The Energon Pub

This is pretty cut and dry for lots of people, but then there's a lot of factors for others or just people who buy both. I've been thinking a lot about what my plans are since the Takara pre-orders started popping up.

If I had to pick one, I'd go Takara. But when CW first started hitting the shelves I was so excited that I couldn't hold back. And not only that, the teams themselves weren't even the same. There was enough reasons for me to justify buying both. But I really don't know about TR/LG. That's not to say I'm not excited, just not enough to buy two of every figure being released in the next couple years. But part of me thinks when I see them on local shelves I won't be able stop myself. Or I'll just be very choosy this time around.

Where do you land?

Hasbro's usually cheaper, I don't have a lot to spend, buying Hasbro lets me buy more figures overall.

I've bought the Hasbro versions of all the CW figures (though I hope to get Grandvatron), and will likely do the same for TR.

TT

Over the past few years, I have replaced most of my Hasbro Classics Transformers with their Takara equivalents. In most cases, the decos are just superior in terms of G1 screen accuracy, which is most important to me. Of course, I've held on to pieces that have been Hasbro exclusive, but most of my "Hasbro duplicates" have been sold off. For "Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors," it's been Takara all the way, with a few exceptions, like Sky Reign, which I never thought Takara would bother with. >.< For "Titans Return," it will be much the same. Takara for most, maybe Hasbro for a select few like Galvatron, and any Hasbro exclusives that Takara doesn't do, like most of the Titan Master class releases, I'd bet.

Zem Japanese brothers of ours, really know how to put lipstick on a pig

I got a bit of both depending the release:

Superion: Takara, mainly for Silverbolt and because at the time it was not known that we would get quickslinger.

Menasor: Hasbro, because I preferred him being made of a bunch of different molds plus I knew I could get Wildrider seperately if ever I wanted to.

Defensor: Hasbro, I was not gonna play the ttmall exclusive game and I decided to wait for Groove to be released by Hasbro, the wait is almost over (he still only has 3 limbs right now).

Devastator: Takara, this is the only CW combiner fully designed by Takara, I really wanted to get the definitive take on that design rather than the compromise that Hasbro released. I like to play with my figures and take combiner apart, so not having crucial articulation for some of the individual members was a deal breaker.

Bruticus: Hasbro, was able to get him for 65$ all brand new at Toysrus due to a price cut, money talks. Plus, I wasnt hot for either one of them anyway.

Computron: Takara, because I want all my combiners to look unique and giving a combiner the same head is a sure way to remove uniqueness from a figure. Every member has a new headsculpt too. Plus I get to have a taste of that Blastoff mold used far more appropriately and that Nosecone is perfect.

Blurr: Takara, no way I can resist that paint job.

Scourge: Hasbro, I like the alt mode deco better.

Wheelie: I dont know, kind of torn on this.

Rest of TR: All Hasbro The deluxes look just as good and I just like the idea of being able to choose what I want. While in combiner wars, you were buying a combiner, I was ok with buying a set of all of them at once. I even bought the Hasbro Bruticus all at once even if they were seperate released, I just want that whole combiner right away. But for TR, Takara is just packing things together that dont really need to be packaged together . I dont want to pay for something I dont need or want. And with the decos being comparable for many, I dont see why I would go out of my way to import many of these.

Wolfman Jake wrote:Over the past few years, I have replaced most of my Hasbro Classics Transformers with their Takara equivalents.

Same here. But pretty much all my Henkei's were bought after the fact, and daaamnnn was that pricey

william-james88 wrote:Defensor: Hasbro, I was not gonna play the ttmall exclusive game and I decided to wait for Groove to be released by Hasbro, the wait is almost over (he still only has 3 limbs right now).

I figured that if Groove was released, at least the Takara deco would be superior. Then they revealed him and they're friggin identical

william-james88 wrote:Devastator: Takara, this is the only CW combiner fully designed by Takara, I really wanted to get the definitive take on that design rather than the compromise that Hasbro released.

Devs is the only one I didn't double up on. Which is actually kinda surprising with how many chances I had to get him on sale. I'd have liked to have two Devs, one combined and one not, but Hasbrostator is just so inferior that I'd have ended up buying two UW Dev's. And my money needs to go elsewhere.

william-james88 wrote:Bruticus: Hasbro, was able to get him for 65$ all brand new at Toysrus due to a price cut, money talks. Plus, I wasnt hot for either one of them anyway.

We all know about your killer deal. No one will be judging you on that call

william-james88 wrote:Computron: Takara, because I want all my combiners to look unique and giving a combiner the same head is a sure way to remove uniqueness from a figure. Every member has a new headsculpt too. Plus I get to have a taste of that Blastoff mold used far more appropriately and that Nosecone is perfect.

This one, and you might find this opinion odd, is the one I feel the most at ease having both version of. And its because they're SO different. One is clearly superior, but they're both neat. And Scrounge really seems like the kind of niche thing you'd see in a Botcon set, so it's nice to have that included.

william-james88 wrote:Blurr: Takara, no way I can resist that paint job.
Scourge: Hasbro, I like the alt mode deco better.
Wheelie: I dont know, kind of torn on this.

