Mkall wrote:harvester wrote:Sledge wrote:Takara and Hasbro are seperate companies.
Well isn't Hasbro pretty much just the American distributor? The way that I thought it was laid out was that Takara [before Tomy], made the figs and owns the rights to the figs and Hasbro is the American toy company that helps distribute the toyline here and for the figs that came after G1, they made their own "cost-effective" releases of them [less paint apps, no chrome, etc].
So these Henkei figures are first produced by and for Takara/Tomy and then Hasbro gets the figs [minus paint apps] and does what they want with them. Is this roughly correct?
[PS/sidenote/... the movie line was pretty much the first hasbro designed figs right?]
1) Hasbro owns the Transformer licenses, molds etc. If anything TakaraTomy are the Japanese distributors. They can't do anything without Hasbro's approval. They're made in TomyTakara's factories though, cheaper labour over there and all that stuff.
2) The Movie TFs were designed by Dreamworks and their companies. Hasbro provided consultation and then made molds based on the figures.
3) Japanese Transformers are aimed at collectors, not kids like Hasbro's Transformers are. That's why Henkei has better, or at least more detailed, paint apps and cost more money.
Correct.
There seems to be this perception that Hasbro is like a second-string quarterback and that Takara is the star of the team.
Hasbro owns Transformers lock stock and barrel. The misperceptions surrounding the interactions of the two companies are widespread.
Hasbro does not make 'cost-effective' versions of the toys. Most times, they are the originator of a release and Takara, later, puts out a slightly different version of the same thing. In doing it this way, Takara is able to make "Show Accurate" versions because they don't have to go into production until the animation is complete. Hasbro and Takara are also then able to 'game' collectors by releasing a superior 'follow up' version of the same Hasbro toy, that many like myself, will buy again.