For me nothing beats or can replace the originals. That said, reissues are a great alternative for people who want mint G1 toys but don't want to pay a premium for them.
I have lots of both. To me, as long as it's a good representation of the character, I don't mind if it's a reissue or the original.
I consider reissues essentially one and the same. I've said this many times before, but consider: A G1 "Vintage" Jazz could actually be... a 1984 first release a 1985 re-release a 1986 re-release a 1990/91 Euro Classic re-release so, which is the "real" vintage original? If a 1990 "original" is G1, then I see no reason why a 2002 or 2007 reissue isn't the same. To me, "G1" is not about the age, but the design aesthetic/mould used. For the record, I have a complete mix of reissue (mostly Japanese rather than Hasbro so as to avoid new toy law-changes) and original, and am more than happy to call it... my G1 collection!!
This is probably one of the most logical posts on the subject I have ever read, I totally agree. I think reissues are great and I wish we had more of them. If you decide to hunt them down, the Takara ones are for the most part identical to the vintage releases.
I still have nearly all of my G1 toys from my childhood, but all the 1984-1986 toys are broken and missing parts. Reissues are great because I can get brand new versions of the toys I loved.
I love reissues. I love the clean plastic, the brand-new stickers, not worrying about breakage from age...bliss!
Yep, I think I lean more towards fresh reissues as well. For certain characters there are simply no reissues so you're forced to hunt down the original ones, such as my Dreadwind. But for other characters, the material sometimes seems a bit affected, even if they were kept MISB. I'm talking rubber tires, treads and such...also certain plastics - which due to old production process, have become brittle with time ; for those reasons, reissues are the ultimate answer imo.
For the nostalgia I prefer an original. Like Draven I have no issues with Reissues, esp for those figures that were never released in the US and cost a small fortune to obtain an original.
This! There's something really gratifying about applying the stickers yourself to a minty fresh, G1 toy. I don't really plan on reselling my Transformers, so the value doesn't bother me. The alterations don't bother me too much, and usually it's possible to just pick up the Japanese version instead and avoid any major changes.
Minty fresh G1 reissues for me as well! You better believe if a G1 got a proper re-issue, I'm all over. Exception: any G1s I still have from my childhood (ie. Astrotrain, Ultra Magnus, PM Prime), I enjoy tracking down & re-piecing it to completion...to a point of course. IMHO the "best" G1 reissues, factoring price/obtainability: -every Encore release -SDCC Blaster -TRU Perceptor, Insecticons -TRU Commemorative Grapple, Astrotrain, Sideswipe, Powermaster Optimus Prime, Dirge, Hot Rod, Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus (I suggest replacing the missiles with short vintage ones), Red Alert, Smokescreen -Takara "TFC" Hound, Inferno, Soundblaster, Prowl, Targetmaster Hot Rod, TM Kup + Wheelie, minibots, Blitzwing, Tracks, Stepper -2010 Predaking -Japanese reissue Sixshot (pleeeease do another reissue a la PK!) Those are the ones I can think of now (most of which I own). Everyone else feel free to add any I may have missed
Completely agree with the overall sentiment here. I only collect G1 and the GRAND majority of my collection (>90%) are reissues. I think they're great as I'm HUGE on having my TF's in mint condition and it's both much easier and cheaper to get reissues than MISB/MIB originals. I'll even buy some G2's if their G1 counterparts haven't been reissued if I can get them new such as Devastator, Beach Comber, and Seaspray. The only vintage originals I'll get are ones that I really like that I'm sure they'll never reissue such as Overdrive , Shockwave, and Reflector.
