SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Hasbro is raping my childhood and trying to rip me off.

Posted: Jan 02 2009 08:11 pm

I was at the local Reneck Mall (Walmart) last night with my boys and we went through the toy section and I saw reissues of both classic 3 inch GI Joes as well as G1 Transformers.

The GI Joes are very simular to the originals from the 80s, though they look like they are made out of cheaper (thinner) plastic, and I don't think they use the classic O-Ring design anymore, as there is a new joint in the middle of the chest.

When I was a kid, a single GI Joe cost $3, these were selling for like $7 each. (Or whatever the pointless Walmart price is, like $6.92, but close enough to $7)

And then I saw the original Optimus Prime:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10339834

$70 F'ing dollars!!!

I think he was like $20 when I was a kid. And, wow you get a DVD with 3 cartoons and a reissue of a comic book. That's worth an extra $50!

I was tempted to buy them for nastalga's sake, but damn, I think for the higer prices, I could just hunt down unboxed originals for those prices.

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

Knyte wrote:

When I was a kid, a single GI Joe cost $3, these were selling for like $7 each. (Or whatever the pointless Walmart price is, like $6.92, but close enough to $7)

Yeah, but that's inflation for you. Similarly, comic books today cost a lot more than when you or I were kids.

Posted: Jan 02 2009 08:40 pm

Hasbro has been using the same molds for a lot of stuff. For example the original Ewok Village came out back in 1993. They then used the exact same mold for the Sherwood Forest from the 1991 Kenner toy line for Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves. I believe they may have also used the same Slave 1 mold from the original for the Shadows of The Empire version of the Slave 1. You would put in the 1995 Boba Fett and pull a lever to put him in the cockpit but the figure didn't fit like it should because they used the old molds and the newer Boba Fett was much larger in the chest than the original. Also with the Power of The Force TIE Fighter I think they jut used the old decals. If you look in the cockpit the decals inside look like something from the late 70's or early 80's, definitely not from 1995.

Posted: Jan 30 2009 12:28 am

Eh, you don't want that Prime anyway, his smokestacks are cut down for American toy safety standards. For about the same price (give or take) you could get the Takara/Tomy Encore reissue from last year which pretty much is the Prime you remember, die cast metal and all (which I'm not sure Commemorative Prime has...)

Posted: Jan 30 2009 08:01 am

Pretty sure Prime was more than $20 back in the day. Maybe like $30, but still. Legos were - and still - suprisingly expensive. It's like $50-80 for a decent size playset.

Posted: Jan 30 2009 09:22 am

Legos also are somewhat constructive in terms of helping kids learn spacial skills and stuff (Cause those directions on how to build shit were terrible. It was "Here's a picture. Now here's another picture, and you have to figure out what changed") and provide many more hours of activity, as you have to assemble it and stuff.

Posted: Jan 30 2009 09:32 am

Also... Have you played with the new Prime? It is NICE. And a lot better made. Transformers of old were fairly cheaply made. This thing? Is good quality. I was eyeing one. $70 is too rich for my blood. If it was $50...

Very Happy

It'd go well with my other Primes.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

I discovered the Takara reissues a few years ago, but the high prices dissuaded me from buying any. I might reconsider soon, as I've been eying them again, but still, I'd rather waste my money on other things at this point. Most of my extra shelf space is for Batman figures and books, anyway.

Posted: Jan 30 2009 08:15 pm

You can get the older GI Joe reissues for around 4 bucks if you catch them at Target, but that's because they're usually on their way out for the newer ones. As for the Transformers, I didn't pay $70 for a complete Rail Racer, and that was 3 Voyager-sized figures. So unless the inflation on Transformers has ramped up by a lot, they're praying on the nostalgia factor here.

Posted: Jan 31 2009 02:49 am

I thought you said Redneck Mall.

Does anyone remember when Transformers were animals? There was a transformer show that was animated in 3D and they were transforming from animals to robots.

I had an Optimus Prime/Gorilla.

Posted: Jan 31 2009 02:59 am

anorexorcist wrote:

I thought you said Redneck Mall.

Does anyone remember when Transformers were animals? There was a transformer show that was animated in 3D and they were transforming from animals to robots.

I had an Optimus Prime/Gorilla.

*eyetwitch* Are you being sarcastic there?

So was this Primal Prime (red throughout) or normal Optimus Primal?

Posted: Jan 31 2009 03:04 am

Primal Prime wasn't in the Beast Wars show. You're probably thinking Optimal Optimus Primal, whom Primal Prime was a repaint of.

Posted: Jan 31 2009 03:51 am

Black Zarak wrote:

Primal Prime wasn't in the Beast Wars show. You're probably thinking Optimal Optimus Primal, whom Primal Prime was a repaint of.

Crud, you're right.

Posted: Jan 31 2009 09:45 am

fuck beast wars

Posted: Jan 31 2009 12:33 pm

username wrote:

fuck beast machines. beast wars was a godsend, though

fixed

Posted: Feb 01 2009 01:38 am

I didn't see much of Beast Wars, although I enjoyed Armada. The 3D ones after that rape my eyeballs, though.

Posted: Feb 01 2009 05:18 am

what if Bay makes a Go Bots movie?

Posted: Feb 01 2009 03:10 pm

Beast Wars is the only good Transformers series. And I'm including G1 here.

AndBay should've been directing Gobots: The Movie to begin with, maybe a director who doesn't suck and cared about the property would have gotten Transformers then.

Posted: Feb 01 2009 03:11 pm

I love those new GI Joes. I dunno, they just rule. I got Shipwreck, Roadblock, Cobra Commander, a two pack with a Cobra dude and a Crimson Guard, the Cobra killer robot guy (BAT?) and a two pack with Serpentor and Steeler and their respective vehicles. I have more of those than my original Joes.

Posted: Feb 01 2009 11:40 pm

Zarak, you have to share whatever mind-altering drugs you're on with me.

Posted: Feb 02 2009 12:49 am

What's that in reference too? That G1 sucks? Trying watching it again sometime; animation and continuity errors by the boatload and retarded plots (Autobots at the high school dance anyone?) And everything after BW is terrible because they're either badly translated Japanese shows (RiD, Armada and Energon) or Japanese shows that are forced to connect with earlier shows they are unrelated to when translated to English (Cybertron) or just god awful American shows trying to be Japanese (Animated.)

Posted: Feb 02 2009 01:48 am

Black Zarak wrote:

What's that in reference too? That G1 sucks? Trying watching it again sometime; animation and continuity errors by the boatload and retarded plots (Autobots at the high school dance anyone?) And everything after BW is terrible because they're either badly translated Japanese shows (RiD, Armada and Energon) or Japanese shows that are forced to connect with earlier shows they are unrelated to when translated to English (Cybertron) or just god awful American shows trying to be Japanese (Animated.)

You do know some of Beast Wars' writers are involved with Animated right?

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Black Zarak wrote:

What's that in reference too? That G1 sucks? Trying watching it again sometime; animation and continuity errors by the boatload and retarded plots

I hate to admit it, but you're right. I've done that a few times, and all of that is glaring at this age.

Posted: Feb 02 2009 07:44 pm

I fucking hate continuity errors in kids shows. They should have gotten the writers from Moon Lighting or something. I fucking hate nerds that think everything was made for them, and must reach their stupid fucking standards. G1 was what it was, a violent kids show made to make children buy their toys. It was great for what it was.

Posted: Feb 02 2009 07:50 pm

I guess you should have supported Universal's Cartoon Studio more before they went under. They were the masters of Cartoon Plot Continuity. (See Exo-Squad)