Earl Norem

2010-10-24T15:44:38Z

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{{picsneeded|Screen-cap of main page, a few pics of relevant toys for History section}}{{lowercase}}
'''e-Hobby''' is a [[TakaraTomy]]-affiliated online store owned by Part One Co., Ltd. Even though the e-Hobby Shop sells all sorts of toys manufactured by Takara and other Japanese companies, it's best known for offering [[exclusive]] [[redeco]]s of ''Transformers'' toys.

==History==
Part One Co., Ltd. was officially founded in Shinjuku, a district of Tokyo, on [[April 25]], 1977, originally set up as a project design production company. By December of 1979, the company was already expanding, now also including a professional photo studio. Part One has been providing various kinds of services to Takara ever since the days of the ''[[Diaclone]]'' line, among them products planning, packaging design, character design and promotional planning. Among other things, Part One is responsible for designing the packaging for the ''[[Alternators|Binaltech]]'' toyline. Today, Part One's official company description is "Digital Design Office".

The e-Hobby Shop was officially launched in March of 2000. In August of the same year, a delivery center was set up in the city of Sango, which was later moved to Yashio in November 2002. Even though the address [http://www.e-hobby.co.jp/ e-Hobby.co.jp] was used from the get-go, the site was temporarily also available under the (now defunct) URL <nowiki>http://e-hobby.sputniknext.com/</nowiki>, but eventually permanently moved to its current location in May 2003.

In March 2001, Takara would release the first exclusive toy through the e-Hobby Shop, a black redeco of the original [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] toy that was reissued by Takara at the same time. "Black" Megatron had originally been offered for pre-order at [[BotCon]] Japan 2000, since the e-Hobby Shop hadn't been widely established yet by that time.

Since then, the range of exclusive product got bigger. Reissues of the original [[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]] [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] and [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] toys that were part of Takara's store/convention exclusive "Collector's Edition" series came in 2001, followed by more same-character redecoes in new colors. With the launch of Takara's "[[Transformers Collection]]" line of "bookbox" reissues, e-Hobby would start to regularly offer an exclusive redeco of almost every toy released as part of the line. Many of those redecos were based on old ''[[Diaclone]]'' or ''[[Microchange]]'' variants of the toys in question, but were given new names and identities, with extensive bio profiles for the characters written by [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]]. In cases where no ''Diaclone'' or ''Microchange'' variant of the toy existed, e-Hobby would take obscure "extra" characters or weird errors from the cartoon series as inspirations for a redeco, or even come up with an entirely new deco.

In addition, e-Hobby would also continue to release exclusive redecos of non-TFC reissues and even of toys that were not reissues at all, including product from ''[[Robot Masters]]'', the "[[Hybrid Style]]" line, ''[[Kiss Players (toyline)|Kiss Players]]'' and ''Binaltech''.

Furthermore, e-Hobby also offered exclusive "[[USA Edition]]" versions of toys that were originally released by [[Hasbro]], complete with the Hasbro packaging. In all these instances, the only difference to the Hasbro versions of those toys was an additional e-Hobby sticker on the packaging. Toys from ''[[Universe (2003 toyline)|Universe]]'', Hasbro's [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|20th Anniversary Optimus Prime]] version of Takara's Masterpiece Convoy and [[Cybertron (toyline)|''Cybertron'' toys]] not part of the ''Galaxy Force'' series were all made available this way.

Beginning in 2007, e-Hobby also started offering limited quantities of toys that would originally be exclusively available at Japanese conventions, starting with the Wonder Festival 2007 Winter exclusive exclusive ''Binaltech'' [[Nemesis Prime (G1)#Alternators|Black Convoy]]. However, in all instances only Japanese residents were allowed to purchase the toys, unlike the other exclusives which could usually be ordered by foreigners as well.

