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| {{picsneeded|Screen-cap of main page, a few pics of relevant toys for History section}}{{lowercase}}
| | [[Image:KidsCliff1.jpg|right|thumb|One of the greatest images in ''Transformers'' history.]]'''Earl Norem''' ([[April 17]], 1924-) is an artist who worked on many comic book projects throughout 1960s, 70s, and 80s. He is most known for fully-painted covers to comics such as ''The Savage Sword of Conan''. However, Norem has painted for a wide variety of genres and properties, including ''He-Man'' and ''Star Wars''. |
| '''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. | |
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| ==History==
| | Norem's ''Transformers'' work consists of four [[Marvel Books]] [[Big Looker]] storybooks, some of which were later adapted into read along storybooks by [[Kid Stuff]]: |
| 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".
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| 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. | | *[[Battle for Cybertron]] |
| | *[[The Great Car Rally]] |
| | *[[Car Show Blow Up]] |
| | *[[The Story of Wheelie, the Wild Boy of Quintesson]] |
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| 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.
| | Norem's style is colorful, expressive, and dynamic. His ''Transformers'' work in particular is unusually error-free and self-consistent, especially for licensed ''Transformers'' art in that era (1984-86). One quirk of his ''Transformers'' artwork is that the [[Autobot|Autobots]] generally display "eyes" in their headlights while in car mode. Additionally, he sometimes portrays [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] with a mouth rather than a [[mouthplate|faceplate]]. |
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| 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.
| | ==Gallery== |
| | <center><gallery> |
| | Image:Battle for Cybertron Autobots.jpg |
| | Image:CarShowBlowup-AutobotCity.jpg |
| | Image:Wildboyofquintessonbattle.jpg |
| | </gallery> |
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| 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''.
| | ''[[:Category:Images by Earl Norem|Extended Earl Norem gallery]]''</center> |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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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| {{-}}
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| ==e-Hobby exclusive toys==
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| ===Reissues===
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| * [[Ironhide (G1)/toys|Ironhide]] and [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
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| * "New Year Special" [[Sideswipe (G1)|Lambor]] and [[Red Alert (G1)|Alert]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
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| ===Exclusive companions (redecos) for reissues===
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| * [[Starscream (G1)/toys|Black Starscream and Ghost Starscream]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
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| * [[God Ginrai|Fire Guts God Ginrai]]
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| * [[electrum|Gold chromed "Electrum"]] [[Jazz (G1)/toys|Meister/Jazz]] and [[Bluestreak|"Anime" Streak/Bluestreak]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
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| * [[Road Rage]] and [[Crosscut (Autobot)|Crosscut]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
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| * [[Bluestreak|Silver chromed Streak]] (Bluestreak)
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| * [[Megaplex]]
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| * [[Clamp Down]] and [[Deep Cover]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
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| * [[Hauler|Roadhauler]] and [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately)
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| * [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] in "prototype colors"
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| * "Dimension Exploration Researchers" aka "Gobots" ([[Bug Bite (G1)|Bug Bite]], [[Bad Boy]], [[Treds]], [[Small Foot]], [[Path Finder]], and [[Road Ranger]])
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| * [[Detritus]]
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| * "[[Insecticon (G1)|Insectron Clone Army]]" ([[Zaptrap]], [[Salvo]], and [[Shothole]])
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| * [[Overcharge (G1)|Overcharge]]
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| * "Cobalt Sentries" ([[Howlback]] and [[Garboil]])
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| * [[Magnificus (G1)|Magnificus]] with [[Ga'mede]]
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| * [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Orion Pax]] & [[Dion]]
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| * [[Blaster (G1)|Twincast]] (reissue) with [[Flip Sides (G1)|Flip Sides]]
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| * [[Galvatron II]]
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| * [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/toys|Laser Ultra Magnus]]
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| * [[Ironhide (G1)/toys|Ironhide "Protect Black"]]
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| * [[Guardian robot|GADEP]]
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| ===Other exclusive redecos===
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| * [[Victory Saber|Black Victory Saber]] (Robot Masters)
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| * [[Mirage (G1)|Clear "Rijie"/Ligier/Mirage]] (Binaltech)
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| * [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|G1 Black Convoy]] (Hybrid Style Series)
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| * Kiss Players Position ([[Rosanna (KP)|Rosanna]], [[Sundor]] and [[Glit]])
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| * [[Masterpiece]] [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Convoy]] Black Version
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| {{comingsoontoy}}
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| ===Convention exclusives later available at e-Hobby===
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| * [[Nemesis Prime (G1)#Alternators|Black Convoy]] (Binaltech)
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| * "Fusion Cluster Edition" [[Optimus Prime (Movie)/toys|Protoform Optimus Prime]] (Movie)
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| * "Fusion Cluster Edition" [[Starscream (Movie)|Protoform Starscream]] (Movie)
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| * "G1 Color Edition" [[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]] (Movie)
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| * [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Convoy]] "clear version" (Henkei! Henkei!)
