Simple enough…I want to find the original cast metal transformers and gobots. Like Optimus Prime and others - My nephew is into the transformers and I was telling him that when I was a kid I had metal transformers and he was very impressed. From a recent trip to Toys R’Us I asked the teenaged stock person if he knew where I could find them and he only said - they don’t make them in metal… :rolleyes:
So does anyone know?
You can find some not so expensive reissues in toysrus. However, they have replaced the metal with plastic, for the most part. Collector’s Binaltech models have real metal and aren’t as expensive as an original model.
Here is a faq.
Ebay, G1 or Generation One. The originals, which depending on who it is can run you a pretty sum.
I sold a bunch a couple years back on eBay. They can run pricey but you might find good deals on ones without their complete parts. Optimus Prime is still pretty cool without his trailer.
Most of the recent Japanese reissued Transformers have the original die-cast metal parts. Takara made them, and Hasbro made the American versions, just as they did in the '80s. A lot of Hasbro reissues have been available at Toys R Us stores in the last two years, but some have the original die-cast metal parts and others are replaced with plastic. If you order the more expensive Takara reissues online (from toy dealers like Big Bad Toy Store – no relation to me) or eBay, you’re going to get the most authentic '80s-style Transformers.
As for Go-Bots, they never enjoyed the two decades of loyal fans or overwhelming support for affordable reissues that Transformers did. If you’re patient, you can probably pick up original '80s Go-Bots on eBay for a song.
By the way, I think this thread might get more responses in Cafe Society. I know rjung and Bosda are Transformers fans as well, and might have something to add.
MODS - would you be as so kind as to move this to Cafe Society? Thanks a bunch!
Yeah, there are some sort of japanese ones that are metal. A local japanese toy store has the Boombox guy (Soundwave?), but he’s like $50.
Soundwave was the blue cassette recorder (kinda like a Walkman), and Blaster was the red and yellow boombox. I have an original Blaster ( http://www.geocities.com/bigbadvoodoolou/toys.html ), and I can say with certainty that he was all plastic to begin with.
Moved to CS.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
Also note that the American re-releases also have “safety” weapons, which usually translate into larger missiles that cannot be choked by a toddler. The original '80s die-cast Transformers were made safe by removing the springs from them, but kept the smaller size of the original Japanese toys.
Another good source for the original die-cast Transformers and Go-Bots toys would be toy conventions, most notably BotCon, coming later this month to Texas. You can get loose and dinged-up toys from used bins, or pay a small fortune for still-in-the-box-no-decals-ever-applied originals.
Finally, in defense of the new toys, I should point out that the modern plastic molding technologies in use today means that the stuff available now can be more poseable and intricate than the originals. I’d gladly pounce on that new Transformers: Cybertron Starscream if I could think of a way to keep my five-year-old from turning him into atomized plastic… 
Finally, note that the move from die-cast metal to plastic was primarly a cost-savings one, since die-cast metal toys are heavier and cost more to ship from overseas.
Let’s try this from start. I’m not as much of a true fan as rjung, but… I bet I have a better collection.
Currently, there are three ways to get honest to goodness metal 1984-199x Transformers (Called Generation 1, or G1, because the next series circa, uh, 1993, was called Generation 2 or G2)
A: Ebay. Says it all. Prices went down recently because of
B: Japanese reproductions. They’ve re-released a LOT of them. Prime. Megatron (Hard to get in America, as he’s a gun, but possible) Soundwave. Powermaster Prime (God Ginrai)
Most of the cars, too. Jazz, Prowl, Red Alert, Hound… Starscream, too.
C: American Reproductions. They sold so well in Japan, they sold some of them in America, too. Not all of the Japanese ones are here… Soundwave, for example. But they were at a Toys R Us near you. The problem is, the weapons were remolded for american toy laws.
There are modern cars, too. In Japan, they’re Binaltech and metal. In America, they’re Alternators and plastic.
Smokescreen as a WRX. A 12" Optimus Prime. Tracks as a 'Vette Z06. Hound as a Jeep Wrangler, Swindle as a Jeep Wrangler Safari. They’re bigger than the old ones, the size of those metal models you see. 1:12 scale.
Truthfully, plastic, while not the same, is a lot more damage resistant than metal. And some of the new ones rock as much as the old. Backgild, for example, from the new Cybertron line, is seriously kick-ass.
Oh, and Trendmasters reissued Voltron in die-cast a few years back. Probably can still get it.
So, what do you want? We’ll help you find it.
Who knows? If you’re lucky, we might just point you to a Fortress Maximus.
Oh, one last thing? Except for the autobot cars at the TRU Clearance… none of these are cheap. $30 a pop, minimum. But there are some Autobot Cars at Toys R Us on Clearance. Get there, and they’re like $10.
If your stuff is not packed up in boxes in the back of the closet, then you win by default. 
Bah. I have a BW2 Moon. Stampy is currently trying to mate with it.
I’ve still got some Cybertron street cred – I’ve got my Unicron cold cast statue and a MISB C-10 case fresh Masterpiece Edition Convoy…
Bah! Toys (especially Transformers) are no fun unless you open and pose and play with them!
Sure, but I’ve got a rampaging five-year-old who turns Transformers into atomized plastic. Makes a planet-devouring chaos-bringer seem like Miss Manners by comparison…
That’s why you do what the Transformer enthusiast in my life does - buy a mint NIB for…I don’t know, an investment & display? And one in decent condition that’s cheaper but not boxed. I don’t know that he plays with them, per say, but there are a few that are definitely not in boxes like all the rest.
All I can say is knowing that there’s quite a market for Transformers being sold to 20 & 30-somethings makes me feel better about the Barbies I collect