Hi, quick question here (hopefully someone can help me out, it's probably just me being thick...) According to the Wiki, the Japanese versions of G1 Powerglide, Beachcomber, Seaspray, Ramjet and Thrust were released in 1985, the debut year of Transformers toys in Japan. Link: Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (toyline) - Transformers Wiki However, photos of the boxes show that those toys have the ID numbers C-62, C-63, C-64, D-65 and D-57 respectively (C for Cybertron and D for Destron). From what I've been able to gather, Japanese Transformers didn't start getting the C and D prefixes until the second year of releases (i.e. 1986). So what gives? Is the Wiki wrong and these figures ought to be in the 1986 section, or is the Wiki correct and (for some weird reason) they just happened to have 1986 numbering despite being released in 1985? I know that some figures were re-released in the second year and changed to the new numbering system (like how Bumble went from 11 to C-56, and Frenzy went from 18 to D-58, but I can't see any evidence of the likes of Beachcomber or Thrust ever having old-style 1985 ID numbers without the prefix. A copy of the 1985 Japanese toy catalogue (Mostly Transformers Redux: 1985 Japanese Transformers Catalog) has been posted online and tellingly Powerglide and chums are nowhere to be seen. Can anyone clear up the confusion? Thanks in advance!
The problem with TFwiki is that the staff who contribute put more emphasis on Hasbro's share than Takara's. They do a smidgen better with TakaraTomy, but not enough to where people who study the Japanese portion of the franchise can separate what was used in the Japanese fiction from what they prefer using. Which is why I used this site for information tied to the toyline: Soundwaves Oblivion: Translated Japanese Tech Specs And as for your concerns, it does verify the fact that TFwiki was inaccurate with the years for a few figures. Which I do hope what I said helps.
I'm glad the wiki has separated out Japanese releases as much as it has right now. TFU.info is worse, it treats Japanese figures that are considerably different from their Hasbro counterparts as mere "variants" of the American versions, sometimes not even acknowledging Japanese releases that predate the Hasbro versions by several months.
It might be that the toys were released in 1985 without numbers but then the packaging was changed in 1986 and the pictures happen to be of the later versions.
Could be, I don't know. But I've never seen pictures of the un-numbered boxes. As far as I was aware, every Japanese Transformer got an ID number. The only exemptions that I know of were figures that were only available as part of a larger set (such as Skids and Rumble), or mail-aways (such as the Omnibots/Double Changers).
I always find this to be an excellent reference list: The Japanese Transformers List All the best Maz
