Reissues vs Originals

Figures, collectables, customs and collecting.
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Ultimate Weapon
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Reissues vs Originals

Post by Ultimate Weapon »

So which is better? Are shelling out the cash for those crisp MISB rereleases or are you buying the old crusty models from the 80's.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

If I still bought Transformers [there aren't many I don't have which I actually want, and I want comics more than I want those I don't], I'd go for the originals. Why? Becuase they're toys. Action Figures. Okay, so some of them are beautifully made, but they're still toys. It's odd enough still colecting toys at our age, to be frank; it's downright pathetic if you aren't actually going to use them for what they're mean tfor. They're called Transformers, you're mean to Transform them. If you were meant to keep them in shiny boxes they'd be called Analretentivers.
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Agent
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Post by Agent »

I buy the reissues and open them. To me it's pointless to spend money on a crusty old Skywarp (or whoever) when I can get a BRAND NEW one instead.

There's just nothing like putting fresh, new stickers on a fresh, new optimus prime.... mmmmm.... :cool:
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Erm, to be honest, unless you're totally stupid you won't buy a crusty transformer, you'll get a decent one... I got all 3 1984 seekers, 100%, for about £15 each [about 20 bucks each], in very nice condition [I have had to re-sticker Thundercracker, cos he had opposite wings (the guy put him together from parts), which cost about $5], and that's including, in the case of Skywapr and Thudnercracker, shipping from the States, and in the case of Starscream, inflated eBay UK prices...
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Denyer
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Eh...

Post by Denyer »

...as long as the things are intact, I couldn't care less. I'm not bothered about accessories usually.
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BigMaki
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Post by BigMaki »

I've gone for the reissues, since it's the cheapest guaranteed way to get a mint TF. I'm sure as hell not gonna shell out $250+ for a MISB Optimus Prime from 1984 when I can get a New Year Convoy (with cool goodies) for about $100 or less. Could I get a C-9.5 original Prime from somebody for $50 or less? Probably. Will he be in the condition I want? Debatable. I've been burned enough times on ebay now to know that I have to take AT LEAST .5 points off the C scale to get an accurate picture of what the condition will be. It's no wonder you find so few higher resolution pictures on the listings. Don't sell me a supposedly C-8.5 Jetfire when his nose is missing significant amounts of paint, his right shoulder comes unattached WAY too easily, almost every sticker has significant wear and he's missing the gun clip, even though you said he was "100% COMPLETE!!!" It's all in the angles you take the pictures from and the way you word your listings. I'm just sick of misleading sellers. Can't give 'em negative feedback, especially when I've got less than 25 feedbacks. Give me one negative and I'm sunk, which I'm sure they'd do if I gave them a negative. I get the reissues and avoid that hassle.

And yes, I take them out of the boxes. What fun is a toy if it sits in a box on your shelf? I generally don't tend to care what condition the box is in, as long as it's not demolished, y'know?

Still trying to save up enough to get some more seeker jets, but man, all of them except Starscream are ridiculously expensive. They need to make another run or something!
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RID Scourge
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Post by RID Scourge »

I buy whatever I can get. If I can get the reissue cheaper, then that's that. If I can get the original for cheaper, then I will. I hardly ever keep anything in the box, but when I get Cryotek and Scourge, I'm gonna get doubles for display and play.
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The Green Knight
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Post by The Green Knight »

I'd go with reissues. They're usually cheaper, they're 100% complete, and with the exception of packaging, they're virtually identical to the originals.
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Grandmaster Shockwaeve
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Post by Grandmaster Shockwaeve »

Open your reissues! What's so impressive about having an MISB C-10 Rodimus Prime if you can just go down to the hobby store and get another one? They're not real collectibles, toys that are rare because they're old, desireable, and hard to find - they're collectibles because someone meant them to be and produced them for a few months before shutting production down... manufactured collectibility annoys me...

Personnally, I'd rather have a good condition, decent-box American Starscream than a mint, Japanese reissue, just for the history and the cultural significance... For example, I like my Good original Thundercracker much better than my reissue SS, just cause it's survived all these years... I can't help part of me thinking that these reissues aren't really Transformers.... crazy, yes, but then I do buy them anyway...
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Denyer
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Ignoring...

