Transformers Toy Rumours (must note a source)

[griffin]

Playing devil's advocate here for a minute... since this toy has been leaked for well over a year now and we have suspiciously had no hint or mention of Cliffjumper from TakaraTomy (or any other official JP source) what if, this "Masterpiece Cliffjumper" wasn't actually done by TakaraTomy.

What if these samples were being done by one of the KO companies that have been replicating various MPs within months of their release, or a 3rd party company... by replicating all of the parts of the Bumblebee toy and swapping out a few parts. It probably wouldn't be too difficult for some of those companies that have been doing Masterpiece scaled figures with significant detailing... to strip out a Bumblebee toy and replace enough parts to replicate Cliffjumper.

I know that TakaraTomy operates to a different strategy to Hasbro (Hasbro would often do an official reveal within days or weeks of something that has leaked), but this just seems like a really long time for a toy to be floating around and not be included in a product display somewhere in Japan or Hong Kong... considering how they often display grey prototypes or odd-coloured prototypes (like MP Trailbreaker at the recent HK exhibition) just to have something out there to hype up the interest from their target market. To have these samples of Cliffjumper look to be a production level sample, it just doesn't make sense that it would already be in production (or ready to be in production) and not be listed anywhere for pre-order yet.
(I don't think we've ever had a Masterpiece toy be released straight to sale without going through a pre-order period... and pre-order periods these days for MP toys are 6-9 months now.)

[griffin]

Movie Masterpiece rumour that shouldn't happen, but probably will - ROTF redeco of MPM-10 Starscream (with the Cybertronian tattoos).

Two reasons why I think it shouldn't happen - 1) we just had MPM-10 Starscream released in the last couple of years, I don't think we need another one while there are plenty of other characters to do first (including the last two of the robot cast of the 2007 movie - 3 if you count Frenzy)... 2) technically we already have MPM ROTF Starscream, as MPM-1, which was just the Japanese release of Leader class Starscream from 2010.

It also shows how it was the wrong decision to start the new Movie Masterpiece toys from number 3, as it means that the first two are considered part of the series, even though they are a completely different style and size to the current ones. They should have started from number 1, and there wouldn't have been confusion because this is the Hasbro MPMs, while the first two in 2010 were Japanese MPMs.

[Other]

It doesn't make sense for that Cliffjumper to be a 3rd Party or KO product because those companies don't put numbering on their testshots/pre-release pieces like the most recent version of Cliffy has on his shoulder and pelvis, that's a typical Hasbro tactic that is used on other lines like Marvel Legends to mark their testshots/display figures at conventions or internal use to determine where they originated from if stolen and to deter the average buyer. I'm still sticking to the theory that Cliffjumper was intended to release/be announced alongside Rise of the Beasts coming out in Cinemas, as part of a deal with Porsche for that movie, and when the movie was delayed a year so was it's release.

[JJJ]

Legacy Minerva has appeared in full packaging from the wrong chain in the US

[griffin]

There was a listing on Amazon France last week, of what is claimed to be Studio Series 1986 Voyager Ironhide... which makes the Core class Ratchet toy even more unusual, as it looks like we will end up having both characters in two different size classes.

[KELPIE]

There was a listing on Amazon France last week, of what is claimed to be Studio Series 1986 Voyager Ironhide... which makes the Core class Ratchet toy even more unusual, as it looks like we will end up having both characters in two different size classes.

This is great news and makes me less angry at the Core class Ratchet.

[griffin]

A picture from online (origin unknown) claiming to be the SS Voyager Ironhide...



And what could be a collaborative Optimus as a camera, from facebook, and is said to be officially revealed in 7 days time (August 10th).

[Jetfire in the sky]

Legacy Minerva has appeared in full packaging from the wrong chain in the US

Pretty bloody cool that they are releasing such an obscure figure.

[JJJ]

Pretty bloody cool that they are releasing such an obscure figure.

Oh yeah. I think we can safely say that Hasbro are convinced that (some) JG1 toys will sell in sufficient numbers to make it worth their while. Let's hope they take it to heart.

[Tha_Phantom]

Playing devil's advocate here for a minute... since this toy has been leaked for well over a year now and we have suspiciously had no hint or mention of Cliffjumper from TakaraTomy (or any other official JP source) what if, this "Masterpiece Cliffjumper" wasn't actually done by TakaraTomy.

What if these samples were being done by one of the KO companies that have been replicating various MPs within months of their release, or a 3rd party company... by replicating all of the parts of the Bumblebee toy and swapping out a few parts. It probably wouldn't be too difficult for some of those companies that have been doing Masterpiece scaled figures with significant detailing... to strip out a Bumblebee toy and replace enough parts to replicate Cliffjumper.

I know that TakaraTomy operates to a different strategy to Hasbro (Hasbro would often do an official reveal within days or weeks of something that has leaked), but this just seems like a really long time for a toy to be floating around and not be included in a product display somewhere in Japan or Hong Kong... considering how they often display grey prototypes or odd-coloured prototypes (like MP Trailbreaker at the recent HK exhibition) just to have something out there to hype up the interest from their target market. To have these samples of Cliffjumper look to be a production level sample, it just doesn't make sense that it would already be in production (or ready to be in production) and not be listed anywhere for pre-order yet.
(I don't think we've ever had a Masterpiece toy be released straight to sale without going through a pre-order period... and pre-order periods these days for MP toys are 6-9 months now.)

I did also suspect that at first, but the more I see of it, the more I see Takara's DNA like the little pop-down panel at the back referencing an early G1 episode. And the overall finish just doesn't seem typical of 3P.

This is purely my theory and chances are I'm wrong, but what if this figure is actually officially licensed by Porsche but it is meant to coincide with the ROTB movie which also features a Porsche (yes Mirage not Cliffjumper) in it and quite possibly licensed Porsche toys? Keep in mind that when the Bumblebee movie dropped in 2018 we saw a bunch of licensed VW toys (including a Bumblebee movie MP and G1 MP) come out in quick succession. The ROTB movie was supposed to come out this year but now it's been delayed, so that could explain why they had a Masterpiece Cliffjumper developed already only to then hold it back for a later release.
Anyway, I'm probably wrong, but food for thought.