Retro G1 Reissues - 1986 Movie anime editions

[danny-boy]

Thanks Skyfire. Pre-ordered Thundercracker and Hound. Big W are getting them in pretty quick. Saves me from ordering from RK.

[Deano85]

Pre-ordered Thundercracker. The price is ok considering I hadn't bought Starscream before him.

[GoktimusPrime]

You may find the pegs on Thundercracker to be a bit loose and prone to easily falling off, so be prepared to use clear nail polish or Fix-Loose-Joints Action Figure to thicken some of the posts up. I really do wish that Hasbro would stop using the Comm. Series oversized missiles; just use normal sized missiles and gut the launchers. That's what they've done for Hound (and many other reissues). I get that they can't have small missiles that can shoot for child safety reasons... so just don't have them shoot?

The deco on this Thundercracker looks really nice, particularly the separately painted face and black grills on the sides of the head... but the missiles are a dealbreaker for me (which is why I never got any of the Comm. Series Jets).

[Metallikato]

So now that Big W has further G1 retros available at $69, and how that seems exorbitant, I went back to my 1980s scrapbook of shopping catalogue clippings to see what the orginal cars and planes cost.

The major retailers back then (Target, Kmart, Big W, Myer) were selling them for $13-20 (lower pricing from sales) around 1984. As per the Reserve Bank of Australia inflation calculator, that's $45-69 in 2022 money (the calculator only goes to the last financial year), or 3.3% inflation (which is less than inflation at the moment).

Is there a known reason why they've missed Hot Rod?

[Skyfire]

I don't know why Big W missed Hot Rod but I've not seen it from any Aus retailer. Mighty Ape had Starscream for preorder but never Hot Rod. My guess is Hasbro Australia didn't get any. Robot Kingdom in Hong Kong still has Hot Rod and will be getting Thundercracker and Hound. Shipping is expensive but averaged over the three might not be too bad.

Big W is promoting their G1 exclusivity in a banner on the website today, including a video presentation. I wonder who they leased those G1s in the background from.

[janda the red]

Just ordered 2 Thundercrackers...

i went with RK though... costs $20ish dollars more including shipping than just getting through Big W, but RK pack really well and i want pristine boxes.

I'm realy hoping they do Skywarp too...

[Tha_Phantom]

i went with RK though... costs $20ish dollars more including shipping than just getting through Big W, but RK pack really well and i want pristine boxes.

This is something really worth considering for MISB collectors. The extra financial hit for peace of mind beats having to chase up refunds/exchanges or sourcing another one elsewhere.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Just ordered 2 Thundercrackers...

i went with RK though... costs $20ish dollars more including shipping than just getting through Big W, but RK pack really well and i want pristine boxes.

I'm realy hoping they do Skywarp too...

I was quite happy my Starscream box from Big W arrived relatively unscathed. Hoping for similar with Hound & Thundercracker

[Omega Metro]

My Starscream arrived today in a massive box. Undamaged.

[GoktimusPrime]

I wonder who they leased those G1s in the background from.

I did!

This video took a whole day to shoot. Here's what I added to the background:

* 1986 movie toys (Hot Rod is behind the presenter so he's obscured; but he's there!)
* a 1985 hardcover copy of issue 1 of the Transformers Marvel comics
* the 1986 Marvel Transformers Universe book

Easter Egg: I set the time on the clock in the background to 12:26, representing December 26, which was the date that The Transformers The Movie was released in Australian cinemas in 1986.

Other contributions:

• Hound's Role
  The original script was based on the text that you can see on the Big W website. So for Hound it read "He fights bravely to defend Autobot City form the attacking Decepticons." - but of course, we never see Hound actually "fight bravely to defend Autobot City." He was seen helping Kup establish a roadblock on the path to Lookout Mountain, and then later appeared as part of Optimus Prime's shuttle crew... we see him disembarking the shuttle but we never see him do any fighting. For this reason, I had the script amended to what you can hear in the video: (0:35) "Appearing in the Battle of Autobot City against the Decepticons in the '86 movie."

• Thundercracker's Function and weapons description
  I had the word "Warrior" added into the description of Thundercracker, a reference to his Function. The original script and the text on the Big W website describes Thundercracker's weapons as "null rays," which is inaccurate; those are Starscream's weapons. Thundercracker has drone rockets and incendiary guns... "incendiary" proved to be too much of a mouthful (bear in mind that this presenter is speaking very quickly, and 'incendiary' is probably not part of her regular vocabulary), so it was decided to just stick with "drone rockets." FWIW she did try to say "incendiary" in a couple of takes.

• Thundercracker's launcher positions
  I posed Thundercracker's launchers to have one pointing up and the other pointing down, as a reference to how Thundercracker's weapons were positioned in the 1984 catalogue. I decided not to invert the wings though... that might've been too much. [/u]

We also made a similar promo video for upcoming Rise of the Beasts toys (not sure if I can say what they are). But I also added toys and other Easter Eggs to the background of that video too.