Since when was the Allspark blue???




Blue glass Autobot cars tickle my nostalgia much better than the black-tinted windows ever did.


It's why these guys



don't need detailed turtle skin to tick the right boxes.

Though it wouldn't kill them to give the minifigures in the MP line actual faces  

 

That's what fans called the bright blue shades used for the Allspark Power subline from the toy line for the first live action Transformers film. For more information, see here: AllSpark Power - Transformers Wiki

 

I'm one of the few people who has seen IGA Prowl in hand (thanks to an amazing collector in CDMX)-, trust me, the colour scheme it's pretty bad, but it would be interesting to see an updated version of that thing.



"PATRULLA DE CAMINOS"
"POLICIA"

 

Flight of the conchords quote?

 

Put me down for a Mexican Prowl any day.

 

iArriba!

 

The original looks better

 

I don’t think it looks bad. If it does come out, it should have all the sticker detail that the 1984 toy had which both Masterpiece toys don’t have. The details have to be tampographed though, not stickers.

 

Original looks far better. Why would anyone pay money for this rip off? Better get the ko or og. Fuck paying double prices for a fucking downgrade. And fuck hastak for their pricing.

 

No.

But also yes.  

The blue windows have more visual zing, to be sure. They're a bit garish, but I don't hate them. But it's true that the original smoked grey windows are sort of dull.

It does seem weird that they're releasing toy-accurate launchers with the toy-inaccurate edition of Prowl. Is this a variation on the recent practice of ONLY releasing the cartoon-accurate version, and then include the toy-version accessories only with future repaints (like Wheeljack's launchers coming with Exhaust, Tracks toy face and weapon with Loudpedal/Road Rage, Sunstreaker's toy face only with the Diaclone redeco, etc... )

zmog

 

I like the deco. It’s basically Prowl, but with more black color apps and yellow eyes. Save for some specific tampographing, I’d leave the majority of the other detailing to Reprolabels - if the demand is high enough, that is.

 

and you forgot

FUCK EVERYONE FOR LIKING DIFFERENT THINGS FROM ME

 

Wtf does that have to do with hastak inflating prices on reissues?

 

Lmao hope you caught the new hbo special. Stana was great. Better version on YouTube when they played Newport folk festival, though not my recording. I was fortunate to see them live at that show and recorded most of it myself to listen to. Such a good show!

 

This release doesn’t cost twice as much as the original MP-17. In fact, if I’d bought it from Kapow I would’ve paid the exact same as when I bought MP-17 from them back in December 2013.

To plenty of people who like toon accuracy this is an upgrade. It also has more paint coverage and includes accessories that the original release didn’t.

Regarding ‘HasTak’ pricing:
Takara clearly felt there wasn’t enough of a market to make this a mainline release in Japan (unlike 12+ or 20+). Their business model in these cases is to let Hasbro Asia do the main release, and limit their own release to pre-orders via TTMall. This means 17+ wasn’t available from Japanese etailers at a discount, but he still doesn’t cost that much more than the original.

You seem to be raging just because you don’t like this release. Which is fine, since you don’t have to buy it. MP-17 still exists  

 

trolls, @Sam. Ignore them. Don’t feed em. It never goes anywhere good.

 

Well, I paid $55 shipped (in Canadian dollars, even) when this figure came out. How much is it now? Quite a bit more, I'd wager. Takara has been inflating their prices a lot with recent releases (not just their mall exclusives and whatnot). Before, they were pricey... now, I just don't think they're worth it. I pretty much swore off official Takara releases after I sold off my MP Laserwave. Great toy, but not satisfying for what they were charging. The recent BW pricing is sort of sickening... not just for the gouging, but because people are taking a deep breath, and buying them anyway. Fortunately, I'm not a BW guy, so I don't have to feel conflicted about it.

The domestic TRU edition of MP Prowl and Bumblebee were also rather grotesquely overpriced, so Hasbro's not really better.

This recent kind of Takara toon accuracy is (IMHO) an idiotic premise, and invariably makes MP releases look worse. I agree that it was nonsense that the original release of Prowl didn't come with his launchers (they were an exclusive bonus) but it does seem a bit ironic that the people buying the "cartoon accurate" version now are going to be getting the toy-accurate launchers that were never featured in the cartoon, and didn't come with the toy-style release.

I don't begrudge people for liking this and buying it. Different strokes, and all that. As you say, I have my MP17.

But, I do begrudge the rampant price escalation, and that the obnoxious cartoon-aesthetic has been plaguing the MP line since the new head-of-design came in... I may have my first-run Autobots, but I don't think Takara's going to make 'less toony' versions of any of the newer Autobot cars.  

I used to buy the authentic Takara MP stuff direct from Japan. Now, I don't buy any of them because of the simplified aesthetics and lower value for the dollar. I mean, that's okay from Takara's point of view... for every person like me they lose, there will be a fan willing to buy everything that is released at double the price. But from my side, it still sucks.

zmog

 

Exclusives have always been more expensive. The main problem you guys seem to be having is the direction of the MP line, coupled with the increase in prices which is directly correlated to the increase in parts count (which itself is due to better articulation, which requires more parts, and more accurate robot modes, which also require more parts to achieve). Don't believe me about the parts count? Check out the prices of recent MP KOs - pretty sure the KO of Sunstreaker is twice the price that the KO of Sideswipe was. Even the KO makers have to charge more.

A release like Shockwave doesn't have a lot of repaint potential, so automatically gets a higher price. Takara work within a budget. It's why Wheeljack had less of a paint budget, because at the time they were only planning to release the sole repaint of Exhaust (a non-toon character), compared to the decent paint coverage on Prowl, who had two cartoon-character repaints.

