John Warden previous said that this Unicron was Hasbro's attempt to do a Masterpiece version of it. I think they only branded it "War for Cybertron" simply because that's the current mainline iteration.

*****

Kinda goes without saying at this point with the + series and the Convoy/Bumble redos, but look to see TakaraTomy rely push this cartoon asethetic now. They know their audience at least.

I also think MP Lio Convoy marks the true diversification of the Masterpiece line away from "G1" only, despite TakaraTomy operating the other lines as if it's all part of G1.

 

Man if they do MPs through HasLab they'd better sort out their shipping to other countries first. Unicron is ridiculous already.

But yeah, I could potentially see Devastator done this way in a few years. Maybe.

 

I would nominate Sky Lynx for this. Devastator or combiners would be legit frustrating, given those Takara could piece out and make it much more affordable, even if the individual 'bots are still individually expensive and the release pattern is a bit drawn out.

Sky Lynx makes sense, and manages a middle ground of not being as ambitious as Unicron but maybe needing a little extra oomph to happen satisfactorily while not having its size compromised.

 

I sort of feel the same. Hasbro mostly has nothing to do with the Masterpiece line, so MPs though HasLab seem unlikely....but what is to stop TT doing something similar? Like you say they could use crowdfunding to put out those niche and/or large characters that wouldn't be worth taking a risk on otherwise...maybe to head off 3P efforts? It's a balancing act though, the proposition has to be risky enough to not want to put out in the traditional way but desirable enough to fans to get funded at what will no doubt be a higher than normal price...not to mention MPs are already pushing the boundaries of what fans feel is an acceptable price for them. Maybe TT will look how Unicron goes and take note...or maybe they wont...I guess time will tell.

Is it though? The price is MP level crazy and I can sort of see why...it's huge, it's going to be a limited run, it's supposedly higher end than most "War for Cybertron" figures...but seeing the transformation video and looking at the deco it doesn't seem up the the level of MP. He's basically just curled up in there, the planet 'shell' just repositions around him. It's hardly MP level engineering, I'd like to think if this was MP level those panels would tidy away into the legs and maybe the torso. The deco looks sparse...not that MP haven't done that in the past but more recent we've been pretty spoilt with paint jobs on MPs. I do love the panel lines and detailing though, very reminiscent of school MPs and feels more appropriate on a planet-former than some of the other figures on the Seige line.

I love the planet mode, it looks awesome! The Robot mode not so much If it were more MP level I'd probably have backed it already. As it is I've climbed down of the fence but have set myself a last minute alert a day before it gets funded to change my mind

 

Sky Lynx is a good pick. As for Devastator, I agree that he would just be massively expensive as a Haslab project and would be more digestible as six individual releases spaced out over two or three years. I put him up for consideration due to the attention he'd get and the possibility there would actually be a requisite number of people who would pay ~$1500 for him (I don't know if any other combiner would attract much interest at that price). Like Unicron, Devastator would be a nice halo piece for the line.

Presumably a payment plan would be necessary, and we see Hasbro is willing to alter their SOP if they feel it's warranted (like extending the deadline for Unicron).

 

Anything thing that doesn’t need licensing would be a good start.

I would throw down top dollar on MP Dinobots if Haslab put them up.

 

If Takara is designing any HasLab MPs I'm in, but if it's Hasbro doing them - and Unicron is any indication of their skill in doing so - I'll probably pass.

 

I'm just going by what has been said. I think given how much TakaraTomy has been involved in both the design and the promotion, I'd be comfortable saying that it is. Now, for me to say that it was branded "WFC" and not "MP" is my own speculation, given the limited evidence available (mainly Warden's own words and what we've seen thus far).

Agreed on Sky Lynx, as that would seem like a project ripe for HasLab seeing the character wasn't a major factor in the Japanese market as much as it is here. The reissue that Takara made a few years back was the first time the toy was available to that market (thus, not a "reissue" per se, but the initial release, technically, for TakaraTomy).

I think Devastar (Devastator) would be a string enough release for Masterpiece to sustain, but perhaps the other Combiners not so much. Again, those would be great projects for HasLab to take on under the Masterpiece banner.

