Has anybody else noticed that the latest wave of MPs (Hotrod, & Shockwave, & Ironhide) seem a bit, uhm, different? It's not that they're bad, but they do seem to be different in some intangible way... It's hard to describe.

It seems like the figures released between MP10 Convoy and MP24 Starsaber are amazing. The latest figures all look very nice, but they're not amazing.

Group A: MP01 - MP09 (Good Figures)
Group B: MP10 - MP24 (Amazing Figures)
Group C: MP25 - Present (Good Figures)

Am I imagining things or was there a change in designers/engineers at some point?

 

New designer. They along with Tracks are all done by Hironori Kobayashi. Shogo Hasui the old one did MP-10 to MP-22 (along with Kobayashi). Hasui also did Devastator, which clearly suffered from cost limitations.

 

Oh dear. Here we go. Yes, the designers have changed. 1-9 was Hironori Kobayashi, 10-21 was Shogo Hasui, then 22 onwards is Kobayashi again.

But you know. Cue the 'Kobayashi Fail' thing again from all the peeps who want to have Hasui's babies.  

 

New designer? That makes sense!

 

Eh, they apparently proved successful and now have altered the formula.

Tracks was the first place I noticed it with the altering of the basic transformation "for cartoon accuracy" and actually in my mind made it less accurate.

They say it was done because there was a bit of blue around the wheel and because he did not have a big backpack in the animation... Now the edge of the front of the leg looks odd floating in front of the curved hood... and the backpack is larger then it would have been?

I did this pic a while back when I was trying to figure out why Tracks looked off....

HOWEVER.. I still like them and am getting them *shrug* they just look a bit off since they have started going a little more stylized... other then Shockwave O.O

 

fail Kobayashi fail



.........am i doing it right?... 

 

Arguing about aesthetics is a zero sum game. The only MP of the latest lineup that I dislike is Ironhide, and that's completely subjective. Laserwave is super beautiful, and Roadrage is probably the most stunning Transformers toy I've seen to date. All of these statements are my opinion.

 

Pfft not a kobayashi fail.. I think they are rushing them through the design process due to the popularity the line has had. It is almost as if less focus is being put on the figure and more on the whole package including all accessories. When it was one figure one gun and one missile launcher I think they spent more time polishing the main part.

 

They may also be attempting to head off 3rd Party releases. The Shockwave release date seems to be very close to the Quakwave's second product run. That may not be coincidental...

 

Both are great designers making amazing Transformers. No fail here just full of win.

 

You know what?

Just be happy Rob Liebfeld works/designs for all 3P instead of Takara...

 

Shockwave looks pretty badass to me. Track's does too. But prefer Hasaui over the current designer.

 

Kobayashi actually did Mp22. Hasui attempted it but couldn't pull it off.

 

This thread I think will be shut down soon. It may get ugly.

 

No actually iron hide on they all are a fail.

 

to me, The MP line has went from a very exclusive, extremely high quality line, to more of a mass produced product.

I have them all except Saber and Magnus (and tracks, but that will be soon), while the newer ones are great figures, and really fun..I cant help but look at MP05 and MP1 and still marvel at them.

The 1st prime MP is still way underrated if you ask me. I still pull that down once in awhile and mess with it.

Im pretty OK with how the MP line is. Changed? Yea..is it bad per say? probably not.

 

It's hard not to agree when you present such a compelling argument and evidence.

Look, Ironhide looks a bit janky I admit, but with 30 years of botched toys of the two grumpy old vans, I am not excusing it but I accept it.

Shockwave looks like he leaped straight out of my dreams. Hot Rod is the underdog however, neither character nor design were of much interest to me but the figure looks very nice. MP-9's rigid adherence to the cartoon model looks more uncomfortable to me than this more rough interpretation.

But then, I cannot really write off any of these as successes, and to do so as fails is equally silly. We haven't got them in hand yet.

Also, even Tracks is part of this? Each to their own, but he might just be one of the best looking Transformers I've seen in my life.