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| | #REDIRECT[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (toyline)]] |
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| [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] took [[Hasbro]]'s lead and brought the new universe of living robots to [[Japan]] in [[1985]], where it was a massive success. Despite many/most of the toys having been available just a year or two prior, the new story and [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] propelled ''Transformers'' sales far beyond those of the lines that the toys originally came from. ''[[Diaclone]]'' and ''[[Micro Change]]'' were quickly discarded in favor of the new hotness as kids ate up this new take on the giant robot genre, one that was a fresh change from the sheer amount of "piloted mecha" robot toylines/cartoons out prior.
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| The line started very parallel with Hasbro's offerings, but over time the two companies pursued some pretty different visions for the brand... and then swung ''back'' closer together before finally ending in 1992. ''Transformers'' would not be back on Japanese toy shelves until [[1995]], when the short-lived ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (toyline)#Takara G-2 line|G-2]]'' toyline would hit.
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| ==Takara ''Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' line==
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| '''<big>''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' (1985-1990)</big>'''
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| [[File:Transformers JG1 Logo.png|left|250px]] | |
| {{Main|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (toyline)}}
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| ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' was the overarching branding for the ''Transformers'' line in Japan all the way up to 1992, and was in fact the ''only'' consistent branding for every year up until 1990, despite the corresponding cartoons using a variety of unique secondary titles, some of which were reflected on ''some'' (but not ''all'') of those years' toys.
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| Takara launched the ''Transformers'' brand in 1985, a year later than Hasbro, and released ''most'' of the products from Hasbro's 1984 and 1985 offerings during its initial year. Some toys weren't sold due to being made by rival companies (particularly [[Bandai]]) or other licensing issues; a few were simply delayed until the following year, others were relegated to mail-aways, and a small number just never happened at all, for no discernible reasons. By and large, what was released was identical to the Hasbro releases, save for having fully-functional spring-loaded launchers (due to differing
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| [[for safety reasons|safety standards]] in Japan), and a few notable color variants, namely a "NASA"-themed [[Astrotrain (G1)#Toys|Astrotrain]] and an unchromed, blue-accented, cannon-less [[Megatron (G1)/toys#VSX|Megatron]].
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| By the second year, Takara had mostly caught up with Hasbro, releasing a few stragglers not included in the 1985 line-up as well as the vast majority of Hasbro's 1986 offerings. This year's product was almost completely identical to the Hasbro 1986 line, from releases to colors, mostly minus [[Sky Lynx (G1)#Toys|Sky Lynx]] due to mold licensing issues. A considerable number of toys featured an additional "Scramble City" branding on their packaging, marketing them as part of the eponymous [[play pattern]] that was advertized by an [[Scramble City: Mobilization|original video animation]]. Meanwhile, toys that are commonly associated with ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)#Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010|Transformers 2010]]'', the Japanese dub of season 3 of the original cartoon, featured no additional branding at all.
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| 1987 featured the toys accompanying the first Japanese-only follow-up anime, ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]''. It was during this year that Takara took its first steps in breaking away from Hasbro's line. While most of the line is pretty dang identical to the US line, Takara added a large number of extra toys to its line: the previously-unused ''Diaclone'' [[Trainbot]]s, [[retool]]ed and redecoed prior toys like [[Blaster (G1)/toys#TwincastG1|Twincast]], [[Soundwave (G1)/toys#SoundblasterG1|Soundblaster]], [[Ricochet (Headmasters)|Stepper]] and [[Artfire]], and even the all-new-mold [[Autobot Master Warrior]]s and [[W Cassettebot]]s. Contrary to the anime itself, only the toys that were ''actually'' Headmasters featured an additional "The Headmasters" branding on their packaging, while Targetmaster figures featured an additional "Targetmaster" branding instead, and two [[combiner]] teams even featured the "Scramble City" branding again. Another big and odd addition is that the ''[[Beastformer]]s'', released by Hasbro as a standalone toy line (named "Battle Beasts") from the get-go, were initially released by Takara in ''Transformers''-branded packaging before they became their own thing in Japan as well.
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| 1988 was the year that Takara really took ''Transformers'' in its own direction, accompanied by the second Japanese-original anime series, ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (cartoon)|Super-God Masterforce]]''. While the toyline mostly featured the same ''sculpts'' as the Hasbro line, many were given new decos, and portrayed as completely different characters (namely, the [[Powermaster]]s were dubbed the [[Godmaster (lifeform)|Godmaster]]s, and like the new [[Headmaster Junior|Headmasters]] were [[human]]s who piloted unliving robot [[Transtector]]s). The line also tossed in a few new items, most importantly the colossal Decepticon double-Godmaster [[Overlord (G1)|Overlord]]. This series was also the first one to release a female character toy, the [[Headmaster Junior]] [[Minerva (human)|Minerva]]. She'd then be the only one for the better part of a decade. Similar to previous years' offerings, the "Super-God Masterforce" branding appeared nowhere on the toys' packaging, with the exception of two role-play items. Instead, various sub-brandings such as "Godmaster", "Pretenders", "Seacons" and the previous year's "The Headmasters" are used to identify specific toy gimmicks.
