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[D-Maximal_Primal]

Well, right on the heels of MPG-07, TT reveals MPG-08

https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g4904810909040/

Transformers Masterpiece MPG-08 Trainbot Yamabuki.

The new combiner head sculpt on this is really cool. But also done in Yellow, it appears *if* they plan on redoing all the Trainbots in this yellow deco, it will be mor uniforms, but I don't feel compelled to own them. Plus, it was just fortunate circumstances that i was able to afford all 6 MPG for Raiden. That is not longer possible for these new ones. So I'm ok not having them, even though i do like the retools and new accessories, it doesn't justify getting the whole team over again.

The new toolings are annoying me greatly. I do not want to buy these all over again, but MPG7 has the waist expander that really helps the look, and MPG8 has a fantastic head

[o.supreme]

The new toolings are annoying me greatly. I do not want to buy these all over again, but MPG7 has the waist expander that really helps the look, and MPG8 has a fantastic head

Exactly. I doubt TT would offer an accessories pack separately of these new parts, but that would be awesome. 3rd party would be sued for duplicating exact parts, so that's out. I guess if someone were to happen to sell them separately on eBay, its worth a shot, but I doubt that's going to happen either.

As you say, they are cool. But not enough to justify purchasing them all over again.

[Sabrblade]

Yamabuki's face also has feminine features, matching up with Doctor's appearance in the Train Wars: The Origin manga. So Doctor is Yamabuki and Silver is Ginou/Ginoh (whichever romanization Takara decides on).

What's clever about making Silver's toy yellow isn't just the fact that the real-life engine is that color, but the original Diaclone toy was painted silver over yellow plastic.

The combined form, known as G Liner in the manga, is apparently revealed in this listing to be renamed "Shiden", which is a multi-layered wordplay. "Shiden" possibly comes from 紫電, which can mean "purple lightning" or the flash of a sword slashing. But what's really neat is that it's also an abbreviated slang term for 始発電車 (shihatsu densha), which means "the first train of the day". In the story, G Liner is made up of the prototype Trainbots, so Shiden is basically "the first Trainbot combiner" preceding Raiden.

[o.supreme]

The new combiner head reminded me of something.... I had to go digging in my Super Robot Library...






I mean its not exact. You could just call it "generic" 70's/80's giant robot look

Probably no more than the classic "slits" in the Mouth of Mazinger Z inspired Jet Jaguar, or even the Insecticon Bombshell. But its just something I noticed.

[triKlops]

MPG-08 / Amazon Japan / AJP pre-order link:

https://amzn.asia/d/21VKCfI

[Brokebot]

Hey, the plastic comes pre-yellowed. He'd look dandy next to my 39 year old Jetfire and Defensor.
\

[Sabrblade]

Hey, the plastic comes pre-yellowed. He'd look dandy next to my 39 year old Jetfire and Defensor.
\

She.

[Brokebot]

Hey, the plastic comes pre-yellowed. He'd look dandy next to my 39 year old Jetfire and Defensor.

She.

Awfully presumptuous of you to assume his/her/their/its preferred pronouns.

[Sabrblade]

Hey, the plastic comes pre-yellowed. He'd look dandy next to my 39 year old Jetfire and Defensor.

She.

Awfully presumptuous of you to assume his/her/their/its preferred pronouns.

She (along with the rest of her entire team) already appeared in the Train Wars: The Origin manga that advertised the first three MPG Trainbots. In it, Yukikaze refers to her as "older sister" (姉さん, nē-san).

[Alphatrion5]

MPG-08 / Amazon Japan / AJP pre-order link:

https://amzn.asia/d/21VKCfI

I went to preorder and it said it didn’t ship to my country (USA or Canada) and now it’s being sold by a third party

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I hate how sorely tempted I am for the torso extension on MPG7 and the new head with MPG8

[TF-fan kev777]

I hate how sorely tempted I am for the torso extension on MPG7 and the new head with MPG8

Same here, but not $160 each tempted. Maybe if they are still around during a Pulse warehouse sale, but that would just lead to me wanting the rest as well...

[Emerje]

I hate how sorely tempted I am for the torso extension on MPG7 and the new head with MPG8

Same here, but not $160 each tempted. Maybe if they are still around during a Pulse warehouse sale, but that would just lead to me wanting the rest as well...

This is the reason why I have bought 07 and 08 yet after seeing so many MPs make it to the Pulse sales. Haven't ordered Hoist yet either, hope that isn't a mistake...

Emerje

[o.supreme]

^ similar thought. All 5 MPG's released so far are still available at BBTS (albeit at standard price). Now I know variants are usually produced in smaller quantities. However if I can get them on sale, great. If they sell out, and aren't available at a later time, so be it. Ill have Raiden and be satisfied.

