The Energon Pub

1) Trailbreaker: let me get my Favorite TF ever in MP form please. I got Sideswipe, and Brainstorm is really far down the tracks, so please give me Trailbreaker.

2) Jazz: I don't want Jazz, I want the mold ready for a MP Stepper Targetmaster to go with Artfire.

3) Defensor: Give me my favorite combiner. And he would probably be the sole MP combiner I get if they ever ever ever decide to do them.

Cyberpath wrote:Figured there would be more Trailbreaker/Hoist. They were so different from each other on the cartoon, it'd be interesting to see how Takara handles them.

Unfortunately I feel they'd just be like all the other recent figures official and 3P. One would be black with a bubble blower and the other green with a hook.

Now that I've had time to think about it, TB would be my number one nostalgia vote. He was one of the figures I had as a kid. Jazz would be cool because they've been getting so creative lately, it'd be neat to see what they'd do different with another same sized car bot.

I like toys that are fun to play with, so a Reflector made of three bots that turn into a life sized camera would be a lot of fun. If they followed suite with some of the 3P offerings, there'd be all kinds of visidual camera parts turned into weapons and accessories for the bots. A recent acquisition may be Influencing my opinion.

I wonder if MP Star Saber, despite Takara's reluctance to commit combiners to the MP line, has the necessary connections to join with a potential MP Victory Leo?

In which case, although I am not normally remotely pro-Autobot, I would want to see this guy:

Jetfire/Skyfire (Prolly too big)
Galvatron
Cyclonus

carytheone wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:Figured there would be more Trailbreaker/Hoist. They were so different from each other on the cartoon, it'd be interesting to see how Takara handles them.

Unfortunately I feel they'd just be like all the other recent figures official and 3P. One would be black with a bubble blower and the other green with a hook.

What do you mean?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I wonder if MP Star Saber, despite Takara's reluctance to commit combiners to the MP line, has the necessary connections to join with a potential MP Victory Leo?

He doesn't, but that hasn't stopped people from making a Victory Leo-like figure.

Cyberpath wrote:

carytheone wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:Figured there would be more Trailbreaker/Hoist. They were so different from each other on the cartoon, it'd be interesting to see how Takara handles them.

Unfortunately I feel they'd just be like all the other recent figures official and 3P. One would be black with a bubble blower and the other green with a hook.

What do you mean?

Masterpiece is of a different caliber when it comes to redecos and retools: The Datsun Trio, the Lamborghinis, even the Stingrays have different parts between their different-character releases. Between the 4WD's Hoist and Trailbreaker the differences would only be more noticeable.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:

carytheone wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:Figured there would be more Trailbreaker/Hoist. They were so different from each other on the cartoon, it'd be interesting to see how Takara handles them.

Unfortunately I feel they'd just be like all the other recent figures official and 3P. One would be black with a bubble blower and the other green with a hook.

What do you mean?

Masterpiece is of a different caliber when it comes to redecos and retools: The Datsun Trio, the Lamborghinis, even the Stingrays have different parts between their different-character releases. Between the 4WD's Hoist and Trailbreaker the differences would only be more noticeable.

I was asking why it was unfortunate.

Their model sheets are very different, so much so that it'd be easier to point out what they actually have in common than their differences.



Not sure how Takara could keep current standards other than to make two different molds.

They could re-use MP Hoist to make a toy-accurate "PLUS" version of Trailbreaker though. Should be interesting.


⠀

We need Trail-boy. He needs to come. I want him so much.

Badcube proves you can have Houst and Trailbreaker from the same base mold, with subtle yet distinct differences that make the two characters stand apart.

Cyberpath wrote:I was asking why it was unfortunate.

I feel that Takara wouldn't put a lot of effort into making the two characters very different other than some leg tooling and different stuff in the bed of the truck that just end up as the backpack.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Masterpiece is of a different caliber when it comes to redecos and retools: The Datsun Trio, the Lamborghinis, even the Stingrays have different parts between their different-character releases.

The part differences on those are fairly minor and look very similar in silhouette.


I'm OK with this and has always been the nature of the beast. The use of unfortunate was not quite the right choice of words when I only wanted to express that I feel outside of superficial details there wouldn't be very many differences between the two hypothetical figures.

According to Takara, MP Inferno & Grapple have only 50% identical parts between them. These parts:



I guess it will be at least that for TB/H.

