Universe 2.0 Sidswipe In-Package

[lcz128]

If you really want to complain about someone, go complain at Takara. They're supposed to be collector focused so if they screw up majorly like they did with Sideswipe or Henkei Wildrider, then there's cause for uproar. Those are major stuff ups for a company supposedly trying to build itself on being more collector and quality orientated.

DID they stuff up on Sideswipe? Where? I thought the pics looked good for Swipe! :O

Or am I confused now? I'm personally a bit undecided on Wildrider, but it does look quite alright

[kup]

I don't like it but don't think for a moment Hasbro give a crap about my "blind praise" or "silence". They care about whether the toys move off the shelves and they sure as hell aren't going to care about a bunch of collectors moping and whinging on their boards.

I think everyone has their eyes opened. It's just some of us realise that saying how much we hate Hasbro and trying to rally an army of collectors at their doors with pitchforks ain't gonna happen. Parents aren't going to care and kids aren't sure as hell going to either. Quite frankly most of them don't notice. At the end of the day, we are a minority and I don't like it either but I've come to accept the reality is Hasbro plays a numbers game. It's brand is more important for it to build sales volumes to the mass market, not to a bunch of collectors raving madly in front of their computer screens.

When you use the word "agenda" it makes it seem like some systematic ploy that Hasbro has of alienating us. That they set out with the intent to maliciously deprive of us of the perfect toys we deserve. They don't. They're negligent and that's spun out of the fact that they honestly just don't give a stuff. They want high volumes moving and high sales. They don't care what you, me, or joe blow want. And that's their business model. Like it or not, it works for them on the back of the strength of the brand at the moment. But let's not kid ourselves for a moment and think that Hasbro are setting out with this vendetta against us. They aren't. They're just a lazy bunch of cost cutting profit seekers who see little value in high quality paint applications.

Do I like it? Hell no. But I don't have much of a choice. Hence why I turn to Takara.

No vendeta against collectors, I am sure we barely register on Hasbro's radar, they are marketing at kids after all; it would be irresponsible if they didn't. As Gok mentioned, Takara's Henkei and many of their recent past main stream releases (Galaxy Force, etc) have also been marketed at kids, not collectors, so both are focusing on the same age groups, in that regard Takara is not doing any 'extra mile' to please us, just functioning as normal. They just want to produce a toy that little Yoshi san and his parents will be satisfied with.

The agenda has nothing to do with Collectors, its all about cost cutting for the sake of profits at the loss of the end consumer (kids and parents primarily). That's the problem. If the general population is unaffected by this and continue buying, then that's their problem but it will not stop me from speaking my mind about deteriorating production standards.

If you really want to complain about someone, go complain at Takara. They're supposed to be collector focused so if they screw up majorly like they did with Sideswipe or Henkei Wildrider, then there's cause for uproar. Those are major stuff ups for a company supposedly trying to build itself on being more collector and quality orientated.

Yeah, I am annoyed that Takara placed chrome on Sideswipe and that is why I am talking about removing it with others. However I can see this chrome addition as more in the line of bad judgment (IMO) than deliberate cost cutting or laziness. Also I would have gone for Hasbro's version if they hadn't gotten cheap with the paint as that is beyond repair unless you are skilled enough to repaint the whole figure itself, it also affects the overall look of the alt mode negatively.

In my opinion Takara made a similar mistake with Grimlock by going overboard with the chrome and as a result I prefer the Hasbro version and have already praised them on that. However I cannot criticize Henkei Grimlock nor Sideswipe in the same way as the bad paint on Universe Prowl, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe because one is an artistic choice that I disagree with while the other is distinct cost cutting at the expense of quality. Disagreement about chrome implementation has nothing to do with quality just bad creative choice depending on your point o view, however dirty looking white paint on Prowl, mismatched colors and other factors are hardly creative choices in nature.

[kup]

DID they stuff up on Sideswipe? Where? I thought the pics looked good for Swipe! :O

Or am I confused now? I'm personally a bit undecided on Wildrider, but it does look quite alright

He is referring to the silver chrome on the rear spoiler which I personally don't like either.

[dirge]

Yep, and if toys keep falling to bits, kids arn't going to keep asking their parents for them either.

Parents will also boycott the line if they buy one and it breaks straight out. Like 1974 Bumblebee. My first one broke before I even tried to tranform it

I'm talking about the relative disparity of criticism when it comes to Takara.

I think on the whole, a lot of the criticism aimed at Hasbro is the end result of a lot of frustration. Generally speaking, Takara tend to learn from their mistakes, so while they misstep from time to time, they rarely make the same mistake twice. Hence avoiding that frustration.

All I see is the same jumping up and down and screaming at Hasbro cursing them for some sort of "systematic" plot against customers/collectors.

Yeah, I think that was a poor choice of words. I don't for a second think Hasbro give collectors a thought either way most of the time (okay, on some toys they do, but for most, the collectors don't come into it). I don't mind that, TBH. It's the lack of focus & laziness that bothers me.

Just as an example - on Armada Starscream & Thundercracker Hasbro bothered to sculpt the Decepticon logos on the wings. And painted the whole thing purple. When Wheeljack rolled around, they did the same thing on his more prominent Autobot logo, which really served to dilute the whole point of his scratched out Autobot logo. At this same stage, Takara's Rampage had unpainted relief on the same logo - they'd already realised that a little effort makes the toy significantly better.

The same fans who get frustrated with Hasbro still experience disappointment with Takara's products - I know I was spectacularly unimpressed with Greenscream's soft, weak plastic, and was only too happy to sing Hasbro's praise on that one. Takara realised they missed it up, mind you - Skywarp's plastic is a _lot_ better.

I'll probably get Henkei Swiper - for the sake of matching reds. And just live with the chrome.

[Golden Phoenix]

He is referring to the silver chrome on the rear spoiler which I personally don't like either.

I agree that it doesn't look the best but I struggle to find a better place to put it. Takara is doing the whole "chrome on each figure" and they are doing it in at least 2 spots. The gun is obvious, but where else could they plausibly do it?
Possibly the vents on top of the car, but is he coming with those?

[MV75]

I agree that it doesn't look the best but I struggle to find a better place to put it. Takara is doing the whole "chrome on each figure" and they are doing it in at least 2 spots. The gun is obvious, but where else could they plausibly do it?
Possibly the vents on top of the car, but is he coming with those?

Part of the robot, say the waist maybe, or even the wheels. But silver spoilers are in fashion, more or less over there, but these are factory spoilers, so they wouldn't be chromed anyway irl.

Either way I don't think it really ruins the figure, at least they've made it more accurate by taking off the air dams and fixed the paint. If you still don't like the spoiler, it's an easy fix.

And yea, there's a reason they call them spoilers.

[Zippo]

Don't like the chrome because Sunstreaker has it, but I don't hate it enough to try and get rid of it. Maybe if I could get a Hasbro Sideswipe without two tone paint then ...

[GoktimusPrime]

See... I kinda think that the chrome on Sideswipe is cool because it matches with Sunstreaker. *shrug* As kup said, it's purely a matter of opinionated taste here - Takara hasn't stuffed up in terms of cheaping out or through lack of attention/care by using mismatching shades of the same colour. You can see that Takara are really making an effort here to make the toy look cool. Whether you think the results are cool or not is a matter of taste, but you can't fault the effort. Having two different shades of yellow on Universe Sunstreaker or two vastly different shades of red on Sideswipe on the other hand... that's just sloppy IMHO. :/

[Gutsman Heavy]

eh, I like the chrome spoiler, however I hate it on Bumblebee and Mirage.

[Robzy]

It's simple... just get both versions!