The G1-Focused Masterpiece Speculation Thread

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by Superquad7, Dec 1, 2011.

  1. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Ah yes that's right, almost forgot about that Shockwave reissue. I guess he did a lot better than his AmazonJP reviews would have us believe, at least outside of Japan.

    Could be, although I imagine by the time Ironhide was in production TT still hadn't really seen the sales for Tracks.
     
  2. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Heh, that reminds me of those interviews in the MP guidebook where the MP team were all talking about revealing the next big phase in the MP line at the year's end. That was what, in 2014?

    What did that new phase turn out to be, exactly?
     
  3. GearsRollo

    GearsRollo Well-Known Member

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    This is true, the alt-mode on Tracks is bloody gorgeous, and the flight mode with that stand is extremely nice. I wish I could order a few more of those - missed the boat on a release of clear ones a ways back.

    Could be, but remember, they're probably looking at distributor orders and pre-order numbers much more than they are consumer sales. Those would be becoming available to them as soon as the major etailers post their pre-order sales. They may have been getting that by the time Ironhide was going to the production line.
     
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  4. Shockwave81

    Shockwave81 Protecting Cybertron from all hostile threats Moderator

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    Agreed.

    Just a few days ago I began rearranging my MP display (it takes a while to get things ‘just right’), and I stopped and stared at MP Inferno - my favourite Autobot.

    A character I didn’t expect to see any time soon, if at all for some reason, and yet there he was, posed and perfect in every way (for me).

    The fact I also have official releases of all three Coneheads is nothing short of bliss as well.

    If the line ended tomorrow I’d be mostly ok, but I would always lament the absence of Hoist...
     
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  5. brianjnelson

    brianjnelson Well-Known Member

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    Something about this just seems off to me. Every time I sign on to HLJ and see Tracks is still there I remember some of the negatives about him, and then lump him in one of two catagories, either he had an average production run and sold poorly, or a large production run and sold averagely.

    But, why?

    Let's tackle the second option first. Tracks sold fine, Takara just made way too many. This would have been an odd move for Takara. Tracks was already an odd release at the time because we figured we would mostly be getting 1984 bots and their repaints, and Tracks just seemed so B or C list. Yes, he has a gorgeous vehicle mode but I really don't see any other reason why Takara would have said, "make TONS of Trackses - he's going to sell like hot cakes!!"

    So that leave us with Tracks was just a poor seller. But was he? I mean, we've all (mostly) got him don't we? I know I do, and I openly admit that he is one of my least favorite of the Masterpieces, but I still had to have him. He's part of the collection. Floating head and holey body and everything, he sits right next to all the other Diaclones. If he really did sell poorly then that would mean that a sizable portion of people collecting Masterpiece pick and choose which ones they purchase. I was always under the impression that most of the collectors wanted a full collection, even if that meant not every single release was perfect. Even if I collected third party there isn't another option for him that I'm aware of.

    Tracks being a poor seller seems to be the better argument - but not by much. So what is it? Maybe it's just a false perception I have based on anecdotal evidence?

    Maybe it's because he's "gay"?
     
  6. GearsRollo

    GearsRollo Well-Known Member

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    I think that a lot of collectors don't collect the way that the group of us who are inclined to be in a chat room about how intensely we collect do. We're a subset of collectors. Personally, I sought out these boards and this room because I wanted to have other people to talk about what was coming and I couldn't really find anyone around me who wasn't tired of hearing about it. When I worked at a comic shop that did a big vintage toy trade, I learned that there were Optimus Prime collectors, car-only collectors, Autobot or Decepticon collectors, G2-only collectors, collectors who only collected specific types of things, like just Pontiac Stingray toys in one case, or just toys of wolves and dogs in another. There will be a ton of people that don't buy anything outside of the '84 characters even.

    All sorts collect, and just as many people will collect something for the specific reason someone else does not, and those folks will all talk to each other. I guarantee you that there are a bunch of fans out there who specifically bought Tracks just because of that old schoolyard rumour that he was the gay Autobot, which is a whole other strange conversation, really. Ultimately, it's really, really easy for us to go down a path where we've created the idea of the evidence that we're citing... we see it in here a lot when one person talks about an idea they had, and somehow it becomes a rumour, like every time those old Hasui Constructicon designs surface, and it's three days of fevered combiner talk until someone finally realizes that it's just that yet again.
     
