Blaster and the others haven't been a normal retail for years. I think the Insecticons have been the only G1 molds released to regular retail stores since the Toys R Us reissues almost a decade ago. I never saw the Blaster pack at a physical store. Any of the others have been online exclusives where you have to know they are there to go find them. I don't think Blaster has been released in a regular store since the 80's.

 

Blaster Question guys:

Why Hasbro isn't giving us a modern Blaster figure in his own distinct mold?

in G1, he and soundwave have different designs.
but over the course of time, Hasbro gave them very same toy molds with difference only in head, color and faction symbols.

Why Blaster and SW should have to be in exact molds?
Their G1 toys isn't like that.

One is boom box and the other is a tape recorder.

 

They probably reckon they’re ‘close enough’ so they can save budget. And to be fair: Blaster only got like three modern toys anyway - they all did share molds with Soundwave, but two of which were not Earth modes anyway (and one not even being a G1 version inspired one!), and the only Earth based one (Titans Return) IS pure Blaster, with Soundwave being the remold. And that toy is great, I recommend picking it up if you don’t own it already.  

 

This neat and all, but Hasbro's probably gonna charge way too much for either one.

 

Speaking only for myself, my original Blaster's cassette door was probably fine, but I was too young and too stupid to know how the button worked to open it properly, causing me to break it. I'll never know for sure, of course.

Every reissue version I have (SDCC Blaster, SG Blaster, and Encore Twintwist), the cassette door opens just fine.

That was back when the MP Seeker mold was... less than accurate to G1 sensibilities, as well. Part of the reason for its lower popularity.

Assuming that Hasbro reconstructed or rediscovered molds not already reissued (not something I take for granted as easily done), I'd love to see the Omnibots given a retail release.

If we're already complaining that the price of these is too high, I shudder to think about what the complaints would be like if Hasbro has to incorporate the costs of recreating a mold into the pricing structure.

 

HA   this means garbonz to me... I have jet to see a single one of these reissues in store. Only place to find them is ebay at 300% mark up. I'm not paying $100 (scalper price) for a $30 SKU (Starscream) or $50 (retail price) for for an incomplete SKU (Optimus with no trailer). If I could find them for retail, I surely pick them up but Like I mentioned, I've never seen a single one in stock and none of the reissues were ever listed as in stock even on line. Devastator showed up on Walmart.com be was never in stock. Only goddamn scalpers. And good lick finding a Bumblebee for retail...

Sorry... bit of a rant... Just frustrated with this BS.

 

You can still buy Hot Rod on Walmart.com for under $20 shipped. Swerve is on there for $15 shipped which isn't that much of a mark-up when you take everything into account. I know distribution isn't even across the nation but, with your being in Tampa, I'd think you'd have had several chances to peruse the several stores in your area over the holidays to find a Starscream at regular retail.

Anyway, Ebay has Starscream for much cheaper than over $100.

 

I voted for Blaster. I already have a Skywarp reissue. Glad Blaster won.

 

As someone that has the majority of all the reissues already, I would be buying them purely for the retro boxes. But like overpriced Prime, the more logical approach I feel is just to buy the identical KOs for probably half of what Hasbro will charge.

Nevertheless, this isn't a sustainable buying venture for me. Buying for boxed retro feel goods was fun for the first couple of releases, but it will get old fast.

So no matter who they release, glad for those that want and need them.

 

I stand corrected on the Hotrod being online but I have never seen one in store. I do already have a vintage one in decent shape so I haven't searched for one online and over looked this. That Starscream is under $100 but is still over a 200% mark up. Point is, the distribution and availability of these reissues is very uneven. Reminds me of the MP TRU exclusives back in the day. Some of them were never actually released in stores and only a handful were online. Only way to get those were scalpers.

 

You're referring to the molds used on Legends, Titans Return, and the recent Bumblebee Movie Soundwave. The G1 reissue of Soundwave looks to be the same mold being used for his G1 reissues for awhile now, so it won't be the same as Blaster. The Blaster G1 reissues have also been consistent with his G1 mold.

 

$75 shipped on Ebay is only a 100% markup ($35x2). But back in November, they were going for about $50 shipped, which is reasonable if you can't find one. Sorry you seem to just now be really getting on the ball with the reissues but they've been available for awhile at either cost or a modest markup until the past couple of months.

 

And then you've got eBay/PayPal keeping 15% of that.

 

I ordered him from Wal-Mart.com, came to $24 with shipping and tax. Was not available for store pick-up so had it shipped to my house. They shipped it in a mylar envelope, no padding. Obviously it was destroyed upon arrival, returned it the next day.

 

Are you referring to Soundwave & Blaster being the same mold? Cause I've not seen that happen through the G1 based releases. I own from Takara micro Change through the many reissues across North America, Europe & Asia. Unless my version of reality is quite different from others, they are not the same. Are you meaning a more modern/later series release? Or do you mean the releases of both are from mostly the same molds traditionally used for that character? Because many of both do share the same older molds since 87 I believe & the age of the Headmasters?

 

I believe he's referring to the recent molds as I mentioned above.

 

I've already deleted my post in an attempt to avoid confusing the issue further. Suffice it to say, I don't think your facts are wrong, but I don't think you're talking about what the original person you were responding to intended.

 

I'm sure that @deathzero23 is perfectly capable of correcting me or clarifying if comments/questions were misunderstood. Feel free to add to it if you have a better grasp of the question. I wouldn't think it's a big deal either way.  

 

I'm referring to their molds after G1.
For example the Cybertron and Titans Return molds.
Just because they have ejecting tape deck feature, they're mandatory to share molds most of the time?

 

Great question! I could only speculate but others might know.