A co-developed toy doesn't happen unless one party approaches the other and says, "Hey, wanna co-develop a toy for both our markets?" "Yes. Yes I do." -- this is what happened with Armada/Micron Legend. But unless that happens, then the non-cross-contamination clause in their contracts prevents each party from taking each other's market into consideration when developing a toy or line.

Takara would have only done so if they had Hasbro's express consent; cos that's what a Takara exec told me, and that was in a conversation that occured in 2003, before their merger with TOMY.