The Energon Pub

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Nathaniel Prime wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I did consider MP Star Saber myself, not too long ago. I saw a review on YouTube and liked what I saw. But, being informed by those in the know on the forum that he doesn't have the relevant tabs or connections for a potential MP Victory Leo, my limited G1 MP collection will stand with Hot Rod alone.

Didn't KFC( the toy company, not the chicken)

That made me laugh far more than it should have.

Nathaniel Prime wrote: In any case, Star Saber is one of the best Transformers Masterpiece figures ever made for the size and engineering alone. You will not be disappointed at all with him, and he's on sale at BBTS!

Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately I don't buy from BBTS. I once bought the Piranacon reissue giftset for about $20, a real bargain. Only to end up paying an additional £30 in Customs when it reached the UK.. As such it's not worth my while.

Glad I entertained you

But there are seriously a ton of people who come up to me like " But KFC makes chiken, not toys"

It's fine if you don't want to buy from BBTS, I myself haven't bought from them either, but I may just get that Shattered Glass MP10 from there, because I don't think I can get an MP10 with a trailer for 100$ or less without going for the KO anywhere else

I guess it's been a month, I'll bump this thread!

First post in 12 years hahaha!! (Though I am quite certain I had more than 34 posts from back then )

Long story short, I collected the Masterpiece line early on (MP-1, MP-3, and MP-5 (sadly)) but then life started getting in the way and that was that. BUT I've always kept an eye on the line and a few weeks ago, I bought a new book case that allowed me to bring out the old MP's and decided I would honor the occasion with a NEW Masterpiece!

After tons of research and hours of watching review videos, I decided to dip a toe back in the water with Ironhide. Always loved him and MP-27 is absolutely amazing. I don't get any of the complaints! He's so good, I couldn't help myself and immediately ordered Wheeljack and MP-36 Megatron! (my MP-5 will be going up for sale very soon. I hope someone out there actually wants to buy it haha!)

Oh my poor bank account....

I'm actually seriously contemplating selling off most of my Masterpiece collection at this point. I could go into a long discussion about why, but I'll try to keep it down to a nice, concise, bullet point list.

- The cost of Masterpiece figures continues to rise.
- The release of new mold Masterpiece figures has slowed considerably over the past couple of years.
- It's becoming increasingly clear that some characters/figures (more minibots, combiner team members, triple changers) are either never coming out or are a long ways off, making completion of the cast a pipe dream.
- Generations figures have been stepping up substantially in quality, cost considerably less money, include almost the entire G1 cartoon cast (and then some), and are much more space efficient in a large collection.
- With the "brand unification" meaning an end to Takara Tomy alternative paint application options, and the availability of Takara Tomy "exclusive" figures like Star Convoy through Hasbro Pulse, Generations collecting for me is becoming even more affordable.

Anyone else feeling similarly?

Wolfman Jake wrote:I'm actually seriously contemplating selling off most of my Masterpiece collection at this point. I could go into a long discussion about why, but I'll try to keep it down to a nice, concise, bullet point list.

- The cost of Masterpiece figures continues to rise.
- The release of new mold Masterpiece figures has slowed considerably over the past couple of years.
- It's becoming increasingly clear that some characters/figures (more minibots, combiner team members, triple changers) are either never coming out or are a long ways off, making completion of the cast a pipe dream.
- Generations figures have been stepping up substantially in quality, cost considerably less money, include almost the entire G1 cartoon cast (and then some), and are much more space efficient in a large collection.
- With the "brand unification" meaning an end to Takara Tomy alternative paint application options, and the availability of Takara Tomy "exclusive" figures like Star Convoy through Hasbro Pulse, Generations collecting for me is becoming even more affordable.

Anyone else feeling similarly?

For me it's the opposite. With the brand unification and not having the Takara alternate decos which I prefered for the Generations line, there isn't much point for me to keep buying Generations figures. Especially since living in Switzerland means I'll have to import them either way as Transformers are virtually non-existant at normal retail.
So with Masterpiece releases slowing down in frequency, I nhave more time to save up for them and just focus on that. Also space is a pretty big factor for me as well, so only collecting MP is way more effective in that regard too.
If you do end up selling off your MPs, I'm sure there be lots of people interested in taking them off your hands, including me.

