Just thinking about this... I hope they NEVER do that!Originally Posted by Lord_Zed
No way i can have a realistic thing sitting on my shelf, jesus.
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Just thinking about this... I hope they NEVER do that!
No way i can have a realistic thing sitting on my shelf, jesus.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
While that would be cool, I'm thinking that from an engineering or screen-accuracy point of view, it wouldn't be much of a leap to go from the original toy to a Masterpiece for season 2-3 Beast Wars characters, since the character models were already very toy-accurate and the toys themselves were very articulated.
I see Masterpiece toys as revisiting classic characters and giving them the benefit of updated engineering for better proportions or screen-accuracy. G1 characters definitely benefit, and season 1 Beast Wars characters are clearly benefiting from a screen-accuracy viewpoint. I'm just not so sure about season 2-3 characters - maybe some extra articulation?
I'm not saying it won't or shouldn't be done, I'm just wondering about the 'benefits' for those characters.
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^That's how I feel about all BW characters, really. I've yet to encounter a single updated BW figure, either CHUGUR or MP, which I considered to be - in relative terms - superior to the original BW figure. At best I find that they are on par. I got MP Beast Convoy but I didn't bother to pre-order Cheetor - I'm still really undecided on that figure. Having said that, I do agree that characters like Dinobot and Blackarachnia stand to benefit more from MP updates as their show models deviated more significantly from the toy. Moreso Blackarachnia than Dinobot. As you said, this isn't to say that TakaraTOMY shouldn't make 'em, but I personally don't feel the compulsion to go out and grab 'em as I do with G1-based MPs.
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I have to disagree based on MP Primal, in my opinion he hits all the MP requirements of presentation, design and articulation, calling him on par just does not do it justice. Perhaps BW's toys do not have as far to go, as there toys already had modern articulation and design, but it that was the sole criteria of an MP then the recent MP grapple and Inferno would be totally unnecessary as we already have modern CHUG equivalents for those characters, the MP's are more like premium versions.^That's how I feel about all BW characters, really. I've yet to encounter a single updated BW figure, either CHUGUR or MP, which I considered to be - in relative terms - superior to the original BW figure. At best I find that they are on par. I got MP Beast Convoy but I didn't bother to pre-order Cheetor - I'm still really undecided on that figure. Having said that, I do agree that characters like Dinobot and Blackarachnia stand to benefit more from MP updates as their show models deviated more significantly from the toy. Moreso Blackarachnia than Dinobot. As you said, this isn't to say that TakaraTOMY shouldn't make 'em, but I personally don't feel the compulsion to go out and grab 'em as I do with G1-based MPs.
For the most part I agree, however I'f this MP series is popular enough I'd be curious to see what they can bring to those designs. One of the things that I really liked with MP Primal and are eagerly looking forward to on Cheetor is the alternate faces/heads particularly the beast mode. It's ually a small thing on G1 MP's like Ironhide and Inferno, not on Primal I love those expressive Gorilla faces, it adds so much life to the toy. Interchanging them and posing him in beast mode has made Primal more fun for me than most recent G1 MP's.
I'm not sure that the same thing would work with MP Transmetals, but maybe...
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As you said, BW toys just don't have as far to go because a lot of modern toy engineering standards etc. were brought in during the BW period. But I take your point about MPs being the premium versions of these toys but I guess because the "distance" between BW and MP engineering isn't as great that they don't appeal to me as much as G1 MPs.
But to be fair to G1, they were also - relative to vintage and price - mostly also really brilliant figures too.
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What sells me on the BW MP figures is the cartoon accuracy. The extra faces are great too and do make a better impression than the G1 tbh
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Yeah, but BW cartoon-likeness is easier to achieve than G1 cartoon-likeness because the BW show models were much more toy-accurate; literally based off 3D scans of the original toys. Whereas the G1 show models were initially reasonably toy-accurate sketches with an anime-mecha twist drawn by Kohara Shohei but were then simplified by Floro Dery.
e.g. Kohara's design for Sideswipe (left) vs Dery's design (right) - Sunbow ultimately ran with Dery's designs which is what TakaraTOMY are working with when translating these show models as MP toys. This is why MP Sideswipe's front wheels tuck inside instead of resting on the shoulders like the G1 toy. And the earlier MP Cars weren't as slavishly show accurate as more recent ones, hence why Sideswipe's rear wheels remain exposed on the MP toy instead of tucking in. Then Dery went and drew Red Alert with greater toy-accuracy (most likely to further differentiate him from Sideswipe), which is why the MP Alert toy ended up with faux-wheels on the shoulders, those tabs on the top of the chest etc. If the MP Lamborghinis were made today I reckon that Sideswipe's rear wheels would tuck in and Red Alert's shoulders would be completely replaced with massive wheels as shoulders (not attached to the sides of repainted Sideswipe shoulders).
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And? The original BW figures whilst engineering is great, were still different in the cartoon. The MP are both better with their engineering and their accuracy
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I had Transmetals in mind when I made that post. Some would require more work than others, but from an engineering standpoint, they're already very good as they are, and again, the animation models were very toy-accurate, as Gok pointed out. Several of them really only need new headsculpts to make them more screen-accurate, and the improvements engineering-wise would be mostly down to adding rotating wrists and moving fingers, and maybe rotating waists. Not exactly a big leap in engineering, as it is from G1 to MP.
For instance, take Transmetal Optimus Primal: it's very close to what's on-screen already. There isn't much to improve: a new beast mode headsculpt for screen-accuracy, maybe putting the heads on new joints to allow vertical movement, and adding rotating wrists and articulated fingers.
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One of my favourite TM Optimus Primal moments in the cartoon was when he used his Attack Robot Mode. Never an official mode for the toy, but it is something that the toy can do. This showed us that not only did Mainframe's animators look at and scan the toys to make their show models but they played with them too!It's basically a fan-mode which became canon because it made an appearance in the show.
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