The Energon Pub

[Hellscream9999]

Wait, I thought yesterday's report was that it was $440? Now it's $350? That's a lot closer to reasonable, if still pretty ridiculous.

No, it's $350 if you import it yourself, it'll be $450 to buy it from domestic retailers like bbts - unless I missed something

Thats right, could not have said it better myself.

Hrm...interestingly, BBTS has removed the price (and even the ability to preorder) from their site. Maybe the fan backlash is having an impact?

Well, depending on how much they're buying it from TT/hasbro asia for, they don't have to sell it for the msrp, they just have to sell it for more than they paid. Thing is though, if they do undercut the msrp all the other e-tailers would have to follow suit or lose all their business on this figure to the lowest price somewhere else

[ZeroWolf]

Wait, I thought yesterday's report was that it was $440? Now it's $350? That's a lot closer to reasonable, if still pretty ridiculous.

No, it's $350 if you import it yourself, it'll be $450 to buy it from domestic retailers like bbts - unless I missed something

Thats right, could not have said it better myself.

Hrm...interestingly, BBTS has removed the price (and even the ability to preorder) from their site. Maybe the fan backlash is having an impact?

Robotkingdom have him listed for $369.99 currently which is only $20 more then self import price.

[Cyberpath]

A little concerned with the apparent complexity of the transformation, like how does the truck's grill end up inside his backpack in robot-mode? I hope it's all intuitive and flowing in-hand.

I remember how to transform all my MPs, but Megatron is the only one where I have to set time aside to transform.

[Cyberpath]

TFTM pose!

Source: http://snakas.blog95.fc2.com/blog-entry-6831.html

[Evil Eye]

"Now, Optimus, feel the power of my SUNBOW RAY!"
"Gah! My surface detail and paintjob! What have you DONE, Megatron!?!?"

In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not terribly thrilled. The extra articulation looks nice but everything else...yeesh. The dull as hell paintjob, the overall blandness combined with the excessive amount of hinges as a result of the unnecessarily complex conversion (thus giving this this unenviable status of "Too simplistic AND too greebly at the same time"), the backpack,the rear of the truck mode which makes MP-10's THICC rear section look reasonable, the no doubt obscenely horrible transformation, the lengths taken to make it accurate to something that couldn't even stay accurate to itself, and of course that PRICE. Dear Primus.

I'm normally pretty live-and-let-live with people's taste in toys but I seriously hope this bombs so that Takara reconsiders the direction they're taking the line.

[Amelie]

Robotkingdom have him listed for $369.99 currently which is only $20 more then self import price.

This feels much more agreeable. I'm sure after the dust has settled, we'll all chuckle at the $450 price tag that first came up....

[Hellscream9999]

Robotkingdom have him listed for $369.99 currently which is only $20 more then self import price.

This feels much more agreeable. I'm sure after the dust has settled, we'll all chuckle at the $450 price tag that first came up....

But aren't they based out of china? Won't you still have to pay a lot in shipping?

[Hellscream9999]

"Now, Optimus, feel the power of my SUNBOW RAY!"
"Gah! My surface detail and paintjob! What have you DONE, Megatron!?!?"

In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not terribly thrilled. The extra articulation looks nice but everything else...yeesh. The dull as hell paintjob, the overall blandness combined with the excessive amount of hinges as a result of the unnecessarily complex conversion (thus giving this this unenviable status of "Too simplistic AND too greebly at the same time"), the backpack,the rear of the truck mode which makes MP-10's THICC rear section look reasonable, the no doubt obscenely horrible transformation, the lengths taken to make it accurate to something that couldn't even stay accurate to itself, and of course that PRICE. Dear Primus.

I'm normally pretty live-and-let-live with people's taste in toys but I seriously hope this bombs so that Takara reconsiders the direction they're taking the line.

The new proportions look really nice, but mp-10 still seems like the more satisfactory transformer due to actually using the truck mode in bot mode

[Amelie]

But aren't they based out of china? Won't you still have to pay a lot in shipping?

I live in the UK. I end up paying for the shipping from China one way or the other at the end of the day...

How many people here are thinking of "gambling" on Hasbro taking this one up and going domestic in the hopes of a smaller price tag?

