Figure King 184 Masterpiece, Encore and More Updates
Sunday, May 26th, 2013 4:52PM CDT
Category: Toy NewsPosted by: LOST Cybertronian Views: 27,754
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We get some new information from the latest Figure King magazine from Transformers Go! to Encore to Masterpiece. Autobase Aichi has posted the original Japanese summary. Here are some translated and paraphrased excerpts. Thanks to Seibertron member Sabrblade for some translation corrections.
- The catchy Samurai motif of the Transformers Go! combiners used to appeal to Takara's own consumers.
- The headsculpts of the three new Go! toys were each based on a specific Japanese Samurai stereotype. Kenzan (the police car) is modeled after a typical Samurai warrior with a top-knot, Jinbu (the yellow jet) is based on an armored Samurai with a Kabuto helmet, and Gan'ō (the fire truck) is designed after a Sohei, or "warrior monk".
- The new headsculpt of Gaidōra (Lazerback remold) is based on an Oni, a breed of monster from Japanese folklore.
- Generations Grimlock and Ratbat will be released in June
- Encore Fortress Maximus has surpassed sales expections so hopefully there will be more Encores to come.
- The delay of MP Prowl and Streak is due to Takara receiving more orders than they expected.
- MP Smokescreen will be revealed soon with design differences.
- Takara-Tomy is working on getting more car manufacturers to license their designs for future Masterpieces.
- There will be a significant announcement at the Tokyo Toy Show June 15-16.
- For sale at the Tokyo Toy show will be the first 3 Transformers Go! combiner bots, as well as Masterpiece Tigertrack with non-chrome version of Amazon Japans MP Lambor pile drivers.
- TG-23 Metroplex will have different paint applications from U.S. version and feature 2 guns compared to the 1 that Hasbro's version has.
- Mcdonalds is set to run another Transformers Happy Meal promotion on June 21st.
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Posted by MGrotusque on May 26th, 2013 @ 5:32pm CDT
I'll be looking forward to seeing more news about Smokescreen.
Posted by Metrosuplex on May 26th, 2013 @ 5:35pm CDT
And dammit! Another McD's toy promo??? Some of those past, Japan-only kid meal toys have been kinda spiffy (the cell phone charms with Prime figs popping out of food)! I wonder what these new ones will be like? Anyway, insult to injury is that they debut on my B-day. DAMMIT!
Posted by The Big Ragebowski on May 26th, 2013 @ 6:17pm CDT
I'm hoping they get the licence to produce a Masterpiece Mirage (could do a clear one and a red one too with the mold), Wheeljack, Jazz and Hound! I think a Masterpiece Ironhide and Ratchet would work quite well too!
Posted by Stormrider on May 26th, 2013 @ 7:50pm CDT
Posted by REMINATOR on May 26th, 2013 @ 9:19pm CDT
Stormrider wrote:I don't buy the excuse that MP Prowl and BlueStreak are delayed due to soaring preorders. When has that stopped Takara, Hasbro, or any manufacturer in the past? It doesn't. They release what they have and then produce more and ship those at a later time.
Yeah, I thought that was strange too unless someone could give a couple of examples from previous release regardless which line.
Posted by Sabrblade on May 26th, 2013 @ 9:30pm CDT
I think something got a little mixed up in the translation.LOST Cybertronian wrote:The catchy Samurai motif of the Transformers Go! combiners used to emphasize the presence of Takara-Tomy in the global market.
The Samurai motif isn't to appeal to global markets, but to TakaraTomy's own consumers.
Also, a few more tidbits not listed in the OP:
- The headsculpts of the three new Go! toys were each based on a specific Japanese Samurai stereotype. Kenzan (the police car) is modeled after a typical Samurai warrior with a top-knot, Jinbu (the yellow jet) is based on an armored Samurai with a Kabuto helmet, and Gan'ō (the fire truck) is designed after a Sohei, or "warrior monk".
- The new headsculpt of Gaidōra (Lazerback remold) is based on an Oni, a breed of monster from Japanese folklore.
- Generations Grimlock and Ratbat (the Japanese ones, that is) will be released in June
- Something about Shining Optimus Blaster that I can't quite make out.
Posted by LOST Cybertronian on May 26th, 2013 @ 10:17pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:I think something got a little mixed up in the translation.LOST Cybertronian wrote:The catchy Samurai motif of the Transformers Go! combiners used to emphasize the presence of Takara-Tomy in the global market.
The Samurai motif isn't to appeal to global markets, but to TakaraTomy's own consumers.
Also, a few more tidbits not listed in the OP:
- The headsculpts of the three new Go! toys were each based on a specific Japanese Samurai stereotype. Kenzan (the police car) is modeled after a typical Samurai warrior with a top-knot, Jinbu (the yellow jet) is based on an armored Samurai with a Kabuto helmet, and Gan'ō (the fire truck) is designed after a Sohei, or "warrior monk".
- The new headsculpt of Gaidōra (Lazerback remold) is based on an Oni, a breed of monster from Japanese folklore.
- Generations Grimlock and Ratbat (the Japanese ones, that is) will be released in June
- Something about Shining Optimus Blaster that I can't quite make out.
Thank you! These kinds of news posts are kind of iffy when relying on computer translations.
Posted by Eagleblaster on May 27th, 2013 @ 2:43am CDT
Posted by KNM2012 on May 27th, 2013 @ 6:04pm CDT
LINK: http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/ir/financia ... ual_03.pdf
In all cases, the term "global" is validated because they cover direct markets in both portions of Asia and Japan when it comes to Transformers. They also have (indirectly) acknowledged that there are profits when and where the import market is concerned. Namely, any talks of the word "global" being incorrect would have been validated IF Hasbro disallowed their PARTNER from selling their wares to stores like TFsource and BBTS. But since Hasbro does publish and distribute TOMY-based Transformers in Asian regions that they do not have a market in, and both are aware that TOMY-based Transformers are internationally sought after... It DOES appear that TOMY did these combiners for more than just the Japanese market.
Oh, and again... I do research in things that interest me. And buying stock in TOMY was one of them before I decided that having a complete/graded set of "Encore" figures (minus the exclusives) would be more enjoyable than having shares in the company that make these figures. Oh, and if they are capable/smart, they would announce "Encore" versions of Guardian, Raiden, Ultra Mangus, Sixshot, Dinosaurer, MegaZarak, and Rodimus Convoy.
Posted by mooncake623 on December 12th, 2013 @ 10:37pm CST