Encore reissues worth it?

Addl · Post by **Addl** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:35 am

This is one of the two Hoists I bought on the weekend, thinking to be a good deal for roughly 18 eur.

At first I thought they were Japanese originals from the 80s due to the package date showing 1985, but then I saw the "encore" label.

Is this really a 100% copy of the original incl the box? Do all of these have the original years on them?

... Or is there some downside to these reissues?

Post by **Blackjack** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 12:06 pm

They're reissues, and I think they're supposed to replicate everything from the original 1980's toys, including the packaging. They're more or less the same (only, you know, factory-fresh), but in some toys there have been additional paint applications... for example, Jazz has gotten a blue visor, Swerve has his face painted in, Bumblebee has his awesome faceplated face replaced by a shitty approximation of the Floro Dery model...

They apparently have lousy QC. None of my Encore toys (Ratchet, Jazz, a couple of Minibots and a lot of cassettes) show it, thankfully, but apparently the Encore Combaticons and Constructicons are notorious for being two steps away from crumbling.

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:33 pm

Almost all of them show mould degradation problems, loose joints, not so good fit for the parts and so on.

On the plus side, they are near 100 percent faithful reproductions of the japanese G1 boxes, and most bots have tampo printing on everything that was stickers.

Plus, blue\red eyes when applicable.

Post by **Clay** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:40 pm

Blackjack wrote:They apparently have lousy QC. None of my Encore toys (Ratchet, Jazz, a couple of Minibots and a lot of cassettes) show it, thankfully, but apparently the Encore Combaticons and Constructicons are notorious for being two steps away from crumbling.

Knightdramon wrote:Almost all of them show mould degradation problems, loose joints, not so good fit for the parts and so on.

I think the general rule is that the molds that have been reissued before (Bruticus especially) show signs of wear, but molds that have been unused since the 1980s (the Cassettes, Metroplex, etc.) are fine.

The only Encore figures I have (that I can think of) are the three Cassette sets. Very happy with them

.

Rack 'n Ruin · Post by **Rack 'n Ruin** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:26 pm

My Encore Trailbreaker & Hoist are just fine and dandy. No issues at all, other than excessive awesomeness.

Ratchet isn't quite as tight, but still very respectable.

The Constructicons seem to be OK. Some of the faces have degraded a little, but they transform and combine just fine.

All in all, I do like me some G1 reissues...

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:18 pm

I have quite a few of the Encores...

No reported problems with Megatron, Soundwave/ Laserbeak , Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker.

Of the Autobots I own, the Minibots are all great and the additional paint apps improves the figures. Agree with Blackjack on the 'bee front. He looks like a fat kid giving a blow job. He doesn't feel quite as nice as a vintage version. Or the keychain. Or the TFC version.

The Cars. Hmm. Jazz is fine, Trailbreaker (stupid blue visor!), Ratchet and Ironhide are fine. Skids is very loose (at least my example is) and Hoist's tow assembly falls off very easily on mine whereas its no bother on the Hasbro reissue.

The Constructicons - mine are actually very good. Hook has a little bit of a melted face, but the others are fine. Just wonky rub sign placement that spoils a couple. Bonecrusher has actually been improved upon by adding a catch to keep his arms together in arm/ alt mode.

And Omega Supreme is also of a good quality.

I've been quite fortunate with my Encore's though and haven't paid anywhere near the rrp, thanks to scoring some good deals at AA09 and with collectors (got a very good deal on Megs, Soundwave and Starscream from a guy on ebay). i'd be wary of paying the sums currently being asked on fleabay for these things though.

I've heard the Combaticon reissue is dreadful, which surprises me given that they were in perfect working order only five years previously when used for RiD/ Universe.

All in all, I think they are pretty good but then I seem to have been lucky with mine

Addl · Post by **Addl** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:41 pm

Is here a difference in quality between encore and commemorative reissues ( not the design and colors) in terms of material and joints?

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 12:58 am

I don't think anybody can answer that without sprouting some of the "hasbro uses crap and cheap plastic on everything these days" nonsense.

Perhaps they're phasing out some of the stronger ABS plastic with POM substitutes or something.

To accurately measure such a thing you'll need to take a figure that's been out both as a commemorative reissue AND an encore and weigh them.

As for joints, that has to do with mould degradation, I'm sure some moulds like G1 Prime and definitely Bruticus have so much wear on them their joints must be looser.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:18 pm

Because I am weird I do own both Commemorative Series Hoist and the Encore.

Not much in it really, just the aforementioned tow assembly do-dah.

I own two reissue Optimus Primes. The New Year special 2002 and the Hasbro version, aside from cosmetic differences - and some bizarre toy safety choices : Roller can't be launched from the Hasbro version, quality is overall comparable between the two. paint matching is weird on both. Hasbro have a more orangey red whilst the Takara one is a more cherry red colour.

