The Energon Pub

I am new to the hobby, but a long time fan, since the G1 era and just started collecting C.H.U.Gs. I like the whole hunting down thing . On my display, I have, Takara Tomy Seekers Elites box set( the Coneheads), Henkei Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Universe Prowl, Bluestreak, Smokescreen and RTS Jazz. I am over the fence on whether I should sell my CHUG figures (I know I won't get much) and collect MP's?. Are CHUG better than MP? I mean both can be expensive in their own way. Any advice, thoughts

Thanks

Which is better is subjective. Just follow your heart. MP cost more and are more intricate in transformation. Lot's of KO abound too unless you aren't bothered by them.

Which is better depends on what you want from your collection.

CHUG has many more characters, are a simpler transformation and are usually more of an update to the characters instead of a perfect G1 representation. They are also considerably cheaper and good for picking up off the shelf and fiddling with them when you want something to do, something you can't really do with MP's.



MP is more expensive, more involved transformation, but they are pure G1 in appearance. They are also larger so take up more space on your shelf. But they also come with many more accessories than CHUG. MP's are definately more of a high end collectable type thing. The kind of thing you put on a shelf and look at. CHUG is better for actually transforming regularly and messing around with.

CHUG is my primary collection focus. I can afford to have, display, and play with every character from the G1 show (that they have put out there).

That just isn't possible with MP. They aren't going to do every character. Even if they did, I couldn't afford it. I have some MP's. They look awesome. They are great display pieces. I don't play with them, though. If they break they are, for the most part, too costly to replace.

I like CHUG for official and MP "Style" for 3rd party & KO's myself.

I display both together. I try to have only one version of a character... and prefer it to be MP, but sometimes CHUG has something really cool for a whole lot less.

MP scale is all over the place too... so it works for me. MP prowl is only about a head taller then CHUG Prowl... MP bumblebee is really short and MP10 Optimus, while a magnificent piece of craftsmanship, seems huge compared to even the other MPs... So depending on how you organize the shelf, they can all work together if you really want them to.

No one can answer this for you, you just gotta buy the figures that you can afford that make YOU happiest. For some people it'll be CHUG, others MP, still others it might be 3rd party or even RiD15.

and for some lucky SOB's it's everything.

Well, what do you like more:

Having all the characters now or can you wait to get a little at a time?
Having Optimus be at a leader scale or voyager scale?
Do you want them to look as G1 as possible or do you like the idea of having them updated?

Because with Classics and Generations, you can get all the popular characters from the G1 show right now. And the scale will be great with Optimus and Megatron as voyagers, and Jetfire as a leader class (so bigger than them). But they wont look as G1 as possible, unlike the MPs.

Now if you go for MP, firstly it will be super costly. Each seeker, is between 100 and 200$. So all six could easily cost you $1000, and thats just the seekers. Are you ok with that?

Also, not all the characters are there. Many, but not all. There is no cyclonus, or arcee, or kup, or jazz, or galvatron, or astrotrain, or blitzwing, or trypticon, or blaster and on and on. All those either exist already in CHUG or will by next year
However, they dont look all G1 and may have extra features you didnt expect. Like a voyager soundwave turns into a truck, Blurr, Galvatron and Scourge have headmaster gimicks.

So its up to you and what you want.

Personally, I collect CHUG and the MPs that I like. For instance, I didnt get all the seekers, but a few instead, just to experience the toy. And I only got Ironhide instead of both him and Ratchet. But thats because I dont need the entire G1 cast in masterpiece scale. Thats just too expensive for me, especially since many of the molds repeat (2 vans, 3 datsun cars, 6 jets).

phantom1592 wrote:I display both together. I try to have only one version of a character... and prefer it to be MP, but sometimes CHUG has something really cool for a whole lot less.

MP scale is all over the place too... so it works for me. MP prowl is only about a head taller then CHUG Prowl... MP bumblebee is really short and MP10 Optimus, while a magnificent piece of craftsmanship, seems huge compared to even the other MPs... So depending on how you organize the shelf, they can all work together if you really want them to.

Prime is a truck. So maybe, that carries over to his 'bot mode as in a bit bigger than the car 'bots.

fenrir72 wrote:

phantom1592 wrote:I display both together. I try to have only one version of a character... and prefer it to be MP, but sometimes CHUG has something really cool for a whole lot less.

MP scale is all over the place too... so it works for me. MP prowl is only about a head taller then CHUG Prowl... MP bumblebee is really short and MP10 Optimus, while a magnificent piece of craftsmanship, seems huge compared to even the other MPs... So depending on how you organize the shelf, they can all work together if you really want them to.

Prime is a truck. So maybe, that carries over to his 'bot mode as in a bit bigger than the car 'bots.

Bigger is fine. Got no problem there... but I'd have preferred cars like Prowl getting to his chest and Bumblebee closer to his waist... as opposed to Bee at the knee, and prowl at the crotch...

Optimus just seems TOO big. prowl and Bee are fine together... and with CHUGs, but Prime and Superion are a little too close in height.

They work depending on the set up, but yeah... I trace most of the scaling issues back at Optimus.

And it really hurts the possibility for anything BIGGER in MP line. Getting Dinobots or combiners?? I just don't see them really going that route beyond Grimlock...

Hopefully I'm wrong.

3Ps are filling out the larger MP brackets with Omega Supreme coming and some Combiners already in the works.

But, aside from a few exceptions, I'm a CHUG guy. I want all the characters in the G1 cartoon. That's now attainable with CHUG (with only a little 3P help). I don't want to wait forever to attain that goal, I don't have the room to display so many MPs, and honestly? I don't want to pay MP prices for every character. Some guys are just worth less to me than others.

That said one line isn't "better" than another. MPs have a lot of style. I feel good about every MP purchase I've ever made, even Takra's V1 Roddy, which broke on me earlier this year (I found a replacement with the parts I needed). It depends on your own goals.