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| By 1989, Takara's direction of the ''Transformers'' brand had diverged so far from Hasbro's that the Japanese toy line was almost completely different from what Hasbro's markets received that year, accompanied by the third and final fully-fledged Japanese-original anime, ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Victory]]''. The majority of the line-up was made up of all-new sculpts unique to Japan (although one of them also saw release in Italy, of all places), with the rest filled out by significant [[retool]]ings of Hasbro-released sculpts. [[Combiner]]s were a major focus, with four combiner teams in the central cast, and the huge Autobot leader [[Star Saber (G1)#Toys|Star Saber]] combining with his own jet-base as well as another huge bot to become an absolutely ''massive'' warrior. Once again, the "Victory" branding appeared nowhere on the toys' packaging, which instead featured gimmick-specific sub-brandings such as "Brainmaster", "Multiforce", "Crossformers", "Dinoforce" and "Breastforce".
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| As the Hasbro US line was winding down in 1990, Takara kept going, but ''Transformers''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s star was fading in Japan as well. For the first time, the toy line-up was no longer backed by a TV-aired cartoon, instead relying on a [[Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!|single OVA]] and [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Zone (story page)|magazine layouts]] to advertise it. While the new sculpts continued with the three larger [[Powered Master]]s taking center stage, the rest of the line was [[Micromaster|Micro Transformer]]s, and only some of them were [[redeco]]ed from Hasbro's releases. The [[Decepticon|Destron]] presence was also ''severely'' cut back, on the theory that kids were way more interested in buying "good guy" toys. (Japanese toylines in general tend to be light on the villains.) Thus all but one of the Hasbro Decepticon Patrols were changed into Cybertrons for Japan, and the only large villain is [[Metrotitan (G1)#Toys|Metrotitan]], a redecoed [[Metroplex (G1)#Toys|Metroplex]]. Gimmick-specific sub-brandings for this year were "Micro Transformers" and "Micro Transformers Powered Masters" (plus a re-release of the 1987 [[Trainbot]]s, now with their own "Trainbots" sub-branding), while the actual "Zone" branding only appears on a single product that includes the aforementioned OVA.
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| 1991 featured the first actual fully-fledged subline that can be considered such, seeing as the title ''Return of Convoy'' not only appeared consistently on ''all'' of that year's toys' packaging, but was also presented on equal footing with the main ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' title. In keeping with tradition, though, the corresponding fiction (namely, [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: The Battlestars (story page)|magazine spreads]] and a [[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: The Battlestars (manga)|one-shot comic]]) was ''not'' titled "Return of Convoy", but rather "The Battlestars", the name of the series' [[Battlestars|main hero team]]. ''Return of Convoy'' took a grab at nostalgia in an attempt to stave off cancellation. [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys#Return of Convoy|Optimus Prime]] was brought back as "Star Convoy", and even came with a [[Hot Rod (G1)/toys#Return of Convoy|Micromaster version of Hot Rod]]. They were backed up by a handful of new molds, including a [[Sixliner#Toys|six-Micromaster super robot combiner]] but most of the small line was recycled Micromasters and [[Micromaster Combiner]]s in their Hasbro decos, all as Autobots.
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| Destrons were ''completely'' excised from the line this year. While a reborn [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity#The Battlestars manga and story pages|"Super Megatron"]] was presented as the primary villain in-fiction, no toy was ever made.
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| {{-}}
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| <big>'''''Operation Combination'' (1992)</big>'''
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| [[File:OpCombLogo01.jpg|right|250px]]
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| {{Main|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Operation Combination (toyline)}}
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| The final series of Japan's "Generation 1", ''Operation Combination'' played up combiners, which were popular toys in Takara's concurrently-running (and TV-cartoon-backed) non-''Transformers'' "''[[Brave (franchise)|Brave]]''" giant robot lines, effectively competing against themselves. The Destrons were back, but a bit outnumbered.
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| The two stars of the line are [[Guard City#Toys|Guard City]] and [[Battle Gaia#Toys|Battle Gaia]], redecos of [[Defensor (G1)#Toys|Defensor]] and [[Bruticus (G1)#Toys|Bruticus]] respectively, and two of the most expensive-on-the-secondary-market items in the entire Japanese "G1" line due to their incredible scarcity. Four more Cybertron Micromaster six-teams and a set of four "Vs" sets, straight re-packs of the smaller European-line [[Turbomaster]]s and [[Predator (subgroup)|Predator]]s, filled out the Japanese ''Transformers'' franchise's swan-song.
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| [[Category:Generation 1 toylines|Japanese]]
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| [[Category:Japanese toylines| ]]
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