What are your standards when it comes to the "perfect" reissue?

[liegeprime]

I agree with LCO,
G1 originals will of course be the benchmark but if the little changes are like easter eggs or aesthetically pleasing even by a small percent then Im ok with it, plus Im more likely to play with the reissue than the originals due to (hopefully) the recent figure more resistant to damage being newer ( less brittle and all that.

I choose Others, Perfect for me is if the figures indeed are sturdier, may or may not have added improvements - aesthetics wise ( gold plastic predaking, face on omega, new face mold) as long as it is sturdy enopugh to withstand play, and doesnt easily chip break or came out already bent, it's perfect for me. One thing I cant consider perfect though is if the reissue has defects ( even though sturdy) in the mold - like that of the nosecones of the seekers, just looks bad... the original nosecones are just more "perfect". Also price range - the reissues (encores) have been pretty much cheaper and hence affordable to get than originals or much earlier reissues) - which is one detraction ( although I have the figure) from E-hobby Astrotrain. Yes it has the show accurate ( or near to it) color scheme but the price is just off putting...

[GoktimusPrime]

One thing I cant consider perfect though is if the reissue has defects ( even though sturdy) in the mold - like that of the nosecones of the seekers, just looks bad... the original nosecones are just more "perfect".

I agree. Hence I find it a peculiar claim that Encore Devastator could be considered "perfect" when it has numerous flaws/defects in its design/manufacture.

Also price range - the reissues (encores) have been pretty much cheaper and hence affordable to get than originals or much earlier reissues) - which is one detraction ( although I have the figure) from E-hobby Astrotrain. Yes it has the show accurate ( or near to it) color scheme but the price is just off putting...

To be fair, you're talking about inflated aftermarket prices. eHobby Astrotrain originally sold for 3000JPY ($38). I find aftermarket prices to be off-putting in general for any toy... but yeah, limited exclusive toys like eHobby Astrotrain would be more prohibitive than others on the aftermarket. But it doesn't mean that the toy was overpriced to begin with.

[5FDP]

The majority of people I speak to who buy reissues did not have / own the originals and therefore are unable to make comparisons noting any changes in plastic or other materials used.

This does not make them wrong in holding the opinion that reissues are 'perfect', because as was stated in the first post, everyone has their own definition of the word and standards to match.

Don't forget, even the original releases back in the 80's were rampant with QC issues.

[kup]

The way I see it, a reissue is a re-release of the original toy. Therefore it should be as close as possible to the original. Naturally it cannot be an exact recreation so some differences will be present but regardless, the attempt should be to make it as close as possible to the original release.

Personally, I don't agree when people call a new re-color of a vintage toy as a re-issue. These includes E-hobby exclusives like Gadep, Sunstorm, the millions of G1 Prime repaints and the TF Club Piranacon. Sorry but to me those are new repaints, not re-issues. There was never a vintage toy sporting those colors so it's a new release altogether not a re-release (reissue) of a previous toy.

To illustrate my point further, the latest 'gold' Predaking is not a reissue to me but rather repaint. The previous Takara reissue to that which was faithful to the original toy colors is the proper reissue.

Just to be clear, I am not against repainted releases of vintage molds that aim to bring something new (like Sunstorm) or show accuracy (Like Ehobby Astrotrain or Telemocha Dinobot). I very much love those repaints and I think they are awesome but I would not call them re-issues.

[GoktimusPrime]

5FDP: Fairy nuff.

The way I see it, a reissue is a re-release of the original toy. Therefore it should be as close as possible to the original. Naturally it cannot be an exact recreation so some differences will be present but regardless, the attempt should be to make it as close as possible to the original release.

^agree

Personally, I don't agree when people call a new re-color of a vintage toy as a re-issue. These includes E-hobby exclusives like Gadep, Sunstorm, the millions of G1 Prime repaints and the TF Club Piranacon. Sorry but to me those are new repaints, not re-issues. There was never a vintage toy sporting those colors so it's a new release altogether not a re-release (reissue) of a previous toy.