Agamemnon wrote:Jetfire/Skyfire (Prolly too big)

I would say that as a figure they could make him about the same size as already existing Ultra Magnus or Star Saber and still be "cartoon accurate".





Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:Jetfire/Skyfire (Prolly too big)

I would say that as a figure they could make him about the same size as already existing Ultra Magnus or Star Saber and still be "cartoon accurate".





Emerje

That's a great point....Okay, Takara, I might buy another MP if you make the former Decepticon.

Well, maybe up until I saw the price...

Maybe even a bit bigger since Takara would probably go for his size seen in his most iconic appearance, his debut episode "Fire in the Sky", in which he was enormous even in robot mode:









Other episode cases of enormous Skyfire:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I wonder if MP Star Saber, despite Takara's reluctance to commit combiners to the MP line, has the necessary connections to join with a potential MP Victory Leo?

He doesn't, but that hasn't stopped people from making a Victory Leo-like figure.

Aww That's a shame. It would have been a really cool thing for them to covertly slip a couple of unassuming extra pegs and clips in subtle places on MP Star Saber. Of course the internet hates the idea of surprise, so some idiot would have spoiled it.

As an aside, I've recently taken note of the G1 figures that have gone untouched since the 80's. Certainly more than I thought. As I said earlier, as per my MP list inclusion, Snapdragon had one of the best looking Jet modes in G1 and yet nothing?

I can't remember if anyone mentioned this, but a cool feature of a MP Jetfire would be a rotating Autobot/Decepticon badge. Hell go full toon accurate and make is three sided with one side being blank.

carytheone wrote:I can't remember if anyone mentioned this, but a cool feature of a MP Jetfire would be a rotating Autobot/Decepticon badge. Hell go full toon accurate and make is three sided with one side being blank.

Full toon-accuracy would be removable plates of different insignia that one could attach and detach to his chest.

Sabrblade wrote:

carytheone wrote:I can't remember if anyone mentioned this, but a cool feature of a MP Jetfire would be a rotating Autobot/Decepticon badge. Hell go full toon accurate and make is three sided with one side being blank.

Full toon-accuracy would be removable plates of different insignia that one could attach and detach to his chest.

Same thing jeez - I was just going with "tech" they have already used (Bee and Tracks).

Sabrblade wrote:Maybe even a bit bigger since Takara would probably go for his size seen in his most iconic appearance, his debut episode "Fire in the Sky", in which he was enormous even in robot mode:

His size varied pretty wildly even in those screen caps, but for the majority I'd say he was the same size difference as between MP-10 Optimus Prime and Star Saber.

Emerje

I want Jazz, Mirage, maybe Cliffjumper. But the first two are must-have for me.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:I want Jazz, Mirage, maybe Cliffjumper. But the first two are must-have for me.

Mirage might be doable, but for now, Jazz and Cliffjumper aren't gonna happen because Porshe is being a hitch about it

I don't know if it's a licensing issue or if Takara is simply saving some of the "big guns" for later. If they had made all the popular characters right off the bat they'd be left with just the obscure ones and the line might have lost momentum.


Top picks so far:

7 -- Jazz

3 -- Cliffjumper
3 -- Galvatron
3 -- Mirage
3 -- Trailbreaker

2 -- Blaster
2 -- Cyclonus
2 -- Huffer
2 -- Kup
2 -- Reflector


Another Masterpiece survey -- how do you prefer your windshields?

1. Black

2. Blue

3. No colour.

4. Depends on the figure's overall deco, what fits the figure best in terms of its colour scheme.

5. Don't really care.




I think that in the cartoon the light-blue/grey was simply used to represent glass. And while there were some characters with tinted glass like Starscream, Wildrider, Motormaster, Dead End, the Constructicons (etc), most of them had regular clear glass.



But what fits the toys best in your opinion?

I prefer a clear frosted glass myself. Only a few figures have that like Inferno/Grapple and MP-40 Targetmaster Hot Rod.



Unfortunately Takara Tomy has decided blue is the way to go moving forward for cartoon accuracy.

Emerje

I pick #4. Depends on the character and their deco.

I tend to not like blue as much, but then I think it looks cool on Ratchet and Artfire.

Gotta love the weirdness of Loud Pedal's purple!

Prince approved.