Walmart Drops Price Almost Immediately for G1 Astrotrain Reissue

Not the price drop I was hoping, but it beats paying $50 for a reissue that small.

Quantum Surge wrote:Not the price drop I was hoping, but it beats paying $50 for a reissue that small.

Any lower and it becomes cheaper than what it sold for in the 80s.

william-james88 wrote:

Quantum Surge wrote:Not the price drop I was hoping, but it beats paying $50 for a reissue that small.

Any lower and it becomes cheaper than what it sold for in the 80s.

Oh boy, I'd love it if that happened.

I'm trying to decide if I want to grab this release. I bought that Astrotrain/Blitzwing Platinum release for an awesome price off of our very own Chuck Dawg a while back. the ones in the weird coolers. I told myself that was good enough because I liked the silly decos. I figued that would be the G1 A-train in my collection.

But, there is something so dang appealing about having a more traditional deco.

william-james88 wrote:

now I want a mini glow in the dark poster reissue as well.

Ironhidensh wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

now I want a mini glow in the dark poster reissue as well.

If it was included with this release, would you jump on the new price? I think I would.

Also cobo, if ever you decide to get this astrotrain and want to unload your two pack to finance it/not have doubles, let me know.

Nice that the price dropped, but after the debacle I experienced with Soundwave (checking every Walmart for a month straight and finally finding him and his tapes and then the price dropping on them), I’ll wait this one out or find a used, vintage one for a little cheaper.

william-james88 wrote:

Quantum Surge wrote:Not the price drop I was hoping, but it beats paying $50 for a reissue that small.

Any lower and it becomes cheaper than what it sold for in the 80s.

Shouldn't it be? The engineering was done decades ago, so it has more than paid for itself. The parts count is small, the amount of plastic used is small, the assembly is simplistic, and the paint apps are absolutely minimal. This is a toy that was cheap and easy to put on shelves.

Generally speaking, G1 reissues should be priced more like Cyberverse figures than anything else on the shelves.

Dr. Caelus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Quantum Surge wrote:Not the price drop I was hoping, but it beats paying $50 for a reissue that small.

Any lower and it becomes cheaper than what it sold for in the 80s.

Shouldn't it be? The engineering was done decades ago, so it has more than paid for itself. The parts count is small, the amount of plastic used is small, the assembly is simplistic, and the paint apps are absolutely minimal. This is a toy that was cheap and easy to put on shelves.

Generally speaking, G1 reissues should be priced more like Cyberverse figures than anything else on the shelves.

I agree that the price should not necessarily match up to inflation because it is much cheaper to make a toy like this than it was in 1985. Also, people are really exaggerating over how close this discount brings the toy to it's original price. A direct match would only be $28.66. So yes, they could discount it quite a bit more and still account for inflation.

william-james88 wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

now I want a mini glow in the dark poster reissue as well.

If it was included with this release, would you jump on the new price? I think I would.

Sold yesterday.

Dat G1 Astrotrain.
Lo and behold, another thing I'll never see in store.

Check brickseek, it's showing that price at all my WMs even with no stock yet.

https://brickseek.com/p/transformers-to ... in/8603976

This one may move fast. My local sighting thread is already on the hunt.

More importantly the mother fucker is available right now via the WM app.

Edit: I see it's available for pickup. I was there today and didn't see it. YMMV



I couldn't find it on their website.

Lore Keeper wrote: Also, people are really exaggerating over how close this discount brings the toy to it's original price. A direct match would only be $28.66. So yes, they could discount it quite a bit more and still account for inflation.

How did you calculate that? Cumulative inflation since the g1 era has been 147.6%

so 14.99 X (1+1.476) = $37.11

I don't know where your 28.66 comes from.

I have as much chance of finding that Astrotrain reissue in the Chicago area as I do that vintage figure in the other photo.

I am no expert. But I don't think it's fair to simply take a toy price from 1985 and plug it into a CPI calculator. There are other factors. Plastics cost alot more back in the 80s than they do now. But design and engineering costs are much lower now. There is also the question of volume. Shipping costs. Distribution costs. Etc Etc. Many of these things cost more now, relative to then. Many of them cost far less.

CPI calculations are a measure of how much your money is worth now compared to any given point in the past. They are meaningless in determining how much something costs to make now vs then.

hausjam wrote:I am no expert. But I don't think it's fair to simply take a toy price from 1985 and plug it into a CPI calculator. There are other factors. Plastics cost alot more back in the 80s than they do now. But design and engineering costs are much lower now. There is also the question of volume. Shipping costs. Distribution costs. Etc Etc. Many of these things cost more now, relative to then. Many of them cost far less.

CPI calculations are a measure of how much your money is worth now compared to any given point in the past. They are meaningless in determining how much something costs to make now vs then.