Post by Denyer »

Originally posted by Grandmaster Shockwaeve
I'd rather have a good condition, decent-box American Starscream than a mint, Japanese reissue, just for the history and the cultural significance...
...for a second where many of the best moulds originated.

Yes, I know you mean the associated media works too, but if I'm talking toys, I like to go back to design source.
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Menasaur
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Post by Menasaur »

I LOVE having my TF's in mint condition. For me, it is just too much of a hassle to search and scour through E-bay to not only find all the parts for an individual toy, but to find them in good condition. I prefer dropping the little bit of extra money down for a MIB reissue. However, I do open them. I'm real nuts about having their stickers on perfectly (took me two hours to do Megatron), and I love taking the time to make them look immaculate. Some, like Starscream and Megatron, I put back into the boxes, becuase they display better that way, but others, like Optimus, just have to be out! So bring on more reissues, cuz I'll get every one I can get my hands on! Well, the regular ones, like Starscream, anyways. I can't afford to be paying $100 a pop for each seeker!
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*Predaking*
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Post by *Predaking* »

I do prefer the originals but shelling out more money for a loose but complete Seeker when I can get the reissue at the similar price is bit crazy. I was able to get all 3 reissues of Seekers (with 2 Starscreams) and I am really contempluating getting the Coneheads. Also I do like to keep them MISB. Dunno why I guess I just don't have enough space to display them all besides I don't trust my ability of applying the decals so keeping them mint is a good idea right now.
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Grandizer
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Post by Grandizer »

it depends on why you're keeping the reissues misb. if you think because in 15 years you'll be able to sell them again on ebay and pay your way thru college like you could a few years ago when the toys were rare, well, isn't that basically why they came out with the reissues to begin with? they saw a demand in the market and are filling it? since people are satisfied with them if there ever arose another such demand at some time in the future, they can just do the same thing. so anyone buying them now as an investment I think will be a little disappointed when trying to cash in.
I got one of the superion remakes. I'm glad to have it, but the quality isn't as good as I remember the originals to be. I'm not complaining too much tho. it's either pay $20 for a reissue or $90 for the original, which is probably not in the best condition anyway.
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Post by Starscreamsghost »

Depends. If a loose one in decent shape = a MISB reissue in price, I'll go for the loose one. If I'm looking to save dough, such as in the case of, say, Hot Rod, I'll go for the reissue.
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Deloreansetup
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It depends

Post by Deloreansetup »

It depends on what you want. I for example would much rather spend big bucks on an old original than go and buy a brand new reissue for much less. The reason? I am 28 years old and G1 Transformers were a big part of my childhood. I only collect G1 Transformers. Reissues are NOT G1 Transformers. They are brand new toys that were made from the same molds as the original G1 Transformers. I have a G1 collection worth at least $20.000 with many sealed and boxed items as well as many doubles and triples of loose C-10 complete items. I would not let a reissue or a bootleg in my house let alone near my collection. As far as I'm concerned, Reissues were a very bad idea. I know there will be alot of people out there who think I'm wrong, and that's fine, but that's how I feel. Remember, reissues and bootlegs are NOT G1 Transformers. They are brand new toys made from the same molds as the original G1's and they should be kept separate from original G1's. How many people out there do you think went and bought a reissue, opened it, and then went around saying, "hey, I have an original mint C-10 Starscream". Not telling anyone it's a reissue. And even worse, mabey someone has sold a loose reissue to some poor guy claiming it's a C-10 original. As far as I know, once the toy is out of the package, you can't tell the difference between originals and reissues. I am glad I built up my vast collection before all these crappy reissues came out.:mad:
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BigMaki
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Re: It depends

Post by BigMaki »

