One of the things you ask during the podcast is "Where is the Galvatron? Where is the armored Ultra Magnus?"
The answer is "Coming." If we look at the trends thus far:
MP1 = Cash Cow Prime. We got Regular, White(Magnus), Sleep, Black, Gold, With trailer, Last Version. 7 versions from one mold (8 including the US version)
MP3 = Cash Cow Seeker. Acid, Skywarp, US Skywarp, US Thundercracker (upcoming), US Starscream, Ghostscream, Modified Starscream, Sunstorm, Heweystorm, Deweyscream, Louiecracker... I joke on the last three, but how many of us have 2 or more versions of this mold? I have 5 and will soon have Sun, too. (ouch...)
MP5 = Megatron. Not a cash cow. The Primes and Starscream paid for Megatron, made the dream of having a fully-articulated Megs come true. One one version ever made. Profitabe for Takara? Probably not to cost of production/development.
MP 8 = Grimlock. 3 versions: 8, Shiny King Grimlock, US Grimlock. Cash cow? I think this made them some good cash. Definitely got their investment back.
MP 9 = Rodimus. 4 versions: Takara, US Hot Rod, Blackimus, Takara corrected. Cash cow? Not with the production problems it faced. When it first came out, yeah, it got cash. Did it make enough to justify its production/development? Honestly? I doubt it.
MP 10 = New Prime. Let's face it: This will be a cash cow. It's already sold well, and the remake options are quite high. Possibly even into a development of an armored Ultra Magnus.
MP 12 = Lambor. Cash cow. Period. Lambor, Red Alert, Tigertracks, Black police car guy. G2 Sideswipe
Yeah. This will sell well, especially at a reduced price point. From this, they will set aside P/D of Sunstreaker/ another bot that will be limited in production capability - maybe Skids, Trailbreaker, etc.
MP 13 = Soundwave. 2 versions: Wave and Blaster. Not a huge list of options, but then think about where his cash bovinity comes into play: Cassettes! Very well played Takara. Golden Goose potential.
SO if the past is any indication, T/T makes a couple cash cows to enable the creation of more specialized molds. I don't doubt that some of these really specialized molds are coming. It's just a matter of time and patience, especially as they're really turning up the nozzle with the creation of them. As you said, 4 or 5 MP's in the next six-10 months! That's a whole lot, which opens the door to a whole slew of customer investment, especially as TT doesn't have to frustrate themselves into madness trying to figure out how Bayformer designs can be worked into functional toys. Instead, they can use their ingenuity to give us the ones we're begging for.
And no, they won't give us Sunstreaker from Lambor's mold.
