The Energon Pub

I noticed in another thread, the old licencing rights issue reared up again. On the MP front, with many branded Car Bots being in limbo, where are these guys?





As opposed to Porsche, surely military vehicle brands wouldn't object to these figures on the same grounds?

That's crazy
I do remember looking at the mini vehicles, back in the late 80's/early 90's, thinking them generic "car/tank/jet". As they were so much smaller and less detailed than the larger figures. They really have painted themselves into a legal corner when it comes to replicating the majority of the season one and two cast.

I wouldn't be surprised if the allure of the season 3 & 4 cast doesn't win out in the end. For example, MP Triggerhappy before MP Jazz

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I noticed in another thread, the old licencing rights issue reared up again. On the MP front, with many branded Car Bots being in limbo, where are these guys?





As opposed to Porsche, surely military vehicle brands wouldn't object to these figures on the same grounds?

Military vehicles follow the same laws with licensing as civilian vehicles, in fact they may be even more strict if the models in question are still on active duty no matter their age (gotta prevent espionage you know?). As an extreme example, Powerglide's A-10 Thunderbolt II is introduced in 1972, and is still in service with no retirement date set yet. The F-35 Lightning II was set to replace it upon debut in 2006, but the A-10 is still going strong.

Word in the military is that the A-10 will actually NOT be retired, at all. The US may have designed the perfect ATG aircraft; they are currently in the process of a redesign and update of the plane- new engines, improved armoring (holy crap on THIS one!), and SOME updated systems while keeping that redundancy that makes the A-10 such a potent weapon on the battlefield.

Looks like the BRRRT will continue to dominate...

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Military vehicles follow the same laws with licensing as civilian vehicles, in fact they may be even more strict if the models in question are still on active duty no matter their age (gotta prevent espionage you know?). As an extreme example, Powerglide's A-10 Thunderbolt II is introduced in 1972, and is still in service with no retirement date set yet. The F-35 Lightning II was set to replace it upon debut in 2006, but the A-10 is still going strong.

Which I find rather humorous since all they're licensing is an outer shell for a toy, an image to which the whole world has seen numerous times. And anyone interested in state secrets isn't going to look for them in a toy design. In fact when it comes to espionage most of the time it's done so from inside, or by the vehicle in question falling into the wrong hands. Not random civilians looking for accuracy in a toys design.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

Till-all-R1 wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Military vehicles follow the same laws with licensing as civilian vehicles, in fact they may be even more strict if the models in question are still on active duty no matter their age (gotta prevent espionage you know?). As an extreme example, Powerglide's A-10 Thunderbolt II is introduced in 1972, and is still in service with no retirement date set yet. The F-35 Lightning II was set to replace it upon debut in 2006, but the A-10 is still going strong.

Which I find rather humorous since all they're licensing is an outer shell for a toy, an image to which the whole world has seen numerous times. And anyone interested in state secrets isn't going to look for them in a toy design. In fact when it comes to espionage most of the time it's done so from inside, or by the vehicle in question falling into the wrong hands. Not random civilians looking for accuracy in a toys design.

Still, a lot can be deduced as even the outer shell is designed with science in mind (aerodynamics for one). I don't know, maybe I worry too much (what else is new), heck, the F-22 Raptor is still in service AFAIK.

Whatever I said was semi-serious anyway, and semi-questioning (hence the "may"'s and could"'s)

It's not like you can't get up close and personal with one at an air show or anything.



Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

Till-all-R1 wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Military vehicles follow the same laws with licensing as civilian vehicles, in fact they may be even more strict if the models in question are still on active duty no matter their age (gotta prevent espionage you know?). As an extreme example, Powerglide's A-10 Thunderbolt II is introduced in 1972, and is still in service with no retirement date set yet. The F-35 Lightning II was set to replace it upon debut in 2006, but the A-10 is still going strong.

Which I find rather humorous since all they're licensing is an outer shell for a toy, an image to which the whole world has seen numerous times. And anyone interested in state secrets isn't going to look for them in a toy design. In fact when it comes to espionage most of the time it's done so from inside, or by the vehicle in question falling into the wrong hands. Not random civilians looking for accuracy in a toys design.

Still, a lot can be deduced as even the outer shell is designed with science in mind (aerodynamics for one). I don't know, maybe I worry too much (what else is new), heck, the F-22 Raptor is still in service AFAIK.

Whatever I said was semi-serious anyway, and semi-questioning (hence the "may"'s and could"'s)

It's not like you can't get up close and personal with one at an air show or anything.



Emerje

True dat. I soooooo wanted to touch The Gun....

