New Promo Video for MP-44 Optimus Prime from Takara Tomy

Immortal Starscream wrote:I do like this new prime, however...

What drew me to the masterpiece line was the perfect blend of original toy design and cartoon style. I really liked having the details from the g1 toy incorporated into the sculpts of the mp figures. I also really loved how the spirit of the g1 transformation was also put into them. to me, thats what made them masterpieces. I do appreciate the new almost cartoon perfect approach, and I think its well executed, but it does take away from the beauty of the toys imho. not knocking the design and effort it takes to pull this off, its astounding to see what they can engineer now. but maybe they are taking it a bit too far.

my feelings on that, added to the astronomical price (i understand having way more parts to accommodate the transformation means higher tolerances, higher piece-count which equals higher price)means I really can not justify buying this. sad too since one of the gas tanks on my mp10 just fell off.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Immortal Starscream wrote:I do like this new prime, however...

What drew me to the masterpiece line was the perfect blend of original toy design and cartoon style. I really liked having the details from the g1 toy incorporated into the sculpts of the mp figures. I also really loved how the spirit of the g1 transformation was also put into them. to me, thats what made them masterpieces. I do appreciate the new almost cartoon perfect approach, and I think its well executed, but it does take away from the beauty of the toys imho. not knocking the design and effort it takes to pull this off, its astounding to see what they can engineer now. but maybe they are taking it a bit too far.

my feelings on that, added to the astronomical price (i understand having way more parts to accommodate the transformation means higher tolerances, higher piece-count which equals higher price)means I really can not justify buying this. sad too since one of the gas tanks on my mp10 just fell off.

This is how I feel, except I do knock the design and effort because it is in my opinion effort expended unnecessarily and in completely the wrong direction. It's like messing up on a math problem through overthinking, the thought and effort put in doesn't make you any less wrong.

As to your MP-10's fuel tank.. Krazy-Glue is cheap

ZeroWolf wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:The more I look at this thing, the more I want it.
Price be damned.


Eh, I'm about to buy a 1000$ doll so a 600$ Transformers is not that far fetched. But one thing is sure, I'll be watching and reading a TONS of reviews before committing.

Out of total curiosity, what's the doll you're buying? Is it one of the larger scales?

So that transformation scheme looks like the best part to me because of how intricate it is, but I do wish we'd move away from cartoon accuracy... Maybe when the cast is complete we can finally look to the future again.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:The more I look at this thing, the more I want it.
Price be damned.


Eh, I'm about to buy a 1000$ doll so a 600$ Transformers is not that far fetched. But one thing is sure, I'll be watching and reading a TONS of reviews before committing.

Out of total curiosity, what's the doll you're buying? Is it one of the larger scales?

So that transformation scheme looks like the best part to me because of how intricate it is, but I do wish we'd move away from cartoon accuracy... Maybe when the cast is complete we can finally look to the future again.

I'm looking into the 1/3 Dollfie Dream. Especially DD Hatsune Miku or the very elusive DDS Kagamine Rin. Those things are impossible to get from the primary source (Volks) at the "reasonable" 70000 yen price. The only way to get them is on the secondary market at a 10K yen or even 40K yen mark-up.

To put things in perspective, just imagine if the new MP Optimus 3.0 was only offered by Takara. Only 500 would be produced. Then for the preorders, people would have to ENTER A LOTTERY just to WIN THE RIGHT TO PREORDER. Then once you won, you get your 50K yen Optimus. Plus you have to pay shipping and other fees on top, of course.

Finally, half if not 3/4 of the preorders were won by resellers. Now the only way to get the new MP Optimus is from random stores or Ebay and he cost at the very least 1000$US.

That's the luxury doll world in a nutshell!

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Why, because AKOM actually inked the cab stripe as shiny white instead of inking the entire cab red?

kiwijinxter wrote:I REALLY hate the fact that I'm feeling suckered kicking and screaming into buying the MP44, I've loved my MP10 to bits, but if this figure ends up being a whole heap better with better quality (maybe more die cast metal parts like the MP01), I may well "upgrade" from the MP10 to the MP44... but I seriously hope they drop a $100 or so...!

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Die cast =/= quality

KVO Prime wrote:It better have like 40 sound clips of Peter Cullen saying stuff

User897 wrote:Still nope. MP-10 is king.

Optimus Prime 23 wrote:

User897 wrote:Still nope. MP-10 is king.

Sorry, bro. There's a new sheriff in town. And his name's MP-44.

Quantum Surge wrote:I hate sounding rude, but I kind of feel this belongs more in a non-news related category than being viewed as actual news (kind of like the post regarding how Cyberverse Shockwave fits in a CHUG collection)

Bun-Bun wrote:

Quantum Surge wrote:I hate sounding rude, but I kind of feel this belongs more in a non-news related category than being viewed as actual news (kind of like the post regarding how Cyberverse Shockwave fits in a CHUG collection)

This

william-james88 wrote:MP-44



Siege Optimus

ZeroWolf wrote:Which Prime is that in the last picture Cyberpath?

@ZeldaTheSwordsman that could always be in the leader Class Optimus Prime set that's coming our way

User897 wrote:Still nope. MP-10 is king.

ZeroWolf wrote:Which Prime is that in the last picture Cyberpath?

@ZeldaTheSwordsman that could always be in the leader Class Optimus Prime set that's coming our way

Bun-Bun wrote:

Quantum Surge wrote:I hate sounding rude, but I kind of feel this belongs more in a non-news related category than being viewed as actual news (kind of like the post regarding how Cyberverse Shockwave fits in a CHUG collection)

This

Octobotimus wrote:what i learned from this (and thing all of us should) is that we should simply spend 30 bucks and save our other 410 on something else.

