The Energon Pub

Looks fantastic to me, but I also have scale worries. If the "new" Masterpiece scale is to be maintained, Rodimus is gonna have to be hella-short. As it is the original Prime and Megatron are hideously bigger than the rest of the line, to the point where its almost necessary to buy the pp smaller scale versions. But even then Prime err's a tad on the small side with the MP seeker mold standing a hair taller than him, and I have worries that Hot Rod through a mathematical fluke could be bigger than Optimus, with only what appears to be a centimeter of upper leg separating him from "Rodimus". That said, aside from Rodimus' horse face and mis-colored crotch piece (they could have made it flip around or something), this figure's as close to perfect as it can get.

I wholeheartedly back the Headmaster Arcee idea also, though the Daniel figure would be T-I-N-Y since even the MP scale (the new one anyway) would place her head significantly smaller than the original headmasters. But given her overwhelming popularity, especially with Japan's shameless T&A toy industry, I'd be shocked if MP Arcee didn't show up sooner than later.

Personally, although Galvatron at this point is most likely a Guarantee, my top choices would be Springer (c'mon, MP triple-changer who never had a good "official" toy) or a REAL Ultra Magnus, none of that Prime-cab cop-out crap.

I think Takara Tomy have made a figure as good as any of the other masterpieces, truly amazing. Can't wait to get the shipping email from Amazon Japan telling me that he's being delivered! But He'll arrive 7 weeks before my birthday......I wonder if I can hold on to open him until then?

I think there is a 0% chance of Hasbro changing the mold unless there is any part of Rodimus which could be deemed to be dangerous for children like Optimus's smoke stacks.

We have to remember that masterpieces are only going to be made of the most popular/important characters in Transformers. Unfortunately Arcee doesn't stand a chance ditto Kup. If Cyclonus could be made by re-tooling one of the seeker molds then I could see it but there are 10 more popular characters who would need figures first and who would be more logical because repaint possibilities are almost as important as popularity with these expensive to make/produce figures:
Soundwave which would give us Blaster, Galvatron, Shockwave, Jazz, G1 Bumblebee, the Coneheads which would be easy for them to do, Ironhide which would give us Ratchet. Did I miss anyone?
Why won't they just give us a deluxe figure???? It's been 25 years since the movie and she still doesn't have anything that remotely resembles her that hasn't been made by a third party.

The next masterpiece repaint will no doubt be Shattered Glass or Nemesis Hot Rod. It'll look cool but not a goer for me.

PS Headmaster Arcce with Daniel would be perfect! They could release it as an exclusive.......Oh who are we kidding, they'll never do it but it doesn't hurt to dream.

Jazz-1982 wrote:
We have to remember that masterpieces are only going to be made of the most popular/important characters in Transformers. Unfortunately Arcee doesn't stand a chance ditto Kup. If Cyclonus could be made by re-tooling one of the seeker molds then I could see it but there are 10 more popular characters who would need figures first and who would be more logical because repaint possibilities are almost as important as popularity with these expensive to make/produce figures

I would have to respectfully disagree. Aside from the seekers which are obvious recolors that fans would actually demand, I don't see the majority of Masterpiece figures being "retooled" in any way. I would not expect for example, a Soundwave to in some way be reused for a Blaster. Their bodies are far different to reuse ANY part and not be noticable, and I think the MP line is designed to avoid such obvious copouts. Granted, there will always be repaints, most lucky-draw style, clear or shattered glass pointless ones yes, but never "seriously" retooled into new characters.

I also respectfully disagree about the popularity of Arcee. She was one of the 3 MCAxis model characters, her fan demand in all respects is through the roof. Maybe the American market has a phobia about female characters, but I can definitely see her being released as a Takara MP figure, no doubt in mind mind.

I like Arcee as much as the next guy, I know she's popular and I think the fact that she's a female character stops her getting a figure is just stupid.
If hell froze over and they made a Masterpiece of her, I would buy it for sure. Yes, she's popular but you're talking about a character that has never had an accurate G1 version made suddenly jumping up into Masterpiece class. I would love to see it but I'm just being realistic.