[triKlops]

MPG-08 / Amazon Japan / AJP pre-order link:

https://amzn.asia/d/21VKCfI

I went to preorder and it said it didn’t ship to my country (USA or Canada) and now it’s being sold by a third party

Unfortunately, AJP pre-orders sell out super fast and will defer to third party immediately, once Prime has been cleaned out of their original allotment.
The preorder fulfilled by Prime has come in and out since the original link listing as i have seen others able to score a PO from the link.
I would suggest, as i do myself, keep it in a wishlist link and check daily.

But to clarify, the shipment to the US is not an issue as i have multiple orders and preorders from them, all being delivered to RI.
Once it defers to third party sellers, it is up to them if they will do NA fulfillment.
But once the next round of POs go up via AJP Prime, you will be able to order to NA, no problem.

Best of luck!

[ScottyP]

Opinion time, now that the whole set is out and I've had time to reflect on it. This first MPG set is six good, sometimes great, individual Trainbots with a massively compromised and ultimately disappointing combined mode. Every last member has some issue in the combined form:

• Getsuei has to be purposely mistransformed for the right knee to have any range of motion, leaving extra panels just hanging off the back
• Yukikaze doesn't have a strong enough ankle joint for Raiden and makes the entire combiner insanely difficult to pose. Also, the front of the train sticks out noticeably farther than Getsuei, which looks strange
• Seizan and Suiken just don't have very good articulation in arm mode and rely way too much/almost entirely on Shouki for shoulder motion. On top of that, the hands have trouble with holding weapons in a way that third party combiners did like ten years ago, with a too-small slot in proportion to the size of the weapons that's almost instantly knocked out by the slightest pressure from the fingers
• Shouki, oh man, poor guy. He is trying like hell to carry the entire project but is ultimately asked to do too much. The clips that arch around from his back to hold the shoulder assembly together don't hold well enough and the top flaps that hide the connection to the arms desperately needed a peg or something to keep it in place
• Kaen is just kind of bad. Great looking train and a reasonably fun transformation just for him to turn into tiny, barely-visible hips. At least he clips in well and doesn't have major functional flaaaaaawsohwait there's no damn waist pivot

Taking the six individuals on their own, this is a beautiful set that is well executed with minimal objective flaws, and most of those are 1) Yukikaze's exploding joints (my copy's fine, but can't deny it's a thing) and 2) Kaen being compromised in 2/3 modes in service of train mode accuracy. Those trains are gorgeous, true, and 5/6 bots are, to me, extremely fun and well done. The weapon storage and integration is top-notch. The presentation and attention to detail? Outstanding. Including train track is such a loving touch that was entirely unnecessary but ends up adding an intangible sense of completion to the set.

But man, this Raiden mode kinda sucks.

Raiden looks great, after using a great deal of effort to pose him out, but as soon as I handle it I just want to uncombine it forever. As much as Raiden's relative scale to MP-10, 12, 22 and the Diaclone reboot stuff is super cool in the way it's nearly dead-on consistent with the original toys, the dang thing suffers too much for it. If Takara wanted Diaclone reboot Trainbots, they should have made Diaclone reboot Trainbots. I collect Transformers though and it's frustrating to realize some of the issues with a very expensive combiner set are probably due to some designer's commitment to an Easter egg.

To conclude:

The MPG Trainbots as six dudes that turn from robot to train and back? Highly recommended set with few objective flaws.

The MPG Trainbots as six dudes that combine to form the Autobot gestalt Raiden? Unless you want a statue to throw on a shelf with your Diaclone reboot stuff, skip it.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I have pictures I will share later (work computer vs personal with image upload capabilities), but I have my own review to tag onto Scottys. And for the most part, we agree.

Starting with Kaen by himself, he is a wonderful little short and stumpy bot. his train mode is my favorite of the bunch (I prefer more industrial/worker type trains compared to the others), and I really like how his transformation works. I also adore his robot mode, I am good with the proportions, and the way he comes together is really nice. I do really like it, he is the best of the 6 trains by far.

To go with Scotty, with some time lapse, my opinions on the other 5 are as follows:

Shouki has a wonderful train mode and a robot mode with a nice presence. My only real complaint would be the fiddlyness of his robot mode shoulders with the kibble.

Getsuei is probably my 3rd favorite overall, with his leg panels and back piece really being the only complaints I would have. His colors are wonderful too, and his train mode is my 2nd favorite after Kaen.

Yukikaze is probably my least favorite of the set, I'm sort of annoyed at the leg proportions, and the kibble management gets annoying especially in combined mode. To me, he has the most problems between all 3 modes.

Suiken is my 2nd favorite robot overall, and 3rd favorite train. I love his colors, and they really did help him cut a very nice silhouette. His backpack connection is a little weak though, makes messing with him a bit of a pain, but otherwise he is pretty good.

