By way of a Japanese image board we have a look at the Transformers-related pages of one of the new Japanese hobby magazines. These scans give us our first look at some of the upcoming April release Transformers including our first-ever look at Takara-Tomy’s Beast Hunters, Transformers Go! The decos on Takara-Tomy’s toys are a departure from the US ones – from these scans we can see that:
- Optimus Prime sports blue chest windows and a blue-bladed Star Saber, rather than the green on the US version.
- Wheeljack, Starscream and Bulkhead, while keeping their armored looks and new accessories, feature more show-accurate paint jobs.
- Soundwave looks very purple / royal blue, much darker than his usual coloration.
- Shockwave sports black snap-on armor, rather than red
- Predaking and Bumblebee seem largely unaltered from their US releases.
- These toys do not come with Arms Microns and seem to be largely pure redecos of their US releases.
The Transformers Go! EZ Collection is also showcased. In addition to Smokescreen and Airachnid from the Beast Hunters Cyberverse the Reveal the Shield / Universe Legends Prowl, Optimus Prime, Starscream, Bumblebee, Hound and Megatron toys are being given a fresh release, some with more tweaks to their paint decos than others. Megatron is the stand out – he features a deco inspired by the unreleased Combat Hero Megatron redeco from Generation 2.
There is also some showcasing of the Generations Data Disks along with Masterpiece Prowl and Streak, but nothing that has not been seen previously.
Read on to check out our mirror of the images.
Knightdramon
Haven't almost all slots across all sized been filled so far? I think there's one voyager unnacounted for, but it's probably a Megatron…
Superwheeljack
Meh, I'll probably stick with Hasbro releases, but shockwave… I may get from takara….
PoweredConvoy
Better scans courtesy of Toy-World.com.hk.
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Stepper
So Bulkhead is un Deluxe,hopefully he will get the Voyager treatment then i may consider.
RedAlert Rescue
Why is their a Egyptian god for a Klingon Expression is the question I have to ask (different word and way of saying it I guess).
I can't quite bend my head around why that Starscream does not look like starscream despite it still being grey… there's something missing that just makes it look off – Red and black perhaps.
I like TOMY's Bulkhead a lot more. I hope Dr.Wu make a retro head for him then the Hasbro one can be repurposed as Roadbuster or something like that.
I like a quirky colour now and again a mostly white Ultra Magnus would be interesting for example (either version).
Some stuff I'll likely be buying I suppose.
Oh and I expect Minicons/Microns will hang around in some form in some place.
Stepper
TakTomy can do a much much better job than this.
Grimwing
I'll stick with the hasbro versions with all their swirly battle damage, and radical colors. These takara decos are a bit to plain.
BB Shockwave
Oh and one more thing… Why is it that who appears to be the TF Fandom's oddly ONLY source from Japan is not capable of SCANNING pages? Every time it's the same cut-and-pasted together images in crappy low resolution… Are scanners banned in Japan or what?
BB Shockwave
This is Teen Titans… erm, Transformers GO! ?
ERm… big PTAH on this. Where are the promised Lazerback godzillas and new mold combiners?
Heck, not even cute Arms Micron minicons… Color me disappointed.
TCJJ
I hope you're taking notes, Hasbro.
Gryph
Exactly. The baffling choice of replacing so many colors with white and gray is very strange for Takara.
Cadbane
I have to say nothing in this line really intrigues me this time… sorry Tomy.
SPLIT LIP
Not really better, just different.
The unified colours may make more sense, but they really just make the toys look bland. Every Hasbro Beast Hunters figure is, like it or not, eye-catching if nothing else. These? They'd fade away on a shelf. They practically fade away in the photos. The only exception is Optimus, but he already looked great.
[Wing_Saber-X]
They've done better, right?
Transformed
Ooh. Takara's back! I'll have to pop into a toy store or two in the coming weeks to see these toys up close. I really like what they've done with Optimus!
Primus00
Looks good, though there are no Arms Microns or any Takara gimmick. But I'm wondering when will "Beast Hunters/GO!" air in Japan?
[Wing_Saber-X]
sarcasm, much?
Shatterpoint
Because they did the same with all the others.
[Wing_Saber-X]
^FYI, Takara could be using 'place-holder' pics of Predaking by tentatively using the Hasbro version. This practise is usually done in Japan hobby magazine promo shots first, BEFORE they actually reveal the real product, bro. As far as I am aware, anyways.
Yep. this. Now to wait for BH Smokescreen! :
bny888
Wow! I was right after all, the Takara versions are much better, especially Optimus!!!