Prototype Masterpiece Inferno

[Magnus]

Looks pretty good so far. I'm wondering if, like Shockwave, TakaraTOMY will include the option of a right hand.

I'm also wondering about height - to keep 'scale' with the other cars released thus far, I would imagine in robot mode Inferno would rival Optimus Prime, possibly even being a bit taller taking the top of his head into account.

At first glance, he looked a little thick... but comparing with the cartoon, he pretty much looks spot on except thankfully better in waist design. Compared to his "competition", takes almost no liberties with the source material...
Which is personally to my taste Makes you wonder if the reason TT has doubled down on cartoon accuracy is because the others are taking more inspiration from the toys? He is fairly clearly differentiated from the others. Seems his ladder is quite well collapsed too!

I thought that getting as close to screen accuracy as possible was the point of the MP series, so this simpler design would be in keeping with that objective. Then again, I have no interest in third party products, so I have no idea how far ahead they are or if TakaraTOMY has seen their design choices and taken those into account.

The head sculpt seems to be G1 toy accurate, rather than toon accurate...

As kurdt pointed out, there are occasions when the toy-accurate head was seen on-screen, so maybe it depended on who was drawing Inferno at the time. Still, I wonder if there might even be two different faces once the official colour photos are released, like the ones on MP Bumblebee.

[Other]

Maybe they went with the toy head so they could go animation head with Grapple and make the two more distinct? They might be thinking the two would be a bit too similar if they gave them both the same head

[Jetfire in the sky]

I'm also wondering about height - to keep 'scale' with the other cars released thus far, I would imagine in robot mode Inferno would rival Optimus Prime, possibly even being a bit taller taking the top of his head into account.

I'm thinking he will be in a similar, if not the same sized box as Ironhide and possible a little taller.
This is such a great release but for me Grapple as a figure with a colour that will really add some pop to the shelf amongst all the red and white of the Autobots will be very exciting.

Bravo Takara Tomy once more.

[Ralph Wiggum]

He looks as good as I'd hoped, though to be brutally blunt it was never going to be that hard to make Inferno work as his G1 toy was pretty close to spot on anyway. I'm more interested in articulation and whether there will be much partsforming.

[Troubled Autobot]

Will this mean we'll get an Artfire MP??

[MayzaPrime]

Will this mean we'll get an Artfire MP??

I would expect an Artfire and Roadhauler repaint

[Jazzman]

I would expect an Artfire and Roadhauler repaint

A fluro green Roadhauler would be nice...

[Jazzman]

As kurdt pointed out, there are occasions when the toy-accurate head was seen on-screen, so maybe it depended on who was drawing Inferno at the time. Still, I wonder if there might even be two different faces once the official colour photos are released, like the ones on MP Bumblebee.

My money is on the release having two faces.

[Lord_Zed]

Inferno is looking oh so cartoony, much like Ironhide and Shockwave. I like it, but also miss when MP's had all sort of cool details.

Looks great.
I'm now a little concerned that the current Masterpiece has gone from a mixed cartoon/toy aesthetics to the recent "plain cartoon accurate" trend, where big chunks of surfaces are left with very little sculpted detail. I actually really like this new aesthetic but if you stand MP Prime next to Shockwave, they don't quite look like they belong together

I think they work ok together, but there is definitely a style shift, while it seems some of the 3rd parties have continued on with the old MP style. If the cartoon accurate trend continues I wonder if we'll see a new official MP Prime in a few years that is more toon like? Tahtom just love to releases and re-release Convoy so I wouldn't put it past them.

Makes you wonder if the reason TT has doubled down on cartoon accuracy is because the others are taking more inspiration from the toys? He is fairly clearly differentiated from the others. Seems his ladder is quite well collapsed too!

I've been wondering that too, if there's one thing they should be able to do it's belt out as accurate as possible renditions of their characters. It does mean I may end up with multiple MP's of one chracter beyond Optimus and Rodimus though as I tend to like both toon and toy aspects. Take the recent MP Shockwave, I have him and Quakeblast. Shockwave is the better toy and MP G1 Shockwave, while Quakeblast is the better collectible and all round MP Shockwave. I don't think I'll part with either.

[drifand]

I recon the MP line had no proper defination, no proper standard on what is supposed to be. While I respect G1 Toy looks, people do need to let it go and let it based on what the cartoon is as there are lots of mistakes in a G1 toy and colours. But thats me. Everytime a mp releases we get colour complains and is basically people are comparing to the G1 toy or screen accuracy.

Part of me, feels happy that I am not overly concern how MP inferno is as is not a vital piece in my collection. However, I am buying it just in case I miss the chance of owning a good mp.