Takara Tomy Earthspark Toyline Revealed with Several Deco Changes
Thursday, September 7th, 2023 9:59AM CDT
Category: Toy NewsPosted by: ScottyP Views: 68,558
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The past five years (give or take some months) have been an easy time as a Transformers collector, with Hasbro and Takara Tomy both releasing identical products with very few exceptions, almost all of them being exclusive releases of some form. Takara Tomy's release of the Earthspark toys looks like it's about to shatter that brand unity to pieces, as preorder listings for the toys on Amazon Japan - first spotted by Autobase Aichi - show changes on nearly every toy as compared to their Hasbro counterparts.
The pictures below will speak for themselves, but you'll be able to spot additional paint applications, different shades of paint and even proper Ghost faction logos that make nearly the entire line more show accurate. Even the packaging is different, which we know thanks to gadepon on Twitter. One other notable change is that the deluxe figures don't appear to include build-a-figure pieces for Mandroid, but it's Mandroid so nothing of value is really lost.
The first 11 toys will release on October 28th and include:
- ESC-01 Spin-Changer Optimus Prime
- ESC-02 Spin-Changer Bumblebee
- ESD-01 DX Optimus Prime
- ESD-02 DX Megatron
- ESD-03 DX Bumblebee
- ESD-04 DX Twitch
- ESS-01 Spot-Change Optimus Prime
- ESS-02 Spot-Change Megatron
- ESS-03 Spot-Change Bumblebee
- ESS-04 Spot-Change Twitch
- ESS-05 Spot-Change Swindle
6 more toys will be released on November 11, which includes:
- ESD-05 DX Nightshade
- ESD-06 DX Shockwave
- ESD-07 DX Grimlock
- ESD-08 DX Starscream
- ESS-06 Spot-Change Wheeljack
- ESS-07 Spot-Change Soundwave
Finally, here is a look at some of the new packaging, where you can see the Spin-Changers sporting a window box and the DX figures on a bubble card.
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Posted by Nemesis Destron on September 7th, 2023 @ 6:27pm CDT
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on September 7th, 2023 @ 7:43pm CDT
I'll be honest, before Titans Return I only bought the Japanese releases when they were THAT much better or different. Toon accurate Astrotrain, Tracks with the proper flames, and stuff like that. With Titans Return, Takara went all in and their releases outshone almost every Hasbro release, new tooling, Targetmasters, and glorious paint. Unfortunately, even from Amazon Japan, the cost of importing has shot up so much that I'll have to be very, very choosy.
Posted by Sabrblade on September 7th, 2023 @ 8:25pm CDT
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on September 7th, 2023 @ 8:37pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:This is a dilemma for me. I want the show-accurate decos that Takara's Deluxes have, but I also want the Mandroid build-a-figure that Hasbro's Deluxes have. Couldn't Takara figure out a way to release Mandroid on his own?
I'm sure they will
Posted by Sabrblade on September 7th, 2023 @ 8:58pm CDT
I dunno, there's been a lot of figures Hasbro released that Takara didn't.chuckdawg1999 wrote:Sabrblade wrote:This is a dilemma for me. I want the show-accurate decos that Takara's Deluxes have, but I also want the Mandroid build-a-figure that Hasbro's Deluxes have. Couldn't Takara figure out a way to release Mandroid on his own?
I'm sure they will
Posted by ScottyP on September 8th, 2023 @ 6:59am CDT
I bet some of those will hit eBay and such once the figure's actually complete.Sabrblade wrote:This is a dilemma for me. I want the show-accurate decos that Takara's Deluxes have, but I also want the Mandroid build-a-figure that Hasbro's Deluxes have. Couldn't Takara figure out a way to release Mandroid on his own?
Posted by Emerje on September 8th, 2023 @ 7:07am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:This is a dilemma for me. I want the show-accurate decos that Takara's Deluxes have, but I also want the Mandroid build-a-figure that Hasbro's Deluxes have. Couldn't Takara figure out a way to release Mandroid on his own?
Available with BD pre-orders and a blood sample through 7-11, via lottery, limited to 5.
Emerje
Posted by Emerje on September 8th, 2023 @ 7:09am CDT
Nemesis Destron wrote:Yeah it will so epic once this lame @$$ line is finally gone....freeing up some shelf space of course for something much better hopefully! .......
When it ends they're just going to replace it with another line like this one replaced Cyberverse and that replaced RID.
Emerje
Posted by Nemesis Destron on September 8th, 2023 @ 6:31pm CDT
Emerje wrote:Nemesis Destron wrote:Yeah it will so epic once this lame @$$ line is finally gone....freeing up some shelf space of course for something much better hopefully! .......
When it ends they're just going to replace it with another line like this one replaced Cyberverse and that replaced RID.
Emerje
Yes this is true. ....
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 9th, 2023 @ 5:54pm CDT
They are also reminding me that I really hope Grimlock and Nightshade come in stock soon, I want both, they are both great characters in the show, and I really want to complete Mandroid, even if his toy does not match any of his fictional appearances funny enough.
Next wave of BAF will be Mandroid in the Season finale, calling it now.
Posted by DeadCaL on September 15th, 2023 @ 11:41am CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 17th, 2023 @ 6:51pm CDT
DeadCaL wrote:It's been a while since I bought Japanese TFs. Where's the best place to get them these days? I'm in the UK though.
Amazon Japan has been a good source for them
Posted by william-james88 on September 20th, 2023 @ 9:55am CDT
chuckdawg1999 wrote:By this point, we all know what to expect from the Flip Changers. Megatron is one of the better ones since the propellers actually spin, I was expecting them to be molded in. It's touches like that, that I appreciate and I think you will too.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:The truest definition of a desk toy is something fun to fidget around with. We should all know what to expect with Flip Changers from Earthspark by this point. No articulation, all gimmicks. Terran Twitch looks really good and is close to the show model. As I always say do NOT throw these around as they can break, I'm especially concerned about the Vtol wings on Twitch.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:Well, this figure almost fooled me. I first thought this was an all-new mold with so many new parts. Grimlock, is a heavy retool of the Cyberverse Deluxe figure, almost every exposed piece is retooled from that mold. While my copy is a bit loose in the hips, I find this to be the better of the two releases.
Posted by DeathReviews on September 20th, 2023 @ 11:23am CDT
Posted by SkyFire Prime on September 21st, 2023 @ 11:22pm CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on September 22nd, 2023 @ 10:13am CDT
If there is another wave. Cyberverse only did the one BAF of Maccadam, and all Deluxe waves after those with his parts nixed the BAF incentive entirely.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Next wave of BAF will be Mandroid in the Season finale, calling it now.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 22nd, 2023 @ 11:29am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:If there is another wave. Cyberverse only did the one BAF of Maccadam, and all Deluxe waves after those with his parts nixed the BAF incentive entirely.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Next wave of BAF will be Mandroid in the Season finale, calling it now.
I was saying it sarcastically but also wishfully, i don't expect another BAF or to see mandroid in that form in toy form
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on September 26th, 2023 @ 7:50am CDT
I like it, but I feel this one suffers from being a retool.
But at the same time, it is awesome to have Keith David toys alongside Tony Todd toys on the shelves.
Posted by william-james88 on September 29th, 2023 @ 2:17pm CDT
In other Earthspark news, Hasbro revealed some new toys at the Toy Fair in New York. These are the Cyber Combiners which are similar to the crash combiners we had in previous lines. This time, it's a combination of an action figure of the human characters in an exo suit, combined with a transforming figure of Twitch or Bumblebee. You can see the photos below.
Preorders for Nightshade:
https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-TRA ... 107&sr=8-1?tag=seibertron07-20&
https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... uSbGKerAbM
EARTHSPARK CYBER-COMBINER BUMBLEBEE AND MO MALTO
EARTHSPARK CYBER-COMBINER TERRAN TWITCH AND ROBBY MALTO
The pictures above were taken by the TFW2005 team who were at the event.
Posted by Barricade.it on October 3rd, 2023 @ 1:49am CDT
Maybe "CREEPY" is appropriate.
Posted by Bumblevivisector on October 3rd, 2023 @ 2:50am CDT
The late Cyberverse Roll & Combine figures told me loud and clear that the RID Crash Combiner concept had no hidden potential waiting to be unlocked by future toylines. Even the awesome interchangeability of the Deluxe and Voyager Energon Autobots wore thin all too soon, but I attributed that to the wretched cartoon having caused the very act of combining to lose all meaning by the bitter end; maybe the Unicron Singularity affected my memory too.
But because my favorite toy of all time is Slamdance, the reveal of any sort of dual-combining TFs just fills me with hope of recapturing the joy I felt stumbling across those last 2 Autobot cassettes in Toys'R'Us!
