Walmart G1 Astrotrain Reissue Found in US for $50

Boooo! Would have possibly spent full price on sight if Astrotrain was in prototype/cartoon/box art colors, but as a standard reissue I can wait for the better price. Hopefully they bring back the mini cars so we'll have something else to look for.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Boooo! Would have possibly spent full price on sight if Astrotrain was in prototype/cartoon/box art colors, but as a standard reissue I can wait for the better price. Hopefully they bring back the mini cars so we'll have something else to look for.

Emerje

His price is a 75% mark up from the original, accounting for inflation. The gap in original value/production cost and new pricing gets larger as these reissues go on. It's getting a bit absurd.

Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

Sabrblade wrote:Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

Yes, that's what i heard.

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

Yes, that's what i heard.

No, there was a commemorative series reissue. It came years after the original line. I think it was an online exclusive.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

Yes, that's what i heard.

No, there was a commemorative series reissue. It came years after the original line. I think it was an online exclusive.

That one was in the Japanese black-and-white colors deco.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

Yes, that's what i heard.

No, there was a commemorative series reissue. It came years after the original line. I think it was an online exclusive.

Before saying no, please check the facts.

Makes Siege astrotrain look worth the money o.o

Pretty sure I got the TF collection and the commemorative versions but either way it's nice to have another US store exclusive that I don't want or need to pay stupid money for.

Sabrblade wrote:Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

That's the only mildly interesting part of this one for me. I'm extremely disappointed they didn't go with this opportunity to make one like the Collector's Edition New Year's Special but with a deeper purple.

edit: comparing the train's stock image to the site gallery, I think the purples may be quite different. Could be lighting, of course.




Transformers G1 1985 Astrotrain Gallery

william-james88 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

Yes, that's what i heard.

No, there was a commemorative series reissue. It came years after the original line. I think it was an online exclusive.

Before saying no, please check the facts.

Sometimes it's hard to tell, I had the 04/05; commemorative series Astrotrain, and I could have sworn it was the same colors as the original toy.

Lore Keeper wrote:

Emerje wrote:Boooo! Would have possibly spent full price on sight if Astrotrain was in prototype/cartoon/box art colors, but as a standard reissue I can wait for the better price. Hopefully they bring back the mini cars so we'll have something else to look for.

Emerje

His price is a 75% mark up from the original, accounting for inflation. The gap in original value/production cost and new pricing gets larger as these reissues go on. It's getting a bit absurd.

I'll say. $50 for what's little more than a Deluxe sized figure? Fie on that, I say!

Sabrblade wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Is this the first time the original U.S. toy colors deco has ever gotten a reissue?

Yes, that's what i heard.

No, there was a commemorative series reissue. It came years after the original line. I think it was an online exclusive.

That one was in the Japanese black-and-white colors deco.

Well pluck my hairs out and call me baldy! I never noticed that the commemorative edition was black and white while the original is white and purple. I always thought they were the same.

^ It made that release a fun novelty. Couple that with its de facto KB exclusive status with the vaporware CE Sideswipe, meaning it was never more than $25 2005 dollars, that made for a fun time.

ScottyP wrote:^ It made that release a fun novelty. Couple that with its de facto KB exclusive status with the vaporware CE Sideswipe, meaning it was never more than $25 2005 dollars, that made for a fun time.

Sideswipe was the KB exclusive, I got mine from a KB Toys Liquidator store and never saw them at regular stores. Astrotrain was a Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive, though I could have sworn I saw him at TRU, but I guess my memory is off.

Emerje

Whoa! The Op without his trailer was a big stretch for $50. Soundwave is a larger figure and comes with an additional figure, so that's almost fair.
But this?
Astrotrain for $50? No way! He's a small figure with one accessory. Uh, uh, nope, not me.

You'd think Walmart and Hasbro would catch on after every year having to mark these down and sell them on clearance.

I'm okay with paying the higher price, as long as it means that they will still be making Transformers. The more money they bring in, the longer the toyline will exist - which in my books is a great thing

FYI, for anyone using Brickseek, the Astrotrain UPC is: 630509894437 / SKU: 327496966

Checked my local Walmart last night while out shopping. No sign of G1 Astrotrain yet (or Siege Astrotrain, for that matter), but they had a TON of "Classic Animation" Optimus Primes warming the shelf. Seriously, they had almost two dozen of them.

cruizerdave wrote:You'd think Walmart and Hasbro would catch on after every year having to mark these down and sell them on clearance.

Just means they sell enough at full price so that anything they sell on clearance is pure profit. These do tend to sell out initial stock pretty quickly with only restock going on clearance in most cases. These probably don't cost much to make, the molds are already made and the packaging isn't that expensive so I'm sure they're making money off them despite how it looks on the surface.

Would be nice if they remembered they had established a lower price point with Hot Rod.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

ScottyP wrote:^ It made that release a fun novelty. Couple that with its de facto KB exclusive status with the vaporware CE Sideswipe, meaning it was never more than $25 2005 dollars, that made for a fun time.

Sideswipe was the KB exclusive, I got mine from a KB Toys Liquidator store and never saw them at regular stores. Astrotrain was a Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive, though I could have sworn I saw him at TRU, but I guess my memory is off.

