I had similar concerns, but I've since seen many JP fans reacting to it on twitter that I'm pretty sure that the translation is accurate.

 

lol point taken.

However I think Big and Dai Atlas are both on the same level.

Fortress and Fire though don’t as Lio Convoy/Beast Wars II give precedent for asking for Big just as Dai Is justified via Star Saber.

As far as Star Convoy? I always assumed he will be the final release in the MP line…or rather MPG.

 

I translated it earlier in the news thread, but the machine translation doesn’t really get anything wrong.

 

LOL why does this sound like a line in an ad?  

 

You mean… MPGenerating

 

in that case, thank you very much! I’ve read the entire thread, but I must admit there were times when it got so ridiculous that I just skimmed through a page or two so I probably missed it. I don’t think it’s said often enough on these boards, but thank you for your, consistent, quick, and accurate translations.

 

【图片】整理一下The Ark上的比例和动画作画原稿的出入及错误【变形金刚玩具吧】_百度贴吧
If you want to read, someone made my same work (and expand it)

 

So, end of month should be the MPM Powermaster Devastator reveal from Hasbro Asia, probably May MP preorder will be him

 

To me, it’s puzzling as to why MPG was chosen as the banner to unite the line under instead of just the standard MP line. Calling all of them Masterpiece seems like a more understood and cohesive title. I’m still not clear as to why it went that way, but oh well. I’m not fussed if the line continues as it did before and it doesn’t turn exclusively into combiners while leaving us hanging on the remaining characters everyone wants, in my case especially minibots, Insecticons and oddballs like Reflector. Oddball in that they were used infrequently and only available as a mail away set. I would be all over Reflector if it was announced.

Also, I feel like Jazz has been discussed to death. Noted. We all want one.

 

My guess as to why they chose MPG would be around how business finances work, making a couple of assumptions first that the Raiden characters did really well in Japan, and probably well enough overseas, that the first five releases under MPG looked pretty shiny hot. The second assumptions would be that the other new MPs in that time didn't hit that level.

This all might be typical suit logic, of "oh those five sold better than the other recent five, that means the old line is winding down an the new line has more eyes on it, we should capitalize on that." They can afford to produce combiner teams in the variable scale of MPG, and if the first one of five sells well, they can probably forecast that the fifth one will sell almost as well.

Unfortunately, you can't do that with Trailbreaker to Hoist, for example. They know we'll all go insane for Jazz/Meister, but they clearly know that Skids, Trailbreaker, Hoist, Tigatron, and Skyfire couldn't hit the same level, and my boy Mirage probably wont, so the balance sheet is gonna tell a suit that the MPG line is the one to keep, trickling out a beast and a car each year to satiate us completionists. It's the same reason we got new seekers. Starscream is old, a new one would sell better than Trailbreaker, okay do it.

Does it make real sense for us fans? When do suit-decisions ever actually make sense to fans? Never. They never do. They're trying to make their 10% increase on last quarter, not make us happy or assured of a complete S1/S2 cast. Modern corporate business gains are the cancer of the world economy, and pretty much anything like a fan-driven collectible line. I wouldn't be surprised if the old guard at TT are tearing their hair out trying to get Jazz, CJ, and Mirage release windows becasue Raiden convinced the board that MPG is the way to go. That's the obnoxious world of business.

 

Think it could be a couple of things...
They brought in new people with the trains and the MPG line is all they know
The line was over 20 years old and was time due for rebranding
They finally figured out what and how they wanted the line to be after trying a little bit of this and that with different designers and went with a new(er) name
Could also be change to a different system as the runs may not be as big and the discounts will probably be smaller.

 

After buying TransArt Cheetor (his first upgrade with the blue added to his paint scheme), I was thinking how nice it would be if Takara did an MP version of that paint scheme.

 

I agree. It’s also worth mentioning that TT referred to MPG as the “next generation top-end brand”, while MP was just “the top-end brand” in their foot note announcement. So yes, everything just points to a corporate/marketing decision to appear fresh.

 

So, you're saying...

MP = Old and Busted

MPG = The New Hotness

 

I feel like this could slow down momentum even more on certain things. Let’s say Devastator is announced and Scrapper is shown to signify that. Will the line only release Constructicons for a year and a half to two years, or will they have other releases in between? I liked that the two lines were able to run side by side, fulfilling different things for different fans. I didn’t buy any of the trainbots because I didn’t have much connection with them. If those were the only releases for me to choose from, it would have been a drag and I may have considered picking up some third party stuff to scratch the itch. I’ll never know because it’s speculation on my part. I just hope that isn’t what we’re looking at going forward. I will concede that Devastator would likely sell even better than Raiden, due to his popularity, but with one seemingly coming in the mainline, I doubt we will get one any time soon in MPG. Maybe not. Once we get past God Bomber we might have a better idea of what to expect. It is Takara though where nothing is ever really clear. Haha Hopefully 2025 floods the market with things they’ve had in the pipe for a while.