>>6086141Transformers isn't really that big in Japan. There's a few successful series, G1 being relaunched from Diaclone did alright and lead to the Brave series, and Beast Wars Season 1 was popular too, leading to two spinoffs. But since 1999, its been mostly don as far as the kid's aspect is concerned, so takara is forced to rely on gimmicks to bring in crowds. Beast Wars season 2/3 failed, so they decided to try making new vehicle Transformers with car robots, while that line did well in America, it didn't do great in Japan, and Takara didn't rally release any new Transformers toys in Japan around 2001-2002, just reissues, which did do well.
And tat's the beginnings of takara really starting to pander to the older, "Otaku" market. fans of oldschool mecha shows have more disposable income and are less fickle than kids. Where as American kids will gobble any series up, the older Japanese fans are more partial to things that resemble nostalgic series. So you have things like Takara pushing G1 reissues, or making toys closer to G1 colors in the Armada/Energon lines.
And so, by the time cybertron was winding down in Japan, it still wasn't that popular with kids, and in fact a lot of villain releases where never released or made exclusives. But the adult market was there. If you recall, the time between Cybertron and the movie line in 2006 was a dead zone of no media, and only a few waves of Classics toys. But in Japan, Cybertron/Galaxy Force ended even earlier, leading to an even bigger gap with no "mainline". But, they do have all the alternator/Binaltech molds accessible..and the moé thing was getting huge..
So, with 6+ years of Transformers not really doing well with kids in Japan, and the otaku market being relatable, takara decides to go all out pandering to that market. And besides the lolita aspect, you know what Kissplayers was full of? Fanwank. Lots of references to a bunch of aspects of the transformers universe.
