TF4 "Then & Now" sets coming to ToysRUs

[griffin]

Exclusives are often exempt from "rules" pertaining to the main lines.
Do you have a link to what Hasbro were referring to, as I think the "expense" element may have been referring to the Hasbro mainline sizes shrinking in size around 2011-2012, making it less likely to reproduce one from before the last movie.
But, Takara Beast Era figures were of varying sizes because they didn't have size classes, and each figure had different prices. If one is similar size to the current Deluxe class, it could be within their budget to do it if they wanted to. Some of the HK Generations were pre-2011 moulds, and were released in America as exclusives... and this set of "Then & Now" sound like exclusives.

But it's all moot really, as the $25 pricing of these smaller sets at TRU means it is a smaller-than-Deluxe figure (if a single figure). And if it is a 2-pack, it would have to be similar to a GEN Legends 2-pack.

[Sinnertwin]

$25 doesn't give you much room to play at TrU when you're looking at a two-pack, if they are a two pack & not a bunch of robot heroes; two commander class figures are $40 & i doubt that TrU would take a $15 hit. Two Legions? Not much change from a $20 note there, but i suppose with a movie mark-up, it may be what we end up with. Robot Replica style's another consideration or perhaps a mix of class figures.
The $89.99 pair could easily be made up of two voyagers. Who knows what me may end up with

[DELTAprime]

Do you have a link to what Hasbro were referring to

I'm just going by whats been said here by other people (reliable people). From what I was told it was a response to a Botcon question and they were not just referring to the amount of plastic but also to the operations to build the figure.

[griffin]

I'm just going by whats been said here by other people (reliable people). From what I was told it was a response to a Botcon question and they were not just referring to the amount of plastic but also to the operations to build the figure.

Ah, I thought it might have been... which I didn't remember off-hand what was being said, so was hoping that you might have had something to help refresh my memory.
It sounds about right though - some time around the third movie, cost-cutting of the two main lines (Prime & Movie) resulted in a budget that wouldn't make it easy to re-use previous moulds... at least in the main line because they can only charge a certain price to retailers on them. They can charge more for exclusives if a Retailer is interested, so they might still be usable.
At least, one would hope so when it comes to figures that only got a small release, or were not produced before the axing of a line.

[UltraMarginal]

the cost of re-producing aGen 1 figure might be a lot more than a modern figure, Generation one toys were designed with much less modern materials in mind, they probably use a lot more plastic as it would have been more brittle back then and less plyable.
the toys themselves were a lot more complex (costruction wise) than many of todays toys are. an example would be an arm, a modern arm would consist of perhaps 5 parts that just clip together, shoulder, bicep, forearm hand, all with simple ball joint or rotating disc connections. an old G1 arm, upper arm, forward and back halves, lower arm forward and back halves, at least one pin for each of those joints, and probably a screw or two. probably 2 parts for the hand to slide into the arm. so maybe 8 parts.

I'm not saying all modern toys are much simpler but there is potentially a 30-40% higher parts count in a G1 toy compared to a modern toy where a lot of the joints are part of the pieces rather than an additional piece or more.
there is extra expense in the size of the mold to produce all the extra parts, assembly time, extra plastic volume to support the extra thickness, extra worldwide shipping/distiribution charges to cover the extra weight.

Having said that, i'd be happy to cough up a few extra dollars for a re-issue G1 figure especially if it's a dinobot or something along those lines that we've previously been given the impression we'll never see on a retail shelf again.

[DELTAprime]

^ Plus the fact that the Dinobot moulds have been lost rules out a G1 reissue.

Maybe the $25 ones are a simplified toy not a deluxe and some sort of statue.

[Trent]

^ Plus the fact that the Dinobot moulds have been lost rules out a G1 reissue.

Maybe the $25 ones are a simplified toy not a deluxe and some sort of statue.

Since when have the Dinobots moulds been lost? Don't recall reading that one

[DELTAprime]

Since when have the Dinobots moulds been lost? Don't recall reading that one

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Mold#Lost_molds

Known lost/stolen molds are:
Generation 1 Grimlock
Generation 1 Slag
Generation 1 Sludge
Generation 1 Snarl
Generation 1 Swoop
Generation 1 Mirage
Most if not all of the Beast Wars basics

Molds rumored to be lost:
Generation 1 Sunstreaker

[BigTransformerTrev]

Saying that "most if not all of the Beast Wars Basics" are lost, is a ridiculous and blatantly incorrect generalisation for the TFWiki to make. Three BW Basic moulds are broken. The twenty-plus others are - as far as we know - perfectly fine.

^ Plus the fact that the Dinobot moulds have been lost rules out a G1 reissue.

I've never understood why they can't just examine the original toy and then build a new mold that would replicate it. It's like Megatron building all these doomsday weapons from the G1 cartoon. If the Autobots blow it up - just build another one!

These molds were created - surely they can be recreated can't they?

[DELTAprime]

I've never understood why they can't just examine the original toy and then build a new mold that would replicate it. It's like Megatron building all these doomsday weapons from the G1 cartoon. If the Autobots blow it up - just build another one!

These molds were created - surely they can be recreated can't they?

The problem is the expense. For a small run of reissues it's probably not worth recreating the moulds. According to toy makers moulds are expensive to mill. I'm a little skeptical of the expense of milling.