The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, Scyla said:

I think the biggest flaw is that Hasbro/Takara (and this is an assumption on my part) are using the same manufacturing resources for their collector lines (MP/MPG/Haslab) and their $4.99 soap bottle toys. 

If they design a toy that requires some sort of finesse in production (tight tolerance, crisp paint application, sensible material choices ) their manufacturing resources have trouble building them properly and implement proper QC processes.

I have experienced many toy lines from different manufacturers and Takara products have the shoddiest quality of them all. They have many of the issues mass produced toys for the retail market have. Which is not that big of an issue when it is a $20 toy for a young child that will break it eventually but a big deal if you spend $300 on an end all be all collector piece.

What is the saving grace is that their engineers are able to design a transformation that is fun, engaging and rock solid. Something that Bandai and Sentinel fail at more often than not.

I'm not familiar with the manufacturing processes short of the need for molds and folks to assemble the toys from them. I haven't bought a Masterpiece toy since the release of MP Skids a few years ago, so I can't speak to the current quality of said toys. I predominantly focus on the main line stuff while buying the odd Earthspark toy that tickles my fancy. Having bought hundreds of Transformers toys at this point, I've seen quality go down since the early two-thousands, around 2007, when Classics, the first Bayformers, Animated, and Prime were all coming out, a time I characterize as a golden era of Transformers toys- priced well, with generally more complexity and parts count per size class, far fewer gaps and waffles, and more paint apps make those toys stand out still as some of their highest quality output on the whole. The only real advancement we've seen since is the inclusion of ankle rockers on most toys, not a very substantial step up relative to other current toys and models. Today's toys seem far more constrained by budgets thus the toys have become smaller with more effort to reduce plastic content, both parts counts and complexity have waned, as well as the amount of paint and tampo used. I still think the majority of mainline toys are decent, but any further cuts are going to have detrimental effects, methinks. One area we both agree on is Takara's ability to craft fun, engaging, and solid transformations about 99% of the time. There are a few clunkers, especially their jetformers, but overall, especially compared to most third-party offerings at any scale, Takara succeeds well in making fun and satisfying transforming toys. In that they are still the masters of the genre they helped to invent.

Edited 4 hours ago by M'Kyuun

[26662]

19 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

"I've seen quality go down since the early two-thousands, around 2007, when Classics, the first Bayformers, Animated, and Prime were all coming out, a time I characterize as a golden era of Transformers toys- priced well, with generally more complexity and parts count per size class, far fewer gaps and waffles, and more paint apps make those toys stand out still as some of their highest quality output on the whole."

A.M.E.N.  There was a golden window during which we had no idea just how good we had it and just how sideways things could get.