Binaltech vs Alternators

[wolfx]

Sorry if this has already been discussed to the death.

I already have Takara's MPC Prime. Its a great buy. No regrets. Chose it over Hasbro's plastic, castrated smokepipes, battle damaged one.

But I was thinking of collecting the rest of the MPC line which includes Smokescreen, Sideswipe, Silverstreak, Hound, Jazz(?). But the problem I have with the smaller Takara MPCs, they're small and cool, but one of them costs half the price of a Takara MPC Prime. And the way it seems, there's gonna be alot of these ones. So I was thinking maybe I'll buy Alternator versions for the cars, and probably only buy the Binaltech versions of the ones I'd really want, like Smokescreen and Jazz.

Who owns both a Binaltech and Alternator? Other than lack of diecast, how different are the Hasbro versions? Do they have that shiny sheen as the die cast Binaltech ones have?

[UN Spacy]

Yup. There's already a 20 page thread about the Takara Binaltech/Alternator toyline HERE.

You're pretty much paying for a better paint job and diecast. The Altenator line is much cheaper because it's mostly plastic.

[Skippy438]

Well, first off, Binaltech/Alternators aren't MPCs, they're a different line. As far as differences, Binaltech are die-cast, Alternators are plastic. Depending on the toy this alters the looks, like Binaltech Smokey is shiny and sparkly, while Alt Smokey is a brighter blue, but flat and kinda dull. Other than that the toys are the same, save differences in joint tightness due to the different weights of diecast and plastic, as well as box and instruction design. Granted I own only Alts, so the Binaltech owners might be able to tell you a few more differences.

[wolfx]

Thanks for the info.

So as an Alternators collector, I take it you don't have much complaints over them?

Just found out that the RX-8 would be named MEISTER. WTF? And Tracks' face looks like crap.

[GobotFool]

Okay I own both Alternator and BT of each version. In terms of quality both are to notch, great material and construction. While the paint chiping has be overplayed expect a minor ammount of if you get the diecast BT versions. If your on a budget get an alternator, if you have a little money to burn and are not rough with your toys buy a BT, if you have tons of money buy both, one to display the other to play with.

Edited March 31, 2004 by GobotFool

[cube]

binaltechs for car mode, alternators for robot mode, and you can't tell that they aren't the exact same toy. Alts look a bit crappy in car mode tho