Transformers Henkei (Takara Classics) Review

[Paulbot]

I'm still not convinced by Grimlock's "contrasting" colours... If that arm problem was fixed it would be a maybe.

[kup]

I think that the Animated line is purely a Hasbro initiated endevour as the style is very much in line with contemporary US cartoons.

I read that interview too and the Classics are very much designed by Takara but it appears that the Universe Classics may be a Hasbro initiative, particularly the larger gimmick heavy figures such as Hothouse (Powerglide).

[1orion2many]

Sorry people but at the end of the day a new colour scheme and a slight remold will not make me fork out my money all over again, I have better TF's to spend my money on. Nice reviews anyway.

[sifun]

the aussie designer did bumblebee as well
Both awesome molds.

[Robzy]

Great review STL!

I was always gonna get Megs, Prime, Bumble and Screamer... but now you've got me thinking about Mirage too! Grimlock???... I'm still not so sure...

[GoktimusPrime]

So these Henkei TFs are actually how they were originally meant to be?

I don't know as I've never seen colour pictures of Takara's Classics designs. Even if there were coloured sketches, it's Hasbro's decision on what colours they actually want to go with and they will direct Takara accordingly to paint up the colours as per their specifications.

Hrm that strikes me as odd. So does Takara do more of the designing work?

Does the same go for Animated? One of the things I'm curious about it is whether or not I should wait for the Japanese version of Animated. If they are, I just might wait for those instead.

Takara does almost all of the design/engineering work for Transformers. Hasbro has some creative input with certain figures. What happens is that Hasbro will send over some design ideas or drawings over to Takara and Takara will give feedback back to Hasbro to let them know if they think if their idea is feasible for design, or what modifications need to be made. Once Hasbro approves the design, then Takara will go ahead and produce the toy.

Some memorable Ōno Kōjin (chief designer of G1 TFs) quotes:

"...the rear designs that Hasbro sent over for Kup's car mode that I saw were barely passable. That brings back some pretty twisted memories."

"We made these miniature figures that could become robot heads. It was also well received on Hasbro's end. Although I never thought we'd go as far as developing Fortress Maximus."

"At first we were told that we got these pictures from Hasbro, that had these humans and robots and wanted us to make them transform. We were totally stumped! We thought of all sorts of things, and ended up with the concept of placing robots inside humanoid shells."

The toy that was designed for Powermaster Optimus Prime and Ginrai started off with the same base design between Hasbro and Takara for the 1988 flagship toy for both markets, but whereas Hasbro placed their stamp of approval on what we got for PM Prime, Takara refused to approve the design for their market until it was further refined until they achieved what we got for Ginrai.

"(Powermaster Optimus Prime) was somewhat lacking, so with that in mind I added die-cast and clear plastic parts." - Ōno Kōjin

I think that the Animated line is purely a Hasbro initiated endevour as the style is very much in line with contemporary US cartoons.

Yes, I'd say that Animated is very much Hasbro-led, but Takara would still be doing the designs and engineering.

[jaydisc]

The name of the Australian engineer is Alex Kubalsky. He's from Melbourne and goes to Japan for six month stints to do work. The well known interview with him says he designed Classics Mirage, Classics Bumblebee and Movie Bumbelebee.

I won a Seaspray off of him on eBay, picked it up at his place. He had a bunch of Lawson Bumblebees and other rare oddities lying around at the time. He was very friendly. Digger knows him well.

This is the interview: http://pingmag.jp/2007/06/29/transformers/

[kup]

I don't get it. If Takara does all the toy designing then how come you have people like Aaron Archer who takes full credit for toy designs such as Transmetal 2s, Beast Machines and others.

Are they taking credit for the design concept and not the actual toy?

[autobreadticon]

good read STL, your review on Henkei Mirage saved me a lot of grief, the henkei one is best

[GoktimusPrime]

I don't get it. If Takara does all the toy designing then how come you have people like Aaron Archer who takes full credit for toy designs such as Transmetal 2s, Beast Machines and others.

Are they taking credit for the design concept and not the actual toy?

Aaron Archer takes credit for Alternators, which was initially just Binaltech in plastic. (-_-)