Henkei VS Hasbro

[Oilspill]

I tend to buy Hasbro's figures as I think they're generally as good (or better) than Henkei, except for a few exceptions where I consider the Henkei version superior.

Megatron and Astrotrain are far superior in the Henkei line.

I also picked up Henkei Hound, Ratchet, Ironhide, Powerglide, Smokescreen, Onslaught(maybe, not 100% sure which one my Onslaught is) and all the legends as I thought they were a little better than the Hasbro versions.

[Lordy]

My Henkei Megatron and Smokescreen are far better looking than the Universe versions, but I prefer my Universe Cyclonus over the Henkei version

[GoktimusPrime]

For me honestly it was whatever I could afford at the time

It's also about what was available at the time. When Classics first came out in 2006 most of us leapt for joy and grabbed these toys as quickly as we could! It wasn't as if at the time we knew that TakaraTOMY would release Henkei two years in the future (after all if any of us could accurately predict future events we could stop working and live the rest of our lives by winning every lottery!).

When Henkei came out I did think that overall it was an improvement over Classics. But to be fair to Hasbro, it's because Takara's came later, so obviously you'd try to improve over what came before. So while I think Henkei is overall better, I think that Classics is pretty good too -- good enough that with the exception of Megatron and Astrotrain, I don't feel the urge to replace my Classics with Henkeis. Having said that, I think that if I were a new collector trying to start a "Classics" collection now, I would probably opt for Henkei for most figures.

At least new collectors have the advantage of retrospective hindsight and can _choose_ which version they want! A luxury some of us didn't quite have four years ago.

[lcz128]

The Henkei line has brought out a lot of awesome releases. Not all of them were released after the Classics/Universe equivalents either, nor are they all 'better' than the other -

As someone mentioned, the QC is about as shocking as Hasbro's - what can you do?

But an example of something that was released before a hasbro equivalent is:
Red Alert
He's AWESOME, and I can't see any way a Hasbro release could be better than that

but then there's Sideswipe - where the Hasbro release doesn't have chrome, and is actually more accurate than the Henkei one! Funny how things turn out!

So - like many have said - Pick and Choose! The choice is yours! 8D

[kup]

When it comes to the original 'Classics' releases such as Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Bumblebee, etc. I do happen to mostly prefer the Classics version than Henkei.

The Classics toys don't seem to predate the lower manufacturing quality that can be seen in Universe (classics 2.0).

[christalcase]

I guess tend towards henkei a little bit, since imo a lot of them look reli awesome and better but they tend to be more expensive too... (u'll prob hav to import them, so u'll hav to pay shipping costs)

for ease, hasbro I think is gud enough, and tend to be cheaper, as least I dont hav to wait aaaggges to wait for it to come (i can just grab it off the shelf wen I see it) and as ppl hav mentioned, which part of the toys has chrome reli makes diff

and yes, I think red alert is awesome too! well... except for da stupid loose elbow joints on mine

[blackie]

henkei come with techspecs
nuff said

[langzixinxin]

I was wondering is there a legal agreement between Takara and Hasbro that "the more G1 accurate paint always belongs to Takara"?

The only complain about henkei from me is the chrome. I don't want them on toys as they are easily worn.

I prefer G1 accurate paint, but no chrome.

[kup]

I was wondering is there a legal agreement between Takara and Hasbro that "the more G1 accurate paint always belongs to Takara"?

Both Henkei and Universe toys are made in the same factory with two production lines. Hasbro prefers to spend less on manufacturing costs for maximum profit while the Japanese have more of an emphasis on product quality and costumer satisfaction.

[Jhiaxus]

The Henkei toys usually look like balls compared to the Hasbro ones.

They're slathered with random chrome, adhere stupidly to the cartoon, and generally don't have the nice touches of extra colour that bring the toy to life -- like Prime's yellow high-lights, or Megatron's greens and purples.

--Jhiaxus.
(There's a reason I only own four Henkei toys -- and part of that reason is that 3 of them came in one pack. Legends! woo!)