Come on man, you know Transformers are popular enough in Japan. These new POTP are the current bestsellers in their category since going up on amazon. And the American versions of all the toys are also available on amazon, sometimes at a steep mark up, but sometimes cheaper. Are you in Tokyo?
That's the thing that puzzles me. If the release dates were a few months apart, like the TLK line, I can see people waiting to get them locally. But half a year? How many collectors (who are usually Takara's target market) will want to wait that long for something they could get a lot earlier? Even then there was some difference in the decos, even a bit of remolding in some cases. Any way I look at it, it seems to me that Takara are making a mistake. They should have released their POTP line earlier, or have some sort of incentive to persuade collectors to wait for their versions.
Yep, it's clearly dumb. We will see what happens. Sometimes they revisit things down the line (see Movie the Best for instance). I just have to hope at some point these molds get painted well enough to purchase.
Don't see the necessity of buying Takara products anymore. The times have change, current Takara products have same issues that Hasbro, and the only good part could be, and just could be, a possible better painting. So, we are paying more than the double of a Hasbro product and getting the same hollow plastic , that is not a good deal. In the cheap hollow plastic era, is difficult to sustain that collectors are Takara's target market.
The way I read what you quoted, it sounded like they were going Hasbro for exclusives not released by Takara. For example, Quake and Getaway in Titan Wars.
The arms on Rodimus, according to the pictures, are the exact same. I saw your other comment about them not being orange like Hasbro's, then studied both Hasbro's and Takara's pictures and the only thing on Hasbro's arms that are orange are Hot Rod's legs that turn into Rodimus Prime's shoulders. Not the arms themselves. They are both identical from what i, and many others see. Unless you can point out what your saying in pics/more then just words, I fail to see your point. You may have one & I could be missing what your saying, but I'm pretty sure you were/are mistaken. That said unless TakaraTomy is pulling them strait from Hasbro, with the stickers on the boxes to label them as Takara, then I'm sure come March will see some changes. This happens all the time the only thing that makes me kiiiinda worried is that they have been doing that more & more recently & as others have said may just have too much on their plate but still wanna sink their teeth/wet their beak into/with the upcoming line.
They probably meant 'Hasbro pics', as in 'Hasbro toy pics', because these toys are ready now. Takara has used Hasbro toys for their pics in many 1st pic solicitations, through many years. But it's really a toss up what will happen. If Hasbro really did say "your decos are too good", maybe they picked those colors together(?). In the past the deco's basically were terrible! Hasbro figures, have gotten more accurate with the deco's as of late. Hasbro seem's to be, more or less, getting it together lately. It definitely feels like someone different is at the helm. At least they got the right colors . .... mostly for us here overseas (usa). Just to make it clear, I said maybe they decided together, that's not what I believe, though. It's hard to imagine TakaraTomy would release Optimus Prime, their flagship character, with grey plastic hands and at same time leave the tops of his shoulders grey as well. But it's definitely possible, I'll say at least that much!
This is what I meant: Hasbro's CG renders as well as earlier displayed prototypes had orange upper arms. However, on the new stock pictures and the released figure they are red. I wasn't aware of the fact that Hasbro changed it and thus assumed it was a Takara-only change.
To preface, this is in no way intended to insult or incite... So what if both releases are the same? Is it really THAT big of a deal for both sides of the world to have the same figures? All the anger over there being no differences sounds more like elitism than actual disappointment. I know Takara collectors sometimes come off as 'superior', but honestly, why is it bad or wrong for HasTak to release the same figures for all markets? I did appreciate the differences they did with the UW line, but with the seeming change of direction here, I think this benefits the community as a whole by not requiring a double purchase or making people wait and pay middlemen just to get added paint or slightly remolded parts. Take a look at the currently released figures. Minus the Voyagers, there are tampos aplenty, loads of paint and some great use of plastics. Heck, I opened Beachcomber and Slash and thought to myself "How could Takara possibly improve upon these?"
^ Yeah, I for one am happy with them as-is. But I will concede IF this presages an end of the LG line, I'll still be a little sad. It was a great line imo. But I'm sure the reason for disappointment is mainly because many people simply prefer TT's decos to Hasbro's. Some have expressed disappointment about stickers too, etc. I don't personally care, but there are examples where I would e.g.: LG Kup vs the TR version. The head sculpt alone is worth it for me lol. People like what they like, and get upset when they can't have it anymore after becoming accustomed to having it. In this instance I'm okay with it, and frankly am just happy to have another option to preorder these molds, as I have a feeling (despite people saying "It's wave 1, they'll be everywhere!" as always) they will be tough to grab initial preorders of, and while they will no doubt be abundant down the line, I don't particularly enjoy missing out on first runs and waiting for more shipments to come in or more preorders to go up. I like the feeling of having a preorder in the can, for safety. But I totally understand why people are bummed about this. Angry, no. But bummed, disappointed, frustrated, etc. ... sure.
Speaking for myself, the use of stickers automatically removes all voyagers and leaders from my purchase list. Furthermore, I am highly unlikely to purchase any deluxes that lack what I consider sufficiently good paint. Since I also have no need for deluxe dinobots, looks like the only wave 1 figures I will be getting are Slash, Beachcomber, and the Pretenders.
If I don't like stickers, I just peel them off. I won't let something that basic get in the way of me enjoying a mold, especially since the stickers usually cover sculpted detail anyway.
The thing is, people want the iconography and details the stickers have, but they want it in the form of painted detail. That's what the LG line has tended to give people, and for those collectors, the loss of that is understandable. I don't personally care myself, except when it comes to actual mold improvements (new head sculpts, added articulation, etc.) But it's understandable imo if that's the reason someone collects the LG line.
Good point, but with how many people cry for Reprolabels, stock stickers don't seem like that big of an issue. At least to me, but YMMV.
The anti-sticker people aren't the ones buying or requesting Reprolabels, though. Lol. (Personally, I love them. Applying stickers makes me remember being a kid with my G1 toys. I'm an outlier I guess in that I LOVED that aspect.)
Yeah, I'm with you there. I do love stickers. Many fond memories of stickering up figures and vehicles when I was young.
Having an option taken away sucks and that's about all there is to it. I liked waiting longer to get a toy with silver paint instead of grey plastic, or tampos instead of stickers. Not being able to just means I'll buy less toys which is probably a good thing.
The problem is that sometimes makes the figure look a bit too plain. It's fine if you've got good painting skills to fix that (I really envy those who do. Mine could probably be rated at about 0.7 out of 10) but not everyone does.