User:Alpha Trihard/sandbox
The Operation Combination story makes up the final twelve installments of the Transformers Telephone service, which had run more or less continuously since 1985. As with all Transformers Telephone messages, they were approximately 90 seconds long, and free to listen at the number 03-3690-1110 (outside of standard rate fees).
Immediately following the end of "The Battlestars" in December 1991, “Operation Combination” began to debut on Transformers Telephone in January 1992. The service was promoted in product catalogs included with the Operation Combination toys, and TV Magazine story pages advertised the titles and release dates of upcoming installments. The 12th and final message was released in late June 1992, and it would be the end of Transformers Telephone until "Beast Wars Information Telephone" in 1998.
Immediately after the service ended, the Transformers Telephone / Cybertron number 03-3690-1110 was reassigned “Tetsujin 28 FX Telephone”. Over the years, it would be used for multiple toylines at Takara, such as “Gridman”, in 1993. What was at one point the Destron number, 03-3690-1111, would go on to be utilized by different installments of the Brave franchise, and eventually return to Transformers in 2000, when it became the “Car Robots Information Telephone” number.
Today, calling either number from the United States will play a short episode titled “Your call cannot be completed as dialed, please hang up and try again”.
Transformers Telephone: Operation Combination
| # | Title | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | デストロン新総統出現!編 / A New Destron Supreme Ruler has appeared! | First half of January, 1992 |
| 2 | 新戦士シックスウイング登場編 / Introducing the new warrior, Sixwing. | Second half of January, 1992 |
| 3 | シックスターボ登場編 / Introducing Sixturbo. | First half of February, 1992 |
| 4 | デストロンジェッ卜部隊登場編 / Introducing the Destron Jet Corps. | Second half of February, 1992 |
| 5 | 新しいなかま ガードシティ登場編 / Introducing the new ally, Guard City. | First half of March, 1992 |
| 6 | ガードシティとデス トロンのたたかい編 / Guard City and the Destron battle. | Second half of March, 1992 |
| 7 | シックストレイン登場編 / Introducing Sixtrain. | First half of April, 1992 |
| 8 | シックストレインかつやく編 / Sixtrain does great. | Second half of April, 1992 |
| 9 | ロード軍団登場編 / Introducing the Road Corps. | First half of May, 1992 |
| 10 | ロード軍団対ジェット軍団編 / Road Corps vs Jet Corps. | Second half of May, 1992 |
| 11 | バトルガイアー登場編 / Introducing Battle Gaia. | First half of June, 1992 |
| 12 | バトルガイアー対ガードシティ / Battle Gaia vs Guard City. | Second half of June, 1992 |
Different thing starts now!
Takara history section
The earliest start for Takara (タカラ) was as the ”Satō Manufacturing Plant (佐藤加工所)”, founded by Yasuta Satō in 1953. By 1955, Satō had been successful enough to create “Satō Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd. (有限会社佐藤ビニール工業所)” in the Takaramachi (宝町) neighborhood of Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward (葛飾区). After moving to nearby Aoto (青砥) neighborhood, the company’s name was changed to “Takara Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd. (株式会社宝ビニール工業所)”, in honor of the neighborhood where the company started. At first, the name "Takara" was written in kanji: "宝", like the physical place. This would have made them the "Treasure Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd." at the time. The company would change their name several more times over the next couple years, first to "Takara Vinyl Industries Co. Ltd. (株式会社タカラビニール工業所)" (now in katakana), and finally “Takara Co. Ltd. (株式会社タカラ)” in 1966, casually referred to as just "Takara" . Before the creation of Licca-chan and licensing Hasbro's G.I. Joe, if Takara did make toys, these were limited to those made from vinyl sheeting, such as floating pool toys and other inflatables.
Takara’s first big success was 1960, when they became the manufacturer of an inflatable vinyl toy distributed by Tsukudaya Toys (later Tsukuda Co.), called "Tree-Climbing Winky" (木のぼりウィンキー). Unfortunately, Tree-Climbing Winky was a caricature of a person of African descent, using the racist design language originating from American minstrel shows. The doll's pose was similar to a koala, and was meant to be wrapped around objects which made it look as though the doll was hanging on, or climbing them. In the summer of 1960, the toy became an enormous pop culture fad in Japan, appearing in tv shows, comics, and was even mentioned in songs. They were worn as a fashion accessory, hanging off a person's arm. Because the doll had a very simple design, knock-offs soon became widespread. Tsukudaya Toys responded by taking out newspaper advertisements reminding customers to "Look for the Tsukudaya Bell Mark" (their logo at the time), to assure it was authentic.
In the first six months alone Tree-Climbing Winky had sold over 2.4 million units, and was even exported for sale in other countries, such as Denmark, and the United States. The financial success from these sales gave Takara the ability to separate from their deal with Tsukudaya, and strike out on their own to design, market, and sell toys as a distributor, instead of acting as a manufacturer.
Takara decided to drop the name "Tree-Climbing Winky", and officially adopt the nickname "Dakko-chan (ダッコちゃん / だっこちゃん)", which most customers knew it the toy by anyway. The word "dakko (抱っこ)" meaning "to hug / carry a child or pet in your arms" in Japanese. Takara also adopted Dakko-chan as their company logo, instructing customers to "Look for the Dakko-chan mark", to ensure an item’s quality. It would remain their logo for 30 years, until it was removed in 1990. This means the Dakko-chan logo will regularly be found on Japanese G1 products and packaging. In addition, the logo has often been used as an easter egg in Takara and TakaraTomy products, such as the Famicom Game, Mystery of Convoy, and the design of Dimicron Prime.