Interesting that we've been getting so many TF toys of humans in exo-suits lately. I thought conventional wisdom was that parents outside of SE Asia couldn't be bothered to understand the difference between sentient robots, piloted mecha, and drones (boy, that term's gotten loaded with new connotations over the past decade or so, thanks to pesky reality), so toylines never got into many categories beyond 2 major factions, hence Nightbird becoming more of a sentient-Decepticon-all-along with each subsequent toy and fiction incarnation, and no toys of her rough Marvel counterpart Centurion.
So now human children have the ability to form PANTS to prop up alien robots! We'll see if this causes an even bigger slag-storm than Nightshade's clunky pronoun declaration...of course we'll have to wait a year after their debut to be sure there's any reaction at all...
Posted by Brokebot on October 3rd, 2023 @ 8:15am CDT
Posted by Emerje on October 3rd, 2023 @ 10:02am CDT
Bumblevivisector wrote:So now human children have the ability to form PANTS to prop up alien robots! We'll see if this causes an even bigger slag-storm than Nightshade's clunky pronoun declaration...of course we'll have to wait a year after their debut to be sure there's any reaction at all...
Actually these are closer to Energon figures than Crash Combiners. Not only is the combined bot articulated, but they can also trade places so the bot forms the pants. I think they're neat and actually worth getting compared to the previous attempts.
Emerje
Posted by Grahf_ on October 3rd, 2023 @ 11:18am CDT
I'll most likely be getting two of each because I'm crazy and want them to combine with themselves. I grabbed four Hishoumaru figures for this exact reason. One to combine with Gekisoumaru and Sensuimaru and the other three to combine with each other. This was back when they were on Amazon for like $17 each though.
If I only get one set each then I'll switch the Matlos. Mo with Twitch and Robby with Bumblebee.
Posted by william-james88 on October 3rd, 2023 @ 12:53pm CDT
Bumblevivisector wrote:So now human children have the ability to form PANTS to prop up alien robots! We'll see if this causes an even bigger slag-storm than Nightshade's clunky pronoun declaration...of course we'll have to wait a year after their debut to be sure there's any reaction at all...
It won't.
Posted by bluecatcinema on October 3rd, 2023 @ 2:04pm CDT
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 12th, 2023 @ 3:53pm CDT
Also took some photos of Mandroid, Grimlock, and Jawbreaker.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 15th, 2023 @ 7:56pm CDT
Now we just need a proper sized Hashtag
Posted by william-james88 on October 19th, 2023 @ 9:19am CDT
Also, in what might possible be even bigger news, we have our first look at deluxe Thrash.
Posted by Sabrblade on October 19th, 2023 @ 12:03pm CDT
Where?william-james88 wrote:With Earthspark Shockwave being a rerelease of his mold in Cyberverse, it made sense to assume that the upcoming Prowl would be a rerelease of of that same mold as well. BUT NO. Instead, Earthspark Prowl will be a straight redeco of Cyberverse deluxe Hot Rod. While it makes for an original deco for a Hot Rod toy, that original mold was panned by fans for having major clearance/articulation issues. Still, odd redecos like this have their fans, so let us know what you think.
Also, in what might possible be even bigger news, we have our first look at deluxe Thrash.
Posted by Overcracker on October 19th, 2023 @ 3:07pm CDT
william-james88 wrote:With Earthspark Shockwave being a rerelease of his mold in Cyberverse, it made sense to assume that the upcoming Prowl would be a rerelease of of that same mold as well. BUT NO. Instead, Earthspark Prowl will be a straight redeco of Cyberverse deluxe Hot Rod. While it makes for an original deco for a Hot Rod toy, that original mold was panned by fans for having major clearance/articulation issues. Still, odd redecos like this have their fans, so let us know what you think.
Also, in what might possible be even bigger news, we have our first look at deluxe Thrash.
Why?
Posted by Sabrblade on October 19th, 2023 @ 3:27pm CDT
Kinda makes him look a little like Checkpoint, even.Overcracker wrote:william-james88 wrote:With Earthspark Shockwave being a rerelease of his mold in Cyberverse, it made sense to assume that the upcoming Prowl would be a rerelease of of that same mold as well. BUT NO. Instead, Earthspark Prowl will be a straight redeco of Cyberverse deluxe Hot Rod. While it makes for an original deco for a Hot Rod toy, that original mold was panned by fans for having major clearance/articulation issues. Still, odd redecos like this have their fans, so let us know what you think.
