A First-Ever Transformers G1 Optimus Prime Figure Is Already a Grail, But a Pepsi Sticker Just Made This One Way More Valuable
There are few toy lines as iconic as Hasbro’s Transformers. Back in 1984, when other toy manufacturers offered additional points of articulation and varied accessories, Transformers allowed you to turn a robot into a vehicle, and vice-versa. It’s no wonder that they rank among the most popular toys even today. Of course, the credit actually goes to the Japanese company Takara, who launched the toy line in 1980 as Diaclone. We only got Transformers as a result of a partnership with Hasbro to bring the toys to the US. Among Diaclone’s lineup was a massive semi-truck called Battle Convoy, which Hasbro rebranded into the beloved leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime.
The first official Hasbro Optimus figure was the Generation 1 Optimus Prime, which is now considered a Holy Grail among vintage toy collectors. Heritage Auctions is about to put an AFA 80+ graded version of this figure up for auction on August 25th, and, much like the Autobots, you can expect the bids to roll out in full force. However, this particular figure is a bit more special. Not only does it come with it’s original shipping box, but it also features a promotional Pepsi sticker on its packaging, making it even rarer. It was part of a limited-time mail-away promotional activity between the beverage brand and Hasbro which included a Pepsi sticker in the box that you could paste on Optimus Prime’s trailer. It was just a cool marketing idea at the time, but a previous Hasbro G1 Optimus Prime figure with the sticker recently saw an asking price of $74,500 on eBay.
G1 Optimus Prime Figure With Mail-In Pepsi Sticker Is About To Go Up For Auction
Other G1 Optimus Prime figures haven’t really got such high valuations on eBay, ranging between $300 to $4,000, depending on their condition and grading. So why has a Pepsi sticker made this figure so much more valuable? Well, it’s all thanks to how the collector’s market works. No matter how rare an item may be, a limited-time promotion or a special edition sticker makes it even more rare. And, as you my have figured out, the rarer an item, the higher its value. There’s really no other difference between this figure and a regular G1 Optimus Prime besides that sticker, and most collectors won’t even open up the packaging to use it. But the simple fact that it’s there, means it’s more valuable than the regular version.
That’s not to say that a regular G1 Optimus Prime isn’t valuable. Since it was known as Battle Convoy during the Diaclone days, it’s essentially the first Optimus Prime figure ever released. It paved the way for the character and the entire Transformers line in the West, eventually leading to modern toy wonders like Robosen’s auto-converting Transformers and the blockbuster movie franchise. From what my nephew tells me, Optimus and the Transformers are still immensely popular among today’s kids, thanks to recent animated adaptations, and that it’s one of the few pop-culture IPs I can actually talk to him about. It all started with Takara and Hasbro’s partnership for the G1 Transformers line, out of which we got this highly coveted Pepsi sticker version of Optimus Prime. You can bet its bid price will skyrocket faster than Optimus can transform.
