though Id rather him go with my Encore Series.
Hasbro tends to get a bit cheap on the reissues..

News Credits: 7 · Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:09 am

TransformersEmporium wrote:Hey Guys your forgetting one important thing. All those safety reg are out the window if the item is stated as being for ages 18 and up...
Which is what Matty Collector does.. If they really wanted they could have him out by Christmas..
"Just Saying"

Also.. I dont care who reissues him, though Id rather him go with my Encore Series.
Hasbro tends to get a bit cheap on the reissues..

Although technically that's true, the difference is that the Matty Collector toys aren't as expensive to produce or to stock. Besides that, I'm sure the Matty Collector series must have gone through a trial / test period, in which demand was gauged and after which it would have been relatively easy to stop after a couple of figures, if demand didn't match up to expectations.
However, making a toy, with an expected retail price of around $250, for an ages 18 and up market, without even an idea of actual demand, would be commercial suicide, or at least a risk no US manufactorer would likely take.
Japan has a potential market of buyers who are, with respect, more predictable in their selling patterns (Japan has a much more homogenous population than the US), who are older and so have more disposable income, and who are less concerned with keeping to a budget but are more concerned with quality than the average American toy buyer.

Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:19 am

Actually, the last reissue sold for $125-$150 I believe, and the Milinnium Falcon was put out by walmart and it initially came out for $180 then to $165. Either way you are not losing anything, not when you have half the overhead costs cut when your not even shipping anything until its sold. Right? And they can always make it a 30th Ann special with only 1000 made. Hughh? Ya like that? But unlike Bays Sig DVD's these will be numbered.. They could give us a heads up on the date they 'll be available and where, and bam! But even if say it does cost $250, its the holy grail for all TF fans, $250 compared to $900 plus for a complete one.. I know I would be buying at least 2.. Come on alldarker, tell me you wouldn't want one!!!

News Credits: 7 · Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:25 am

TransformersEmporium wrote:Actually, the last reissue sold for $125-$150 I believe, and the Milinnium Falcon was put out by walmart and it initially came out for $180 then to $165. Either way you are not losing anything, not when you have half the overhead costs cut when your not even shipping anything until its sold. Right? And they can always make it a 30th Ann special with only 1000 made. Hughh? Ya like that? But unlike Bays Sig DVD's these will be numbered.. They could give us a heads up on the date they 'll be available and where, and bam! But even if say it does cost $250, its the holy grail for all TF fans, $250 compared to $900 plus for a complete one.. I know I would be buying at least 2.. Come on alldarker, tell me you wouldn't want one!!!

I'd LOVE one! But I'm afraid I'm just being rational... Like, a limited production run of 1000 would be very expensive to produce. And while the prices for these 1000 items would shoot up in the aftermarket, Hasbro would probably get a lot of negative publicity and flak if they would sell these at those aftermarket prices in the first place.

I think the problem for a US rerelease of FM is that there is no viable 'sweet spot' as far as profitabily and keeping to regulations is concerned. Back in the '80's, there was a place for toys this size. Plastic was relatively cheap, as was the fuel to transport these. There were a lot less strick regulations as far as toys were concerned, and there were a LOT less contenders for distraction. Whereas back in the '80's the giant playsets were the epitomy of what money could buy for a kid, nowadays this would have to contend for the consumers budget and attention with Playstations and X-Box, Blackberry's, iPhones and iPads, the internet, and the like.

Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:31 am

1000 was really low, I should have said at least 5000,I guess even 10,000 would be a very low production number. But its no different from the rest of the G1 figures theyve reissued, Prime, Insecticon, Perceptor Blaster etc. Takara's talking about doing it and you know their not worried about flak. A few people are always going to complain.

News Credits: 60 · Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:02 am

Next thing to factor then is the shipping. It's gonna be murder to import this (especially online stores. If Hasbro ships this, the shipping costs is already factored in but then, if Tomy runs this exclusively as an Encore :BOOM:

Though this is waaaaaay better than a US$ 1000 ebay price (not including shipping that is.

Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:17 am

Lets see, T F Source and several other online shops i know get the large scale figures in, Predaking, Omega etc, though Max would be about twice the size. Hmmm.. I can't see shipping being more than $25, otherwise its price gauging. Thats just my personal view, and my experience with having shipped out over 300 packages myself in the last couple of months, occasionally weighing 12 to 13 lbs.
Though ive never owned one, what do you think the combined weight is, 6 or 7 lbs??

Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:17 pm

Stormrider wrote:I realize that Fort Max is the holygrail for many collectors. I would be more interested in if Fort Max was redone 2.0 style.

- Make him the size of Unicron
- Add more points of articulation
- Add more detail

I think that at this point, that it is probably for the best to go this route.

Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:50 pm

I would love a Encore Reissue Fortress maximus. Especially if he has all of the functionality plus more than the original one whom i can't afford as he is always in the USA/Asia and costsa bomb to ship...

Even if he is in the UK I never get him as Its always when i am saving up or have no money to spend or I have already bought some other massive Toy e.g. FP Bruticus maximus.

As For MP Soundwave a good idea would be interested but why not do some more Autobots? e.g. dinobots or at least some of the more military based Autobots....

Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:31 pm

~~~~ Hound ~~ + ~~ Masterpiece ~~~ = Masterpiece Hound
Him and Sunstreaker, and Mirage, Also Prowl, ok, Ill stop now.

News Credits: 60 · Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:09 am

If indeed this will be released in the Encore line, I'll be both happy and sad.

Happy that a lot of our fellow collectors will get the opportunity to own him, but sad that (since I own only the Hasbro 1987 version)I won't be able to own both Master swords and the bio card that is sure to be included with him.

And hopefully Scorponok too won't be far behind.

Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:30 am

Dear Takara Clause,
This Christmas I would really like you to add Trypticon and Fort Max to your Encore lineup.
Wheeljack would be nice also.. And thanks again for finally doing Devastator..
Sincerely,
David

News Credits: 16 · Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:02 am

Speaking of Hound, I'd really like to see an encore Hound. There's no way I'm going to pay about a $100 for a reissue from the Takara Book Collection. Though if I could find someone to trade with... that would be nice.

Fri May 11, 2012 8:12 pm

I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Come on Takara, you know you want to. :BOWDOWN:

News Credits: 409 · Sun May 13, 2012 2:12 pm

Did anything get mentioned or asked at Botcon about MP Soundwave? Or even MP Sideswipe?

Sun May 13, 2012 4:12 pm

If/when Fort Max gets released, that would mean all three main Autobot baseformers released in the US will have gotten encore reissues. I want Scorponok and Trypticon!

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

As much as I want to be, I just can't get excited about an Encore Fort Max. Every time I've seen him at Botcon for sale, I can't help but think my god, that's the biggest brick I've ever seen

If the price is decent then maybe I'll get him if there's nothing else interesting at the time, but I think it'll be a pass

News Credits: 8 · Fri Jun 01, 2012 12:53 pm

Stormrider wrote:Did anything get mentioned or asked at Botcon about MP Soundwave? Or even MP Sideswipe?

Not in any of the panels I was in. In fact I don't remember anyway asking anything about Mp figures during the panels which is weird.

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