I think WJ struck a good balance- keeping the large, characteristic ones and leaving off all the smaller ones

 

I don't think it's a thing either, I don't remember if Spike could fit in MP10, but I know he can in Magnus, is not a surprise. With the detailing fir Hound not a surprise. Bee 2.0 is just the need to do something different with a character they've done before. I started looking at Bee different when ,I looked at him as them saying, how could we make him now, and not lean on the previous one. Heh, I wanted the Bee used in the promo, but that one is impossible, unless he's an action master or they dump the altmode and articulation.

 

Is there any chance or rumour that they'll make grimlock 2.0?

 

I’m still hoping this happens....somehow someway.......

 

not always the greatest fan of bobby he's like marmite/vegemite you either like it or you hate it but he hits the nail on the head here

 

Was about to post the very same thing, will comment on it later.

 

Has it been confirmed Daniel can fit inside BB? I saw the pic with the open door and him standing next to it, and it would seem to suggest he can fit inside...but I didn't actually see pics of him sitting inside.

I think chances are 100% if they do a Grimlock v2, he'll be male...or at least highly suggestive that he's male.

 


Typo aside, I think it's possible (though no current rumors)...I wouldn't say a lock, but definitely possible. However, I doubt we'd see the other Dinos.

I dunno, I think we're more likely to see a generic, non-licensed Jazz than a Cybertonian mode. But who knows?

 

Where’s the talk of an unlicensed Jazz coming from? Bumblebee 2.0 may be chibbi, but he’s still a licensed Volkswagen. If anything that should solidify the fact that, no matter how stylized he is, Jazz still has to be licensed.

 

Jazz will definitely be licensed. And he'll have no door wings (the doors will be stuff into his feet   ).

I watched the Bobby video and didn't find him to make any points that haven't already been said on the boards. He says something about how we'll likely see a new Soundwave before we ever see a Trailbreaker, and that may be true, but the fact that we are definitely getting Hound proves that the G1 MP releases are not all 2.0s and 3.0s from here on out.

He, like many others, jumped the gun on the backpack. It does fold up better than was shown at the show.

 

I respectably disagree. Jazz does not have to be a 'real world' car, nor does he have to be an Earth car.
Would it be nice to have his Porsche alt mode? Yes
Is it absolutely neccessary for him to be a licensed Porsche? No.

If licensing is an issue, and Porsche maintains unneccessary stubborness which makes a Porsche alt mode unlikely, then I'm all for an alternative.

Those alternatives would be a car alt mode that's similar to a Porsche, but definitely not a Porsche. The other alternative would be his Cybertronian alt mode.
I'd be happy with either alternative, so long as his robot mode is accurate.
I just want MP G1 Jazz, and I'm open to all ways Takara can make that happen.

 

It's worth affirming that yes, he did indeed jump the gun by posting a shot of the figure to help clear the issue up. It's not the most beautiful backpack, but it's certainly an improvement over the mistransformation at the show. As others have pointed out, too, even his heels look less egregious in this side shot to my eye. In fact, after just holding up MP-21 to the pic of 45's side, 45 definitely has a handsomer profile to my eye.

For what it's worth, I think you've articulated your feelings on the line's direction better than Bobby has.

 

His head/face looks fine to me in that picture. I think people go on to much about the "perfect" Bee face, he literally has an 8 sided head with a face to match.

 

Speculation. If Porsche continues to deny, will TT just skip it like they have or will they look for an alternative option? And they have released figures without licensing them in the MP line. Optimus, for example. They certainly could look to make him a licensed Peterbuilt, or whatever the F he is, but they don't bother...

Not if Porsche doesn't allow it. It's certainly possible they never do it if Porsche doesn't budge, but they can't license him if the licensor doesn't give them permission.

 

If they could take MP Sunny's "alt mode with two modes" magic to the extreme and somehow enable the figure to assume both his Porsche and Marvel Cybertronian alt mode without compromising the toy too much my mind would explode.

