The Energon Pub

I got Classics Grimlock today(yahoo!!!! , still really hard to find, or no?), and I got to thinking about the other Dinobots.

Dinosaur transformers appear to be popular in Japan, at least to me. After all, almost the entire Predacon force of Beast Wars Neo was made up of dinosaurs! But then it occured to me that almost all of the Dinosaurs released in Japan post Dinobots were all Decepticon/Predacon in origin, with the exception of BW Dinobot(who techincally was a Pred). Heck, the original Dinobots in Diaclone, from my understanding, were bad guys to begin with. And in one of the Brave series anime's the enemies in the show(no figure releases or Grimlock) were slightly remodeled Dinobots.

All the other Autobot/Maximal dinosaurs released were done by Hasbro as either repaints(Armada Dinobots, BM Dinobots, G2 Dinobots), or as original figures(Pretender/Actionmaster/Energon/Classics) Grimlock, Swoop, and the Mini-con Dinobots.

So, were the Dinobots possibly shelf-warmers in Japan, and they don't like good-guy dinosaurs? BT Grimlock does not count, cause he wasn't a Dino, and any PVC's or whatnot don't either, cause they don't transform. Maybe that's why Takara didn't do a Dinobot reissue.

there was once a discussion about this back when reissues were commonplace. it was stated that the chance of seing dinobot re issues was small, because they wernt that greatly popular in japan.

i dont think its about the toys as mush as it is the characters i suppose.

Duke of Luns wrote:Heck, the original Dinobots in Diaclone, from my understanding, were bad guys to begin with.

No, they were good guys, or rather Mecha controlled by the good guys

Immortal Starscream wrote:there was once a discussion about this back when reissues were commonplace. it was stated that the chance of seing dinobot re issues was small, because they wernt that greatly popular in japan.

i dont think its about the toys as mush as it is the characters i suppose.

I heard this mentioned a few times on this board too, but I am not quite sold on the notion that the Dinobots wouldn't be a hit if they were reissued in Japan.

Pretty much all the Mecha that became TFs were good guys. Soundwave, Megatron, and the Seekers were all good guys originally too. Of course SW and Megatron were driverless mecha to start with as well.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Duke of Luns wrote:Heck, the original Dinobots in Diaclone, from my understanding, were bad guys to begin with.

No, they were good guys, or rather Mecha controlled by the good guys

Oh. I thought they were paired up with the evil Pre-Insecticons in Diaclone. Now I know(and knowing's half the battle!).

I also forgot that there were a few other Autobot Dino's in Japan, the exclusive cassette ones(Noise, Graphy, (Z)Saur, and, Dial). But almost everything after that with a Dino alt. was strictly Pred/Con.

Oh, and here's a good measure of the character's popularity: Was BT Grimlock a shelf-warmer? I said he didn't count, but I rescind that if the characters themselves weren't popular. I don't even think the Dinobots ever got any clear homages either in Japan.

What about the WST? Ever since Justitoys picked up the line from Takara, they have all been Dinobots. I would think that there must be some interest in the Dinobots, otherwise Justitoys would start making new figures.

But those WSTF's are basicly high quality knock-off's(from my understanding), and aren't they an American company? The Dinobots are extremely popular in America, specially Grimlock, but I'm asking about Japan.

And here's a possible reason why the Dinobots weren't that popular in Japan: Over there, they value group desicsions, and do what is right for the group as a whole, rarely relying on individual values. The Dinobots were a pretty radical group, and were almost constantly butting heads with Optimus Prime, and going off doing there own thing, with little regard for what he wanted. While this kind of attitude is acceptable and quite popular in the U.S., I believe it is generally frowned upon in Japanese society.

*Edit*
Let's expand the conversation. What other characters are popular here, but not so much over there? It was covered once that the Thundercracker/Skywarp Robotmasters were shelfwarmers in Japan, as was BT Yellow Tracks(no surprise there though).

Several of the hobby shops that I have visited in Nagoya, Tokyo, and Osaka occasionally carry G1 Dinobots. A typical MIB Dinobot in C7 condition will sell for Y40,000, which is about $350.

Aside from fan speculations, I have yet to see evidence to suggest that they are not popular in Japan.

Also they may have lost the moldes for the dinobots so they can no longer reproduce them

Even if the figures wouldn't sell their majority to the Asian market, it isn't like the things would hang out in stock forever. With all the clamor for them everywhere else, I guarantee stock would sell out very quickly.

Duke of Luns wrote:But those WSTF's are basicly high quality knock-off's(from my understanding), and aren't they an American company? The Dinobots are extremely popular in America, specially Grimlock, but I'm asking about Japan.

Justtoys is a Chinese company actually. I'm pretty sure they are out of Hong Kong. And considering the popularity of Godzilla and the fact that the Dinobot molds originated in Japan you have pretty good evidence that at least at one time Dinos were very popular there. Also though its been about three years the last time I was there the toy stores were full of dino type figures as well.

I really think the problem is probably more a matter of the molds are gone. Last time we saw any Dinobot molds was G2, and even then we only saw three of them. By now I'd assume that all or at least most of them are probably damaged beyond repair or lost.

Soundwave had a similiar problem, but the popularity of the mold led them to restore/recreate it so they could release the figure. The fact that thy had a ready made repaint/retool in Soundblaster meant it was a much more cost effective idea. They new it would sell and that they could use the mold to make more then one figure with limited tweaks.

With the Dinobots its more mold, and no chance of repaints. As much as I'd love to see them I doubt takara or Hasbro consider it a profitable thing to do right now.