The Energon Pub

What are the molds that will never see reissue and for what reasons?

The ones I know are
Omega Supreme
Jetfire/Skyfire
Shockwave
I believe these molds all belong to other companies

The ones I am pretty sure also wont see reissue due to loss of the molds
Wheeljack
Mirage
Sunstreaker
All 5 Dinobots


Anymore to speak of? I am building my G1 collection but I prefer reissue so they are minty.
Without hope of reissue, I won an auction for a working Omega recently and I am wondering who else I should be looking for vintage.

Megatron as a gun (G1, Classic, MP)

smallworm wrote:Megatron as a gun (G1, Classic, MP)

G1 Megatron was rereleased time and again FYI, as part of the TF Collection, Hasbro Reissue and Takara Encore.

Sid Burn wrote:What are the molds that will never see reissue and for what reasons?

The ones I know are
Omega Supreme
Jetfire/Skyfire
Shockwave
I believe these molds all belong to other companies

yes, the molds belong to other companies...but so did sky lynx.

take that for what its worth.

As famous as they are, I haven't seen a Rumble/Frenzy reissue lately.

Nujevad wrote:As famous as they are, I haven't seen a Rumble/Frenzy reissue lately.

I'd love to see one personally...but i'm betting takara would give the same excuse they give for devastator...the ko's have watered down the market enough.

zemper wrote:

smallworm wrote:Megatron as a gun (G1, Classic, MP)

G1 Megatron was rereleased time and again FYI, as part of the TF Collection, Hasbro Reissue and Takara Encore.

Not in America, all re-releases of G1 Megatron have been Takara Only. He wasn't even in Hasbro's Commemorative Series.

zemper wrote:

smallworm wrote:Megatron as a gun (G1, Classic, MP)

G1 Megatron was rereleased time and again FYI, as part of the TF Collection, Hasbro Reissue and Takara Encore.

Yep, there is no shortage of Megatron reissues.

Not sure who told you he wouldnt be reissued Smallworm. You can buy a new reissue of him as of this year.

He might not see stateside shelf time, but as Zemper said, he has seen multiple reissues.

why doesn't takara just reverse engineer molds like wheeljack, mirage, etc.? i just don't understand. is it just pure laziness? if people out there can make ko's of these figures then shouldn't takara put some kind of an emphasis on putting out real versions so these ko's can stop ripping people off? heck, i'm sure every collector out there with a vintage one of these would be more than happy to lend their fig to takara so they can make the mold.

Gutter Bunny wrote:

Sid Burn wrote:What are the molds that will never see reissue and for what reasons?

The ones I know are
Omega Supreme
Jetfire/Skyfire
Shockwave
I believe these molds all belong to other companies

yes, the molds belong to other companies...but so did sky lynx.

take that for what its worth.

Sky Lynx has opened the door for other, non original Takara molds to perhaps be re-issued later on.
I think Skyfire/Jetfire is possibly the only certain figure that will never get a remold.

kimmer wrote:why doesn't takara just reverse engineer molds like wheeljack, mirage, etc.?

Cost. It costs alot of money to make a mold, even more to reverse engineer one, you have to find a perfect specimen and then hope the molding attempts go well.

Hasbro and TakaraTomy create repaints of figures to help make the cost of making the molds more affordable.

i_amtrunks wrote:I think Skyfire/Jetfire is possibly the only certain figure that will never get a remold.

And that would be because Takara/Hasbro are competition for Bandai(?), where the others Toy Box and ToyCO went buh bye...correct?

Not to be a dick but anything is possible. I remember when everyone said Soundwave would never get reissued because of damaged molds.... Hell, I remember when everybody thought we wouldn't get G1 reissues because their was "No money" in doing something like that.


The question that needs to be asked...

"WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET AN ANIME CORRECT THUNDERCRACKER!!!"