Also, in what might possible be even bigger news, we have our first look at deluxe Thrash.
Why?
Posted by Overcracker on October 19th, 2023 @ 3:44pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Kinda makes him look a little like Checkpoint, even.Overcracker wrote:william-james88 wrote:With Earthspark Shockwave being a rerelease of his mold in Cyberverse, it made sense to assume that the upcoming Prowl would be a rerelease of of that same mold as well. BUT NO. Instead, Earthspark Prowl will be a straight redeco of Cyberverse deluxe Hot Rod. While it makes for an original deco for a Hot Rod toy, that original mold was panned by fans for having major clearance/articulation issues. Still, odd redecos like this have their fans, so let us know what you think.
Also, in what might possible be even bigger news, we have our first look at deluxe Thrash.
Why?
Checkpoint? As in Energon Checkpoint? Redeco of race truck Rodimus Prime?
Maybe a little yes.
Checkpoint it is. Though kind of want a truck Checkpoint now in Legacy.
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on October 19th, 2023 @ 3:58pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Kinda makes him look a little like Checkpoint, even.Overcracker wrote:william-james88 wrote:With Earthspark Shockwave being a rerelease of his mold in Cyberverse, it made sense to assume that the upcoming Prowl would be a rerelease of of that same mold as well. BUT NO. Instead, Earthspark Prowl will be a straight redeco of Cyberverse deluxe Hot Rod. While it makes for an original deco for a Hot Rod toy, that original mold was panned by fans for having major clearance/articulation issues. Still, odd redecos like this have their fans, so let us know what you think.
Also, in what might possible be even bigger news, we have our first look at deluxe Thrash.
Why?
Interesting, and I concur on the Energon Checkpoint connection. Actually, he reminds me of Prime Smokescreen too.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 19th, 2023 @ 4:30pm CDT
Thrash is a brand new mold that is based on his appearance in the show. Compared to his warrior toy, which is a good toy in and of itself, This toy is more articulated, but appears to have a less pleasing color scheme. He also comes with his shield and a small gun.
Prowl is a little weird though, as he is a repaint of the Cyberverse deluxe class Hot Rod toy. The art on his box suggests he has a very IDW look to him in the show, but the toy uses the Hot Rod mold for some odd reason. There is no retooling done, and he still comes with the flame effects. He does make for a nice little roundabout Energon Checkpoint homage though.
Check out the images below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 19th, 2023 @ 4:32pm CDT
Prowl is weird, but I like it? It makes no sense, but OK. I like it.
Posted by william-james88 on October 19th, 2023 @ 4:38pm CDT
Posted by Perceptor1996 on October 19th, 2023 @ 6:48pm CDT
Posted by Emerje on October 20th, 2023 @ 12:48am CDT
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Thrash looks like a sidestep really, I think his warrior toy looks better color wise.
That's a nice way to put it, but I don't think trading the sidecar for more articulation was the right move. The sidecar is essential I think, that shield is a poor substitute.
Prowl is so strange. Really does look more like Prime Smokescreen. Maybe I should just make him that and stick him with the Legacy guys since he really doesn't look like ES Prowl.
Emerje
Posted by Sabrblade on October 20th, 2023 @ 12:53am CDT
To be fair, we don't really know what EarthSpark Prowl actually looks like, since he's never appeared in the show outside of a cameo appearance of his G1 counterpart's cartoon model in Alex's fantasy-sequence retelling from Episode 1 of how the Transformers' war began.Emerje wrote:Maybe I should just make him that and stick him with the Legacy guys since he really doesn't look like ES Prowl.
For all we know, he could very well look like a Hot Rod recolor.
Posted by Emerje on October 20th, 2023 @ 1:04am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:To be fair, we don't really know what EarthSpark Prowl actually looks like, since he's never appeared in the show outside of a cameo appearance of his G1 counterpart's cartoon model in Alex's fantasy-sequence retelling from Episode 1 of how the Transformers' war began.Emerje wrote:Maybe I should just make him that and stick him with the Legacy guys since he really doesn't look like ES Prowl.
For all we know, he could very well look like a Hot Rod recolor.
I'm saying that based on the box art for him which I would guess is accurate and looks nothing like Hot Rod.
Emerje
Posted by william-james88 on October 20th, 2023 @ 4:11pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:To be fair, we don't really know what EarthSpark Prowl actually looks likeEmerje wrote:Maybe I should just make him that and stick him with the Legacy guys since he really doesn't look like ES Prowl.
