Editing E-Hobby 0 You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons: The action you have requested is limited to users in one of the groups: Users, FANDOM Staff, FANDOM Helpers, Wiki Managers, Content Team Members. Please log in to edit this wiki.Joining Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki is free, and it only takes a minute.We hope that you sign in, and become a member of the community!Click here to log in or create an account more + You can view and copy the source of this page: {{picsneeded|Screen-cap of main page, a few pics of relevant toys for History section}}{{lowercase}} '''e-Hobby''' is a [[Takara]]-affiliated online store owned by Part One Co., Ltd. Even though the e-Hobby Shop sells all sorts of toys manufactured by Takara and other Japanese companies, it's best known for offering [[exclusive]] [[redeco]]s of ''Transformers'' toys. ==History== Part One Co., Ltd. was officially founded in Shinjuku, a district of Tokyo, on April 25, 1977, originally set up as a project design production company. By December 1979, the company was already expanding, now also including a professional photo studio. Part One has been providing various kinds of services to Takara ever since the days of the ''[[Diaclone]]'' line, among them products planning, packaging design, character design and promotional planning. Among other things, Part One is responsible for designing the packaging for the ''[[Alternators|Binaltech]]'' toyline. Today, Part One's official company description is "Digital Design Office". The e-Hobby Shop was officially launched in March 2000. In August of the same year, a delivery center was set up in the city of Sango, which was later moved to Yashio in November 2002. Even though the address [http://www.e-hobby.co.jp/ e-Hobby.co.jp] was used from the get-go, the site was temporarily also available under the (now defunct) URL <nowiki>http://e-hobby.sputniknext.com/</nowiki>, but eventually permanently moved to its current location in May 2003. In March 2001, Takara would release the first exclusive toy through the e-Hobby Shop, a black redeco of the original [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] toy that was reissued by Takara at the same time. "Black" Megatron had originally been offered for pre-order at [[BotCon]] Japan 2000, since the e-Hobby Shop hadn't been widely established yet by that time. Since then, the range of exclusive product got bigger. Reissues of the original [[Generation One]] [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] and [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] toys that were part of Takara's store/convention exclusive "Collector's Edition" series came in 2001, followed by more same-character redecoes in new colors. With the launch of Takara's "[[Transformers Collection]]" line of "bookbox" reissues, e-Hobby would start to regularly offer an exclusive redeco of almost every toy released as part of the line. Many of those redecos were based on old ''[[Diaclone]]'' or ''[[Microchange]]'' variants of the toys in question, but were given new names and identities, with extensive bio profiles for the characters written by [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]]. In cases where no ''Diaclone'' or ''Microchange'' variant of the toy existed, e-Hobby would take obscure "extra" characters or weird errors from the cartoon series as inspirations for a redeco, or even come up with an entirely new deco. In addition, e-Hobby would also continue to release exclusive redecos of non-TFC reissues and even of toys that were not reissues at all, including product from ''[[Robot Masters]]'', the "[[Hybrid Style]]" line, ''[[Kiss Players]]'' and ''Binaltech''. Furthermore, e-Hobby also offered exclusive "[[USA Edition]]" versions of toys that were originally released by [[Hasbro]], complete with the Hasbro packaging. In all these instances, the only difference to the Hasbro versions of those toys was an additional e-Hobby sticker on the packaging. Toys from ''[[Universe (2003 toyline)|Universe]]'', Hasbro's [[Optimus Prime (G1)|20th