Originally posted by Deloreansetup
It depends on what you want. I for example would much rather spend big bucks on an old original than go and buy a brand new reissue for much less. The reason? I am 28 years old and G1 Transformers were a big part of my childhood. I only collect G1 Transformers. Reissues are NOT G1 Transformers. They are brand new toys that were made from the same molds as the original G1 Transformers. I have a G1 collection worth at least $20.000 with many sealed and boxed items as well as many doubles and triples of loose C-10 complete items. I would not let a reissue or a bootleg in my house let alone near my collection. As far as I'm concerned, Reissues were a very bad idea. I know there will be alot of people out there who think I'm wrong, and that's fine, but that's how I feel. Remember, reissues and bootlegs are NOT G1 Transformers. They are brand new toys made from the same molds as the original G1's and they should be kept separate from original G1's. How many people out there do you think went and bought a reissue, opened it, and then went around saying, "hey, I have an original mint C-10 Starscream". Not telling anyone it's a reissue. And even worse, mabey someone has sold a loose reissue to some poor guy claiming it's a C-10 original. As far as I know, once the toy is out of the package, you can't tell the difference between originals and reissues. I am glad I built up my vast collection before all these crappy reissues came out.:mad:
To me, this is a very elitist attitude to take. You know what? Transformers were a big part of my childhood, too, but I don't have the money to own $20,000 worth of Transformers goodies. Am I jealous that you do? Of course. Just about anybody on this board would be. However, my parents never had the money to buy me multiples of toys that I already owned when I was 10 years old. I don't have the money to this day to buy multiples to keep boxed. You know what? I probably never will, and if I did, I'd be buying the ones I don't have anyway. There are certain characters that I never owned that I really loved. I loved Starscream, even though I never had one. I always had my neighbor's to play with when we got together, so it didn't matter. Now that I want one, is it so wrong for me to spend $30 and get the reissue, as opposed to spending $100+ to get a C9.5-10 original? Try finding a G1 Megatron in C9.5-10 condition, with all the parts. Now try doing it on a budget. Good frickin' luck. To me, the reissues are the same toys. You've even agreed with this, saying that there's no difference once they're out of the box. I'm not buying them so I can keep track of their value as the years go by. I'm buying them to display and enjoy. I know that there are unscrupulous people out there who will attempt to sell reissues as originals. I hate these people as much as you, since they're commiting fraud. Does this mean that Takara should stop making these reissues? I hope not. Otherwise, I won't be able to afford many more G1 TF's.

And for the record, bootlegs are complete trash. Cheaper material, cheaper stickers, cheaper everything. The scale is also slightly smaller on them, so it's not even the same mold as the original. At least the reissues are the same as the originals, except for a little copyright somewhere on them...
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Alpha Trion
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Post by Alpha Trion »

Hey, for poor people like me the reissues are a blessing from above. And yes, bootleg knock-offs are the devil and they should be kept as far away from your actual TF's as possible to ensure they don't become infected with godawful viruses of every sort.
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Post by Pun-3X »

The only reason one would think the reissues were a bad idea would be because they put too much emphasis on their collection being worth some $20,000 dollars total. The fact that one's "investment" gets downsized by these reissues would be reason enough to hate them.

A good reason not to "invest" in transformers, but rather collect them for nostalgia purposes or because they're cool. The reissues offer this chance to many who either don't have that money, or better ways to spend it. These people shouldn't necessarily be denied that because someone else wants their toy values to be kept the same or to go higher. Rather selfish, I think.

And if it's not an investment issue, then what is it? Did you have all the toys when you were young, and teased all the kids on the block that didn't? Know, all those 'kids' are getting their chance to have what they didn't, and this makes you mad? Also selfish, though no evidence to support this is how you feel.

And are these reissues "crappy" because you don't like them, or because they're made of crappy material? Didn't you just say they were identical out of package? And if you don't like them, that doesn't make them crappy--simply unliked by you. Where's this word fit in?
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Post by RID Scourge »

I like the reissues a lot. Affordable remakes, and I can't wait for them to do it with Fortress Maximus. I'm happy to have the change to collect and play with the ones that I lost, or broke as a child.
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Post by sideswipes brother »

Deloreansetup it seems like your only angry because you spent so much money on buliding your collection and now brand new G1 are available so your pissed. G1 reissues rock!!!!!! The more the better!!!
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