JP Legends Headmasters from Titans Return

I think that there were some benefits to not retooling the Voyager head for TakaraTOMY, including:

• Cheaper :p

• The Hasbro head is still G1 toy-accurate; the Brainstorm toy was identical in Japan. This is different from say the head of Cerebros/Fortress; the Hasbro figure is based on the way that Marvel/Sunbow drew him which looks nothing like the G1 toy, and the Japanese cartoon was more toy accurate. Hence it would have too little appeal for the Japanese market which was probably why TakaraTOMY went with a more toy/anime-accurate head for their Fortress/Cerebros.

• There are Japanese fans who follow the IDW comics.

• The retooled head on the Deluxe now gives Japanese fans who own the Voyager an additional excuse to buy the Deluxe. ;) I'm not in a position to criticise this considering that I recently bought PM Optimus Prime and I'm still considering getting Ginrai. :p

I was more talking about the colour scheme, but there's that too.

It's interesting how Takara with their TG/LG series they've often got more western media accurate deco's than Hasbro - such as the entire FOC lineup, Ultra Magnus' red legs (from IDW) and Skid's IDW-esque deco...

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Originally Posted by prjkt

It's interesting how Takara with their TG/LG series they've often got more western media accurate deco's than Hasbro - such as the entire FOC lineup, Ultra Magnus' red legs (from IDW) and Skid's IDW-esque deco...

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I was editing my last post when you posted your reply, but yeah, there are Japanese fans who follow the IDW comics so the more IDW decoes would hold greater appeal for those fans. Although TakaraTOMY did abandon keeping Minimus Ambus in favour of repainting and repurposing that mould as Alpha Trion which makes no sense for IDW fans. But I'm guessing that Japanese fans who follow IDW would be a minority and Alpha Trion would hold greater market appeal. I think that TakaraTOMY are happy to make their toys IDW accurate as long as that accuracy doesn't make a reference that would be too obscure for those who have no knowledge of IDW. The red legs on Ultra Magnus and darker blue and additional red stripes on Skids are also more G1 toy accurate. The pink lines on Skids aren't G1 accurate but they also don't obscure Skids to the point that he would be unrecognisable to Japanese non-IDW savvy G1 fans, whereas I reckon a lot of those fans would've looked at Minimus Ambus and went, "Who the Fukushima is that?!" :p Heck, even at the EB Games Expo last year I had quite a few Aussie fans wondering who the hell Minimus Ambus was! So you can imagine how much lesser known this would be in Japan. ;)

Some comparison shots from TF Yuki:

http://i.imgur.com/EjuReBF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/YtQaEK9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/C3nJHQS.jpg

Hmmm... still no sword being shown in Fort Max photos. It's almost like the Japanese version isn't going to get one.

Time for him to change from Master Sword to Master Punch! :p But that's okay, because we all know that fist beats sword. ;)

Hrm, yes. No mention of the sworf on the items in the amazon listing either. Al the later HMs have their accessories listed. Max is claimed as having "Body and Instructions"

Ah, but the TT mall page has a better item breakdown where it states 3 weapons. No pictures of a sword though.

I guess the "3 weapons" must be Cerebros' gun and the two leg cannons (which can detach and become hand guns for Fort Max). :eek:

Package shots from TF Yuki:

http://i.imgur.com/JBDYMpn.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/J9ewQIf.jpg

can't wait for Blurr to hit. Much prefer that design to the Hasbro one, much more vibrant.

As for Shockwave... meh, too light imo, but I guess it's cartoon accurate.

More package pimping from TF Yuki:

http://i.imgur.com/8HAGQyy.jpg

have they shown what the takara astrotrain will look like?

I would expect show-accurate colours whereas the Hasbro one has clearly gone for toy-and-all-other-G1-media-accurate colours. ;)

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Originally Posted by philby

have they shown what the takara astrotrain will look like?

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Not yet as some of the Japanese stores don't even have him listed!

Astrotrain reveal:

http://i.imgur.com/M9KPLr9.jpg

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Originally Posted by MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!

Astrotrain reveal:

http://i.imgur.com/M9KPLr9.jpg

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I guess that was expected, as they did the same thing with the classics (white Hasbro, grey TakaraTomy), and had that limited edition reissue.
I'm not a fan of the two alt-modes of this Astrotrain, but since I display them in robot mode, I might end up getting this plus the Hasbro one.

Some better quality shots:

http://i.imgur.com/qLV25dW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Oij1kce.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/pljW1T0.jpg

I like how this guy looks. Do I get him or try and get my hands on the fantastic Henkei deluxe? I'll be in Japan for 2 months starting in December.

Display at the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention:

http://i.imgur.com/p3PCxsT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PGhoDXv.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7Kp5oqD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HEyYbDA.jpg

From TFYuki comes a photo of next month's Chromedome toy.

Plus a couple of Soundwave pics, who comes out in December.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

From TFYuki comes a photo of next month's Chromedome toy.

Plus a couple of Soundwave pics, who comes out in December.

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Chromedome looks amazing.
Soundwave is so-so...

Legends Super Ginrai (out in December) is looking really good in robot mode (from TakaraTomy's twitter)... almost good enough to fit into the Masterpiece shelf.

Via TF_Pr:

http://i.imgur.com/RD1tEdG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/R06jCvE.jpg

Lookign nice. For a minute there I though Chromedome lost his space wheels, but they are just a darker colour

Via TF_pr:

http://i.imgur.com/gYFOhsI.jpg

Brainstorm's face looks off, though I'm used to the US Headmasters I guess

Who is the black/grey guy with the red sword?

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Originally Posted by Omega Metro

Who is the black/grey guy with the red sword?

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Japanese version of Cerebros.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!

Japanese version of Cerebros.

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Thanks. I don't have Fortress Maximus so had no idea.:p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Initial_G

Brainstorm's face looks off, though I'm used to the US Headmasters I guess

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Likewise, While I like the Japanese face of the others not so sold on Brainstorm there.

Brainstorm is on point to the jp show so it's normal to not like if it's not the brainstorm you grew up with ;)

The colors on Brainstorm look blue like the original box art. I always dreamed of a blue Brainstorm toy, so stoked with how he turned out. I'll just swap the head with the Hasbro version

I bought the Titan Force set to get a Brainstorm that looks like the G1 cartoon (at least in bot mode). It's not an expensive set last time I looked.

According to Planet Iacon, LG-42 will be God Bomber:

http://i.imgur.com/0YoLbYl.jpg

A new image of Leo Prime has been tweeted by TakaraTomy, showing us how vibrant its colours will be, with the bright red, crisp white, and regal gold.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2016/120402.jpg

I think it is a more fitting use of that mould than Alpha Trion, who was probably only used for that mould because FunPub gave Alpha Trion a lion form a few years ago.

He looks better and better every time I see him. The paint and not coloured plastic really takes it to another level.

Tweeted by TakaraTomy is a comparison of their Super Ginrai toy to the Hasbro Powermaster Optimus toy.

Super Ginrai comes out in Asia in a couple of weeks.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2016/121101.jpg

Hmm a little taller, cool. Going to be one big beast when God Bomber is added

New tweet showing off the packaging. Reminds me of my original PM Prime.

https://twitter.com/TF_pr/status/809732498536042496

http://i.imgur.com/ZPlsBFW.jpg

From Figure King #227, looks like TT will be releasing a head pack consisting of:

• Grimlock
• Brawn
• Flywheels
• Chromedome (IDW version)
• Hardhead (Toy Version)
• Brainstorm (TF G1 Rebirth Version)

http://i.imgur.com/K6D0h90.jpg