The elegance in Hasui's work may give you that impression, but his Masterpieces are anything but simple.
Here are some bits from an interview with him to shed some light on the proccess and the challenges (design/budget/consistency) behind the MP toys:
Hasui: MP Cassettes like Condor (Laserbeak), Jaguar (Ravage) and Frenzy were set to be developed as well to emphasizes Soundwave's playability.
Cassetterons gave me more trouble than Soundwave. The restriction was strict because 3 cassettes were to be stored in Soundwave's chest. Their size was so small, yet the plastic had to be of certain thickness, the axes had to be functional and they had to be transformable. On top of that, I made Condor without any excess parts unlike his G1 toy while recreating the camera on his head as well as his posture in the cartoon. Jaguar was more three dimensional compared to the original, and it really was testing the size limit. Although Frenzy and Ramble still required excess parts because the gun on their back were also to be hand-held.
I usually come up with two or three transformation ideas (for a product) and one of them becomes the actual product. As for Condor, I thought of 10 variations and none of them was finalised. I even doubted if it could ever be done, but those obstacles had to be cleared if I was to create Masterpiece figures. There always is a conflict between the ideal and the reality.
Hasui: The trouble I had with Lambor and Alert was they had to fit inside Convoy(Optimus Prime)'s trailer in vehicle mode while ensuring they were of certain heights in robot mode. Lately, the trend is a thinner and taller proportion - the older toys had larger chest/bonnet(hood) area, but if I followed that method the bonnet would have reached the robot waist. By making the robot mode taller, I made the chest area appear smaller by comparison. Transformation, scale, cartoon design and toy design must be all taken into consideration, and the overall proportion needs to be nicely modern. For that matter, I face mountain of difficult problems every time.
Hasui: MP is the most prestigious series and it is often seen as the series for the main characters, but we released those sub-characters last year. They did not appear in the cartoon very often and may not make the top 10 popular character list, but their vehicle mode is Lamborghini Countach and I thought it might appeal to the generations that Super Cars were the craze in their childhood. For MPs, the most important precondition is the faithful re-creation of cartoon robot and alternate modes, and we obtained the official license from Lamborghini and went ahead with the development.
Personally, rather than concentrating on one character, I'd like to have variety of characters lined up so that the world view of Transformers could be more enjoyable. If I concentrated on the ideals on Lambor, he would have been a 10,000 yen class product. There may be fans who would purchase him for that price, but considering the (relatively minor) position of the character, more people may not purchase him. Taking that into consideration, rather than concentrating on each character and releasing them at high price range, it was decided to have a fuller lineup including sub-characters and the 5,800 yen price was set. I pursued Masterpiece level figures within the restriction and Lambor and Alert are the results. Due to the cost restriction, initially I wasn't even sure if the shoulder cannons could be included. (*laughs) Thanks to the support from the fans Lambor was sold out. The nicely proportioned robot mode and the appeal of Lamborghini contributed a lot, of course, but I think his transformation is well done and the playability is also appreciated.
Hasui:The newer MP figures do have many transformation steps, however the process is designed so that the next step is plainly indicated. They might be easier in a way than (Transformers) products for children. MP Soundwave is especially easy to see the transforming process as his arms and legs are visible in alternate mode. Although from the developer's point of view, coming up with a transformation for such a figure is the most difficult - it is quite hard to work out the structure in which a robot with angles and lines fits inside (a device) with flat surfaces.
More @
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... piece.html