Wolfman Jake wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Wolfman Jake wrote:I would ask, then, if the colors were purposely skewed on the Hasbro stock photos to show what Takara intends to do with the figure, hence the much darker looking gray plastics. They did alter the photos of Hasbro's Tailgate to remove the blue detailing on his alt mode, after all.
Which Hasbro photos are these ones being compared to?
I'm comparing them to what many websites are using for the Hasbro preorders, such as
this one. I'm not sure if these Takara mock-ups are re-uses of Hasbro's stock photos or if Takara made their own stock photos from the Hasbro versions (and then maybe altered them).
Takara is using different stock photos of the Hasbro versions than the original Hasbro stock photos, which are what many websites (such as the one you linked to) are using.
The early Hasbro stock photos rarely match they final products, as they are usually made from early (pre)production samples, airbrushed prototypes, or digital mock up proposals (like in the cases of redecos), made before the actual deco undergoes finalization.
Judging by its "light glare shininess", I'd have to guess that the Brainstorm seen in the Hasbro stock photos used by TFSource (and other sites) is an airbrushed prototype, while the one seen in these newer stock photos Takara's borrowed from Hasbro is a (pre)production sample.
An example of the picture quality differences between the two kinds of stock photography can be seen in the following comparison of two different Universe Vector Prime stock photos:
One the left is an airbrushed prototype, and on the right is a (pre)production sample (the latter also being closer to the final product's look). Paint app differences aside, notice how the left one has a similar "light glare shininess" to the original Brainstorm stock photos:
Versus the right's more flatter lit non-shininess like in the newer stock photo: