Pick! I use EZ Legends Green Devastator, Takara Vs. USA as an example I'd love to see discussed.

 

My guess is that paint apps are picked by work experience kids who are asked to make it look like character "X". And all paint comes out of their lunch money.

 

That is a loaded statement, especially considering you read the article and claim I'm sharing your sentiment, which couldn't be further from the truth.

Hasbro is half the design department. A lot of the stuff I presented in chapter 1 is Hasbro's work. Why do you think Hasbro employs a bunch of people with job descriptions as "designers" and leaves a paper trail that shows design work signed by their English-speaking employees if all the "real" design work is done by Takara? If your response has anything to do with a conspiracy theory about a "Hasbro propaganda machine", then don't bother, we've been there years ago.

But do they like to talk about Hasbro's designers? Y'know, the people they cooperate with on a day-to-day basis, and communicate with via e-mail several times a day?

Funny, I recall a story told by Hirofumi Ichikawa (writer/artist of the "Linkage" manga) that sort of amounts to the opposite:

Wing Saber vs. Mega-Dinobot: A Lesson - alt.toys.transformers | Google Groups

So Takara's marketing department can ignore things both companies' design departments have come up with too. I'm glad that Takara is no longer in charge of the main fiction.

That certainly happened in some cases, but there are also things where Takara/Tomy should have better listened to Hasbro.

Overall, I prefer joint Hasbro/Takara designs over a hypothetical world where Takara did all the design work all by themselves. Would make for much more boring toys.

 

Making that Optimus in this pic woul dhave been WIN!
http://starblight.de/beta/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/universe_tankor_big.jpg

Hopefully the next article contains a bit more meat and potatos.

 

That was a really interesting read. I love how both Tomy and Hasbro has to work together or else it goes to shit.

 

not just quoting this, just to your attention -

The Omnicons and Terrorcons were meant to be evolved Minicons?

DAMN that would've been awesome.

 

It's a fantastic read (as I said before) but please please do not make the discussion into another Has vs Tak thing. I'm sure that is not the intentions of either side when they give interviews/comments  

 

I hated that octane figure the wings were way too small for the vehicle just plane lame.

 

I wonder at what point they decide to give it bad colors, make sure it is not like the movie version (for those from the movies) and generally make it lower quality than it could be?

bucket

 

Great article! Perhaps you should see if the Transformers Collectors Club would be interested in purchasing your future articles and hosting them on their site. This is something that they should have done a long time ago. Either way, though, I'm looking forward to part 2.

 

Very nice job, I look forward to the next part.

 

My guess would be somewhere between the long lead time for toys in general, the movie designs being revised (which the toys can't always implement, as there ought to be a cut-off date for the toys to proceed in production so they can be released when the movie comes out) and the movie aesthetics not transferring well into plastic toys that still need to physically work somehow.

There's also a distinct learning curve to be observed between 2007 and ROTF, with the toy designers getting gradually better at adapting the CG designs into plastic. Compare 2007 Leader Optimus Prime to ROTF Leader Optimus Prime. That's not because Hasbro and Takara were "lazy" the first time around, or released a sub-par toy at first so they could sell the improved toy to the same people again. The first time, Hasbro and Takara were like "How the hell do we turn this into a toy?" Two years later, they were like "Ah, THAT'S how." The movie lines served as a catalyst of sorts that led to a quantum leap in terms of Transformers design and engineering which the brand in general benefits from.

For DOTM, Hasbro decided to take a different approach. The toys had become too complex with the 2010 line, so they decided to make them more kid-friendly and gimmick-oriented again. It's nice if a dozen 20-something collector like their super-fiddly Battle Blades Optimus Prime, but it's even better if 100 kids like their Mechtech Optimus Prime.

 

I like how the Tracks/Wheeljack page makes a note of Tracks' flying mode "not looking very cool."

 

I've been searching for such info for ages. I'm VERY curious on how my beloved TF toys are made..... from the conceptualization all the way till it came out out production lines , fully carded/boxed.

The icing to the cake here is the Octane uhmmm Tankorr pic there, which is one of my favorite deluxe toy.

 

indeed

 

Im bias towards Takara from a design standpoint mainly because of the actions of Hasbro, Armada Lazerbeak and Animated Oil Slick are terrible and fit badly in the associated series. Armada Megatron however (also from Hasbro) was a huge waste and unnessessarily skimpted on, a bit of tidying up and some KNEES and it would be one of my favourite figures.

 

Looking at the concept drawing and the real thing they look like 2 different figures. Hmmmm.

 

What Optimus?

 

cant wait for part 2

 

Such a cool and informative read! Definitely looking forward to Part 2! : D