Yup, if there is only one MP combiner to be made I hope it's Devastator. That's the most iconic one. Not to mention Season 1 will finally be done for the Decepticons. That's an amazing thing to think about.

 

We do have a thread for that specific purpose http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-3rd-party-discussion/1006731-3rd-party-company-index-work-progress.html. There's just no distinction of what's complete vs what's a work in progress.

 

the only thing that will replace my current 3p combiners are MP combiners. DO EET HASTAK!

 

I really see FT being the first to take on the gestault challenge. A gestault is a big commitment and it takes a company with an established name to pull it off. People need to be sure they'll get all the figures before the company's popularity goes down. Personally, I see a FT gestault as being an incredibly awesome thing. I'd be really happy if they took on devastator, but I think I'd be equally happy if they did the combaticons or aerialbots. I just don't know how they'd pull off the aerialbots, give the scale question for their alt mode.

The question isn't if they'll do it, it's when. I don't know if they want to finish the insecticons and dinobots first or get a jump on this early. Given the demand, I would not be surprised if it was the next thing they announce after spotter.

 

I'm not sure if I'm happy with stand-ins at this point. With all the MP releases, I'm sure they can get proper versions of the characters out soon. SXS Blurr is a good MP scale, but doesn't look much like blurr to me, IMHO.

Thanks for the praise guys! I hope it turns out to be as successful as the TT MP speculation thread  .

 

On their Facebook page, Omnigonix asked about Rodimus's scale.

I interpret this, as they are at least considering a solo Hot Rod, that comes closer to the rest of the MP car scale.

Hopefully, something close to what this chart shows.
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/tutorials-how-tos/945069-definitive-sunbow-scale-chart.html

 

The cool thing about Masterpiece 3rd party speculation, is we will be seeing more figures released due to the sheer number of companies tackling 3rd party Masterpiece figures. As to who I would like to see.

More MiniBots
1. Powerglide
2. Seaspray
3. Gears

More Headmasters
1. Brainstorm
2. Hardhead
3. Highbrow
4. Skullcruncher
5. Wierdwolf
6. Mindwipe

1986 Movie Characters and Targetmasters
1. HotRod
2. Kup
3. Blurr
4. Cyclonus
5. Scourge
6. Galvatron

Masterpiece Combiners
SkyLynx
Omega Supreme

Basically any G1 character that hasn't been announced or already made TBH.

 

Why would an MP devastator be in the 800-1000 range. If the individual components are sized comparably to the existing MP vehicles, then why wouldn't the range be similar to what we saw in Herc?

 

Personally, I'm a fan of the CHUG style stuff, but this definitely seems like the safer market for 3Ps. The items are bigger than CHUG guys, allowing for more comfortable pricing margins on short-run stuff, and TT only pumps out a couple of these a year, so really the biggest danger is being outdone, or simply out-raced, by other 3P competitors.

As someone pointed out though, the 3P groups are trying to guess what will sell the best, but still be out before TT's version, and be better or faster to market than their competitors. It seems like a narrow field. The non-Grimlock Dinobots were likely to beat TT to the punch, but the 3P guys all jumped on that at once. Reflector and the Insecticons are safer because at least they're troop-builder-y, but they're already diving into all that.

A new Shockwave, perhaps? Very unlikely to be revisited by TT, since he's a one-character licensed villain mold. The FT one was great, but there's still a lot of demand. Warbotron's tiny kit seems to demonstrate that the character could be revisited in different ways but still keep to the same aesthetics.

With the popularity of femmebots right now, that might be a good bandwagon to hop... a 3P could produce a line of MP style girls from the Search for Alpha Trion. MMC's Elita-1 looks pretty good, but she's clearly more CHUG than MP, so that market remains unexplored.

Deathsaurus/Dezaras/whatever might be a good one too. The pre-sales on Star Saber seems to have been good (they're already sold out of Amazon.jp's initial stock, which is a good sign), but villain characters never do as well there, and so TT will probably be hesitant to invest in a new release of his villainous counterpart, given that it has only one repaint opportunity.


Of course, I'm also left wondering at what point TT will pull the rug out and start over. At some point, they will, re-doing the classic characters in some new scale or style. When that happens, there will be no 'new' collectors of MP style figures, and it will become a dwindling niche market. How close to completion of the original cartoon cast will we get, do you suppose? I'm guessing an MP scale Omega Supreme is a bit of a pipe-dream, and obviously the city-bots are right out, but that still leaves a pretty big window of opportunity for other characters. Will we get that MP Raoul everyone's been hoping for? If nothing else, at least we should see an MP B.O.T., right?

 

This thread pleases me.  

 

I just realized this is in the 3P forum. I was lost...

 

Snap. MP Dinobots + MP Devastator FTW!

 

My main prediction is that third parties are going to start REALLY cranking things out exponentially, especially in regards to beating TakaraTomy to the punch of releases. This particularly pertains to the Autobot cars. We've already seen this with both Ligier/Rijie and Hound, as there's not one but two companies making each of those. I think we'll continue to see more companies compete against each other with similar products, such as the recent Insecticon offerings.

I do think that the focus will remain G1-nostalgic focuses, since that's what the majority of the Masterpiece nitched out fan base typically demand. That's not to say that there's anything preventing third parties from branching out into other Generations. However, third parties are wise to strike while the iron is hot, and it's only going to be hot so long. G1 fans aren't getting younger, TakaraTomy is still making official releases, and younger fans are demanding more product tailored to their interests.

As in typical fashion, third parties will venture into the more obscure portions of G1, much like has been done with Generations. We've already seen two companies tackle Dinobots, even being so bold as teasing Grimlock. Things like this aren't just what we may think will happen, but even to the point that we've come to expect it.

What I don't think will happen is that third parties will just abandon Generations, as some fans speculate. Generations and the demand is still going on strong, perhaps even stronger than ever before if the popularity of Combiner Wars is any indication. I don't really see third parties slowing down for Masterpiece, but simply expanding to cover it.

 

Speaking of 3P MP combiners, if the crap companies are making classics scale ones for over $100 a bot, how much do you think an MP level will cost? It's not going to be cheap especially Devastator with 6 bots.

 

I think something to keep in mind is that Generations and Masterpiece are roughly the same scale, if you measure it going by the main cars/MP-10, etc.

 

Yeah, I can't think was an accident. Damn shame the prices aren't closer to one another too.

 

I never bought any classics figures from the shops but Japanese MP car prices are pretty cheap.

 

ditto

I always see it in that other place, but I don't think I've ever entered it. So when I saw it here...

Anyway my speculations

are also in my sig.

 

I would say that a 3rd party will take a stab at a true Masterpiece combiner. The first being perhaps Devastator. And i feel the same about Triple changers, starting with Astrotrain and Blitzwing. The current attempt at Astrotrain is a failure imo.

 

If any 3P company (or Hasbro for that matter) wants me to buy another Devastator, Bruticus, Superion, Defensor, Predaking, or Computron, they had better make it MP as f***… and by that i mean high quality, and a mixture of toy and toon accuracy that leads to an ultimate representation that is what the G1 toy and toon WOULD HAVE looked like if they had the skills to make toys and toons that awesome at the time.  

but, I don't really want ANYTHING BIGGER than the biggest ones already out there (Warbotron) and I won't bite if the price is jumped to some crazy amount.