[Cyclonus79]

I agree with alot of u guys as well. I don't want to see a black repaint of the new MP-12 come out an be called Deadend.

[Afterburner]

I hope people understand that we have moved beyond the Armada/Energon/Cybretron and unfortunately Alternators era of half-assed homages and forced characters. This is the Masterpiece line we are talking about, the premiere Transformers line. This is not a line for yellow Mirage's that can be Drag Strip just because Drag Strip also happened to be a race car. This is not the line for Sunstreaker as Sideswipe with a new head.

Classics got markedly better about the way we treat characters and the standard has continued to rise since then (barring an exception here or there). The Masterpiece line certainly cannot get into the business of regression. If it does, it is instant death regardless of price.

Stop settling for stuff just to have something. It is not worth it.

[miscreant]

Originally Posted by Afterburner

I hope people understand that we have moved beyond the Armada/Energon/Cybretron and unfortunately Alternators era of half-assed homages and forced characters. This is the Masterpiece line we are talking about, the premiere Transformers line.

I doubt Takara are as sentimental about it as we are. If they think they can get away with repainting a Masterpiece Mirage (should such a thing ever exist) into Drag Strip, and charge $100+ for it, they will.

[Afterburner]

Nope, you're dead wrong, especially if you expect that kind of approach from TakaraTomy. It isn't about being sentimental, it is about having the line (and thus the prices) mean something.

[Rijie78]

Originally Posted by miscreant

I doubt Takara are as sentimental about it as we are. If they think they can get away with repainting a Masterpiece Mirage (should such a thing ever exist) into Drag Strip, and charge $100+ for it, they will.

Don't disagree with this at all - at least inasmuchas Takara's a toy company, not a fan charity (a shock to some, I'm sure). However, I think the reality is they're more likely to see what character variations they can get out of an MP mould, instead of defaulting to the "repaint it into X" approach (after all, seekers aside, we've not had that so far with MPs).

Mirage is actually a good example; if one existed, I could see there being more value in creating a "crystal" Mirage, e-hobby style - referencing his disappearing trick, arguably perfectly likely to sell as such to collectors who also had the standard MP Mirage. More so than a Drag Strip repaint.

All conjecture of course Personally I reckon it's a bit of a moot point; rather than Takara making life hard by having to force extra characters out of unique moulds, I'm sure we'd see the Sideswipe/Prowl/Inferno sort of stuff first, where there's a few possible variant decos and/or "shared mould" characters have already been established. Much more efficient.

I imagine the principle will be that enough of that going on successfully will help offset against the unique moulds which we're also bound to still get (thinking of the Grimlock, Megatron & Rodimus we've seen so far, all unique).

[miscreant]

Endless Convoys, no Coneheads, Sloppy QC on MP9, shoehorning movie toys into a line with "Masterpiece" in the name.

All "Masterpiece " really means to Takara is 'How much money can we make from this?'.

[Rijie78]

Originally Posted by miscreant

Endless Convoys, no Coneheads, Sloppy QC on MP9, shoehorning movie toys into a line with "Masterpiece" in the name.

All "Masterpiece " really means to Takara is 'How much money can we make from this?'.

Dude. Is this an "I got burned" thing? Takara (like Hasbro) exist to make money. This, all but the most deluded fans know.

"Endless Convoys". Shocker. He's their most recognisable character, and if they can create multiple variants, they will. Ok. Don't buy em (I find it easy not to). But, it's not like they've said "ooh, MP Motormaster!" made the windows purple and stuffed that on the shelves - which was apparently the sort of behaviour your point was about.

"Sloppy QC", no idea, didn't buy MP9. Quite likely. But, nothing to do with how they handle repaints. Presumably not much use in making money either, if they have to fix quality issues,

"Shoehorning movie toys". That's the Movie series Masterpiece line (that's what it says on my MPM-1 Starscream box). Also, that's how TT chose to market those toys in Japan. The sublines/toy classes Hasbro used for those toys weren't part of Takara's strategy in their home market. So, again, that has nothing to do with how they will or won't handle MP repaints. It was about them selling toys in Japan tho, I'll give you that.

I don't think anyone here with a brain would disagree with you about Takara's first goal to be to sell the damn things (only the weirdest fans seem to think these toys are made for them in some way). But that profit motive doesn't exclude Takara also having differing policies & strategies for different series' - in fact, that profit motive will ensure they do value each series individually. Sentimentality (or fan desire) has nothing to do it. A niche line like MP is far less likely to have random repaint syndrome, precisely because it's niche.

You'll see a bunch of Sideswipe/TigerTracks/RedAlerts, and a whole load of Prowl/Smokescreen/Silversteak/Bluestreak whatevers with the MP line, no doubt. Takara will work those moulds for everything that will make a worthwhile return. But you won't see Prowl suddenly called Streetwise - there'd be so little value in that with the MP market, it's not worth running the production line.

[miscreant]

There's some difference between 'Lets make money' and 'How much money can we make?'. No, no sentiment on their part, obviously, but they've been quick enough to play on ours, then do an about turn when it suits them, and that's why i wouldn't put any repaint past them....., if they thought it would sell. Regardless of if it fits any continuity or memory we may have.


...and The Movie Masterpiece line smacks of shoehorning. The name, the packaging, very clearly intended to coax Masterpiece collectors.

[Afterburner]

You're incredibly bitter about what is clearly the most fan-friendly line of TransFormers ever created. If it turns you off so much, stop buying and following it.

The line isn't perfect, but it is pretty close. Perhaps you don't realize that the amount of development each one of these figures requires is well beyond any other TF. The same amount of time might be spent on one Masterpiece as is spent on an entire wave for another line. That time costs money.

Likely MP-9's first run suffered greatly thanks to how complicated he is and how little room for error you have with these if you want the design to reach its potential. Not because they were being cheap or didn't bother to do quality control.

TakaraTomy is not looking to screw anybody over, they know that won't work in the long haul. Sometimes mistakes are made, the question is - do you learn from them? I think they've already demonstrated that they have.

[miscreant]

Originally Posted by Afterburner

You're incredibly bitter about what is clearly the most fan-friendly line of TransFormers ever created. If it turns you off so much, stop buying and following it.

The line isn't perfect, but it is pretty close. Perhaps you don't realize that the amount of development each one of these figures requires is well beyond any other TF. The same amount of time might be spent on one Masterpiece as is spent on an entire wave for another line. That time costs money.

Likely MP-9's first run suffered greatly thanks to how complicated he is and how little room for error you have with these if you want the design to reach its potential. Not because they were being cheap or didn't bother to do quality control.

TakaraTomy is not looking to screw anybody over, they know that won't work in the long haul. Sometimes mistakes are made, the question is - do you learn from them? I think they've already demonstrated that they have.

Are you genuinely seeing scepticism as bitterness?. They learned from their mistakes? What have we actually seen since their last mistake? A new Convoy, which admittedly came out pretty well, a new Starscream which borrows heavily from the mold they shelved and some line art for MP12.

I’ll take a bit more convincing.

Incidentally, their last mistake was turning out MP9 before it was ready. You may be willing to pass it off as something other than error on their part, but there were enough reported problems with it to support the view they did drop the ball.

I don’t remember using the word “screw” either.