(Paul weighs in with a comment of his own regarding Lunchtime Specials. He writes the following in response to a poster who proposes that Tin-Tin Happy's clear versions are made by unscrupulous factory workers.)

No, no no!

They ARE official, between 5-10 of ALL Takara re-issues have been made clear for Takara employees, all ARE boxed, Ive seen them (Might even own some) They are not supposed to leave Takara hence none can be pictured.

I know of people with them all.

Do you really think employees can just mix up the correct clear plastic and do all the work required to replace diecast pieces with clear plastic As with any toy, tests are done on these clear versions, these are what leak out.

Changing regular toys to clear versions is VERY expensive, this isn't done by sneaky empolyees!!! trust me on this!!!

...yea, we trust you :-) But others might not. So we'll add it to the other half-dozen theories that pepper this page regarding them. It's what we do. Others respond below. Sigh.

Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 15:12:32 -0000
From: "Himawari"
Subject: Re: debunking Paul Hitchens

I love his addition to the "story";

"Yeah, clear plastic has different properties to solid, and the mold pressure and temperature have to be different. You can't just pour plastic into a die cast mold!"

So Mark, what do you think of this? Perhaps he should get one of us plastic guys to respond? Don't get me wrong here, but resin is resin. Sure, a machine has to be set up for any type of resin, may it be clear or not that *isn't* the main factor, it depends on the type of resin and it's melt index or how much you need per shot (so you don't undershoot). That is why there are testshots in the first place! When there are changes in resins after "soaking" the machine, and purging, a few runs may have to be made to match the color or to check for shrinkage. This is done by the setup operator. The only thing "expensive" to changing resin is not the material, but the down time. Every second lost is where nothing is being produced. That costs money. More than the cost of resin. In fact, most test shot items (for cycle shot time and shrinkage not purged material since it's degraded) go into regrind to be mixed with virgin material. Or at least it is supposed to. Obviously, they aren't(hence the LS)

As for the items being "official" sounds like he is on the same wavelength as Tony "watch me pull a clear boxed prime out of my hat!" Presto!

Thanks.
-Himawari

Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 00:16:19 -0600
From: "Mark"
Subject: re: more on paul and plastic

Himawari - I agree. The resin is the resin and you really dont need to change anything based on color or no color...sigh. You would have to change stuff for metal vs. plastic. :) Personally - I think this guy is just clueless and just doesnt see the sheer number of stuff coming out on ebay. If he saw/knew that, maybe he would change his tune...who knows? His tone is pretty piss poor though as he doesnt even leave the door open that something MAY be going on. Even we do that...:)

Later,
M

Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2004 16:47:16 -0000
From: "Himawari"
Subject: Re: debunking Paul

One thing I wanted to add, but didn't have time since I was leaving for school but anyhow, I'm not totally dissing what he says about them being "real" but the way he puts it sounds like he is claiming everything that is coming out, is legit and meant for employees. I guess if that is the case, I don't blame the employee for ebaying their bobba fett heads that were still on a sprue. I guess I would too if I got the short end of the stick! Heck, I'd at least like to have a full figure as a present. Now, back to getting serious, I have seen items that were meant for "friends" of the company, and they are complete one offs not meant for retail or mass production. However they have never turned up on ebay either. You see, what I'm trying to say is just like black tracks or the 5 limited versions of starscream were meant as limited authentic versions, however lunchtime specials of them have been made, the same with the sixshots. We shouldn't confuse these as the same thing. I guess another reason why of late, I don't call anything truly authentic unless it is accompanyed with a letter, or special mailer box. Anything else, is just speculation. Thanks. -Himawari (now will resume with his solidworks modeling... boring, stupid plastics course!:-)

"You know, it's funny; this argument never ends. It's been going on for two years or better as I type this. I attended a panel in 2005 held by some alverez fellow who put together a rather...well, slipshod panel on 'rare' things. I think if someone would have polished his presentation a bit, it would have been better accepted. As it is, I think of it as a loose collection of already-known things, with a bunch of ripped off ebay and website pictures thrown in for fun. No questions were answered, and in-point of fact, some very contradictory things were said(things he said simply didn't add up when compared to statements made by more reliable sources at the convention).

So...we're in the same boat as before. A bunch of people with opinions, and no official word either way. Just because you heard some goof blab it at a panel doesn't mean it's true." -BJ

Subject: Re: Alvarez BC Panel

SOME of those clear ones are official. There are ones which I believe are not and are proper 'Lunchtime specials'.

A couple of other things reported about the panel don't make sense or are contradictory to other information. Like how it was stated that the Universe Seacons would not be released in Alvarez's panel, yet Archer stated that they're still shopping them around in the Hasbro Product presentation panel. And grouping the G2 Stunticons and Protectobots with unreleased figures didn't really make sense because the Hartmans have stated that those were released in limited quantities through what they said was an "in house" store at Hasbro. So I guess they're technicalities but a couple of things in the panel don't quite fit with previous credible sources. I'd expected the Hartmans would have proofread some of this presentation. I wonder if they did. - steve with evil PROPER

(See Also:Lunchtime Specials Page)