Quote Originally Posted by TheDirtyDigger
I think that's a point that could be argued simply by saying Japanese-made anything is better than Chinese-made anything. The Japs, like the Germans, are commonly known for producing high quality products.
The Chinese...not so much.
So by saying "Japanese/Chinese-made" are you referring to products that are made by Japanese and Chinese, or products that are made in Japan and China?

If you meant the former, then I agree with you. But having said that, the Chinese have never made Transformers (not officially anyway). They manufacture them, but Transformers are all designed and engineered by HasTak.

If you meant the latter, as I said, Transformers have been made outside Japan (and predominantly in China) for the past 21 years. If simply being made in China was the cause then surely Transformers would've been plagued with these sorts of quality problems since 1988, but in my observation that's simply not the case.

It's HasTak who decide which kinds of plastics and paints they want to use on their toys, and the factory in China simply follows their instructions. So the cheap grey plastic isn't there because the Chinese aren't able to supply HasTak with better quality plastic, it's because that's what HasTak have instructed them to use. This was also touched upon in conversations with Eric Siebernaler for those of us who met him while he was in Australia.

Now having said that, Takara(TOMY) (especially pre-TOMY Takara) generally tend to have higher standards than Hasbro with their toys (e.g.: reissues, Henkei, Car Robot et al.). JMHO of course.