[joevill]

OK.... the photo with Starscream's head just convinced me to pre-order this!

[Octobotimus]

OK.... the photo with Starscream's head just convinced me to pre-order this!

don't see how a starscream head is worth 400+ but ok.... personally think the 2 other 3rd party primes offer a better price to look ratio. better looking primes for less is better than this imo.

[Amelie]

The $400+ price point seems to be turning this into one of the most divisive releases ever. Statues in the past went easily over this level, but "Masterpiece" is one of the longest running Transformers lines ever, not a small offshoot that only the most dedicated and wealthy collectors get into.

I'm not sure how well the idea of a 'mainstream' line being shifted into the 'elite' category feels right now. Part of me thinks 'its expensive to make them, so it should cost more', but on the other hand, the Masterpiece line is cool because its relatively accessible and one of those things that as collectors we can all get behind and discuss playing with, rather than seeing a select few owning it online and going 'coo - I wish I had that'.

[joevill]

It's a new figure, Starscream Prime!!!

[william-james88]

Oh my god cartoon accuracy drives me f*****g crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where is the silver paint on the figure? What is with the dull flat grays? Why does Takara think they have to be so slavish to their perceived cartoon accuracy? Not what I want to spend $400+ on, let alone $200+!!! I have never ever wanted G1 cartoon accurate toys that are so slavish that they forget that the grays should represent silver in most cases or that the lack of details was to make it easier for the animators to HAND draw, neither of which should apply to "masterpiece" Transformers.

It definitely looks better in color, though the upper torso angled on the lower body looks really odd to me.

I dont know if you noticed this, but maybe not because I bet it would irritate you and you would have metioned it. In the cartoon, they would not give the cab the silver stripe from the toy when in alt mode, leaving it all red (most of the time). But that stripe was always left in the robot mode. So they recreated that dumb design error here, heaving out the stripe in alt mode. So the toy goes out of its way to technically makes no sense and represent animation laziness.

Also, I sort of got the feeling he should be packed with more battle damage parts than just the head?

It said he would come with another battle damage piec and it does, it includes a pat of his abs where Megatron hurts him in the 86 movie.

[no-one]

Now that I'm looking at these new color images on a PC, has anyone else noticed how odd the hand/wrists connections look?

MPOPv3_Hands.jpg (44.84 KiB) Viewed 20164 times

It's a new figure, Starscream Prime!!!

Everybody enjoys a little cosplay form time to time.

[william-james88]

Wait, I thought yesterday's report was that it was $440? Now it's $350? That's a lot closer to reasonable, if still pretty ridiculous.

No, it's $350 if you import it yourself, it'll be $450 to buy it from domestic retailers like bbts - unless I missed something

Thats right, could not have said it better myself.

Hrm...interestingly, BBTS has removed the price (and even the ability to preorder) from their site. Maybe the fan backlash is having an impact?

Robotkingdom have him listed for $369.99 currently which is only $20 more then self import price.

Robot kingdom is always cheaper. By the way, BBTS is not selling at MSRP by choice. If they could sell for less they could. But as it is, they cant buy directly from Takara. Takara only sells to Japanese retailers, they cant sell transformers outside Japan since Hasbro owns the brand in ever other market.

So, middlemen buy wholesale from Takara and ship to BBTS and everyother retailer outside japan. That added middleman and shipping cost plus import cost means these toys always cost more locally.

Robotkingdom deals with hasbro Asia, who we know has its own releases of Takara products. So they can sell for cheaper.

But the shippng from china (which you guys can verify) will be about $50-60 at least so you end up at the same spot. There is no way out of that crazy price range right now.

If someone wants him cheap, you HAVE to wait to see what Amazon Japan sells him for, which will be around $350 USD. And then you have to pay shipping and import fees (which change depending on where you live).

But aren't they based out of china? Won't you still have to pay a lot in shipping?

I live in the UK. I end up paying for the shipping from China one way or the other at the end of the day...

How many people here are thinking of "gambling" on Hasbro taking this one up and going domestic in the hopes of a smaller price tag?

The alst time Hasbro was cheaper was with Starscream many moons ago. Since then, its been just as expensive or more expensive.

