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Happy about these new additions. Pre-ordered instantly.

Predicted this when I figured out why Sideswipe was being done first (right down to an eventual Tigertrack/Deep Cover/Clampdown).

In terms of what follows, I suspect (license situations pending) that this is what will follow it:

Grapple/Inferno/Artfire (with eHobby MP Hauler exclusive)

Ratchet/Ironhide (with eHobby Diaclone Ironhide/Rescue Ratchet exclusives)

Hoist/Trailbreaker (with possible eHobby blue Trailbreaker exclusive)

Jazz/Stepper

Skids (with eHobby Skids/Mudflap/Crosscut exclusives)

Tracks (with eHobby Roadrage exclusive)

Hound (with eHobby Detritus exclusive)

Sunstreaker (with possible eHobby Red/Police variant exclusives)

Wheeljack (with possible eHobby Marlboro exclusive)

Mirage (with possible eHobby red variant exclusive)

Now I could be way off base here, however provided licenses don't prove an issue, then this would be the order of Autobot cars we'd see going from most most reuses to least mould reuses and prioritising mainstream releases over exclusives.

Also with Artfire and Stepper, even their guns could be reused when Cyclonus finally comes along as from memory, their guns share the same mould as Nightstick.

The Decepticons are sorely outnumbered. While I welcome new additions, it's quickly becoming an Autobot lovefest

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the first MP combiner we got was Devastator. Besides, after we get a V2 Megatron, a V2 Skywarp, conehead seekers and Shockwave, we'll have all the 84/85 Cons. Heck in the next 2 months, we're getting 6 MP Cons.

The Autobots in terms of the 84/85 line though, have been significantly neglected for some time.

Bowspearer wrote:I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the first MP combiner we got was Devastator. Besides, after we get a V2 Megatron, a V2 Skywarp, conehead seekers and Shockwave, we'll have all the 84/85 Cons. Heck in the next 2 months, we're getting 6 MP Cons.

The Autobots in terms of the 84/85 line though, have been significantly neglected for some time.

You forgot about Reflector. And yes, I will keep bringing up Reflector. He is an essential part of G1 S1. He needs some love. How can you not love a creepy robot with one mind and multiple bodies that always speak in unison. I really want a cartoon accurate version. I would be very happy to even get him before Megatron, as Megatron isn't a matter of if, he's a matter of when. Plus, we are getting a Megatron stand-in, as one of Soundwave's accessories, which will look great in Starscream's hand.

I would also like to see additional repaints of the MP-11 seeker mould, after Thundercracker and Skywarp of course. I think this would be a great way for Takara to make some extra money to cover their tooling budget. I personally would love to get some of those background seekers to fill out my Masterpiece collection. Just don't include the coronation set (I'm looking at you Sunstorm), this will hopefully reduce the price a bit, I would be more than happy to pay $130-$150 a piece.

A cartoon accurate Reflector would be absolutely awesome. I hope it gets done.

I'm interested in some of the decisions they make with the characters from this new Prowl mold:
Do they go for total toon accuracy, or do they opt for more G1 toy homage.

For G-1 Toys, all three had the same shoulder missles, and lots of Stickers In the toon Prowl had no shoulder missles, Bluestreak had smaller shoulder lasers, Smokescreen had ones that looked different from Bluestreak. The toon also had minimal decal detailing. Where is that fine line that they will walk? Will MP Prowl have shoulder cannons, will he have most of the stickers and lettering from his G-1 toy, which would differ from the toon, or not so much?

Also with the licensing issue: I assume since Prowl is Nissan that Ironhide/Ratchet would have the green light since they are Nissan too?

Lastly, Cliffjumper's vehicle in the toon is way boxy just like G-1 toy. Would they even want to mimic a Porsche in that case cause it just doesn't match the toon? Maybe they could avoid licensing altogether??

Further more, doesn't Bee and Cliffy's Classics versions scale pretty perfectly with MP-10? How much would they really improve the figure if they can't really go bigger?

kirbenvost wrote:

raccon wrote:My guess is that Sunstreaker will share a mold with Wheeljack. With a few different parts of course.

Interesting idea... and quite possible as they share a very similar transformation scheme. It would have to be an extensive remold because the outside of the cars are pretty different. They could share a lot of robot parts though.

That's certainly a very intriguing idea. Even if they don't make them remolds of one another (they're probably too different for that), I could see it being a case of very-nearly-the-same-engineering-for-most-of-it.

raccon wrote:

Bowspearer wrote:I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the first MP combiner we got was Devastator. Besides, after we get a V2 Megatron, a V2 Skywarp, conehead seekers and Shockwave, we'll have all the 84/85 Cons. Heck in the next 2 months, we're getting 6 MP Cons.

The Autobots in terms of the 84/85 line though, have been significantly neglected for some time.

You forgot about Reflector. And yes, I will keep bringing up Reflector. He is an essential part of G1 S1. He needs some love. How can you not love a creepy robot with one mind and multiple bodies that always speak in unison. I really want a cartoon accurate version. I would be very happy to even get him before Megatron, as Megatron isn't a matter of if, he's a matter of when. Plus, we are getting a Megatron stand-in, as one of Soundwave's accessories, which will look great in Starscream's hand.