But I was never talking about production cost, none of us know of it , all we know is the price. 2 different things. The inflation calculator confirms that this toy is priced similarly to how he was in the 80s. He's as expensive for us now as he was for our parents 30+ years ago.

william-james88 wrote:But I was never talking about production cost, none of us know of it , all we know is the price. 2 different things. The inflation calculator confirms that this toy is priced similarly to how he was in the 80s. He's as expensive for us now as he was for our parents 30+ years ago.

Fair enough for your point. But for others who wish to make the point that hasbro may be taking advantage of nostalgia for the sake of price gouging, using inflation to counter their argument is not fair at all. I am of the opinion that the cost to produce these vintage reissues is less in 2020 dollars than it was in 1985 dollars. But, that is simply my unsubstantiated opinion. And of course, it they did sell them at a more reasonable cost, it’s likely scalpers would buy up all of them and sell them on eBay at this price point anyway. So the point is probably moot.

However, I cannot reconcile the opinion of anyone who is pro-hasbro at this point. G1 reissues aside, their generations and studio series keeps going up in price, and down in quality. Their MP line has doubled in both price and QC issues. Meanwhile, knockoffs have reached parity in quality at half the price. Unlicensed originals have, for the most part, far exceeded what they are doing.

I really do appreciate where Hasbro has brought us. But they have lost their way and should be embarrassed by a good deal of the poorly designed, poorly made, overpriced product they are making.

hausjam wrote: Their MP line has doubled in both price and QC issues. Meanwhile, knockoffs have reached parity in quality at half the price.

The MP line isn't Hasbro's and the latest KOs for these pricier mp figures (like sunstreaker and Dinobot) have sucked. Where have you read otherwise? They instead prove that quality can't always be matched for cheaper.

hausjam wrote:I am no expert. But I don't think it's fair to simply take a toy price from 1985 and plug it into a CPI calculator. There are other factors. Plastics cost alot more back in the 80s than they do now. But design and engineering costs are much lower now. There is also the question of volume. Shipping costs. Distribution costs. Etc Etc. Many of these things cost more now, relative to then. Many of them cost far less.

CPI calculations are a measure of how much your money is worth now compared to any given point in the past. They are meaningless in determining how much something costs to make now vs then.

Regardless of what parts of putting the toy on the shelf costs more or less than it did 35 years ago, the bottom line is that the selling price is practically the same. Assuming that Hasbro hasn't completely turned its business model upside down, they still produce product for profit, so they take into account all production costs when putting a price on a product and ensure that they make money. The CPI is not meaningless because it can be applied to the cost of production the same as to the selling price.

£39 to us UKers over at ID toys. Think the funky colors blitzwing/astrotrain set was less than half of that on sale at some point. Passing on this one.

Y'all know how some Walmarts are starting to clearance out the Soundwave and Cassette 2-packs? Well, the Walmart nearest to me still has a bunch of each but has not clearanced any of them.

Meanwhile, I just took a trip over to the second-closest Walmart to see what they have, and they were sold out of all Soundwaves and Cassette sets. While they did not lower the price on the cassettes, they did for Soundwave, and you guys will never believe how much that store lowered its price for Soundwave.

It's a price so unbelievably low that tried to take a picture of the price tag as proof, but my phone is an older model (one with a slide-out keyboard, no less) since I only ever use it just for calls and texting (I prefer an actual computer for web browsing). When I tried to use my phone's camera, it apparently wouldn't let me save the photo since I don't have an online data plan for my phone (like I said, I don't use it for the Internet, so I have no use for a data plan).

In short, I don't have photographic evidence to back this up, but man, I have GOT to tell you guys this clearance price. It's just that ridiculous:

$3.50 USD

Yes. Three dollars and fifty cents You-Ess-Dee!

That. Is. INSANE!!

Walmart makes no sense. Why do they keep begging Hasbro for exclusive Transformers stuff when they can't keep anything in stock and their distribution is so lopsided? Then they clearance out the overpriced stuff they begged for at a huge discount. How much do they pay Hasbro for these G1 reissues? Is the mark-up THAT much on Walmart's end that they can afford to pull these kinds of stunts? Where is all of this money coming from?

