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Takara/Tomy does a way better job on their paint applications than Hasbro.

Definitely, but they also cost a butt load more, which is unfortunate.

I'd like to plead the other side of this about Hasbro versus Takara. While I like what Takara attempts to do, I find myself often being very frustrated with Takara's products over Hasbro. Most Hasbro products I can return if there is a problem. Takara Tomy products are another beast to deal with ... so paint chippings, paint flaking off while transforming these toys, paint scratches ... they're a large frustration when dealing with these products. Yah, they might look pretty. But what good does that do when you transform them and paint is coming off of them. I've had this gripe about Takara's products since Binaltech and I feel like the Hasbro figures are holding up better over time.

Agreed, my United gold bumblebee is case in point. He came out of the blister with gouges through the nice metallic paint because of where his shin panels sit on the feet. It means in vehicle mode you have a horiffic scratch through the front of the bonnet. They could have at least packaged him in vehicle mode.

Hasbro megatron looks better mainly for for origin look evey other bot takra has the win I don't buy legends don't bother much

dragons wrote:Hasbro megatron looks better mainly for for origin look evey other bot takra has the win I don't buy legends don't bother much

Hasbro Starscream also looks better since his deco matches the design that his toy was based on, whereas Takara's goes the uncreative route of just recycling the old slavish G1 deco.

Honestly, I've never seen something made exclusive to Takara/Tomy that I just had to have. Same goes for these. The paint looks nice but really, but not for me. Which is what is usually the case. I've rarely seen anything exclusive to Japan that I thought I just HAD to have. I'm just not on the Takara/Tomy is better than Hasbro boat. While I see the paint apps are better, they are also not toys really. If the stickers come off and the paint chips for the prices they charge I don't want them. Of course, theses are geared towards the collectors market I'm guessing so that is a lot of it.

Optimizzy wrote:Honestly, I've never seen something made exclusive to Takara/Tomy that I just had to have. Same goes for these. The paint looks nice but really, but not for me. Which is what is usually the case. I've rarely seen anything exclusive to Japan that I thought I just HAD to have. I'm just not on the Takara/Tomy is better than Hasbro boat. While I see the paint apps are better, they are also not toys really. If the stickers come off and the paint chips for the prices they charge I don't want them. Of course, theses are geared towards the collectors market I'm guessing so that is a lot of it.

I guess, in this case, it would mostly depend on what sort of things you feel are must haves. We all have our differing views about "must haves", so what sort of things do you see as a must have?

Why is it that there are no preoders for these

I've never picked up any if the takara variants since they're so much more expensive. But I'm trying to patiently wait for their variant on Skids. I think with what he's going for on eBay the Takara version will end up being cheaper and there's been no word on if there will be more of that wave coming.

LordTwann wrote:I've never picked up any if the takara variants since they're so much more expensive. But I'm trying to patiently wait for their variant on Skids. I think with what he's going for on eBay the Takara version will end up being cheaper and there's been no word on if there will be more of that wave coming.

If they ever do release Skids, that is. Thus far, the Japanese Generations lineup has gone from Sandstorm to Waspinator to Rhinox to the Mini-Con Assault Team to Armada Starscream, skipping over a bunch of figures Hasbro released and this isn't the first time this has happened (Takara skipped the FOC Wreckers, for instance).

I know, it stinks. But I can hope. Otherwise I just have to hope we get lucky and he ends up like Blaster and Grimlock last year and the finally put enough out in July/August.

The Seibertron.com camera has been busy at work, again, this time capturing some Japanese Generations goodness! These galleries feature Takara Tomy's War For Cybertron Soundwave, plus Fall Of Cybertron Blaster, Soundblaster and Soundwave, plus all of their Data Disc companions!

As always, we provide comparison pictures between the various US/Japanese versions, so you can see which one is right for you. The pictures below are your gateway to the full galleries, you can click on any under each heading to be taken to that figure's gallery.

So, without further ado, click away!

Transformers United Soundwave Cybertron Mode






Generations Soundwave






Generations Soundblaster






Generations Blaster






Generations Laserbeak




Generations Buzzsaw




Generations Rumble






Generations Frenzy




Generations Ratbat




Generations Ravage




Generations Steeljaw




Generations Rewind






Generations Eject




Generations Ramhorn




Generations Sunder



Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!

Man, I didn't know the japanese Soundwave looked so cool. I guess I'm happy with mine but he still looks real nice.

i have the first deluxe FOC soundwave. the paint job on the takara version is TO DIE for. i would recommend him to anyone. even at ebay prices, for people who dont even like soundwave, or dont even know what a transformer is.

however i wasnt aware how nice takaras voyager versions were. im just not a fan of the voyager mold, its just to big. and i really do give them props for attempting on the data discs, but ultimately they were a fail.

We have some more high quality toy galleries for you today, here at Seibertron.com! The latest addition sees Generations back in fashion, with two figures which are exclusive to BicCamera and Kojima stores in Japan - take a look at Fireblast Grimlock, a red and yellow redeco with green highlights of its Generations Voyager counterpart (and an homage to the Transformers Animated Fireblast Grimlock), and Thundercracker, a mostly blue repaint with metallic finishes of the Generations Deluxe Starscream mold. As always, click on any of the images below for the full galleries!


Transformers Generations Fireblast Grimlock




















Transformers Generations Thundercracker

Fireblast Grimlock is also a homage to Super Link Dinobot Magma-Type, especially in Dino Mode.

Is it wrong I find the Animated figure the most attractive out of all those pictured?

I just can't help but walk away from a gallery of a Takara Transformer thinking "Hasbro, you cheap bastards!" Happens almost every single time. That Thundercracker looks amazing. I would love to get an entire Seeker set from Takara but I just can't stand what they did to Skywarp. 'Scream and T-Cracker look amazing but I'm not thrilled with 'Warp so the set would just bug me. While I may covet this version of Thundercracker, it isn't so far removed from the version I have that I can't live with mine but I do have to applaud this one. It's amazing.

