I wouldn't sell him, he's a damn fine looking floating space cannon when he's mounted on a stand. Perfect desk toy.

 

based on takaratomy and hasbro's milking tendency, i would say bumblejumper aka mp21r is next

 

I'm with you on this one buddy, Malware5 I don't know if I was being implicated as one who blindlessly bashes MP's due to some designer bias.
Being an architect aswell as having studied design & art I think I have the intelligence and experience to read and understand design cues. I care who designs these things because I care about, well you guessed it...DESIGN!
Some designers are better than others its just that simple.

Hasui better represents these figures than Koyabashi because he has an OCD like drive to make them the perfect mix match of the source materials in ways us ( the biggest critics) would even overlook. Koyabashi doesn't have quite the same attention to detail and its visible a mile away.

Kobayashi's is a great designer and I still buy his work however he is not my favourite designer. I think this is the point most people make and there is nothing wrong with having a favourite. People have favourite basketball & football players, why is this any different.

Thanks for the jewels TCracker. It was your posts that used to make this forum so great & birthed the thousands of pages.

Slave IV can you drop us a cryptic hint? maybe one of his primary colours that isn't purple... say beige or green?

 

any hints on who this other character is?

 

fail Kobayashi fail

kobayashi designed my fave masterpiece mp03/mp11 so got nowt against him   still think ironhide would have been better if Hasui was lead designer still

Hironori Kobayashi - Transformers Wiki

 

Yes

Oh yea? News would probably break in September when Tracks hits the market.

He's been rumored for a long time now, I'm betting this figure design was mostly done by Hausi.

I'm guessing that the MP Thundercracker would be a Hasbro Asia release similar to what we got with Skywarp. So that wouldn't get a new MP number it would just be MP-11TC and wouldn't affect TT current MP plans.

Or a long overdue one?  

Yes, that is the truth heck even the Combiner Wars repaint is terrible. I'll probably pick it up because it's a TB figure.

Sources are cool to have typically I keep the first few nuggets to myself until I see if they pan out.

 

What would be your ideal 2016 masterpiece run, expecting Ironhide as the last 2015 release. Typically, they will use some existing molds to run a few characters , and also come out with 2 or 3 new molds. Here is mine:

Ratchet / Cliffjumper /Thundercracker (Mostly existing engineering)

Shockwave or Megatron (although 3rd party has good standins) and
Galvatron as new molds.

And at least one surprise autobot car like Sunstreaker or Jazz.

(I would go nuts for a scale accurate Trailbreaker, since he has been getting the tiny treatment with generations and combiner wars molds)

My 2016 would be very satisfying with a lineup like this.

-Bob

 

Really hope Takara or Hasbro Asia gives us a Slicer redeco using the Wheeljack mold. I'd buy the shit outta dat.

 

I would also be super excited for Trailbreaker, who has been getting somewhat of a resurgence over the last year or so.

 

Yeah, what the MP line needs is a force field.

 

Nah no room for multiple versions of characters in my collection, once I see official confirmation of MP Shockwave ol Quakey's sold (assuming I like what I see from TT that is)

 

Megatron, Galvatron, Shockwave, and Thundercracker are all overdue and would all be more than welcome. I just hope one of these guys is coming in December. Ironhide in November, a big Decepticon in December - that's my hope. Wonder if TT will be throwing us another curveball anytime soon? No one saw Optimus Primal coming as far as I know.

I think a lot of assumptions are made when we start talking about designers. What's clear to me, though, is that these things are a team effort. Hasui mentioned this quite often in interviews. We have so little info as to what goes on behind the scenes, how these things are made, and who's responsible for what. I just don't see a signature "style" in any of these figures that can be attributed to Hasui, Kobayashi, or Yuki. Compare Yuki's MP Megatron to his Star Saber. Compare Kobayashi's Grimlock to his Rodimus to his Ultra Magnus. Compare Hasui's Lambor to his Prowl. Looking through the MP Guidebook, Hasui and Kobayashi's designs and sketches don't appear to be too far off from each other in approach, style, skill, attention to detail, engineering prowess, G1 accuracy - you name it. For a while there I thought the only area Hasui seemed to trump Kobayashi was stability - Hasui's figures tab together remarkably well. But then Kobayashi's Ultra Magnus is as stable as any figure, which makes me think any lack of stability prior to MP-10 was due to qc issues or a reshuffling of priorities of how to make these figures. It doesn't even appear that Hasui and Kobayashi are responsible for the face sculpts - they just provide detailed drawings for the sculptors to work from.

I think the biggest factor that influences how these figures turn out is the G1 character designs themselves. Hasui spoke to this, saying that it's much easier to design an MP who's G1 character model closely resembled the G1 toy. He was specifically talking about Prowl, whose G1 transform he mentioned as being near perfect already. He also talked about how difficult it was designing Wheeljack, whose G1 character model is very different from the G1 toy. Wheeljack was so difficult that Hasui said he nearly gave up! None of us know what Hasui's work on Ultra Magnus looked like except that the assumption is it was armor wrapped around MP-10. I cannot imagine an armored up MP-10 that would be any sleeker, smaller, or less fiddly than the all-in-one we got that was designed by Kobayashi. I love Hasui as much as anyone - he turned this line into what many of us have dreamed about for thirty years and his figures are AWESOME. But I also think it's fair to say none of the characters he tackled presented design challenges as difficult as Hot Rod and Megatron. To my mind, the most challenging design he tackled was Ultra Magnus and he moved on from the project during it's development for one reason or another.