I've expressed before that I feel quite sorry for collectors of G1 Masterpiece. As you're never going to get what you want IE a complete set of any series. The only figure I would want from G1 now is Galvatron and that is far more of a long shot than it should be.

They fob off the gullible with excuses for everything, from character selection (we thought you only liked Prime and Bumblebee? No.. too bad ) to hiking up the prices (the price of plastic increased 100 fold from 2018 to 2019, yet somehow the quality of it deteriorated ).

Other than that, I stick to Beast Wars, for Masterpiece and the City-Bots outside of that. Beast Wars has been [initially] limited to 14 default characters and within three years we have 4/14. I'm happy with that output. As for a new Scorponok... Maybe someday.

Other than that, I don't buy anything else. So prices of individual figures are negligible as the spacing between them is acceptable.

Let's talk about this guy:



For the longest time, he was considered an "impossible" Transformer to reproduce with show accuracy. Largely because this was his toy:



But now that it is common knowledge he is in fact, the third tallest Predacon after Megatron and Inferno, that perceived impossibility isn't so clear cut.

In terms of accessories, he would be most likely to bear pieces from his perhaps best standalone story in "Power Surge".

This:



and this:


To these:





However, he isn't necessarily going to be an easy figure to replicate in both forms. As above he does have some unusual bulk to his Bot Mode IE big shoulders, whereas his Beast Mode...




So from an engineering standpoint, while everyone remaining within the Season one cast won't require the complex wizardry of Dinobot, Terrorsaur is still the most interesting to see realised.

Wolfman Jake wrote:I'm actually seriously contemplating selling off most of my Masterpiece collection at this point. I could go into a long discussion about why, but I'll try to keep it down to a nice, concise, bullet point list.

- The cost of Masterpiece figures continues to rise.
- The release of new mold Masterpiece figures has slowed considerably over the past couple of years.
- It's becoming increasingly clear that some characters/figures (more minibots, combiner team members, triple changers) are either never coming out or are a long ways off, making completion of the cast a pipe dream.
- Generations figures have been stepping up substantially in quality, cost considerably less money, include almost the entire G1 cartoon cast (and then some), and are much more space efficient in a large collection.
- With the "brand unification" meaning an end to Takara Tomy alternative paint application options, and the availability of Takara Tomy "exclusive" figures like Star Convoy through Hasbro Pulse, Generations collecting for me is becoming even more affordable.

Anyone else feeling similarly?

MPs have always been a fun thing for me, not a serious collection minus the Movie ones. I have a SG one, 2 Beast ones, and 5 G1 ones in addition to the movie ones. I enjoy it, but there is definitely a reason that I do not purchase that many. I get the ones that are really cool or mean something to me. I don't think I could justify myself as a completionist for MPs.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:MPs have always been a fun thing for me, not a serious collection minus the Movie ones. I have a SG one, 2 Beast ones, and 5 G1 ones in addition to the movie ones. I enjoy it, but there is definitely a reason that I do not purchase that many. I get the ones that are really cool or mean something to me. I don't think I could justify myself as a completionist for MPs.

I've decided I can't be a completionist with Masterpiece figures either. I told my partner earlier this evening that I was planning to sell off my Masterpiece collection. He balked and begged me to at least spare a few of his favorite characters.

I decided that I'd downsize my collection first and see how that feels before deciding if I want to give up on it entirely. I'm going to sell off any Masterpiece figures that don't represent either an original run toy. So, all of the retool/repaints made of G1 figures for eHobby (Clamp Down, Tiger Track, Road Rage, etc.) are out, along with anything that's an original Diaclone homage that was skipped over in G1 (like Cordon, Loudpedal, and the like). There are still a few oddities, like Red Body Bumblebee, which technically was a G1 figure, but I have no sentimental attachment to it and no need for it, honestly. With Beast Wars, I'm sticking to the cartoon cast. For the Masterpiece Movie figures, I'm not collecting them at all. The Studio Series is enough for me for that section of the franchise.

