TF UNiverse 2.0 & next animated wave

[FFN]

What you guys are mistaking for production numbers (quantity) is actually down to budget and fixed price points of our market. Western retailers prefer fixed price points, which for the toy company determine the cost of design and production.

Specifically for Alternators, Hasbro wanted to sell the toys at $20 USD, so that meant all-plastic pieces and some sacrifices on paint where possible, otherwise the (very complex and expensive-to-produce) toys would be unprofitable at the $20 price point. Remember, they're selling in a market where corporate retailers control things, and it is quite likely that a higher price would be unacceptable to the retailers for a product that small.

Japan's different (smaller) market allows for a more flexible pricing system where toys in a line aren't rigidly priced by how big they are or what is in them, but by how much they think they can charge for it. For example, during Superlink, Takara removed the electronics from nearly all of the Autobots, but kept the prices the same as the Decepticons, who retained their electronics. Wing Saber was priced slightly more expensively despite still being considered (at least internally) as a Mega class toy.

Also, demographics, Hasbro primarily deals with a massive mass market, selling to major conglomerate retailers who primarily sell Transformers to children. By comparison, TakaraTomy is clinging onto a niche of dedicated (though a small number) of Japanese collector fans, so they pretty much *need* to throw some extra money into their decos because their primary customer base expects it in such a demanding market.

This is not about Hasbro not giving a shit about customer satisfaction or Takara caring more because they're Japanese (I would consider that a western stereotype), but different markets and different budgets at play.

[Tober]

When it comes to Alternators/BTs I have experienced both and frankly the Alts look like cheap KO copies next to a Binaltech.

Actually the cheap KO copies are made from diecast and use toxic enamel paint packaged in the smaller BT box. Therefore it would be more correct to say that the Binaltechs look more like the cheap KOs than Alternators.

Gok should be having an aneurism about now...

I will agree that the BTs are more fragile but their quality is still far and above the Alts even though I have had a bad experience with one Binaltech.

I think they both originate from the same master CAD Files. Only the shells are made from different materials and use different molds to compensate. At the end of the Binaltech line the quality of Red Alert had deteriorated considerably from his earlier counterparts to the extent that parts no longer lined up (which is why some people speculate that this is why they were packaged in robot mode, amongst other reasons).

[kup]

BT Asterix do have a couple of issues, I 'll admit that but it still looks a hell of a lot better than a crappy looking Plastic Alt.

I bought Alt Meister because I thought I would never get a hold of the BT version as the prices are crazy high and when I got the alt, I felt ripped off as the quality was so crap and it just felt cheap and awful despite the excellent mold.

Thankfully I was able to acquiere a BT Meister later on at an acceptable price because the Alt annoyed me as hell and stood out as if it were a KO on my shelf.

[Kyle]

I have only opened 2 ATs so far. The first one was AT Optimus Prime which I got before my Kiss Convoy. It looked very "plastic" and lacked painted details in bot mode compared to my previous BTs, but I was ok with it. My biggest complaint was when you display him in bot mode and there's a light source behind him, his chest plate looks very transparent and very fake. Later I got my Kiss Convoy. He's also all plastic, but Takara still applied an additional layer of red paint over all the red plastic, so he looks and feels like a BT. My AT Optimus Prime went into storage.

The other AT I opened was AT Hot Rod. I had owned Kiss Rodimus already whose quality is on the same level as Kiss Convoy, but I still wanted AT Hot Rod for his flame details, especially in bot mode. (I think the Kiss one's car mode looks better with the extra layer of red paint all over the plastic and the white racing stripes.) If you put the two side by side the with paint and without paint are quite noticeable. AT Hot Rod was better than AT Optimus though because the flame details helped to make the red plastic less "stand out". Now I keep both on my display, Kiss in car mode and AT in bot mode.

[kup]

I really do not mind Hasbro using platic, what annoys me is the very cheap quality they use. If they painted the plastic to give it a metalic shine and are consistent in the color I would not mind. What peed me off greatly about Alt Meister is that they were not consistant in the different plastic colors so you have different shades of 'white' just like the yellow of animated bumblebee giving it a broken up 'Frankensten' color scheme.

On top of that the surface of the BTs look like that of a real car while the alt has a very plastic look and instead of looking like a good car model it looks like a toy.

[MV75]

I dunno, the VE looks even cheaper and more plastic fantastic than a roadbot.

So being able to compare to real cars is sort of not valid anymore.
________
Oregon medical marijuana

[kup]

I dunno, the VE looks even cheaper and more plastic fantastic than a roadbot.

So being able to compare to real cars is sort of not valid anymore.

As in the 'closest' or a proper scale car model instead of looking like little Timmy's toy car?

[FFN]

I really do not mind Hasbro using platic, what annoys me is the very cheap quality they use. If they painted the plastic to give it a metalic shine and are consistent in the color I would not mind. What peed me off greatly about Alt Meister is that they were not consistant in the different plastic colors so you have different shades of 'white' just like the yellow of animated bumblebee giving it a broken up 'Frankensten' color scheme.

On top of that the surface of the BTs look like that of a real car while the alt has a very plastic look and instead of looking like a good car model it looks like a toy.

The plastic used by Hasbro is the same as the plastic used by Takara and TakaraTomy. The difference is Hasbro didn't paint the plastic. Eh, what are you gonna do when they were charging (at least in the US) half as much money.

And when BT Meister was released, there were complaints of his inconsistent hues of white (some panels were more of a creamy off-white than true white)>

BUT ZOMG, I thought Japan was infallible?!?

[Pulse]

Pulse opens with this awful line at his stand-up gig at Botcon...








Transfan 1:
"Wow! Here comes the TakaraTomy Bandwagon!"

Transfan 2:
"We'd better jump on board before it leaves us behind."

Transfan 1:
"Look at all those saps on the second-class Hasbro CityRail train! Haha!"

Transfan 2:
"Hey! You're infringing on Nelson Muntz's trademark!"








Pulse dodges more Fruit & Veg than Victoria Beckham...

(Please don't flame Me!)

[Tober]

The plastic used by Hasbro is the same as the plastic used by Takara and TakaraTomy. The difference is Hasbro didn't paint the plastic.

And when BT Meister was released, there were complaints of his inconsistent hues of white (some panels were more of a creamy off-white than true white)

Yeah, I remember when I got my red version of Meister (Zoom Zoom ) and was looking at it in the box, it was so apparent that the front was plastic instead of metal I had to dig out my white version to be sure I hadn't been duped with a hybrid BT with Alt parts (cos I didn't know back then that there was no red Meister Alternator). I've got Argent Meister in my hands now... it's basically perfect cos the whole shell is painted.

BUT ZOMG, I thought Japan was infallible?!?

Interesting to consider the comment above by Kyle about KP which I completely agree with (except for comparing HR to OP - as far as molds go they are at opposite ends of the spectrum imo). It took TAKARA merging with TOMY to make the BT/KP line profitable again. :P