New "Transformers" from Tomy out in Australia
Why is a news topic on Transformers here, you may be asking.
Well, it was a tough call, but after buying one of these, I was left with the impression that these weren't really legit Transformers products, despite
being made by Tomy - the non-Japanese branch of TakaraTomy... to sell in Hasbro markets without any Transformers trademarks.
A couple months ago, I spotted something familiar in the corner of my eye at a block of Tomy vending machines near a Woolies near me. Having a
closer look, it indeed said "Transformers", with pictures of transforming toys... so I thought that this was just the next batch of Transformers
products from Tomy vending machines (they did two batches of Movie figurines during 2009-2011).
But after a minute of scrutinising the vending machine, I was a bit suspicious of what these really were. It looked like Micromasters, but new
moulds... and no official labelling (there is no "TM" or "R" after the main Transformers name/logo).
The other odd thing about it was that it said "collect all Transformers 5", but there were 6 shown on the vending machine.
I was still excited though, thinking that we'd managed to get a world first release of some reissue Micromasters or some new mould Transformers
toys here... so a couple weeks later I finally had several $2 coins on me to try to get a set.
I was at a different vending block this time, but stuck in the first coin and pulled out a capsule.
Opening it up, I quickly decided against buying anymore.... as there was no insert (paperwork to give any details as to what they were, or if they were
sanctioned by Hasbro), and the toy itself was crude and flawed for a transforming toy.
.
It comes with a gun, but can't hold it in robot mode, and the colours are different to the ones on the display picture, suggesting that they might be
produced in different colour combinations. Also, the display picture doesn't have the legs turned around, because it still has the gun plugged in, but
the legs can turn around to make the robot mode look better (which I didn't do for that photo above).
And this looked to be the better one of the six, as the others seemed to be rather poorly designed for their robot modes (especially the two cars on
the bottom half of the Vending machine front).
So since they didn't have any paperwork, or any official trademarks or allegiance symbols anywhere on the toy or the display images, I didn't
want to waste money buying more of these... and will give away the one I did buy.
It just seems strange that Tomy, a subsidiary of the company that owns the Transformers brand, would not use the brand name on these just to
sell them... because they've used the brand name before with the figurines (although I'm guessing that they are just not allowed to use it on
transforming toys, as it would technically compete with Hasbro in a Hasbro market).
For Japan-exclusively designed (not involving Hasbro, as their name is not on the production stamp) toys though, they seem rather flawed in their
engineering.
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Originally Posted by Ravagecat
