Images have been released of the G1 reissue versions of Shrapnel and Skywarp, both in their animated cartoon color schemes.

https://news.tfw2005.com/2023/07/12/transformers-retro-the-transformers-the-movie-shrapnel-skywarp-official-stock-images-489444

Shrapnel appears to use metallic silver paint for his antennae (rather than slate grey, which might have been closer to the animation colors), has grey plastic front insect legs, wheels painted to match the color of the legs they are attached to (silver and purple instead of black), and he's got a purple gun. He comes with six energon cube accessories, at least one or two of which can presumably fit into his chest (the canopy is opaque yellow this time). I dislike that his antennae color doesn't match his bug leg colors, and I hope it's just an early render that's not accurate to the final product, or something.

He's going to sell for $29.99, which seems insane for such a tiny toy. Would you pay thirty bucks a pop if the Constructicons were sold separately? Or the Scramble City mini-vehicles? That's a huge ask. I know being made of die-cast metal means he's more expensive to produce, but geez. It's not like there was a lot of money recently poured into the development of the mold. Hasbro is basically printing their own money, here.

I wonder how many people will buy multiples of the Insecticons to get that huge Insecticon clone army they always wanted.

Skywarp is pretty much jet black (ha, ha), which is not what I was hoping to see. He's colored a very dark color in animation in most episodes, and it's hard to discern the pen lines used to draw him. So, while a black plastic color isn't wholly disingenuous, I was honestly hoping to see a dark charcoal grey color instead, if only to differentiate him a bit from previous releases.

But, he's got a Megatron gun, like the other retro jets (and unlike Thundercracker, Skywarp has canonically carried Megatron in gun mode). His arm cannons are purple in their entirety, and the shade of purple used for him appears at first blush to be lighter, and a bit bluer, than the 1984 release. Naturally, he's got all the same paint applications as Starscream and Thundercracker, and he'll have no stickers. It will honestly be really cool to have cartoon versions of all three jets on my display shelf. I customized a Starscream into his cartoon colors many years ago, but I didn't have the heart to paint my original Skywarp or Thundercracker because they were unbroken and in great shape.

Skywarp will sell for $34.97, which is pretty much in line with what they sold Starscream and Thundercracker for. What I am seeing online is that these will be made available for preorder for the Walmart Collector Con on July 18, 2023, with an expected release date October 3, 2023.

Direct links to the Walmart.com pages:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers-Toys-Retro-G1-Shrapnel-Converting-Action-Figure-5-5/3740565663

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers-Toys-Retro-G1-Skywarp-Converting-Action-Figure-5-5/3668943002

Zob (this is how they get me to buy G1 toys I already have, apparently)

I guess I'll get these because I've bought all the others in this series
and I'm a sucker for G1. But these are the most pointless recolors yet.

I really wish they would do Kup and Rodimus Prime, as I know those molds
still exist. I would love a new head for Rodimus, but I guess that will
never happen, as they didn't even do that for Perceptor.

On Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 7:59:04 PM UTC+1, Travoltron wrote:
> I guess I'll get these because I've bought all the others in this series
> and I'm a sucker for G1. But these are the most pointless recolors yet.
>
> I really wish they would do Kup and Rodimus Prime, as I know those molds
> still exist. I would love a new head for Rodimus, but I guess that will
> never happen, as they didn't even do that for Perceptor.

Rodimus Prime is a grail of mine, and I would be the Futurama take-my-money meme if they ever did a reissue. Hasbro most recently released him in 2012 for Asian markets, per TFWiki, so the mold has a decent shot of still existing. I do wonder if the demand is there.

On Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 12:59:04 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> I guess I'll get these because I've bought all the others in this series
> and I'm a sucker for G1. But these are the most pointless recolors yet.

Since they're marketing this series as a celebration of The Transformers: the Movie, they could theoretically put just about any toys from 1984-86 in there and have an on-screen justification (except for most of the 1985 Autobot Cars and Mini Autobots). Something tells me they might be saving a reissue of Optimus Prime in movie colors for the 40th anniversary. I would honestly buy the hell out of a G1 Optimus Prime in cartoon colors. (I know Takara did one a while back, but that was before I had the disposable income to import Japanese toys.)

So, yes, pointless in some ways, but I'm still enjoying them. (They really need to get on the ball and restore the old molds for the G1 Dinobots, because I would buy the hell out of cartoon-colored versions of those, too. It would be worth the expenditure. Think about it. They could also sell them in the original G1 toy colors plus a couple of G2 color schemes each. That's at least four color schemes right there.)

> I really wish they would do Kup and Rodimus Prime, as I know those molds
> still exist. I would love a new head for Rodimus, but I guess that will
> never happen, as they didn't even do that for Perceptor.

Kup NEEDS to happen. It's such an obvious thing to do. I was always surprised Takara never did an anime version, since it seems like such a low-hanging fruit. I'm a little less excited about Rodimus Prime, since he got such an objectively awful G1 toy, but I'd buy it. I wouldn't count on getting a head remold, though.

Years ago, I had a spare Rodimus toy I was always planning to paint into his cartoon colors. The only thing stopping me was that he was missing the spoiler, and I could never find an extra spoiler on eBay for a decent price. But, I had the old stickers stripped off and he was all ready to go. I was sad that I never got around to him.

Zob (wouldn't hate a cartoon Soundwave, either)

On Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 5:58:07 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 12:59:04 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:
>
> > I guess I'll get these because I've bought all the others in this series
> > and I'm a sucker for G1. But these are the most pointless recolors yet.
> Since they're marketing this series as a celebration of The Transformers: the Movie, they could theoretically put just about any toys from 1984-86 in there and have an on-screen justification (except for most of the 1985 Autobot Cars and Mini Autobots). Something tells me they might be saving a reissue of Optimus Prime in movie colors for the 40th anniversary. I would honestly buy the hell out of a G1 Optimus Prime in cartoon colors. (I know Takara did one a while back, but that was before I had the disposable income to import Japanese toys.)
>
> So, yes, pointless in some ways, but I'm still enjoying them. (They really need to get on the ball and restore the old molds for the G1 Dinobots, because I would buy the hell out of cartoon-colored versions of those, too. It would be worth the expenditure. Think about it. They could also sell them in the original G1 toy colors plus a couple of G2 color schemes each. That's at least four color schemes right there.)
> > I really wish they would do Kup and Rodimus Prime, as I know those molds
> > still exist. I would love a new head for Rodimus, but I guess that will
> > never happen, as they didn't even do that for Perceptor.
> Kup NEEDS to happen. It's such an obvious thing to do. I was always surprised Takara never did an anime version, since it seems like such a low-hanging fruit. I'm a little less excited about Rodimus Prime, since he got such an objectively awful G1 toy, but I'd buy it. I wouldn't count on getting a head remold, though.
>
> Years ago, I had a spare Rodimus toy I was always planning to paint into his cartoon colors. The only thing stopping me was that he was missing the spoiler, and I could never find an extra spoiler on eBay for a decent price.. But, I had the old stickers stripped off and he was all ready to go. I was sad that I never got around to him.
>
>
> Zob (wouldn't hate a cartoon Soundwave, either)

Just wrote up a whole post about finding G1 retro Hound this week, and it got eaten. Gah.

Are these toys objectively better or worse than their original versions in terms of materials, build, and quality? Have they been similarly impacted by cost-cutting measures? I’m just curious.

Like others here, I love them, and will keep buying them.

JB