The longer we go without a new G1 reveal the less excited I am for Prime 3.0 (possibly). There should be some kind of work up too him and so far nada.

 

Come on buddy, it is obviously Hound  

 

Now that's an exciting speculation! But the MP-9 reissue is just a Chinese market 3C reissue according to listings on Taobao. Personally, I don't buy 3C MPs even if I'm in China myself. I had two 3C MPs and their quality was worse than the HK editions I get my TFs from.

 

Tinfoil hat time


Takara has put a freeze on the official line because profit margins are just too small.
Continuing my theory that all 3ps are false flags done by big Takara, and that 3rd parties have way higher profit to be made...
Takara is making people go nuts, just foaming at their digital mouths, just hoping that anything comes from the big T
They are funneling people to Fanstoys, to DX9, to Maketoys, to X-Transbots

Wake up cybersheeple

 

If there was a reveal, you'd think we would have heard what it is by now. So I guess that means no reveal, again.

 

i believe the next mp will be a transformers character.

Masterpiece potatomus prime!

 

I used to have plenty of G1 figures. People have already argued that point. I would argue HasTak haven't gone after the majority because the majority are in China, which is exceptionally nebulous in legal terms and has absolutely zero reason to shut down any such company or assist in doing so when it is bringing foreign money in, and anyone who thinks that origin or location of these companies isn't a factor is purely naive.

I'm not suggesting that HasTak are somehow above reproach. But then, that isn't my argument in the first place. They changed their style and are producing toys now that are properly licensed and pay the original owner of the IP. There was no competition between their products originally and the vehicle manufacturers, Today with legally licensed and produced high end toys, there is competition from unlicensed ones which take the likeness of not only HasTak's intellectual property, but, since you brought it up, potentially also the original vehicle manufacturer too.

I'm kind of done belaboring the point, though, because it doesn't matter what I say, you'll assume I'm simply against 3P. I'm not. If they produced a wholly original design of, say, Solus Prime? That would be interesting and I'd be very curious as to legally how such a thing would play out, given they'd call it something else and it would be suggested to be a specific character, but it would be one who has no prior design. Unless Solus has one now, I haven't paid attention. But as it is, there's no real leeway. If they license their talent, that would be impressive. If they made their own IP, I'd probably buy into it myself, as there's plenty of interesting concepts.

But I only buy official Transformers. Planet X sure is appealing tho. *sighs in WFC*

Actually, there's an interesting thought. What would people think about, sometime far in the future, Masterpiece WFC/FoC? I'd buy it in a heartbeat, as I loved the games and really enjoy those particular designs, and even if we only got one or two, it would be interesting to see what they do with them to make them mostly kibble-free and like the original CG renders.

 

It appears to me that Takara-Tomy and Hasbro have either put new "G1" and BW developments on an indefinite hold, or has decided to stop designing/developing Masterpiece figures for these sub-franchises.

We'll see...

It'd be nice if they at least got the repaints out in some capacity: black Ironhide, Deep Cover, Spin-Out, Police Sunstreaker, etc.

 

That's gold!

 

I think this year is slow in prep of kicking MPs into high gear.... starting it off with Optimus V3. Just a thought.

 

I'd get him fully 100% deposit paid. And will bug my supplier till the hour he arrives at my doorstep.

 

Ok so I've been reading this thread for a few months. (Just registered) and the fears of the end of the MP line are unfounded. The MP line is just focused on getting as much money from Bayformers as possible before the reboot. Reissues are coming this year, its unknown whether a reveal will be later down the track this year but the designers have made it clear Hoist and Trailbreaker are in the works in the Sunstreaker reveal interview. Blaster is probably in the works due to his cassettes being released and no requiring licensing. V3 Optimus is probably coming. Galvatron would make sense since he doesn't require licensing and Rodimus Prime is being reissued. Its just a break for Hasbro to squeeze as much money as possible out of Bayformers before the reboot, since there will be no interest in the designs anymore (hopefully we atleast get 07 Megatron from the MPM line). Hasbro is a buisiness after all. So everyone relax, the line isn't dead, the + reissues are probably just to fund new molds and as I said I feel Galvatron will be soon since Rodimus is getting a reissue later this year.

 

i'm at the stage where no news is good news and think they are working on something big or more than one thing , it must be the same on the japan forums which takara are more likely to be watching... they are really keeping their cards close to their chest this time

luckily i don't only collect transformers or this would be doing me in  

 

I didn't notice any information about Walther licensing on MP Megatron?! Of course, TT made the figure to resemble the cartoon gun (instead of the real one), but that cartoon gun was based on the G1 toy which was a replica of a Walther P38 complete with markings.

