The Energon Pub

Grimlock would be a semi-rational choice and plausible if not for the fact that he's just a mechanical dinosaur. So this would really be a decision hinging on whether Takara thinks that an MP T-rex would appeal to the monster lovers on the market, or whether people would be turned off by an over sized elaborate dino?
Remember too that MP Grimlock would have to be faithful to the cartoon - and let's face it - that's not too exciting a dino... he's retrograde with posture and pretty lacking in detail. Sure, they could "upgrade" his dino mode, but I think that would border on making him more unrecognizable than grey MP Starscream - a risk they might not take.
So -- no...my guess is they'll shy away from that idea too...

Grimlock is the most logical MP from a culturial and profit standpoint. Japan puts out more "Japan Only" Godzilla toys a year then have ever been released over here! Grim's almost too sure a bet. He'd outsell Magnus & Starscream combined and when the dust clears probably Megatron. He's their ultimate trans-genre character this side of all the crap they slap Hello Kitty! stickers on. And it wouldn't be hard to engineer the T-Rex mode to stand G1 upright or JP (Jurassic Park ) bent over. Just needs the original Monster feel he had in Season 1 over the "Danial's Pet" vibe he had in Season 3.
Plus a BONUS: MP Wheelie to sit on his nose!

Soundwave - it's the scale thing. Making him to scale with Megatron would make him overtly big as a tape deck. Now, you can do that with the Walther P-38 because it's not THAT much of a stretch, but I just don't think it'll be credible with Soundwave. Revamping him into a bigger sound system would also miss the point of remaining faithful to the original. Takara's plans for Soundwave are obvious - MP3 Soundwave is the direction they're taking the character - not MP.

Do you remember how big cassettes really were? I got a Soundwave Cassette Player to 'bash into a MP but it's too big! A real cassette is the size of MP Primes chest! The fact is he wouldn't be too large, he was too scaled down in the 80's! The only other real option would be to scale him for the mini cassette recorder tapes but they were smaller than Laserbeak in alt mode. Thus, the dream of a working, G1 detailed Soundwave dies now with us... but they'll try it anyway for the sake of PROFIT & the BETTERMENT OF JAPAN!!! Go JAPANESE WORK ETHIC!!!

Oh, and the 'Cons are outnumbered 3/2 right now so the only way they'd do a 'Bot next for sure is if they do both Thundercracker and Skywarp. And we all know they won't do the same mold back to back again. Magnus (he's not Ultra w/o the armor to me) was just testing the waters to see if demand was high enough to justify the continuation of the line.

4-EVER

Didn't they have high-quality mini-tapes in Japan in the 80's that were actually the size of soundwave's tapes?
My brother went to a Catholic prep school in the mid 80's and said that the Japanese students had such things... or he lied to me.

OptimusPrive wrote:Didn't they have high-quality mini-tapes in Japan in the 80's that were actually the size of soundwave's tapes?
My brother went to a Catholic prep school in the mid 80's and said that the Japanese students had such things... or he lied to me.

Actually, they have those here, too. I have a few and you can still pick up a neat microcassette player at Target

OptimusPrive wrote:Didn't they have high-quality mini-tapes in Japan in the 80's that were actually the size of soundwave's tapes?
My brother went to a Catholic prep school in the mid 80's and said that the Japanese students had such things... or he lied to me.

Boy do I feel old now. Yes, it's older technology, but you can still get such things today. A quick Amazon search turned up:

Microcassette voice recorder

And some microcasettes

As for high quality...well, that's probably in the beholder. Today's digital voice recorders are much better in sound quality. I don't even know why these cassettes are available. Probably because they are so cheap.

Agamemnon wrote:

OptimusPrive wrote:Didn't they have high-quality mini-tapes in Japan in the 80's that were actually the size of soundwave's tapes?
My brother went to a Catholic prep school in the mid 80's and said that the Japanese students had such things... or he lied to me.

Boy do I feel old now. Yes, it's older technology, but you can still get such things today. A quick Amazon search turned up:

Microcassette voice recorder

And some microcasettes

As for high quality...well, that's probably in the beholder. Today's digital voice recorders are much better in sound quality. I don't even know why these cassettes are available. Probably because they are so cheap.

I meant actually with music on them, like we used to release albums on the larger cassette tapes. Maybe they used the metal tape? Like I said, it's like a half-memory.

OptimusPrive wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

OptimusPrive wrote:Didn't they have high-quality mini-tapes in Japan in the 80's that were actually the size of soundwave's tapes?
My brother went to a Catholic prep school in the mid 80's and said that the Japanese students had such things... or he lied to me.

Boy do I feel old now. Yes, it's older technology, but you can still get such things today. A quick Amazon search turned up:

Microcassette voice recorder

And some microcasettes

As for high quality...well, that's probably in the beholder. Today's digital voice recorders are much better in sound quality. I don't even know why these cassettes are available. Probably because they are so cheap.

