lol.  

Well, we're not talking about THAT many BW figures after all. And since third parties don't seem to want to have anything to do with them, just let us have this one.   It'd be shame to have only half the original Maximals.

And to your second point, agree... Masterpiece is still a "premiere" line which means only the big shot, luxury-type characters get included. We know now that this includes the original Diaclone cars; we should never have assumed that just because Sideswipe and company are relatively "minor" characters compared to Optimus, Megatron and Starscream, that never meant that we would ever get the Insecticons, the rest of the Dinobots, combiners, etc.

I'll never say "never gonna happen", mind you - but we've been waiting YEARS now for even a HINT that this could happen one day, and we're still waiting... how many MPMs and BW characters in, now?

But yes, like I mentioned before, there's still some possible "big hitter" G1 characters left - Blaster, Galvatron, etc... and I still think that Devastator is iconic enough to make the cut too, if they ever decide such a thing is economically feasible... who knows? But I wouldn't hold my breath.  

 

This is purely my own personal prediction, but I think TT will release:

Jazz
Mirage
CJ
TB
Hound
Hoist
Blaster
Windcharger
Grimlock 2.0
Swoop
Chromia
Arcee
Springer
Blurr

I think we'll get Aerialbots. I also think we'll get Stunticons.

The G1 line is FAR from done.

 

I don't think the MP line will really "end" any time soon, but I suspect it'll keep going through changes that none of us can predict at points.

When it started out in 2003, hell, I just thought it was a one off. Then we got Greenscream in 2006. Hell, even Takara didn't know what they wanted from the line at that point. 2010 with MP10 brought a big change as they reset the scale - or you could even say "decided to have a consistent scale". Then 2012 they ramped up big time, cranking out Diaclone cars, letting us know that wanted to really flesh out the line. They were still doing real life alt modes, but as later editions of Starscream showed us, they started wanting the robot modes to be a little more cartoon-ish. Somewhere in 2015/2016 they decided the line really need to have robot modes at least that looked like they stepped out of the cartoon.

As they start getting into more secondary G1 characters, they started expanding into other continuities to hit the big names again.

So, no, I don't think the line is going anywhere, but in the 14 years of this line, it's taken a lot of turns we didn't expect. I think it'll continue to do things we don't expect.

 

I don't think that's true - but just like Takara put G1 ahead of BW, so do third parties. Perfect Effect has been doing some BW figures here and there longer than you might realize. Generation Toy is getting into it now too. UT and Keith are dipping into the Bayverse now.

In short...give it time. I think it'll happen just like third parties doing G1 MP - Takara has now set the standard. The pace is extremely slow. After a few years, some gaps will become obvious that Takara either won't be doing, or won't be doing for a long while, and third parties will pick up the slack.

 

If Takara were to get Jazz done I’d never doubt this company again. I dont see hound being an issue for them , nor Insecticons for that matter.
According to some though, they’ll never release them because of there 3rd party counterparts an if they do , they’d go for premium prices . ( I still beg to differ ). Also , if Takara goes full on with post movie guys , I agree about Galvatron , and perhaps Chromedome as well. Again , I see no reason not to ..

 

Thanks to 3rd Party, I honestly don't care what TT chooses to do...go all BW and Bay all the time, move on to later stuff, whatever. Sure, I appreciate when they do a great G1 release that kicks the 3P versions butt, but I'm pretty content with what I have...at least once someone does a decent Brawn. Without 3rd Party, though, I'd probably be disgruntled.

 

That's not what I or Smokescreen were saying. What we're trying to get across to you is that 3Ps affect a broader spectrum on things like the MP line and Transformers as a whole, and drive higher prices to consumers, along with a long-term creeping damage to Takara. You're making a point about the issues with IP theft sound like hysteria.

There's no reason they wouldn't do a character like Hound, but we should expect that he'll be around the same price as Sunstreaker, because costs don't go down. It may be that with whatever's going on in the background these days, we're only going to get one carbot a year for a while too, as they've got a glut of MPMs that are largely cars to work through.

 

Congrats, dude! Megatron's so remarkable he oughtta hold you over for a while!

 

I just got in Badcube's Brawny, and I like him a lot more than I thought I would.

 

Hopefully you're right. I do remember them doing Optimus Optimal, wasn't tracking any of the other stuff, though.

I'm not sure this is *entirely* true... If third parties popped up for EVERY perceived gap in collections we would have gotten some Animated figures by now - I mean, at LEAST you'd think some KO company would have upsized the Lugnut mold, that's really low-hanging fruit...

And yeah, we did get that Huffer and Pipes two-pack, but if I recall correctly, it was a bit of a failure - evidence that non-G1 (i.e. anything that's not G1 MP-style or in the vein of Classics/CHUG stuff) is risky even for third parties.

