The Energon Pub

In another post, in response to report of new ROTF toys, First Aid wrote:

Oh

my

Primus...


There is not a bad figure in the entire group. That movie-ized version of Lockdown is AWESOME! PLEASE PLEASE tell me these are going to be released in the US...I still don't have a full time job and as such have no money whatsoever...can't afford more than 2 or 3 imports a year.

I'm a bit puzzled by this. Every time there is a Takara toy, such as Buster Prime, don't they always eventually go to your country? I mean, all my friends in the US getting some new toy released by Takara... isn't it a given? Has there ever been a toy that didn't eventually make its way to the States? (I mean actual toy, not differences between Takara and Hasbro like paintjob)

BC27

Short answer? No we don't get everything. There are many examples of this. I'm sure someone with more time and patience will provide a list. Jelze still kicking around these parts?

Thats a big question and it depends entirely on hoe far into the history of the Brand you want to delve....

Things have been a lot more consolidated over the past few years and when you say "toys", I'm going to assume you mean "molds".

G1 saw a massive amount of European exclusives (belive me, we are paying for it now!) from about 1990, thats without mentioning things such as Star Saber and others from the Japanese only Victory line.

Beast Wars II & Beast Wars Neo, both had Japan only toylines with their own unique figures. I must admit that the Beast Era is a massive gap in my knowledge and I'm sure someone here could fill you in better than I could. At least one mold as was ported over and became the Traget exclusive Universe Nemesis Prime, but this wasn't until 2004.

As recently as Energon, the toys differed on at least one occasion, with both Hasbro and Takara releasing a different version of Kicker, although not strictly a Transformer

This is all purely off the top of my head, to list them all would be a BIG job, hopefully the links I've given you should be a good starter, if you need any more info let us know.

Actually I can think of a couple recent figures that never came over, the Trans-scanners:

Bumblebee: http://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Trans-Scanning-Bumblebee-Import/dp/B0012HMT36

Optimus Prime: http://www.amazon.com/Transformers-TS-01-Scanning-Optimus-Figure/dp/B00140TTE8/ref=pd_bxgy_t_img_b

http://www.tfu.info/2008/Cybertron/TSOptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm

Along with Alternity & The Disney Label.

There's actually quite a lot of stuff when you start to think about it!

Wow... okay thanks guys. Because every time in 2007 I heard of a "Target exclusive" people always managed to get them somehow. Yes by toys I mean "molds". It seems strange not to make more money by exporting available goods that will sell and make money. But I guess living in Singapore has pampered us since we get almost anything that comes out of Takara (except that 2007 Wreckage repaint - Bludgeon, which I really wanted but never saw here)

I'm still kicking, or hopping around, Flux. I'm just not posting as often anymore

But yeah, even though Hasbro and TakaraTomy have a partnership with the Transformers brand, they're still separate companies with each their own focus and territory with the brand. Japan has a really saturated market for toy robots, and kids seem to favor them with pilots instead of them being sentient. As such, TakaraTomy focuses more on Collectors like us with the line, while Hasbro focuses on the kids who'll buy into anything that's a fad.

Ever since G1 there have been figures that never made it into Japan (mold copyright reasons), and vice-versa. I could give a whole list, but that would be way too long Overall, Japan lucks out with the molds. As a rule of thumb: only the toys featured in the shows got released.

Bonecrusher27 wrote:In another post, in response to report of new ROTF toys, First Aid wrote:

Oh

my

Primus...


There is not a bad figure in the entire group. That movie-ized version of Lockdown is AWESOME! PLEASE PLEASE tell me these are going to be released in the US...I still don't have a full time job and as such have no money whatsoever...can't afford more than 2 or 3 imports a year.

I'm a bit puzzled by this. Every time there is a Takara toy, such as Buster Prime, don't they always eventually go to your country? I mean, all my friends in the US getting some new toy released by Takara... isn't it a given? Has there ever been a toy that didn't eventually make its way to the States? (I mean actual toy, not differences between Takara and Hasbro like paintjob)

BC27

Well, main line stuff, more yes than no. But there's lots of things we don't get. Most of the Japanese reissues, the Alternity line, the "Labels" line.

I suspect we'll see Buster Prime as "Premium Optimus Prime", but I may be wrong. we really haven't had any Transformer toy announcements lately.

We never saw Black Arcee. Takara Exclusives usually stay in the East. It's just how things are.

It's always been worse here in Ireland.

When I was a kid, there was loads of G1 TF's that we never got like Blaster and his tapes, Ratbat, Overkill, Beast Box, Squawktalk, Slugfest, Swoop, Trypticon, Sky Lynx, the Predacons, Pretender Monsters, Deluxe Insecticons, Shockwave, Fortress Maximus, Perceptor, some of the Pretenders like Bugly and Sky High, certain Actionmasters. Nothing like childhood disappointment to build a grudge.

Only found out about the Japanese exclusives like Stepper, Black Zarak and Liozack in the last few years.

Even more recently, we never got Robotmasters (officially, picked up a few really nice oversized KO's)or the large cool Titaniums. No we get the crap like Fast Action Battlers and Robot Heroes (the very poor man's Actionmasters). What I wouldn't give to walk into a shop and see some Titanium Seekers or Movie Bludgeon.

Ebay is a nice idea but the postage is a pain in the aft. In fact after years of using it, the last purchase I bought from America had an unexpected customs charge which means I'm wary of buying anything from there now.

I'll be shocked if we don't get Buster Prime eventually. Either in a Premium or for the next movie.