 

mp-45 has me kind of bummed out about this line honestly. i used to hope trailbraker, mirage, and jazz would get official releases soon like yesterday. now i hope it will happen after this line course corrects - i really hope it course corrects. bumble 2.0 hopefully is rock bottom. the aesthetics and bang for bucks is totally out of whack for me now personally speaking (it'd bad enough it had me doubting if i'll keep my convoy V3 order).

bumblebee's backpack is not as bad as first though, but his feet still kind of suck, his torso from the side is still messy...and he is TOO toony for me. There is a reason bumblebee wasn't THAT popular a character until teh bay movies (yup i said it!)....he was a dorky looking little wimpy bot who got himself into trouble too many times...big heart can only do so much...you gotta be able to back it up. G1 bumblebee (not Bee) was never able to. MP-21 was not the best MP, but it gave us kind of an accurate-ish beetle that turned into a believable lookng bot without too many fake parts. when i see multiple kibble pieces that are "the same part" of the alt mode its just take believability out the door. sure sunstreaker had a fake chest but his real roof wasn't too noticeable easily.

so what can i hope for or speculate about in the mp world.? one thing is cartoonish alt modes can serve a purpose. it'd be cool to see an MP tetrajet seeker and i'd be ok with that being very toon i guess (though i wish it'be add something to make it seem like the toon was about a real flying tetrajet robot not simple a 3D representation of 2D art) but not super plain. the siege line has a tetrjet coming...but thats a main line figure and i'd want something more..premium feeling and looking with a better transformation and better alt and bot modes. oftentimes we do see mainline toys foreshadow mp releases, no? or am i imagining things.

 

I wouldn’t buy a MP Tera jet. Just like I won’t buy a “ lamp post “ soundwave . I’m way more interested in jazz and Mirage though .

 

There's an important difference. Sunstreaker has two approaches to his altmode because of licensing. The altmode he should have wasn't an actual existing one. However, it was still clearly recognisable as being based on a Lamborghini and thus a license was required. But Lamborghini wouldn't grant the license for a deformed version of one of their cars. The solution was to make it an accurate Lamborghini with the option of transforming into his toy/cartoon altmode. And that could be licensed.

If they give a potential MP Jazz his cybertronian altmode with the option of transforming into a car that resembles his earth altmode, then they need the license of Porsche. Doesn't matter if it's an extra mode. As long as he has a Porsche altmode, he needs the license. Even if it's not an actual Porsche, but a made up car inspired by Porsche and thus recognisable as this very specific car, they need the license. And from all accounts and the history of the company, they're not willing to grant the license or make demands TT can't comply with. (During BT there was talk about a car company objecting to panel lines until TT explained it was needed for transformation, but Porsche is known to be very precise about this.)​

This is why the chibi route for Bumblebee is an interesting choice. The question is if this is actually licensed or if it is with permission. In case of the latter, this opens a possibility for Mirage and Jazz. Because then instead of the license and an accurate representation -- difficult for Mirage because of livery and difficult for Jazz because of the livery and Porsche having the reputation of being demanding -- they could make a car that looks like it, but isn't it exactly. It makes it perhaps possible.

Saw it as well. @Dean ML is right that he jumps the gun a bit (which he admits), although it still looks bad imo.

But I think he stated it much better quite a while ago in his video about the MP evolution (I think). That was in regards to MP Inferno. He asked the question: is the Sunbow cartoon really the best art depiction of the character you've ever seen? And if it's not, is this the best source to base the MP design on?

I do think his comment about comparing Dreamwave Megatron to Sunbow Megatron was interesting. Because how often has it not been mentioned that when we played with our G1 toys, we pretended they were more like what we saw on screen. And here he comments how DW Megatron is more how we saw the character in our minds eye: a powerhouse (which, btw, he was also in the Marvel comics). It's also consistent with Hasui's approach to MP-10. Likewise, I was interested about the point he raised about releasing the two best selling G1 characters in a row.


