Has the Masterpiece line come to an end?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

With Megatron (v2.0) just released this month & confirmed future releases of Artfire (in May), Dirge (May), Optimus Primal (June); there does not appear to be any more confirmed releases beyond June*. So, has the Masterpiece line taken a hiatus or done the unthinkable by coming to an end? Meaning no Jazz, no Hound, no Astrotrain, no Blitzwing to name a few.

* Beast Wars Dinobot is not confirmed???

No. Just because we don't know of any releases naturally doesn't mean the line has ended. MP01 had a big break between him and MP02. and the lines been going for 13 years.

[GoktimusPrime]

Hold up, hold up... lemme redo some stats here, cos looking back at my old stats even I'm not entirely sure about some of those numbers. And this would be because there are different ways to count MPs cos counting toys is incredibly subjective blah blah blah, don't wanna bring up a toy counting controversy again but basically I've forgotten how I counted for the old table that I made.

So I've done a recount and I'll explain how it was done too. First, here are all the MPs released by Takara(TOMY) according to all base-number releases★. This means that I'm counting MP1 all the way to MP38, but I am not including non-base numbered releases like MP1B, MP11S, MP12G etc. - just for the sake of simplicity I'm just not counting them for this survey. Sorry, Coneheads. Also, I've counted each cassette character separately, so MP13 counts as 2 (Soundwave & Laserbeak) etc. If you don't agree with me counting the Cassettes separately, then just adjust 2013's count from 9 down to 6.
So anyway, this is what I got...


Now for the benefit of fans like Ralph Wiggum, I then took these MPs and removed all toys that are not original G1 characters. BW MPs gone and all "Neo G1" characters like Exhaust, Road Rage etc. were removed. Again, if you don't want to count the Cassettes separately then 2013's count is 6 not 9. I also excluded variants of the same character & mould, hence why 2006 dropped down to 1 as I discounted MP4.
This is what I got...


Even with these parameters in place we can see that the number of MPs released by TakaraTOMY post-2012 still outnumber those released up to 2011. When we look at all numbered release, the lowest point from 2012-17 is still higher than the highest point in 2004-11, and even if we restrict it to just Original G1 characters, the lowest point in 2015 still matches the peak that pre-2012 MPs hit in 2007 & 2011.

Yeah, quite frankly it really feels like we're being quite spoiled with MPs right now. I don't see how this reflects the line being in any form of decline.

★ How I counted MPs. MPs discounted from in the second count denoted in blue.
2004 = MP1(1)
2005 = MP2(1)
2006 = MP3(1) MP4(1)
2007 = MP5(1) MP6(1)
2008 = MP7(1)
2009 = MP8(1)
2010 = (0)
2011 = MP9(1) MP10(1)
2012 = MP11(1) MP12(1) MP14(1)
2013 = MP13(2) MP15(2) MP16(2) MP17(1) MP18(1) MP19(1)
2014 = MP20(1) MP21(1) MP22(1)
2015 = MP23(1) MP24(1) MP25(1) MP26(1)
2016 = MP27(1) MP28(1) MP29(1) MP30(1) MP31(1) MP32(1) MP33(1)
2017 = MP34(1) MP35(1) MP36(1) MP37(1) MP38(1)

I don't see the harm in TakaraTOMY releasing non-original G1 MPs. G1 fans are still getting a good number of original G1 MPs. Let other TF fans have their fun too. The total number of numbered non-G1 MPs is just 5 out of a total of 38 numbered MP releases. This means that 36/41 or 88% numbered MPs released by TakaraTOMY are G1. Or if you don't want to count the Cassettes separately then it's 33/38 or 87%. The overwhelming majority of MPs are G1 and the number of G1-only MPs being released is still higher than it was when MPs was exclusively G1 [2004-2014]).

[Megatran]

^ Fancy graphs 'n stuff are great but it doesn't address the topic in question. It's backward looking whereas my question was more of forward perspective. Though it's good info on past topics on this forum pertaining to frequency & quantity of Masterpiece releases.

No. Just because we don't know of any releases naturally doesn't mean the line has ended. MP01 had a big break between him and MP02. and the lines been going for 13 years.

That's true but also interesting Tets. The JP Encore series had it's latest release being #23 Fort Max back in 2013. There has been no official confirmation that I'm aware that this line has come to an end. My opinion is the Encore line has ceased. Would like to get your thoughts?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

That's true but also interesting Tets. The JP Encore series had it's latest release being #23 Fort Max back in 2013. There has been no official confirmation that I'm aware that this line has come to an end. My opinion is the Encore line has ceased. Would like to get your thoughts?