Anniversary Optimus Prime]] version of Takara's Masterpiece Convoy and ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' toys not part of the ''Galaxy Force'' series were all made available this way. Beginning in 2007, e-Hobby also started offering limited quantities of toys that would originally be exclusively available at Japanese conventions, starting with the Wonder Festival 2007 Winter exclusive exclusive ''Binaltech'' [[Nemesis Prime (Alternators)|Black Convoy]]. However, in all instances only Japanese residents were allowed to purchase the toys, unlike the other exclusives which could usually be ordered by foreigners as well. In December 2007, e-Hobby announced that they had stopped accepting orders from international private customers altogether as of September of the same year.<ref name="internat">[http://www.allspark.com/index.php/200712132207/Transformers-News/Confirmation-e-Hobby-No-Longer-Accepting-Overseas-Orders.html e-Hobby stop international orders The Allspark]</ref><ref name="internat2">[http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/transformers-news/story/5655/TakaraTomy+Website+Updates+and+e-Hobby+stop+international+orders.html e-Hobby stop international orders Tranformers @ The Moon]</ref> As a consequence, only Japanese residents are able to order toys directly from e-Hobby now, whereas international fans have to resort to third-party sellers. In addition to Takara toys, e-Hobby also offers toys from other Japanese manufacturers such as Tomy (who are now merged with Takara into TakaraTomy) or Bandai. This included the ''[[Star Wars]] Transformers'' toys, who were distributed through Tomy Direct in Japan in a similar fashion as Takara's "[[USA Edition]]s". However, thus far the only e-Hobby ''exclusive'' toys came from Takara. {{-}} ==e-Hobby exclusive toys== ===Reissues=== * [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] and [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately) * "New Year Special" [[Sideswipe (G1)|Lambor]] and [[Red Alert (G1)|Alert]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately) ===Exclusive companions (redecos) for reissues=== * [[Starscream (G1)|Black Starscream and Ghost Starscream]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately) * [[God Ginrai|Fire Guts God Ginrai]] * [[Jazz (G1)|Gold chromed Meister/Jazz]] and [[Bluestreak|"Anime" Streak/Bluestreak]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately) * [[Road Rage]] and [[Crosscut]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately) * [[Bluestreak|Silver chromed Streak]] (Bluestreak) * [[Megaplex]] * [[Clamp Down]] and [[Deep Cover]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately) * [[Hauler]] and [[Sunstorm]] (sold as a set, but packaged separately) * [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] in "prototype colors" * "Dimension Exploration Researchers" aka "Gobots" ([[Bug Bite]], [[Bad Boy]], [[Treds]], [[Small Foot]], [[Pathfinder]], and [[Road Ranger]]) * [[Detritus]] * "[[Insecticon (G1)|Insectron Clone Army]]" ([[Zaptrap]], [[Salvo]], and [[Shothole]]) * [[Overcharge]] * "Cobalt Sentries" ([[Howlback]] and [[Garboil]]) * [[Magnificus]] with [[Ga'mede]] * [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Orion Pax]] & [[Dion]] * [[Blaster (G1)|Twincast]] (reissue) with [[Flip Sides]] * [[Galvatron II]] * [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Laser Ultra Magnus]] * [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide "Protect Black"]] * [[Guardian robot|Gadep]] ===Other exclusive redecos=== * [[Victory Saber|Black Victory Saber]] (Robot Masters) * [[Mirage (G1)|Clear "Rijie"/Ligier/Mirage]] (Binaltech) * [[Optimus Prime (G1)|G1 Black Convoy]] (Hybrid Style Series) * Kiss Players Position ([[Rosanna (G1)|Rosanna]], [[Sundor]] and [[Glit]]) ===Convention exclusives later available at e-Hobby=== * [[Nemesis Prime (Alternators)|Black Convoy]] (Binaltech) * "Fusion Cluster Edition" [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Protoform Optimus Prime]] (Movie) * "Fusion Cluster Edition" [[Starscream (Movie)|Protoform Starscream]] (Movie) * "G1 Color Edition" [[Arcee (Movie)|Arcee]] (Movie) * [[Optimus Prime (G1) toys|Convoy]] "clear version" (Henkei! Henkei!) * [[Wildrider|Stuntron Wildrider]] (Henkei! Henkei!) [or "Gentei! Gentei!"] ==="USA Editions"=== * [[Optimus Primal]] (Universe) * [[Razorclaw (Universe)|Razorclaw]] (Universe) * [[Silverbolt (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]] (Universe) * [[Snarl (BM)|Snarl]] (Universe) * [[Reptilion]] (Universe) * [[Tankor (Universe Decepticon)|Tankor]] & [[Obsidian (Universe)|Obsidian]] (Universe) * [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (Universe) * [[Striker|Dinobot Striker]] (Universe) * [[Depth Charge (BW)|Depthcharge]] (Universe) * [[Ratchet (Universe)|Autobot Ratchet]] (Universe) * [[Inferno (Universe Autobot)|Inferno]] (Universe) * [[Triceradon (BM)|Dinobot Triceradon]] (Universe) * [[King Atlas]] (Universe) * [[Skydive (BM)|Skydive]] (Universe) * [[Stockade (Universe)|Stockade]] & [[Magna Stampede]] (Universe) * [[Fireflight (Universe)|Fireflight]] (Universe) * [[Whirl (G1)|Autobot Whirl]] (Universe) * [[Nemesis Strika]] (Universe) * [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] & [[Space Case]] (Universe) * [[Air Raid (G1)|Air Raid]] & [[Wind Sheer (Universe)|Wind Sheer]] (Universe) * [[Swerve (Universe)|Swerve]] (Universe) * [[Optimus Prime (G1) toys|Convoy/Optimus Prime]] (Masterpiece/20th Anniversary) <ref name="usa">These toys were also available as regular mass retail releases in Japan. The e-Hobby exclusive "USA Edition" versions were of specific Hasbro variants of those toys.</ref> * [[Hardtop (Cybertron)|Hardtop]] (Cybertron) * [[Primus]] with [[Unicron|Unicron head]] (Cybertron) <ref name="usa"/> * [[Quickmix (Cybertron)|Blender/Quickmix]] (Cybertron) * [[Menasor (Cybertron)|Moldedive/Menasor]] (Cybertron) {{-}} ==Notes== * Because e-Hobby is mostly known for exclusive toys and many Western fans aren't aware that e-Hobby also offers regular mass retail toys like most online stores, pre-orders for new mass retail toys listed at the e-Hobby website are occasionally mistaken as a confirmation that a toy is either exclusive to e-Hobby, or that an e-Hobby exclusive redeco is planned. * Another common misconception among fans is that e-Hobby "makes" the exclusive toys. While e-Hobby ''is'' presumably responsible for creating the color scheme and decos, the ''toys'' are still produced by Takara. After all, Toys "R" Us doesn't manufacture its own exclusive ''Transformers'' toys either. * Occasionally, fans also mistakenly believe other store, convention or magazine exclusive redecos of toys reissued by Takara to be e-Hobby exclusives, such as the Generation One [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] redecos, [[Hot Rod|Crystal Rodimus]] and [[Black Rodimus]], [[Optimus Prime (G1) toys|Nucleon Quest Super Convoy]] or [[Tigertrack]]. * "[[USA Edition]]" is not a term limited to imported Hasbro toys sold through e-Hobby either. In the past, Takara have released exclusive "USA Editions" through stores such as Jusco, Laox, Toy's Dream Project/Toycard or even selected stores participating in the "TF Station" program. A few "USA Editions" weren't even exclusive to any specific store at all. The most frequently used store to carry "USA Editions" other than e-Hobby, however, was the Japanese branch of Toys "R" Us. {{-}} ==External links== *[http://www.e-hobby.co.jp/ e-Hobby website] *[http://www.part-one.jp/ Part One website] *[http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/transformers-gallery/corporate-companies/197/corporate-companies/e+Hobby+Shop+++Oct+2003.html Interview with Ootuka Makoto, President of Part One, Inc., about the e-Hobby Shop at Transformers @ The Moon] ==Footnotes== <references /> [[Category:Companies]] [[Category:E-Hobby| ]] Templates used on the current version of this page: Template:! (view source) Template:- (view source) Template:Lowercase (view source) Template:Messagebox (view source) Template:Picsneeded (view source) Return to E-Hobby. Edit summary Preview Mobile Desktop Show changes