So is there any word on the actual release date for Skywarp 2.0?
The only definitive date I see online is "December 25th 2021". Which of course was always a ridiculous placeholder. But now most sites still list him as either December '21 or the vague January '22. No longer with any specifics.

Also, as an aside discovered that Pulse UK don't sell Masterpieces. Which is surprising?

I got a message on the 27th last month that he was in stock over at Anime Export. Mine just shipped out today, so should have him in hand in a few days

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

So is there any word on the actual release date for Skywarp 2.0?
The only definitive date I see online is "December 25th 2021". Which of course was always a ridiculous placeholder. But now most sites still list him as either December '21 or the vague January '22. No longer with any specifics.

Also, as an aside discovered that Pulse UK don't sell Masterpieces. Which is surprising?

Pulse US says March, but if Artfire is anything to go by that may not stand true for other retailers selling Hasbro products, or other countries for that matter so they could all be right (except for the December ones, obviously).

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

So is there any word on the actual release date for Skywarp 2.0?
The only definitive date I see online is "December 25th 2021". Which of course was always a ridiculous placeholder. But now most sites still list him as either December '21 or the vague January '22. No longer with any specifics.

Also, as an aside discovered that Pulse UK don't sell Masterpieces. Which is surprising?

Pulse US says March, but if Artfire is anything to go by that may not stand true for other retailers selling Hasbro products, or other countries for that matter so they could all be right (except for the December ones, obviously).

Emerje

So I contacted Kapow Toys. Who said the following:

This item has not yet been released in the UK once It has been released your order will dispatch. Sadly it has been delayed by the manufacturer and we have not yet been given an updated timescale.

AKA Watch the space...

Meanwhile,

All the confirmed releases for the upcoming year:

[Skywarp], Crosscut, Nightbird and Raiden (2 of 6).

Do you think this will be it, as far as releases go?

With 2022 now underway. Let's make some predictions for the MP line.

As for me, REALLY hoping for at least the announcement of the next Beast Wars figure. With my outlier request forever going to MP Galvatron.

The email I just got from Amazon suggesting preschool toys gave me a good laugh.


Emerje

I'm sure pre-schoolers would enjoy MP-36...

It's been a looooooooooooooooong time but we actually have images from a toy show floor. The images below are from Takara's booth at the Tokyo Toy Show. Nothing new is revealed but this is the first time seeing many of these figures outside of official images. And seeing them all together gives us an idea of their prsence and size. We see all three Raiden trainbots and the recently revealed Masterpiece Jetfire. We can get an idea of his size by looking at Legacy Motormaster and Metroplex who are more in the foreground.

These images are all from Twitter user 502.

Wow, Shouki is rather beefy compared to the other trains.

Emerje

Motormaster went from a no to a run away!!!!! He just looks so bad. Like they took a step backwards from the last one.

i was out on galvatron. now i am warming up to it. what is happening?

from these images, looking at mp jetfire compared to the nearby menasor, it looks like jetfire is only slightly bigger then the siege jetfire.

Immortal Starscream wrote:from these images, looking at mp jetfire compared to the nearby menasor, it looks like jetfire is only slightly bigger then the siege jetfire.

It's a bigger difference that you'd think just looking at them. Here's a comparison shot between Siege Jetfire and FT-10 Phoenix which TFSource tells me is 13.8", only .4" taller than MP Skyfire assuming TT is measuring to the top of his head.



Another comparison, here's MP Skyfire next to some MPs from Takara Tomy Mall, notice Optimus just barely clears his waist.



And then another shot of Siege Jetfire with some of the same MP molds, Optimus is about half way up his chest (I'm pretty sure both MP Primes are the same height).



Skyfire should tower over Siege Jetfire and any non-Titan combiner.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Wow, Shouki is rather beefy compared to the other trains.

Emerje

Fittingly so, as he forms the upper torso.

Emerje wrote:The email I just got from Amazon suggesting preschool toys gave me a good laugh.
Emerje

Well that's not as bad as the time I was on Walmart's site looking through the toy section and a few "adult" items slipped through their filter.

It's insane at how expensive Masterpiece has gotten just in the last few years, I was almost ready to get into that line but then they started coming out with a 35% price increase and that was just to rich for my blood.

Personally, I don't see anything that merits me veering away from MP Beast Wars (whenever that starts up again). At this point, I don't even really think an MP Galvatron would be worth the extra pricing I'm sure he would receive at this point.
That said, I've preordered Skyfire and Raiden for the OH. Favourite characters and all that.

Beyond that, value for money is becoming a talking point for the MP line. As I'm starting to think it isn't there anymore.

Well, if the only goal is to have relatively screen accurate transformers that transform, the Studio Series and current Generations lines do the job aplenty for the prices.