The Energon Pub

you would think by having his alt mode be more cartoon accurate in that way there would be less need for folding panels and fake car kibble
looks like they made it worse to achieve a cartoon accurate robot mode
the new optimus prime on the other hand doesnt look this bad

I am not going to admit that he looks way better here than at the show. Nope, I'd be giving Takara way too much credit

Wolfman Jake wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Y'all do know that Stack did Magnus before he did that show, right?

That is one of the main reasons why he did not make it to this list: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ory/32819/

Uh, you do understand that Robert Stack was a celebrity and well-established Hollywood actor decades before he did the voice of Ultra Magnus in The Transformers: The Movie, right? Neither Transformers, nor Unsolved Mysteries, started his career. They did keep him relevant in the latter years of his life, though.

YeaH, yeah and it was brought up then too. Controversial view point though, i dont think he was that great as Magnus.

The problem with that new Bee is that it's 100% a shellformer and they do their best to tuck away the shell as they can.

Is it the future of the MP line? Bots in a pot where the pot alone must be folded like a finicky origami thing?

That moment when little Bumblebee is $40 more expensive than Bluestreak... What times we live in.

This sort of a backpack feels so incongruous with what I understand the masterpiece line to be.
I can excuse the backpack on something like, say, POTP Rodimus Unicronus, as that was a ~£50 mass retail item that was a toy first and foremost, but Masterpiece, as I understand it, have always struck as the line designed for collectors, so the whole, 'just shove it all on the back, eff it,' is so disappointing. As someone who is only recently in the position to start buying MP figures, this is very disheartening. I can only hope that this design philosophy pivots back to what it was a few years ago.

Wow.....

He is tiny, and while the alt mode is cute, that robot is...wow....just wow...

carytheone wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

I have to admit that the nicest looking thing to come from the MPB2 announcement is that sweet wood paneling.

It is nice paneling, carrytheone.

Oh, and this MP Bumblebee still sucks like a black hole. it sucks like Unicron at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Lando Tucker wrote:I may be in the minority here too, but this line has been running for well over a decade and each new figure is constricting, not expanding or enhancing the line, and I don't think we'll ever get anywhere near a full set of anything. My dreams of a Masterpiece Arcee or Blaster will never be realised, and the chance of even getting a Braun or Mirage or Hound or [insert name here] are slim to none.

Masterpiece Hound is coming, for what it's worth. He is allegedly MP-47, though that would put his release somewhere at the end of 2019 at best. I would be surprised if we didn't eventually get Masterpiece Blaster. We do have two of his cassettes already in the Masterpiece line, though they're certainly not as well known as his buddies from the cartoon.

william-james88 wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Y'all do know that Stack did Magnus before he did that show, right?

That is one of the main reasons why he did not make it to this list: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ory/32819/

Uh, you do understand that Robert Stack was a celebrity and well-established Hollywood actor decades before he did the voice of Ultra Magnus in The Transformers: The Movie, right? Neither Transformers, nor Unsolved Mysteries, started his career. They did keep him relevant in the latter years of his life, though.

YeaH, yeah and it was brought up then too. Controversial view point though, i dont think he was that great as Magnus.

That's fair enough. You left Robert Stack off the list not because he wasn't a "celebrity" guest voice actor, but because you didn't find his performance memorable. Before, it seemed like the implication was he wasn't considered a "celebrity" at the time he did The Transformers: The Movie because he wasn't "famous" until hosting Unsolved Mysteries later on.

Please refrain from posting the official MP-45 Bumblebee photos until later this week. Thank you.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Y'all do know that Stack did Magnus before he did that show, right?

"Dat's the joke."

Emphasis on the word "before"

Sabrblade wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Y'all do know that Stack did Magnus before he did that show, right?

"Dat's the joke."

Emphasis on the word "before"

I still don't understand what you're trying to get at, Sabr.

What I want: a proper retool of MP-21 as Goldbug.

What we're actually getting: ... meh.

IF this goes on sale I might get it, but he'll stay in his vehicle mode.

Here's a question that popped into my head this morning. Did Takara or Hasbro expect this new Bee to be well received? One would assume so, otherwise why release it?

Based on what I've read here, at TFW and social media, it's getting universally panned and people are having a hard time finding any real positives. With that being said, is Takara and Hasbro completely oblivious to what fans want? Or are they just really cocky? If they are actually that out of touch, what does that say for the MP line as a whole?

carytheone wrote:Here's a question that popped into my head this morning. Did Takara or Hasbro expect this new Bee to be well received? One would assume so, otherwise why release it?

Based on what I've read here, at TFW and social media, it's getting universally panned and people are having a hard time finding any real positives. With that being said, is Takara and Hasbro completely oblivious to what fans want? Or are they just really cocky? If they are actually that out of touch, what does that say for the MP line as a whole?

Honestly? I think this was rushed for the sake of the new "Bumblebee" film and Takara predicts people will buy it anyway. And I agree. Some even declared they're getting two or three units.

I have MP-21 in my palm and he still looks fantastic and cartoon-accurate. I wouldn't have problem getting a remake if it were good. I was actually excited about the prospect of a Chibi Beetle, more articulation, etc. But that's that.

The price is also funny. MP-21 cost me ¥5100 (about 45 USD) -- it was a better figure AND packed with a second Transformer.

Takara's stock photos are normally honest but this time they seem to deliberately hide the mess as much as possible; which makes me believe they do know they've dropped the ball. That's my 2 cents anyway.

carytheone wrote:Here's a question that popped into my head this morning. Did Takara or Hasbro expect this new Bee to be well received? One would assume so, otherwise why release it?

