[Devilbat]

I assume you all remember the fairly recent re-release of the TRU Commemorative Series G1 Sideswipe and Rodimus Prime. It was so unexpected and inexplicable, and so very awesome. Well, I recently saw where a re-release of the Commemorative Optimus Prime was available on bigbadtoystore.com. I got one, and it came today. It's so great to have another shot at it. The one I had before was one I had bought at a toy show years ago second-hand, and even then it had been opened, although the ties hadn't been removed and the labels hadn't been applied. I sold it, and I always regretted getting rid of it. I know my Encore version is superior, but I love the retro packaging with English text, although I don't remember the plastic window being so short; you can only see roughly half of Prime's cab, and I don't recall it being like that...

Anyway, I'm estatic about the re-releases, but I'm still confused. There's never any warning; they just tend to show up available from time to time out-of-the-blue online. And like the other re-releases, I checked the date on the box to make sure it wasn't just old stock. The date printed on the box says 2012, so it is indeed a brand-new re-release. Can anyone shed some light on this weird and wonderful phenomenon? Oh please Hasbro...please please PLEASE re-release the others, especially Powermaster Prime!! (lol)

[Nguyen_Dragon]

Do these have the short smoke stacks?...

[Devilbat]

Yes, it seems to be identical to the 1998(?) release, only it has 2012 printed on the box. It's weird. But I'm not complaining mind you...

[jedimaster-c]

I got the commemorative prime back in 02 same with Ultra Magnus.Both are cool figures.

[Devilbat]

Yes, I agree...I have the Ultra Magnus too, but he's loose. I had ordered him from tfsource.com, and usually their stuff is dead-mint. However, the box my Ultra Magnus came in was not, so I decided to just open it. It is definitely a blast from the past, except for those long shoulder missiles.

[KNEEL_b4_ZOD]

I didn't realize they re-released Prime, I'm going to have to snag one of those to keep MISB. I missed out on the Commerative series release of Prime in 02, but have loose complete Prime in pretty great shape, it'd be nice to have a MISB commerative series Prime to sit on the shelf next to him.

[Devilbat]

Yes...as far as I know bigbadtoystore.com still has him. I'm always checking them out to see what they have. Back in the summer I got on there one day, and there it was, just out of the blue, up for preorder inexplicably, no warning or anything from the normal news outlets as far as I could tell. I'm like you in that I mainly wanted one to display in the cool packaging.

[FUGAYZIE]

i had the takara re issue #0 convoy whic was so bad ass. but after a while i thought to my self..."all's i ever do is look at this sitting in its box" so i sold it. sometimes i regret it, but not really. i still have my original OP from the 80's and he's still in pretty good shape. i thought about getting this one too, but i just got the MP Prime from TRU and that definitelly makes a better display.

[Nguyen_Dragon]

It looks like more is on the way... Astrotrain, Powermaster OP with Apex Armor and Ultra Magnus is next...

[Devilbat]

Aw yeah baby!! Powermaster Prime!! I've been waiting on that one...

[Nguyen_Dragon]

http://tformers.com/...19045/news.html

Good news for Ultra Magnus fans... This version will have the normal smokestacks and missiles... I hope OP will get the same treatment...

[Devilbat]

Y'know, I didn't notice when I got my Prime. I put it directly in storage. I need to drag it back out and see if it has the long 'stacks...