But I definitely share his point of view about preferring MP figures that are made more realistic and more refined than the image of a often quickly drawn cartoon from the 80's. But then I'll admit that I'm not nostalgic for the Sunbow cartoon or just the animation models . However, I AM nostalgic for the toys and the comic and I don't want exact recreation of those as well. I want Masterpiece to be the best recreation of a character it can be, and the best and definitive version of said character. And to me that means taking the animation model + elements of the real altmode + the Original toy + other cool depictions of the character, and make a mix. MP-10 through MP-21 is this.

Sadly for me, and happy for others, TT has decided Masterpiece these days is Sunbow accurate with super posability.

 

See there's a weird thing happening right now where the Movie figures - which I've never liked for the jumbled mass of parts that the robots inevitable are - are starting to look more like the Transformers I always wished for. The Optimus Prime from the Bumblebee movie actually looks like G1 Optimus Prime but with more mature, realistic details which would be present on a live vehicle/robot. It's not there yet as far as the nostalgia goes but it's progress.

On the other end, the MP line is losing the details and relying more and more on an intentional lack of details as epitomised by the cartoon. The irony of this approach is that fake parts and forced humanoid proportions are starting to result in the same mass-of-random-pieces that put me off those original movie bots but even when that doesn't happen I no longer see the MPs as "something that could exist in real life". Bee takes things the furthest we've seen so far in this regard, though earlier MPs laid the groundwork. MP Hound looks more like Sunstreaker where the line has yet to be crossed - probably because the design was done before Bumblebee and possibly Prime v3 - where there's still enough going on to get a pass from me (his chest being made up of the actual car front helps - man, how did that not being a given ever become a thing?).

I can't help but thinking that at some point I'll be switching from preferring one of these lines to the other, should these trajectories continue. And man, I never thought I'd ever think that.

 

Main thing really concerning me about MP-45 now is realizing that his MSRP is 13000Y versus Sunstreaker's 12000Y, with Sunstreaker being a much larger figure with more parts and certainly more difficult to manufacture. Seems solid proof TT is definitely raising prices for reasons other than parts count/weight/size/engineering etc I and many others have defended them for. That said, I still preordered two  

Speaking of Sunstreaker, re-read the designer interview (surely Kobayashi) and thought it's worth it to re-post this bit, especially with minibot MP-45 on the way...

"
Beast Wars & G1 are being released alternately since both parties are in different purchasing demographics seperated by age and so on. The release pattern has been thanks to you. We have managed to capture the age that was playing at the time of the show being broadcast and would like to keep the fever of waiting away by releasing more Beast Wars.
I want to distinguish between the 4×4 designs of Hoist and Trailbreaker in the meantime for the G1 fans, which will be troublesome.
I think Megatron and now Sunstreaker really suprised the fans & designers even!
I hope that Hoist can be realised with a few of these suprises. Alot of the masterpiece cars have come together.
We arranged the successive Masterpieces side by side the other day at a festival and they were very popular.

–
I would like to arrange the car robots in rows like the opening sequence of the animiation.
I want to produce the remaining characters including the minibots.
There are many similar opinons as mine, so I’m speaking on their behalf as we take different directions to clear the obstacles in commercialising these products.

 

Not necessarily...Hasbro has released figures in the past that strongly resemble real life cars without licensing...and I don't mean G1 days. Like I said, Prime isn't licensed and he very much resembles a flat nosed Peterbilt. Would they release an unlicensed Jazz in the MP line? Remains to be seen. So far, no... Could they? Sure. How far they'd have to compromise it, I dunno. Based on past unlicensed figures, not too terribly much. The biggest thing about it, though, IMO, is Tomy DOES have a relationship with Porsche...and if Porsche doesn't want a licensed TF for whatever their reason and TT goes ahead and releases an unlicensed version, they risk pissing off Porsche and souring their Tomy side relationship.