I've always thought that whoever had to design a new Megatron, Galvatron, and Ironhide would have his work cut out for him. Very difficult design challenges due to their G1 character models having very little to do with their G1 toy. Also, very popular characters whose fans are going to have high expectations, many of whom are going to complain about them not turning out as "perfectly" as a figure like Prowl or Soundwave. Drawing a vanette morph into a robot that's a sleek, kibble free, well proportioned stack of blocks is one thing - making it a reality by turning it into a mass produced 7" figure with a budget and schedule set by higher ups is another.

I'd love to hear Liampope's perspective on the matter.

 

Indeed I don't think anyone saw Primal coming, many thought there wasn't a cat in hells chance of BW MP's...I am so glad they were wrong  

I'd be very happy to see Megatron, Galvatron or Shockwave in December, Thundercracker on the other hand would be an underwhelming way to end the year in my opinion. The Ironhide and Primal announcements have renewed my excitement about the line, I hope they keep that momentum going.

I personally can't wait to see proper photos of Primal in both beast and robot mode and am hoping for more BW announcements in the future, along with some more high profile G1 characters. Another sub A lister or repaint would be less impressive.

 

You'd want to do it quickly though. Once Shockwave is announced the demand for QW is going to drop along with the value.

 

Wow what happened to all the smilies in the forum update?? I need one with clapping, or at least a thumbs up! So much quotable truth to agree with there! The facts as we know them without bias, prejudice or hyperbole.

I too believe you can't really see designer cues in the figures. As DeanML says - just compare some of the characters done by the same guy. The end result is soooo much more to do with the G1 material and engineering requirements than any one designers own style.

People bashed Kobayashi for MP-3 (the kibble) and 5... until we found out it wasn't him. People were gushing with praise for Hasui for 'fixing' the seeker mold with MP-11... then we found out it was Kobayashi. People were also gushing with praise for Hasui at the first UM prototype reveal... then we found out it was Kobayashi, etc etc.

Truth is nobody can tell until we are told, then a load of people say yeah I could see that all along!   Some say Tracks is a clear departure from the other cars with his slender style which is apparently a Kobayashi cue (er, are we forgetting UM?). I say it's becasue he's made of a C3 Vette. He could never turn out wide like the Lambos or Lancias. To me Tracks looks perfectly aligned with the other carbots. We think it's Kobayashi, but could easily have been knocked out by Hasui while he was on a roll with other cars. I wouldn't be surprised either way, and we wont know for sure till it is revealed.

One thing I would add to Dean's post is another thing to remember is the bulk of Hasui's figures came after the bulk of Kobayashi's. So things like stability and tabbing together, imho, are likely not Hasui/Kobayashi things, but simply the team as a whole improving over time. Later figures have better stability, poseability and tabbing. Hence Kobayashi's UM is perfectly solid and stable, and I'm absolutely sure Tracks and Ironhide will be too.

Ironhide looks like a really difficult job to get that bot mode toon accuracy (e.g. the crotch and lower legs, where the 3P efforts just didnt go that mile), and the right scale for both modes. A bigger challenge than the cars for sure. I'm confident it will turn out amazing.

And all this Shockwave and other Cons news?!! Wow - thread just got really interesting!!  

 

Agreed about TC, but I'd rather have him than nothing between Ironhide and the end of the year. I'll surprised if he's released any differently that Skywarp was last year.

I don't care about Beast Wars at all, but even I'm looking forward to seeing more of Optimus Primal! I won't be getting him, he just doesn't fit my collection, but I'll definitely be admiring him from afar.

 

Should be stickied   And about figures improving over time... that's what I was trying to get at, though I worded it poorly, about TT prioritizing stability with the progression of the line. You said it better than I could!

One thought about Tracks... makes sense that he was designed with a svelte bot mode in mind so that he could double up as the fembot Roadrage.

What we need as much as another MP reveal around here are more TT MP interviews! Any way TFW2005 could arrange that, being one of the biggest fan sites around?

 

Just thinking ahead, if rumors are true Takara really does have a full lineup ahead;

July: G2 Bumblebee
August: Blue Bluestreak
September: Tracks
October: Roadrage
November: Ironhide
December: Shockwave
January: Thundercracker
February: Ratchet

Plus possible re-paints;
Bumblebee (Glyph),
Diaclone Ultra Magnus,
Diaclone vans,
Grey Shockwave,
Diaclone Black Tracks.

 

More thoughts on designers (sorry, guys!)... I think one of the (many) reasons we all love Hasui so much are because of the interviews he frequently gave and his many tweets. That stuff sure endeared him to us. Same with Yuki with regards to Star Saber. Kobayashi, on the other hand, has no social media presence as far as I'm aware and gives fewer interviews for one reason or another. I do not see that as any indication he is less passionate about TFs, G1, or MPs. Quite the opposite, from the interviews I've read with him. Maybe he's introverted, really damn busy, or TT hasn't facilitated it. That said, we could sure use some tweets and interviews!

 

We're going round in circles again. I'm one of the biggest Hasui fans here but all this talk comparing him and Kobayashi is boring. Kobayashi knocked Ultra Magnus out of the park.