Takara Masterpiece MP-26 Road Rage

[Other]

Road Rage has a new head, upper arms, upper, legs, pelvis, a new weapon and likely some additional new accessories in place of Raoul and Blaster if current trends continue. Hardly just a 'mere redeco'

[UltraMarginal]

Seems to have Track's proper gun too.

I thought that was the case, I was surprised that none of the international sites have mentioned it in their news posts (at least what I've read so far)

Maybe I'm missing something but weren't MP12/14 and MP17/18/19 basically the same molds, respectively? I don't think this is anything new. But I'm a newbie with 21st century transformers...

You are completely right, I think the delineator here is actual G1 characters Vs. a EHobby character that has been created to homage an original pre-transformers colour version of a toy, ie, Tiger Track, Blue bluestreak and infamously Exhaust.

I don't have a particular affinity to Road Rage, and unlike Exhaust the character doesn't represent a darker history of motor sports and promotional advertising that bled over to toy manufacture. I am a bit disappointed that Tracks doesn't have this gun, it's clearly an effort by Takara to make the Road Rage model more appealing to a wider audience. The mould changes that people have pointed out, legs and crotch in particular will go a long way to feminising the robot mode. quite well done I think.

[millhouse]

I am a bit disappointed that Tracks doesn't have this gun, it's clearly an effort by Takara to make the Road Rage model more appealing to a wider audience.

Isn't the MP line designed to be more and more animation accurate rather than G1 toy accurate? Just saying that personally, I'd rather a Raoul figure and a small Blaster than a gun from a toy I never owned, particularly when collecting figures based on the cartoon.

That said, interesting that Exhaust came with not only the two shoulder missiles that can make a MP Wheeljack toy accurate, but he also came with the immobilizer of Wheeljack's too...

[janda the red]

I think she looks pretty cool... I can't wait to see a coloured prototype.

pre ordered as soon as it shows up!

[griffin]

You are completely right, I think the delineator here is actual G1 characters Vs. a EHobby character that has been created to homage an original pre-transformers colour version of a toy, ie, Tiger Track, Blue bluestreak and infamously Exhaust.

That's pretty much it... in other words, it is not just a case of "gee-wun fanboy" hating on anything that isn't pure.

The Masterpiece line was/is for the "best of the best", "premium" homages to the original series of "Transformers" toys (with an acceptably small amount of redecos to help pay for the moulds), and yet two of the small number of MP numbers has now gone to characters that were not even original Transformers characters. As a Masterpiece collector from the beginning, I felt the same way about MP-2 Ultra Magnus when it was revealed and released, but half accepted it because at least that was part of the original Ultra Magnus toy.
Up until Exhaust, it was pretty consistent with not giving new numbers to "new" characters (like Sunstorm, Tigertrack), as well as character redecos (like Black Convoy, Black Rodimus, Gen2 Sideswipe, Soundblaster, Ghost Starscream, Dead Convoy, Gold Bumblebee, Silverstreak, Bluestreak).
But now the rule seems to have changed to just be character redecos only getting extensions to MP numbers.
I guess once they hit 20, the concept didn't seem so limited or premium anymore to worry about how many numbers they go through in a year.

[MayzaPrime]

I guess once they hit 20, the concept didn't seem so limited or premium anymore to worry about how many numbers they go through in a year.

I tend to agree...

It might have been differenet had they restarted from MP-10

[millhouse]

The Masterpiece line was/is for the "best of the best", "premium" homages to the original series of "Transformers" toys (with an acceptably small amount of redecos to help pay for the moulds)

And therein lies the rub. If you want unique moulds like Wheeljack or Tracks (neither of which had a G2 variant, IIRC), then what are the options?

A more animation accurate (read: less deco'd) Wheeljack with an extra two of Exhaust's shoulder missile launchers?

I'd rather have Exhaust and Road Rage released (where I can choose to buy them or not) than not have Wheeljack or Tracks given the MP treatment.

[Lord_Zed]

I quite like what I see, and it's an inevitable part of Hasbro and TakTom's business strategy.

And therein lies the rub. If you want unique moulds like Wheeljack or Tracks (neither of which had a G2 variant, IIRC), then what are the options?

A more animation accurate (read: less deco'd) Wheeljack with an extra two of Exhaust's shoulder missile launchers?

I'd rather have Exhaust and Road Rage released (where I can choose to buy them or not) than not have Wheeljack or Tracks given the MP treatment.

Ditto, since MP10 we've gotten a bunch of new molds, they may not have given repaints their own number prior to this, but the Original MP line may as well have been called The Convoy and Seeker series + a few friends.

So with all this fancy remolding, I'm still surprised they can't give us Coneheads just to add to the endless MP Seeker variants.

[Bidoofdude]

So if Road Rage is MP-26, it will be a regular release, instead of a limited version?

[griffin]

Looks like Road Rage will be out in October.

So if Road Rage is MP-26, it will be a regular release, instead of a limited version?

As long as no cigarette companies have a problem, it should be regular release.