 

I know I would look to replace Brawny first chance I got so I've been unwilling to pay the $60, 70, 80 bucks to get him. I have tried to buy him a couple times for a good deal, though, as a placeholder. They ended up being scams. One was obvious by price, but one that neither paypal or me would lose money on as it was a new account which eBay holds the funds on so I didn't get why a scam seller would bother. The other was questionable where the deal wasn't SOO good that it had to be fake, and had other recent positive feedback for the same item, so I took a chance. Most the times in similar scenarios I've gotten the item at a good price. Anyhow, long story short...I don't loathe Brawny, but I don't like him either and think just about anyone that takes another stab at him will improve upon him...at least in the looks dept..

 

Here’s my super-realistic 3-yr release window for the Line:

‘18: Blaster
‘19: Trailbreaker
‘20: Hound

‘19 and ‘20 are interchangeable, Hoist will likely be squeezed in there, and the remaining months will be padded out with BW, MPM and Diaclone re-paints ...

 

Just off the top of my head: they did a Blackarachnia years back (it sold out, and I tried to get one, but aftermarket was $200+ so it turned me off), and more recently they've done Lio Convoy and the Optimal Optimus that you mentioned. Generation Toy has an Optimus Primal. I'd say probably only PE's Optimal Optimus would fit into the current MP line though.

Oh, just though of this too! FansHobby is doing the dragon Megatron remold, and PE recently announced their dragon Megatron too.

You hit the nail on the head about Animated - it wasn't popular enough for it to happen, but still, third party tried. CZ Hazard did the Pipes/Huffer himself, and it didn't go well (even though I love the figures). But that killed any chance of a 3P Animated revival (RIP Omega Supreme). And now it's in the "too old for people to care about, too new for there to be nostalgia revival" time span. APlus toys is working on Devy, but we haven't really heard much out of them, unfortunately.

BW has a rabid fanbase (albeit a LOT smaller than G1 of course), and PE at the least has had enough success to keep going with multiple releases. To me that says that we can get some gap fillers for the BW MP line once this last G1 MP push gets done (combiners mainly left).

But yeah, it's definitely not a sure thing - but I think the market is there. I'd say the biggest risk is one of the 3P guys themselves being enough of a BW fan to WANT to do it, and do it in the BW MP style.

 

^This right here! Sure, it would be nice if TT made the rest of the G1 raft characters, but thanks to 3P, I won't have to wait until the year 2027 to complete my collection. I just want to be done with it. I'm sick of waiting at the edge of my seat for announcements only to learn that the new figure is a Bayformer or BW character that I've never heard of. Now, all I need is for a 3P company to make a decent Cliffjumper. Ace Tumbler is an okay stand-in scab, but I'm still waiting for a better version.

 

There's 2 coming out in 2018 (in theory):

XTB: X-Transbots MM-?? Hubcap and Cliffjumper
MMC: Ocular Max Hellion (Cliffjumper)

 

Got so bored waiting for a new G1 announcement, that I ordered the entire Armada dvd series. It just arrived, excuse me while I turn it on 

 

SEE WHAT YOUR LACK OF INFO HAS DONE TAKARA?!?!?! DOES YOUR CHAOS KNOW NO BOUNDS!?!?!? HOW MANY MORE BRAIN CELLS WILL HAVE TO DIE?!?!

 

Thanks man. Finally made the plunge, as I don't think I'll ever get one any cheaper. Got a whole MP folder of images saved on my mac, I'm sure a good number of them are MP36 poses put together by yourself, been hard watching you and the fellas on here have all the fun.
Can't believe I'll have one of my Holy Grails... Feels like when people back in the day managed to get a boxed G1 Fort Max for $6000 on eBay.
Man! I remember reading these boards when MP 05 dropped and being somewhat impressed with the trigger and legs. LOL

There are very few realistic potential releases that will match this excitement for me outside of the unlikely Stunticons.
I've got about 6-7 more grails that would be nice to see; if they don't happen.. it's been real, I'll survive.


Slight conjecture for all.. I was thinking Hoist is surely going to come with an extra mask that fits Tracks. I can picture him Sunstreaker & Tracks on the rear box art already doing those silly poses.

Was also wondering which option they will choose on releasing Arcee; she could have a Daniel Headmaster like that LG Bumblebee. Or she could come with Daniel in the Spike Exosuit like MP Bumblebee. Perhaps TT would do two versions like MP28 & 40.
I think its like 0.1% chance they'd repaint her into the obscure fembots, but would they do the easy Paradron medic repaint? Could throw in nice Cyclonus or Scourge easter egg with her.

 

all I know is Hound needs to come with "evil'Spike. In other Legends news I guess Overload would be a solid repaint for a Blitzwing. Still unless Blitzwing is amazing its going to be hard to sell a grey and green diaclone repaint.

 

Some recent posts suggesting that the MP line will only do the "BIG" characters.

Well TT did release Streak as MP-18. He was about as much of a bit player as Skids. I can think the only reason they released Streak was because they want to give all Diaclone moulds the MP treatment. Come to think of it Inferno was pretty much of a nothing character in the cartoon too and voila, MP-33. Once again Diaclone roots.

If it was big names only then the dinobots would have been done. Remember they survived the 1986 movie purge. Only a very few achieved that. If it was diaclone only then Dinobots should still be a big chance.

So there goes both those ideas. It all comes down to no-one can predict what character will be released or when.