a Macross fan discusses Masterpiece seeker molds

[The Scream Man]

That being me

So i am a huge macross fan as anyone who has seen my little thread on my toy collection would know. i love Kowamoris planes; from the VF-0 to the Vf-27, i think his designs are amazing. So when i heard that the new masterpeice Starscream was Kowamori designed, i was intruiged.

Now, i am at best a casual TF fan. i liked the original series as a kid, but not as much as an adult. i STILL havent seen all ofbeats Wars aor any of Beast Machines, havent seena ny of the Japanese only shows, missed RID completely and only saw bits of the Armada/Energon/Cyberton shows. Toy wise, i got back into TF's with beast wars for a short time, but didnt last into the Transmetal/Fuzor period. i started getting into the world againwith the Dreamwave stuff and Armada toys, and it snowballed from there. I have ALOT of transformers, but not nearly as m,any as many of the members here. And even then, my natural inclination towards heroic characters over evil ones means i often only get the Autobots (Or equivilant) of a line. Decepticons are rare for me.

So i waited, and reviews on Starscream seemed mixed. My Macross friends seemed to like it fo th most part, though many said it was fiddley. Transformers fans seemed VERY divided, but the overall opinion wasnt good, so I decided to pass.

Flash forward to just before Chrissy and whist checking out TFsource.com for Alternator Mirage (who is cool, BTW, but i dont like him as much as i thought i would.) i saw Skywarp going relatively cheap. he was black and cool looking so I thought what the hell and grabbed him. i figured worst case scenario, the Jet looked good id just display that and never transform him.

Well, he arrived today and lemme tell u that I was amazed. The jet mode is striking, the robot mode is surprisingly versitile, and the whole package comes togetehr very nicely. now ive transformed hima few times now, and i have to tell u; this 'fiddley' thing i kept hearing about is NOTHING compared to some of the macross stuff.

Anyone who has trouble with these, o NOT by the yamato toys YF-21, because this is a cakewalk compared to that alone! Even the 19 is a bit trickier than this! i found skywarp to be a very clever and intuitive transform both ways. he locks tight, nothing falls off, there are no scary moments....i guess Im just floored by wht the issue is here! Heck ,i had more trouble with masterpiece Prime the first time than i did with this!

i hope im not coming across as "Im so much smarter than you all!" because my spelling alone shoul prove Im not! Im Genuinely confused about what the gripes with the toy are! Hell, i like this one so much Im gonna get Thundercracker and Starscream too! these are great!

And coming from a fan of the good guy, this is high praise, let me tell u

[kup]

Please Keep in mind two things:

- The fans are mostly "divided" on the first release of the mold which had that flimsy model like plastic and then unusual colors on Starscream. None of the subsequent releases have had the thin plastic issue and have been more accurate to the animation/toy character colors.

- Kawamori didn't design MP Starscream, he 'improved' on the original mold that Takara had already developed in order to produce a more realistic vehicle mode but also made some modification to the robot mode to fit more into his design style (tail fins on hips).

Keep in mind that many fans (including myself) were not happy with the Kawamori modifications from the original mold particularly on the MP-03 release. However with the stronger plastic of following releases, it is possible to 'reverse' the Kawamori modifications on the robot mode by rearanging the tail fin parts.

[GoktimusPrime]

Anyone who has trouble with these, o NOT by the yamato toys YF-21, because this is a cakewalk compared to that alone! Even the 19 is a bit trickier than this! i found skywarp to be a very clever and intuitive transform both ways. he locks tight, nothing falls off, there are no scary moments....i guess Im just floored by wht the issue is here! Heck ,i had more trouble with masterpiece Prime the first time than i did with this!

I totally agree in terms of Macross Plus Valkyries being way trickier to transform compared to Masterpiece Seekers, and I find the YF-22 to be a lot harder than the YF-19. But kup is right in saying that a lot of the complaints about the flaws of the Seekers was based on the original Masterpiece Starscream. To HasTak's credit they did listen to these complaints and all subsequent versions of the mould have seen improvements.

Having said that, I still find the MP seekers to be poor TF action figures. Nice display pieces, but not terribly fun to play with - which in my book makes them fail as toys. The Classics jets are much better as TF toys... it's just a shame that HasTak never had the inclination to give us Thundercracker, Dirge and Thrust as standard store releases. (-_-)

- Kawamori didn't design MP Starscream, he 'improved' on the original mold that Takara had already developed in order to produce a more realistic vehicle mode but also made some modification to the robot mode to fit more into his design style (tail fins on hips).

While it's true that Kawamori did take the helm and redesigned the toy from its prototype, Kawamori did actually oversee the design of this toy from the very beginning.

Reference 1
Reference 2

[kup]

While it's true that Kawamori did take the helm and redesigned the toy from its prototype, Kawamori did actually oversee the design of this toy from the very beginning.

Reference 1
Reference 2

Sorry but your own source contradicts that:

"When I was looking at the Starscream prototype that Takara Tomy had made, they told me, "We don't mind if you make significant changes," so this was an opportunity to put forward various proposals."

