Oct 09 2008
Hasbro Should Retool Every Transformers Repaint Figure
I was taking a photo of “Armada Airazor” for my daily Flickr posts, when it occurred to me how rare a figure like this is. This version of Airazor was a repaint of “Transmetal Airrazor” from the “Beast Wars” line, only the mold had been retooled slightly, adding two posts to allow Mini-cons to attach to the wings. Hasbro is well known for repainting figures from older toy lines to include them in the current line, but only rarely is there a change made in the mold itself.
Mold changes (specifically, head changes) are what make Botcon exclusive figures so great. They’re not just repaints, as something extra has been added. Previous examples of this were relegated to the Takara series, such as “Runamuck” and “Longrack” in their “Galaxy Force” line (although these were released in the US later). So the few retools that showed up in the Armada line were a big deal at the time. I like a good repaint, but I will hunt down a retool until it is mine (oh, yes).
The point was to make old Beast Wars figures work with the Mini-con gimmick. All Armada toys had Mini-cons, and it was a good choice to pack a repainted Mini-con in with the figure. But what about figures from other previous lines? “Robots in Disguise” was full of potential retool candidates. The “Rail Racer” gestalt absolutely begs for Mini-cons on its arms and shoulders. And how cool would it be to load half a dozen Mini-cons on “Fire Convoy“? Although Fire Convoy was repainted in yellow later, no retooling was done.
Speaking of Robots in Disguise, why not retool the “Spy Changers” to allow for a Mini-con port? These things, originally released as Go-Bots in the G2 line, were already repainted to death by the time Armada came out. But a simple Mini-con port on the underside of the vehicle mode could have sparked new life into them. They wouldn’t fit in exactly with the rest of the Mini-cons, but they would look good combined with other Robots in Disguise retools, such as the above-mentioned Fire Convoy.
Although new molds are nice, if Hasbro intends to flesh out future toy lines with older figures, it would be preferable to see more retooling. We’re already seeing this in the Animated line with the “Cliffjumper” repaint of Bumblebee (he’s got a new head), so I applaud them for this. But if older figures start popping up in, say, the “Universe” line (cough, Blaster, cough), then some new parts would be appreciated. Change the head, or tack on a Mini-con post or two. People would hate repaints less, I’m sure.
Meta-Tags:
Armada, Beast Wars, Cybertron, Hasbro, Robots In Disguise, Transformers, Universe
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