 

I'm gravitating toward Skyfire being an ideal pick myself. He could be done conventionally, but as a Haslab project they could go all-out and design in a cargo area for Minibots (once MP-45 releases we'll have an idea exactly how much space that would need) and if the cost goes north of $400 so be it.

Also Skyfire's notoriety in Hasbro markets (including Europe, where the Jetfire toy was marketed as Autobot leader initially) is kind of inversely proportionate to his perceived obscurity in Takara's market, making him an attractive prospect for Hasbro to take a lead on (it seems to me).

Hard to say how little, or how much, input Takara has in the design phase. I think they were the primary engineers on Unicron off of Hasbro designs, but such a process surely involves extensive back-and-forth as engineering realities affect design. And I feel like Takara must have copious involvement in every phase or they wouldn't be interested in marketing the final product.

 

I want to say if Takara knew they could sell 6-8000 Skyfire's or Skylynxs anyway he would be a mass release,no need to crowdfund. I think the only way for it to be a signoff if people would support one if released and honestly if I'm Takara I wouldn't count on Hasbro's western market to say yeah Ill support it and then watch them I tt dip and support a cheaper third party or hope it gets ko'ed. I think stuff like that honestly comes down to demand from the Japanese crowd with support from sales numbers. I think as long as G1 sells are good and the support is there, I think Combiners, Skyfires, and even Dinobots would be on the table.

 

I agree that Unicron is branded WFC just to tie in with the current line they're still trying to sell globally. He's close to MP quality (at leat Hasui-era), with a few compromises and changes, and a slightly different aesthetic (which technically matches MPs, since it's also a different scale).

I think both Skyfire and Sky Lynx are not popular enough characters to get made or even attempted. Unicron's an A-lister. I could only see them trying another A-lister for HasLab.

 

I think too that the WFC branding is appropriate for Unicron, but we’ve also got to be aware that WFC is the main line these days, and it’s what cartoons and card games, etc, are being based off of. Hasbro has incorporated a lot of MP elements into a few molds for WFC too.

Much like with the Titan Devastator, this Unicron is probably as much their attempt to do a character that there isn’t much likelihood of happening as an MP, and hoping the crossover works out for them on the same level. It’s also pretty indicative of the price point.

On the other hand, your Jetfires and Sky Lynx aren’t a-listers, sure, but if they were done as a WFC level prestige release, I think they’d be pretty reasonable for crowd-funding. After all, crowd funding is about making a product that has a narrower base who can directly fund it for themselves.

 

I honestly think he's branded WFC because that is what he is. Look at the hollow parts in his wings/rings and fingers, observe how much of him appears to be bare plastic, note the grebbles now synonymous with the WFC line, cast you eye across the 'simplistic' transformation, be aware of the
5mm weapon ports and 3mmm blast effect ports specifically so he can interact with the rest of the WFC line, see the less slavish adherence to show accuracy in both modes. I don't say this to put Unicron down, I think he looks amazing! It's just he's shares very little in design and aesthetic with the MP line and a whole lot more with WFC....which in some ways I think is a good thing and others not so much.

 

Hmm. It's an interesting idea, to have future big-ticket MPs as potential Haslab projects. However, I wonder what the reach of Haslab will be in the future. They probably know that the appeal of TF is international, so limiting them to NA sales is going to be problematic. Further, TF also has regional preferences - what flies well in some places may not fly so well in others. I'm thinking specifically about how well large MPs would do in a market like Japan, where space is always at a premium.

To do a "niche" MP for the NA market would definitely alienate the international market. Maybe Hasbro doesn't care about the international market. However, they have to admit that the TT engineers have been doing very well for the past, oh, ten plus years in terms of MP designs, redecos, redesigns, and re-releases.

What I'd prefer to see happen is that Hasbro and TT do joint engineering on releases. They might as well join forces/share resources. It'll end up with more releases and more distribution.

 

Ah, there's the rub: if they knew they could sell them. They don't. They didn't know if they could sell a $600 Unicron either, or how many they could sell. Enter Haslab, which is really a direct-to-consumer program more than a crowdfunding operation. People in the Unicron thread point out, correctly, that Hasbro didn't need to "borrow" the fans' money to get Unicron made--but they did need to know how many to make, and a workaround for the traditional selling-to-retail model.