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  7. xZAOx

    xZAOx Yep.

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    I think Tracks kinda suffered from being in that transitional phase. I still love the figure, but it definitely has a weaker robot mode with the backpack gap. Not that I think it needs a second attempt, but I'm sure they could shore that up these days. The car mode is still glorious. Lots of great accessories too.

    But that batch of MPs in general was pretty rough. Ironhide was a real strong bold new direction, but how they left those hip panels in still confounds me. Then Hot Rod comes out - fun transformation, but proportion issues galore. Shockwave lands with just NO paint nor finish, and looks like the engineering effort got cut short (those feet, wtf). However, they knocked it out of the park with the backpack.

    That run of MPs for the line all kinda were just weird in how they turned out. Since then though, they've really taken the time to engineer them fully and paint these dudes head to toe. So I think Tracks was just a causality of that change, of some engineering missteps on those 4 molds, and of consumers just kinda being "wtf is going on here....".

    The only "meh" since then to me is the new cassette mold we just got. It's by far the weakest cassette (the not-Steeljaw one).
     
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  8. Afterburner

    Afterburner For your health

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    I think Tracks is great. I don't get the complaints at all. The only thing that bothers me in the least is the size of his missile launchers, but even that is minor.

    News sure has been slow. It's been a long time since we were just sitting with two impending MP's. It would be nice to at least get some word about what is going on.

    Something seems very off about TakaraTomy lately.
     
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  9. CarRobot

    CarRobot Ninja Police Car

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    Like business-wise or product-wise? The whole Japanese declining birthrate thing makes me scared that they will go out of business in the next couple of years or so and I don't want that to happen because I also collect Tomica die cast cars and it would hurt me to see Tomica and Transformers go away forever.
     
  10. Afterburner

    Afterburner For your health

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    Business and product wise.
     
  11. pilot00

    pilot00 Well-Known Member

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    Not sure if serious or.......
     
  12. Kranix_OZ

    Kranix_OZ Well-Known Member

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    I do recall a second run for Hasbro Asia although HLJ doesn't get Hasbro Asia stock though, right? A lot of characters went in and out of stock on HLJ including Tracks, I know as that's where mine was purchased from and I bought him when he became available again.

    I nearly jumped on a second Ironhide with the HLJ discount not long ago as mine came from the factory with a black chrome option... Still I did always get the feeling that MP Ironhide wasn't as popular as made out on here actually. Not that it matters.
     
  13. CarRobot

    CarRobot Ninja Police Car

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    I just don't want to see TT go under without them finishing the Diaclone carbots and some of the other characters from the franchise in the Masterpiece line. Sorry if I got a little worked up about that.
     
  14. Lazerwave

    Lazerwave My Most Prized Treasure

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    Remember when they first announced MP BW Dinobot at Wonder Fest. 2017? Is there another one this year?
     
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  15. Scowly Prowl

    Scowly Prowl Still calculating variables...

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    Tracks and Road Rage may have been a victim of a plan to release the production of an identical Hasbro and TT release into North America. It would explain why there is still excess stock.

    Regarding the TRU release, the other possible release is Shockwave. He's not a real gun, so no plug issue. Plus, he's G1, and despite the other 3P offerings, he's still an attractive model. He has enough electronic gimmicks, and who knows, maybe they will even get his colours to some people's liking. MP-12 is nice... but I can't see a lot of them moving at at $100 USD.
     
  16. CarRobot

    CarRobot Ninja Police Car

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    If the do release Shockwave here, will they market the gun mode as a "submarine" mode like Titans Return Sixshot? I really hope they don't do that.
     
  17. GearsRollo

    GearsRollo Well-Known Member

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    I dunno... not to bring politics into the mix, but with the level of gun violence going on in the US the last year, I feel like Hasbro might want to stay as far away from it as they possible could. Sci-fi laser gun or no, sometimes it’s just better to avoid an issue entirely rather than risk association with it.
     
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  18. CarRobot

    CarRobot Ninja Police Car

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    Which is why MP36 will never, ever be sold outside of Japan in a major retailer.
     
  19. GearsRollo

    GearsRollo Well-Known Member

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    That was already a given. Laws for toy guns are a hell of a lot stricter in the US than for real ones.
     
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  20. Type-R

    Type-R Well-Known Member

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    Oh really...

    TRU HK. :D 

     
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