Quote Originally Posted by Cat View Post
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.