Alright, can anyone explain this to me ?

[Nightbeat]

What is Hasbro's fascination with putting "Battle Damage" on certain figures ?

I wouldn't be bothered if it looked anything like TTT's customs (brilliant work mate) but the damage usually seems cheap. They add a bit of light brown paint to a couple small spots and voila !

I would also be less annoyed if they didn't do it to masterpiece figures. To me, the point of that line is to have the best-looking, most posable figures possible. The damage just seems to take away from some of the amazing detail which has gone into the figures.

Maybe I'm just being picky, but does anyone out there like Hasbro's changes ?

[TTT]

Thanks bro !
Maybe they should hire me ! ....
Hasbro seems to be behind the times when it comes to finer details especially battle damage, 5 years ago I think we were all OK with it (20th Ann. Prime) but now it seems a little cheap & pointless to add a couple of paint sprays here & there.
Maybe they think "less is more"....for me its "go big or go home"
Keep in mind the cost of adding finer details & such to mass produced figures - they might not be affordable to a majority of collectors or even cost effective enough for Hasbro/Takara to produce....also its kind of a "niche" market as many collectors want there bots clean & shiny and won't buy anything else.
If they were smart they'd make clean and battle damage versions of the MP's or other series' so everyone would have a choice....or buy both.
In the end I think they are testing the market with MP SS in North America but will always be behind the times when it comes to detailed figures with as many great customizers out there today.
Just my 2 cents.

[mitchmurphy]

to take advantage of people like me that buy both

[darthrage]

its called easy money cuz they know that completist collectors will buy both versions. Or they already bought the original version and then they felt that the battle damaged version is even better.

They are no different or worse than having 3 different repaints of the same character and renaming it someone else.

Its not a fascination, its just business

[RedOktobre]

Agree totally.

Battle Damage = Final Battle = Recon = Night Watch = G1 Version, etc.

Originally Posted by urban-samurai

its called easy money cuz they know that completist collectors will buy both versions. Or they already bought the original version and then they felt that the battle damaged version is even better.

They are no different or worse than having 3 different repaints of the same character and renaming it someone else.

Its not a fascination, its just business

[Synch]

Yes Either takara or hasbro will put out a non battle damaged version sooner or latter... just look at the primes they pimped out...

[Pascal]

I only need one version per character. Repaints are stupid, paint upgrades are stupid, battle damage is stupid, recon is stupid.

[Nightbeat]

I've always been curious about the sales numbers on Hasbro's more infamous repaints/battle damages though.

MP-01 and other Takara versions continue to be difficult to find anywhere while the Battle -damaged Hasbro version was on clearance for 50 bucks or less everywhere not particularly long after release.


Because of the price difference, I still doubt that MP=01 outsold Hasbro's, but I do believe the essentially unchanged dvd Prime probably did better than the cheaply-painted original.

I'm just thinking (typing ?) aloud about this at this point. I agree that its all about money with any major company. Like megatroptimus, I'm personally not interested in buying the same figure over and over again.

And for the love of God, if Hasbro hired you Transtorture.... well, they could charge me whatever they wanted to for your work and I'd still be happy.

[Dark Rage]

I actually like the 2004 Anniversary edition over the newer DVD version, it's much more identical and closer to the Takara Masterpiece version, with silver paint. There's just slight differences in the paint schemes, smokestacks, and of course, battle damage.

I find the most recent DVD version to be horrible, I really hate the white lines on the torso and arms. And even though it is more accurate, it doesn't look good on that figure, IMO. I don't ever recall Prime having yellow on his helmet (near the mouthpiece) or on his rifle. I don't know why they call this the most accurate paint scheme to the DVD, but it sure doesn't to me, to the best of my memory.

I'm actually seeing the 2004 edition to be quite pricey on ebay (inflation and gun variants aside), simple because it's a much cheaper alternative to a Takara Masterpiece version, even though the prices now are as high as the MP-01's price.

As much as I don't like battle damage, yes, there is a market for variants and such, but if there was only to be one, I'd prefer a clean version instead. No offense to Transtorture, your work is great, but it's jaw dropping when I see you "battle damage" a transformer, but that's just my preference on "clean" transformers.

Originally Posted by Nightbeat

I've always been curious about the sales numbers on Hasbro's more infamous repaints/battle damages though.

MP-01 and other Takara versions continue to be difficult to find anywhere while the Battle -damaged Hasbro version was on clearance for 50 bucks or less everywhere not particularly long after release.


Because of the price difference, I still doubt that MP=01 outsold Hasbro's, but I do believe the essentially unchanged dvd Prime probably did better than the cheaply-painted original.

I'm just thinking (typing ?) aloud about this at this point. I agree that its all about money with any major company. Like megatroptimus, I'm personally not interested in buying the same figure over and over again.

And for the love of God, if Hasbro hired you Transtorture.... well, they could charge me whatever they wanted to for your work and I'd still be happy.

[Protoman]

Aaron Archer told us the REAL reason behind it all at Botcon 2006. When a toy is made, it costs money to have it engineered and crafted before it reaches even it's test shot phase and final product. A lot of the time, in order to make money back on some molds they do repaints. Hasbro gets pushed by Walmart and Toys R us to give them new products for the shelves even 3 months, so instead of rushing mold engineering, they make "battle damage" characters, new character repaints or even just silly simple repaints (Galaxy Force Optimus Prime). To quote him from Botcon "We don't ask you to buy them all, that's your own choice, we are just trying to make our money back"