Interestingly, so far all the carbots were a similar situation: the G1 toy based on an actual existing car, which was changed for the cartoon to be more generic. And in all cases licensing was needed when creating the MP (even for Bumblebee -- and Hasui has stated that even though within TT there were clear opinions that he should be more chibi, they feared doing this would endanger the license), but for Megatron they avoided this, even though MP-5 does make mention of Walther on the packaging and pictures of the actual gun (although this doesn't mean it was licensed).

And yes, you're absolutely right that for the MP series TT is looking for licensing and licensing is important. No license and no way around it like the cartoon based approach for Megatron, means no figure up until this date. But the MP series is only one of many TF lines they produce and in output not even close to the mainline. Heck, with the current output the entire year production appears smaller than a single wave from the main line. And in those non-MP lines, HasTak is an active IP infringer.

But admittedly, as @kibble already stated, 3P is a much worse offender. And they do compete directly. But still, HasTak can't walk away clean from such a battle.

In the end every fan has to decide for himself and we'll probably never will all agree on this issue. I prefer a quality product that looks a certain way (the Hasui mix). TT isn't producing this anymore. 3P is. Also, I think it is wrong that because HasTak made a series 35 years ago all rights still lay with them, even though they've ignores designs since. (e.g. Hastak made a G1 Goldbug once in the 1980's and never since...so why should they still have sole possession of this design/character?)

 

Oh man, the ethics argument is still in full swing?

I'm an extremely vocal official only guy, but this is one aspect I agree with the 3P crowd on. It has nothing to do with the ethics or morality of IP theft to me. I just want GENUINE Transformers product. I hate fakes. 3P products are all fake as hell.

KOs are shit though. I roll my eyes whenever someone is such a cheap skinflint that they'd rather buy a third world bootleg than spending a few more shekels to have the real thing.

 

Here we are waiting (not so patiently) for an MP reveal. We will collectively go nuts if one is revealed (if one ever arrives) and then the first post will be someone stating that they can't wait for the OS KO version of whatever it is.

 

...i'm not familiar with the term '3C': what's it stand for?..i've been quite satisfied with other hasbro asia exclusives, but you make it sound like these reissues are more limited in distribution than that...

 

China Compulsary Certificate. Anything sold in China usually bears the 3Cs somewhere, even Rolls Royce Phantom tail lamps.

 

Keep in mind that military vehicles and firearms fall under a category where they can be used without licensing as long as they’re not considered to be under some kind of security clearance. That’s why the jets, Megatron, and tanks don’t need rights.

 

No MP news this month by the sounds of it.. picked this up from Autobase Aichi

フィギュア王No.243

TF corner of the figure released today is 6 pages in color. Most of them are related to Power of the Prime PP - 31 Predaking released in September. Developer interviews and development pictures are also posted.

◆ Relating to the release of PP-31 Predaking, G1 was developed from the beginning of 1987, then the campaign "Counterattack of Destron" at the time, animation depicting the success of beast TF other animals TF2010 " Primitive call "episode introduction etc.

◆ PP-31 Predaking toys introduction is posted in detail, such as the composition of each individual TF and the composition of weapons parts at the time of coalescence.
In addition, the power of the prime product released in September two-in-one and Octopunchi also published.

◆ Titan Class · Predaking Developer Interview is a character page. In this year's Titan class as well as main developer Shomoe Hasui. The content of the article begins with the concept of the whole power of the prime concept and it is said that it was the hardest in the development of Titan Class · Predaking, when unifying, the size at the time of unitary was released in the past, the balance to unify with Titan class · devaster Contents related to allocation is rather large. Tips such as designing the arms and legs of the pre-docking so that they can be swapped left and right, or looking big when opening the mouth of the lion at the time of coalescence.

Relatedly, the pictures of development papers and mechanism prototypes are posted.

In the development image, three images in total, Predaking Union Mode, Laser Crow's Robot Mode, Beast Mode are posted. In the product version, the predecessor Fred Togeteget that is being demoted is drawn in the draft.

Mechanism trial production is a total of 2 pieces of united pictures of united mode and beast alone.

◆ Other, Prime 1 studio's last knight king version Bumblebee, quad barrel shotgun campaign etc. are posted.

◆ As an exclusive scoop, "Koyasu Takeato, a voice actor, is reading a figure king" posted. There is no concrete content other than that. Waiting for the second report.

Although not related to Transformers, there is a notice that large-scale new work will be announced at the Shizuoka Hobby Show in May at the margin of the Diacron product introduction page on page 97. Specific item names etc are not listed.