Masterpieces - are we spoiled?

[Raider]

Yay for math! I think the point was simply to show that the numbers as posted on the wiki aren't a true reflection. Yeah if we use averages of course it's a contrast. If we reduced it to looking at the last 2 years for unique G1 MPs then it is only 1.5. From those 3 in 2019, as was pointed out, only 1 was a new character. So we have 1 new character only in 2 years.

Yes there has been a lot across all areas and many repaints. It is not just a matter of quantity.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

So, getting back to the original question/thread title, My Two Cents is...

No, Not Really.

MPs are high-end collectibles. Having high expectations for them is entirely reasonable compared to 15-odd-years-ago mainline releases. And a lot of the grievances leveled against contemporary MPs are legitimate. A $150+ toy really shouldn't break out of the box.

That said, Transformers fans are often pretty much the definition of an Unpleasant Fanbase. So there's that. But adjusting your expectations to the standard of the line in question is entirely reasonable, and MPs have gotten pretty pricey in recent years.



I'm totally waiting on official MP Insecticons btw. And Blaster plus cassettes, and Cyclonus, and Scourge. Plus a red redeco of MP Sunstreaker, and a few more besides. But I can wait - I'm pretty sure they'll come eventually.

[Raider]

I'm totally waiting on official MP Insecticons btw. And Blaster plus cassettes, and Cyclonus, and Scourge. Plus a red redeco of MP Sunstreaker, and a few more besides. But I can wait - I'm pretty sure they'll come eventually.

But I want them all now! And reasonably priced! And perfect representations in bot and alt mode!

Completely agree with your post. Blaster and the cassettes to square off against Soundwave would be awesome.

[danny-boy]

I think the G1 aspect of the line slowly dying out. They?ll release a new version of Soundwave and Starscream, but beyond that, maybe a Hoist/Trailbreaker. They?ll do Mirage, Jazz, and Cliffjumper if they can get the rights. Sideswipe might get a new mould. The Raiden Project will wipe out an entire years schedule if released separately.

I hope I?m wrong but there?s nothing on the horizon except a repaint mid year.

[Jellico]

To be really blunt. What do the Japanese like? That seems to be the core concern for any MP released. And to be blunter they seem to like good guy leaders. I mean, lion Prime came out of nowhere. Rodimus, Magnus, and Star Sabre are all somewhat orphans. The cynic in me suggests looking at every Prime in the line.


Raiden scares the heck out of me. A big expensive combiner Japan only when they couldn't even MP Devastator. The main positive is some cross promotion with Japan Rail? At least it isn't a Japanese fashion company. What does that say about the future of the MP line?

[Sinnertwin]

I suspect the Insecticons (which, let's face it got almost no characterisation) would not sell all that well due to the less realistic alt modes. Lots of kids loved Hound or Smokescreen because they were recogniseable cars. Even if neither really got the same level of characterisation as say Bumblebee or Grimlock. Similarly, the Dinobots aside from Grimlock & Swoop got little characterisation. Grimlock is the Dinobot everyone remembers.

As for a lack of Decepticons, I'm surprised we've seen neither Astrotrain or Blitzwing. Both would sell well & you could do wonders for those two at MP level complexity. I know I'd snap both up!

I think that the Insecticons, like the rest of the Dinobots would sell quite well actually. Third Party companies like Fans Toys have released their versions of both teams and some command crazy prices on the aftermarket. Fans Toys have even gone as far as releasing select Dinobots in G2 and Diaclone colours. The market is definitely there.

Perhaps partly a lack of repaint opportunities (the Battlechargers spring to mind, but they're hardly prominent) and a lack of memorable characters. Aside from Hot Rod/Rodimus, Magnus, Grimlock, Galvatron & Cyclonus who really got much attention in the media? A lack of a Galvatron is surprising, but I'm not surprised we've yet to see a MP Blurr. The 1986 Decepticons, BTW, were actually very sparse once you take out the combiner teams.

Personally, I'd LOVE Masterpiece Stunticons & Aerialbots (also appeared in season 2 of the cartoon, so from a character POV I lump them into 1985) and would bite your hand off for a Masterpiece Pipes... but Pipes was hardly prominent and I know he'd sell poorly. Even if I'd probably buy two

I dont think TT care about repaints anymore. Why? The LAM masterpieces have very limited repaints, but we've had 7 released so far. So there's all of that money and time invested in figures you can probably only get 1 figure out of. Touching back on the previous third party point, there are companies out there killing TT for '86 movie MP releases.

[Ralph Wiggum]

If you:

1. Collect any Masterpiece Transformers line.
2. Have no regard to budget or value for money
3. Have no issues with QC

then yeah, you're spoiled. Take out any of the above, then you're not spoiled.

[Seraphim Prime]

As I said in the Masterpiece design thread, I think we've shifts in designers over the years, which means what was considered to be the "masterpiece style" under one designer gets reimagined under another.

From what I've been able to gather (and happy to be corrected) the designers have been:
MP-1 to MP-9 (ex MP-5 and the MP-4 trailer) - Hironori Kobayashi
MP-5 (and MP-4 trailer) - Hisashi Yuki (in 6 days!)

