Hasbro acquires Porsche licence for Transformers

[Cat]

If we get an MP Cliffjumper with chibi alt mode, it'll be the first licensed chibi Porsche that Tomy has released. Even though Tomy has released many Porsches in their Tomica scaled (e.g. 1/64 scale) model lines, Tomy has not released Porsches through their chibi Choro-Q line in 2 decades. Takara did release a few Choro-Q 'Porsches' in the 80s, but I don't think those were licensed (back then, the Diaclone cars and original G1 releases weren't licensed either, AFAIK).

You're right, those were all unlicensed back then. Iirc the first toy that required a license was Sideburn from RID, and that's the way things have been since.

[Tha_Phantom]

You're right, those were all unlicensed back then. Iirc the first toy that required a license was Sideburn from RID, and that's the way things have been since.

It's quite amazing to think it took a little over 15 years of Transformers before car licenses started being acquired. Especially given the accuracy of some alt modes in early G1.

[GoktimusPrime]

You're right, those were all unlicensed back then. Iirc the first toy that required a license was Sideburn from RID, and that's the way things have been since.

Yeah, Takara obtained the licence in order to be able to display the Dodge logo on Speedbreaker's bonnet. But Car Robot inspired Binaltech, and BT/Alternators was the first TF toy line where every single toy released had an officially licensed vehicle mode.

And as most people here probably already know, Takara did make a prototype Porsche BT Meister, but Porsche refused to grant licence which is why BT Meister ended up being a Mazda RX-8; with the red "Zoom-Zoom" version also released as part of the licensing deal. And Tracks had to be released in yellow first as per Corvette's insistence.