Thats what I want, Thundercracker is my second favorite Decepticon and I hate that he gets overlooked! Come on...

talk of lost moulds is no excuse, lets ignore cost for a moment, takara designed the things in the first place (and were limited by the engineering of 20+ years ago) and its still a toy production company right?? I wonder if takara can make a profit from reissues, almost without exception all the reissues up to date fetch higher than retail on the secondary market. I saw hasbro jazz in toys r us Uk a few years ago in a big pile, 5 uk pounds each, i ignored them due to the know bad moulds but now they are $50-60 on ebay! At least there seems to be a market for them and i cant see it shrinking any time soon.

zemper wrote:

smallworm wrote:Megatron as a gun (G1, Classic, MP)

G1 Megatron was rereleased time and again FYI, as part of the TF Collection, Hasbro Reissue and Takara Encore.

G1 Megatron has not been reissued by Hasbro.

Kimmer wrote:why doesn't takara just reverse engineer molds like wheeljack, mirage, etc.? i just don't understand. is it just pure laziness? if people out there can make ko's of these figures then shouldn't takara put some kind of an emphasis on putting out real versions so these ko's can stop ripping people off? heck, i'm sure every collector out there with a vintage one of these would be more than happy to lend their fig to takara so they can make the mold.

That was what I was thinking. But they said that the market for these "lost ones" was too ruined by the KO versions....

But theoretically, they could reverse-engineer it and ensure that it is of better quality than the KO ones.

Deadpool. wrote:

Kimmer wrote:why doesn't takara just reverse engineer molds like wheeljack, mirage, etc.? i just don't understand. is it just pure laziness? if people out there can make ko's of these figures then shouldn't takara put some kind of an emphasis on putting out real versions so these ko's can stop ripping people off? heck, i'm sure every collector out there with a vintage one of these would be more than happy to lend their fig to takara so they can make the mold.

That was what I was thinking. But they said that the market for these "lost ones" was too ruined by the KO versions....

But theoretically, they could reverse-engineer it and ensure that it is of better quality than the KO ones.

They would need to do more then just reverse engineer these figures.With some of them they would have to modify the molds to fit new safty laws.
The safty laws stste that any "new molds" have to reach a serent safty standered.The use of "old molds" fit into a differen guide line.They would also have to redesign the decals on some of them.....they lost the rights to more then a few.
I thing that all the thes issues is what prevents Hasbro or Takara from even trying with these figures.

Gutter Bunny wrote:

Nujevad wrote:As famous as they are, I haven't seen a Rumble/Frenzy reissue lately.

I'd love to see one personally...but i'm betting takara would give the same excuse they give for devastator...the ko's have watered down the market enough.

the irony is re devastator is that i bought the KO precisely because there is no reissue!!!! if there was the real deal i'd not have spent $4 on a toy worth just that.

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Deadpool. wrote:

Kimmer wrote:why doesn't takara just reverse engineer molds like wheeljack, mirage, etc.? i just don't understand. is it just pure laziness? if people out there can make ko's of these figures then shouldn't takara put some kind of an emphasis on putting out real versions so these ko's can stop ripping people off? heck, i'm sure every collector out there with a vintage one of these would be more than happy to lend their fig to takara so they can make the mold.

That was what I was thinking. But they said that the market for these "lost ones" was too ruined by the KO versions....

But theoretically, they could reverse-engineer it and ensure that it is of better quality than the KO ones.

They would need to do more then just reverse engineer these figures.With some of them they would have to modify the molds to fit new safty laws.
The safty laws stste that any "new molds" have to reach a serent safty standered.The use of "old molds" fit into a differen guide line.They would also have to redesign the decals on some of them.....they lost the rights to more then a few.
I thing that all the thes issues is what prevents Hasbro or Takara from even trying with these figures.

I know... That's why Optimus got shorter smokestacks in the USA....

But they could do similar deco, but without the original wordings...

Deadpool. wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Deadpool. wrote:

Kimmer wrote:why doesn't takara just reverse engineer molds like wheeljack, mirage, etc.? i just don't understand. is it just pure laziness? if people out there can make ko's of these figures then shouldn't takara put some kind of an emphasis on putting out real versions so these ko's can stop ripping people off? heck, i'm sure every collector out there with a vintage one of these would be more than happy to lend their fig to takara so they can make the mold.