There's a character model of Prowl on the box. Either way, there's an error done here. Either the toy looks nothing like the show character or the artwork used on the box doesn't.
Posted by Stormshot_Prime on October 20th, 2023 @ 9:26pm CDT
Posted by noctorro on October 22nd, 2023 @ 2:42am CDT
As Hot Rod the mold looks cool, clean, simple and sleek.
Thrash looks nice/normal, nothing special.
Anybody already know what comes after Earthspark? I'm not fond of the style of the faces and the whole woke series big nope.
That new Grimlock does look amazing!
Posted by steve2275 on October 22nd, 2023 @ 6:33pm CDT
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Thrash looks like a sidestep really, I think his warrior toy looks better color wise.
Prowl is weird, but I like it? It makes no sense, but OK. I like it.
i do as well
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 23rd, 2023 @ 7:16pm CDT
Stormshot_Prime wrote:Huh. I gotta say, and agree with others, that Thrash IS a step down. At least it looks like it so far, maybe they’ll surprise us. Instead of him, how about a warrior Hashtag?
We need a proper bigger Hashtag. I hope she gets a deluxe, but she needs a full proper voyager. We almost need a legacy version of her in the voyager assortment.
Posted by Sabrblade on October 23rd, 2023 @ 7:39pm CDT
Maybe EarthSpark will eventually get an Ultra class assortment like Cyberverse had, and then Hashtag could get an Ultra figure with a decent amount of articulation.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Stormshot_Prime wrote:Huh. I gotta say, and agree with others, that Thrash IS a step down. At least it looks like it so far, maybe they’ll surprise us. Instead of him, how about a warrior Hashtag?
We need a proper bigger Hashtag. I hope she gets a deluxe, but she needs a full proper voyager. We almost need a legacy version of her in the voyager assortment.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 23rd, 2023 @ 7:41pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Maybe EarthSpark will eventually get an Ultra class assortment like Cyberverse had, and then Hashtag could get an Ultra figure with a decent amount of articulation.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Stormshot_Prime wrote:Huh. I gotta say, and agree with others, that Thrash IS a step down. At least it looks like it so far, maybe they’ll surprise us. Instead of him, how about a warrior Hashtag?
We need a proper bigger Hashtag. I hope she gets a deluxe, but she needs a full proper voyager. We almost need a legacy version of her in the voyager assortment.
Would be nice of her to get the Thunderhowl treatment if you will. Hopefully with a rotating head at least
Posted by Sabrblade on October 23rd, 2023 @ 8:35pm CDT
Then again, her getting an Ultra class toy would also make her tower over the other Autobot and Decepticon Deluxe and Warrior toys, when she's supposed to be the same height as Bumblebee, and both are supposed to be smaller than the other 'Bots and 'Cons.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Maybe EarthSpark will eventually get an Ultra class assortment like Cyberverse had, and then Hashtag could get an Ultra figure with a decent amount of articulation.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Stormshot_Prime wrote:Huh. I gotta say, and agree with others, that Thrash IS a step down. At least it looks like it so far, maybe they’ll surprise us. Instead of him, how about a warrior Hashtag?
We need a proper bigger Hashtag. I hope she gets a deluxe, but she needs a full proper voyager. We almost need a legacy version of her in the voyager assortment.
Would be nice of her to get the Thunderhowl treatment if you will. Hopefully with a rotating head at least
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on October 23rd, 2023 @ 8:39pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Then again, her getting an Ultra class toy would also make her tower over the other Autobot and Decepticon Deluxe and Warrior toys, when she's supposed to be the same height as Bumblebee, and both are supposed to be smaller than the other 'Bots and 'Cons.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Maybe EarthSpark will eventually get an Ultra class assortment like Cyberverse had, and then Hashtag could get an Ultra figure with a decent amount of articulation.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Stormshot_Prime wrote:Huh. I gotta say, and agree with others, that Thrash IS a step down. At least it looks like it so far, maybe they’ll surprise us. Instead of him, how about a warrior Hashtag?
We need a proper bigger Hashtag. I hope she gets a deluxe, but she needs a full proper voyager. We almost need a legacy version of her in the voyager assortment.
Would be nice of her to get the Thunderhowl treatment if you will. Hopefully with a rotating head at least
True, but I would almost rather her scale with her siblings than with the other bots. Twitch is already really big in comparison, and I would like to let Twitch sit on Hashtags shoulder