Not only that, but there are areas on various G1 toys that could benefit from slight tweaks and redesigns to prevent breakage. Lookin at you Brainstorm's internal limb ratchets.

 

Can you please tell me the source of this info? Link to an official Hasbro statement, employee rep, something verified?

Thus far I have only heard of rumours and assumptions. Logical assumptions, but you get what I mean.

And if it is substantianted and I just didnt get the memo? My bad, wont ask anymore and will give up hope of a reissue Menasor.

But keep reading....

Absolutely this. Hasbro can and really should do this. Hasbro really thinks they will make more money from the potp Dinotbots vs a fully endorsed reissued set of G1 Dinobots? Especially after so long without them on the market?

Come on, Hasbro. You can and should do this. I almost think they missed critical Dinobot mass timing, but any time is more than adequate for patient fans. Do what it takes already!

 

Based on molds we know exist, my top wants:

- Diaclone blue Bluestreak
- Optimus Prime with axe (from Collection # 0), matrix (from New Years Convoy), hold-able Megatron and right fist (from collection # 9), and Music Label head
- Galvatron in cartoon colors with deeper purple rather than Easter egg pastel purple. Sound clips including lines from Frank Welker.
- Bumblebee with cartoon head
- Astrotrain in cartoon colors
- Thundercracker in UK Action Masters colors
- Powermaster Ultra Magnus - Ginrai cab (no trailer) in white Ultra Magnus cab colors

My pipe dream:

- EVERY JAPANESE EXCLUSIVE G1 FIGURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Metalhawk with retooled cartoon accurate head and yellow torso instead of gold.
- Black Zarak with yellow plastic parts instead of gold
- Hosehead/Cab with white plastic instead of gray

 

Exactly. There may be molds that were produced for the handful of test shots/prototypes out there (and they can be counted on one hand). But, since the toy never saw production, I very much doubt Hasbro would even still have those molds. Molds are large and take up a lot of room in a factory warehouse so the likelihood that Hasbro kept all the castings for 1986 Unicron seems highly improbable.

They COULD recast the mold and produce a new Unicron based on the older designs. But Hasbro seems content with the Armada version as the definitive mold of the character for now.

 

I'm pretty certain Hasbro said at a Botcon that the Dinobot molds were "lost". That doesn't mean destroyed...it means they were misplaced. Suddenly, in the 2000's, perfect KOs of the Dinobots showed up on the market. I think it's easy to put it all together and realize that after switching factories, one of the factories kept the molds and began unauthorized production. I wouldn't be surprised if factories produce several versions of the same mold for tooling as "back-ups" in case the mold breaks. It would be very easy to "lose" a few back-ups during the transfer process between factories.

There was also a report of molds being dumped off a dock to clear space at a factory in the late 80's/early 90's. God knows what was dumped but the timing might indicate it was certain Japanese molds. There's a possibility Road Caesar is effectively resting at the bottom of the Yellow Sea right now.

 

Rebuilding the molds would not be a difficult prospect IMHO. And I believe that in the case of the Dinobots they would sell as hotcakes to recoup the mold reconstruction (which by todays standards would not be as expensive). I too want to complete the rest of the Dinos (have only Grimlock from the old days) but I wont dish out the money the KOs go for these days...

The rest....Well they are another story (sales wise).

 

I remember when the decades old Millennium Falcon mold finally broke after Power of the Force. Rather than repair it, the Hasbro team decided it was better off just making a brand new one.

Now, I'm not saying that Hasbro couldn't produce new molds that were exactly like the originals. But now it's the question of cost. Would it be worth it to Hasbro to produce five new molds exclusive to WalMart's niche collector line? Maybe if Takara was willing to share the cost and release them in their own Encore line. But it's just simply easier and cost effective to pump out molds that are ready to go. Maybe in a few years, Hasbro will do it...but they probably want to see how well Hot Rod, SS, Devastator and the Minicars sell first. Notice that's a wide swath of pricepoints...they probably want to see which ones sell best at retail.

 

Not really have a real counter argument here, except the fact that it is my vehement belief that everyone and their grandmother wants those molds to circulate back in the market and will actually buy them. So I believe sail potential is huge to recoup the loses. And from my understanding rebuilding a mold from the base figure is not that cost prohibitive than doing so from scratch. I also believe the cost wont be the same as a todays figure.

 

The only reissues I care about is the stuff that has never been reissued before. I either have the original or the previous reissue of everything else.

 

No. The cost would probably be higher because the older figures have potentially more parts along with requiring some die-cast metal. And whether rebuilding a mold or making a new mold, the cost of investing into molds still stands when there are molds ready to go for other figures that already appeared in Commemorative, Encore and Platinum lines. I just don't see Hasbro investing in the Dinos until the other options are exhausted.

However, there's a good chance to see some reissues over here that didn't make it the first go-around. Ironhide and Ratchet both never saw US reissues. Neither Sky Lynx or Omega Supreme or Metroplex.

And, if the mold is available (not saying it is at all), how neat would it be if Hasbro went one step further and released Reflector in pseudo-retro packaging? Or Japanese molds in pseudo-retro USA packaging, like the dino cassettes?

 

Or, whatabout slight tweaks for aesthetic purposes...a Red Alert with a red head? A grapple with an orange head?

 

Personal opinion: Id say no. I saw the new reissues of the minibots that were colour tweaked not so long ago and I compared them to my G1 Huffer (which was more piss poor colourwise thanks to it been a licensed repro). It just kills it from a vintage perspective.

 

My main want is reissue Trainbots/Raiden.
A reissue would be my only hope of owning them, as an original set is obscenely expensive.

 

The U.S. TRU Reissues did a couple tweaks like changing the eye colors to blue on the Autobots.

 

An Overlord would be a big fat cow to milk. Though I doubt it will ever happen.

 

Overlord is weird. It seems like it should still exist, since it was surely available in the 1990's around the time of G2 during the Euro "Legends" line. But then again, so should three of the Dinobots, Springer, Wheeljack, two-thirds of LioKaiser, Road Caesar and several others that have been declared "lost".

 

I would love to see Hound,Wheeljack and Sunstreaker get some love.

 

Wheeljack and Sunstreaker haven't seen the light of day since the early 90's Euro reissues, unfortunately. Hound, however, stands a chance.

 

I think Sunstreaker and Wheelkack are counted among the 'lost' molds no?

Sunstreaker has been KOed however there are.....differences lets say to the original mold.

 

Yeah, they are considered "lost".