Original Takara developed Prototype:





Note that the tail fin and fuselage overall section used to be much smaller (as in flat) and attached to his legs just like the G1 toy. Kawamori made that section thicker in order to improve the realism of the jet mode which he did remarkably well and succeeded. However for no reason other than his own preference, he decided to take them out of his legs and hang them of his hips for a 'Samurai swords' type look which conforms more to his own design style.

The decision of attaching the tail fins to the hips is the main issue that I have with his modifcations, not taking the original release execution into account, I am happy with his modifications except the tail fins in robot mode. They should have stayed on the legs.

[Hereticpoo]

Thanks for the translation Gok, I always wondered what the instructions actually say.

I wish I could buy replacement legs for my MP Seekers, therefore making them toys instead of display pieces as Gok said.

I've experimented with taking the skirt off the MP Seekers and find that its close to the prototype, but not exact. You have to angle the pieces too much because of the vertical stabilers length. It looks like the bot has broken a Fibula. (The lower leg bone, on the outside)

If only you could extend the engines a little, Like 3 or 4 mm, that way you'd have a proper heal. FansProject?

BTW has Kawamori ever aged? Hmm, Something Sus there, something Sus

[kup]

Thanks for the translation Gok, I always wondered what the instructions actually say.

I wish I could buy replacement legs for my MP Seekers, therefore making them toys instead of display pieces as Gok said.

I've experimented with taking the skirt off the MP Seekers and find that its close to the prototype, but not exact. You have to angle the pieces too much because of the vertical stabilers length. It looks like the bot has broken a Fibula. (The lower leg bone, on the outside)

If only you could extend the engines a little, Like 3 or 4 mm, that way you'd have a proper heal. FansProject?

BTW has Kawamori ever aged? Hmm, Something Sus there, something Sus

That's how I display and play with mine:




I also do the same when I display my MP seekers:



I also like to shift the parts like that for greater leg joint movement and stability for a greater variety of poses. The parts attached to the hips are way too restrictive. The tail fins also add much needed heels when attached to the legs. Also note that you don't have to 'pull out the back wings' to accommodate the hip kibble any more but keep them in place for a more G1 look.

[GoktimusPrime]

Sorry but your own source contradicts that:

"When I was looking at the Starscream prototype that Takara Tomy had made, they told me, "We don't mind if you make significant changes," so this was an opportunity to put forward various proposals."

That doesn't mean that Kawamori wasn't involved in some capacity from the outset though. It merely indicates that it was his decision, as team leader, to make specific changes to the prototype.

Furthermore,
"Just as I had initially based the (Super Dimensional Fortress Macross) VF-1 Valkyrie on the F-14, I thought that it would be interesting if I could take up the challenge of creating a transforming item based on an F-15 motif. So now I'm pleasantly surprised that this has been actually achieved." - Kawamori Shouji <---this statement indicates that he was part of the design team from the outset.

And according to TFwiki: "Shoji Kawamori was recruited to oversee the design and engineering of this toy."

Also from this Hobby Magazine interview:
"When Takara came to Shoji with the Masterpiece Starscream project they gave him lots of free range in the design. Shoji was adamant from the beginning that he wanted to design a realistic looking jet, and the robot mode would be secondary."

Furthermore TakaraTOMY's official MP Starscream web site specifically credits Kawamori as the design supervisor (デザイン監修).

[kup]

I don't know, the first quote I posted sounded more definite and if he had been involved from the start he would have said 'we' instead of referring to Takara-Tomy as a separate design team when bringing up the prototype.

"When Takara came to Shoji with the Masterpiece Starscream project they gave him lots of free range in the design. Shoji was adamant from the beginning that he wanted to design a realistic looking jet, and the robot mode would be secondary."

Furthermore TakaraTOMY's official MP Starscream web site specifically credits Kawamori as the design supervisor (デザイン監修).
__________________

I prefer to go by the Interview which is a primary source while that statement is secondary. Also it is a bit open to interpretation. He could have meant the beginning of when he was brought into the design team.

All that is beside the point anyway as the Kawamori 'improvements' were the defining changes to the protoype but as has been mentioned before, the mold changes were not as bad as the actual manufacturing execution of MP-03 because the tail fins and hip kibble can be managed and Takara Tomy did good at sticking to character colors and stronger plastic with later releases of the mold.

[Hereticpoo]

Cool pics Kup.

Your mods look flush, ie they look like part of the jets body. When I attach the parts to the peg on the calf I have to angle them. Do you press the foot/toes down or something? (I'll post a pic tonight)

BTW I have two of the 1/48 VF-1's and they are brilliant. But they cost twice as much as a Seeker.

[kup]

Cool pics Kup.

Your mods look flush, ie they look like part of the jets body. When I attach the parts to the peg on the calf I have to angle them. Do you press the foot/toes down or something? (I'll post a pic tonight)

BTW I have two of the 1/48 VF-1's and they are brilliant. But they cost twice as much as a Seeker.

The whole tail fin assembly should attach to a peg and fit inside a frame on the side of the legs which are used to house the parts in jet mode. I angle the toes down so that they touch the 'ground' but you shouldn't have to do it too much and the figure should be stable as the tail fins act as heels.