Now my difficulty is in deciding between MP-10 and MP-44 for Optimus Prime and MP-21 and MP-45 Bumblebee. Knowing that the line is getting more and more cartoon accurate, should I hold on to the more realistic amalgamations of real world vehicles and cartoon aesthetics, or go all in on the Sunbow bandwagon?

I thought about this post a lot on my way to work today haha.

I ONLY collect G1 Masterpiece. While I have enjoyed watching other Transformers series over the years, I only have a real, true, nostalgic affinity for G1 when it comes to the toys (read: spending $100+ on a plastic shelf decoration).

I am playing a lot of catch-up right now but, in theory, it seems that G1 averages around 1 figure a year (give or take, of course). ASSUMING (and that is a HUGE assumption given the design and pricing of Bumblebee 2.0) the figures are worth the coin, that's a pretty easy pill to swallow (New versions of Optimus Prime aside!) I spend $120 a year for a Netflix subscription, it's the same as 1 G1 Masterpiece a year.

There's also a finite number of figures I want and I do hope they get to them all eventually (Kup, Arcee, Galvatron, the sweeps, an insecticon or 2) but when they're done with them all, I'd be able to sleep easy. And if they left G1 behind all together, I guess I had my fun.

Been a bit quiet in here lately, so a few MP related questions.

Since we now know the next 6 coming MPs (Hound, Prime, Bee, Blackarachnia, Megatron and Jazz), what do we think will be next after them for each of the 3 different categories of MP?

For me, I'm hoping for the following:

G1: Trailbreaker - my favorite TF needs his MP, like yesteryear
BW: Rattrap - I'm thinking this guys cause another small BW MP might be nice beside Blackarachnia. I'm thinking Rhinox might be the more logical one next, spread out the big and small ones.
MPM: Ratchet or Bonecrusher - Ratchet to complete the cast, Bonecrusher cause he's my favorite.

Your thoughts?

Another question:

If you could only own a single MP figure from each of the 3 categories, which one would it be and why?

If I'm recalling old rumors correctly, the next MPM should be Brawl, and I believe it was said by one of the MP designers that both Blaster and Trailbreaker are currently in development.


As for BWMP, I still expect a Tigatron repaint from Cheetor.

Ironhidensh wrote:If I'm recalling old rumors correctly, the next MPM should be Brawl, and I believe it was said by one of the MP designers that both Blaster and Trailbreaker are currently in development.


As for BWMP, I still expect a Tigatron repaint from Cheetor.

Really? Brawl is a weird choice to me to be next. I would think Blackout or Starscream would come before him honestly.

Trailbreaker better be in development, I feel like we've heard that rumor for 2+ years now

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:If I'm recalling old rumors correctly, the next MPM should be Brawl, and I believe it was said by one of the MP designers that both Blaster and Trailbreaker are currently in development.


As for BWMP, I still expect a Tigatron repaint from Cheetor.

Really? Brawl is a weird choice to me to be next. I would think Blackout or Starscream would come before him honestly.

Trailbreaker better be in development, I feel like we've heard that rumor for 2+ years now

Agreed we've heard that rumor for a long time but how many shots of a seemingly complete Hound have we seen with no official release date yet?

MP Tigatron, for Show accuracy, can't just be a simple repaint this time though. Nor can MP Tarantulas. Both have to at least, be upscaled equivalents of their counterparts and the proportions of their Beast Modes have to be substantially different.

I think Tarantulas and Tigatron will share engineering, but they are much bulkier than their currently coming or released mold mates from lines past, so I expect a total reshell or just that shared engineering

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I think Tarantulas and Tigatron will share engineering, but they are much bulkier than their currently coming or released mold mates from lines past, so I expect a total reshell or just that shared engineering

It would be nice, and I hope I'm wrong, but I would be shocked nearly to death it Tigatron is anything other than a Cheetor repaint with slight retooling on beast head.

Two G1 Masterpiece figures coming out later this year are redoes of characters that have already had a release (or two) in the Masterpiece line. We're also getting another "anime accurate" redeco, this time for Bluestreak. Is there any character right now that's safe from getting a whole new mold or an animation redeco?

