MP-07 is Grimlock!?

[Lord_Zed]

Thanks for the welcome, not that I went far, just had nothing to contribute. As the sort of Transfan who's enthusiasm will wax and wane, it's a bit of a dry spell for me at the moment. There's been no big exciting new TF developments since the movie and movie line, so (just about any) new Masterpiece or new classics would really hit the spot.

you're all elitists! sure the MPs after Prime weren't the best toys to ever come out, but sheesh, most other toy lines have moved on to bigger and better things. im greatful we get ANYTHING G1 related AT ALL. it was like 20 years ago people..

Not me I like the whole masterpiece line, I commend Takara for having the guts to release such I highend collector aimed line, sure it ain't perfect but the're trying.

[1orion2many]

I personally don't have any complaints against the MP line but then again all my MP's are still in stasis lock in thier boxes.

[kup]

I personally like the MP line too. MP-01 is still above the rest but I enjoyed MP Megatron despite it being more plastic than metal. I have transformed him several times and nothing has ever broken.

MP Magnus was a bit on the 'shameless repaint' side since he had not trailer armor but I dont mind it so much since the white and blues look good on him.

MP Skywarp is an excellent toy that shows that Takara can learn from past mistakes.

The only toy that I have real issues with in the MP line is Greenscream for its fragile plastic and colors and attempt to make him look less G1 and more Kawamori. He just sucked.

However there has been a redemption of sorts with Hasbro's MP Starscream as the colors of that toy are great and the plastic durable enough to remove the awful hip fins and attach them to his legs for a more G1 look and feel. He is also durable enough to Transform several times and even play with. It has grown to be my favorite Starscream representaion yet. Hasbro's release of the MP Starscream mold has kind of neutralize the only real negative that I had agains that line.

I look forward to Thundercracker, the remote possibility of coneheads and if the rumor is true, I am stoked over an MP Grimlock, that would rock!
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FFM COMPILATION

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I think an MP Grimbo would be cool. Whenever I did the survey card for the MPs, I always put down Grimbo as then one I wanted next (well, after we got Megatron anyway.

I am wary though, because Greenscreem was done by a different guy and he added all sorts of extra un-wanted shenanigans like the Radar dome in the nose (WTH?!) and he also did the Hybrid G1 COnvoy as well and that was a little wierd. No doubt I will pre-order one if it shows up, but I will cancel it if its too wierd.

[Tober]

That guy was Shoji Kawamori. Responsible for the iconic Macross Valkyries and thus Jetfire. He was also on the Diaclone design team and designed the seeker mold as well as the Mazda mold and contributed to Convoy as well. He was working at Studio Nue at the time so it is possible he had a hand in the dinobots, insecticons and Devastator as well. Whirl and Roadbuster from Dvorak are credited to him.

I agree that MP Starscream is a strange mold (and color) for Transformers. I'm not sure why Takara bought him in the modify the origional design into something more Macross-like. As for THS-02, he wanted something that represented C/OP well in robot mode and sacrificed the alt mode to achieve this - sorta the opposite or the origional C/OP from Diaclone.

[Robzy]

I'm another one who loves the whole MP line so far. I really hope it continues for a long time (Soundwave/Shockwave would be awesome).

My only complaints are with the repaint of Prime as Ultra Magnus , and Megatron's flimsy and fragile make... Yet I still think it's one of the best Megatrons ever made!

[GoktimusPrime]

Kawamori is a very good mecha designer, as seen in Macross, Ghost In The Shell (movie) and other stuff he's done... but he's not very good as a chief Transformer designer. Yes, he was on the design team for the Diaclone Car Robots, but he wasn't the head designer, Ono Koujin was. Kawamori on the other hand was the head designer for Masterpiece Starscream and Hybrid Series Convoy with dubious results for Transfans. :/

The Macross Frontier Valkyries look sweet as - so he definitely still has incredible skills as a mecha designer... I just don't think that he's all that good as a Transformer designer. :/

Macross Frontier Valkyries...

"Ozma Lee" (Skull Squadron) VF-25 Fighter Mode


"Ozma Lee" (Skull Squadron) VF-25 Battroid mode


"Alto Saotome" VF-25 Gerwalk mode

[Tober]

I think his work in Macross shows that he is maybe running out of ideas when it comes to developing Valkyries. The VF-25 looks like .Valkyrie Remix' - Mostly a VF-0S mixed with the SV-51 and some YF-19 as well. It is possiby his most refined Valk to date tho and a beautiful design. Shame that Yamato won't be releasing a toy version initially tho. Hopefully Bandai will come through.