That was what I was thinking. But they said that the market for these "lost ones" was too ruined by the KO versions....

But theoretically, they could reverse-engineer it and ensure that it is of better quality than the KO ones.

They would need to do more then just reverse engineer these figures.With some of them they would have to modify the molds to fit new safty laws.
The safty laws stste that any "new molds" have to reach a serent safty standered.The use of "old molds" fit into a differen guide line.They would also have to redesign the decals on some of them.....they lost the rights to more then a few.
I thing that all the thes issues is what prevents Hasbro or Takara from even trying with these figures.

I know... That's why Optimus got shorter smokestacks in the USA....

But they could do similar deco, but without the original wordings...

But with Prime being an old mold the guide line called for a modifacation.If they were to reverse engenineer one of the old figures it would be considered a "NEW MOLD" and there are different guide lines when it pretains to a new mold.....different rule's apply to new molds.Now wether or not those designs would have fit todays guide lines or not is beyond me.

Wheeljack, Mirage and Shockwave are the only non reissue G1 I have and wish I could have a reissue of yhem as well. And I dont buy KO's so Ill have to deal with the wear of the old ones.

whatever the reasons are, i'm not giving up hope that someday we'll get them reissued. if they wanted to do it they could. it's typical that wheejack, mirage, and sunstreaker are 3 of my favorites and i think a lot of others favorites as well. for them to say that there's no market for these because of the ko's is just absurd and sounds like an excuse. i for one will never put a ko in my collection and i now a lot of other collectors feel the same.

Hey haven't we done this topic already but o.k. the orignal g1 dinobots, g1 mirage, g1 wheeljack. The reason I doubt we will see a reissue sunstreaker is because you can pick up complete g1 original for about $76 plus shipping and handling.

shortround wrote:Hey haven't we done this topic already but o.k. the orignal g1 dinobots, g1 mirage, g1 wheeljack. The reason I doubt we will see a reissue sunstreaker is because you can pick up complete g1 original for about $76 plus shipping and handling.

I really dont think you should pointing out multiple threads about the same topic Uncle Sixshot.

I have already mentioned the dinobots, mirage, wheeljack and sunstreaker, and people have commented on it. PLEASE, please read a thread before commenting.

On topic, are there any other molds that are on the 'no reissue' list?

Takara making the excuse that the KO gestalts curb their desire to officially reissue molds like Devastator, Defensor and Menasor is weak. People pay handsomely for the Predaking gift set, and they would pay just as well for a minty case fresh Devastator.

Well, I think some of us might be missing a key issue here.

That being, that as of right now, providing reissues for collectors is not Takara or Hasbro's core business, which is toys for kids, who probably have minimal interest in reissues of 80 toys. Hell, a lot of our younger collectors who are into BW and the unicron trilogies often scoff at G1 toys.

This could all be changing now as I have read that Takara is thinking o focussing more on the adult market. Then agan, that could just mean more MPs and not necesarily taking the time to remake lost/broken molds.

But yes, you are right on with the list of lost/broken molds.

Point to note here is that even if they have the molds, a lot of TFs will never get reissued as the original 80s versions are still pretty cheap to come by.

Taking your examples of Devastator and Defensor as an exaple. Most of the bots in those can be had for 5 bucks each with another 20 for parts to complete them. And that is going by ebay prices. I know complete ones sell for in excess of 100, however, taking the time to buy the parts, one can assemble one for around 50-60.

A reissue would be much more than that, and hence, does not make sense to buy, or make, atleast not the way I see it.

Predaking is an exception as the metal Predacons have always fetched top dollar.

In a nutshell, it comes down to demand. The reissues we will see are the ones with the most demand for them, and most of these will be the Series 1-4. Anything after that would seem highly unlikely to me.

Bonger wrote:Taking your examples of Devastator and Defensor as an exaple. Most of the bots in those can be had for 5 bucks each with another 20 for parts to complete them. And that is going by ebay prices. I know complete ones sell for in excess of 100, however, taking the time to buy the parts, one can assemble one for around 50-60.

Can one really find Devastator robots for such a cheap price? I have awful trouble finding a cheap Hook.