Here is Hasbro release of Beast Wars MP Megatron for $320. A Hasbro release of Prime would be $450, since they are matching MSRPs.

https://www.entertainmentearth.com/prod ... on/hse4006

[ZeroWolf]

Now that I'm looking at these new color images on a PC, has anyone else noticed how odd the hand/wrists connections look?

MPOPv3_Hands.jpg

It's a new figure, Starscream Prime!!!

Everybody enjoys a little cosplay form time to time.

Those hands do look really weird now that you have pointed that out.

[no-one]

Now that I'm looking at these new color images on a PC, has anyone else noticed how odd the hand/wrists connections look?

MPOPv3_Hands.jpg

Those hands do look really weird now that you have pointed that out.

Weird and

[ZeroWolf]

Hot on the heels of these official new images of MP-44, we now have another new image which shows Prime leaping into the air firing his gun, a pose ripped out of the 1986 Transformers The Movie. The image was found on a Japanese blog site. Thanks to fellow Seibertron user, Cyberpath for bringing this to our attention. According to the blog, the image is an advertisement put out by Takara Tomy Mall in a magazine.The image shows that the ¥50,000 price listing was indeed correct and is the MSRP for is. It is with mentioning that that price may see up to a 30% reduction once its Amazon Japan listing goes up, so it may be worth keeping an eye there. However, shipping will cost extra and its unknown at this point if it will be shipped to places outside of Japan.

We have mirrored the image for your convenience below.



We also have another preorder up for MP-44, this one couresty of site sponsor, RobotKingdom.com .

The pre order here is listed at $369.99 which is one of the best yet but does not factor shipping which could increase it to $450+ depending on where you are as it is
Shipping from China.

Are you on the fence about this release? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews. You

[ThunderThruster]

If they want quick bucks and cash grabs why not announce:

- Clampdown

Clampdown already exists as MP-14C, uness you want an animation style figure of a character that was never in the 'toon?

[Regimus Prime]

Ok, after looking at these comparison shots I may need a second job and MP-10 will be going back in his packaging.

[CircuitBreaker]

He's not too bad looking. Hoping they make a "toy accurate" deco with silvers and more fine details picked out. I think I still prefer mp-10 as a good modern prime, but G1 cartoon fans will be pleased with it. Really like how the trailer drone can become a stand and has more of a beefy look.

[mesh]

Now that I'm looking at these new color images on a PC, has anyone else noticed how odd the hand/wrists connections look?

MPOPv3_Hands.jpg

It's a new figure, Starscream Prime!!!

Everybody enjoys a little cosplay form time to time.

During transformation or if it drops those hand joints will crack and snap off.

But now that we're seeing a drop in price I might reconsider. But it's still priced toooo high.

[starfish]

So the toy goes out of its way to technically makes no sense and represent animation laziness.

They were animating episodes at stupid speeds, to stupid deadlines and to stupid budgets. By all means hate on the cartoon and its aesthetic all you like, but the animators did insanely well to make that show look as good as it did, given the constraints they were under.

I’m not sure that ‘laziness’ is an adjective we should be using to describe the toon art department. They worked their asses off!

Now, some of the scripts, on the other hand...

[Seibertron]

So the toy goes out of its way to technically makes no sense and represent animation laziness.

They were animating episodes at stupid speeds, to stupid deadlines and to stupid budgets. By all means hate on the cartoon and its aesthetic all you like, but the animators did insanely well to make that show look as good as it did, given the constraints they were under.

I’m not sure that ‘laziness’ is an adjective we should be using to describe the toon art department. They worked their asses off!

Now, some of the scripts, on the other hand...

I agree with starfish about the word "laziness", that's not fair for a hand drawn old school cel cartoon to call their hard work "lazy". It does come across to me as "lazy" for the Masterpieces though. I don't get making them look like the cartoon model walked out of the cartoon, lack of details and all. I want to get back to Prowl and Wheeljack, who look like their cartoon models but also have the extra detailing and didn't "cheat" to achieve the look.

I'd like to propose this quote instead:

So the toy goes out of its way to technically makes no sense and represent animation simplification.