Point of diminishing returns on Masterpiece

[GoktimusPrime]

Trev: I know what you mean about Dinobot being a real mess of a toy, but I think a lot of it was inevitable considering the source materials that they're working from. It's just a nightmare concept trying to make a slavishly cartoon-accurate Dinobot toy. They could do better, but then the toy would be even dearer than it already is. I suspect that this is about as good as it gets at its already really expensive price point. :/ I have zero interest in getting this toy either way so it's a moot issue for me.

Soundwave highlights one of my big disappointments with the MP version. The batteries on the original were an awesomely innovative method of weapon storage and the failure to copy it was notable.

A fair point, and I would agree with what you say about the lack of weapons becoming batteries. Another weird point is the scale of the cassettes to the player. Although MP Soundwave is much larger than G1 Soundwave, the size of his cassette storage is the same width and height. Which is great because it means that G1 cassettes can fit inside MP Soundwave (just today I was showing a friend how my G1 Ratbat can fit inside MP Soundwave). But the downside is that in cassette player mode, the door looks way too small. But I can easily forgive it because I think that the cross-compatibility between the MP and G1 Cassettes is damn awesome. Like how MP Frumble's piledriver arms can fit on G1 Frumble's arms.

Is that enough? Probably. But not now. At the moment they are too close to the originals in quality. But in 10 years time toy design will have moved further on and the relevant children will be of an age where they want their old toys but with that premium collector's feel.

Yep, I can totally understand that too. I have no objection towards TakaraTOMY making post-G2 toys as MPs or CHUGs. I think it's great. But it just doesn't personally interest me, and I'll admit that a large part of it is because those lines weren't part of my childhood. G1 was my childhood. But that doesn't mean that I have anything against TakTOM making MP or CHUG toys of BW, Armada, Bayformers etc. I'm not going to be one of those party poopers who demands that HasTak only make toys that I'm interested in regardless of what the rest of the fandom may like.

I don't want to dwell on the point, but maybe "quadruple the price" isn't that fair though. I guess you're remembering from childhood or you found the original Ultra's AU price? But 3 years ago they re-released it for 6500Y, which puts it around half as expensive as MP Beast Convoy at 12000Y. That's a fairer comparison I think.

Fair point. I didn't think about adjusting for inflation while posting at 12:32am. #meaculpa
But yeah, that reissue price is also similar to our local RRP for more recent Ultra Class toys which would be $70. And yes, that would indeed be about half the price of MP Beast Convoy.

It's kind of hard to see most of Animated or Prime benefiting much from a Masterpiece treatment. Apart from maybe Lugnut or Knockout.

Maybe not MP but some of them might benefit from CHUG(esque) upgrades. Take TF2010 Lugnut and Lockdown for example. A massive improvements over the originals, and since both are the same size/price point as their originals we can make an easy direct comparison in terms of budget, price and value for money. Bumblebee and Optimus Prime are others that could benefit from better toys IMHO, but yeah, most Animated toys were pretty well made.

About the only 'really good' toy I would like to see an MP of is G2 Laser Prime/Black Convoy/RiD Scourge. The toy still holds up just fine, but it's such a nice, solid design with good play- and display options that I reckon it could make for a good Masterpiece as well.

I reckon those toys would end up being like MP Soundwave, Shockwave etc. -- they'd be nice, but in relative terms about on par with their originals. IMO Laser Optimus Prime remained the uncontested best Optimus Prime toy ever made until 2007... that's a good 12 year reign as the #1 OP toy.