No quality differences between any of the other reissues either, come to think of it. The biggest kicker is mould degradation, as mentioned above. I have the Takara Collectors Edition ratchet / ironhide toys and the encore versions and there's some definite 'warp' to the robot/ chassis sections on the encores.

I wonder if the condition of the moulds is why we haven't had further reissues of the likes of Prowl and so on - perhaps they were only good for a second go.

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:44 pm

I believe the mould abuse is one very, very definite aspect that we can safely say takara\hasbro SUCK at.

Moulds lost, moulds suffering from mould degradation from seriously small runs [compared to other figures, toylines, companies]...what's up with that?

How can, say, ROTF Leader Prime mould, which has...regular, buster, clear, buster with faceplate, black amazon dvd, battle hooks, DOTM Jetwing, DOTM Striker, DOTM Black Jetwing, DOTM USA Jetwing and the asia exclusive premium striker, 11 uses all in all, and about a gazillion more parts, be in better shape than say, the encore constructicons. Ironhide. Combaticons?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 11:07 pm

Because Takara know fanboys will suck it up and buy anyway. Bruticus being a prime example - TT released an outright KO-quality product and most people leapt to their defence.

Reissues are a crap-shoot because the quality control is lousy. I would say to go for them while you're in Asia and able to physically return them (rather than mailing them back halfway around the world at your own cost) if the production is poor.

My Encore Hoist was mixed. The plastic for the tow assembly feels incredibly flimsy; I'm not sure if this is just memory but there's nothing as thin and - well - plasticky on any of my other Autobot cars. Oh, and an arm was broken in the package.

Addl · Post by **Addl** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 7:34 am

Okay update

Now they also have a reissue PM Optimus prime with the small additional trailer for 600 RMB = 75 EUR

I already have a complete PM Prime, so how much is just the extra trailer and all additional parts that I would need if I buy it separately?

Is this additional trailer available or not very easy to find (Europe).?

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 8:23 am

The smaller trailer is actually a separate character named GodBomber or something [may be completely wrong, first name that popped into mind].

He's really hard to track down on his own unless somebody is selling him separately from a reissue set, as he's a japanese only figure outside the set.

Are you sure it's a powermaster prime reissue and not a Ginrai reissue? There might be differences with the rest of the figure as to warrant you getting the complete set.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 7:56 pm

Aye, I used to own the God Ginrai/ Godbomber reissue set. The die cast, chrome and clear windows really do make the PM Prime mould sing.

Godbomber himself is a pile of parts, frankly. He doesn't so much transform as fall to pieces and clip back together. A necessity of being various armour upgrades for Prime/ Ginrai, but it doesn't stop him being a pile of nonsense that looks like a gypsy caravan on his own. His robot mode is also dreadful.

The additions he contributes to Prime/ Ginrai aren't terribly spectacular either - a huge pair of blocky platform boots, a shiny chest plate and some utterly feeble elbow length gloves the sort of which a 1920s Flapper would wear.

There's what i assume to be an abandoned prototype figure shown in Transformers: Generations that looked a lot better than what we ultimately ended up with.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:06 pm

The shame of PM Prime is the detachable head was clearly designed to look in scale when combined with Godbomber... which is a bugger for the Western buyers (or I suppose any Japanese kids who couldn't afford the add on) as it looks comically large without the extra armour. As flawed as Godbomber is I thought it was nice (though based on the poor sales possibly suicidal) the reissue in both continents included him.

The Reverend · Post by **The Reverend** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 3:59 am

I have the Encore Sky Lynx and I like it... but that's not a mold with lots of small parts or one that's been reused a million times. Aside from the cannon in the bird's mouth being gray instead of red, its the same toy as far as I can tell.

The Reverend · Post by **The Reverend** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 4:10 am

Skyquake87 wrote:There's what i assume to be an abandoned prototype figure shown in Transformers: Generations that looked a lot better than what we ultimately ended up with.

Yes, I've seen that. It appeared they bothered to paint the thing but it just didn't make it into mass production.

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:16 pm

Devastator apparently has an entirely new mold; he sports Tomy copyrights instead of takara ones and I can't see any noticeable mold issues either.

Addl · Post by **Addl** » Mon Apr 29, 2013 1:15 am

Knightdramon wrote: Are you sure it's a powermaster prime reissue and not a Ginrai reissue? .

Nope.... Did not even know until now that there were differences :-)

That, for let's say 25 eur I would buy this additional pile of clipping parts to PM prime, but 75 for another huge brick is not worth to me.

The Reverend · Post by **The Reverend** » Mon Apr 29, 2013 4:52 am

Addl wrote:Nope.... Did not even know until now that there were differences :-)

That, for let's say 25 eur I would buy this additional pile of clipping parts to PM prime, but 75 for another huge brick is not worth to me.

Aye, most obvious difference is that Powermaster Prime has stickered-on cab windows (in vehicle mode) and the super robot mode's fists don't retract.