Difference in Takara and Hasbro Masterpiece Seekers

[Pegasus]

Hi All,

I was just curious to know if there was any quality/build differences between Hasbro and Takara MP seekers?

I was looking to buy the Takara Starscream with anime colours and weathering but I'm wondering shall I just pick up the Hasbro one as it's a bit cheaper and from what it looks like exactly the same bar the battle damage/weathering. I'm also looking to buy Skywarp, and despite the alternate head thing I'm being swayed towards to the Hasbro version.

All my Binaltechs were Takara and so was my MP Prime so I'm just wondering if I do pick up the Hasbro's will they be cheap plastic and lighter than a $2 coin?

Any insight, recommendations much appreciated!

[Lint]

If you're talking anime/cartoon colours I think they're both the exact same US toy just with a different sticker slapped on the front. I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong. :rolleyes:

[Golden Phoenix]

If you're talking anime/cartoon colours I think they're both the exact same US toy just with a different sticker slapped on the front. I'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong. :rolleyes:

I think one also has some extra paint apps, like burn marks around the engines at the back

[jaydisc]

I was also under the impression that the only difference was the extra decepticon logo on the nosecone, but Liegeprime said the Takara one doesn't have battle damage, although I can't find any evidence of that from pics online.

[d*r*j*]

Hi All,

I was just curious to know if there was any quality/build differences between Hasbro and Takara MP seekers?

I was looking to buy the Takara Starscream with anime colours and weathering but I'm wondering shall I just pick up the Hasbro one as it's a bit cheaper and from what it looks like exactly the same bar the battle damage/weathering. I'm also looking to buy Skywarp, and despite the alternate head thing I'm being swayed towards to the Hasbro version.

All my Binaltechs were Takara and so was my MP Prime so I'm just wondering if I do pick up the Hasbro's will they be cheap plastic and lighter than a $2 coin?

Any insight, recommendations much appreciated!


I only own the walmart starscream, but from what the internet has told me it is only slightly different to the 'USA' version SS that was released in Japan. I think the japanese version is slightly pointier and the battle damage is silver rather than black. I also think that there was some changes to the nosecone colour and an added decepticon insignia. All reports (as far as I recall) have the quality of the two, in terms of plasics used, as identical.
The internet also told me that the original MP-03 is made of a more brittle plastic that has breakage issues.

[Pegasus]

The new Takara version with cartoon colours has the burn marks around the thrusters. I prefer this one out of them all but figuring I can just get the Hasbro one and do the weathering myself and save costs.

So beside paint schemes is there any difference? Does the Hasbro one have more plastic than die-cast as with the Binaltechs/Alternators?
If there is no diff I might as well go with the Hasbro versions and save myself a bit of $$!

[Kyle]

I think I heard from somewhere that the pointy bits on the tail fins are sharper on the Takara USA Edition ones but the Hasbro ones were made more blunt. I've never confirmed this myself though.

[liegeprime]

If the Hasbro black battle damage doesnt bother you, then go for the Hasbro one as it is cheaper. Everything else is indeed similar physical wise between the Takara to Hasbro version. Its mostly the paint apps where they differ (and price range) Hasbro's battle damage is black paint smudged here and there, while Takara has em less and changed to silvery making Screamer look cleaner and as already mentioned the nosecone has that decepticon sigil for the Takara one.

[GoktimusPrime]

I have both original Takara MP Starscream and Hasbro MP Starscream; mouldwise I haven't noticed any difference. The plastic quality on the Hasbro version is gooder though. I remember seeing USA Edition MP Starscream in package a few years ago; iirc it's almost the same as Hasbro's MP Starscream but with less scorchmarks and the nosecone logo.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/mpstarscream.jpg

http://tfu.info/2007/Decepticon/MPStarscream/starscream.htm
http://www.cliffbee.com/reviews/truscream.php

[Kyle]

In terms of build quality:

(1) The original TakaraTomy MP-3 Starscream (aka "Greenscream")
had the worst plastic used.

(2) The Hasbro version of Starscream (G1 show accurate colour),
(3) the TakaraTomy version of (2) ("TakaraTomy USA Edition", basically with less scorchmarks),
(4) the TakaraTomy MP-6 Skywarp, and
(5) the TakaraTomy MP-7 Thundercracker
all had much better plastics compared to (1)

[willocrew]

I've only got the Hasbro starscream.

If you're worried about the 'damage marks', I think it isn't a big issue because the marks do look very light/minimal when you have the toy in hand.

But of course, my opinion was swayed [positively] by the more affordable price tag.

[liegeprime]

If your looking to buy one - well there's a Hasbro version up for sale by another member here. Its listed on the very first post. :)

http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=5455&page=6

[Pegasus]

Cheers guys - definitely answered all the questions I had regarding seekers.

Thanks for the link liegeprime, but as I'm a newbie I believe I need to wait a month before I get access to sections such as the sale yard.
Hopefully no one will have bought it and I can snap it up when my probationary period is up :)

[Towers_Spy]

A bit late, and no one's mentioned this yet - I bought Takara MP Skywarp and TC at the same time, and they came in really fancy packaging, and were only the base colours, you had to apply their wing stripes and insignias youself (stickers).
I just bought Hasbro Starscream (as i found out i dont need to fork out zillions like i did for warp and TC!) and the packaging is just plastic, there's no sickers, the stripes and insignias are already there..
thats the only difference i noticed. I was really unsure about them, but they seem so similar it didnt really matter :)