El Duque wrote:I don't know this to be true, but the reason Takara seems more open to fan/collector oriented items is probably because in the Asian markets TF's are marketed more to adults than children. Also I believe Hasbro has stated that adult collectors/fans only make up around 12% of their sales. Again I don't know that to be absolutely accurate, but I've been hanging around these boards for years and that's what I seem to recall.
About Takara catering to adult collectors, it's very true. Look at the Masterpiece and Encore series--these are figures were manufactured exclusively with the financially-independent adult collector in mind, since the former is too expensive for a child to get his dad to buy, and the latter appeals only to those who've been around long enough to have witnessed the 1984 Transformers craze as a child.
Culturally speaking, Japan is a planet in its own right. Machismo isn't all that valued among the Japanese--in fact, Japanese girls are far more attracted to skinny androgynous guys than muscular jock types. It's us gaijin (and anyone not of Japanese ethnicity is considered one) who take such pride in pumping iron and showing off our guns and pecs.
Before I digress any further, the Japanese have a far more childlike attitude than any other country, Asian or otherwise (the porn scene is another story altogether
). There's nothing embarrassing for Japanese "salarymen" to read manga while riding on the subway. You might not want to try that in New York...
Convotron wrote:That's my understanding, El Duque. Look at the large market for various collectible items in the Asian market, not just Japan. I compare that to my own experience here in Canada and collecting models, action figures, etc. is still a fairly niche hobby.
Quite true. Asian countries inherently have a better "tolerance" to "youngster hobbies" among more mature men than, say, in the US. The truth is that countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and even (South) Korea are heavily influenced by Japanese culture. In fact, anime and manga have been popular in those countries decades before the US even knew anything about "them violent Japanese cartoons".
In Asia, there's no "geek" stigma attached to a thirty-year-old man or woman collecting scale models or TF figures. Of course, the older (read: pre-WWII era) generation might look at such hobbies in disdain, but younger Asians are far more accepting of it.
In Japan, married men and/or women who assemble model kits or collect scale models (but not anime PVC figs, mind you) are a fairly common sight. To them it's just another hobby.
To my knowledge, Asians don't have a local word for geek, and even the idea of it is imported from American culture.
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), I am now wondering if that release will include new stickers that those of us who purchased the original City Commander may be missing out on??
Oh man what is legal ain't moral or moral ain't not necessarily legal..........
). To them animation is just another medium of entertainment. The rest of the world, however, seems to be of the idea that anything animated has to be for children. 
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