Hi all,

while browsing the Takara-Tomy website during my lunch break I have seen that if you go to this site: TRANSFORMERS 25th Aniversary special contents and then section 6 it displays one of the headmasters, superion and devestator. This is in the "25th special content" section so is this a hint of what we will see coming up in the Encore line? It would make sense for them to reissue some of the headmasters  

 

I am not sure about Chromedome or Devastator but the Superion mold is gone. I think most of the gestalt combiner mold are gone except for (I think) Bruticus, Defensor, and Predaking.

 

bruticus' mold was pretty much useless when hasbro got done with it with it's third release in RID (my urban cam ruination barely holds together, and there was one more release AFTER that, which must have really been a mess).

so if they got bruticus in good enough shape to reissue, I'm sure they can do the same for any combiner group. none of them saw anywhere near as much degradation as bruticus, I'm sure.

 

Perhaps some of our Japanese-reading members can help. Web translators are useless here.

 

What is the Bruticus mold made of anyway?! Cyberium gold space steel?!

 

Interesting. A buddy of mine has an opened urban camo Ruination and he's pretty solid and tight. Kept mine in the box though.

 

Section 1: Nordstroms meets TF commercial.

 

Whilst I'd welcome Headmasters and Devy, I wouldn't get too excited. As the site is about 'connecting' the 'generation', 'brand', and then 'technology' on the page in question, the TF's could be pictured to show the 'connection' of head/body, and combiners.

Speculation on my part, and bear in mind I'm drunk  

 

How can the G1 Prime and the G1 Seeker molds still be solid when there has been many re-issues and variants released through out the years?

 

I disassembled my Bruticus to tighten joints, swap out plastic chests and prep for Reprolabels. There are a LOT of individual little parts!

 

It's mainly about how the TF toy designing technology etc has improved and evolved over the 25 years, and gimmicks like combining and transforming.

 

Thanks. Explains Chromedome's presence there, he's an example of what bricks they used to make.  

 

Drunken reasoning FTW!

 

The mold for Prime has been recast or repaired several times over at this point.
Molds are expensive, and fragile too. In the case of Prime however it was probably deemed worthwhile. Similarly, the Seekers lend themselves to repaints as well.

Additionally, molds are also heavy. Some have suggested that the molds which are apparently missing were simply abandoned when Hasbro moved production from one location to another.

 

Thump me on the noodle for asking...
but doesn't a toy company keep designs or sketches or something in a filing cabinet somewhere so that if a mold broke or was lost, they could replace it?
so why can't a new mold be made to make reissues?
i guess i am naive to think that i have trouble believing the Mirage or Wheeljack molds are totally gone forever.
as if someone just made a mold outta thin air and forgot how to do it.


as for the future of Encore, i am praying to Nerd-thulu that we get a Perceptor, trypticon or another shot for me to nab a Predaking...(sacrificing virgins for that one, lol.)

 

This is exactly why we get exposed to Superion KO easter basket sets every Easter!!

 

My thinking is that given its a 25th anniversary section, why would you waste screen realestate with pictures of transformers you are not going to make money off? If they just needed to show a combiner then why not just show Bruticus since he is already being reissued and it would be good advertising and not wasting the space?

 

A new mold could be cast to make a reissue. Heck, forget about designs or anything, the MOTU commerative figures (before the 2002 line) had their molds reverse engineered from vintage toys.

The issue appears to be that casting an entirely new mold is expensive and not worthwhile for a reissue. If a company's going to the expense of casting a new mold for Wheeljack, what makes more sense: cast a mold for a nearly 30 year old toy that will appeal only to a portion of collectors or cast a mold of an updated "Classics" Wheeljack that'll appeal to collectors and kids.

It's unlikely I'd buy a Wheeljack reissue, but I'd be all over a Classics Wheeljack.

 

I was about to metion the MOTU re-issues a few years back that were reverse-engineered. Glad to see someone else touched on it as well.

At any rate, I wish they would re-issue Headmasters and Targetmasters. I have a few MINT G1 HMs: (Yes, MINT) Chromedome, Apeface, and Snapdragon, and although blocky, they are just magnificent.

Now re-issues of Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, Mirage? I would club baby seals for those.

Oh TakaraTomy, how you tease us with hints of G1 goodness...you're so cruel! I love you!

 

I am surprised that superion's molds might have been lost unless the move was after the g2 line. I would love to see trypticon stomp his way into a reissue or a US predaking.
Just wondering though, if there was a star convoy reissue could a sky garry and grandus reissue be down the line (I mean they DID throw the gear connector in the reissue to the reissue)