TakaraTomy's Fast Action Battlers with different packaging, clear windshield Bumblebee and more!

If they're giving Bumblebee clear winshields I wonder if we can expect the plastic quality of the Takara/Tomy releases to be better as well.

I wounder if Hasbro will remake Bumblebee like that

AbsumZer0 wrote:

Megatron_Wolf wrote:I wounder if Hasbro will remake Bumblebee like that

They won't. Their prototype had them but they made the conscious decision not to go ahead with it, almost certainly in order to cut costs.

And let's not forget how crappy the plastic feels on some of these movie toys, too.

Well, that's pure laziness.

since these are manufactured in China, its probably cheaper shipping to Japan than the US, which might be why they could spent a little more to give it the clear windows...

Nightwatcher wrote:I'm curious. Is the Us versions windows clear plastic that is painted over? Or is it solid yellow plastic? Because if it's just painted over clear you can remove it with some rubbing alcohol.

It's solid yellow with painted metallic blue.

Talyn wrote:since these are manufactured in China, its probably cheaper shipping to Japan than the US, which might be why they could spent a little more to give it the clear windows...

Japan's toy and hobby industry also has a greater dependency upon late adolescent/adult collectors than here in the United States, so they can get away with smaller production runs and slightly higher prices while, at the same time, it's harder to get away with cutting corners. If not for the Japanese market we would never have gotten Alternators or the Masterpiece figures here in the U.S., not because "Hasbro sucks", but because the American toy market alone wouldn't make their production costs economically feasible.

D-340 wrote:The packaging on the FABs from Takara looks a thousand times better than what we're getting.

I guess Takara thinks that collectors will keep their versions on card, while Hasbro thinks their packages will get ripped open by toddlers and promptly thrown out.

I wouldn't mind the painted windows if they weren't metallic blue flake. Why they couldn't just paint them a regular deep blue I don't know.

Though it doesn't matter because like you said I'm getting the 08' version. I love the transformation of the chest on it and overall bulkiness.

AbsumZer0 wrote:

Jaz-Zen wrote:I'm sorry, but I think the clear plastic, showing all the robot parts, is stupid. It totally kills the illusion of this being "in disguise". I'm sorry you guys like this but won't be able to get it, unless you import it from Japan, but I'm personally very happy that the Bumblebee we're getting in the States has windows that are not clear.

Besides, how many of you guys prefer 2008/2009 BB over 1974 BB anyway?

I do have to admit, though, that I like these blue missiles better than the yellow missiles we're getting.

I wouldn't dislike the painted windows so much either if they'd at least bothered to paint both sides so that the 'wings' don't look so rubbish in robot mode.

Same here. And I have to agree that metallic flake blue isn't exactly a great choice of colour...