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Post by grahamthomson on May 21, 2008 16:50:11 GMT
My (mis)conception was always that Transformers were manufactured in either Japan/Macau/China and other Far East territories.
However, I've just been going through some Transformers boxes in the attic and noticed that my Soundwave was in fact made in France! Well, I'll be.
The text on the box read: "(c) 1986 Hasbro Bradley, Inc., Pawtucket, RI 02861, USA. All Rights reserved. Made and printed in France by Ceji under license from Takara Co. Ltd., Japan."
I invite you to delve into your collections and see where your Transformers were made.
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kayevcee
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Post by kayevcee on May 21, 2008 17:01:10 GMT
My red-footed Optimus Prime was made by MB in France. They were the only factory that produced that variant. No idea about any of the others since the packaging is long since gone.
-Nick
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dyrl
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Post by dyrl on May 21, 2008 17:48:14 GMT
But...
Might it be that only the box was made in france?
This would actually not surprise me - all the more so in contemporary times. All Transformers boxes in Europe are different from the US boxes because they have to have CE labels and other EU imposd standards.
So it wouldn't surprise me if the Transformer toy was made in China, shipped in PIECES to Europe- (lower import tax because it's in pieces/doesn't need CE labels then) and then put together and put into a European printed box...
Just guess work on my part really - but there are plenty of toys which are made in China (in pieces) and then assembled in Europe (this way they are legally imported/get around higher import duties) - and then only need to have VAT added on.
dyrl
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on May 21, 2008 17:51:52 GMT
Transformers were also manufactured in South America, because of import laws. TFArchive has an article here: www.tfarchive.com/toys/articles/mexican_invasion.phpThe article mentions "a particularly obscure variation of Optimus Prime with red feet, which, to this very day, is the only known "Transformers" release of the French company Ceji/Revell". Perhaps you should let them know about your Soundwave, G. I once discovered something interesting about toys made in different countries: the moulds can have slightly different specifications. Whilst making a complete Slag from two partial toys from different countries, I found that parts didn't quite fit properly because of different measurements. As I recall, the chrome parts on his "wing" sections were also of different shapes. |
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Post by grahamthomson on May 21, 2008 17:59:37 GMT
TFArchive has an article here: www.tfarchive.com/toys/articles/mexican_invasion.phpThe article mentions "a particularly obscure variation of Optimus Prime with red feet, which, to this very day, is the only known "Transformers" release of the French company Ceji/Revell". Perhaps you should let them know about your Soundwave, G. Someone get on the blower to Denyer and I shall be happy to supply a scan of my box for an addendum of said article. Growing up in Germany, I had a fair few "local" Transformers, but, alas Soundwave is the only one I still have the outer box from. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2008 18:47:51 GMT
I once discovered something interesting about toys made in different countries: the moulds can have slightly different specifications. Whilst making a complete Slag from two partial toys from different countries, I found that parts didn't quite fit properly because of different measurements. As I recall, the chrome parts on his "wing" sections were also of different shapes. I think that may be because some countries have much tighter toy design regulations than others. Transformers have moving parts and so, in some countries it is required that the parts are more firmly attached to each other so as not to cause a choking hazard. This can be done by making some pieces of different proportions so that they will fit more securely to other pieces and thus not come loose when a kid puts it in his mouth and starts chewing it. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 21, 2008 19:20:10 GMT
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Post by legios on May 21, 2008 20:05:39 GMT
But... Might it be that only the box was made in france? This would actually not surprise me - all the more so in contemporary times. All Transformers boxes in Europe are different from the US boxes because they have to have CE labels and other EU imposd standards. dyrl And interesting hypothesis. It isn't something I've ever heard of being done with Transformers I must admit, but I have heard of it being done with other toys (the original run of Legioss toys in france included stock from an aborted run for the asian market which were shipped and reboxed or so the story goes). Can't speak for the MB stuff but the South American releases were definitely locally produced (a paint assay will confirm that - all the lovely lead in the sample, wouldn't have been legal elsewhere). Korea is another area where "Transformers" are licensed produced rather than imported - in fact Takara have a nebulous relationship with a company in Korea, Sonokong, that license produces a lot of their stuff for the Korean market (due to some fairly fierce laws about importation of Japanese goods and Japanese companies operating in Korea). Karl |
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Oct 22, 2008 16:44:42 GMT
In the early 1980s Hasbro discovered some reconfigurable toys in Japan, licensed them for release in the West, engaged Marvel to develop a story and characters and thus one of the most successful toy lines in history was born.
But what if a different toy company had discovered them first? Might Diaclone and the others have been released as Gobots? If Mattel had found them, might they have been essentially a line of numerous repaints, following a strategy that had already contributed to the success of Masters of the Universe? Would the toys have been released with the little figures of the Japanese originals, and hence would they have been true robots at all or human-controlled machines?
What do you think? How might companies other than Hasbro have treated the toys differently? How, then, would they have been marketed? Could they have been as successful?
On a wider level, how might today's toy industry and other children's markets be different?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2008 17:02:56 GMT
That's an interesting point and one we may never know the answer to. Sure, some of Hasbro's rivals in the toy market have made a few mistakes over the years but would they have done the same if they had taken the Diaclone line and rebranded it as something other than Transformers? If any other company had taken the toy line they might acually have made them into continuations of Gobots or Zoids lines or even created a whole new toy line that wouldn't have lasted all that long. Or maybe they would have made them better than what Hasbro did. Nobody can truly know for sure.
