The Energon Pub

I'm fairly new to all of this, apologies if this has already been answered. I did try searching but didn't find what I was looking for. Just joined the site tonight.

About me: I have been collecting a few of the Transformers from the Masterpiece line, trying to make a display of the 1986 film and am trying to stay cartoon film accurate rather than go original thinner G1 toy line. Also like the build quality better, especially since I broke my original Prowl pretty much out of the box when I was young. I have MP-36, MP-13, MP-10 to name a few, went Gigapower for Dinobots cause they are solid!

My Problem: I get that I am late to the party, but I never know about re-issues or re-releases of the Takara Masterpiece line, so I end up spending too much on eBay when purchasing. An example was Soundwave. I ended up buying him but then a re-issue happened a couple of months after my purchase and I could have saved $80. I want to buy more Transformers, have Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker on my list, but on eBay they are way more than advertised on other sites like TFSource or BBTS (if they were in stock).

Question is, is there a known release schedule somewhere where I can track if the old MP's are being re-released, extras made, upcoming stock available? Is there a better place to shop than eBay? Love BBTS but they only seem to have a limited selection. Same happened with Gigapower. I now follow them but missed their version of Sludge when it came out.

Cheers for the help!

Don't ever try ebay. Nevah!

If you are not averse to 2nd hand near mint MPs then Japan(the country) online shops is your way to go.

Just be prepared to dole out big bucks.Though there are times when it is not the case and some are quite affordable.

Be patient too unless the fig is a I want you so badly I need to get you now!

Some of my MPs are second hand but I took my time getting them until I had a 2ndary backup choice when purchasing them.

Check HLJ or AmiAmi for Takara MP reissues set for a wide release in Japan. Takara Tomy Mall is good for looking up MP reissues set for a limited release in Japan, but these may also be distributed through Hasbro Asia and you'd see those on places like BBTS, TF Source, The Chosen Prime, etc. Amazon Japan is another option. Robot Kingdom is too but the shipping rates are sometimes astronomical.

We typically report on them here in the news cycle as well.

Current upcoming stuff:

• MP-17+ Prowl - just started shipping, in stock at various places any day now
• MPM-7 Bumblebee - 10/27/2018
• MPM-6 Ironhide - unknown
• MP-42 Cordon ("Police Sunstreaker") - 10/27/2018
• MP-29+ Laserwave (toy colors) - 11/24/2018
• MP-9 Rodimus Convoy (Rodimus Prime) reissue - nebulously timed Hasbro Asia release, best guess is November 2018
• MP-36+ Megatron (toy colors) - late December 2018
• MP-43 Beast Wars Megatron - late January 2019
• MP-32 Beast Convoy (Optimus Primal) reissue - late February 2019
• MP-20+ Wheeljack (cartoon colors) - late February 2019
• MP-4? Hound - unknown, 2019
• MP-4? Convoy version 3 (Optimus Prime) - unknown, 2019

Awesome! Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it!