Where's his gun? Magnus was also likely to cash in on the popularity of his appearance as a white Optimus in the Dreamwave comic. As they used some of those images as marketing for the figure. Randy
Though hopefully this post will eventually get me back on topic regarding MP-12, I should say a little more on an MP-10 based Ultra Magnus. Firstly, I have nothing against the Fansproject City Commander armour. The quality is great and the concept relevant to enough fans but more pertinently here the design offered up a) an aesthetic that to say the least value added the core figure and b) built it around the best solution the Voyager mold would allow: partsforming. Conversely what was mentioned in my last post hints at futureproofing MP-10 for a Masterpiece Ultra Magnus. While G1 UM had the core figure standing gerwalk-style in the armour, I would unfortunately deem it near impossible for an MP version of his trailer to be in one piece and still afford the articulation the line demands. Wrapping seperate parts around the core figure as armature as per FP City Commander is one thing, but trying to cover everything on MP-10, such as the thighs, with one piece or armour would mean a mess of hinges and gaps about the knees and moreso the waist. Furthermore, proportion would be off. If the MP-10 legs were used as armature, the foot segments would be retracted, giving the shins even more length before Ultra Magnus' feet were attached below them. The crazier alternative is to slide up the MP-10 shins as thighs for UM, which would be inarticulate and even more out of proportion; bearing in mind that for the cartoon, Ultra Magnus was a bulky guy, but he didn't dwarf Optimus Prime, not to the extent of say, Grimlock. That seems to me to leave one solution. How do we give MP UM mk2 a well proportioned, non to minimal partsforming armoured mode that's poseable? Don't choke up the MP-10 articulation points with wraparound armour, instead retract the legs like the core figure of Ginrai/Powermaster Optimus Prime, forming a core block, but leaving all of Ultra Magnus' articuation up to an armature integral to his trailer. All this might require is that MP-10's knees can bend forward, which I recall Vangelus bemusedly demonstrating in his review of that robot mode. If the same can be done in vehicle mode, then I think this is the 'clue' to Ultra Magnus in MP-10 that the designer referred to. Why not have partsforming to complete an MP-10 then, in my humble rambling opinion? It mightn't be as petty as to spite FansProject's work, but the flipside there could be it isn't Takara's style. Look at MP-11: the articulated struts that keep the null rays in place, plus the removal of the fragile parts around the engine intake fairings. Furthermore, consider that MP-10's main accessory, his weapon, is now stored within the figure. While I'm not suggesting TT have completely reversed their target market for the MP line, the sorts of changes I've made suggest that a child might play with either aforemetioned core figure in the back seat of a car on a road trip without worry of bits dropping off or needing to be set aside. Same goes for anyone who might worry about losing parts down the sofa mid transformation or having a -justifiable - OCD reservation about sitting them on the floor. My point here is, yes, there are more to these releases than their core figures, and things like the trailer or cape contain several components/elements, but I see a move toward figures that are more integrated, self-contained - call it waht you will; I suspect MP Ultra MAgnus' armout will be a number of pieces quite close to one. Impact on MP-12? I suspect the two signature weapons will be to some extent stowable in the vehicle mode, possibly retracting in on themselves. We might even se Sideswipe's pile drivers in a similar fashion.
Better and more succinct than anything I could come up with. We're all hoping it'll be a new mold, but I don't see it being likely one way or the other. I guess we'll just see. I have to admit, it still looks cool.
Right on,Hasbro/Takara will still try ways,means to retool sideswipe into sunstreaker, typical way of doing things of Hasbro/Takara
I think it's more likely that they wont do Sunstreaker at all than to repaint/retool Sideswipe into Sunstreaker.