The re-tooling makes perfect sense, as it saves money on making new molds. You've got a good point about Blaster/Soundwave.
but they do it with all the other lines already and with the costs involved in making these it's logical to make slight alterations - the Coneheads for example could easily be done with the Seeker mold.

Jazz-1982 wrote:I like Arcee as much as the next guy, I know she's popular and I think the fact that she's a female character stops her getting a figure is just stupid.
If hell froze over and they made a Masterpiece of her, I would buy it for sure. Yes, she's popular but you're talking about a character that has never had an accurate G1 version made suddenly jumping up into Masterpiece class. I would love to see it but I'm just being realistic.

The re-tooling makes perfect sense, as it saves money on making new molds. You've got a good point about Blaster/Soundwave.
but they do it with all the other lines already and with the costs involved in making these it's logical to make slight alterations - the Coneheads for example could easily be done with the Seeker mold.

I would never accept a retooling where it doesn't make sense, as expensive as the MP figures are to make, they're equally expensive to buy, and I personally would NOT STAND for Soundwave retooled as Blaster, or a MP Megatron even attempting to be passed off as anything but Megatron. The good news is no such retooling has yet occured in the line outside the Seekers which is completely appropriate. This is the Masterpiece line, it's supposed to be the one line with no shortcuts. Seekers of course, are a completely different story, and wholly unique among the TF community...lol

Sold for me!!!

I could be tempted by a Reformatting Megatron, done in transparent pink plastic with grid-lines on it, if I didn't think it'd crumble into a million pieces when I first looked at it.

Back in the 80s I actually had numerous dreams about finding Arcee, both Headmaster and the original. I would be so excited that they made the figure and I finally had it.

One kid convinced me he saw a Headmaster Arcee on sale at a Kohl's about 25 miles away. I earned the money and convinced my Mom to take me there and all I got was Strafe, which was cool but a total let down. I searched expectantly for her for a few years, always with a faint hope that she would pop up. Hence the dreams.

Another kid convinced me that there was a TF season 5 that he watched. He told me what station and when. Needless to say I searched every TV guide to no avail. I even got up early to check if the guide was wrong but alas.

If you are one of those lying kids I hope you definitely get what coming to you. ;p

As for me, I still wish there would be a TF season 5 but that'l never happen. I thought the animated sequences from the Headmaster and Targetmaster commercials that was recycled in the Season 4 (three episode "series") theme song intro was from a new season with awesome animation that was up and coming. They fooled me there too.

vp1940 wrote:

Jazz-1982 wrote:I like Arcee as much as the next guy, I know she's popular and I think the fact that she's a female character stops her getting a figure is just stupid.
If hell froze over and they made a Masterpiece of her, I would buy it for sure. Yes, she's popular but you're talking about a character that has never had an accurate G1 version made suddenly jumping up into Masterpiece class. I would love to see it but I'm just being realistic.

The re-tooling makes perfect sense, as it saves money on making new molds. You've got a good point about Blaster/Soundwave.
but they do it with all the other lines already and with the costs involved in making these it's logical to make slight alterations - the Coneheads for example could easily be done with the Seeker mold.

I would never accept a retooling where it doesn't make sense, as expensive as the MP figures are to make, they're equally expensive to buy, and I personally would NOT STAND for Soundwave retooled as Blaster, or a MP Megatron even attempting to be passed off as anything but Megatron. The good news is no such retooling has yet occured in the line outside the Seekers which is completely appropriate. This is the Masterpiece line, it's supposed to be the one line with no shortcuts. Seekers of course, are a completely different story, and wholly unique among the TF community...lol

I totally agree - if the altering the mold is just done for the sake of it and it doesn't look like the other character it's supposed to be then forget it. I passed up on the Generations 'Blurr' for the same reason. Good paint scheme but just Drift in Blurr colours with a crappy new head. I'm not an advocate of them doing it unless they can do it so that it gives a good representation of the character they are trying to make. But they'll always do it to cut costs. I think if the Soundwave rumour is true, they'll probably try Blaster but yes, it would need a lot of changes. Could they do a good job? Who knows...

