 Today I am addressing the issue of the future of the Decepticon Jets. As discussed on previous subpages I am more than a little concerned that in Robots in Diguise (RID) the enemy is still Predacons and not Decepticons. Well it does little good to just complain about a situation without a solution to the problem. This page focuses on a solution to the lack of decepticons in RID. Before we can get to the future of the Decepticons we have to look at the past.
In Generation 1 (G1) the Decepticons had 6 main seeker jets in their armada during the first two years. These jets were Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet. With these early jets you got a toy design that isn't likely to be seen again, plenty of die-cast metal for the fuselage of the jets. (I heard that just recently Starscream and Skywarp were reissued in Japan, hopefully they included the original die cast parts). In recent years, with the exception of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, It seems that toy companies have shyed away from using die cast metal in toys. Some of the reasons for this are pretty obvious: Cost to produce, Cost to ship heavier toys, and possible lawsuits that might arise from making toys that kids could hurt each other with if used as projectiles or bludgens.
So if it's next to impossbile for Hasbro to go as far back as to rerelease the original die cast metal seeker jets where are Decepticon jets going to come from? Let's look back to Generation2 (G2) and Machine Wars. Between these two toy lines there are at least 5 different cost effective plastic jet molds. In 1995 G2 released 3 jet molds that were used to create 6 total jets, three for the Autobots and three for the Decepticons. Machine Wars used two different molds to create four decepticon jets. It had never been uncommon for Hasbro to reuse a mold to make multiple toys. Ex: Dinobot and Grimlock from Beast Wars, Ratchet and Ironhide from G1, REV and Crosswise from RID. (Editor's note, correction: REV is the same mold as G2 Sideswipe, G2 Optimus Prime & G2 Firecracker; Crosswise is the same mold as G2 Highbeam, & G2 Bumblebee. 8/29/01)
So here we have 5 jet molds used in the last 6 years to produce Transformers toys. The jet designs include F-117A Stealth Fighter, F-15, X-30, YF-22, and YF-23. Working from the idea that Hasbro uses the same mold at least twice per toy line we are looking at the possibility of 10 jets. This leaves room to make all 6 original G1 jets but in new body designs. I think Hasbro could easily repaint these molds to reflect the color schemes of the G1 jets. This is the future I hope to see for the enemy of RID's Autobots. Easy to produce Decepticon jets using recent molds but painted to resemble the original 6 G1 seeker jets. The four remaining jets could be any of a number of G1 Decepticons, offhand I'd like to see them called Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Blitzwing, and Ratbat. Then Soundwave could be made as an aircraft carrier instead of a tape deck.
We can look forward to seeing at least the two Machine Wars jet molds in the upcoming releases from the Robots in Disguise line. They are scheduled to be released in two packs with Autobot molds from Machine Wars (Hoist & Mirage MW). These two Autobots were named Wrecker Hook and Indy Heat in the Japanese Car Robots 2000 toy line. I am sure to be putting up another subpage about these four toys when they get released in the US this Fall.
Well that about wraps it up for today's post about Decepticon Jets Past and Future. Again I'd like to say that anyone who has Machine Wars Jets or Decepticon Cyberjets from G2 up for trade please contact me via email. I would like to beat Hasbro to the punch and have a Decepticon armada to face off against my RID Autobots. Thanks for reading.
Editor's Update 8/29/01: The two Machine Wars jets that are due out shortly may in fact be pre-existing Transformers. It seems that during Beast Wars Neo in Japan (a revamp of the US Beast Wars line) the maximals fought the decepticons. (Well in Japan the heroes have always been called Cybertrons while the villians are Destrons; I use maximals here to indicate animal heroes, and decepticons to refer to vehicle enemies) Several pre-exisitng molds were used to round out the decepticon forces, amongst which were the two Machine Wars jet molds. From these two molds Dirge and Thrust were made for the Beast Wars Neo cartoon. It is very likely that these paintjobs and possibly the same names will be used for the RID2001 release. Look for further update shortly.
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