I think his recent work on KISS-DUM is a better testement to his mecha skills. Other recent series of note are Aquarion, Eureka 7 and Armoured Core (game).

I'm not sure how much blame you can attribute to Kawamori for the changes to MP-3 (sans color). TAKARA had a prefectly good mold ready to go and then they bought him in... why? He didn't just kick in their doors and demand that changes be made - he was hired to MAKE changes because there must have been changes that TAKARA wanted made. They must have given him some sort of re-design brief.

My personal theory is that the design for starscream was a part of the Decepticon BINALTECH series that TAKARA was exploring. BINALTECH was cancelled and so the Starscream design was bought into the MP line instead because work had already been done on it to extent of being production ready. MP-3 really looks like a modern update of the F-15 that is asthetically more reminiscent of the BINALTECH series as far as the Japanese Samurai armour goes.

[kup]

True, the blame for Greenscream is squarely Takara's fault not Kawamori. After reading the history of it, that much is clear.

Takara basically hired the wrong man for the job, Kawamori may be skilled and revered for his Transforming mecha designs but his style simply does not generally suit Transformers. Takara basically wanted to have some sort of cooperation with Kawamori due to his 'celebrity' status in the Japanese geek world and unfortunately they gave him the completed MP Starscream mold and asked him to do as he wished to improve it. Kawamori did just that, he incorporated his own style on the existing mold without keeping Transformers or the character of Starscream in mind. By his own account he mentions that he wanted to do thing like give the figure a 'Samurai' look and that sort of thing which is more in line with the look of his own designs rather than the Starscream character.

As Gok mentioned earlier, chances are because Takara gave Kawamori the freedom to do as he wished with the mold and his 'celebrity' status, they could not deny his 'improvements' without offending him and his millions of fans. So they just had to go with it.
To his credit however, he did improve the Plane mode considerably and his changes there did not directly affect the 'Starscream' look of the alt mode. His mistake was actually changing the tail fins of the plane by attaching them to his hip instead of his legs. That change with the tail fins attached to the hips were not necessary to the improvements made on the the alt mode but he did it anyway and it severely handicaps the figure's articulation and contributes to taking away the Classic Starscream Seeker look. He could have left them on the legs but he wanted that 'Samurai' look so he attached the tail fin assembly to his hip to resemble swords. Of course the next thing and the one with the most impact were the colors and plastic used. Kawamori is mostly a transforming mecha model designer, not a toy designer. His target audience are mainly collectors and adults who would not normally play with the toy, so he went for what he perceived as appropriate plastic for the mold which is generaly good for model kits but terrible for Transformers. He also attempted some form of realism with the colors and therefore went for the seaweed green (dont ask) and dark magenta like chest, again he went for his own style forgetting or not knowing that this toy is supposed to represent the character of Starscream.

Takara should have given Kawamori strict guidelines in which to make his improvements but instead gave him the freedom to modify the mold as he pleased. Basically they hired the wrong man for the job.

The facts above were actually taken from Kawamori's interview on MP Starcream, so they come straight from the source.
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Silver surfer vaporizer

[Lord_Zed]

I think Kup summed it up pretty well, Kawamori made changes to Starscream inkepping with the sort of designs he creates, Sleek, semi-realistic. Generaly speaking the stlye of G1 is beefy and block like so having someone who designs lithe mecha with long flowin fins and the like is obviously going to be moving away from G1. I happen to like the original MP starscream because he is a Kawamori interpretation for Starscream, but I do agree that he is divergent from Prime who is basicaly a recreation of G1 cartoon prime.

I think his work in Macross shows that he is maybe running out of ideas when it comes to developing Valkyries. The VF-25 looks like .Valkyrie Remix' - Mostly a VF-0S mixed with the SV-51 and some YF-19 as well. It is possiby his most refined Valk to date tho and a beautiful design.

I think a lot of artists when they get older get stuck in there ways, and tend not to try anything as revolutionary as they did in thier youth. so all Kawamoris new Valkyries seem quite similar, also working in 3D has forced him to abandon the cartoony changes in proportion common in his older valkyrie designs. (the VF1's wings and nose cone, and the YF 19's legs are a good example of significant changes in proportion)