I agree. It may be true that in other lines Hasbro and Takara will happily repaint a figure into a completely inappropriate character, but so far the MP line explicitly has not done this. No purple Megatron as Shockwave for example, or Air Raid from the MP seeker (he's an F-15, after all). In fact they've shown willingness to do almost the exact opposite of this by recently bringing out new/substantially retooled molds for characters that have already got an existing MP. So yeah, I reckon a true MP Sunstreaker or none at all...
That isn't a very good analogy. a Purple megatron could never look anything like Shockwave. Air Raid has a lot of good reasons not to exist (he's a fourth tier character at best, and that's if he could combine. Which of course he couldn't) A yellow Sideswipe could easily look and transform very much like Sunstreaker, just not "perfect." And perfection is very debatable. Personally I wouldn't give a crap if they did it. I'd prefer a new mold, but I certainly don't consider the idea to be particularly offensive. It wouldn't even make the top 100 list of dumb things in the Transformers line. It might not even make the top 1000. If you'd really be surprised, you're kinda fooling yourself.
Well yeah, my examples were chosen based on the (very few) MP molds we've had; and none of them really parallel the Sideswipe/Sunstreaker situation. Sure, of course a yellow Sideswipe could happen. My point was, and is, that the line hasn't done anything remotely like that so far, and is if anything showing renewed willingness to treat each character individually (they could have gone the Universe route for the Lambo twins; that would have been more likely than a yellow repaint frankly). And some of you guys perhaps ought to look again at G1 Sunstreaker. A yellow MP Sideswipe could not "look and transform very much like Sunstreaker". Not even slightly. If you think so, you're fooling yourself
We can just wish for,no harm having a hope on a Sunstreaker since they are able to issue a Sideswipe,cheers
IMO, a purple Megatron as Shockwave is a lot more reasonable than a yellow Sideswipe. At least the tansformation is closer for Megatron/Shockwave compared to the G1 versions of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Sure the alt modes are completely off but the bots modes (of SW & Megatron) share some features, right? I am with most fans here that I'd love to see an MP Sunstreaker to stand beside MP Swipe but a yellow repaint/retool of Swipe will not fill that role in my collection.
I used to think like this until I very recently got hold of a G1 Shockwave. They share the same shitty skinny legs....that's pretty much it and even then the mechanism to transform is totally different. Then the waist, chest and arms are totally different. Shockwave and Megatron need different moulds/transformations as much as Sideswipe/Sunstreaker IMO.
Totally agree. I was trying to point out the similarity between trying to get a Sunstreaker MP out of MP Sideswipe and trying to get a Shockwave MP out of MP Megatron. Sure there are similarities with parts of each set of figures however to pull off an MP of any of the individual characters, they all need their own specific MP mold.
I was thinking about what accessories MP-12 should have and thought of the following.... (Detailed write up here) #1 - Rocket Pack (from MTMTE Part 3; to be backward compatible with MP-10) #2 - Arm Drills (from A Plague of Insecticons) #3 - Pile Drivers Type A (from SOS Dinobots) #4 - Pile Drivers Type B (from A Plague of Insecticons) #5 - Pile Driver Type C (from Fire on the Mountain) #6 - Jet-Judo Parachute (from Roll for It) #7 - Flame Blaster (from Divide & Conquer) I'm really hoping the Takara will be able to think about these and wrote about the accessories and why in more detail (plus more pictures) over at my blog. Fingers crossed they will do this well.
Exactly! It's not that anyone wants a Shockwave from Megatron, just an illustration of what we might have had if the MP line was indeed interested in doing character-inaccurate repaints such as Sideswipe into Sunstreaker.
Awesome! I'm sure Takara will throw in as many cool things as they can. Oh and hopefully those great still shots showing how Sideswipe and Jazz scale with Prime will put an end to the ridiculous calls for Sideswipe to be Deluxe size! 1/24 Lamborghini FTW!!
Accessories are great but I would be happy with his gun, shoulder cannon, and a pile driver or two. I would love his rocket pack but it wouldn't be necessary for me to still love it. When are these pre-orders going to be up, I can't wait.