T-Macksimus wrote:I just can't help but walk away from a gallery of a Takara Transformer thinking "Hasbro, you cheap bastards!" Happens almost every single time. That Thundercracker looks amazing. I would love to get an entire Seeker set from Takara but I just can't stand what they did to Skywarp. 'Scream and T-Cracker look amazing but I'm not thrilled with 'Warp so the set would just bug me. While I may covet this version of Thundercracker, it isn't so far removed from the version I have that I can't live with mine but I do have to applaud this one. It's amazing.

While Takara Tomy has done some nice variations with Transformers than the Hasbro counterparts, I find myself preferring the Hasbro versions usually ... probably mostly because of cost. I own most Takara Transformers products that have been released since 2006. I find that the quality control problems that people experience with Hasbro's Transformers products happen just as often, if not more due to extra paint apps, with Takara products. There are a few exceptions from time-to-time on both sides of the fence, but when cost is taken into consideration, Hasbro usually wins hands down with me.

I like that Grimlock; I really do. I like the homages to both the Animated and Superlink figure, but it doesn't have a place in my collection.

After avoiding purchasing Takara-Tomy releases for years, for many of the same reasons others have said (too costly to justify the small differences), I've been slowly amassing quite a collection of modern Transformers product from Japan now. I first made an exception earlier this year, after putting up with Classics Megatron since 2007, by getting United Voyager Megatron for my Classics display. I rationalized that the difference in deco was significant enough and it was important to me to finally have a gun altmode G1 Megatron with the correct colors for my Classics display. Then...I decided to order the Seeker Aces and Elites sets. They are fantastic, very screen accurate, and give my Classics seekers some nice internal consistency with their paint layouts. Now, I've got both Autobot Specialists and the Decepticon Specialists three-packs on preorder. I also picked up a United Scourge to make him more distinguished from his Sweeps clones on my shelf (who will remain the Hasbro versions, of course). I've got a whole wishlist now of Takara-Tomy takes on characters I already have from Hasbro just for the sake of better G1/show accuracy. For the longest time, I convinced myself it was alright that some of my figures were more "toy accurate" than screen accurate, or simply homaged their G1 looks, in keeping with the "Classics" mission statement of modern updates instead of slavish G1 recreations, but now, I can't help but go for the screen accuracy that Takara-Tomy usually gives us. I will agree that paint chipping can be a problem with some figures. My solution so far as been to invest in "Sharpie" permant ink-paint pens to fill in some blemishes on figures. I had to touch up Skywarp and Thundercracker's silver paint from the Seekers Aces set, and those pens work like a charm! You may have to search a little to get the best paint matches for a particular figure, but your investment for a set of pens with a wide variety of colors will still be less expensive than many of the more demanded Takara-Tomy figures.

Wolfman Jake wrote:After avoiding purchasing Takara-Tomy releases for years, for many of the same reasons others have said (too costly to justify the small differences), I've been slowly amassing quite a collection of modern Transformers product from Japan now. I first made an exception earlier this year, after putting up with Classics Megatron since 2007, by getting United Voyager Megatron for my Classics display. I rationalized that the difference in deco was significant enough and it was important to me to finally have a gun altmode G1 Megatron with the correct colors for my Classics display. Then...I decided to order the Seeker Aces and Elites sets. They are fantastic, very screen accurate, and give my Classics seekers some nice internal consistency with their paint layouts. Now, I've got both Autobot Specialists and the Decepticon Specialists three-packs on preorder. I also picked up a United Scourge to make him more distinguished from his Sweeps clones on my shelf (who will remain the Hasbro versions, of course). I've got a whole wishlist now of Takara-Tomy takes on characters I already have from Hasbro just for the sake of better G1/show accuracy. For the longest time, I convinced myself it was alright that some of my figures were more "toy accurate" than screen accurate, or simply homaged their G1 looks, in keeping with the "Classics" mission statement of modern updates instead of slavish G1 recreations, but now, I can't help but go for the screen accuracy that Takara-Tomy usually gives us. I will agree that paint chipping can be a problem with some figures. My solution so far as been to invest in "Sharpie" permant ink-paint pens to fill in some blemishes on figures. I had to touch up Skywarp and Thundercracker's silver paint from the Seekers Aces set, and those pens work like a charm! You may have to search a little to get the best paint matches for a particular figure, but your investment for a set of pens with a wide variety of colors will still be less expensive than many of the more demanded Takara-Tomy figures.

i was the same way, except it wasnt a monetary thing for me. i just wasnt as "in" to the hobby that i am now. the only figures i HAD to have the imports of were the masterpieces. but when i got deeper into collecting and researched the differences between hasbro and takara releases, there was no question. i had to have the superior decos. and since i can afford it, why wouldnt i? so over the last year and a half i went from owning about half the classics/generations line, to being two (or so) figures shy of having a complete henkei-united-TG collection exclusives and all. and buying henkei after the fact, was killer on the wallet. but at the end of the day im really happy with my collection.

oh yeah! the gallery!
my interest on grim was piqued when i first saw him so ill probably get him. thundercracker looks reaallly nice. he even makes me want to get takaras awful skywarp to complete the trio.... ill probably end up with all six in the end.

Totally offtopic, but Shajaki, every time I see your username, I have to sing "I feel for you" in my head.

It's a good thing.

Midnight_Fox wrote:Totally offtopic, but Shajaki, every time I see your username, I have to sing "I feel for you" in my head.

It's a good thing.

iiiii.... uhhhh.... ok!

*youtubes*

*confused look*

ok!