Henkei VS Hasbro

[GoktimusPrime]

Yes, they're generally more G1 accurate, but whether that's a good thing or not is entirely subjective.

I really don't like how Universe Prowl's missiles are unpainted. Being plain white makes them look really bland to me. I prefer the chrome missiles on Henkei Prowl - aside from making it more G1-like it also gives it highlight. Even if Hasbro had slapped on some silver or grey paint... something to make it less bland.

The yellows on Universe Sunstreaker are just awful, I don't like the shades or the fact that they mismatch. I much prefer the richer cadmium yellow on Henkei Sunstreaker.

I also really like how TakaraTOMY usually gives their Transformers tech spec cards and maintain a feedback survey (although the pre-TOMY surveys were a lot better). I also much prefer how TakaraTOMY bothered to try to maintain the Octane name (as Destron Octone, which is like "Decepticon Octane"), whereas Hasbro calling theirs "Tankor" is five flavours of fail and reeks of a lack of effort to me. With some effort I'm sure they could've worked out some way to maintain the name in some form, like maybe "Mega Octane". With "Tankor" I just thought, "are they even trying to maintain the Octane name??" -- I bought Henkei Octane over Universe Tankor purely over the name (I couldn't really care all that much about the chrome on this mould).

I agree with Lord_Zed though -- I prefer Universe Cyclonus over Henkei Cyclonus. But I don't like the mismatching greys. I don't see why Hasbro can't get things like the yellows on Sunstreaker or greys on Cyclonus just to be the same shade. :/

Hasbro and Tomy's releases have a big difference between them. Hasbro's releases are way, way, way, cheaper. They spend less money on paint aps, but as a result, their toys are *half the cost* of Tomy's releases when you compare the Yen prices to the USD prices.

So yeah, Tomy's releases have more paint, but it's not because they CARE about the consumer more. They're not graciously granting you a more G1 accurate paint job out of some desire to give you better customer satisfaction. It's not because they don't care as much about the bottom line.

It's because they make you pay for it.

We have a skewed view here in Australia, because we already pay insane prices for our Transformers -- we get American release Transformers at more than twice American retail. But those toys were DESIGNED for American retail release.

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.