Oh man... Oh MAN... I really want this one! I bought MP Skywarp the day after Christmas last year, and as much as I love it, and even though he's my favorite 'con, this one blows away all the competition in my opinion. I honestly was never a fan of Rodimus Prime, but Hot Rod's pretty cool, and this toy is just jaw-dropping. I have one problem though, and I think it's the same one all of us share... WHY THE CRAP DOES THIS HAFTA COST SO MUCH!?! I honestly could care less about the trailer, and I'd settle for just the base figure.

@praxusprime.

That my friend is the situation in the Japanese collectors market. For them, that price is like, well chump change so to speak because their economy is kind off set different for us. And adults have enough disposable income to spend on( if that wasn't the case then the MP toy line and even more expensive releases like the CMS classics series would have gone belly up). The USA marketplace wouldn't even dare touch the US$100 barrier hence we occasionally get USA ver that is radically changed to cut costs)

Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, I could probably rack up enough to get him in a few weeks, but as always, it's gonna eat me up with guilt when I spend $200 on a toy. But oh well, I love transformers, and this figure is worth it.

Takara did a really nice job putting this together. I will no doubt be getting this, and I don't even like Rodimus Prime.

The accessories look great. Two questions:
1. Can he turn at the waist?
2. Is anyone else getting a sinking feeling that his torso appears light/fragile with the windshield compaction going on? I really hope that the pieces in his torso lock together well and function in a sturdy manner.

I just hope WalMart gets this one in the states. TRU's $70 price tag on Grimlock is too much. I could only imagine what they would do with this one.

hah! 3 pages of posts already. Should be expected with MP this awesome. So awesome I may not wait for the US release. Esp. if he's not likely to come with the trailer. The extra features just sent this over the top for me

This is beautiful and definately worth $200 or about £180 (I think) it costs.

A quick question but does Roddy come with a Matrix or is that space in his chest for the one that comes with MP Optimus Prime?.

Ok, now we need an MP Galvatron to shoot the Matrix out of his hands.

munkimus prime wrote:This is beautiful and definately worth $200 or about £180 (I think) it costs.

I completely agree. TakaraTomy have created a four in one toy that looks great in all modes, useful extras (GRIMLOCK!!!!) and, please correct me if I am wrong, the first official Transformer to have a realistic kneeling pose. Let's play guess the 3rd party add-on. My guess is the sword and sheild Hot Rod used when training during the movie, fishing rod and Daniel Witwicky.

munkimus prime wrote:This is beautiful and definately worth $200 or about £180 (I think) it costs.

A quick question but does Roddy come with a Matrix or is that space in his chest for the one that comes with MP Optimus Prime?.

He does indeed come with a matrix.

When Rodimus Prime was first announced I thought this would be the suckiest MP ever. Let's fact it, Roddy's transformation is just a robot covered by a trailer.

Way to prove me wrong, Takara! About the only thing he's missing is a Targetmaster. And I'm almost certain that'll be covered by a 3rd party company. I didn't think it was possible for him to even have a Matrix, but there it is, in his chest. There's things you can nit pick about the toy, but that's what it is. Nitpicks.

I don't think I'll pick this guy up straight away, but it's one figure I'm really anticipating.

Time to start saving fellas.

As for the fishing rod? Kiss Player can suffice?

I suppose if they were going down the fishing rod route, a third party could even include a Daniel mini-figure as well. I think it's more likely that they would just give him some cool new weapons tho.

What a beautiful looking toy. Way too expensive for me to buy could do more with the amount they are asking for him.

Hi Elita!!!! how are you???

OKay, here's my screwhead take on this thing..

1. Hot Rod's vehicle mode trumps Rodimus Prime's vehicle mode.

2. Hot Rod's vehicle mode's "ass" becomes Rodimus Prime's "grill"

3. To make Rod Rod's ass become Rodimus' grill, there's a snap on piece of plastic (a plastic shell) that will clip onto Rod Rod's ass to give the headlights, flip open windscreen and the rest of the Rodimus' basic overall vehicle body shape. It's cheap but effective. One car, turned around with a snap on gimmick.