For instance, are the likes of Masterpiece Ironhide and Ratchet "good enough" for Takra Tomy in terms of looking like the cartoon? They don't, say, have optional "simplified" front ends like Inferno and Grapple, with non-chromed, less detailed bumpers and headlights and Sunbow Autobot symbols.

What about Red Alert? I know he was the first to get the "MP+" treatment with a new carton deco, but that doesn't fix basing his robot mode almost directly off the Sideswipe animation model and not the Red Alert model, which is far more akin to the actual toy than Sideswipe model is. Sticking fake tires on the shoulders isn't enough. He needs the doors hanging off beside his arms.

I know a lot of people actually want a redo of Tracks. Heck, even Soundwave could be up for a "+" redeco, making his blue plastic lighter and omitting some of the toy sticker detailing paint apps. Then you have oddballs like Skywarp who are mostly right, but have strange little details like his pin striped wrists.

I would have thought years ago that Takara Tomy would have declared MP-10 Optimus Prime "good enough" if not "perfect," maybe with a cartoon inspired redeco at the most, but with the third version of Masterpiece Optimus Prime on the horizon, I have to wonder, when does the target of "perfection" stop moving?

Wolfman Jake wrote:I'm actually seriously contemplating selling off most of my Masterpiece collection at this point. I could go into a long discussion about why, but I'll try to keep it down to a nice, concise, bullet point list.

- The cost of Masterpiece figures continues to rise.
- The release of new mold Masterpiece figures has slowed considerably over the past couple of years.
- It's becoming increasingly clear that some characters/figures (more minibots, combiner team members, triple changers) are either never coming out or are a long ways off, making completion of the cast a pipe dream.
- Generations figures have been stepping up substantially in quality, cost considerably less money, include almost the entire G1 cartoon cast (and then some), and are much more space efficient in a large collection.
- With the "brand unification" meaning an end to Takara Tomy alternative paint application options, and the availability of Takara Tomy "exclusive" figures like Star Convoy through Hasbro Pulse, Generations collecting for me is becoming even more affordable.

Anyone else feeling similarly?

Your reasoning echoes in mine, but I have to sell most of them for other reasons, too. I think my last will be MP-44 to compliment MP-36 (who I'm keeping, 'no matter the cost')

Hello dear Bots. I'm planning to buy my first Masterpiece figure, so I'm in need of your wisdom.

What's the best online site to make a purchase? (Shipping internationally), and better, What's the best site to pre-order the beautiful BlackWidow MP-46 when the time arrives?

Thank you so much for your help.

So listings have now pushed MP Hound back to after Blackarachnia... What is going on with this figure

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So listings have now pushed MP Hound back to after Blackarachnia... What is going on with this figure

Didnt we know that for a few months now?

Also, to answer the post above, the best website to preorder MP figures at is Amazon Japan.

william-james88 wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So listings have now pushed MP Hound back to after Blackarachnia... What is going on with this figure

Didnt we know that for a few months now?

Perhaps, but just seeing the next batch: MP 44 - Overpriced Prime, MP 45 - Bumblebee 2.0, MP 46 - Blackarachnia and MP 47 - Hound.

I thought to myself, the last time they showed off pictures of Hound, he looked ready. Certainly further along than the grey prototype of Blackarachnia. So what is the story here?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So listings have now pushed MP Hound back to after Blackarachnia... What is going on with this figure

Didnt we know that for a few months now?

Perhaps, but just seeing the next batch: MP 44 - Overpriced Prime, MP 45 - Bumblebee 2.0, MP 46 - Blackarachnia and MP 47 - Hound.

I thought to myself, the last time they showed off pictures of Hound, he looked ready. Certainly further along than the grey prototype of Blackarachnia. So what is the story here?

*shrugs* Ladies first? Hound is a gentleman, after all.

Indeed.

I'm pretty sure he was shown of way before Bumble 2.0 was too, alas Hound didn't have a movie to fleece

At the rate they're going, Hound will be MP-50