I meant actually with music on them, like we used to release albums on the larger cassette tapes. Maybe they used the metal tape? Like I said, it's like a half-memory.

Perhaps. I could see some people re-recording music on their microcassettes, though for the prices at the time, walkmans were the obvious choice. There isn't that much of a size advantage in my opinion. I don't know what they were doing in Japan.

[edit] Hah, Wikipedia to the rescue!!

Wikipedia Wrote:"Microcassettes have mostly been used for recording voice. In particular, it is commonly used in dictaphones and answering machines. However, it has also been used as a medium for computer data storage, and as a medium for recording music. For the latter purpose, devices for recording microcassettes in stereo were produced in 1982 and, for higher fidelity, microcassettes using metal tape were sold. This was an attempt by Olympus to cash in on the burgeoning Walkman market, but the limited fidelity and high price of the equipment meant that these units were phased out within 24 months. One model, the Olympus SR-11 even had a built-in FM tuner, and a stereo tie-clip stereo microphone was sold as an accessory for it, which was popular with concert-goers who would record the concerts."

LOL, was just going to post that link myself!

I'd quite like to see a MP Racthet and Ironhide.
I loved them in the show, and thought their alt modes were cool. Their toys didn't do them justice. And I know Diaclone were around before the tfs, so don't jump on me about that.

Bring on MP-07 Ratchet and MP-08 Ironhide!!

Ironhide or Grimlock would be worthy figures. I'd prefer Grimlock, but Ironhide needs a modern-day adaptation that can be purchased at reasonable cost.

The $100 for a Masterpiece-scale figure is permissible, while spending more for a Deluxe-class Botcon exclusive is not.

In no particular order...

Jazz
Grimlock
Soundwave
Shockwave
Blitzwing
Devastator
Jetfire
Shrapnel
Hound
and Wheeljack

I think the best choices would probably be Grimlock, Shockwave, or Blitzwing. And if they ever did make an MP Shrapnel, unlikely as it is, I WOULD set fire to my hair in excitement excitement.

Ultimate wish?
MP G2 Space case

Realistically the next new mold might be Grimlock what with the talks at Botcon about how Hasbro want to do him sometime.

I also wouldn't mind an MP Rodiums Prime.

Soundwave could also be a possibility, it seems he is pretty popular what with the new mp3 players coming out and such.

It really comes down to what characters are most popular in Japan...

MP Thundercracker




you know this to be true



my belief is that it:

A) must be a good guy

2. must be as big as the last ones

& must be popular with adult collectors and appeal to the kids with cash

Grimlock

or Jetfire.

t-rex's sell, and so do jets.


Ultimate Wish?
No Bull?

G2 Ransack


never gonna happen

I've always wanted a real, working Soundwave. I guess I'm not the only one who put real micro cassettes in SW and Blaster... but they never played. =/

A MP Soundwave, who fits regular tapes, plays regular tapes, and comes with Laserbeak, Ravage and Rumble the size of regular tapes... my God. That would be the coolest toy EVER.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph... that would be so ridiculously awesome I would probably sell my Wii, my car and my immortal soul to get one.

Of course, he would probably fall short of 'Masterpeice' and not come packaged with Cassettes or be missing his battery guns or come colored in bright pink. Then a year later the release the Masterpeice Masterpeice Soundwave, who has most of what he needs.

Other than that, I'd really just want MP Bumblebee, who would probably be smaller, cheaper and harder to screw up, because he doesn't really need any accessories. All he really needs to come with are a little pistol and little Spike figure. Maybe throw in Chip, Carly and Sparkplug for good measure.

The only problem with Bumblebee is Volkswagen, really. I don't really get what their problem was Transformers is though, they could have always said that Bumblebee is just a civilian and not package him with a gun... it's not like he was a great warrior anyway.

Other characters I'd like are Ironhide, Wheeljack and Jazz. Maybe MP Grimlock or Prowl.

Z3ROhour wrote:Ultimate Wish?
No Bull?

G2 Ransack


never gonna happen

I quight like that alt mode, robot mode isn't bad either. Wish they'd release a similar figure at some point in the future.

Maldroth wrote:I would love an MP version of Rodimus, or even Hot Rod. I like Optimus but I'd have to say I liked Rodimus more as the character seemed to have more depth.

Being emo is having more depth?

1bigray wrote:Masterpiece Voltron

they already did it. It cost a lot, but it looks really cool and slick. The lion heads have good articulation and everything as well as the robot.

Lord Crump wrote:I'd quite like to see a MP Racthet and Ironhide.
I loved them in the show, and thought their alt modes were cool. Their toys didn't do them justice. And I know Diaclone were around before the tfs, so don't jump on me about that.

Bring on MP-07 Ratchet and MP-08 Ironhide!!

Totally agree. I am sure they will make a grimlock, it is pretty much locked, but ironhide or ratchett would be neat.

