Japanese crowd-funding project for gold Optimus and STARS set

[griffin]

I would kill for a clean (unsullied, unsoiled) STARS kit from my childhood, and never knew there was a Japanese specific version. But are these official and licensed, or some fanboys dream? Especially the Optimus Prime.... given there are so many KO variants, were they thinking of using that or an actual Optimus release from Takara?

Hasbro did something recently for GI Joe with the Cobra Missile Base (a paper display), so I would hope they follow suit with the US version of Stars. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I'd say that these are official, as it looks to be promoted through a source that has had a lot of promotions and exclusive (redeco) Transformers toys in the past.
I don't think I was aware of a difference either... unless this one is not an exact replica, and the original Japanese one was indeed the same as the Hasbro version.
I too would love to have that Hasbro one, as I had it as a kid, but it went missing during one of the moves in the late 80s. It can go for a lot of money on ebay now.