You think the 'trend' of toon accuracy is recent, but you did see MP-9, right? Still as cartoon accurate as MPs get. Kobayashi is actually the old head of design, the designer of MP-1 (more toon accurate than MP-10), MP-8 and MP-9. But in any case, at this point in time many MP releases are designed by a different artist, who comes up with the initial sketches, pictures of accessories, features or articulation he thinks the toy should have, which Kobayashi then translates into an actual transforming masterpiece.

I also agree the toy-accurate launchers don't fit with this cartoon release, but since it's the only accessory they ever made for the Datsuns it kinda makes sense to include them. There's no point now in including Chip Chase with 17+. I'm sure MP-18+ will come with red and chrome launchers. Also, there isn't like to be a true toy-accurate version of Prowl (the + has already been used for the Anime release), so no other time to give him the correct launchers.

Perhaps more future + releases will cater to toy fans like 36+ (I'm thinking a 39+ with Cordon's head), but the time of 'blended' releases pulling equally on various sources is over. Actually, it's been over since MP-27, who came out almost three years ago. Or maybe even Star Saber, who came out in 2015.

I'm sure once Optimus Prime ver 3 is out there, most people will have accepted that the MP line isn't for them anymore and moved on, but I guess we still aren't there yet.


Anyway, clearly I'm one of the crazy fuckers who spends too much money on MPs since I bought MP-18 and MP-18S just to make this cartoon-accurate custom, back before + releases were even a twinkle in Kobayashi's eye...



And yes, I sold it because I want the version TT will make with blue glass.


What is obnoxious to one person is perfection to another. Like you say, different strokes.

 

If you're replying to me, I'm not just talking about exclusives. I'm talking about regular releases within these lines.

However, let's also acknowledge that exclusives are also very often artificially manufactured to be a special commodity. Sometimes the decisions made in this process are pretty lamentable, and as a consumer, it often feels less and less like I'm getting something "special" than I am getting fleeced for something that is (and should be) ordinary.

Yes, larger toys with more parts cost more to manufacture. However, I don't think that's such a "direct" correlation at all, and I'd be curious whether you could provide any concrete numbers to support this. Do you think that price increases aren't being levied strategically to inflate the perception of value on even conventional figures? Toy companies are not in the business of doing us a favour. But they will do themselves favours, of course.

Even without any repaint potential, I think the pricing is inflated. However, we'll have to sit back and watch to see how many versions of Shockwave Takara gives us, won't we? We're already up to two (and it's worth pointing out that they released the one that more people would likely want second).

The above points are known facts, but... also largely irrelevant? The current design mandate is just that. It is administratively determined. It's not up to individual designers.

MP-9 is an interesting piece, and yes, very faithful to the cartoon... but not STUPIDLY faithful in the way that nigh-featureless block-bots like MP Ironhide and Inferno turned out. The distribution of detail and choice of materials is still done conscientiously, but also with an eye towards aesthetics - not a mechanistic, slavish imitation of low-grade animation cels.

Like I said, I don't begrudge the people who prefer that style - that's them. I don't like the fact that we no longer are getting the cartoon/toy/detail-oriented blended style that made the MP line so appealing before.

I also agree the toy-accurate launchers don't fit with this cartoon release, but since it's the only accessory they ever made for the Datsuns it kinda makes sense to include them. There's no point now in including Chip Chase with 17+. I'm sure MP-18+ will come with red and chrome launchers. Also, there isn't like to be a true toy-accurate version of Prowl (the + has already been used for the Anime release), so no other time to give him the correct launchers.

MP-22 even. But why do you say that like it's 100 years ago? Are our memories so short? We're collecting MP G1 Transformers; is anyone really under the illusion that this isn't a decades-spanning project? We're still at least 8 characters away from a 1984 line-up!  

In view of the dumbed-down aesthetics (still excellent engineering), and being priced out of the market, yup. It's been a deal-breaker for collectors like me since MP-21 for the reasons above with a special exceptions for the very toy-styled Laserwave (which I immediately regretted due to the price, and traded shortly thereafter) and Tracks, which annoys me every time I look at it, especially in view of the options that came with RoadRage and Loudpedal. So in that sense I have moved on. However, I'm still in the collecting fandom, and I think it's still fair (and even essential) for consumers to make critiques of products aimed at their wallets.

Kind of a shame that there are some people who can't abide the fact that some fans disapprove of some of Takara's product line... and will claim that it "ruins the fandom" for them, or whatevs.  

Hey dude, it's your money. There's no accounting for personal taste, but if you can buy 'em and put food on the table, and they make you happy, more power to you. I just wish Takara was giving you something better for your hard-earned dollars.  

  You're mad! I have a soft spot for boxart-Diaclone-blue Bluestreak, but that gloss-black/gunmetal-flake deco is just too gorgeous to ruin with flat toon styling!!  

But at least someone else benefited from your madness.  

zmog

 

Why are some of you defending this kind of behavior? It's the same model. Clearly they're not using new molds for the parts. The new paint scheme is BARELY different from the old one. Blue windows? That's the selling point? Give me a break. There are a ton of transformers worthy of a MP design and they haven't been made yet. There's Rattrap, Rhinox and the rest of the BW crew. Then you got the rest of the G1 like Kup, Jazz, Brawn, Huffer, Hoist, the Dinobots like a shitton. Sure, they're released the BW Megs and Dinobot recently, and i get they cost money to design and produce. I also get that this is a niche market. But what theyre doing with this repaint in particular, is both cheap and shameful.