Valid point there. On one hand we could say the Encore line has finished, but they did reissue Trypticon. So while the Encore line may have finished, they still consider reissuing older toys. I don't care about the name of the line as they change all the time, so the line finishing is a moot point.

long story short. I don't care about lines or the names they've given, just as long as the toys keep coming in some form or another

[griffin]

^ Fancy graphs 'n stuff are great but it doesn't address the topic in question. It's backward looking whereas my question was more of forward perspective. Though it's good info on past topics on this forum pertaining to frequency & quantity of Masterpiece releases.

I think the point Megatran is trying to make is that we get quite lengthy periods of time between the first reveals or announcements, to the release date of the Masterpiece toy... particularly for new moulds.
As such, we often have several new moulds known at any one time, during that lengthy period... and since we haven't had anything other than Dinobot currently known, it is unusual - but not enough to get worried about just yet.

It is also worth noting that in the last three years, there has been a 7-8 month gap between new moulds during the middle of the year.
In 2016 we didn't have a new mould from March (Shockwave) to October (Beast Convoy).
In 2015 we didn't have a new mould from March (Star Saber) to November (Tracks).
In 2014 we didn't have a new mould from March (Ratbat) to September (Wheeljack).
And so far for 2017, we had Megatron in April, but with only Dinobot being the only new mould known, and not likely to be out before the end of the year (due to no images yet), we aren't likely to have any new moulds before October, but if there is, it needs to be revealed very soon. (the shortest period between reveal and release for a new mould is 5 months, for Hot Rodimus)

Some stats for those loving all the graphs...

From 2014 to 2017 - there were 35 JP & HK Masterpiece toys that were not reissues, or released by other businesses (BAPE). It also doesn't include Dinobot, because the release date is not yet known.

2014 - 8 (3 new moulds, 2 modified moulds, 3 redecos)
2015 - 9 (2 new, 2 modified, 5 redecos)
2016 - 12 (5 new, 2, modified, 5 redecos)
2017 - 6 to June (2 new, 2 modified, 2 redecos)

(so far, 2017 is keeping up with the recent prolific rate, and only needs two more for the last 6 months to equal the previous movie year of 2014)

Period of time between first announcement/reveal to release...
New mould (12 toys) - 8.6 months
Modified mould (8 toys) - 6.5 months
Redeco (15 toys) - 4.4 months

Going by the averages, the odds that another new mould will come out in 2017, is getting very remote now (with just 8 months left in the year)... while a modified mould is also getting less and less likely too.
My guess is that for the rest of 2017, we will see 1 or 2 modified moulds and maybe 3 redecos... with Dinobot coming out in early 2018 (because we haven't even seen a grey-scale prototype yet).


The raw numbers for all of the number stats above can be posted up if requested. I just didn't want to pad out this post... and it would have taken me a lot longer to post this.

[kurdt_the_goat]

While they might not be numbered as such to appear in the regular Masterpiece line, i'd wager the Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee (together with the rumoured Barricade and Optimus Prime) are developed by the same team that's responsible for the G1/Beast Wars MPs. I'd almost bet they're planning on releasing Bumblebee in July after the Beast Convoy redeco, and probably the other 2 in quick succession to capitalize on The Last Knight's release. If you count those, then we're looking at 5 new moulds for the year.

But I also think it's very likely this month's hobby magazines will reveal Dinobot in full for a release by the end of the year, making it 6. Since Delta Magnus last August, the longest we've gone without a regular release has been 2 months, and that's not counting MP14+ Alert as well as Loudpedal and Thrust in that period. Now that I think about it, it's kind of surprising there hasn't been any hint at more "+" releases, which makes me wonder if Alert didn't sell to expectations? That said, I think the line is the healthiest it's ever been, with more varied sizes and characters pulled from several eras.

[GoktimusPrime]

long story short. I don't care about lines or the names they've given, just as long as the toys keep coming in some form or another

[kurdt_the_goat]

long story short. I don't care about lines or the names they've given, just as long as the toys keep coming in some form or another

Has any TF line ever really ended with all the re-releasing they do?

[CHILENO20]

Was going to say Beast Machines but there was a Generations Tankor

[GoktimusPrime]

For me it never ends.