...followed by Zauru, Noizu, Dairu, & Gurafi  

 

I just hope they spent more time on Blaster than they did on the back of that black cassette.

 

Perhaps exclusive sets hinting at new figures is going to be a regular thing now?

 

I don't know, it's very unusual in practice. Granted this is a single cassette, but it's the equivalent of showing off the Police deco Diaclone Sunstreaker before revealing MP-39.

Not to mention unusual timing, this whole set just came out of nowhere. It's made up of two cassettes for Soundblaster who himself came out like three years ago, and two cassettes for a Twincast who officially doesn't exist yet in MP form.

 

Not interested in these but the fact it signals MP Blaster is some reason to rejoice I think. Not that I'm a huge Blaster fan but I have my fingers crossed for more '86 characters.

 

They fixed the color of Stripes weapons.

Of course they did, they are our fan club.

 

I'm assuming Hasbro Asia take the initiative with these exclusives. If not for them I don't think we would have seen these and other exclusives.

 

It's takara

 

True but when we got plus Alert previously he ended up being used to tease Inferno who got revealed soon after. The fact that we have a Steeljaw prepaint makes it (likely) the second time they've hinted at something with an exclusive and I could possibly see them doing it again.

 

I think Danny's right. It's thought (and hinted at in various interviews) that these releases which are limited TT Mall exclusives in Japan, but general release in Hasbro Asia regions are probably initiated/commissioned by Hasbro Asia. I.e. they think they have the market numbers to sell character X, ask TT to develop it, TT says hmmm OK - we'll only sell a few as an exclusive here, but the Hasbro Asia numbers make it worthwhile so there ya go, hey Kobaya... nah that work experience kid isn't doing anything, he'll do.

So it's only because of Hasbro Asia's healthy growing market that these releases such as these cassettes, the coneheads and even Thundercracker and Skywarp MP-11 versions even exist at all. Remember MP-11SW initially wasn't even released at all in Japan, despite being a TT product.

I'm happy this business model/relationship gives us characters we might never get otherwise, but it does mean we have to suck up that Hasbro Asia pricing, which was openly admitted in an interview as being essentially deliberately high to be associated with being premium and Chinese with money to burn will happily pay it!

 

But it's listed as takara.And why would hasbro asia have the idea of it and let takara sell it then?And plus why would they sell a repaint of a figure that hasn't been released yet?

 

I am hoping that since we are seeing the weird re-mold (pre-mold?) of it first for Nightstalker, that when we see the (presumably) original mold made for Steeljaw, it'll look a lot nicer.

 

1) this is the same as the coneheads
2) takara wanted to tease Blaster

 

The mold was probably always designed to hide some of that back with the larger weapons used by Steeljaw. But honestly as it is I don't think it looks that bad.

 

That is a really good point, but I'm thinking more in line with what I'm probably going to end up messing around with more. As much as I like the look of the set as a whole, reality is I'm just really only going to be messing with Wingthing. The others probably will get shuffled into storage or placed on a display somewhere. There's just too much getting released that I'd prioritize over this set because of that want to mess with them. Probably going to bite me in the rump later, but can't go out and buy everything I want.

 

The reason why Takara is releasing the cassettes first instead of MP Blaster first is probably because if they release MP Blaster first, people will be less inclined to buy reprints of the cassettes. Frankly speaking, MP Blaster will most likely come with Steeljaw and when people already have Steeljaw, they probably won't buy another 4 pieces cassettes reprint set.

 

I agree Nightstalker's back end is wonky, but I like Stripes and Enemy a lot. Wing Thing would be okay since I plan on buying the MP Soundwave reissue with five cassettes and won't have Ratbat.

I actually prefer Soundblaster's color scheme, but I don't like the MP paint apps as much as MP Soundwave's and i'd rather have the five cassettes included over Ratbat alone.

If I end up double dipping for Blaster and Twincast, i'll be more likely to cave on Soundblaster. Does MP Soundblaster fit two cassettes?

 

I think he does, soundwave fits 2or 3 doesn't he? Truth be told Soundblaster wears the mold better than Soundwave I think.

 

No.

MP Soundwave and Soundblaster can each hold three cassettes.  

 

I've been comparing photos again today and must admit I now share this opinion. Perhaps I was trying to convince myself otherwise because they're the same price on my retailer of choice and i've heard Ratbat is disappointing compared to the other three Cassetticon molds.