Seizan is probably 4th best in both categories, he's solid though, same issues as Suiken with the backpack, but came with the cool sword, so he is a decently strong bot by himself.

So if I had to rank the 6 overall, I would rank them as follows:

1) Kaen
2) Suiken
3) Getsuei
4) Seizan
5) Shouki
6) Yukikaze

As for Raiden, the big thing, the big deal of the set:

He kinda really sucks.

It took a good bit of time to assemble him (as expected), but what I wasn't expecting was how fiddly it would be to actually form him up.

For one thing, like Scotty said, Yukikaze struggles to hold his part. Getsuei is much more solid, and makes a much more balanced leg, though the kibble is annoying. Part of this is the 2 trains are vastly different sizes, to be in scale, and that is part of the reason the trains taking priority (which don't get me wrong, I love) makes this as a combiner suffer, making it clear to me they should have thought through actually making this a combiner more, thought through the scaling commitment more, or maybe just made the individuals larger to help deal with the size differences.

Another thing that irks me is that Kaen forms a miniscule waist and hips, and 80%+ of Kaen is butt kibble. And no waist swivel either. Feels like they really could have used his lower legs to help make a better balanced set of legs for the combiner.

like Scotty said, Shouki is asked to do too much, and he just doesn't pull off much really good at all. I like the way the arms connect, clever, but it severely hinders the posing, and Shouki just isn't strong enough to hold it. Plus, attaching the arms was a super pain. And for some reason my Raiden head does not want to hold up front.

The arm bots are cool enough, but they can hardly pose, and the way the kibble is around the hands makes holding his weapons very difficult on top of the issues of the hands actually holding the weapons.

Overall, the combined mode looks good from maybe 2 feet or more away, but get in closer and look from an angle other than straight on, and the facade falls apart. He is heavily compromised, barely able to support his considerable weight, awkwardly proportioned in the legs, hard to get into a non-static pose, and sadly, just does not feel like a worthwhile ~$850 venture.

I am very torn on decombining him and displaying him as individuals, as I may not combine him again, but his Raiden form takes up much less space, but the individuals are far and away the better part of the set.

And it turned me off the other trains, as it is now very obvious that a waist extension is far from the thing he needs most, he needs a helluva lot more to be worth the capital.

[o.supreme]

I splurged on getting the Giftbox for the last Trainbot via Pulse, so while I enjoyed getting the first 5 among the earliest because of Amazon Japan. I wont get Kaen and the gift set for another 12 weeks.

I assembled just the arms, and while the connections itself are secure, the clips that come in front to hold the combiners arms in place do come apart quite easily. I do wish ideally that they would at some point release a generations version that is simpler, so I can sell off the MPG. But Raiden is one of my favorite Combiners. It looks great, just not functional as a toy in combined mode. Its going to make a nice statue ...I guess .

[Brokebot]

Still waiting on Kaen . . .

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Still waiting on Kaen . . .

Kaen will be worth it.

Raiden not so much

[Brokebot]

Still waiting on Kaen . . .

Kaen will be worth it.

Raiden not so much

*sigh*

You are unfortunately correct. As individual components, they're great. Combined together, he's an unbalanced cluster of bits and pieces getting in the way of other bits and pieces. Disappointing to say the least.

I have to say, not worth the wait or the overall price.

[o.supreme]

I splurged on getting the Giftbox for the last Trainbot via Pulse, so while I enjoyed getting the first 5 among the earliest because of Amazon Japan. I wont get Kaen and the gift set for another 12 weeks.

Or....I just got a notification late last night that Pulse is getting ready to charge my account. Crap, wasn't ready for this 2+ months early. Fortunately I have the funds, but this is why I hate pre-ordering on Pulse. Thankfully this is the only ( and hopefully last) thing I'll have to order from them.

[TF-fan kev777]

I splurged on getting the Giftbox for the last Trainbot via Pulse, so while I enjoyed getting the first 5 among the earliest because of Amazon Japan. I wont get Kaen and the gift set for another 12 weeks.

Or....I just got a notification late last night that Pulse is getting ready to charge my account. Crap, wasn't ready for this 2+ months early. Fortunately I have the funds, but this is why I hate pre-ordering on Pulse. Thankfully this is the only ( and hopefully last) thing I'll have to order from them.

Yeah, this right after Omega Prime is a big oof to the wallet.

[triKlops]

Same here for the MPG box. Similar sentiment, i wasn't ready this early or this fast after Omega.
Still looking forward to it, as much as it glitches my payment setup a bit.

[ScottyP]

Pulse PO arrival dates almost never hold true, do not rely on them. Imports like MPG and BWVS have gotten a little quicker to hit, guess put-things-in-sleeves guy got faster. Gap seems to be 3-5 weeks after JP release now instead of 2-3 months.