I guess because he was the biggest marketing fail by Hasbro in the 84/85 line. Most people never had the mail away and he was never really that big in the cartoon past Season 1. For that reason he's arguably the most forgettable of the early G1 characters and many of us simply don't have an attachment to him.

Not saying he's not a cool toy or an interesting character, but in nostalgia terms, he's essentially a case of "Reflect-who?"

That said, I would be all over a MP Reflector in a heartbeat.

RAcast wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:

raccon wrote:My guess is that Sunstreaker will share a mold with Wheeljack. With a few different parts of course.

Interesting idea... and quite possible as they share a very similar transformation scheme. It would have to be an extensive remold because the outside of the cars are pretty different. They could share a lot of robot parts though.

That's certainly a very intriguing idea. Even if they don't make them remolds of one another (they're probably too different for that), I could see it being a case of very-nearly-the-same-engineering-for-most-of-it.

That's like saying that an MP Cliffjumper would be near identical to Wheeljack and Sunstreaker. Sure, part of the hood becomes the feet and the legs extend, but the top sections and arm transformations are radically different.

It's a fallacious a statement as claiming that a Sideswipe recolour would be a great MP Sunstreaker. It also makes me wonder how many people making these statements are actually familiar with the G1 toys to a significant extent.

Bowspearer wrote:

RAcast wrote:That's certainly a very intriguing idea. Even if they don't make them remolds of one another (they're probably too different for that), I could see it being a case of very-nearly-the-same-engineering-for-most-of-it.

That's like saying that an MP Cliffjumper would be near identical to Wheeljack and Sunstreaker. Sure, part of the hood becomes the feet and the legs extend, but the top sections and arm transformations are radically different.

It's a fallacious a statement as claiming that a Sideswipe recolour would be a great MP Sunstreaker. It also makes me wonder how many people making these statements are actually familiar with the G1 toys to a significant extent.

But the MP line is dedicated to CARTOON accuracy, not necessarily G1 TOY accuracy.

- Both Wheeljack and Sunstreaker have grill feet.
- Both have car roof+front-window chests
- Both have the rear wheels of the vehicle ending up on front-outside of their shoulder, albeit in slightly different configurations (Wheeljack's facing the sides, Streaker's facing the front). Note: The only artwork I could find of Sunstreaker showing his wheels showed them in the toy's configuration, other artwork simply omitted the wheels.

Given those three points, you simply cannot say that their transformation schemes must be "radically different." They certainly could be, but it is a reasonable guess to say that they may be similar.

RAcast wrote:

Bowspearer wrote:

RAcast wrote:That's certainly a very intriguing idea. Even if they don't make them remolds of one another (they're probably too different for that), I could see it being a case of very-nearly-the-same-engineering-for-most-of-it.

That's like saying that an MP Cliffjumper would be near identical to Wheeljack and Sunstreaker. Sure, part of the hood becomes the feet and the legs extend, but the top sections and arm transformations are radically different.

It's a fallacious a statement as claiming that a Sideswipe recolour would be a great MP Sunstreaker. It also makes me wonder how many people making these statements are actually familiar with the G1 toys to a significant extent.

But the MP line is dedicated to CARTOON accuracy, not necessarily G1 TOY accuracy.

Really? Then explain the fact that they went with RIRFIB rather than RIBFIR when they did the cassettes?

RAcast wrote:- Both Wheeljack and Sunstreaker have grill feet.
- Both have car roof+front-window chests
- Both have the rear wheels of the vehicle ending up on front-outside of their shoulder, albeit in slightly different configurations (Wheeljack's facing the sides, Streaker's facing the front). Note: The only artwork I could find of Sunstreaker showing his wheels showed them in the toy's configuration, other artwork simply omitted the wheels.

Given those three points, you simply cannot say that their transformation schemes must be "radically different." They certainly could be, but it is a reasonable guess to say that they may be similar.

And in all of the above, you've completely ignored the engineering of the figures at the same time as saying this.

For one thing, Sunstreaker's shins form the sides of his cab form - wheeljack's do not.

Secondly the way the head and neck convert on both of them is fundamentally different.

Third, the way the forearms comprise the car mode is radically different in both characters and if you watch clips of both transformations you'll see that. This should hardly be surprising as the transformation animations are loosely modeled on the toys.

Furthermore if you look at MP-12 and MP-14, the transformation mimics the G1 version - legs extending (by way of panels this time), arms sliding out (this time through rotating panels) and hood folding down to reveal the chest and the head. There is simply no reason to believe that Takara would take a fundamentally different approach, as you seem to be claiming they would, when working with other MP figures. I suspect that this is because they understand the way "cartoon physics" do and do not translate to toy form - something which you appear to have failed to grasp here.

In short There was no "you can't just say" on my part as I had actually thought about the engineering involved. Unfortunately you cannot say the same thing.

In other news, I just got an email from BBTS informing me that MP-19 is Bluestreak.