MP-10 to MP-23 - Shogo Hasui (with Hironori Kobayashi finishing Ultra Magnus and doing the initial Starscream design) - this is what in my mind came to define "Masterpiece"

MP-24 - Hisashi Yuki
MP-25 to MP-30 (ex MP-28) - Hironori Kobayashi
MP-28 - Tomoya Miyake

MP-32 onwards - design team led by Hironori Kobayashi, with much of the main design appearing to be done by Yuki Ohshima

It's been MP-32 onwards (Inferno) which seems to have been the start of the accessory-heaving animation accurate Masterpiece, with Megatron being a complex design-heavy figure, with a more complicated engineering to achieve the desired accuracies. I think we then saw a shift in engineering with BW Dinobot to a panel-flipping kibble-hiding animation accuracy which has bled into some of the other recent designs including Hound, Bumblebee, Optimus and Sunstreaker.

Greater complexity leads to finer tolerances, which can lead to greater costs and more potential breakage.


I think we're spoiled if we were to say we wish we didn't have them at all. But I think it is reasonable to note that the Hasui Masterpieces appear to have been designed with a bit more simplicity in the engineering and robustness to the toy, which the newer ones do not, and that a desire to go back to the sturdier design is not an invalid request for something that is being sold at a significant price point.

[drifand]

So, getting back to the original question/thread title, My Two Cents is...

No, Not Really.

MPs are high-end collectibles. Having high expectations for them is entirely reasonable compared to 15-odd-years-ago mainline releases. And a lot of the grievances leveled against contemporary MPs are legitimate. A $150+ toy really shouldn't break out of the box.

That said, Transformers fans are often pretty much the definition of an Unpleasant Fanbase. So there's that. But adjusting your expectations to the standard of the line in question is entirely reasonable, and MPs have gotten pretty pricey in recent years.



I'm totally waiting on official MP Insecticons btw. And Blaster plus cassettes, and Cyclonus, and Scourge. Plus a red redeco of MP Sunstreaker, and a few more besides. But I can wait - I'm pretty sure they'll come eventually.

Tada, totally with you. I mean seriously how TT is going to over engineer this will be beyond me for MP insecticons. There be no dumb no licensing excuses etc. But hey go figure on their choices on making MPs.

People are just done waiting, 2018 was the worse for G1 Mps

I do not like Hasui pieces and partly was because they were half arsed not painted during that period, may not be entirely his fault but it put me off, especially wheeljack was not fully painted like what it is now.

To make matters worse fanbase were so EXCITED about mp-44 starscream head they wanted another remake. OMG how are we going to finish this line?

One of the major issues that began was people treated Masterpiece line as an Action figure not a high end collectors item and now when they actually do apply quality paint is so expensive.

I have to say, one of the peak points for TF MPs was during Ultra Magnus - Grapple. I was still very relying on TT than even looking at 3P companies.

If we are honestly spoiled for choices, nobody will be seriously bothered with the 3p companies have to offer, but this appears not to be the case.

[GoktimusPrime]

To be really blunt. What do the Japanese like? That seems to be the core concern for any MP released. And to be blunter they seem to like good guy leaders.

That's pretty much true. Remember that MP Star Sabre was decided as the result of a fan's choice poll. And since the very beginning Takara(TOMY) have allowed collectors to submit direct feedback on MPs, including nominated and voting on which characters we would like to see for future releases. Unfortunately the online poll was geoblocked a few years ago, so you can only access it if you're in Japan or if you have a VPN. But yeah, a lot of Japanese fans do like good guys and good guy leaders. This is why Star Sabre is such a popular character despite the fact that his persona is pretty much just a carbon copy of Convoy. Dai Atlas on the other hand offered something different and Japanese fans hated him -- all because Dai Atlas breaks the "Convoy mould." But having said that, some Western fans can be like this too, such as people who really dislike IDW's Star Sabre. But this is why MP Star Sabre's Japanese bio is based on his Convoy-esque G1 persona, whereas his English language bio is based on his IDW persona.

I'd really like to see them finish off the 1984 Autobots for MPs (repaint/retool potentials in brackets):
* Ligier (red Diaclone Ligier)
* Trailbreaker (Hoist)
* Meister (Stepper)
* Gong (Outback)
* Drag (Pipes)
* Gears (Wave)
* Charger (Tailgate)
* Cliff (yellow Cliff, Hubcap)

Licensing issues is holding back Ligier, Meister and Cliff. Bayformers Scrapmetal transforms into a Volvo excavator, so assuming that they still have the Volvo licence then it should make an MP Drag possible. We know that TakaraTOMY have the licences for Suzuki, GM/Pontiac and Toyota, which would make Brawn, Charger and Trailbreaker all respectively possible. Gears is a generic pickup truck, so there isn't even any licensing required. Just make him already! And that's it. I can understand the hold up on Ligier and the Porsches, but I really wish that they'd do all the other remaining first year Autobots that they already have the vehicle licences for.

And once that's done I'd like to see the move on and do as much G1 as possible. Finish off the Dinobots. MP's never moved past Middle G1 though... it's done a lot of Early G1 and some Middle G1, but it's never touched Late G1. I guess the demand for late G1 isn't there, so don't hold your breath for an MP Moon Jet or Checker Road. I think CHUG is more likely to fill out the rest of the G1 roster, and they've done an impressive job in many respects. CHUG's recently been giving us some pretty obscure characters like Shuffler, Loafer, Roadfire, Dai Atlas, Star Convoy, Reflector etc. -- heck, they gave us Powerdasher! (give us CHUG Omnibots and Time Warrior, damnit!). I'm not expecting MP to cover all of G1, but I would very much love CHUG to do it. Still kinda disappointed about some potential CHUG repaints that were never done, such as Metro Titan, GADEP, Battle Gaia, Guard City etc. :/ But again, maybe the demand's not there.

No MP but CHUG's gotcha covered