TakaraTomy

2011-07-30T02:24:23Z

Carmelo101:

{{disambigr|Takara|the Generation 1 manga character|Takara (G1)}}
[[Image:Takaratomy.jpg|right|160px|]]
'''TakaraTomy''' ('''Takara''' before the merger with Tomy) is a Japanese toy company. They are the producer of ''Transformers'' in Japan, and design much of the engineering for [[Toy|Transformers toys]]. Originally, Takara created the ''[[Diaclone]]'' and ''[[Micro Change|MicroChange]]'' toy lines, which were later imported to the USA by [[Hasbro]] and turned into the ''Transformers''. Since then, Hasbro and Takara have been business partners.

==History==
===Takara before the merger===
Takara ([[wikipedia:ja:タカラ_(玩具)|タカラ]]) was originally founded by [[Yasuta Satō]] in [[1955]] as '''Sato Vinyl'''. One of their first successes was securing the license for releasing Mattel's "Barbie" series on the Japanese market. They swim in your money every time a new franchise is made.

In 1960 they changed their name to '''Takara Vinyl'''. Their blackface Dakko-chan ([[wikipedia:ja:ダッコちゃん|ダッコちゃん]]) doll became wildly successful <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.diamondlinks.net/ <span style="color:black;font-weight:normal; text-decoration:none!important; background:none!important; text-decoration:none;">link building</span>] and was the company mascot until the late 1980s. Their name would be shortened to simply '''Takara''' in 1966.

In [[1970]], Takara secured the license for releasing [[Hasbro]]'s ''[[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]]'' line on the Japanese market. Dubbed ''Combat Joe'', the line would soon get a spin-off named ''Henshin Cyborg'' (''henshin'' being the Japanese word for "transform"), which in turn would later lead to the original ''[[Microman]]'' toyline which started in [[1974]].

The ''Microman'' line was relaunched as ''New Microman'' in [[1981]] and would lead to spin-offs such as ''[[Diaclone]]'' and ''[[Micro Change|MicroChange]]''. Hasbro would later acquire the license for releasing toys from both lines on the North American market. The result, dubbed "Transformers" by Hasbro, would turn out to be a huge success.

After a first test release of the Hasbro toys to a small test market in Japan apparently turned out to be successful, Takara decided to cancel ''Microman'' and ''Diaclone'' and henceforth started to release the "Transformers" in Japan as well.

This incredibly convoluted chain of licensing, evolving, and re-licensing toy franchises can be used to make the heads of evil robots explode.

[[Nobuyuki Okude]], one of the original ''Diaclone'' designers who oversaw the production of the modified toys for Hasbro's "Transformers" line, would later rise to become Takara's Vice President and for a brief time even held the position of the company's president.

===Tomy before the merger===
Tomy ([[wikipedia:ja:トミー|トミー]]) was founded by Eiichiro Tomiyama in 1924 as '''Tomiyama Toy Factory'''.
In 1963 they changed their name to '''Tomy'''.
Their American branch opened in 1973, with branches following in Canada in 1981 and the UK in 1982.
Two pre-merger Transformers designed by Tomy were [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] and [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]], patterned after their [[wikipedia:Plarail|Plarail]] and [[wikipedia:Zoids|Zoids]] toylines, respectively, by designer Junichi Ishikawa (石川順一).

===The merger===
After a series of commercial failures, May [[2005]] saw the public announcement that Takara would merge with rival toymaker Tomy. As of April [[2006]], both companies ceased to exist and made way for the new company, TakaraTomy. Fortunately, Tomy had established a healthy working relationship with [[Hasbro]] since [[1999]], long before their merger with Takara—which is why the merger didn't have any major effects on the established Hasbro/Takara cooperation (including the [[toy]] development process).

Oddly, "TakaraTomy" is only the merged company's official name in Japan. For the international, English-speaking world, the merged company is officially simply named "Tomy", for pragmatic reasons (as most of Takara's internationally renowned brands are distributed through other companies, such as Hasbro, outside Japan).

==Employees==
* Kantaro Tomiyama, President

===''Transformers'' brand===
* [[Hideaki Yoke]], Lead Designer
* [[Kōjin Ōno]], Designer
* [[Takio Ejima]], Designer
* [[Miyake Tomoya]], Designer
* [[Hisashi Yuki]], Designer
* [[Takashi Kunihiro]], Designer
* [[Shogo Hasui]], Designer
* [[Hironori Kobayashi]], Designer Domestic Product Team
* [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]], Freelance designer/artist/writer

{{cleanup|June 2009|Needs list of current employees we know about.}}

==Home video==
{{factions/body|||vhs|laserdisc|japan}}
As well as licensing to third party companies such as [[Sohbi Kikaku]], Takara produced some of their own [[home video]] releases in the [[1980|1980s]] and [[1990|'90s]]. The two ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform'' Laserdisc sets were later repackaged and released by [[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Pioneer LDC]] when they acquired the license in [[1998]].

