The Energon Pub

Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:16 am

Since I've been in (and out) and now into the loop again over the last 5 years, I haven't the foggiest idea what MP figures have been released (through Hasbro) in North America. I bought the first release of 20th Anniversary Prime (as in the "DVD-less" red edition) when it came out, but then I drifted off into lala land and never really researched further into the MP line.

Now, it's 2009, and I've just bought MP Skywarp. Doing some research, I know that Starscream was also released here (and both of the Seekers thus far have been Walmart exclusives) but that's the extent of my knowledge. I'm not looking at completing the MP line or anything, but for curiousity's sake, can anyone tell me which other MP figures got a North American release, and were they exclusives to a particular store?

Thanks for the help!

News Credits: 241 · Sun Nov 29, 2009 10:48 am

Here are all of them, chronological order:

20th Anniversary Optimus Prime
Masterpiece Starscream (under the Classics line, Wal*Mart exclusive)
20th Anniversary DVD Optimus Prime (Classics line)
Masterpiece Skywarp (Universe line, Wal*Mart exclusive)

News Credits: 14 · Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:05 pm

MP Grimlock is apparently slated for release as well in 2010. Still no info on whether it will be an exclusive and if so to which store, but likely it will be Wal-Mart again.

News Credits: 241 · Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:04 pm

Another thing worth noting is that Masterpiece Ultra Magnus and Masterpiece Convoy Perfect Editon were released unchanged in original packaging in Australia, as a Target exclusive.

Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:15 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Here are all of them, chronological order:

20th Anniversary Optimus Prime
Masterpiece Starscream (under the Classics line, Wal*Mart exclusive)
20th Anniversary DVD Optimus Prime (Classics line)
Masterpiece Skywarp (Universe line, Wal*Mart exclusive)

Might want to add Ultra Magnus to that list as well as I am 100% positive I saw it in stores, even heavily discounted and I'm still PO'ed I didnt buy one or several then

News Credits: 3 · Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:43 pm

Ultra Magnus has never been released in the US. You might be thinking of the DVD Prime release which seemed to shelfwarm for a while.

Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:44 pm

Thanks for all the quick replies.

Wow, I'm suprised that such a limited selection has been available here. I would have thought that Megatron might be a bit of an issue (what with NA laws on selling "toy guns" and all) but I bought my Prime around 5 years ago (at TRU) so that's a big gap between his release and that of Skywarp, and to have only 2 other figures out in the interim (counting Prime's re-release) seems pretty sad.

I wonder if we'll be seeing Thundercracker in NA anytime in the next few years... He is my friend's favorite Decepticon, and I'm sure he'd snap one up, but only if it was available here.

News Credits: 14 · Sun Nov 29, 2009 2:47 pm

For some reason MP's seem to not be that good of a sales item on this side of the world.

DVD Prime warmed shelves for years after initial release.

Heck I stumbled across a pile of them at a Books A million marked down
to $49.99 about 2 years after it was released. I'm still kicking myself for not picking a couple of them up at that price.

Its seems they just don't move that well.

Regardless, its easy and cheap enough to get them online, (not necessarily ebay) that it ends up being redundant as most of the people that actually want them, pick up the Japanese releases from online stores, and by the time Hasbro decides to release them to retail very few actually go out of their ways to find them.

Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:24 pm

Overcracker wrote:Regardless, its easy and cheap enough to get them online, (not necessarily ebay)

Can you post some examples? I'd love to get my hands on a Masterpiece Prime mold for cheap w/o resorting to eBay.

News Credits: 14 · Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:21 pm

the black convoy wrote:
Overcracker wrote:Regardless, its easy and cheap enough to get them online, (not necessarily ebay)

Can you post some examples? I'd love to get my hands on a Masterpiece Prime mold for cheap w/o resorting to eBay.

Not 49.99, but Ultra Magnus is going for $100 at BBTS. There's Also Megatron for $134.

There's a Masterpiece Skywarp going for $80. The box seems to be a little mangled but the figure is apparently in good shape judging by BBTS's rating system.

Robotkingdom has MP04 (Prime+Trailer) for $159 which is pretty decent. Compared to say 20th Anniversary Prime DVD edition form Amazon which is going for $180

You have to look at online stores eventually you'll find a good deal. There was a MP01 Prime at Tfsource going for around $100 bucks I think a few days ago.

Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:14 pm

Overcracker wrote:
the black convoy wrote:
Overcracker wrote:Regardless, its easy and cheap enough to get them online, (not necessarily ebay)

Can you post some examples? I'd love to get my hands on a Masterpiece Prime mold for cheap w/o resorting to eBay.

Not 49.99, but Ultra Magnus is going for $100 at BBTS. There's Also Megatron for $134.

There's a Masterpiece Skywarp going for $80. The box seems to be a little mangled but the figure is apparently in good shape judging by BBTS's rating system.

Robotkingdom has MP04 (Prime+Trailer) for $159 which is pretty decent. Compared to say 20th Anniversary Prime DVD edition form Amazon which is going for $180

You have to look at online stores eventually you'll find a good deal. There was a MP01 Prime at Tfsource going for around $100 bucks I think a few days ago.

TFSource acquired an MP-01 for that low a price? And I missed that? #$%#^^$$@@!#^%&! How could they afford to sell it for that low a price? I thought just getting a hold of one nowadays would cost $500 USD. I'm not interested in Ultra Magnus or MP-04. Besides BBTS, TFSource, and Robotkingdom, where else would one look for masterpiece Primes? I'll even settle for the Hasbro releases of Prime if the price is good.