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It says manufactured under their license = Hasbro manufactures them and TOMY allows them to.

Just stop already. You don't even know what you're talking about. We already established that when you claimed that Hasbro and Takara used to be one company and then split into two.

GuyIncognito wrote:Just stop already. You don't even know what you're talking about.

And you do, right? I don't see you defending yourself or adding anything valuable to this conversation at all. Well done.

He's right about the G1 Transformers being Japan's molds, but not all were from Takara-TOMY. For example, Jetfire was a mold from the Macross line by Takatoku Toys.

PrymeStriker wrote:He's right about the G1 Transformers being Japan's molds, but not all were from Takara-TOMY. For example, Jetfire was a mold from the Macross line by Takatoku Toys.

That's true, my bad. Jetfire/Skyfire was an oddball.

Even though Hasbro and TakaraTomy sell mostly the same products, just in different areas, trust me, they have always been two separate companies. The two do co-operate on a very close level, like for toy design and sharing manufacturing facilities, but them's the brakes

The reason why both companies have their marks on the toys is due to US copyright law: on the first toys based on Microman and Diaclone which Takara designed alone, Hasbro was the licensee, viewed by law as the representative of Takara in the USA, thus had to put its mark on the molds. That fact came in handy in a court case with a Knock-Off company if you must know. Nowadays it's mainly Hasbro designing the toys and TakaraTomy doing the producing and its own thing in Japan.

I'm not sure how the copyright marking works for Bandai and Takatoku Toys molds (Deluxe Insecticons, Deluxe Autobots and Jetfire), can anybody enlighten me on that?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I'm not sure how the copyright marking works for Bandai and Takatoku Toys molds (Deluxe Insecticons, Deluxe Autobots and Jetfire), can anybody enlighten me on that?

That's a very good question. I'm curious myself actually.

I'm not sure how it works now, but if you look at Beast Wars NEO and to a lesser degree Beast Wars II, Takara produced a slew of completely new molds, most of which never saw release in the US save a few which found their way into later lines as repaints. Hasbro doesn't design everything that Takara does, but I suspect that with the current lines (Prime and Generations) that Hasbro is behind most of it.

Microchange, Microman and Diaclone were the main lines used for G1 I think, and of course Jetfire from Bandai (it was Bandai, right?).

xyl360 wrote: Microchange, Microman and Diaclone were the main lines used for G1 I think, and of course Jetfire from Bandai (it was Bandai, right?).

I think you're right, but can't be sure. But, you made me think of something else, remember G1 Whirl? Well I know that he was definitely a Bandai product and looked completely different from other molds, as did Jetfire/Skyfire. I came across the box not too long ago and was surprised to see Bandai's name on it. I forgot that Bandai made a few TF figures. Bandai was making Gobots, then Tonka migrated them to the U.S., and then Hasbro bought them and killed that line. Anyway, Hasbro probably outsourced a few figures to other companies for whatever reason, but the ones that Bandai produced resemble Gundam figures.

xyl360 wrote:and of course Jetfire from Bandai (it was Bandai, right?).

It was Takatoku Toys. Bandai got a hold of the company before they went bankrupt and licensed him to Hasbro.

slimjim0 wrote:remember G1 Whirl? Well I know that he was definitely a Bandai product and looked completely different from other molds,

Whirl and Roadbuster were from Takatoku Toys' Dorvack line. Again, Bandai got a hold of them and subsequently gave them to Hasbro.

Bandai was making Gobots, then Tonka migrated them to the U.S.,

Bandai was making Machine Robo. Tonka named them GoBots.