The Energon Pub

Just curious because I got the Wal-Mart MP SS last night and he is freakin awesome.

I prefer the Hasbro one and am now calling the Takara one Thundercracker. I'm planning on selling the Tak one when they finally announce MP Thundercracker.

Well, I'm still waiting for a Walmart SS, I thought I had it all sewn up, but that fell through(stupid family).

So all I can say is that my imported version, has many parts that keep falling off, the trigger fingers being the worst and the color is off.

So as I don't have the other, I'm not gonna say he's better, but I will say the import is cool, but the color and QC suck!

Well, let me put it to you this way...

It's the first Gen 1 homage that Reproabels doesn't need to make an Upgrade set for in a long damn time.

Damn awesome and spot on.

Get one.

I have the MP SS from Wal-Mart, but never seen a Takara version in person. Thanks for the info though

BTW, I saw a vid today on youtube that said the Takara versions are a bit more "brittle" or tend to break and that the Hasbro versions seem to be better quality.

I even like the Hasbro versions box better just because its cool for display.

The mold may be identical, but the Takara has nice extras. It has a better instruction manual (with colors, toy histories and a data sheet), a sticker sheet and a trading card.

Forgive me if this has been talked about elsewhere, but does anyone know why Takara decided to paint MP-3 in the colours they did? It seems that a lot of trouble was taken to make the toys as G1 as possible, with accessories to match. Seems like colouring Starscream in G1 colours would have been the obvious thing to do.

I myself got in late in the game, but my consolation for not getting the Takara version - despite everything else Nujevad mentioned, plus most importantly for me, the classiness of the Takara box - is the colour. I struggled because I don't generally like the Hasbro packaging, but the G1 colours won me over. I even bought the G1 repaint of Movie Voyager SS, that's how much I like the colours.

Bonecrusher27 wrote:Forgive me if this has been talked about elsewhere, but does anyone know why Takara decided to paint MP-3 in the colours they did? It seems that a lot of trouble was taken to make the toys as G1 as possible, with accessories to match. Seems like colouring Starscream in G1 colours would have been the obvious thing to do.

I think the designer was aiming for a more realistic version of an F-15. Starscream's G1 colors just don't belong to a military aircraft.

Bonecrusher27 wrote:Forgive me if this has been talked about elsewhere, but does anyone know why Takara decided to paint MP-3 in the colours they did? It seems that a lot of trouble was taken to make the toys as G1 as possible, with accessories to match. Seems like colouring Starscream in G1 colours would have been the obvious thing to do.

I believe they knew they were going to do this G1 color version before the green one even came out. Release the green first, get everyone to buy it, then release the G1 color scheme later. If they released the G1 scheme back when the green one came out, and were just releasing the green one now, the hype would probably be way less. It's the same tactic being used with the movie toys and these premium figures coming out next year.

shankz wrote:I believe they knew they were going to do this G1 color version before the green one even came out. Release the green first, get everyone to buy it, then release the G1 color scheme later.

Are you saying that Takara will be releasing a Takara-boxed version of SS in the future? This is gonna be good news... might have to cancel my Hasbro SS preorder! Any idea if they will be of the same quality as the Hasbro one? What I seem to be hearing is that strangely enough in this case, Hasbro quality is better than Takara quality.

I know they have a G1 colored version coming out which is the same as the Hasbro version (maybe less scorch marks on the back or something), but no clue on a box or anything.

Everything I said was just my theory on the whole situation. I have no doubt that they knew from day 1 that they were going to release a G1 colored version later on.

Bonecrusher27 wrote:Are you saying that Takara will be releasing a Takara-boxed version of SS in the future? This is gonna be good news... might have to cancel my Hasbro SS preorder!

yes. Takara already had some pics a few weeks ago of their version. less smoke damage, but more or less the same. this is the version i'm holding out for.

The Takara version is boxed the same as the Hasbro version. It also appears to have a near identical deco, with maybe a little less weathering (althuogh that is far from confirmed). Unfortunately Takara don't appear to have replaced the black hinges on the wings with something more appropriate, so I'm getting a US version and taking the weathering off myself.



Yours AK

Alex Kingdom wrote:The Takara version is boxed the same as the Hasbro version. It also appears to have a near identical deco, with maybe a little less weathering (althuogh that is far from confirmed). Unfortunately Takara don't appear to have replaced the black hinges on the wings with something more appropriate, so I'm getting a US version and taking the weathering off myself.



Yours AK

hmm, i really don't understand kanji and stuff, but couldn't this be an advertisement or an article about the Hasbro version?

zemper wrote:hmm, i really don't understand kanji and stuff, but couldn't this be an advertisement or an article about the Hasbro version?

Nope the Kanji has been translated and it says that 'the US version of Masterpiece Starscream (the Wal*Mart exclusive) was modified to conform to US Safety Laws. The USA Edition release of Masterpiece Starscream in Japan will not have these modifications and thus the mold itself will be the same as that of the original MP-03 Starscream release.' Which heavily suggests that these pics are of the Takara version, and it will have a few more pointy bits than the Hasbro version.

Yours AK

Damn, one more toy that wont poke my eye out...

What did they modify to confirm with the safety laws? Looks the same to me.

The rear folding wings on Starscream have all the pointed parts rounded down. My MP Skywarp's wings dont have that. They're pointy. I guess being how these wings can come off, that's the reason behind it. That's the only thing I've noticed so far.

Alex Kingdom wrote:

zemper wrote:hmm, i really don't understand kanji and stuff, but couldn't this be an advertisement or an article about the Hasbro version?

Nope the Kanji has been translated and it says that 'the US version of Masterpiece Starscream (the Wal*Mart exclusive) was modified to conform to US Safety Laws. The USA Edition release of Masterpiece Starscream in Japan will not have these modifications and thus the mold itself will be the same as that of the original MP-03 Starscream release.' Which heavily suggests that these pics are of the Takara version, and it will have a few more pointy bits than the Hasbro version.

Yours AK

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does this mean that the Takara version of G1 starscream will be as brittle as MP03? Uh oh...

I definitely prefer the Hasbro MP Starscream over Takara. You just can't beat those G1 colors.