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| * [[Wildrider|Stuntron Wildrider]] (Henkei! Henkei!) [or "Gentei! Gentei!"]
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| * [[Optimus Prime (Movie)/toys|Optimus Prime Revenge Edition]] (Revenge of the Fallen)
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| * [[Soundwave (ROTF)|Soundwave Black Version]] (Revenge of the Fallen)
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| {{comingsoontoy}}
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| ==="USA Editions"===
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| * [[Optimus Primal/toys|Optimus Primal]] (Universe)
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| * [[Razorclaw (Universe)|Razorclaw]] (Universe)
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| * [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (Universe)
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| * [[Snarl (BM)|Snarl]] (Universe)
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| * [[Reptilion]] (Universe)
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| * [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] & [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] (Universe)
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| * [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (Universe)
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| * [[Striker|Dinobot Striker]] (Universe)
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| * [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depthcharge]] (Universe)
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| * [[Ratchet (Universe)|Autobot Ratchet]] (Universe)
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| * [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] (Universe)
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| * [[Triceradon (BM)|Dinobot Triceradon]] (Universe)
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| * [[King Atlas]] (Universe)
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| * [[Skydive (BM)|Skydive]] (Universe)
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| * [[Stockade (Universe 2003)|Stockade]] & [[Magna Stampede]] (Universe)
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| * [[Fireflight (Universe)|Fireflight]] (Universe)
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| * [[Whirl (G1)|Autobot Whirl]] (Universe)
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| * [[Nemesis Strika]] (Universe)
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| * [[Soundwave (G1)/toys|Soundwave]] & [[Space Case]] (Universe)
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| * [[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] & [[Wind Sheer (Universe)|Wind Sheer]] (Universe)
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| * [[Swerve (Universe)|Swerve]] (Universe)
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| * [[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>
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| * [[Hardtop (Cybertron)|Hardtop]] (Cybertron)
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| * [[Primus]] with [[Unicron|Unicron head]] (Cybertron) <ref name="usa"/>
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| * [[Quickmix (Cybertron)|Blender/Quickmix]] (Cybertron)
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| * [[Menasor (Cybertron)|Moldedive/Menasor]] (Cybertron)
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| {{-}}
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| ==Notes==
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| * e-Hobby is ''not'' directly owned by [[TakaraTomy]], but merely an affiliated store. TakaraTomy's own online store is [[Toy Hobby Market]].
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| * 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.
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| * 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.
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| * 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]].
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| * "[[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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| {{-}}
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| ==External links== | | ==External links== |
| *[http://www.e-hobby.co.jp/ e-Hobby website] | | *[http://www.seibertron.com/people/interviews/view.php?interview_id=14 Interview with Norem by a fan on Seibertron.com] |
| *[http://www.part-one.jp/ Part One website] | | *[http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/tf/books/ Transformers books scans, including some of Norem's work] |
| | | *[http://www.earlnorem.com/ Unofficial Website of Earl Norem by fans, including a very extensive gallery of a rich plethora of Norem's art] |
| *[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] | | [[Category:Illustrators|Norem, Earl]] |
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| ==Footnotes==
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| <references />
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| [[Category: Companies]]
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| [[Category: E-Hobby]] | |
| [[category:Retailers]]
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