Emerje

Commemorative Series Astrotrain was meant as a TRU exclusive, to be released alongside Stepper/Ricochet, but TRU decided to cancel the line due to low sales. Stepper/Ricochet managed to slip into stores, but Astrotrain didn't. On the side, that version was re-released in Asia in 2012.

There's something to be said about the amount of decos that toy has gotten, as Astrotrain:

1) US
2) Japan
3) e-Hobby Prototype-inspired
4) Platinum Edition

youch, that price point hurts.

I want him, but not $50 want. Ugh, 2 $50 Astrotrains in a short time too

Well it turns out the G1 reissue of Astrotrain, now available at Walmart, doesn't actually match the original G1 toy. As can be seen below, the purple is much darker. This makes it a different deco in the end and something different rather than a straight G1 reissue. The images come from stevenmh who posted them on the TFW boards. The official images, which you can see below, did show a darker purple but we weren't sure if it was due to lighting or not. And now we know.








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Is there the slightest possibility that the colors of that vintage copy could have faded over the years?

This is great for the Nostalgia factor, and I'm glad they're doing it, however getting a $50 G1 Astrotrain out at the same time as a $50 Siege Astrotrain really seems to drive home the let's wait for this to hit clearance Factor for me. That may also because I have the white reissue from several years ago.

Sabrblade wrote:Is there the slightest possibility that the colors of that vintage copy could have faded over the years?

True, but that would probably also cause the white to yellow. We need a bigger sample size

Sabrblade wrote:Is there the slightest possibility that the colors of that vintage copy could have faded over the years?

My G1 astrotrain also has that more grape purple we see in the vintage one above. As do the pics in the seibertron gallery. Take that as you will.

I still prefer my anime color Encore reissue.

hausjam wrote:I still prefer my anime color Encore reissue.

You mean eHOBBY, there was no Encore Astrotrain.

I still prefer my anime color eHOBBY Astrotrain.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Emerje wrote:

ScottyP wrote:^ It made that release a fun novelty. Couple that with its de facto KB exclusive status with the vaporware CE Sideswipe, meaning it was never more than $25 2005 dollars, that made for a fun time.

Sideswipe was the KB exclusive, I got mine from a KB Toys Liquidator store and never saw them at regular stores. Astrotrain was a Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive, though I could have sworn I saw him at TRU, but I guess my memory is off.

Emerje

Commemorative Series Astrotrain was meant as a TRU exclusive, to be released alongside Stepper/Ricochet, but TRU decided to cancel the line due to low sales. Stepper/Ricochet managed to slip into stores, but Astrotrain didn't. On the side, that version was re-released in Asia in 2012.

If I know he got a HTS release I probably already know all that, right?

I'm indifferent about the purple being darker, doesn't really effect anything unless you're comparing side by side. It's the gray that should have been darker.

Emerje

who cares its still purple and i still want it

The in-hand images lack the red ab decals, while the stock images (minus the in-box one) have said decal. And I thought Earthrise Optimus was confusing.

Mindmaster wrote:The in-hand images lack the red ab decals, while the stock images (minus the in-box one) have said decal. And I thought Earthrise Optimus was confusing.

Arent they stickers? The guy probably chose not to put them.

william-james88 wrote:

Mindmaster wrote:The in-hand images lack the red ab decals, while the stock images (minus the in-box one) have said decal. And I thought Earthrise Optimus was confusing.

Arent they stickers? The guy probably chose not to put them.

Are they stickers? I dunno, I never owned the original.

But you bring up a fair point, I didn’t think about owner’s discretion. I forgot the stickers for these reissues are applied by the owner.

I'm still amused by how the G1 box artists had to distort the character to make it look like it's more poseable than it actually is. The figure does not have the bendable shoulders and elbows that the box art conveys, nor can it in any way move its legs the way the painting depicts. Truth in advertising, Hasbro!

They needed to remake the arms like the wst version so the arms extend

ausbot wrote:They needed to remake the arms like the wst version so the arms extend

There was no wst Astrotrain. Justitoys made the unofficial one.

Am I the only person he remembers the toy for G1 astrotrain being Grey and Purple, not White and Purple?

Rodimus Knight wrote:Am I the only person he remembers the toy for G1 astrotrain being Grey and Purple, not White and Purple?

Putting it next to the Japanese black-and-white one will show that it is gray, just a very light shade.

Not really a big fan of the darker purple. I already have a G1 Choochoo and the TRU reissue so Ill probably pass on this one.

Wallyworld dropped the price a tad.

Good news for those who found the Walmart exclusive Transformers G1 Astrotrain reissue a tad too expensive. Fellow Seibertronian Ironhidensh has found on at his local Walmart for $39.73. This almost immediate $10 drop in price now brings this reissue to the same price as the original was sold in certain places. Below we can see an image of the original Astrotrain still in box and still with a price tag of 14.99, the same price point as the G1 seekers at the time. Adjusted for average inflation, that would make it $37.11 US today so very close to what the reissue is going for. And of course, with this toy out there you no longer have to pay $700 if you want an authentic G1 Astrotrain sealed in box.

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.