Million Publishing Transformers Generation 2014 Vol.1 Exclusive Revealed - Shouki with Targetmaster Daniel

Hmmm... that's an interesting exclusive. I wish I knew more about the train bots and it's too bad that there is only one train mold right now, so I don't think we will ever see the other team members.

It definitely needs the head. Without the proper head crest, it just looks like Astrotrain. Here are some images of G1 Shouki from my gallery for those of you not familiar with this Japanese exclusive character.

Stormrider wrote:I wish I knew more about the train bots and it's too bad that there is only one train mold right now, so I don't think we will ever see the other team members.

same. i dont know anything about the character... but why would he have a decepticon symbol in shuttle mode?

Sabrblade wrote:You guys are killing the mood for me. THAT IS WONDERFUL! New head or not, I am not gonna be picky about this. None of the Million Publishing exclusives have been remolds, so this is no different.

And Targetmaster Daniel?!!! I'm just... lost for words. It's too much. Shouki alone was cool enough, but their inclusion of a Targetmaster Daniel of all things is too much goodness.

And yet, this is another beautiful Million Publishing exclusive I'll probably never get to own (because they're always so expensive).

Hold the phone guys, it's a dual homage! It not only homages Shouki, but the shuttle mode and Mini-Con reference the Thunder Arrow and its pilot, aka Skystalker and his Space Shuttle:





And I must say, using Groundspike as a bow and as a pantograph is really clever. I'm sold

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:You guys are killing the mood for me. THAT IS WONDERFUL! New head or not, I am not gonna be picky about this. None of the Million Publishing exclusives have been remolds, so this is no different.

And Targetmaster Daniel?!!! I'm just... lost for words. It's too much. Shouki alone was cool enough, but their inclusion of a Targetmaster Daniel of all things is too much goodness.

And yet, this is another beautiful Million Publishing exclusive I'll probably never get to own (because they're always so expensive).

Hold the phone guys, it's a dual homage! It not only homages Shouki, but the shuttle mode and Mini-Con reference the Thunder Arrow and its pilot, aka Skystalker and his Space Shuttle:





And I must say, using Groundspike as a bow and as a pantograph is really clever. I'm sold

Million Publishing, why do you torture me with your expensive levels of awesomeness?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Million Publishing, why do you torture me with your expensive levels of awesomeness?

I shouldn't tell you this but... I've done some digging and Skystalker has no counterpart in Japanese fiction. This opens up possibilities:

- Skystalker's toy is unnamed in Japan, never got a representation in the Victory cartoon or manga while his ship did.
- Victory/Zone saw the trainbots reissued
- In 2025, Daniel would be approximately 27 (Japan age) or 32 (US age), given his age of 12 in Season 3 or TF:2010
- His father Spike was one of the main guys behind the "-master" process.

How will we connect the dots?

You should see the arguments that have gone on over at the Wiki to make Skystalker and the nameless pilot into the same person.

Man, the more I look at this thing, the more I can't believe how clever it is. You got the character of Shouki to make sense of the Train Mode, Daniel as his Targetmaster since he was the main human in The Headmasters, the Shuttle Mode is made into the Thunder Arrow with Shouki and Daniel going undercover, Daniel in in his Excel Suit (Exosuit) colored like the Thunder Arrow's pilot to better the disguise, and Daniel uses the Groundspike mold that turns into a bow as a play on the ship's name of "Thunder Arrow".

Seibertron wrote:That all might work for you, but it turns me off even more about this.

This is no different than the kind of crazy homage stuff that the Club and e-HOBBY do. It's obviously aimed at fans of the Japanese G1 cartoons. Of course it's not gonna appeal to the masses.

I love this.

I'm buying this.

Sabrblade wrote:

Seibertron wrote:That all might work for you, but it turns me off even more about this.

This is no different than the kind of crazy homage stuff that the Club and e-HOBBY do. It's obviously aimed at fans of the Japanese G1 cartoons. Of course it's not gonna appeal to the masses.

I think you aimed this at the wrong person. I'm a massive fan of the Japanese G1 cartoons. It's part of why I started Seibertron.com. I had bootleg tapes of the Japanese cartoons a decade or more before they came out on DVD overseas. Masterforce is my all-time favorite Transformers cartoon followed by Headmasters or Victory.

The crazy homage stuff that the Club and e-Hobby do doesn't always work for me either. There are a lot better choices and better ways to implement this stuff. Poor decisions don't always need to be rationalized. Still doesn't work for me.