August 2012 Hobby Japan Scans

Still hate the head.

What is on his hands at the bottom?

Of all the cars to do, I'm surprised they chose Sideswipe, as oppose to say Jazz.

Sideswipe is bad ass though.

Already a thread on this but I think this picture looks brighter..

It's all about the rights to the car. Audi owns Lambo so I'm sure they didn't have a problem getting the copy rights. Even though they are almost the same exact company as Audi, vw is much more difficult. It's why we never got alternators/binaltech Jazz and BB

This.

Soundwave is better out of the two but this one opens up the Masterpiece line so much more to the other cars and smaller scaled characters.

I am happy with every single picture I have seen of Sideswipe and I am glad my Exclusive Pre-order is already paid up.

MP Sideswipe and TRU MP Optimus Prime in October, I can't wait.

i completely agree with you on all points.. i REALLY hope hasbro brings sideswipe over.. and i REALLY hope if they do, it'll just be the exact same thing as the takara version.

i've been saying something similar about how these sizes open up a whole new door for MP figures.. but the way i thought of it is.. this scale could give us more of the larger characters. if we went by MP01 scale.. something like devastator would either be out of the question, or just WAY too expensive. but if they do it in the new established scale, it'd be cheaper while still fitting in with everything. i hope that if they ever do decide to give us an MP combiner, i hope they space out the releases like the 3rd party companies do.

i've also been saying that i REALLY REALLY hope that the next autobot car mold they make is the prowl mold. i'd love to get MP prowl, bluestreak, and smokescreen.

this is going to be a REALLY REALLY expensive time of year..

MP Soundwave + MP cassettes
MP Sideswipe
MP Red Alert

Hot Toys Loki
Hot Toys Joker DX02
and
Hot Toys Iron Man Mark VII

Scans are from Dengeki Hobby, not Hobby Japan.

All three are so bought.

We did get an Alternators/Binaltech Jazz. It just wasn't a Porsche.

How can you hate on Sideswipe? Just look at that sexy-ass alt mode. He's a thing of beauty.

I would think that Takara might be counting on Hasbro to maybe even effectively halve the burden of the Lamborghini and any future licensing costs. That is, if Hasbro are willing to go along with it but if that were the case, would HasTak invest in these sorts of licenses together? I find that a little bit intrigueing.

Can hardly wait for these guys!

"G1 Transfomers" are an iconic 80's thing, especially to those of us who grew up in the 80's (the key target market of G1 MP TF's).

No car is as 80's iconic as a flare-fendered, spoilered Lamborghini Countach. Especially a bright red one. I'd bet half of all guys who grew up watching Transformers, had a poster of a red Countach on their wall at some point, even if Sideswipe wasn't a favorite of theirs. It's the car we all wanted some day.

The Lancia Stratos, Nissan 280ZX, and Porsche 935 are not nearly so famous. Heck, I only really know of them because of the G1 toys. But everybody knows the Countach.

In short---the *car* is incredibly well-known, even if the character is not top-tier like OP, BB, Jazz, Wheeljack.

i liked jazz, but he was never my favorite. i always liked sideswipes alt mode, i've never been a porsche fan. if someone gave me 1 million dollars to buy a sports car.. i'd buy a 2012 for mustang before i'd buy a porsche lol.

i'm sure we'll get jazz eventually.

i'm hoping we get prowl, bluestreak, and smokescreen as the next autobot cars.

Sideswipe also tends to get done a lot, and frequently early-on (Binaltech/Alternators, Universe 2.0 ~ he was even supposed to be released first) i wonder if someone at Hasbro/Takara really likes him or if it's just that the Red/Black Sportscar is an easy sell.

Also, I'd argue the Z car is better known than the Lambo, (maybe not as '80s iconic') but i think of that design as more of a 70s thing...

I know it maps to the OG, but anyone else think they could have toned down the size of his emblem?

Chisels from the episode where the Autobots are detoured, so Sideswipe and Ironhide (iirc) attempt to dig a tunnel under some humans that are blocking the way...
VW Group owns Audi, so if they wanted to, they could put an end to it, easily... I think PART of the change of heart is due in small part to the Audi in ROTF, as well as the massive decline in car sales due to worldwide economic downturns, so even the revenue generated by toy licensing is no longer being snubbed. I honestly hope so, because I, for one, would love to see a Masterpiece Bumblebee VW bug, with both the classic "Cobra Commander" head and his cartoon face. (I've always been partial to B's original toy head). he would make an easy re-tool into both Cliffjumper and Goldbug, and I'm sure there would be a Bumblejumper exclusive somewhere too.

Jazz would be ok, though I never cared much for the character until his Solstice redesign (tho he totally got punked in the film).

My G1 masterpiece "must haves" (characters who's G1 toys never did them justice imo) would be Sunstreaker, bumblebee, Prowl, and Mirage for Autobots.
Shrapnel, Galvatron, and Megatron 2.0 for Decepticons

Hmm, maybe just a little; I had wondered about that, though it is red on red for most part and seems to not jump out so much in vehicle mode.

With regards to the 'Why Sideswipe?' question, there have been some good answers. I'm not sure if this one has been covered - blink and you'll miss it - but if we're going to split hairs, Sideswipe was one of the very first Transformers we see in the introduction to G1 Season One, together with Optimus Prime, Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker and Hound.

Please refer to the first four seconds of this clip:

The Transformers Intro's Season 1-4 - YouTube

I think it's about the perfect size, while I may agree it could be a bit large on the Countach hood, it's absolutely perfect on the bot mode chest. So I'm happy with the choice.

Nothing really new here...

I need my Sideswipe already!

Hey, then that makes Thundercracker the first Decepticon!