Walmart can be pretty rando at times. I think a lot of it is just the employees. I bumped into a couple employees on the clearance isle and "talked" them into marking Rodimus Unicronus down to $20. As of the last time I checked, two of the closest to me WMs still had Soundwave at full price. Then Astrotrain basically comes in stock on clearance. I'll take your word, but if you really wanted to prove the price, just screen cap brickseek.com

carytheone wrote:Walmart can be pretty rando at times. I think a lot of it is just the employees. I bumped into a couple employees on the clearance isle and "talked" them into marking Rodimus Unicronus down to $20. As of the last time I checked, two of the closest to me WMs still had Soundwave at full price. Then Astrotrain basically comes in stock on clearance. I'll take your word, but if you really wanted to prove the price, just screen cap brickseek.com

Well, he wasn't joking:

https://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory ... =453478696

bovinefromspace wrote:

carytheone wrote:Walmart can be pretty rando at times. I think a lot of it is just the employees. I bumped into a couple employees on the clearance isle and "talked" them into marking Rodimus Unicronus down to $20. As of the last time I checked, two of the closest to me WMs still had Soundwave at full price. Then Astrotrain basically comes in stock on clearance. I'll take your word, but if you really wanted to prove the price, just screen cap brickseek.com

Well, he wasn't joking:

https://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory ... =453478696

Ask and ye shall receive:

Wolfman Jake wrote:Walmart makes no sense. Why do they keep begging Hasbro for exclusive Transformers stuff when they can't keep anything in stock and their distribution is so lopsided? Then they clearance out the overpriced stuff they begged for at a huge discount. How much do they pay Hasbro for these G1 reissues? Is the mark-up THAT much on Walmart's end that they can afford to pull these kinds of stunts? Where is all of this money coming from?

Well, as an employee with access to some of that info, I can tell you that Prime and Starscream both cost $35/each, so the markup is $15 at full price. I never checked Soundwave, but I assume it's the same.

Has anyone else noticed on the cassettes how much the cardboard bends? I bought 2 of each keeping one set sealed but the cardboard has bent so much the cassettes fell out.

Ravage2031 wrote:Has anyone else noticed on the cassettes how much the cardboard bends? I bought 2 of each keeping one set sealed but the cardboard has bent so much the cassettes fell out.

I didn't notice on my cassettes yet, but the first set of Minicons I had were horrible and started curling up.

Ravage2031 wrote:Has anyone else noticed on the cassettes how much the cardboard bends? I bought 2 of each keeping one set sealed but the cardboard has bent so much the cassettes fell out.

Any idea of what could be causing the bending? Humidity? Temperature?

bovinefromspace wrote:

Ravage2031 wrote:Has anyone else noticed on the cassettes how much the cardboard bends? I bought 2 of each keeping one set sealed but the cardboard has bent so much the cassettes fell out.

I didn't notice on my cassettes yet, but the first set of Minicons I had were horrible and started curling up.

Mine hasn't but the plastic has been cut open and I haven't noticed any at the store doing it. I'm more curious to what's causing this? Humidity?

EDIT: Ha, ninja'd by Jelze

I finally found Astrotrain at my Walmart and got him last night. Unlike the other figures released so far, he has cardboard inserts instead of a plastic bubble inside.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I finally found Astrotrain at my Walmart and got him last night. Unlike the other figures released so far, he has cardboard inserts instead of a plastic bubble inside.

So how is he? Is he worth having alongside other versions?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I finally found Astrotrain at my Walmart and got him last night. Unlike the other figures released so far, he has cardboard inserts instead of a plastic bubble inside.

So how is he? Is he worth having alongside other versions?

I like him. His paint looks good, and not having held a G1 Astrotrain in about 20 years, he is fun. Looks good next to the other reissues. Pick him up if you're a fan of the character, don't have any other versions, or collect the reissues. He's not spectacular, but nothing wrong with him either. The flimsy insert is the only negative for me, but it's a minor gripe, I'm over it.

ok, so one of my local Walmart's did a toy reset in the last week. What was odd is I was just there a few days ago and they had 4 or 5 Astrotrains, now there are none. I find it unlikely that someone would by them all since they've been sitting there for months, but I digress....

We know a Blaster reissue is coming soon, but I saw this and thought it very odd...Has there been any news about a Sounblaster reissue? I mean I know Walmart had the Siege Soundblaster for the 35th anniversary line, but this specifically says "G1"...so I didn't know what to make of it?

o.supreme wrote:ok, so one of my local Walmart's did a toy reset in the last week. What was odd is I was just there a few days ago and they had 4 or 5 Astrotrains, now there are none. I find it unlikely that someone would by them all since they've been sitting there for months, but I digress....

We know a Blaster reissue is coming soon, but I saw this and thought it very odd...Has there been any news about a Sounblaster reissue? I mean I know Walmart had the Siege Soundblaster for the 35th anniversary line, but this specifically says "G1"...so I didn't know what to make of it?

Apparently it's just the upcoming reissue of Autobot boombox Blaster.

The surprisingly affordable G1 reissue of Blaster was found at a US Walmart earlier this week. It was previously found in Singapore. This G1 reissue is only $29.84 USD and does not come with any cassette. The particular sighting below is from Arizona at the Scottsdale Walmart and was posted by Shin-Gouki on the TFW2005 boards.

