These years Takara & Hasbro are doing oppossite TF toys releases roles. Takara is now releasing all the show characters & non show characters, repaints & up grades. While these years Hasbro can barely release the show characters for 2008 Animated,Dotm & Prime. Does anyone remember during the Beastwars toy lines years from 1996 to 2000. when Hasbro would release all those show & non-show characters in the BW toy lines. While Takara only wanted to release only the show characters in their BW toy lines. Takara even went the extra mile to create bw2nd & neo. so they could have cartoon media versions,so they could release the toys. BM,Hasbro released all the show & non-show characters as toys. Takara waited a few years to release the BM line. called it Beast wars return. Takara only released the show characters. even then some show characters were missing in toy form. Rid 2001,Hasbro more non show characters,repaints & exclusives than takara did for Car robots. During AEC,Hasbro released more repaints & more non show characters. 2008 Animated,DOTM & Prime,Saw the new era of Takara releasing more TF new molds,repaints,upgrades,extra accessories Compared to Hasbro.
Also Takara is now cheap since they think stickers and do it self kits are sooo fun. Not if your terrible at it.
buyers have the options to add the stickers & apply the extra plastic ports. these are extra things. so their not cheap. The stickers,extra applied ports & assembled micron kits were done to please the takara japanese based market. japan buyers love to apply stickers & put together kits.
I'm not going to comment on the quality of toys I don't own, but technically, that does make them cheap, in theory.
Cash in on the gunpla monster and japanese kids love of model building and minicon combining, simple /beatingdeadhorse
Prime is actually an odd duck in general because Takara is releasing molds that Hasbro has no intention to release as far as we know (Unicron, Breakdown, Jet Vehicon, all the Microns). Before, both companies had still largely released the same molds, regardless of decos or who was releasing more non-show characters with those molds. I think the reason Takara has released more non-show characters this time around is because they've had to. Even with thise aforementioned molds that Hasbro isn't using, they still need to release stuff every month because they've released 2-4 main line toys every month since, what, March? Skywarp, Swerve and some of the other stuff is needed to fillmholes in the release schedule. You (or someone in general) sucking at putting on stickers or putting together the micron kits does not make Takara "cheap." Please. The AM line is just not your cup of tea, as it is not for several others.
This isn't just happening with Takara AM Prime toys. This has been happening for the past few years With takara releasing show & movie toys Hasbro doesn't release. Takara Released a few Animated show & non-show toys hasbro didn't. Takara Released a few DOTM movie toys & non-movie toys Hasbro didn't. I agree with this^..... extra added stuff usually means more bang for your buck. not cheaper product version. Just think of the stickers,build it microns & add on applied ports as extras. without using them the toys are similar to hasbro's. using them the toys get something extra the hasbro versions don't have.
Cheap or not the stickers are just plain crappy. The Arms Microns on the other hand are cool as hell.
I don't what happened before 2008 so I won't speculate but it seems like maybe Hasbro owns then name/franchise and TT owns the toys and has full ability to produce what they want providing license are there... and then Hasbro goes to them and picks and chooses what they want to release here in the USA based on what they believe what can sell over here and is within budget. Personally I think with TT's paint apps, stickers and AM's they are a lot better then the US versions that are lacking all of the above and including a bullshit MechTech gun.
True, they have recently, though at least with Animated and DotM stuff, Hasbro had intended to release most of them (the unique molds), but due to various factors those releases were nixed. With Prime, it appears to be a completely different story. Takara released some canceled molds (on the Hasbro side) that were all ready to go, so no new molding was needed on their end. Takara's taking an initiative here that they haven't really done since Beast Wars Neo, I guess (though Hasbro ended up using some of those molds anyways later on...so maybe all the way back to post-Season 3 G1?), which I find interesting given that they've already made a rather significant departure regarding how these Prime toys are being released under the AM line.
Regardless of how you feel about the toys themselves, it certainly is a bizzare situation to have the companies so "reversed". Glad to see that Takara is returning to their old style for Generations though. Can't wait to get that Jazz, and maybe Bruticus if the colors and price are right. Shame they're still the same simpler/smaller molds.
I love the Arms Micron, but... it is cheap. Skipping paint apps for stickers saves a ton of money (especially since Takara usually has more paint apps than Hasbro). To some extent also true for Arms Microns being unassembled and on sprues... yes they're trying to appeal to the model market, but they're also doing it because it's a cheaper way to get Minicons (which also seem to be more popular in Japan) out there.
I just love how everybody ignores the fact that Arm Microns figures cost cheaper than other TakaraTOMY Transformers toy line like United and calls them cheap because of the lack of paint. Maybe nobody actually realises it because you are all paying inflated import prices...
Again, not liking it doesn't make it cheap. It's just different. I can think of plenty of ways for the Prime AM line to be legitimately called cheap (fewer paint aps than Hasbro's with no stickers to compensate, horrendous QC, scarily poor plastic quality) but stickers and model kits are not among them.
I wish I could find someone who'd be willing to apply the stickers and build the Micron. I wish I had Breakdown. That's what honestly keeps me from getting him.
Don't let that prevent you - seriously. I had the same reservations about the stickers and micron, and it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually quite a bit of fun, to be honest. I didn't apply stickers to the micron though - I plan to keep it in hammer form, so I didn't feel it needed stickers. Well, I did put the eye sticker on, just because it looked cool
Personally, I think it's a money issue. I believe a few of the molds were designed by Takara, which is why Hasbro won't release them (to expensive to produce for the price point they're asking for, whether it's because the figures are too "advanced" or they require the mold to be altered). For instance, I own Breakdown. He's a gorgeous figure and I believe that's the reason Hasbro won't make him. He's leagues above anything else they've released as part of the main line and to make money, they'd have to sell him for more. Hasbro is catering mostly to kids, but from what I've seen/heard, Takara caters to both children and collectors, which is why they've been getting a lot of great figures while we've gotten a lot less. But I could be wrong. This is mere speculation on my part. I didn't apply the stickers to mine. He looks great without them, to be perfectly honest.