Based on what I've read here, at TFW and social media, it's getting universally panned and people are having a hard time finding any real positives. With that being said, is Takara and Hasbro completely oblivious to what fans want? Or are they just really cocky? If they are actually that out of touch, what does that say for the MP line as a whole?

If you sell half as many but raise the price by 100%, then you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning, but I, I got a 66 and 2/3 chance of winning, because Optimus Prime KNOWS he can't beat me and he's not even gonna try! So Starscream, you take your 33 1/3 chance, minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 1/3 chance of winning. But then you take my 75% chance of winning, if we was to go one on one, and then add 66 2/3 per cents, I got 141 2/3 chance of winning. See Starscream, the numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for you it's all a wash?

carytheone wrote:Here's a question that popped into my head this morning. Did Takara or Hasbro expect this new Bee to be well received? One would assume so, otherwise why release it?

Based on what I've read here, at TFW and social media, it's getting universally panned and people are having a hard time finding any real positives. With that being said, is Takara and Hasbro completely oblivious to what fans want? Or are they just really cocky? If they are actually that out of touch, what does that say for the MP line as a whole?

Cyberpath wrote:Honestly? I think this was rushed for the sake of the new "Bumblebee" film and Takara predicts people will buy it anyway. And I agree.

So a little column A, a little column B.

Some even declared they're getting two or three units.

That doesn't surprise me at all. But there is nothing wrong with liking MPB2 (buy what you like). There are some cool things about the figure. Namely for me it's just the alt mode.

Takara's stock photos are normally honest but this time they seem to deliberately hide the mess as much as possible; which makes me believe they do know they've dropped the ball.

They do seem to be manipulating the camera angle don't they. That and all the official pics getting pulled form all the big fan sites seems a little suspicious.

ScottyP wrote:If you sell half as many but raise the price by 100%, then you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning, but I, I got a 66 and 2/3 chance of winning, because Optimus Prime KNOWS he can't beat me and he's not even gonna try! So Starscream, you take your 33 1/3 chance, minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 1/3 chance of winning. But then you take my 75% chance of winning, if we was to go one on one, and then add 66 2/3 per cents, I got 141 2/3 chance of winning. See Starscream, the numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for you it's all a wash?

ScottyP wrote:

carytheone wrote:Here's a question that popped into my head this morning. Did Takara or Hasbro expect this new Bee to be well received? One would assume so, otherwise why release it?

Based on what I've read here, at TFW and social media, it's getting universally panned and people are having a hard time finding any real positives. With that being said, is Takara and Hasbro completely oblivious to what fans want? Or are they just really cocky? If they are actually that out of touch, what does that say for the MP line as a whole?

If you sell half as many but raise the price by 100%, then you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning, but I, I got a 66 and 2/3 chance of winning, because Optimus Prime KNOWS he can't beat me and he's not even gonna try! So Starscream, you take your 33 1/3 chance, minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 1/3 chance of winning. But then you take my 75% chance of winning, if we was to go one on one, and then add 66 2/3 per cents, I got 141 2/3 chance of winning. See Starscream, the numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for you it's all a wash?

Wow, my economics algorithm didn't come with near as complex an answer

As for Bee, I'm sure his issues would be diminished, maybe even disregard, if his price wasn't outrageous. I'm starting to warm up to the head sculpt, and his feet don't really bother me, but it's the atrocious backpack he has going on that I can't stand (besides the price of course). MP-44 proved you can have a clean robot mode and relatively clean truck mode, while having the truck be realistic and the robot cartoony. I thought a cartoony car mode might help even better, but nope. The new Bee completely disregards that, only because it was rushed.

This replaces Tracks as most underwhelming MP now

I Autobot NY.. cartoon accurate my butt

carytheone wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:Honestly? I think this was rushed for the sake of the new "Bumblebee" film and Takara predicts people will buy it anyway. And I agree.

So a little column A, a little column B.

Some even declared they're getting two or three units.

That doesn't surprise me at all. But there is nothing wrong with liking MPB2 (buy what you like). There are some cool things about the figure. Namely for me it's just the alt mode.

By all means, never suggested otherwise. Just pointing out that it will probably sell.

It'd be interesting to read the designers' thoughts on this, but not right now, a while from now when their words won't jeopardise sales.

Pre-orders up on Amazon Japan --

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B07NF4NX5G


With additional pix, finally --

When it comes to MP45 no single component bothers me that much; the head isn't that bad and could be improved if a battle mask shows up for the + version, the feet don't bug me at all, the crumpled looking backpack is tolerable, I find some charm in the fake spare on his back, I could adjust to the seemingly almost too narrow fake chest. I think it's the accumulation of it all in a single package that overwhelms me with dislike.

Cyberpath wrote:Some even declared they're getting two or three units.

carytheone wrote:That doesn't surprise me at all. But there is nothing wrong with liking MPB2 (buy what you like). There are some cool things about the figure. Namely for me it's just the alt mode.

By all means, never suggested otherwise. Just pointing out that it will probably sell.

Of course and sorry if I suggested that you suggested that. It will sell well enough I'm sure, I mean I'd jump if the price was right


EDIT: are the tires grey?

UK Pre-Orders are active: £95

£30 more than MP-20+ Wheeljack, £25 more than MP-18+ Bluestreak.. That is appalling.

carytheone wrote: That and all the official pics getting pulled form all the big fan sites seems a little suspicious.

There is no conspiracy theory, the oficial iamges havent been officially released yet online, end of story.