According to a post on site sponsor RobotKingdom’s Facebook page, it appears there will be more Transformers Generations 1 reissues as Walmart Exclusives on the way. This time we are hearing that Devastator, Starscream, as well a set of eight Minibots are coming back on the shelves 30+ years after their original debut. Starscream in particular has already been listed on Walmart.com (although not for sale online), showing the reissue figure will come with a Megatron pistol accessory. The release date from RobotKingdom is listed as July 2018, but it is unclear when these will be released for sale at the retail chain. Check out the images, and let us know if you will be adding this to your Generation 1 collection.
stad
I'm willing to believe the Club on the Joe molds – they had a significant interest in finding and using a LOT more molds than they were able to. According to them, at one point (mid to late 2000s, I believe) Hasbro gave them a list of what was still available, and asked them to narrow it down to what they really, really wanted to keep – the rest was to be destroyed.
stad
The Wolf and the Night Landing are old molds, but the VAMP and Sky Hawk in those sets are new molds.
WishfulThinking
Ah, the O-ring figures. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if most of them have been put out to pasture. But I'm certain there are key figures still in reserve. It was only about 10 or so years ago they did O-ring Scarlett and Snake Eyes in a convention set. I'm sure they have more – just not "all or even most of them".
FAKER II
Dang, I forgot about those vehicles. But they still haven’t released any old o-ring figures since that convention set in 2010. So let me amend what I said for more clarification. The word on the GI*JOE sites I used to frequent talked about the molds for the figures being destroyed.
I’m not a big time expert on all things GI*JOE so all I can do is take GI*JOE collectors word for it. But I would be more than happy to be proven wrong about the molds because I would love to see a return of the old o-ring figures.
WishfulThinking
The last old molds dug out was for the TRU modern era line in 2014.
Toy Fair 2014: G.I. JOE Continues the Fight Against Cobra as a Toys R Us Exclusive – ActionFigurePics.com
G.B. Blackrock
In general, I agree. But if it WERE determined that your station needed to free up the space (or, to more closely repeat the rumor re: the Joe molds, it costs too much to store all that old stuff with no real chance of getting any value out of it in the future), you (or someone else) MIGHT be so authorized to "take a sledge hammer to it" and have them disposed of.
Seems what we'd really need to do is demonstrate that the cost of storage is so little that the reasons to destroy molds are really quite few, given that reissues might always be desirable in the future.
FAKER II
That was the word on the GI*JOE sites. The last figure I recall released in the stores with the old molds was a Snowjob with Rockslide ATAV (Polar Battle Bear) in 2009. There were some convention figures in 2010.
I remember it being talked about on Hisstank.com and YoJoe.com. Though I remember all the talk was more about the figures than vehicles. They may have held onto the molds for the vehicles.
WishfulThinking
Don't get me wrong. I think there are some lost and broken molds. That happens when you switch factories or overuse tooling, as happened to the original Millennium Falcon.
But I don't see Hasbro intentionally destroying molds – those are massive pieces of equipment that cost thousands to produce. We have several old pieces of equipment here at my television station…but I'm not authorized to take a sledge hammer to it just because we don't use it anymore.
ChromeMagnus
Exactly. I don't buy all that "Hasbro destroyed the molds" hearsay. I've heard folks say that about the molds for G1 TF toys from the 80s then we got the Collection and Encore reissues 20-30 years later.
Same goes for the 80s Joe molds. We saw the Rattler, Hiss Tank, AWE Striker and certain other 80s Joe vehicles reissued in the 2000s/2010s. Hasbro has the molds intact.
WishfulThinking
They keep digging them out of storage, though. Granted, some of them now have new tooling…specifically to accommodate the modern era figures' foot holes.
FAKER II
Hasbro had all of the 1980’s and 1990’s GI*JOE molds destroyed. They decided it cost them more to store the molds than the money they were generating from reissues/repaints. Given that, I doubt Hasbro would go through the trouble of having new molds made to replace molds they literally decided to throw away.
ChromeMagnus
The hydrofoil was bad ass. A nice vehicle indeed.
Canbot
Why choose? I wish they'd reissue BOTH…throw in the hydrofoil and BAM, I'm in Grade Six all over again! …except now it's much better since I have boner control
That said…my opinion: GI Joe could be and should be just as amazing a franchise as TFs. In my parts, it was actually quite a bit more popular on the toy side of things. Far sturdier than TFs and lots of great toys.
That Hasbro chooses not to reissue exactly what we collectors want is a different story, and the live action movies were abysmal. I live for the day COBRA rises once again!
GizmoTron
Well they could have and maybe still can do a lot of that with the sequel. Except Circuit Breaker, she is owned by Marvel and as a character is stuck solely now in fiction limbo and is unlikely to ever be used again.
stad
Hasbro is still claiming there is another GI Joe movie coming, possibly/probably focused on Snake Eyes, at least in title, for 2020.
There won't be new figures until then.
WishfulThinking
There's was talk about GIJoe getting a movie in the Hasbro shared cinematic universe. That pretty much collapsed after TLK. Bumblebee may restart talks about that but I think they missed the boat by not 100% ditching the Bayverse continuity. Sector 7 could easily have been replaced with GIJoe, Hailey could have had a Jem tape in her collection, there could have been a tag where ROM receives a transmission from Earth, etc. In fact, there's no reason Josie Beller shouldn't have been a Sector 7 soldier who gets injured during the final confrontation, setting up a future Circuit Breaker story arc.
extracomputer
Weren’t there recent talks of a gi joe vs transformers film? Maybe that could do it.
WishfulThinking
For what it's worth, 80's era swivel shoulder Joes have 10 points of articulation. That's not all that far from modern standards – and far above the budget 5-point line that was being shoveled out for Star Wars during the past two movies. I think there could be a market for GIJoe but it would need a new movie tie-in to get the nostalgia rising. And that window is beginning to close, IMO.
extracomputer
While those are nice personally I would like to have the iconic blue Cobra Rattler. Original style would be great but one with extra detail would be even better.
Blackout32
Well honestly I'd like to see officially released G.I Joe figures released but from transformers. I know some company did that in making a Arcee,Ultra Magnu and Springer in the GI Joe body. They where very expensive so i was never able to get them but i would love to own them. I think it would be a cool idea if we ever got them. I just think that they might be a very niche and one off product to be sold. Then it could maybe lead into making G.I Joe again as a whole but who knows these days.