This could be just the size of the box. So robots in truck mode, displayed in the box. I'm guessing you're right and this is just a recolor, but a scaled up official version made of high quality materials would be amazing. An 18" version beside my other G1 reissues would be killer.
All reissue lately have been exclusive to certain retailers. The last set was a Walmart exclusive, which was an absolute gong show for actually getting them in hand.
Pretty sure many people had trouble finding Devastator at Walmart. I only saw it once on shelves and grabbed one immediately, and thats considering they were $90 over here. Pretty much every other Walmart G1 reissue got stocked plentifully but Devastator was a blink-and-you-missed-it kind of deal.
In the Vancouver area, with the exception of mini bots, they were all very difficult to get. I found one devastator in white rock. Then I had to order the blaster and astro train off walmart.com/eBay. Never saw any starscreams. Think I might have seen a few trailer less primes.
I'm totally on the same page as you. Tonka's line that I remember was "Tonka Tough". These aren't tough at all. Hook's stupid fragile legs, tiny guns and some many pieces. I get it, collectors want it. But I would have gladly paid $200 or whatever for the CW versions. My 4yrs olds still have their CW Constructicons, they were put through the ringer and pretty durable and fun.
What about mold degradation? I thought both the encore and vintage G1 versions suffered greatly from qc issues?
I have to assume they've cut new molds at some point. There's no way G1 Devastator is still using the original molds.
I thought they had cut new molds for Encore. If the Walmart release was crappy, it would be due to cost cutting, like TRU's MP Starscream that supposedly had sprue marks everywhere.
They have. All of them have new "Tomy" copyright markings. Bonecrusher features a small additional tab on his right arm that holds the arms better together in bulldozer and Devastator arm mode. Scavenger features a slightly smaller knob on the rear of his vehicle mode. Scrapper features squared off fist-holes, as well as solid knees (instead of the small holes from the original toy), Hook features a softer face, a longer, rounder peg on his shoulder, a reversed crane hook that now points inwards, and an additional tab to lock him together more firmly while forming Devastator. Long Haul, whose very first G1 variant (as well as its Diaclone predecessors) had featured a slot in his chest/truck grill, which subsequent releases had filled in (thereby leaving a very conspicous smooth patch that lacks the rigged grill pattern), now has the grill pattern finally going all the way through, and the central piece on the underside of his truck mode is molded in purple, rather than black. Mixmaster features a slightly smaller tab on his mixing drum that doesn't poke out as much into the chute at his back.
Cool to see those Street Fighter figures get another release, even though IIRC they didn't exactly sell amazingly the first time lol 'Tonkanator' is cute.