Huh, that's an interesting perspective. I would never consider Unicron an A-lister. He's got a certain gravitas (or is that gravity, har har!) but not much of anything in the way of personality or a devoted fanbase. To me he's the ultimate cult favorite.

 

Yeah Unicron is simplistic in transformation, hollow parts, less articulation - what I meant when I was referring to Hasui-era MPs like MP-12 or MP-21, for example. I think Unicron's silhouette is pretty great (horns maybe too big). I do think they've tried to strike a balance between Siege and MP aesthetics, for sure, but I also think the more busy greebles work because at that different scale Unicron actually should have that many greebles. Ultimately I'm aiming to get him since I can't imagine an MP Galvatron without this towering above him (but I may end up painting his face and hands off-white instead), but I appreciate he's not MP class. More MP class than the likes of UW Devastator, Siege Jetfire or Siege Omega Supreme, though.

Yeah, maybe you're right that he's not an A-lister in the sense of being recognisable to casual or even non-fans. But I'd say he's an A-lister, or as you say a cult favourite, amongst the TF franchise. I think the scale of a toy like that also makes sense for a project like this. I don't think they had to go the HasLab route, I think they maybe just chose to.

 

I’d guess that they were banking on the idea that Unicron is an ideal way to really kick off crowdfunding with a giant character. There’s a whole conversation in there about timing and promotion being an issue leading to the extension of the deadline, but it’s a prestige project no matter how you slice it. A mega-sized Unicron is a holy grail going back to the old prototypes from the 80’s.

His status in the canon of Transformers isn’t necessarily A-list, but just his massive size is enough to get some headlines with the casual set, or collectors who go for a broader range, which is again, probably part of why they went with him as a first major effort. He’s basically the Transformers version of a Death Star mixed with Galactus, there’s a general level of notability that I think goes beyond strictly ABC status.

 

Unicron, or at least that version of him, is likely only "A-List" to those of us who saw the 1986 movie at the time. Although his position in TF lore has been long since fixed, the particular version represented by the Haslab figure will only appeal to those that have an affinity to G1 or TF history. Those that grew up with other iterations may not see that particular version of the character as exciting.

This is the thing. There's nothing really in the TF canon that would (literally) eclipse Unicron in terms of scale. They could perhaps use Haslab, though, to fund bigger versions of Metroplex and Fortress Maximus or perhaps (hopefully) an Animated Ark / Omega Supreme, but Kicking off with a planet says "yeah, let's do this..."

 

So what's everyone's thoughts about future Bumblebee repaints? Will they use MP-45 or stick with the cheaper MP-21? (Although iirc MP-21G and MP-21R didn't sell that well, so maybe this is a moot point.)

 

I don't know...I know there are some Transformers fans that grew up with a different iteration of Transformers that don't care of or have no knowledge of G1 but I find them to be a minority. Most are already aware of G1 to some extent and/or go back and familiarise themselves with it, including the '86 movie. I know a guy in his 20s who is very excited by WFC Unicron and had a huge love for G1...he wasn't even born when the movie came out! HasTak have kept G1 alive in the minds of all Transformers fans/collectors buy continually harking back to it. Unicron has popped up over and over and has looked more of less the same each time...sure he might not be A-list but he's almost universally accepted as the ultimate bad guy of the Transformers franchise.

I don't think Hasbro will use HasLabs to put get MP projects funded...mostly because Hasbro don't really do MPs. However I do think its a good option to tackle big or niche projects that might be considered too commercially risky to put out in the conventional manner. For example I read elsewhere that a lot of the Titan figure that used to be put out via partnerships with TRU etc.. ended up on clearance. HasLabs might be a way of getting these done more efficiently without saddling retailers with unwanted stock. Now IF TakaraTomy were to thing they could benefit from the same that could be where we'll see MP projects. Maybe they could fill out some of the other characters from BWII or characters from other areas of the franchise that might not do so well at retail but are enough of a fan favourite to get backing...plus yes I think this would be the only way an MP combiner is viable.