Were Eject and Rewind always pieces of poop?

[sideswipes brother]

Hey team, i just received my Encore Cassettes yesterday and am really not impressed at all with the Autobot tapes. They just feel so flimsy and cheap.Were they always like this? Theres also not one bit of diecast on them which sucks and their transformation is just plain balls!!
Has anyone got the originals to compare them with. I also got silver weapons...didn't the originals have gold???
SB

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, I have the originals - and yes, they were always like that. 1986 was the year when HasTak decided to phase out the use of die-cast metal because the cost of die-cast metal had gone up by then and it became cost-prohibitive. That's why a lot of 1986 Transformers come in both metal and plastic variants, e.g.:
+ Hot Rod: Metal toes / plastic toes
+ Kup: metal feet & rear wheels / plastic feet & rear wheels
+ Predacons: metal parts / plastic parts
+ Hot Spot: metal chest / plastic chest
...etc.

afaik toys like Eject and Rewind were only available in plastic. Where possible, Takara always reissues toys in the metal variants where applicable (e.g.: reissue Hot Rod, Rodimus Prime, Predaking etc. were reissued with die-cast metal parts)

The reissues are quite accurate to the originals - the only difference I've noticed is the Autobot insignia tampoed onto their chests.

I also got silver weapons...didn't the originals have gold???

They were available with both silver and gold chrome weapons as variants; you could get either. My original Eject came with gold weapons by my Rewind came with silver.

[Krayt]

the weapon colours suck coz i prefer mine to be show accurate.... and all the bot tapes had gold in the cartoon....

which is why i'm surprissed they didn't release them with gold...

[liegeprime]

Ive got originals , the gold weaponed ones, though I have seen silver weaponed ones, I prefer the gold for Autobot tapes and Silver for Decepticons, except ratbat - he looks better with gold weapons. Yeah the humanoid Auto tapes are crap compared to rumble/ frenzy mold, shorter too IMO. The bulky forearms tend to make the figure look awkward and top heavy, but what can you do, it how it was back then.

[GoktimusPrime]

but what can you do, it how it was back then.

Exactly. The reissues are that - reissues of the original toys. If you want G1 characters with contemporary engineering, then that's what Classics/Henkei/Universe is for. We've had one Universe/Henkei cassette so far with Ravage... perhaps they'll release more in the future with others? <shrug>

[Sky Shadow]

Exactly. The reissues are that - reissues of the original toys.

I assumed that this question was about whether degraded moulds, cheaper plastics etc. contributed to the toys' poopiness. And I assume it's a bit of both. Rewind and Eject were always light, hollow and flimsy, but Takaratomy's current bunch of reissues are not as good as the original toys. Comparing them side-by-side, the recent Minibot set isn't anywhere near as good as the toys from 1986. And the Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp/Sunstorm mould hasn't had wings that sit flush against the fuselage in decades.

Just out of interest, this time around have they fixed the weapons on the Laserbeak/Buzzsaw/Garboil/Sundor mould so the pegs aren't loose in the socket?

[gamblor916]

I had a close look at the reissues the other day and noticed how sharp and clean the weapons are. For 20+ years they've either held up well or there's been cleaning up of those moulds.
It's a shame I can't say that about the bots themselves.

[GoktimusPrime]

The reissues feel better than my originals - but of course, I've been playing with my originals for 23 years so that might explain things. Perhaps part of the problem is that Eject and Rewind are the third use of this reissue's mould after Flipsides and Rosanna. IMO it was a silly move... taking out the Eject/Rewind mould and using them to make new characters first instead of doing the actual reissues.

As for Buzzsaw's guns - I haven't tried them out yet, but I'll lyk when I do.

[kup]

The encore reissues do feel a notch less than the 'Book' reissues and the 80s originals seem made of better materials but this only applies to the 1984-85 line. The 1986 reissues seem to be on par with their originals.

However both Rewind and Eject as mentioned, were not very good to begin with.

[Krayt]

[QUOTE=Sky Shadow;96458] And the Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp/Sunstorm mould hasn't had wings that sit flush against the fuselage in decades.

QUOTE]

They sat flush to begin with?