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Pretty self explanatory, side by side comparisons of each of the three Car Brothers molds. USA is always on the right, Japanese on the left. Interesting points: Mach Alert vs. Prowl - The USA version is a lighter shade of white, and there's a gratutious Autobot symbol on the hood. The Japanese lettering on the doors was retained though.
Also of note is that they went with the tinted window variant for the American release, which may cast some doubt on the idea of the clear window variant as the transitional unit between the standard and the super in Japan. However, that info was given to me by a reliable source, and my first Mach Alert, a tinted one, was bought fairly early in the run.
The copyright molding was also changed from a Takara copyright to a Hasbro/Takara copyright, and it's located on the underside of the shield. No other remolding that I could see, although because of the different tolerance of the brighter white plastic, Prowl's missles are looser in the launchers and don't fire as far. |
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Speedbreaker vs. Sideburn - Gratuitous Autobot symbol on the hood, changed copyright (the copyright is on the underside of the robot chest), and the blue missle is slightly lighter in color on the US release. No other remolding/changes that I could see, and even the window tint appears to be the same shade.
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Wildride vs. X-Brawn - The biggest changes occured to this toy, and it has been theorized that it was to avoid copyright problems with BMW and comply with child safety standards (although like Speedbreaker's chrome dagger isn't easily swallowable :|). There's the standard extra Autobot symbol and copyright change, and both the front and rear headlights were considerably remolded. Also, the Spetnaz blade (the grey blade missle) was remolded to be rounded off in the USA release, and both of the grey missles are a lighter/paler shade in the USA release.
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And lets not forget the Japanese clear versions of the Car brothers. :-)
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