Gang-molding

Three sets of the same gang-molded toys. The smoky-clear parts in the bottom row are all lavender in the middle row, and all black in the top row. See the pattern of consistent plastic-color changes from row to row across all the toys in each set? This is gang-molding in action. Take note that the rightmost column uses paint applications to drastically change the car panel colors, but the plastic below still conforms to the pattern. (Not shown: The eighty-six other versions of these molds.)

Gang-molding is the practice of using the same plastic mold to simultaneously manufacture different parts for different toys.

Multiple large Transformers toys are not typically gang-molded; the procedure is normally used either for a single large toy and a smaller one that is associated with it, such as a Headmaster and its head component or a Bulk and its partner Mini-Con, or for several smaller toys, such as a Mini-Con team. Sometimes gang-molded toys are sold together, as in these cases, but there have been instances of toys that were sold separately having parts from the same molds, such as the Axelerators Skram and Windbreaker, or either set of Go-Bots molds.

In most cases, producing one of several toys that are gang-molded together will automatically result in some or all of the parts for the other toys being produced as well. This is why all the toys in certain types of groups tend to get redecoed at about the same time--making a toy from Armada Firebot's mold, such as Anti-Blaze, will also create similarly colored versions of Makeshift and Prowl (in Anti-Blaze's case, Scythe and Checkpoint respectively).

Not all toys that are packaged together are gang-molded. The three members of the Clear Skies Mini-Con Team, for example, are molded independently of each other.

In some rare instances, when Hasbro and Takara plan a retool of a toy even before starting production of the original version, they may also cast the original parts and the new parts from the same mold. The usused parts will the be dumped or recycled. One of the most well-known examples of this procedure is Cybertron Scrapmetal, whose head was produced on the same sprue as the Cobybot head, even though the latter was originally only used by Takara.

Notable examples of gang-molding

• The Generation 1 Headmasters and their Nebulan partners
• The Generation 1 Double Targetmasters' Nebulan partners/guns (gang-molded in groups of three, one from each toy per faction)
• The Generation 1 Pretender Beasts' inner robots (gang-molded in pairs, per faction)
• The Generation 1 Small Pretenders figures' inner robots (gang-molded in groups of three, per faction)
• The Generation 1 Pretender Monsters' inner robots (gang-molded across the whole group of six)
• The Generation 1 Micromaster patrols (gang-molded in pairs, two sets per patrol of four)
• Each of the Generation 1 Micromaster Transports (Micromaster figures and their respective trailers)
• The Generation 1 Micromaster Combiner Squads (gang-molded in groups of six, the whole squad)
• All the Generation 1 Action Master figures with the exception of Optimus Prime (gang-molded in pairs, including those that came with vehicles) and the single pack Action Masters' weapons and accessories/partners (gang-molded in groups of six, including the six European market exclusives)
• Generation 2 Rotor Force (gang-molded in pairs)
• The original six Generation 2 Go-Bots (gang-molded across the whole group of six)
• The originally unreleased second batch of Generation 2 Go-Bots (gang-molded across the whole group of six, although some of the molds got damaged so two of the toys would end up unusuable when the other four eventually got released for Robots in Disguise)
• The Generation 2 Axelerators (gang-molded in pairs)
• The Armada, Energon and Cybertron Mini-Con teams (gang-molded in groups of three, the whole team)
• The Armada bulks and their respective Mini-Con partners
• Cybertron Scrapmetal's head and the Coby's exclusive Rumble head.

See Also

• Redeco