In December of 2007, e-Hobby announced that they had stopped accepting orders from international private customers altogether as of September of the same year.<ref name="internat">[http://www.allspark.com/index.php/200712132207/Transformers-News/Confirmation-e-Hobby-No-Longer-Accepting-Overseas-Orders.html e-Hobby stop international orders The Allspark]</ref><ref name="internat2">[http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/transformers-news/story/5655/TakaraTomy+Website+Updates+and+e-Hobby+stop+international+orders.html e-Hobby stop international orders Transformers @ The Moon]</ref> As a consequence, only Japanese residents are able to order toys directly from e-Hobby now, whereas international fans have to resort to third-party sellers.

In addition to Takara toys, e-Hobby also offers toys from other Japanese manufacturers such as Tomy (who are now merged with Takara into TakaraTomy) or Bandai. This included the ''[[Star Wars]] Transformers'' toys, who were distributed through Tomy Direct in Japan in a similar fashion as Takara's "[[USA Edition]]s". However, thus far the only e-Hobby ''exclusive'' toys came from Takara.

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==e-Hobby exclusive toys==
===Reissues===
* [[Ironhide (G1)/toys|Ironhide]] and [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
* "New Year Special" [[Sideswipe (G1)|Lambor]] and [[Red Alert (G1)|Alert]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)

===Exclusive companions (redecos) for reissues===
* [[Starscream (G1)/toys|Black Starscream and Ghost Starscream]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
* [[God Ginrai|Fire Guts God Ginrai]]
* [[electrum|Gold chromed "Electrum"]] [[Jazz (G1)/toys|Meister/Jazz]] and [[Bluestreak|"Anime" Streak/Bluestreak]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
* [[Road Rage]] and [[Crosscut (Autobot)|Crosscut]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
* [[Bluestreak|Silver chromed Streak]] (Bluestreak)
* [[Megaplex]]
* [[Clamp Down]] and [[Deep Cover]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
* [[Hauler|Roadhauler]] and [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
* [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] in "prototype colors"
* "Dimension Exploration Researchers" aka "Gobots" ([[Bug Bite (G1)|Bug Bite]], [[Bad Boy]], [[Treds]], [[Small Foot]], [[Path Finder]], and [[Road Ranger]])
* [[Detritus]]
* "[[Insecticon (G1)|Insectron Clone Army]]" ([[Zaptrap]], [[Salvo]], and [[Shothole]])
* [[Overcharge (G1)|Overcharge]]
* "Cobalt Sentries" ([[Howlback]] and [[Garboil]])
* [[Magnificus (G1)|Magnificus]] with [[Ga'mede]]
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Orion Pax]] & [[Dion]]
* [[Blaster (G1)|Twincast]] (reissue) with [[Flip Sides (G1)|Flip Sides]]
* [[Galvatron II]]
* [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/toys|Laser Ultra Magnus]]
* [[Ironhide (G1)/toys|Ironhide "Protect Black"]]
* [[Guardian robot|GADEP]]

===Other exclusive redecos===
* [[Victory Saber|Black Victory Saber]] (Robot Masters)
* [[Mirage (G1)|Clear "Rijie"/Ligier/Mirage]] (Binaltech)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|G1 Black Convoy]] (Hybrid Style Series)
* Kiss Players Position ([[Rosanna (KP)|Rosanna]], [[Sundor]] and [[Glit]])
* [[Masterpiece]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Convoy]] Black Version
{{comingsoontoy}}

===Convention exclusives later available at e-Hobby===
* [[Nemesis Prime (G1)#Alternators|Black Convoy]] (Binaltech)
* "Fusion Cluster Edition" [[Optimus Prime (Movie)/toys|Protoform Optimus Prime]] (Movie)
* "Fusion Cluster Edition" [[Starscream (Movie)|Protoform Starscream]] (Movie)
* "G1 Color Edition" [[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]] (Movie)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Convoy]] "clear version" (Henkei! Henkei!)
* [[Wildrider|Stuntron Wildrider]] (Henkei! Henkei!) [or "Gentei! Gentei!"]
* [[Optimus Prime (Movie)/toys|Optimus Prime Revenge Edition]] (Revenge of the Fallen)
* [[Soundwave (ROTF)|Soundwave Black Version]] (Revenge of the Fallen)
{{comingsoontoy}}