===Releases===
;VHS
*TAK-006 — '''''The Transformers: The Movie''''' (Release date unknown)
<center><gallery>
Image:Takara TFTM VHS.jpg|'''TAK-006'''
</gallery></center>
{{-}}
;Laserdisc
*C-376 — '''''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' — Convoy Set''' ([[March 5]], [[1994]])
:Nine-disc set containing episodes 1-35.
:Packaged with the ''[[Planet of Cybertron Guide|Planet of Cybertron Guide 1]]'' instruction booklet and the ''[[Convoy Set Special CD]]''.
*D-342 — '''''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' — Megatron Set''' (Release date unknown, [[1995]])
:Nine-disc set containing episodes 36-63, plus the bonus episodes "[[Attack of the Autobots]]" and "[[Day of the Machines]]" (both with optional English audio), the "[[Exciting Transformer!]]" TV special, the "[[Scramble City: Mobilization]]" OVA and a hell of a lot of [[commercial]]s and trailers.
:Packaged with the ''[[Planet of Cybertron Guide|Planet of Cybertron Guide 2]]'' instruction booklet and the ''[[Megatron Set Special CD]]''.
*VSL-1 — '''''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: 2010'' Set''' (Release date unknown)
:Nine-disc set containing all 30 episodes, plus ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' as a bonus.

*VSL-2 — '''''Transformers: The Headmasters'' Set''' ([[September 30]], [[1996]])
:Ten-disc set containing all 38 episodes, plus "[[The Rebirth]]" and a bunch of Western TV commercials.
<center><gallery>
Image:Takara Convoy Set Laserdisc Box.jpg|'''C-376'''
Image:Takara Megatron Set Laserdisc Box.jpg|'''D-342'''
Image:Takara 2010 Laserdisc Box.jpg|'''VSL-1'''
Image:Takara Headmasters Laserdisc Box.jpg|'''VSL-2'''
</gallery></center>
{{stub}}

==Tomy Direct==
Tomy has its own label, "Tomy Direct", for releasing imported Hasbro products (such as [[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars]] toys) in Hasbro packaging in Japan, similar to Takara's [[USA Edition]]s. The huge difference is that USA Editions might still sport differences with their Hasbro counterparts, whereas Tomy Direct releases are ''really'' just the Hasbro toys.

Since Tomy's merger with Takara, the Tomy division of TakaraTomy has also released various Transformers-related toys under the Tomy Direct label, usually toys which were developed without any input from Takara's design team and/or figures from multi-brand lines such as the ''[[Titanium Series]]'' (which originally started out as a ''Star Wars'' sub-line) and the "Heroes" mini-figure franchise (which includes the ''Transformers''-based ''[[Robot Heroes (toyline)|Robot Heroes]]'', but also the ''Star Wars''-derived ''Galactic Heroes'', the [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]]-based ''Superhero Squad'' and various others).

Those include:
*''[[Star Wars (franchise)|Star Wars Transformers]]'', which are officially a Star Wars property that just "borrows" the name "Transformers"
*Their sucecssor, ''[[Crossovers|Transformers Crossovers]]'', which include the ''Star Wars Transformers'' and the new ''Marvel Transformers''
*Several 6" ''[[Titanium Series]]'' figures
*Various [[Movie (toyline)|2007 ''Transformers'' movie]] toys developed without Takara's input (such as [[Bumblebee (Movie)/toys|Ultimate Bumblebee]], the various role play accessories, the [[Robot Replicas]], [[Robot Heroes (toyline)|Robot Heroes]] and the [[Cyber Stompin' Robots]])
*The same for the [[Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|''Revenge of the Fallen'' toyline]] (Ultimate Bumblebee Battle Charged, Robot Replicas, the role play accessories, [[Power Bots]] and the RPM vehicles)

==Fiction==
===2007 Movie===
* [[March 15]] — To control the previous year's leaks about the Transformers to the public, [[Sector Seven|S7 Industries]] collaborated with [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] to produce a movie based on the 'video game' about giant robots they were developing, allowing them to dismiss any claims relating to the Transformers or their world as fictional characters- hiding them in plain sight. This operation is codenamed [[Hungry Dragon]].

==Notes==
*The company uses '''TOMY COMPANY, LTD''' as its English name.
*TakaraTomy's CEO, Kantaro Tomiyama, is currently also the chairman of Toycard, the joint venture operation behind [[Toy's Dream Project]].
*In [[1985]], 20 years before the merger with Takara, Tomy's US branch registered the name "Scrapper" as a [[trademark]] in the "toys" field. That same year, [[Hasbro]] released a [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]] of [[Scrapper (G1)|the same name]]. Since the market situation back then was still very different from what it is like today, this presumably didn't result in any repercussions for Hasbro.
*According to Hasbro [[Australia]] representatives and designer [[Eric Siebenaler]], all of the Transformers toys jointly developed between Hasbro and Takara/TakaraTomy are manufactured at factories contracted to the Japanese toy company. This means Takara is indirectly responsible for whatever quality control problems you have been having with your toys, so you can stop complaining about it being entirely Hasbro's fault.

==External link==
*[http://www.takaratomy.co.jp/company/english/ TakaraTomy english-language corporate website]
*[http://www.tomy.com/ Tomy corporate website portal]
*[[wikipedia:Takara|TakaraTomy on Wikipedia]]

{{stub}}
[[Category:TakaraTomy| ]]
[[Category:Companies]]
[[Category:Home entertainment]]

MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

TakaraTomy