Takara Tomy LG61 Decepticon Clones Instruction Error Revised

WreckerJack wrote:Thanks to fellow Seibertronian, primalxconvoy we have some interesting news about the Takara Tomy Transformers Legends LG61 Decepticon Clones set. Evidently there was an error in the original instructions. Included in the package was a slip that corrects Wingspan and Pounce's robot modes that were swapped by mistake in the original instructions.

The slip shows the corrected robot modes and explains the error. In case your Japanese is a little rusty the pages have been translated for you. Please note that some grammar does not always translate cleanly but the idea should be understood fairly easily. Do you have this set and did the error affect you? Let us know on the boards.

primalxconvoy wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:but, of course if that's what you meant, and TT doesn't sell their toys at b&m in japan at all, then it would make sense that they're hemorrhaging money and need to borrow the potp figures from hasbro

Yes, thats what i meant. Takra doesnt distribute these legends toys at big box retailers in Japan, as far as I have looked into it. Hence the 15 year old age on the box.

Takara has limited the age range for these toys and I have no clue why when its the same toys Hasbro markets to kids.

Anyways... I thought this pic was awesome and well thought out

1/ Takara haven't limited sales of the toys to only online. I showed photographic evidence of this already of the Legends toys being sold in a major chain retailer in Japan. Here is the picture again. However, although most BM retailers are not carrying these figures, that's not so unusual as Transformers have never enjoyed a strong presence in such shops in the time I've been in Japan.

IMG_20180211_171424.jpg

I interviewed a shop assistant at that shop and they were unaware of the 15+ age on the box. Once told why, he stated that their shop (Yodabashi Camera, I think) allowed unaccompanied children of any age to buy toys, but didn't allow such children to buy videogames that the shop consisted graphically violent, or sexual in nature. When asked why the Legends toys were rated 15+, the staff postulated that this was due to the "original version of the toy being aimed at the same age" (we didn't understand this idea) and/or that the transformation was more complicated/the toy had sharper, more dangerous parts than regular released TFs).

2/ The increased age range is probably due to the use of "nsfw" imagery and themes in the attached comics that came with some of the figures (such as Octane, for example).

3/ These could be related to dwindling sales or a lack of money at Takara. TFwiki postulated that when Binaltech sales were low (possibly due to complicated transformations, etc), Takara aimed the toys at an older market, which meant that they could employ a more nsfw themes to entice a specific demographic (certain, older male "otaku" that liked nostalgic and/or "adult" references in their Transformers media). Thus, this seems to be a similar situation, with low sales/limited availability of Legends toys and similar adult content.

Emerje wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:3/ These could be related to dwindling sales or a lack of money at Takara.

Why do people still feel the need to perpetuate this myth? Takara themselves have posted their financial reports in English for all to see and they are very strong. They even specifically point at strong Transformers sales. They had an abysmal 2016, but 2017 was their best year since 2013 and that includes setting aside over US$3 million to prepare for losses from Toys R Us restructuring in the USA. Both their income from within Japan and globally as a parent company have been strong.

Here are some highlights:

From Takara Tomy as a parent company

TT Net Income.PNG

TT Net Assets.PNG

Global sales (remember, Tomy operates worldwide and Hasbro does use Transformers under license so TT does make money off Hasbro's sales)

Global sales.PNG

Maybe a good argument could have been made in 2016 when Takara Tomy had a bad year, but not now. The final results for 2017 come out in March and I expect some big numbers to end the fiscal year. That doesn't mean Hasbro wont try to buy the, but it wont be because Takara Tomy is in the red.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

kurthy wrote:Given that lines are planned out much more than a year in advance, is it possible that Power of the Primes is the result of bad sales in 2016?

That's entirely possible, but that would depend entirely on what happened in 2016. I feel like whatever it was wasn't because of Transformers.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

kurthy wrote:Given that lines are planned out much more than a year in advance, is it possible that Power of the Primes is the result of bad sales in 2016?

That's entirely possible, but that would depend entirely on what happened in 2016. I feel like whatever it was wasn't because of Transformers.

Emerje

I'm trying to think what lines were out in 2016 and I might be wrong but Adventure might have been the problem.

That could be, both Prime and Adventure ended rather abruptly without finishing their shows and toy lines. I'm not so sure that alone would have been enough to suffer such a huge loss, but it couldn't have helped. Probably some combination of failed investments in new toy lines, video games, and anime, or maybe something in their electronics division crashed especially hard. For 2017/2018 they seem to have found some success in their new Tomica Hyper Rescue and Shinkalion franchises. Maybe Japan just prefers their robot cartoons homegrown. Maybe it's time for another Unicron Trilogy?

Emerje

Burn wrote:So ah ... cool topic and all guys, but as I have said on multiple occasions when it comes to the financial side of the business, could you just ... I dunno ... put it in it's own thread?

People obviously want to discuss it, as it keeps getting brought up across various threads, but no one seems to actually want to start the discussion on it's own.

So until that happens ... can we keep this about the Legends Toyline please? Come on, I'm asking nicely ... apparently people prefer their Admins to be nice. I personally think that's a load of hogwash but hey, I'm willing to give it a go.

Emerje wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Stupid question, is Greatshot delayed to April like the Jumpstarters and Darth Vader?

No, but he's scheduled for 3/31 so he may as well be April. But the April delay was only a few days in if I remember right so it doesn't effect too much (aside from combined monthly shipping).

Man, the wait for TFSource to get Legends Blurr in is killing me here. I ordered him there instead of BBTS for less so that I could add him to my stack and get free shipping on my MP15E/16E cassettes. I want my cassettes! They changed his release to March now, by the time they get him he'll be shipped with Greatshot and Grand Maximus.

Emerje