in 1988, Transformers mania was winding down in Japan, and the two companies most responsible for its exposure there, Takara (who made the toys) and Sunrise (who did the in-between work on the shows for Hanna-Barbera and Sunbow in exchange for the rights to East Asian dubs and distribution, including two seasons Sunbow produced but never dubbed or distributed in the U.S.) decided to create a new batch of shows, based on lessons learned (and a select few designs, prototypes and molds) from creating that Juggernaut for Hasbro.
The result was the Brave series, a group of cartoon programs and the toys supporting them (or is it the other way around?) that ran from 1990 to 1998.
While several concepts on the toy side would eventually find themselves repainted and used for new Autobot and Deception designs in the '00s and New Teens starting with the Transformers Energion trilogy of shows shown by Cartoon Network from 2002-2006 and Hasbro, the shows themselves never materialized on the eastern shores of the Pacific. Most likely, this is because Sunrise was bought out by Bandai in 1994, which is the biggest reason several Transformer toys are mad e by them nowadays. It seems that Bandai and Hasbro are engaged in a dog-in-the-manger staring contest about who gets to bring this over.
However, there is a third party in all of this, not beholden to either Hasbro, Bandai, or Takara: Korean toy company Sonokong, who has licenses to produce several toy lines for distribution in those places in the Pacific Rim where Japanese companies were still in bad odor in the '90s. Most notably, the production license for the Brave series is separately worded from the distribution license, which means that, theoretically, a toy company that is none of the above could pick up the Sonokong versions for sale in the U.S.
The question is, which toy company? Coleco is defunct, Kenner and Tonka are now part of Hasbro, and Tyco and LJN are on life support. That leaves only Playmates, Galoob, Mattel, and niche folks like ToyBiz and MacFarlane Toys.
Also, considering all the different cultural references, not every series would work in the U.S., and even the ones that would need an almost total re-production. (Series Six, Brave Command Dagwon, for example, was set in South Korea, with a reasonably good level of cultural research, down to the use of rice spoons instead of chopsticks, Jesa Ceremonies, and various regional kimchi recipes.) So, which production company would handle it? Spumco, Gennady Tartakovsky, and Craig McCracken would each refuse, and a version of The Brave Express Might Gaine produced by Bruce Timm would be surreal, considering all the Batman references. Unfortunately, since we are still ten years away from Man of Action Studios, while Ruby-Spears is on its last legs and Rankin-Bass, Frieling-DePattie and Filmation are defunct, the American hand-drawn animation industry is at that point moribund.
Any ideas? Anyone?
The result was the Brave series, a group of cartoon programs and the toys supporting them (or is it the other way around?) that ran from 1990 to 1998.
While several concepts on the toy side would eventually find themselves repainted and used for new Autobot and Deception designs in the '00s and New Teens starting with the Transformers Energion trilogy of shows shown by Cartoon Network from 2002-2006 and Hasbro, the shows themselves never materialized on the eastern shores of the Pacific. Most likely, this is because Sunrise was bought out by Bandai in 1994, which is the biggest reason several Transformer toys are mad e by them nowadays. It seems that Bandai and Hasbro are engaged in a dog-in-the-manger staring contest about who gets to bring this over.
However, there is a third party in all of this, not beholden to either Hasbro, Bandai, or Takara: Korean toy company Sonokong, who has licenses to produce several toy lines for distribution in those places in the Pacific Rim where Japanese companies were still in bad odor in the '90s. Most notably, the production license for the Brave series is separately worded from the distribution license, which means that, theoretically, a toy company that is none of the above could pick up the Sonokong versions for sale in the U.S.
The question is, which toy company? Coleco is defunct, Kenner and Tonka are now part of Hasbro, and Tyco and LJN are on life support. That leaves only Playmates, Galoob, Mattel, and niche folks like ToyBiz and MacFarlane Toys.
Also, considering all the different cultural references, not every series would work in the U.S., and even the ones that would need an almost total re-production. (Series Six, Brave Command Dagwon, for example, was set in South Korea, with a reasonably good level of cultural research, down to the use of rice spoons instead of chopsticks, Jesa Ceremonies, and various regional kimchi recipes.) So, which production company would handle it? Spumco, Gennady Tartakovsky, and Craig McCracken would each refuse, and a version of The Brave Express Might Gaine produced by Bruce Timm would be surreal, considering all the Batman references. Unfortunately, since we are still ten years away from Man of Action Studios, while Ruby-Spears is on its last legs and Rankin-Bass, Frieling-DePattie and Filmation are defunct, the American hand-drawn animation industry is at that point moribund.
Any ideas? Anyone?