Identifying a Chinese(HK) Transformer

(see also: Fracus' trip)

As discussed on the previous page, a number of the hk toys, for all intents and purposes, are identical to their counterparts. Those that show a significant toy difference are documented on the main page. This section goes into a more generalised description of some of the packaging differences on hk tfs.

As seen above, one subtle difference on some chinese/hk tfs is that small black sticker on the right corner of the package. These boxes come with several other telltale signs, such as the box flaps: you can see a point where the normal print which was fading from red to dark red suddenly is cut off, and a just plain red strip is present. The manuals are blurry, and almost never perfect (looking as if the picture has been double printed). These manuals look poor, and are a darker shade. If you see one of these (even visible through a sealed baggie) there's a good chance your TF is HK in origin.

Note: There are some interesting rumors about caselots of vintage tfs (ie, Jazz) with this same boxflap fade....on one side. More...

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On the presumed earlier releases of chinese/hk releases of tfs, you would find a large piece of black tape slapped somewhere on the box. On carded tfs, you will see a sticker with the word: "Transformers" on it slapped across

Finally Hong Kong had the singles of Road Caesar and 2-pks of Landcross. The key is to take where the word "Transformers" is written on a normal Japanese box, and compare it to the word "Transformer" on the flap. It is very different. The Katakana (type of Japanese writing) is replaced with the Chinese word for Transformer(note also the palm-tree logo in-place of the takara Dokachin).

(pic in-process)