Japan Transformers Expo

[griffin]

Heaps of news has already filtered out now that it has started (Yokohama, just south of Tokyo), so please check out the various other news topics for the new toys shown off - This topic is more for the displays and older items, and the expo in general.

Of the newer items already in their own news topics for your comments...

A colour prototype of MP Star Saber.

A colour prototype of MP Ultra Magnus.


Of the older items, this was the one that interested me most - unreleased prototypes (from this posting), many of which we were teased before they were axed, including the 1990s Beast Wars Neo Unicron, the blue Classic-verse DLX Bumblebee, Classic-verse DLX Hound as Swindle(?), Binaltech Blackarachnia, Binaltech Jazz (before Porsche was finally willing to license warring robot toys), and some odd Beast Wars era redecos up the back.
I really hope someone gets some clearer photos of these for archiving.


I think we should be having some Takaratomy presentations as well during the expo, so keep an eye out for those news postings for new product info and reveals.

[kurdt_the_goat]

The Tag Hobby page i linked to with the Star Saber pics originally, has updated with several more - including a better look at the BT Porsche and a look at the moulding process, amongst others.

[griffin]

Damn.... I coulda spent all day staring at the toy display, covering items from pre-Transformers lines to prototypes, and Japanese Gen1 figures.


Hmmm... I wonder if it is too late to fly over and check it out.
(sigh, it's only on for 9 days)

[kurdt_the_goat]

Yeah, i really wish i had the display space (and the toys themselves!) to display on steps like they do at these shows.

Monari on TFW has uploaded a stack of photos he took.. click to see bigger:

[techx]

Damn, nerdgasm in nerd valhala.

[Initial_G]

The Tag Hobby page i linked to with the Star Saber pics originally, has updated with several more - including a better look at the BT Porsche and a look at the moulding process, amongst others.

wish my display / collection was like those, multiples of everything!

[griffin]

Really regretting not going now... but I just didn't want to go on my own after recently being in Japan. (then again, I would have spent hours taking photos of everything, boring the heck out of anyone with me)
How great would it be having all those toys somewhere as a permanent display, like in a toy museum.

Heaps more photos posted up on TFW by one of their Japanese members.
This is part four, but if you scroll down through the discussion part, you see all the photos in full.... continued here.
The other three parts if you wanted to click on the images instead - one, two, three.

It amazes me to think that TakaraTomy has all these toys (multiples even of most), just sitting in storage, ready for displays like this and other conventions. That's a lot of storage space being used for all that. And could you imagine the amount of time it took to set it up, and how long it will take to pack them away in a way that protects every single figure from damage.

(no matter how many toys you have, it is still awesome seeing a display of Transformers toys... but the black disks under each toy bugs me, as they are unnecessary, and it ruins the focus of the details of the toys)

[kurdt_the_goat]

I remember a few years back, for one of the Hong Kong or China TF shows, they mentioned how they reached out to fans to help source all the toys for the displays. Then again it wouldn't surprise me if they were indeed all owned by TakaraTomy. But then you have to wonder, have they got an archive of every toy (not just Transformers) they've ever made as well?! Now THAT would require a lot of storage space!

[GoktimusPrime]

There are some fans out there with uber sized archival collections e.g. Akiyama Fumihiko, Ichikawa Hirofumi, Dr. Nenriki*, Dr. Sigma*, the-guy-who-published-Transformers-Generations (yes, it's his collection in that book!) etc. Anyway, TakaraTOMY uploaded this video on their Facebook page.

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*online handles, I don't know their mundane names

[Paulbot]

Really regretting not going now... but I just didn't want to go on my own after recently being in Japan. (then again, I would have spent hours taking photos of everything, boring the heck out of anyone with me)
How great would it be having all those toys somewhere as a permanent display, like in a toy museum.

Heaps more photos posted up on TFW by one of their Japanese members.
This is part four, but if you scroll down through the discussion part, you see all the photos in full.... continued here.
The other three parts if you wanted to click on the images instead - one, two, three.

The displays of each year/line at a glance are fantastic. I would love to get high-res photos of each display to make into a photobook and for archive purposes.

If only BotCon had celebrated the 30th (or 25th) anniversary like this...