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Post by andrewbcalculating on Oct 23, 2008 11:05:53 GMT
If someone can relate to what I'm about to say then I will be extremely happy, does anyone remember a robot toy line called Changers? I remember once at primary school, a classmate showed me either a leaflet or a catalogue that documented this range of robot toys called Changers. Now even at that young age, I know that these Changers were a rip off of Transformers by a toy company who were trying to get on the band wagon of transforming robot toys. Does anyone else remember Changers?
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 23, 2008 11:10:13 GMT
It rings a very vague bell. No luck finding anything on-line to check it though.
-Ralph
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Oct 23, 2008 11:43:41 GMT
Revell released Robotech Changers, kit versions of various Valkyrie including the one used for Jetfire. Might that be what you're thinking of? www.collectiondx.com/node/2992I have the "Jetfire" kit, which I painted up as Jetfire. I always planned to make a diorama, but I never did, though I still have the tank kit and soldiers (and the yet-to-be-built red Valkyrie) in the attic... |
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Post by legios on Oct 28, 2008 21:38:18 GMT
Revell released Robotech Changers, kit versions of various Valkyrie including the one used for Jetfire. Might that be what you're thinking of? Revell actually did a massive hoovering up of Japanese mecha kits and pumped them out under the banner title "Robotech". Not just the Valkyries as "Changers", but stuff from "Dougram", "Votoms" and "Orguss" showed up in the "Robotech Changers" and "Robotech Defenders" lines. To go back on topic I think it is difficult to know for sure what would have happened if another company had stumbled across Diaclone. My hunch though is that it might well have been intergrated with stuff from other mecha/superrobot franchises - it would have been mixed up amongst toys from other sources and packaged under a banner title (the "Shogun Warriors" model if you will). There is also the outside possibility might have tried a straight US release of Diaclone - as was actually done in Europe. The track record of Diaclone in Europe doesn't really inspire much faith that it would still be remembered today if that had been the route that they went down. I think the reason "The Trans formers" has managed to cling to an ecological niche the way that it had is the fact that it got unusually strong support from Hasbro compared to the other mecha/giant robot lines of that era. It had a depth of backstory to involve kids and a sense of character to the individual robots which meant we could identify with them. By contrast something like "Shogun Warriors" never really got beyond "this robot is called Machindor", and "this robot is called Keledor" (names changed to protect the evidence). Whether another company would have put that much effort into establishing the backstory I'm not sure. (Ironically, I actually think Mattell is one of the few that spring to mind that probably would have). Karl |
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Post by Bogatan on Oct 28, 2008 22:16:50 GMT
The whole Diaclone pilot thing would have worked as a Power Rangers style story. In fact considering how many of the toys came with pilots it surprises me that Marvel came up with a backstory that didnt feature them. Even the later Masters line would all have still fitted into a pilot based story.
Andy
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Post by Jaymz on Oct 28, 2008 23:49:04 GMT
There is also the outside possibility might have tried a straight US release of Diaclone - as was actually done in Europe. Takara did try and release Diaclone in the US, under the name Diakron. The failure of the line is probably part of what pushed them into a partnership with Hasbro. See TF wiki on Diakron and a very small bit of info on Kronoform. |
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Post by legios on Oct 29, 2008 7:42:08 GMT
Takara did try and release Diaclone in the US, under the name Diakron. The failure of the line is probably part of what pushed them into a partnership with Hasbro. See TF wiki on Diakron and a very small bit of info on Kronoform. Oh indeed . I'm vaguely aware of Diakron (In fact I saw some of the Diakron releases in a cheap shop in this country in the late eighties . Presumably old overstock that had shown up somewhere). Ta for the links btw. I had misplaced those sites and been trying to find them again. I was more thinking along the lines that another company, in a triumph of hope over experience might have decided to try pretty much the same thing again believing that they might have a better result. (Companies aren't any more immune to "magical thinking" than the rest of humanity) - and also that a fair number of companies wouldn't have been willing to put in the levels of time that Hasbro put into the property once they got it - which was an "over-and-above" the call approach to repackaging foreign toys Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 7, 2008 21:21:15 GMT
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Aug 3, 2010 10:40:13 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 3, 2010 11:09:54 GMT
It's a man!
-Ralph
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Aug 4, 2010 9:47:52 GMT
No, the six inch plastic thing he's fiddling with. I haven't seen one before. |
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 4, 2010 10:14:33 GMT
Ann Summers can sort you out with that.
-Ralph
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Aug 4, 2010 10:30:31 GMT
I was wondering who'd be the first to respond to my innuendo-laden post.  But seriously, what is it? |
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Post by legios on Aug 4, 2010 11:51:24 GMT
I'm not entirely sure but I am thinking it might be Great Robot Base from the Diaclone line.
I could well be wrong though.
Karl
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Aug 4, 2010 15:21:02 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 4, 2010 15:45:12 GMT
Has anyone repro'd the diaclone men ?
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Post by blueshift on Aug 4, 2010 15:55:08 GMT
Has anyone repro'd the diaclone men ? Yeah, I remember one site which did it, you could choose the colours. I will have a look to see which it was but most repro sites seem to be down now. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 4, 2013 17:43:13 GMT
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Post by legios on Feb 4, 2013 18:39:05 GMT
I remember seeing those Joustra Diaclone Mini-bots in a shop in Stirling back in about 1985. That brings back memories.
Karl
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Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 4, 2013 19:09:16 GMT
I remember seeing those Joustra Diaclone Mini-bots in a shop in Stirling back in about 1985. That brings back memories. Karl I saw them too. My Windcharger and Gears came from that stock. |
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