Quality of US TF Toys

[soybean56]

Hasbro and Takara are usually neck and neck as far as quality goes, with the few random exceptions like a loose joint or peg or something. For instance, E Slugslinger's left arm tends to pop off the peg on his torso, nothing that one slight coat of clear nail polish won't fix.

show accurate? bah, I don't care about that. Since the quality is the same I go for the cheaper, Hasbro.

colors are the only ever notable difference.

[Bodycount]

Most of Hasbro's stuff looks faded out.

I prefer my toys to not look as if they are garage sale items that were left in the sun too long.

[Bodycount]

SL Sprung is more show acc!

What about the sounds and lights? I heard someone say that Sprung doesn't have them. Is that true or not?

On the BWTF site the guy did a review and stated that there are not lights and sounds on the SL version.

 

BTW: Show Acc?!!? it's the same damn toy! The colors maybe a little off but damn it is the same mold!

Bulkhead lacks about 5 paint aps on his afterburner unit, he has no yellow detail on the helmet, no dark green trim on his lower arms, no gray trim on the top of the feet, and no paint detail on the front of the pelvis, making Superlink Sprung the winner with a nicer shade of green...tv accuracy is key.

 

As for the tv show...There are a few instances where Hasbro has stepped in and ordered them to alter the models(Jetfire's gun, Prime's chest), but the rest of the time, the show animators just go with whichever version they were shown first. Since Hasbro is behind all of the repaints, they mainly went with those...Takara isn't even releasing half of them. The only exception is Galvatron G, who's paint scheme was originally Hasbro's, not Takara's.

 

here's the pattern.

Hasbro hands the company their design sketches and paint charts.

Animation company makes the models.

Hasbro tweaks the toys in the meantime.

Animation company makes shows with outdated models.

Hasbro doesn't change every toy, leading to some still matching the animation.

Hasbro delivers updated charts to animaton company, requesting minor tweaks here and there.

Takara sticks to the charts with unchanged toys, leading some to match the show, and some being slightly different(Prowl having gray instead of off-white)...

 

So in completion, Takara's line basically shows us what the toys looked like early on, before Hasbro got ahold of them and decided tan looks better than silver(blah) and flat grays look nicer than metallics...

 

And in secondary completion, Japan has never voted Republican, so I say "GO TAKARA!"

[badSamurai]

I have found that with Superlink/Energon and The Binaltech/Alternators Takara's or the japanese versions are much much better. I personally think that because their color scemes match the shows and they from my experience are better quality and felling to them. As far as Galaxy goes I will probably end with with most or all of the Takara versions, I would rather pay the extra 10 or 15 so its show accurate and maybe get a couple extra perks (I like the Japanese packaging better, more stimulating).

[OptimusTarzan]

I say the Takara ones are better. In my experience the Binaltechs are far supeior to Alternators as I have both of some molds. I also have JRX from RID both from takara and hasbro and takara ones is much better. For expamle, on the takara ones, the windows on the trains are clear where as the hasbro ones are just painted on.

 

I also noticed that the takara bookstyle reissues are far supeior to that of hasbro's TRU reissues.

 

One more thing that might not really matter thou. The takara boxes are made of thicker cardbord and makes the toy look more expensive.

 

I prefer takara but can't afford it so most of my stuff is from hasbro, with the exception of reissues. I don't give a crap about show accuracy.

[Evil Hamster]

Sometimes the Hasbro versions are better than Takara's:

 

Armada Optimus Prime (the one with the trailer), the peg that connects to the trailer is more secure as opposed to the Micron version. However, the micron prime is superior in terms of playability and show accuracy especially because he has more poseability in the feet which also rotate more freely.

 

armada red alert's weapon mechanism beats micron red alert's. When you attach longarm to micron red alert to reveal his secret weapon, the launcher ends up flipping out and also falling out of the hole it's attached to. This doesn't happen with armada red alert.

 

However, most of the time, Takara toys are superior to Hasbro's.

 

Someone said that Energon Ironhide is more show accurate. Not True. Here's why. If you look at later episodes of Energon, you'll notice that Ironhide's brown colors on his arms and legs suddenly appear grayish. Trust me, I've seen it with my own eyes. For some reason, the people who do the show change the colors. This is also seen in Optimus Prime's chest. Sometimes, the windows of his cab have a red outline and sometimes it's just a white outline.

