Things you never realised about Transformers (toys etc)

[GoktimusPrime]

Well, now we know why MP Hound has Super-GPS*. HasTak's factory in Vietnam used an inferior grade of plastic.

The other one is super obvious which I'm sure everyone already knows, but the reason why MPs are getting so expensive is because of the overwhelming demand from fans for slavish screen accuracy, which in turn increases the number of parts that must be manufactured. I cannot imagine how this news could possibly come as a surprise to anyone. So long as people pine for "kartoon akkurasee" then toys will become more complex and expensive. So long as the majority demand greater "sHoW AkKuRaSseY" then that's what TakaraTOMY will cater for. I personally don't care either way, and as many of you know, I actually prefer toy-accuracy (since the toys usually came first).


G1 Ironhide is not inaccurate to the cartoon, the cartoon is inaccurate to the toy.

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*Super Green Plastic Syndrome. Unlike standard gold/brown/blue plastic syndrome which takes years or decades to manifest, SGPS manifests only days or weeks after receiving MP Hound.
https://news.tfw2005.com/2020/02/09/...e-event-404884

[Bidoofdude]

Well, now we know why MP Hound has Super-GPS*. HasTak's factory in Vietnam used an inferior grade of plastic.

The other one is super obvious which I'm sure everyone already knows, but the reason why MPs are getting so expensive is because of the overwhelming demand from fans for slavish screen accuracy, which in turn increases the number of parts that must be manufactured. I cannot imagine how this news could possibly come as a surprise to anyone. So long as people pine for "kartoon akkurasee" then toys will become more complex and expensive. So long as the majority demand greater "sHoW AkKuRaSseY" then that's what TakaraTOMY will cater for. I personally don't care either way, and as many of you know, I actually prefer toy-accuracy (since the toys usually came first).


G1 Ironhide is not inaccurate to the cartoon, the cartoon is inaccurate to the toy.

------------------------------------------------------------------
*Super Green Plastic Syndrome. Unlike standard gold/brown/blue plastic syndrome which takes years or decades to manifest, SGPS manifests only days or weeks after receiving MP Hound.
https://news.tfw2005.com/2020/02/09/...e-event-404884

Technically the G1 toy is already a 100% toy accurate figure, you could not possibly get any closer. The reason MPs exist in the first place is because the cartoon models didn't previously have accurate figures, which themselves were already refined a lot from the toy designs, to a point where they're mostly not comparable beyond the time they came out. Homages are good like the toy-accurate MP-36, but they shouldn't be a substitute for the base figure, which was made for a clear purpose that is easy to understand.

[GoktimusPrime]

Homages are good like the toy-accurate MP-36, but they shouldn't be a substitute for the base figure, which was made for a clear purpose that is easy to understand.

↑This so much. What I love about CHUG and earlier MPs is how they were more focused on homaging the G1 cartoon aesthetics and design features rather than just trying to exactly emulate them. Homaging>fidelity.

But it is true that fans do keep on pining more and more for "show accuracy." Even before the internet existed. I remember even in the 80s listening to people talk about how they wanted their toys to look more like the cartoon. My G1 Trailbreaker and Skydasher, which I obtained second hand, had their eyes painted blue by their original owner (why Powerdasher? He never even appeared in the 'toon!). And one thing that Action Masters did was start introducing cartoon biases into the toys (e.g. Bumblebee's head etc.).

Granted that I haven't filled out a TakaraTOMY survey since 2017 (thank you, geoblocking), but the last time I checked Q14 asked why you like the toy, with one of the options being "G1 accuracy."

Q14 - Why did you buy this toy? (you may select more than one choice)
○ I like Transformers
○ It is the best line out of all TFs
○ G1 accuracy
○ The high level of design
○ I like the character
○ The transformation is intuitive and challenging
○ High level of poseability
○ I had the original as a child
○ I am collecting the series
○ I want to display this toy
○ I want to recreate battle scenes with this toy
○ Fun to transform and play with
○ My friends also have this toy
○ Other

But the big indicator would be sales. How many people here started collecting MPs before or after their shift towards slavish screen accuracy (around 2015/16) vs those who started collecting before then? How many of us have proportionately more pre-2015 MPs vs post-2015 MPs, and to be fair, proportionate to the number of MPs produced in those periods? And the fact that TakaraTOMY are now pumping out more MPs than they did before indicates that the line has been a strong seller.

At the end of the day we all vote with our wallets. If people want to get an MP but circumvent the "vote," then just get the toys second hand. That way you're not adding money into TakaraTOMY's pockets -- that vote was already cast by the toy's original owner. Plus getting MPs LMIB even a few months after its release date is significantly cheaper (as Japanese fans prize sealed mintiness). Often these toys will have been opened but rarely handled if at all -- they're really loose mint. It's just that the sticky tape's been broken.

[GoktimusPrime]

On King Cheats, the 2 of Spades is red and the 5 of Diamonds is black (blue).

[reillyd]

Well I had been thinking of ordering myself a hound (to go with Ravage, and I have a 3D printed cage to keep him in too!), but hasn't been following the QC issues. If the toy is breaking down days or weeks after opening then I'll have to hold off. Is it all of them, or isolated cases?

[GoktimusPrime]

Is it all of them, or isolated cases?

Isolated cases, but a fair number of them. I've stopped transforming my MP Hound after the cases became more prevalent. I now keep him permanently displayed in robot mode (with my BT Hound displayed in Jeep mode). Basically it's like the worst case of Brittle Plastic Syndrome ever, because even Gold Plastic Syndrome takes years if not decades to manifest, whereas Hound's Green Plastic Syndrome is showing up only weeks after opening in the hands of careful adult collectors.

But yeah, I treat my MP Hound as I do with other toys w/ BPS. He's more of an overglorified Action Master. The last known BPS toy that I tried super-carefully transforming was Chewbacca (the rear half of the Millennium Falcon TF)... and yeah, broke the arm off (which I've since super-glued back on and now he and Han Solo are permanently displayed in Corellian cruiser mode - but even then, this was a good 13 years after I'd bought the toy!).

[Seraphim Prime]

This is not so much a thing I never noticed as much as a thing I have new appreciation of.

I just wanted to point out that the designing of the Transformers figures since Combiner Wars has been amazing - providing figures that fit well with the line before and the line after.

Combiner War really is a great bridge between the old CHUG line and the newer lines and could really fit either way.

[Jetfire in the sky]

TFTM (Cartoon) used Fist of the North Star animation. How good were the 80's!

This has probably been posted already

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, when I visited the Toei Movie Village in Kyoto, there was an anime timeline on a wall showing all the anime series that they made, which included Fist of the North Star. More importantly, it also included Transformers but the timeline only showed the Transformers series made exclusively by Toei and did not include stuff made in collaboration with Sunbow. So it only showed stuff from The☆Headmasters to Zone. I guess they only wanted to display things produced by Toei. <shrugs>

[GoktimusPrime]

Not only "Scrapper" and "Mixmaster," but the card art of all of the Late G1 Constructicons are entirely different works of art from the Early G1 Constructicons - many of them being emulations but not exact duplicates of their Early G1 art. Whereas the G2 Constructicons' card art are all just recolours of their Early G1 art.
Big Horn

Desmond

Evicerater

Heavy Lode

Hooks

Ventus Lamina