==="USA Editions"===
* [[Optimus Primal/toys|Optimus Primal]] (Universe)
* [[Razorclaw (Universe)|Razorclaw]] (Universe)
* [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (Universe)
* [[Snarl (BM)|Snarl]] (Universe)
* [[Reptilion]] (Universe)
* [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] & [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] (Universe)
* [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (Universe)
* [[Striker|Dinobot Striker]] (Universe)
* [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depthcharge]] (Universe)
* [[Ratchet (Universe)|Autobot Ratchet]] (Universe)
* [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (Universe)
* [[Triceradon (BM)|Dinobot Triceradon]] (Universe)
* [[King Atlas]] (Universe)
* [[Skydive (BM)|Skydive]] (Universe)
* [[Stockade (Universe 2003)|Stockade]] & [[Magna Stampede]] (Universe)
* [[Fireflight (Universe)|Fireflight]] (Universe)
* [[Whirl (G1)|Autobot Whirl]] (Universe)
* [[Nemesis Strika]] (Universe)
* [[Soundwave (G1)/toys|Soundwave]] & [[Space Case]] (Universe)
* [[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] & [[Wind Sheer (Universe)|Wind Sheer]] (Universe)
* [[Swerve (Universe)|Swerve]] (Universe)
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Convoy/Optimus Prime]] (Masterpiece/20th Anniversary) <ref name="usa">These toys were also available as regular mass retail releases in Japan. The e-Hobby exclusive "USA Edition" versions were of specific Hasbro variants of those toys.</ref>
* [[Hardtop (Cybertron)|Hardtop]] (Cybertron)
* [[Primus]] with [[Unicron|Unicron head]] (Cybertron) <ref name="usa"/>
* [[Quickmix (Cybertron)|Blender/Quickmix]] (Cybertron)
* [[Menasor (Cybertron)|Moldedive/Menasor]] (Cybertron)
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==Notes==
* e-Hobby is ''not'' directly owned by [[TakaraTomy]], but merely an affiliated store. TakaraTomy's own online store is [[Toy Hobby Market]].

* Because e-Hobby is mostly known for exclusive toys and many Western fans aren't aware that e-Hobby also offers regular mass retail toys like most online stores, pre-orders for new mass retail toys listed at the e-Hobby website are occasionally mistaken as a confirmation that a toy is either exclusive to e-Hobby, or that an e-Hobby exclusive redeco is planned.

* Another common misconception among fans is that e-Hobby "makes" the exclusive toys. While e-Hobby ''is'' presumably responsible for creating the color scheme and decos, the ''toys'' are still produced by Takara. After all, [[Toys"R"Us]] doesn't manufacture its own exclusive ''Transformers'' toys either.

* Occasionally, fans also mistakenly believe other store, convention or magazine exclusive redecos of toys reissued by Takara to be e-Hobby exclusives, such as the [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/toys|Generation 1 Ultra Magnus]] redecos, [[Hot Rod (G1)/toys|Crystal Rodimus]] and [[Dark Hot Rod|Black Rodimus]], [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Nucleon Quest Super Convoy]], [[Tigertrack]] or [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet Emergency Green]].

* "[[USA Edition]]" is not a term limited to imported Hasbro toys sold through e-Hobby either. In the past, Takara have released exclusive "USA Editions" through stores such as Jusco, Laox, Toy's Dream Project/Toycard or even selected stores participating in the "TF Station" program. A few "USA Editions" weren't even exclusive to any specific store at all. The most frequently used store to carry "USA Editions" other than e-Hobby, however, was the Japanese branch of Toys"R"Us.

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==External links==
*[http://www.e-hobby.co.jp/ e-Hobby website]
*[http://www.part-one.jp/ Part One website]

*[http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/transformers-gallery/corporate-companies/197/corporate-companies/e+Hobby+Shop+++Oct+2003.html Interview with Ootuka Makoto, President of Part One, Inc., about the e-Hobby Shop at Transformers @ The Moon]

==Footnotes==
<references />

[[Category: Companies]]
[[Category: E-Hobby]]
[[category:Retailers]]

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Earl Norem