E107_Theta wrote:I've always wanted a real, working Soundwave. I guess I'm not the only one who put real micro cassettes in SW and Blaster... but they never played. =/

A MP Soundwave, who fits regular tapes, plays regular tapes, and comes with Laserbeak, Ravage and Rumble the size of regular tapes... my God. That would be the coolest toy EVER.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph... that would be so ridiculously awesome I would probably sell my Wii, my car and my immortal soul to get one.

Of course, he would probably fall short of 'Masterpeice' and not come packaged with Cassettes or be missing his battery guns or come colored in bright pink. Then a year later the release the Masterpeice Masterpeice Soundwave, who has most of what he needs.

Other than that, I'd really just want MP Bumblebee, who would probably be smaller, cheaper and harder to screw up, because he doesn't really need any accessories. All he really needs to come with are a little pistol and little Spike figure. Maybe throw in Chip, Carly and Sparkplug for good measure.

The only problem with Bumblebee is Volkswagen, really. I don't really get what their problem was Transformers is though, they could have always said that Bumblebee is just a civilian and not package him with a gun... it's not like he was a great warrior anyway.

Other characters I'd like are Ironhide, Wheeljack and Jazz. Maybe MP Grimlock or Prowl.

I was thinking with soundwave, they could make the chest really deep with a spring so that all the cassettes could fit inside him at once, just like in the cartoon. Could you imagine like four or five casettes that could be popped in or out in rapid sucsession and then those transformed into masterpeice molds.

I wouldn't even care if it played music if soundwave could do that.

If i said Grand Maximus and ten times bigger than MP-Prime ? ...

Okay ... maybe he would be a little too expensive ...

No we need a BlackZarak there dont brake when you touch it!

( As you maybe allready have quessed i love Choujin Masterforce alot ^^ ) ...

In future i would like too see Fortress Maximus, Grand Maximus and Blackzarak as Masterpiece figures ! =P ...

You know, a scal Devastator is a phenomenol idea. I hadn't thought of that. Since they would be smaller than Starsceam, maybe $60-70 each. times 6 = about 400. I wouldn't think twice about laying down 400 for a scale devatator.

Optimus Prime 23 wrote:

Maldroth wrote:I would love an MP version of Rodimus, or even Hot Rod. I like Optimus but I'd have to say I liked Rodimus more as the character seemed to have more depth.

Being emo is having more depth?

No just a guy given alot of responsability and hoping he can live up to a prior great. It's actually a common situation in stories.

Hardly "emo"

Rodimus wasn't emo, he was his own separate catagory of whiny. Emo is whiny for no reason. Rodimus was whiny for suddenly having a job to do and not wanting to do it. He already did the hard part, blowing up Unicron. That's Jesus level stuff right out of the gate. His legend was already written right there. And only a crazy person would F with him. So (of course) Galvatron was bat S crazy. But I digress. As the Titanim showed, Rodimus doesn't work too well as a complete bot without a separate trailer and they don't want to do that in the MP line. And before anybody points out Optimus' trailer, it doesn't count. It was sold as an entirely separate MP. If anything, it was a cop out on giving us a real character as a MP. And Roller doesn't count. No if they were willing to do separate pieces for MP's, Megatron would have his stock & silencer. Me? I'm pulling for Grimlock or Soundwave. But we could just as easily get Ultra armor for Magnus the same way they did Prime's trailer.
And as I've stated before, without the armor, I consider him Magnus. It's the armor that makes him Ultra. In my own little "Complete Cybertronian Historical Record" (something I'm actually writting in my down time) Alpha Trion gave him the armor almost as a consilation price for not being chosen by the Matrix, kind of like Guy Gardner in a way...
Anyway no Rodimus MP but Grimlock, Soundwave, even Ironhide or Prowl are all good bets. Or it could just end with Megatron. Remember it was originally just to be the 20th Anniversary Optimus and that's it. But TF's have a history of pushing past the expected conclusions, the Marvel comics "4 Issue Limited Series" ended with issue 80 after all!

Wow I must be geting old cause that was the longest rant I ever went on. Sorry, people... It'll happen to you one day.

Why would they want to do Grimlock? I thought the MP line was about making realistic alt. modes with relatively show-accurate robot modes, while accomplishing a feat of engineering at the same time.

The Grimlock toy wasn't too far from being show accurate, and the alt.mode was a metal dinosaur. Add to that the fact that transforming a dinosaur with a relatively humanoid appearance into a robot with a relatively humanoid appearance isn't much of a feat.

I think Grimlock would be a waste and, as far as I'm concern, would not make good use of this line's selling points. I'd prefer Ratchet and/or Ironhide.

If they made a Devastator, he probably wouldn't be made to scale, it's more likely he would be around the same size of Prime and Megs, maybe a little taller. The age of toys like the USS Flagg and Fort Max are long gone, the market for them just doesn't exist.