To illustrate my point further, the latest 'gold' Predaking is not a reissue to me but rather repaint. The previous Takara reissue to that which was faithful to the original toy colors is the proper reissue.

Just to be clear, I am not against repainted releases of vintage molds that aim to bring something new (like Sunstorm) or show accuracy (Like Ehobby Astrotrain or Telemocha Dinobot). I very much love those repaints and I think they are awesome but I would not call them re-issues.

I don't think anyone really considers repaints of existing moulds but marketed as new characters as reissues, do they? Hauler, Sunstorm and Road Rage are no more reissues of Grapple, Thundercracker and Tracks (respectively) than say Ruination is a reissue of G1 Bruticus or Universe Nemesis Prime is a reissue of Big Convoy etc. A repaint isn't a reissue unless it's explicitly marketed as being the same character - and even then, there probably needs to be a substantial period of time to pass before it's considered a reissue (e.g. Battle Steel Optimus Prime isn't widely considered to be a reissue of DOTM Optimus Prime).

Moulds that are re-released and explicitly marketed as being the same character do technically count as reissues I reckon - regardless of whether or not people individually like them or not. But the more similar a reissue is to the original toy, then the more accurate or faithful that reissue is as a reproduction of the original toy... I don't think anyone can dispute that. People may or may not like some of the toys that are less faithful reproductions - that's a matter of personal opinion.

Reissues that are different from the original do technically count as reissues, however I do agree that they are not as faithful reissues as those which are more accurate reproductions of the original. Toys which are less-accurate reproductions, to me, aren't as accurate reissues - but I do still count them as reissues. The only way I would discount a toy from being a reissue is if it's not meant to be the same character (e.g. GADEP -- totally _not_ a reissue of Omega Supreme).

But counting them doesn't mean I like them all... there are some reissues that, in my heart, feels like they shouldn't count - but because Hasbro's marketed them as a certain character, then they count. Two examples are:

+ Apex Armour Optimus Prime. This is a re-release of God Ginrai with a chromeless extended missile, and the Ginrai mould is quite different from Powermaster Optimus Prime... different materials, entirely different arms and hands, different colours etc. Also, Powermaster Optimus Prime never attached to Godbomber, oh sorry, Apex Armour <cough>. Seems like a cheap/lazy way to do a PM Prime reissue by just using the existing God Ginrai reissue mould rather than retooling it to become PM Prime (which I would have much preferred -- I skipped Apex Prime, but I might have purchased a PM Prime reissue if they did it "properly").

+ Hasbro Soundwave reissue - I'm talking about the one that was sold in TRU here... the blue repaint of Soundblaster, but they didn't bother retooling the chest/door to make it look like Soundwave. Blue Soundblaster =/= Soundwave to me. Needless to say when Encore Soundwave came out, I soon got rid of my Hasbro Soundwave in favour of Encore.

So to me I consider both reissues of Predaking as reissues, but the first reissue is obviously a far more faithful and accurate reproduction of G1 Predaking. I do still consider Goldaking to be a reissue of Predaking, but it is a less accurate repro of Predaking. Likewise Proto-Astrotrain is a less faithful repro of the actual Astrotrain toy that was released in stores, and the regular Astrotrain reissue is accurate to the G1 toy (in Japan). It's a shame Hasbro didn't bother to repaint their Astrotrain reissue to make it more accurate to the G1 toy released in Hasbro markets (again, cheap and lazy option).

[kup]

I have heard the 'reissue' term thrown loosely around by fans. Most commonly to do with Ehobby releases using the general term 'Ehobby reissues'.

I still don't consider things like the latest Predaking, Piranacon (Club) and Ehobby Astrotrain as reissues. To me they are repaints as they were deliberately repainted to look different negating their 'reissue' status as the toy in this form has never been released before.

