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

[5FDP]

This may be it's own topic, but does anyone know the reasons behind the 18 year wait for Devastator? We've all heard in the past that the mould may have been damaged beyond repair and the cost of rebuilding it was not an option.

The reason I ask is that most would know that many of the KO's produced actually used official moulds left behind when the factories were vacated by Takara.

I've heard a rumour that Takara reacquired some of these moulds, one of which was Devastator, and this was used to make reissue Devastator. This would also explain some of the reported QC issues because the mould was actually being used and would have suffered from the same degradation as the mould used for the Combaticons.

[liegeprime]

This may be it's own topic, but does anyone know the reasons behind the 18 year wait for Devastator? We've all heard in the past that the mould may have been damaged beyond repair and the cost of rebuilding it was not an option.

The reason I ask is that most would know that many of the KO's produced actually used official moulds left behind when the factories were vacated by Takara.

I've heard a rumour that Takara reacquired some of these moulds, one of which was Devastator, and this was used to make reissue Devastator. This would also explain some of the reported QC issues because the mould was actually being used and would have suffered from the same degradation as the mould used for the Combaticons.

see if that were the case, wouldnt/ shouldnt they have run a few test figures first to see all the bugs then fix the faulty moulds? After all it isnt good business sense to release faulty merchandise but then QC is something that has been slipping nowadays ei in TakTom ever since the merger.... could be a lax in the managements "interference" with the production end...

[GoktimusPrime]

AFAIK the mould was never lost/damaged. In 2000-2001 Takara got lots of requests for Devastator, but the KOs were already really popular and Takara released a statement saying that they did not want to reissue Devastator as they didn't want to compete with bootleggers. They never cited mould loss or damage as the reason for not reissuing it sooner.

[5FDP]

AFAIK the mould was never lost/damaged.

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Mold

Rumored lost molds:

Original Rattrap
Sunstreaker
G1 Constructicons

In 2000-2001 Takara got lots of requests for Devastator, but the KOs were already really popular and Takara released a statement saying that they did not want to reissue Devastator as they didn't want to compete with bootleggers. They never cited mould loss or damage as the reason for not reissuing it sooner.

I remember reading this somewhere as well but I have never a source specified, Takara or other.

[GoktimusPrime]

I can't remember exactly, but I think I read it off a Japanese TF board about 10 years (Naito Naonori's Transformers Net??? Can't remember (either way that board has been defunct for years now)...

Anyway, TFwiki only says that it's rumoured as a lost mould... but the fact that TOMY have reissued Encore Devastator now should disprove that rumour - because Takara/TOMY have never reissued a toy from a completely lost/destroyed/damaged mould before. The most extensively damaged mould that had to be repaired for a reissue was Optimus Prime -- it's obvious from the reissue's body that it was cast from G2 Optimus Prime and not G1, but even Takara admitted that the moulds for the arms had been destroyed/lost and they had to spend truckloads (sic) of money to build new moulds for Convoy's arms. Takara said that it was a big expensive for them but they figured that it must have been worth it because Convoy/Optimus Prime is arguably the single most popular/iconic character in the TF franchise. And we've certainly seen HasTak milk that mould something chronic -- it would have to be the single most reissued Transformer toy out there!

I'd say that the existence of Encore Devastator probably disproves any theory/rumour that Takara had ever lost the Devastator mould. They may have lost parts of it -- like maybe the moulds for Scavenger's legs/feet?? But that would surprise me, considering how much Takara harped on about how much they shelled out to reconstruct Optimus Prime's arms, I'm surprised TOMY hasn't said boo about the cost of reconstructing the Constructicons. So odds are the mould was never lost ... at least not entirely.

[5FDP]

Anyway, TFwiki only says that it's rumoured as a lost mould... but the fact that TOMY have reissued Encore Devastator now should disprove that rumour - because Takara/TOMY have never reissued a toy from a completely lost/destroyed/damaged mould before.

Which only adds further credence to the rumour as we have never seen Sunstreaker reissued either.

I'd say that the existence of Encore Devastator probably disproves any theory/rumour that Takara had ever lost the Devastator mould.

Possibly, but as I mentioned I heard that they (Takara/Tomy) recently reacquired the mould for Devastator from one of the KO makers who held the mould since the factory that manufactured them shut down explaining why we haven't seen a reissue in the last 18 years and why we haven't had any official confirmation explaining why.

[liegeprime]

Isnt it amazing and also irritating, that, the KO makers CAN spend XXX amount of money so they can manufacture KOs of offical toys - i.e. Sunstreaker... and yet the official toy makers themselves couldnt be bothered or takes years just to do so for their OWN PRODUCT at that? what? do they have to save in pennies and dimes just to come out with the cash for the said lost moulds? Pretty lame excuse considering they ARE THE company who owns the offical toyline.