JP Masterpiece book coming

[griffin]

It is apparently only a few weeks away, but the details are limited, and images are yet to be released.
It is being called a Masterpiece guide book (http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-masterpiece-47/transformers-masterpiece-official-guide-coming-july-30-2014-180628/), but not sure how big it will be, unless it is very comprehensive with each Masterpiece toy, and maybe the American versions as well.

If it is already printed to be ready for a release on July 30th, I don't think it will have much on the future Masterpiece toys... but hopefully we get our first look at the Star Saber figure.

[drifand]

probably similiar book like the Binaltech TF.

[millhouse]

Ordered it. Looking forward to it!

[Tober]

probably similiar book like the Binaltech TF.

That would be great. Maybe it will show us more of the cost-prohibitive MP versions we missed out on... :o

And just like the Binaltech book, it will show where the MP line is at now and little more. :(

[liegeprime]

Ordered it. Looking forward to it!

Where did you order?

[millhouse]

Where did you order?

Amazon.co.jp

[liegeprime]

Amazon.co.jp

Thanks! I guess they deliver to an out of Japan address then. :) Thought they didn't.

[millhouse]

Thanks! I guess they deliver to an out of Japan address then. :) Thought they didn't.

They do on DVDs, CDs, and books. I think it's just toys they don't!

[griffin]

A cover image has been put up on the Amazon listing (http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4864911576/), giving a nice group shot and size comparison of some Autobot Masterpiece toys.

[griffin]

Amazon Japan have put up some small sample images from inside the book, showing us that it will be including design drawings, prototypes and interviews.
Images mirrored here (http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-masterpiece-47/take-a-look-inside-the-transformers-masterpiece-guidebook-180704/), as the Amazon listing won't be there for more than a few months.

[kurdt_the_goat]

I ordered this along with some other books from Amazon Japan - the others shipped first - first tracking 11:04 Monday, received 12:49 Wednesday!

So the MP book should be here tomorrow according to the tracking, but unfortunately i'm going to be out of the office so I won't have it in hand until Friday.

Fingers crossed for some more pics of MP Star Saber!

[griffin]

Ah, it's out already. I'd better go order it... and wait for the end of August for the second Generations book.

Found this other book there (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/4835623509/ref=dp_change_lang?ie=UTF8&language=en_JP), that I was not aware of, but the google translator suggests it is a 30th anniversary book to be released for the TFs Expo in Japan in August.
No idea what is in it, so I figured I'd order it at the same time as the Masterpiece book, and see what it is.
I thought it might have been a Japanese version of the Legacy book because of the cover, but the roughly translated description is too vague to know for sure.

AU$45 for both and AU$17 shipping. $30 each isn't too bad.

[kurdt_the_goat]

One thing i should point out about Amazon Japan, it seems even if you choose "Group my items into one shipment", they'll sometimes split them and ship in stock items immediately, at no additional cost.

That other one seems to be a TF History book of some sort, and comes with a double sided poster.

[griffin]

I wonder if I had waited a day and the second book was in stock, they would have charged less shipping, as it may have calculated shipping based on two shipments.

The History book sounds interesting, but will only be eye-candy for me, so had better have something more than a double-sided poster for me to drool over.
(the double-sided poster with the 2014 Generations book was quite nice, so I'm looking forward to this one)

[Paulbot]

Ordering on Amazon.co.jp was relatively easy. The "item posted" email today was completely in Japanese but Google Translate helped. I decided to take a gamble on that "history" book too.

[millhouse]

Received mine today. Covers all current MPs, the announced stuff, unpainted Star Sabre pics, US releases, exclusive decos (EVA, BAPE, toy show, etc).

Essentially, its pretty much everything already shown. Nothing "new". That being said...

Pretty friggin' nice. If only I knew Japanese!

As a primarily-MP collector, it's a nice catalogue.

