How is this old thread about a rumor still news?

It's not.

I think you missinterpreted the article. Japan accounts for only 10% of all transformers sales (from either hasbro or takara) Here is the pertinent quote from the article:

 

That's likely to make it a hard slog for Tomy in Japan, where the company has exclusive rights. [Hasbro (HAS) owns the Transformers' marketing license in the U.S. and other key overseas markets.] Though 300 million Transformers toys have been sold in more than 130 countries over the years, Japan has only accounted for 10% of sales.

The quote from the article doesn't really put anything into context so it's hard to say how relevant that 10% number is - you need to see a breakdown of sales by region, which you could then correlate with the population.

The first 10% is of all TFs ever sold worldwide (i.e. Hasbro + Takara + Tomy) from 1984 to just recently. Note the author's language ambiguates whether that is of units or of sales (dollars/yen).

 

The second 10% is of Takara-Tomy's brands sold worldwide ANNUALLY, from the latest recent years. Note this isn't much different from the brand's percentage of Hasbro's total sales in recent years prior to the movie.

 

As trench said, there is insufficient info to determine whether TT is currently "saturating their market in Japan" or not.

The point they are making is 1) Takara is stuck with Japan as the only major market for TFs that they can sell into. 2) that Japan hasn't been a huge percentage of TF sales over the years.

 

There was a lot of misscomunication saying that Japanese sales don't make up a large share fo Takara's TF sales. This appears to be false since the artcle explicitly states that Japan is Takara's only large market and makes no mention of the grey market at all.

 

The first 10% is of all TFs ever sold worldwide (i.e. Hasbro + Takara + Tomy) from 1984 to just recently. Note the author's language ambiguates whether that is of units or of sales (dollars/yen).

 

The second 10% is of Takara-Tomy's brands sold worldwide ANNUALLY, from the latest recent years. Note this isn't much different from the brand's percentage of Hasbro's total sales in recent years prior to the movie.

 

As trench said, there is insufficient info to determine whether TT is currently "saturating their market in Japan" or not.

I decided to reverse the quotations.

The first 10% is of all TFs ever sold worldwide (i.e. Hasbro + Takara + Tomy) from 1984 to just recently. Note the author's language ambiguates whether that is of units or of sales (dollars/yen).

 

The second 10% is of Takara-Tomy's brands sold worldwide ANNUALLY, from the latest recent years. Note this isn't much different from the brand's percentage of Hasbro's total sales in recent years prior to the movie.

 

As trench said, there is insufficient info to determine whether TT is currently "saturating their market in Japan" or not.

The point they are making is 1) Takara is stuck with Japan as the only major market for TFs that they can sell into. 2) that Japan hasn't been a huge percentage of TF sales over the years.

My perception was that the article was commenting on the impact of the current TF brand popularity, as compared to other factors like the recent China-manufactured toy recalls, the success of other Tomy brands, and competing non-Tomy brands, on the investment quality of Takara-Tomy shares.

There was a lot of misscomunication saying that Japanese sales don't make up a large share fo Takara's TF sales. This appears to be false since the artcle explicitly states that Japan is Takara's only large market and makes no mention of the grey market at all.

Yeah. It's a bit hard to discern which part of the miscommunication arose due to the author and which due to the initial reader, although it's understandable when it comes to the average person reading financial figures out of a business article and attempting to make sense of them.

Okay. I may have mixed it up. It is very unclear.

Actually, I mentioned it in my last post on page 7. It's a "USA Edition" so I doubt it'll have a number and will probably come in the Hasbro package like other "USA Editions" do. It seems the only difference will be the Takara version wont have the scorch marks.

 

Well, "actually", the thing I was referring to was if it would be included in the MP-## numbering or not. I wasn't trying to announce anything groundbreaking. And I wasn't aware of any "USA Edition" releases by Takara of any other Masterpiece figures. Did they release a "USA Edition" 20th Anniversary Prime? Not to my knowledge. It was MP-01 Convoy. MP-04 was a direct re-release of MP-01 and it only added a trailer. Anime-Edition Starscream would still be a Masterpiece figure, so I was just commenting on whether it would be included in its proper line, since it's still a re-release of a previous figure, and more of a "complete" or accurate version than the previous.

 

If it isn't to be included in the numbering, then fine by me. It just means we get to the other "filler" jets sooner and get more MP-scale Decepticon jets to balance an overbearing army of Alternator Autobots.

 

Let's just say I would be really surprised if there's a number on this thing. None of the retailers are giving it a number and no other "USA Edition" (and there have been many) have been included as part of a main line. These are more or less "official imports". It's like what Hasbro did years ago when they offered imported LioConvoy and Galvatron on their website in the 90's. They're tied into the line's popularity without being part of the line. I doubt Starscream will even come in the familiar black box.

 

Emerje

Didn't this topic get moved? I'm so confused.

I guess somebody thinks it's news... I don't. :tflaugh

I don't think it's entirely impossible to get a Masterpiece Bumblebee within the next couple made.