Henkei VS Hasbro

[Lint]

So don'tcha just love it whenever American fans start whinging about how expensive Transformers are in the U.S.?! (-_-) :/

You do realise our minimum wage is close to double theirs? So given that our TF prices are roughly double theirs, if you're complaining I think they still have the right to too.

[5FDP]

So as long as I'm earning my wage in AUD I'm always going to be looking at it from an Australian perspective

I guess in this regard I'm looking at it from a Japanese POV. ;p

I get it... you want your cake and eat it too

[Lord_Zed]

So don'tcha just love it whenever American fans start whinging about how expensive Transformers are in the U.S.?! (-_-) :/

No, but I love it when they whinge about how exspensive Henkeis and other Japanese TF's are now due to the relative weakness of the USD to the yen.

For me the minimal price difference as already discussed between Henkeis and Universe is the clincher. Although 3 Henkeis that far exceed thier Hasbro counterparts even without this would be Megatron, Astrotrain and Smokescreen.

As for the Seeker debate Hasbro have announced Thrust, and they always seem to release 2 seeker jet molds in previous Universe and Classics assortments, many fans are excpecting Dirge so yeah my money is on Sunstorm.

[GoktimusPrime]

You do realise our minimum wage is close to double theirs? So given that our TF prices are roughly double theirs, if you're complaining I think they still have the right to too.

I wasn't aware of that, but then again, most of the American Transfans that I usually talk to have university degrees and are employed in occupational fields like engineering. Also, if you're in the absolute minimum wage bracket then perhaps taking up an expensive hobby like toy collecting may not be a terribly wise decision. Or if you did your collecting habits would be different from those of higher income. There's a reason why I don't have a MISB G1 Fortress Maximus and Grand Maximus.

Heh, when I was in the anime club at uni almost everyone was studying either engineering or I.T. I was the oddball with the arts/education major.

I get it... you want your cake and eat it too

Allow me to clarify...

When it comes to the name of TakaraTOMY, I call it TakaraTOMY. Yes I know that officially it's only called TakaraTOMY in Japan and its international trading name is just TOMY. It's probably because usually when I think about Japanese Transformers I am actually thinking in Japanese in my mind. So it's more intuitive for me to think of them as TakaraTOMY. That's not to say that I'm more "correct," but it's just my personal preference. I also pointed out that I do try to take care in separating pre and post TOMY Takara.

As a consumer I make my choices from an Australian POV. For example Universe Sunstreaker retails here for typically $30 whereas Henkei Sunstreaker retails for 2310JPY. From a Japanese perspective that's like $23.10 if you're earning your wage in JPY. But from an Australian perspective 2310JPY is about $28. So for what is a comparable price for me, since I personally prefer the Henkei version, I would rather spend that money on the Henkei.

Now I can accept the notion that the Hasbro versions may not have been intended for the Australian market - fine. But the end result for me as an Australian is that the Hasbro versions cost approximately the SAME as the TakaraTOMY versions. So for what costs me a similar amount I might as well choose which one I prefer, since buying the Hasbro version doesn't really save me much money.

Sure, I also need to pay for postage - but it's an additional cost that I'm willing to pay for the toy if I prefer it that much over the Hasbro version. I also save money on postage by doing group orders with other people. On the other hand, while I did think that Henkei Smokescreen was nicer than Universe Smokescreen, I didn't think it was nice enough to justify the cost of shipping. So I skipped Henkei Smokescreen and got the Universe version instead.

So I'm not saying that the Japanese versions are universally better than the Hasbro versions or vice versa -- I think you need to make a case by case call and decide for yourself if it's worth importing or if you're content with the Hasbro version.

[5FDP]

Long-winded post about stuff

I was just being silly dude. Nothing was meant by the 'cake' comment so please don't feel the need to defend yourself Friends?

[GoktimusPrime]

s'cool.

"I'm not yelling, I'm just passionate!" - King Leonidas (United 300)

[Lint]

I wasn't aware of that, but then again, most of the American Transfans that I usually talk to have university degrees and are employed in occupational fields like engineering. Also, if you're in the absolute minimum wage bracket then perhaps taking up an expensive hobby like toy collecting may not be a terribly wise decision.

How much money they're raking in doesn't change the fact that you're talking to a bunch of people who are accustomed to paying $3 for a year's supply of pickles

Call me cheap (rhetorical ) but I'm employed in the same field and I'm still outraged that a bag of 175g crisps costs 3 bucks at the supermarket.

[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?