Henkei VS Hasbro

[Jhiaxus]

The cost of Transformers for Americans means sweet FA to me. I'm sorry, but for me the cost of a Hasbro Transformer is comparable to a TakaraTOMY Transformer -- and for approximately the same price I'd rather get the Takara version if I happen to prefer it over the Hasbro version.

If the Hasbro versions were substantially cheaper for me like they are for Americans, then I may reconsider getting Takara versions. But they're not.

So as long as I'm earning my wage in AUD I'm always going to be looking at it from an Australian perspective... unless the price of Transformers here becomes cheaper and more comparable to what Americans pay. And that's not taking into account other factors like differences in average wages, cost of living etc.

The point I was making was that the reason Tomy's toys have more paint is that they COST MORE in their INTENDED MARKET.

That's got very little to do with the skewed view we have in Australia, and PRETENDING that it does is ridiculous. It might ENCOURAGE you to buy the Henkei toys, sure. That's fine, that's valid.

But that has nothing to do with the fact that Tomy doesn't put more paint on the toys out of a sense of customer satisfaction.

And as for the Quality Control thing, it works both ways. I've hardly EVER had to return a Hasbro toy. But I've had Tomy toys broken STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. All the anecdotal evidence I've ever heard put Tomy's quality control way bellow Hasbro's. But you know what? It's anecdotal.

LIke the tyre cracking? My Wild Ride's tyres cracked. he's a Japanese release. My Super X-Brawn's tyres never cracked -- or haven't yet.

Anecdotal.

Finally... will you please stop calling them "Takara". Takara doesn't exist any more. The company is named TakaraTomy in Japan, but as you point out you live in Australia. You have an Australian perspective. You only see things through an Australian point of view. In Australia the company is *TOMY*. Tomy is its international trading name. Look at any of your movie toys. Do you see the name Takara on them? Nope, nowhere.

Tomy.
--Jhiaxus.
(Seriously, dude. I get it... you look at it from an Australian perspective, that doesn't change the simple fact that neither the toys from Hasbro nor the toys from Tomy are made for the Australian market.)

[Darth Conlan]

Are there any rumors of new seekers coming out? To me it would be a no brainer to name and release the Rainmakers.

[kup]

Are there any rumors of new seekers coming out? To me it would be a no brainer to name and release the Rainmakers.

The obvious repaint would be Sunstorm but nothing has been announced for Classics. However if one happens, I am afraid that Hasbro will paint him piss yellow rather than orange like they did with titanium. The Animated and E-hobby color schemes are the way to go.

[Darth Conlan]

Yeah I have the E-Hobby one coming from ebay. Love him. He is my Fav transformer. Would like him in henkei/classic/generation though.

[Kyle]

And as for the Quality Control thing, it works both ways. I've hardly EVER had to return a Hasbro toy. But I've had Tomy toys broken STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. All the anecdotal evidence I've ever heard put Tomy's quality control way bellow Hasbro's. But you know what? It's anecdotal.

As much as I prefer TakaraTomy's colours over Hasbro in general, I have to say I've had many more QC issues with TT's toys than Hasbro.

Car Robots Black Convoy - one leg was missing paint details.
Reissue God Ginrai - missing a front wheel.
Movie 1 Trans-scanning Optimus Prime - the leg broke right out of the box.
Henkei Sunstreaker - gun was supposed to have two chromed pieces, left and right. Mine had two right pieces...
Henkei Alert - Right arm has a moulding defect.
ROTF Buster Optimus Prime - elbow was very loose, I unscrewed and opened the arm to find a ratchet joint component missing.
If I'm being picky, I can list many many more...

Fellow forum member Bruticus also has a part missing in his set of EZ Collection Constructicons... he can't form Devastator.

Not to mention a number of my friends who had two right thighs or two left thighs on their Henkei Starscream... as well as parts missing on their MP-4 Convoy.

[kup]

I only begun to encounter heavy QC issues with Takara-Tomy during Henkei. Before that, I was very happy with them in that regard. On the other hand, Hasbro also had decent QC too but at around the time Universe 2.0 appeared, their QC also fell to the ground.

Since it has been established that both releases are from the same factory, then it makes sense why both lines have such mediocre QC. Hasbro/TakTom should have been on top of that as the problem continued on for subsequent waves.

For the record QC =/= 'nicer paint finish' it's about preventing manufacturing defects from reaching the store shelves. I had people confuse the two in similar discussions in the past.

[Darth Conlan]

Just on another question guys, where is the best visual guide for TF products?

[kup]

Is this fact or theory? If it's fact, I'd like to know more. If it's theory, that's cool too, just want to make sure

Gok has a Universe Hotshot which was mistakenly assembled with both Henkei and Universe parts out of factory packaging. This points that both releases are assembled within the same factory and therefore two production lines.

[GoktimusPrime]

Exhibit A:

[sifun]

franken hotshot! can we get robot mode shots