What I would consider to be a 'less than faithful' reissue but still a reissue nevertheless are releases such as the new Devastator and Bruticus. They are lacking in quality and some of the colors chosen are brighter than they should be but regardless, they are intended to be reproductions of the original toy not made to purposely be different with a new sporty paint scheme or with new funky gold highlights.

[GoktimusPrime]

The word "reissue" is a pretty broad term in itself anyway. It refers to the repeat issue of a product "which has been released at least once before and is released again, sometimes with alterations or additions." <--so a reissue with alterations or additions are still classified as reissues. Reissues are also known as re-release or re-editions, and certainly changes can be made between different releases or editions; hence why the edition of a book is often cited in bibliographies.

The Japanese term for reissue toys is "Fukkokuban" (復刻版) - "fukkoku" means "reissue" or "re-release" and "ban" means "edition" or "version." So it implies that there can/may be differences between it and previous editions (as with books etc.).

I think we need to delineate the difference between a reissue and a replica. It seems to me that your idea of a "perfect" reissue is one that is a near-perfect replica. Just out of interest, would you consider reissues with overlengthed missiles and/or stripped chrome missiles to be reissues? Because I don't consider these reissues to be quite unsatisfactory and displeasing replicas.

All replicas are reissues, but some reissues are better replicas than others. Some reissues don't even attempt to be replicas and have intentional changes made to them - so they do fail as being classified as replicas, but they would still technically count as being reissues methinks.

So for example:
+ First Predaking reissue = replicant reissue
+ 2nd Predaking reissue = non-replicant reissue

Blade Runner'd!

[GoktimusPrime]

This does not make them wrong in holding the opinion that reissues are 'perfect', because as was stated in the first post, everyone has their own definition of the word and standards to match.

Oh absolutely. We all have different standards which determine what we think is good, bad, perfect etc. I don't mind if people want to claim that a toy is "perfect," but I'm curious to know what criteria they used to determine their rating of "perfect." My criteria is based on comparison with the originals, but of course this is just my own personal standards.

Don't forget, even the original releases back in the 80's were rampant with QC issues.

True. So even if a reissue is the same quality as the original, and say I rate it 100%... what happens to a reissue that's better than the original? Do I rate it 110%? That's impossible! It's probably more accurate for me to say that a reissue that equals the quality of the original completely fulfills my expectations for that toy. A reissue that improves over the original exceeds my expectations for that toy! And indeed, sometimes I will only get a reissue if it - to me - shows a substantial improvement over the original, like reissue Waspinator and Dinobot.

I wish they'd reissue GPS toys without the crappy gold plastic!

[5FDP]

Oh absolutely. We all have different standards which determine what we think is good, bad, perfect etc. I don't mind if people want to claim that a toy is "perfect," but I'm curious to know what criteria they used to determine their rating of "perfect." My criteria is based on comparison with the originals, but of course this is just my own personal standards.

I think the word 'perfect' in some cases may just be a throwaway term and not meant to be taken literally or measured against varying degrees of perfection. It's quite possible that when someone refers to a reissue as being perfect, they are just merely expressing their love / joy in owning a character that they have been longing for. This is the first time we've seen Devastator reissued in 18 years so I can understand why someone would be overjoyed (myself included )

[sideswipes brother]

I think the word 'perfect' in some cases may just be a throwaway term and not meant to be taken literally or measured against varying degrees of perfection. It's quite possible that when someone refers to a reissue as being perfect, they are just merely expressing their love / joy in owning a character that they have been longing for. This is the first time we've seen Devastator reissued in 18 years so I can understand why someone would be overjoyed (myself included )

This. When i made that comment i was just so pleased that i had a brand new Devs in my hand, and finally had one full stop, that i could have used any word to describe my pleasure and 'perfect' is what was typed at the time.

Of course its not 'perfect', my Scavengers feet keep popping off during transformation! But, im not the kind of person who is affected by something so small. Im just disappointed as to all the hate for this figure when i am over the moon about having a new one which displays beautifully!!!