I'll agree that the combiners didn't do much (any) combining/separating, BUT I do believe that most (if not all) non-combiners did trans--- well, maybe not "transform", but did appear in their alternate mode. Triple changers didn't show all 3 modes, but did show off 2. So Primal will most likely trans---er, 'appear' in both his modes.

 

You must have the worst luck with CQ because I would not call those problem consistent.

 

I certainly wouldn't say it's bad luck with QC, but frankly put, it's just the norm.

I own doubles of many many many figures and every figure pales in comparison to the Takara/LG versions.

Blitzing and Octane both come to mind immediately. I

 

Would it matter if I told you Hasbro and Takada use the same fictory?

 

Look, I'm not going to get pulled into a debate over this citing the "same factory" example.

When I stand up Hasbro Skullcruncher and he topples over , then stand up LG Skullcruncher and can pose him on one leg; "the same factory" line means nothing.

Examples like these are similar across the board regardless of figure.

 

>implying the animators could be bothered to make the characters transform

 

Lol true... Oh machinima, we had such high hopes... and then you released CW episode 1...

 

Well I hope the female autobot are ready to deal with his crazy ex, someone who megatron really fear XD

 

I wouldn't count on it though - Trypticon did not get a SDCC release.

 

While I'm not saying this is what it is, there are business decisions and advantages that aren't always readily apparent to consumers.
Takara not making changes to the figures means less resources spent on the line, freeing them up for other lines, such as movie and Masterpiece. The less resources and money spent on the figures means they can sell them cheaper in Japan, and perhaps gain more shelfspace, and in turn more of an audience among kids with the lower pricepoint.

 

I can assure you that brand unification does not mean Takara goes horribly due to QC issues. And most of the designs are by Takara. Shogo Hasui, for example, did figures like Highbrow, Scourge, and Trypticon. The only difference is running changes made for Hasbro and Takara separately in the past, like a remolded head, the Target masters or a repaint.

Takara is a Japanese company, will have Japanese boxes and the same standards for QC. I work for a company that exports to Japan. The big difference between domestic-European and Japanese is the high standards they demand. Containers for Japan are wallpapered, the pallets are sealed tight shut, and each box is checked on damage on the outside before it even loaded and put in the container. Japan demands this quality and sometimes the customers come to check on it. A bunch of Japs in suits walking around checking everything to see if their standards are met.
It is how they do business. As far as production goes anything that does not meet their requirements is simply not packaged for Japan either destroyed or w/e. They pay good money for it.
Now talking about other countries they have lower standards which means lower price and less work on it. And more "superficial" damages are accepted.

I do not see Takara deviating from this standard since it is their way, the Japanese way. You will not have loose ball joints like on Hasbro's. You will not have scratched paint, or whatever looseness or box damage "unless the retailer and its logistical chain caused it".

That is unlikely. What you will see is 1 production line totally for Takara and Hasbro. What is dropped is different paint. The only part where you see a split will be packaging. Where 1 figure goes in the Takara box and the other in the Hasbro box. Still the same figure. However, Takara will probably demand first run, meaning they get the figures with the best joints and they will probably demand high quality on the paint app.
When the factory switches to Hasbro "the workers" will feel a bit more eased and more lower QC demands mean more passes the checkpoint and less figures are lost. Or a possibility is they mark batches as "Takara first"

What is cut is
-switching Plastic colors "for example wheelie having different colors for its plastic"
-switching paint apps.
-downtime for running change.

Other than that introduction of Quality checks for Takara vs Hasbro might happen. Where Takara gets the best figures and the rest is Hasbro. You will still be able to get your tight joint Hasbro figure, but many will be loose as fuck like happened with Skullcruncher, while Takara will have only good figures.
The running changes will have significant implications for the factory, more so than for customers, "other than 0 difference in the look and content of the figures".

That is purely a QC issue. Takara would have all the bad figures either "redone" or simply destroyed. The bad part on Skullcruncher is the hip/upper leg piece. Now either you remove them all and make new ones, or you simply send the entire batch to destruction.
Hasbro would let the batch pass QC and sell them anyways. That is the difference.
Now with brand unification you get a 2 fold. 1 Takara gets first pick from a wider range. Remember color differences in the past meant Hasbro could not use these figures, different plastic color etc.
2 Hasbro could use what Takara rejects. Meaning less loss of product.


A lot of this QC issue stuff also has to do with different mindset between Japanese and "other people". Japanese demand quality out of the box, or they'll return it. And well we Europeans and Americans love to fix. I do it myself too. Fixing joints, or fixing the antennae on Superion. If we demanded higher standards or simply return the product then Hasbro would be forced to increase QC.

 

...that’s an interesting observation; twenty-five years ago my university closed its sister campus in koriyama, so we had a massive influx of japanese transfer students my last two years before graduating, and one thing which surprised me to see blow their minds repeatedly was our typical policy of being able to return retail merchandise...

...things may have since changed in japan (certainly they have stateside, particularly regarding media) but at the time i had many conversations with japanese friends who couldn’t fathom the notion of returning anything for a refund subsequent to the original transaction: from their experience, all transactions were cash-only and all sales were final...

 

Not sure why you quoted me in this response, the quote you took from was not referencing QC in any way whatsoever. It was purely about putting resources (designers, increased production costs, etc) towards a line (Legends) and spending less on the toys due to no longer putting those extra expenses toward it (PP)

 

That is true from a customers perspective. Yet the companies return anything that does not meet their standards. So if they order 50 pallets of something then what is on the pallets has to arrive without even the slightest damage on the outside. For Japanese people it is unthinkable that they'll sell something that is not meeting expectations.
For the west that is different. So Japanese people do not return since there is no fear of something being bad. That would mean someone fucked up. And that is a big shame for Japanese people. So Takara selling a figure that has flawed engineering or broken in the box is unthinkable.

 

Tell that to the people who have QC issues with their Takara figures.
I honestly don't think that either company has control over what passes at the factory.

 

Well they do and they don't. QC is still manual work. Just that complaints are supposed to stay on a lower end with Takara than with Hasbro. That is what I know. I too have several Takara figures and my Takara Grapple from way back has some "looseness" too it. Though not as bad as with the plentiful figures with Hasbro. I tell you 1 out of 20 takara figures I own has "a issue" while at least 1 out of 10 with Hasbro has issues. Sometimes it is a entire truckload you see having similar issues. Take Skullcruncher with Hasbro. Those 2 hip pieces are simply bad. I have great figures with Hasbro, yes but many no. My best would be my Hasbro Skydive from CW tight as hell on the joints. But there it comes he is wave 1. From there on it only gets worse.

 

I hope a 3rd Party bring back Optimal Optimus Tank Mode..

 

People talking about QC with Hasbro and Takara, I got a UW EX Baldigus and the Tank has a completly shot right arm, and the hips are shit

 

Does anyone know how much Predaking will retail for?