Hasbro has always had a close working relationship with Takara. From the 1970's
Takara licensed Hasbro's 12 inch G.I Joe and rebranded them as "Combat Joe Real
Action Figure Series". In 1983 Hasbro in turn licensed the Diaclone Real &
Robo and the Micro Change line from Takara and released them in 1984 as the
Transformers. After the success of the Transformers, Takara also released them
in Japan. Takara's and Hasbro's Transformers followed very similar releases
until after 1987 when Takara started releasing very different Transformers from
Hasbro. After Takara's Car Robots were released just as Hasbro were releasing
the Beast Machines in 2000, the tide turned and both companies started working
collaboratively to create a consistent Transformers series. Starting in 2002
Transformers Armada / Micron Densetsu was released and the following year in
2003, both the Binaltech and Masterpiece series debuted.
The Binaltech series was Hasbro's idea to have licensed versions of real world
cars and update the G1 cast in 1:24 scale. The first prototype made was Jazz
and was a Porsche 986. When Takara were requesting permissions from car
manufacturers, Volkswagen refused to grant permission which also meant the new
design for Bumblebee would be scrapped. The second Binaltech which was in
design stage was Tracks, however Chevrolet also refused permission and Tracks
was reworked as a Dodge Viper SRT-10. Mid development however Chevrolet
changed their minds granting permission and the Dodge Viper was changed to
Lambor (Sideswipe).
Hasbro intended that Streak (Silverstreak) would be the first release, however
Takara insisted the WRC version of Smokescreen should be released instead.
Another change between Hasbro and Takara that was made were the materials the
toys were made of. Whereas Hasbro used plastic for the Alternators, Takara
opted to use die cast metal. Takara did this to help their domestic sales with
a more premium looking product as well as to tempt model car enthusiasts.
Lineup (Click on the below images to view the corresponding article which also include translations)
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