Standards of accuracy in Masterpiece

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Originally Posted by philby

I'm not really frustrated, just perhaps sometimes confused on why they choose certain features over others. Sometimes I can understand why some things have to be done, others maybe need to ask. I don't really think either option should be held as some kind of holy grail standard because I think they both compromise each other in certain aspects. I'm sure the perhaps sleeker or simpler cartoon models of the characters made it easier and faster to produce the cartoon than if they stuck rigidly to what the toys look like. At the same time certain aspects of the toy designs I would say require more imagination to get a well proportioned humanoid robot shape and enough articulation for modern standards.


Look at Optimus Prime; if you want him fully cartoon accurate you need to get rid of all traces of his wheels completely. I think it's clever how the front wheels are hidden but you still have a bulge on the legs with the rear wheels and can see them from behind. If you want him strictly toy accurate then you need to take chunks out of his forearms and give him a skinny waste. What does MP-10 give us? A pretty good looking compromise that has a well proportioned and pretty good looking robot which I think combines the best of both. The alt mode is a bit chunky in the back and maybe that's a compromise to get a better robot mode.

I don't really want a modern clone of what the toy or cartoon looked like 30 years ago, I guess in my mind the Masterpiece series is about trying to take the best of both and bringing it up to detailed more advanced modern standards.

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

I personally would prefer to see them make the choices that make the TOY looks good.

I'd happily forgo cartoon accurate white thighs if the chromed thighs make it look a lot better. Likewise, I'd skip a red bumper if they had gone for a chomed one.

Optimus mightn't have ever had metallic blue eyes, but I don't care about that. The toy's eyes are blue and have got bling! That's a heap better than sky blue generic eyes.

I think a good example is Mattel's Voltron. The coluors are flat and the lion Legs are white. It's pretty cartoon accurate.

But the colours don't look half as nice as This version which takes cues from the original toys as well as the show. Hell, even the Masterpiece version looks nicer with the chrome bits. As long as the TOY looks good, I'm fine with that. I'd hate to have a series of Masterpieces that are large, bland, flat coloured toys based completely on the cartoon, because as Gok said, they wouldn't feel like masterpieces.

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Originally Posted by Lint

There's far too many toys out there that have been ruined because of dogmatic adherence to cartoon accuracy or otherwise.

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I think it's because people who were kids when the original comic and (especially) cartoon came out and are now buying Masterpieces want what they saw on screen. I remember reading about people who had G1 Ironhide or Ratchet when they were young and were quite confused with what they had, not knowing/realising that Marvel/Sunbow made anthropomorphic characters that bear little resemblance to the actual toys.

Now, with advances in engineering, Hasbro/TakaraTomy have the ability to make more intricate toys, and with a larger scale to work with, licences for cars, and hindsight, we have TakaraTomy creating toys that really get close to the goal of screen accuracy in both modes. Of course, compromises have to be made to have a workable Transformer, but I suspect the majority of Masterpiece collectors are happy with the results.

Here's something that bugs me... the style of MP22 Ultra Magnus' tech specs card. From MP-1 to MP-21, all my JP MP tech spec cards have a common style: artwork of the character standing in a neutral position from a high angle shot from their left side. Ultra Magnus bucks this trend and uses the front cover artwork showing him in a crouching fighting pose with his truck mode running in front. It's a lovely piece of art, but it just sticks out from the rest!

I'm gonna have a guess that Star Sabre's tech specs card might also utilise the artwork from his booklet's front cover (I don't know for sure; Hasbro only gave me a copy of his instruction booklet, nothing else). :confused:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psefa161b6.jpg

Actually, I'd rather they did that, because then there'd be a consistent shift from MP22 onwards. Switching back to the old style might feel even weirder. :p

See what I mean? And this was only names, and style cards. Many didn't like the change though.

At least my complaints are often with the paint apps of the toy.

The majority of respondents of this poll aren't bothered by it though

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

The majority of respondents of this poll aren't bothered by it though

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Of course not? I didn't expect it to be. Its every now and then we have a new masterpiece and how often we get the usual few that points out

1. Not toon accurate?
2. Booklet change
3. name changed

If you do a search on MP-11 and just check out what people posted and reflect back. Heck I didn't even say anything, I thought the colours were better than mp-03 green starscream.

To be honest, it bothers me when someone complains rather than the actual product . This poll was just to have a general feel how many disagree or agree, I am on other as I believe some could have done better while some are fine as they are.

A lot of people did complain about the colours and poor plastic quality on MP3 when that toy first came out though. When Hasbro released their more G1-accurate coloured version, it flew off shelves. I'm glad I bought the local Hasbro release as soon as I saw it, because I never saw it on shelves again after that! :eek: Although subsequent versions have all made marked improvements over MP3, I'm still not a massive fan of the core design of the MP Jets. But I've accepted that it makes more sense for Takara(TOMY) to continue using that core mould for MP Jets, and I do appreciate that they have improved over time. :)

I be interested to see a mp-11 starscream by Hasbro.

Not bothered per se.

I initially really liked MP-03 "greenscream" I thought it was a very realistic vehicle mode including the colour, with the muted reds and blues visible in the robot mode. still love that toy for that very reason though since then most other MP's have been more "Cartoon accurate" at least as far as colouring goes. I think I have come to prefer the cartoon accurate colours on the real world vehicle mode.

accuracy is not quite the right word I don't think. it appears to me that the recent MP's from 10 on but even from 8 have been more of a best of both worlds approach. the best of cartoon, 80's toy and 'realistic' alt mode.

There has been some difference in the Hasbro approach vs. the Takara approach to paint and colour details but in my mind it's fairly minor.

To me these are the ultimate versions of the characters we saw on screen that I've been waiting for 30 years for.
the only one that really frustrates me so far is the Hasbro Rodimus not having a trailer.

I'm not bothered either - most people who see my collection aren’t fans but recognise them for who they are. They know the characters (if not the names) from the cartoon so close enough is obviously good enough!

I also feel I would have been extremely disappointed with slavish adherence to cartoon accuracy – specifically thinking of Optimus (both MP-10 or Hasbro). I don't recall him having the white/silver stripe around the cab in alt mode in the cartoon - omitting it would have made both the alt mode and robot mode even more cartoon accurate (as he wouldn't have the white stripes up the side of his forearms either) but I'm not sure I can accept an Optimus without that stripe (and I don't think he would have been as instantly identifiable to "non-fans" in alt mode as I’d describe it as iconic).

So I'm quite happy for them to keep doing exactly what they’re doing (though the tattoos on Hasbro Thundercracker do irk me! :confused:).

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

A lot of people did complain about the colours and poor plastic quality on MP3 when that toy first came out though.

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I was one of them! And in a way still am.

My complaints about that toy were that it didn't look like any rendition of Starscream at all. It was a nice form changing robot, but it certainly wasn't Starscream.

Plus, I got the Byvrid Style, which had the teaser images of Starscream with his crown and THAT looked like a Starscream. What we ended up with was a completely different product.

Plus Greenscream was a super thin piece...