[gamblor916]

It's cheaper at HLJ but it's backordered. (http://www.hlj.com/product/VLG91157/Boo)

[kurdt_the_goat]

It's the same price at Amazon (when you go through checkout it removes the 8% Japanese tax)

[kurdt_the_goat]

Received mine today. Covers all current MPs, the announced stuff, unpainted Star Sabre pics, US releases, exclusive decos (EVA, BAPE, toy show, etc).

Essentially, its pretty much everything already shown. Nothing "new". That being said...

Pretty friggin' nice. If only I knew Japanese!

As a primarily-MP collector, it's a nice catalogue.

Got mine today and had a quick look through, agree with what you've said.
There's plenty in there that's new for me too which is nice, and the quality of the paper and printing is really good as well.

I mostly got it to have all the design sketches in one place; one of these days i'd love to try my hand at sketching out a theoretical MP of my own, but damn do they go into some absurd detail at the sketching phase!

It'd be truly awesome if you could read it - i hope to get my wife to translate a few of the interviews at the back (someone on TFW will probably get to it first though!).

[millhouse]

It'd be truly awesome if you could read it - i hope to get my wife to translate a few of the interviews at the back (someone on TFW will probably get to it first though!).

If you find a link or your wife translates a few, please feel free to share!

[kurdt_the_goat]

Will do! If there's a few specific photo captions anyone is after let me know.

[GoktimusPrime]

Just ordered this book from Amazon JP. Charged me 2800JPY ($30) for the book and $13 for postage, so $43 all up. Their international postage rate feels expensive* to me, but still about $9 cheaper than getting it locally. :o

----------------------------------------------
*But probably because it's a single small item; postage from Japan becomes better value for money when shipping in bulk, which is what I always do w/ toys.

[Paulbot]

Found this other book there (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/4835623509/ref=dp_change_lang?ie=UTF8&language=en_JP), that I was not aware of, but the google translator suggests it is a 30th anniversary book to be released for the TFs Expo in Japan in August.
No idea what is in it, so I figured I'd order it at the same time as the Masterpiece book, and see what it is.
I thought it might have been a Japanese version of the Legacy book because of the cover, but the roughly translated description is too vague to know for sure.


Got this today. It's a bit light on. It spotlights AOE, Lost Age toys (briefly), the various cartoons/movies over the year and the leader characters, including a photo of all the main toys of leaders from the various incarnations. There's some Japanese G1 art I've never seen anywhere before, but overall the book is not essential and I wouldn't recommend it.

Then I got to the last page

It comes with a pullout poster that appears to be a new version of the Transformer Tapestry (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_Tapestry)! Which is very nice as that's something I don't have but wanted. It's not indentical to the version pictured on the wiki, based on the location of characters I can see without opening it, and has an end date of 2000 (unlike 1995 on the old one) so might have a bunch more Beast Wars era faces once I unwrap it at home. For me that's worth the price of the book in itself.

[griffin]

Sounds like it is a book that is mostly only worth buying for the bonus item. A pity that it is a folded up poster, as the creases will spoil that "tapestry" poster. (I'll have to spend some time flattening it out)
Can't wait.

[Paulbot]

The poster's double sided, so you kind of need to buy two of the book... I didn't notice earlier but both sides of the poster are shown on the inside cover. It's 103cm x 73 cm and side B covers 2001-2014. Obviously not everything from all those years... I think it's "show" based, with WFC/FOC is considered a show, and Henkei/Encore/Binaltech not included, but I need to open it up to have a good study to be sure. Either way it's a cool poster(s).

[Paulbot]

If I can find a frames that fit, I might indeed buy a second copy so I can hang both sides.

DVD included to show size. It appears that Henkei is the only major Japanese line not represented in this poster. Binaltech, Robotmasters, Alternity, even those region-exclusive legends are here.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/9a1ac86fcd3d455fbcacb040d5f499c9/tumblr_n9tty6QF001qbguy1o1_500.jpg

http://37.media.tumblr.com/66b7ce35fef26845412923ba69d4612e/tumblr_n9tty6QF001qbguy1o2_500.jpg

[griffin]

Very nice... and a lot of effort for a freebie poster (or for $15 if you consider it a poster with a freebie book :p ).