Burn wrote:

Bun-Bun wrote:

Quantum Surge wrote:I hate sounding rude, but I kind of feel this belongs more in a non-news related category than being viewed as actual news (kind of like the post regarding how Cyberverse Shockwave fits in a CHUG collection)

This

Just because YOU don't consider it news, doesn't mean others won't appreciate it being brought to their attention.

itscramtastic wrote:Good stuff Cyberpath. I read that over at TFW a few hours ago after saving all of the high-res scans of the Generations book to my phone. I like your picture additions to the article, nice!

-Kanrabat- wrote:I... begin to actually want the thing...

Cyberpath wrote:It was an interesting read. I always enjoy the designers' insight. Even if this project is pretty much self-explanatory.

1: When did the project planning start?
We normally start planning for an MP project a long time in advance, this was started from back in December 2016. At that time we still thought MP10 (Convoy 2.0) was the best/definitive OP, but looking at the time line from 1.0 to 2.0, a 3.0 would be on the table sooner of later, so we started planning real early.

2: Where did you start？
The first thought was "to surpass OP 2.0", but we couldn't quite imagine exactly what counts as "surpass" at the beginning. We thought of areas of improvement, for example a more accurate mouth plate, better articulation etc. Also the comparability with MP 36. we wanted to do a cartoon accurate Optimus just like MP 36 Megatron. So we drew up an Optimus with ideal proportions then started to think about the mechanism within,



3: It'd be difficult to recreate a cartoon accurate Optimus?
For example the truck wind shield and the 'bot mode chest. The angle and height-width ratio are both different. In the past we would find a middle ground between truck and bot then achieve a balanced look by detail design. But this time around, we really wanted to recreate this difference in physical form. Although MP 10 has quite an involved transformation, the parts placement actually follows the G1 toy. But in order to create the definitive Optimus, we were willing to change it up this time around. If it couldn't surpass OP 2.0 this project would be pointless.



4: Proportions have evolved too!
From past experience designing Optimus, the balance in the cab and back section is very tricky. First it's the size of 'bot mode chest; it'd be too wide to be toon accurate if using the truck wind shield directly. Also the trailer hitch section needs to be thin in order for the trailer to sit at a proper height, but on the other hand Optimus' legs are long and thick in the cartoon so kind of mass shift between modes, it's very difficult to achieve a balance.

5： How did you solve this?
We had a flash of genius to move the mass as solution, so that in 'bot mode the volume in the legs is increased and volume in the chest decreased. So we came up with the transformation to move some of mass on the side of the cab to the lower half of 'bot mode. We used to have to put a lot of effort into concealing the arms seamlessly into the cab, with this design it's automatically solved as well.

6: What an amazing idea!
But here comes the color problem: the upper body (cab) is red and the lower body is blue. So we had to hide the red surface within the legs, with the rear tires too.

7: The tires have finally disappeared
The rear tires are narrow and rotate to conceal inside the legs. We felt this is a must.



8: Another evolution in design is a clean and flat waist.
Finally able to make the waist flat (LOL). Initially we though of the same mechanism as Megatron. Then we wanted to achieve better articulation without breaking up the sculpt, so this time the waist doesn't have the articulated front skirt pieces but has an automatic mechanism where if the thighs move up the skirts retract. And we made them pop back up automatically as well.



9: The double knee joint gives off an action figure impression
This is a modern construction we only started to pay attention to recently. The friction resistance in the the two joints is different, so only when the first joint is bent to a certain degree then would the second joint engage. So that in normal posing only one joint is engaged to keep the body proportions. Because MP 36 has incredible articulation, this Optimus definitely needs to be able to match up with that.

10: The trailer has several new gimmicks, a lot more play value
We thought if the trailer isn't re-made properly, it wouldn't be called Optimus 3.0, so we can't have a similar trailer to MP 10's. So we thought about what gimmicks hadn't been done before. For example the mobile artillery in "Fire in the Sky". We thought it could be formed from the battle station with wheels added.



11: Using Roller to drag the artillery; seems like a very Takara-esque Sci-Fi design
Yeah we wanted to include this kind of Takara-esque Sci-Fi gimmick similar to Diaclone. The figures included have magnets on the bottom of their feet so they can stand on the deck etc. Although it's not an official way to play, you can have this interact with the Diaclone figures as well. This sort of product cross over play pattern is something we'd love to see.

12: There are two styles of head sculpt..lots of accessories!
Because there's two drawing styles in the G1 cartoon so we made two head sculpts. And the head is removable so that scene from "City of Steel" where Bumblebee is holding Prime's detached head can be recreated.



13: I almost forgot there's that episode where Prime had a jet pack...
Yup he sure did.



14: What's with Starscream's head and the intakes
To recreate that certain scene lol.



15: So technically it's not Prime
Yep, so yeah these can't be stored inside the trailer (does it sound like an excuse? lol)

16: Which part to design has most effort gone into?
The trailer. Although the cab is always more important and the trailer just kinda needs to be a square box, its thickness is quite hard to get right. Making it too thick would effect the overall height, so it took several tries to get to where we are.

17: Something not in the cartoon?
We've made slight changes to the toes and added bumper-like details so they look more realistic.

18: Would this product be the benchmark for future releases just like MP 10 did before?
MP 10 already had the design philosophy of "recreating the cartoon". In a sense we finally arrived at a time where we can face the origin of Transformers, where staying true to that source material without modifying or compromising can be viewed as a good thing.



19: Now that the project is finally done and dusted, how do you feel?
Feel like "we've done everything we could". This is Optimus Prime after all, so we put in our heart and soul. At the same time even if we overdid it, Prime would forgive us (LOL). After MP44, the MP benchmark might have been raised again!