Stock photography

Stock photography, often simply referred to as stock photos, is official photography of Transformers toys used by Hasbro and Takara to illustrate toy packaging, catalogs, instructions and toy listings on their their official websites. Hasbro and Takara sometimes use the same stock photos for the same toys, but in many cases, the two companies use different stock photos, often because the toys may not be entirely identical in terms of coloring and details. Stock photos may also be supplied for magazines and other media outlets.

Sometimes stock photos are taken in-house, while in other instances, the job is outsourced to external photo studios. Because of the overall complexity of Transformers toys (as compared to, say, your typical G.I. Joe or Star Wars toys), the photographers have a tendency to photograph the toys in (sometimes glaringly) incorrectly transformed states. Awkward poses are also common.

The toys used for stock photos are often early prototypes that might differ from the final toys. Production samples may also be used for stock photos. Furthermore, Hasbro also have stock photos of the toys in packaging, often including international, multilingual variations.