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Posted

Is RC2 and R2 the same company? I know ertl, and Johnny Lighting are RC2 brands but I thought R2 was its own company?

Round 2 is just leasing the tooling from RC2. I'm not sure how this will affect them. Hopefully Tomy will let them stay in charge of the AMT/MPC tooling as they have been doing a good job.....and maybe they will get some money for NEW tooling under the new ownership.

Posted

How could one possibly regard model building and beer as two separate things?

or beer and fishing

or beer and hunting

or beer and fill in the blank

Posted

Round 2 is just leasing the tooling from RC2. I'm not sure how this will affect them. Hopefully Tomy will let them stay in charge of the AMT/MPC tooling as they have been doing a good job.....and maybe they will get some money for NEW tooling under the new ownership.

I hope so. I would hope any contracts that RC2 had Tomy would honor. Does tomy have any plastic model brands?

Posted

I hope so. I would hope any contracts that RC2 had Tomy would honor. Does tomy have any plastic model brands?

That's the dangerous thing. They haven't.

Posted

maybe they wanted a slice of that pie and thats why they bought RC2?

Not likely, RC2 infant toy lines and other products are wort much more to them. Tomy is a toy company first and foremost. They are actually more likely to offer the plastic lines to Round 2 for purchase as to the bean counters it's a marginal product, and they got it for pennies on the dollar.

Posted

Not likely, RC2 infant toy lines and other products are wort much more to them. Tomy is a toy company first and foremost. They are actually more likely to offer the plastic lines to Round 2 for purchase as to the bean counters it's a marginal product, and they got it for pennies on the dollar.

If Tomy puts the toolings up for sale does anyone think R2 has enough capitol to buy them? I honestly wouldn't want to see Revell buy them we need competition to keep the prices somewhat in check. Other than R2 and Revell who is there? Mobius? the only other real U.S. based model company, I doubt they would even consider it. Maybe we could see a completely new player come up and start something? I also don't think any of the Asian brands would want to buy them American cars are popular in Asia but it's a big risk considering that if they would have to charge almost double to U.S. comsumers because of import costs. Not many of those old tooling are going to produce cars that are worth the price.

Posted

I hope so. I would hope any contracts that RC2 had Tomy would honor. Does tomy have any plastic model brands?

None that I know of, however they have owned the AFX Slot Car line for a number of years and have recently brought out the first new home set HO car in probably a decade or more! With any luck if they keep with the current R2 contract, they might have some willingness to go farther with them in the future!

Posted

Not likely, RC2 infant toy lines and other products are wort much more to them. Tomy is a toy company first and foremost. They are actually more likely to offer the plastic lines to Round 2 for purchase as to the bean counters it's a marginal product, and they got it for pennies on the dollar.

That is my thought too. Supposedly RC2 refused to seperate the plastic model line from the diecast which made it too expensive for any of the model oriented companies that were not interested in the diecast. With Tomy taking ownership I see either business as usual with Round 2, Tomy taking a more active role and putting some money into plastic models, or selling the plastic models to another company. Obviously 2 or 3 could turn out badly if poorly done, but I just don't see a doom and gloom angle here.

As far as the Belgians go, I wish they would take their weird round waffles back. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a proper 4 square American waffle iron these days. :lol::P

Posted

Pure speculation here but I would think that the leasing of the plastic model molds to Round 2 has been profitable for RC2 and that is not the sole reason Tomy bought RC2. It would be in their best interest to continue to lease the molds, short term, while they size up the diecast/toy portion of the RC2 business. Whether or not they decide to put money into the plastic model business will most certainly be decided by a cost analysis and not our input.

Best case scenario: Business as usual for Round 2 and some kits come our way.

Worst case scenario: Tomy decides to sell the plastic model molds and no one is interested, resulting in the downfall of those kits and they cease production.

Of course if my worst case scenario comes true, all those AMT kits just became collectors items and I can retire early! ;):)

Posted (edited)

where in germany were you stationed mike ?

when i got kicked out of college i signed up for the armed forces, i would get 3 stripes, 4 men under me, one tank and stationed in seedorf germany

untill they figured out i was too tall, lefthanded and nearly blind, all of which diqualified me for the position

Wish they could have found that of me! I was drafted and sent to Neckarsulm. Some of you may recognize that town as the site of an auto plant making NSU's. Later they build Porsche 924/944's of which I had five. Now it's a huge Audi plant. Cars and beer ... my kind of town! :)

Edited by Foxer
Posted

The way RC2 screwed up AMT so completely & totally before leasing the tooling & intellectual property rights to Round2, to me it's no great loss. I'm not a fan of RC2 if you can't tell! :o

Also, while it doesn't directly correlate to what will happen vis-à-vis the deal between RC2 & Round2, this quote directly from the article about it leads me to believe that the contracts between them will continue to be honored:

"RC2's brands will continue to be managed by the company's leadership team."

While there no way of knowing what will happen, especially after the contracts expire, it's likely that as long as they are in place they will be honored. Round2 honored all existing deals Dave Burket, (the Model King), had regarding the limited edition reissues he was having ran from AMT's tooling, & I think the same will happen with this.

It is also entirely possible, (keeping in mind that this is merely my speculation here), that Tom Lowe, (owner of Round2), could conceivably purchase AMT/MPC/Polar Lights outright from them, which would render all this moot.

We shall see....

Gotta agree with Mark here.

Round2 is owned by Tom Lowe, who founded Polar Lights which was bought out by RC2. From what I've heard back when he founded Polar Lights Tom Lowe made a fortune in a few venues, the main one being in cat litter, but for the life of me I can't recall which brand. His interest in models & diecasts stems from his childhood, (much like ours), & he's been able to make some businesses out of it. I think, depending on what is asked for it, he could easily afford to buy it outright.

:o

At least he's "one of us", knew there was something I liked about him :o

Posted

Well, seeing as how Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch were both GERMAN, that seems to make sense, doesn't it???

But, but...guys, they're owned by Belgians, I should know, I am one :)

Posted

As far as the Belgians go, I wish they would take their weird round waffles back. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a proper 4 square American waffle iron these days. :angry::P

I think that waffle is as Belgian as your English muffin' is English.

Just saying are waffles are square too, the only one that isn't, is a Liege sugar waffle, yummy but calories, man!

Posted

Maybe a Belgian (me) should run the model kit division, and don't worry I will continue the co-operation with round-2 as it's part of the merger :angry:

One major change that will be in effect right after the contract is signed, every kit will come in a chocolate box, and the instructions will be printed on a coaster.

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