 

Another reason why Superlink Ironhide is more show accurate is because of the vehicle mode. His front bumpers are painted completely black as opposed to Energon Ironhide which is partially painted black.

 

Energon Strongarm may have a more show accuaret head but Superlink Strongarm also has more show accurate feet. It has those black lines on the hood of the vehicle. So in conclusion, both Energon and Superlink Strongarm tie.

 

When Transformers Cybertron comes out, I'm gonna stick with the show accurate colors of Takara's mainly because I dig show accuracy and I also have plans to use my toys for other purposes other than collecting, displaying, and playing with.

[Evil Hamster]

Despite lacking show accuracy, the Hasbro toys have equal durability with those of Takara's.

 

It's true that Takara toys are much more expensive but what I do to save money is I purchase those toys I think will sell out fast (Sprung, Wheeljack, Lazerwave, Bruticus) and I wait for the other toys to decrease in price. recently I ordered Superlink Rodimus for 6.99, Superlink Signal Flare for 2.99. I also got Beast Wars Neo Guiledart for 7.99 and Micron Cyclonus for 5.99

 

Some months ago, I got Superlink Skyblast for 4.99 and Superlink Hot Shot for 12.99.

 

But by far the best bargain I ever got was Micron Legend Super Base Convoy for a mere $19.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was an amazing deal I'll never forget, I ordered it within 5 minutes of stumbling upon it.

 

So the strategy fellow TF fans who prefer Takara's show accurate Transformers, is wait don't buy immediately. Make a checklist of all the toys you plan on getting, highlight the ones you think are most popular or sought after, look at online stores to see the hottest selling toys, shoppertron is an excellent source of information, and get the harder to find toys, leave the common ones for later.

 

:clap

[OptimusTarzan]

But by far the best bargain I ever got was Micron Legend Super Base Convoy for a mere $19.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was an amazing deal I'll never forget, I ordered it within 5 minutes of stumbling upon it.

 

Is that the same as Armada Optimus Prime w/trailer? If it is, $20 is not a deal cuz they have boxes of him collecting dust at TRU for $19.99. :tflaugh

[Evil Hamster]

actually it is because the Japanese version of Armada Prime is much much more show accurate. Here are the reasons why:

 

Vehicle mode

 

Micron version has a front bumper painted entirely silver as opposed to Hasbros's which has only the sides painted silver.

 

The chip inside Micron Prime's windows has letters and numbers according to the different parts it's composed of. This is proof that Takara shows more pride in its toys. The chip in Micron Prime's windows is also more organized and cleaner looking.

 

Armada Prime has many parts painted gold that should be yellow like in the show. Although Takara's Prime doesn't have those gold parts painted entirely yellow, the most important ones have been painted yellow except for the hands, the crest and mouthplate of the larger robot, and a few traces of gold found in the trailer.

 

Another thing that surprised the hell out of me is found in the cab section where Prime's hands stick out at the rear of the vehicle. Takara went a step further by painting the underside of Prime's hands as opposed to Hasbro which left it blue.

 

Regular Robot Mode

 

In robot mode (that is the cab transformed), Prime can greater poseability in his legs. The tips of his feet have also been painted yellow like in the show as opposed to Hasbro's Prime which is blue.

 

Super Robot Mode

 

Micron Prime can hold his gun in both hands as opposed to Hasbro's. I remember before selling my Armada Prime, that he could only hold his gun in the hand that contained the red light. The other hand couldn't hold it for some reason.

 

Now one thing that I cannot forget about Hasbro's Prime is that when you transform the arms of the larger robot (the one consisting of the cab and trailer combined), for some reason, the left arm looks oddly different from the right arm. If you look close enough, the silver section in the left arm doesn't match the position of the right arm. This is VERY noticeable. On the other hand, Takara's Prime doesn't have this problem.

 

Lastly, Micron Sparkplug's windows are more show accurate than Armada Sparkplug's. The Hasbro version has purple windows while Takara's has gray windows like in the show.

 

The only complaint I have about Micron Prime is that the peg which connects to the trailer isn't that secure. However, this can be remedied with a little bit of nail polish.

 

So as you can see, although TRU is selling Armada Prime and Final Battle Prime for $20, my Micron Prime beats it because it is more show accurate and more care, color, and pride has been put into it.

 

:tflaugh1