If you find this toy, please let other Transformers fans know in our forum.

Just a thought, maybe Blaster doesn't come with tapes because, if I remember correctly, there were only four Autobot tapes originally. This way they can do two, two packs.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Just a thought, maybe Blaster doesn't come with tapes because, if I remember correctly, there were only four Autobot tapes originally. This way they can do two, two packs.

It's because Blaster was only ever sold by himself in 1985-1986. This line recreates the original G1 packaging (sans the new packaging created for Optimus Prime, but which was still heavily based on his original box).

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Just a thought, maybe Blaster doesn't come with tapes because, if I remember correctly, there were only four Autobot tapes originally. This way they can do two, two packs.

It's because they are replicating how he was released initially.

william-james88 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Just a thought, maybe Blaster doesn't come with tapes because, if I remember correctly, there were only four Autobot tapes originally. This way they can do two, two packs.

It's because they are replicating how he was released initially.

I wonder why the original toy didn't come with a tape. Perhaps it was due to size or as I mentioned initially, there were going to be fewer Autobot cassettes. Fascinating.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I wonder why the original toy didn't come with a tape.

Because all of the preexisting Micro Change cassette toys had already been used as Decepticons. The Autobot cassettes were new molds that didn't see release until 1986, where Blaster was an existing Micro Change mold who first got released a year earlier in 1985. When Blaster's toy first came into existence in the Transformers toyline, there were no Autobot cassettes that existed (yet).

I wonder what the point of Preordering anything from WalMart is when they show up in the stores before they ship the preorders.

Rodimus Knight wrote:I wonder what the point of Preordering anything from WalMart is when they show up in the stores before they ship the preorders.

Pretty much this. I know people on Twitter still waiting on their Netflix Megatron pre-order when he's been in stores for months

i hope they reissue his tapes as well

Sabrblade wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I wonder why the original toy didn't come with a tape.

Because all of the preexisting Micro Change cassette toys had already been used as Decepticons. The Autobot cassettes were new molds that didn't see release until 1986, where Blaster was an existing Micro Change mold who first got released a year earlier in 1985. When Blaster's toy first came into existence in the Transformers toyline, there were no Autobot cassettes that existed (yet).

So basically you were supposed to use and swap cassettes if you were a Micro Change fan.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I wonder why the original toy didn't come with a tape.

Because all of the preexisting Micro Change cassette toys had already been used as Decepticons. The Autobot cassettes were new molds that didn't see release until 1986, where Blaster was an existing Micro Change mold who first got released a year earlier in 1985. When Blaster's toy first came into existence in the Transformers toyline, there were no Autobot cassettes that existed (yet).

So basically you were supposed to use and swap cassettes if you were a Micro Change fan.

Right, there were no warring factions of cassettes in the Micro Change toyline, all of them were on the same side and interacted with both Cassette Man (pre-Soundwave) and Radi-Cassette Robo (pre-Blaster). Though, Radi-Cassette Robo was itself released in 1984 a year after Cassette Man and the three micro-cassette molds Micross (pre-Frenzy/Rumble), Jaguar (pre-Ravage), and Condor (pre-Laserbeak/Buzzsaw) were released on 1983, so the disconnect was also present in that line. Though, Radi-Cassette Man also came with its own little AM radio accessory that could fit into its tape door since it was the size of a micro-cassette itself (this little AM radio was not carried over for Blaster's release in Transformers).

As for why Hasbro didn't just use the existing Micro Change cassette molds to make Autobot cassettes for Blaster in 1985, at the time Hasbro wasn't yet in the habit of sharing molds between Autobots and Decepticons (minus the Mini-Spies since their whole gimmick was their belonging to either faction, but I digress), so they kept all of the Micro Change cassette molds on the Decepticon side at the time of Blaster's initial release, leaving him with no cassette minions of his own until Hasbro started releasing all new molds made specifically for Transformers the following year in 1986. Of course, his original packaging didn't even advertise his chest door gimmick anyway, with his interactivity with the cassettes given only a passing mention in his instructions.

I finally spotted G1 reissue Blaster. Unfortunately a pass for me but neat to see it again.

Finally got Blaster in at my Wal-Mart in Albany, GA. His legs have a brownish tint to them, and IIRC originally his legs were gray.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Finally got Blaster in at my Wal-Mart in Albany, GA. His legs have a brownish tint to them, and IIRC originally his legs were gray.

Yeah, I saw that at my local Walmart and decided to pass on that.

I already got to experience the mold with the Fun Pub/e-HOBBY Shattered Glass Blaster that uses the same mold, and didn't find it much more than a nice novelty.

Full disclosure: I own very few G1 molds as I don't really collect them.