Haha, or is just that Starscream's leading from the rear? Still, I was imparting what lawyers might call circumstantial evidence, but if I wanted to draw a long bow, proverbially, it seems like Hasbro will have you covered with a Masterpiece Thundercracker. All things being fair and reasonable (lol), that'll be based on MP-11 for the rejuvinated Masterpiece line. On a personal note, with the dough we dish out for MP figures, I still wouldn't mind ponying up for any future Takara MP Thundercracker.

The grain of truth is, yes, we see the Seekers before Megatron, out front in the same shot as Soundwave. Betweeen that there's a shot of Mirage, Wheeljack and Bumblebee: a licensing nightmare. Anyway, my point about MP-12 is as valid as the next one, haha, and that intro is practically a role call for top priority Masterpiece projects, that and some of the '86 film characters.

Sideswipe looks better and better. That missile launcher needs to be black though..

i'd agree on that

so this is a confirm release date for tru mp op?

really? you're surprised?

repainting it to red alert, then i am sure it has the same gimmick as the universe 2 has, with it being able to be sunstreaker in the future too. all they have to do is switch the fists around.

there you got 3 uses out of this mold.

with Jazz, you get 2 maybe. lol

I guess that artwork confirms Red Alert's head wont be in cartoon colors then.?





Aggggh. Not that again.

my wish is to see a MP Smokescreen in the same scale as Sideswipe

Nah, I don't think that confirms anything. Looks more like it's just a "it's THIS guy... in case you forgot" placeholder image. I'd be shocked if what we get via the toy isn't pretty much dead-on to this:

God, Sideswipe looks AWESOME. I soooo can't wait to get him. I just have to make room on a shelf for him. *___*

I REALLY want those piledrivers. I hate exclusive BS.

It was already stated that the designers have recognized Sunstreaker as a completely different mold. They are going for G1 aesthetics...you are thinking of the Classics mold. There is no way that a simple retool would be acceptable.

From "A Plague of Insecticons" from season 1...

Exactly....for some reason, people are trying to make a connection with Masterpiece to what was done with Classics. They figure, "new size, new scale, new rules".....They won't invest the energy into turning Sideswipe/Red Alert into a Sunstreaker via a Classics style, "flip this, turn that, new head" method. It's strictly G1 aesthetics soup to nuts. Its not going to happen, just to get yet another character out of this mold even though it wouldn't be true to the actual cartoon model. That's what we had Classics for. I know there are a lot of people who would be satisfied enough with that just to have a Sunstreaker type figure, but Masterpiece is a whole different animal. In addition, all you need to do is look at the original Sideswipe and Sunstreaker G1 molds from the 80's, they are 2 completely different molds...Masterpiece is following the same premise. Plus the Lamborghini's are licensed and as Sideswipe is a pretty faithful representation of a real life Red Countach, Sunstreaker would be an altered Lambo with engine blowers and all that, which there never was a production Countach such as that. Red Alert being a Fire Department car does seem silly in real life, however in Italy there are some Lamborghini Gallardos for Police usage, with the light bar and all, so that doesn't seem as outlandish as you may think. At the end of the day, I question whether we will actually get a Sunstreaker out of the MP line because there is little repaint options, he's not that important of a character, and it won't work unless its his own mold. Time will tell based on the direction MP is going, we will see. Just wanted to get this out...along with the 1000's of others

Sideswipe was most likely chosen for the same reason you do the jets, you can get multiple characters (in this case Red Alert) from the same mold with some changes. It's a no-brainer for them to do him. I'd expect a prowl/bs/smokescreen sometime too if they have rights to the car.

Putting my want of a very large Sideswipe aside... each new pic he just gets even more beautiful. I am actually really liking the head. The face looks really nice too.

I do like the exclusive pile drivers but I'm not going to cancel my BBTS order just for those. What can I say, I'm a loyal shopper. Maybe they will get a hold of some, maybe not. I'm sure I'll be able to snag up a pair for myself at some point.

I do agree that the emblem looks a bit big but I see why it was done that way. Red on red and all. So that doesn't bother me, really.

Really wishing he had a jet pack though. And a brother. I will need a Sunstreaker to go with him ASAP...

I want him now...

And the eventual Ehobby G2 Sideswipe.

Uh, Audi and Volkswagen are the same company, as well as Seat, Skoda, Lambo, Bentley, Bugati, and partly Porsche and Suzuki. So, that's out the window. It still amazes me that Hasbro didn't get sued over the movie toy (Sideways) that was blatantly an Audi R8 without emblems. I'm wondering if it might not have more to do with the age of the car. They haven't made a Countach since 90, but the original Beetle was still in production in Mexico until 03. As for Jazz as a Porsche, they still make the "911/930" in some respect today. I'd bet it has to do with the age of the car when it comes to the legalities.

I'm surprised we didn't see Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen first. I imagine they picked Sideswipe because of the easy repaint into Red Alert and get their money's worth from the tooling.

For Australia it is.

Ok maybe this has been asked before but how big will it be? TF Alternators or bigger?

looks good. keeping my preorders. hope they make most or all the g1 cars. i'd love the old z.

Every picture just makes these look sexier. Why do both my hobbies have to be ridiculously pricy?

They stated somewhere (i think at the Tokyo Toy Show) that Sideswipe was chosen because he's the Countach, which is a very popular car design in Japan (everywhere really).

I'd say they were hoping the choice would help get sales from motoring enthusiasts or model car collectors, as well as Transformers fans (which would buy any G1 character!)

I'd hate to be collecting other stuff as well as this.... This is the tenth time I'm gonna say this, but this is easily the best year of transformer releases....

not only that but also the most expensive one to ;-)