Blurr, yes. Scourge, both for me because one can be the main and a couple others can be the Sweeps. And Wheelie, probably both. I don't mind doubling up when they're inexpensive figures.

william-james88 wrote:Rest of TR: All Hasbro The deluxes look just as good and I just like the idea of being able to choose what I want.

TR, will likely be a pick and choose basis, but likely the bulk will be Takara. Mainly because some of these figures I actually have zero need for to begin with (Leader Class Blaster?!) so why would I double up?

shajaki wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:Over the past few years, I have replaced most of my Hasbro Classics Transformers with their Takara equivalents.

Same here. But pretty much all my Henkei's were bought after the fact, and daaamnnn was that pricey

It was expensive, but so worth it, especially for some vastly superior pieces like Henkei Smokescreen, Inferno, Sunstreaker, Ratchet, Ironhide, and (I would argue) Red Alert. Now that I've taken the plunge into Takara-Tomy releases, I'm trying to be a lot more thoughtful about which version of a figure I get to avoid this issue with having to replace "inferior" Hasbro releases later on. The waiting is the hardest part.

I'm not a 'get the one that's most g1' kinda guy with my classics, so most of mine are Hasbro. Saying that, I will try to get a Takara if I think it's better. For example, henkei Starscrem over classics starscream and Takra FOC JAzz over Hasbro (granted he was on sale).


For CW, I've gone Takara for Menasor purely because we skipepd wave 2 and it worked out cheaper to get the Takara boxset than try to import the stunticons. TT for Devastator because he's one of my all time favs and I wanted the absolute best version, as I display my combiner teams in seperate modes as well as combined depending on mood (case in point, just last night I combined Menasor and decombined Devastator on my shelf). Bruticus and Computron will also be TT as the colour scheme is so much better (I'm in love with Onslaught's deep rich blue) and I know a guy who imports them and can get me them for the same price as the Hasbro. And Computron is such an extensive retool, it looks awesome. One of the few times I'm getting a figure because of how awesome it looks rather than of the character.


Hasbro, I went with Superion and Defensor. Superion doesn't look much different and I was able to nab Quickslinger, and I much prefer Hasbro's Defensor in terms of colour layout.


For Titans Return, I intend to get TT for Scourge as the all blue Hasbro one looks off and also for Hardhead, as a faceplate Hardhead just seems so very wrong to me. But if Hasbro Hardhead had a mouth, I'd go for him. If I was getting Blurr, I'd get Takara as well as the Hasbro one looks like an unfinished prototype. Or like he's wearing a onsie. I'd also go TT on Wheelie as the hasbro one has that big block of two tone on his bonnet that looks really stupid to me.

For all the other Titans, I'm going Hasbro. Cheaper, easier to get hold of and the rest of their decos look fine.

Tricky thing for me about Combiner Wars is that in general, the Hasbro stuff is more accurate to the comics from which the story takes place.

Takara went the direction of making G1 inspired Classics/Generations figures in a different style.

So for me, I mostly went Hasbro with Combiner Wars.

Superion, Menasor, Defensor, and Bruticus were all Hasbro for me, but only because I wanted to represent the comic versions. If I had been going for true Classics versions (of which those spots are currently held by 3P combiners, I'd have gone Takara)

Optimus Maximus was were I shifted to Takara as their version was superior in almost every way. You really just can't put the Sunstreaker, Mirage, and Prime from CW up against the UW and claim they are as good. Takara really did a better job here.

Sky Reign I bought all Hasbro and got a number of sticker upgrade kits from Reprolabels. It may be an instance were I double dip, but the UW versions will have to be amazing or include Ratchet for that to happen.

Titans Return is shaping up to be the other way around, where I will likely buy all Takara. Having seen the Hasbro versions up close at Botcon, I can say that they are very nice, but there are already obvious sacrifices that the Takara LG versions will not have to make for price point.

So far, these are on my Legends hit list:
Galvatron
Blurr
All G1 Headmasters
Fortress Maximus
Powermaster Prime

The one I'm having the most heartache over is Blaster. Neither is really where I want it to be and right now, I'm leaning towards Hasbro for being less weird. I really like the leg decos of the Takara version, but the head colors and odd chest deco are killing it for me. I think I need to see more of the Hasbro version and decide if their gray plastic is too cheap looking that I'd be willing to put up with the Takara face.

For CW it's been Takara for me. The stores around me are pretty spotty in terms of what they have and when they have it and, in general, I like the Takara paint jobs more. The unique moulds were also a factor and I felt annoyed when it was clear they weren't unique. Well, still don't regret it.

Sometimes I have to mix it up a bit, though. The paint on Takara's Hot Spot got pretty bad (it seemed like it rubbed off when I was transforming it), so I grabbed the Hasbro one. I guess sometimes more paint isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I plan on getting Takara for the Titans I care about - Hot Rod, Blur, Scourge, and Wheelie. The rest are Hasbro if I see them. I'm just not that into most of them. Although I do plan on getting 3 Hasbro Sweeps ... just because.