@Snaku Neither XTB nor FT always fit comfortably into the boxes they get stuck into. I personally tend to feel that XTB's aesthetic is overall more toony, but you're absolutely right about the two Beachcombers. I quite like my XTB 'Comber for his tremendous attention to detail (but definitely not his transformation!), and FT's Beachcomber looks simply terrible to me. The alt mode is literally a Beachcomber toy that's been zapped by an enlarging ray, and the bot proportions are just wrong. But FT's Warpath and Brawn both look pretty promising. FT's been going back and forth with their aesthetic in some ways, kind of hard to figure out and I wonder how much of it is related to their habit of over-announcing and under-producing. When things get shifted around in the schedule it might make for some weird mismatch in design philosophy that might have seemed more natural had they come out in order.

Takara does great accessories, but even when I enjoy them they all just end up in a box so they don't sway me much. XTB does pretty good with theirs too. I appreciate when companies put time and care into such things, even though they're superfluous to me.

 

For the first time ever, I'm actually enjoying my collection. Utter toon is what my inner child has always wanted, and I'm finally getting it. Happy like a pig in shit, indeed.

 

By and large I want real vehicles (where applicable), but I've come to realize Minibots don't fit that category for me. It started with Arkose where there were details (specifically the baskets on the side of the vehicle) that just turned me off, then came BadCube's second Huffer and I realized I much preferred the Cubex Huffer's alt mode.

On the FT Beachcomber I particularly like that they managed to fold away the roll cage and the headlights for bot mode. That said overall I feel it does go too far toon for my preferences, but it is the closest of the current options.

 

Damn dudes, who really gives a s*** which any of us prefer, just be cool.  

 

For me I want it to be what the toon was "trying to suggest". Like the animators did a great job with proportions and and the designs. They also found ways to make little hints here and there, with minimal lines, to help your brain fill in the details. I feel like the did the detailing in a way that would allude to more then what they actually drew, in other words, they did a lot with fewer lines. I think the original MP Prowl is perfect. He looks just like what your brain saw when you watched the show as a kid. MP grapple too with that chest plate that had the chrome bits.

 

I’m not convinced that MP-44’s issues are really due to toon accuracy. T-01 to me is just as toon accurate, even more so from some respects because he’s a lot cleaner and has less kibble and fewer visible hinges and screws. 44’s backpack is primarily because of the sound gimmick and his other messiness is due to Takara trying to maximise a toon look but then giving even greater weight to articulation. The resultant effort is a deeply compromised appearance. If Takara hadn’t tried to include a huge speaker and sound chip, gimmicks like opening doors, and hadn't gone so far over the top with articulation and swapping of parts, they could have produced a toon accurate Prime that looked miles better. Probably would have looked a lot like TE!
For me, it’s toon all the way for the bot mode. I used to like the original masterpiece aesthetic and I appreciated the quote from Hasui. I wasn't a fan of Inferno when it first released as I though ti too simplistic. But I’ve realised now that the old style wasn’t at all what I want or even what I actually wanted originally.
I used to think MP-13 was damn near perfect. Now, looking at Fans Toys AccousticWave, MP-13 just looks off. Of course, I never really liked the G1 toys, I have no real appreciation for the Marvel comics and my nostalgia is 100% invested in the cartoon. I want Soundwave to look like the screen. MP-13 just doesn’t do that for me. It’s the same reason I’ve always been highly critical of Quakewave, long before the toon trend was even a thing.

I still have a tendency to prefer a little more realism in Alt modes but even that is being eroded by figures like FT Thomas, KFC Ditka and such. I still struggle to like the full chibi effect of the new Bumblebee but that's as much because of the investment I already have in figures with more realistic alt modes. The animation deco of the plus edition figures from Takara is a pretty nice sweet spot for me with alt mode appearance. That comes down I think to the fact that bot mode is where the personality and characterisation lie. Alt mode is just a disguise for them. It doesn't really make sense, but that's just what works for me.

 

Buy what you want if you're happy with it. The only people I really show off my collection to is you guys. Most of my friends just look at my display and say "Cool Transformers"

Me personally. I like the balance of cartoon/Toy, but also prefer a really clean looking bot. The new way TT is going with hyper articulation and toon accuracy leaves the figures gappy panelly messes IMO. They look like high priced CHUG

 

I guess this topic comes up every so often, so thanks to a search & copy/paste, here’s some thoughts from ~20 months ago, and then a few months later after the MP+ line.

Wow, what lazin...insight, what wisdom... what humility.

 

Don't forget the perennial eye-rolls from significant others who are happy to spend hundreds or thousands on shoes, handbags, jewellery, makeup etc but look down on the hobby as childish and a waste of money... or is that just in my household?
At least my kids appreciate my collection.
They'd better because they're inheriting it when I die!! In fact, I may write out my will so that the Transformers themselves inherit everything and my kids are only included as Trustees. A bit like those crazy old ladies who leave their fortunes to their cat and their kids will only get something as long as they look after Mr Pusskins.  

 

I liked Hasui’s direction, and bought some designed during his era. I prefer a bit more toy inspired, which is why I chose and love MT Hound. I am fine with stylization, and prefer the idea of more sophisticated, real-world aesthetics interpretation of the designs. I loath Toon faithful designs.

 

I'll tell you what I prefer, but know that there are times when I'll contradict myself.

Ok, for starters, I generally want cartoon accuracy over toy accuracy. I like Vortex to be turquoise, not purple, I like my Dinobots to have blue eyes, I don't really want shoulder launchers on Prowl or Jazz (or door wings on the latter), etc. That said, there are some exceptions. For example, while I like cartoon-style Combaticons, I think 'toon Bruticus looks weird and I prefer a more toy-style look for him. There are also rare occasions where my impression of a character comes more from the comics, like Shockwave.

When a character has a realistic alt mode, I tend to want it to look like the actual vehicle. In the case of characters like Wheeljack, Jazz, or Mirage that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to have a perfect recreation of the racing livery, but I'll expect the headlights, taillights, marker lights, door handles, marker lights, vents, grills, etc to be copied from the actual vehicle. Again, though, there are a few exceptions. Like, I was an adult before I realized Cliffjumper is a Porsche, and not some Beetle-esque Japanese kei car. So I prefer a Cliffjumper that has the chibi proportions over one that looks like a real Porsche. Likewise, Astrotrain's shuttle-mode collar helps make him distinct from Blast Off or Sky Lynx to me, and Blitzwing is some kind of jet biplane to me, not a MiG.

The main thing is, whether I'm leaning toward cartoon or comic, a realistic Countach or a chibi Porsche, I'm almost never looking for anything that looks like a bad animation cell render in three dimensions. What I want is an idealized version of the character, something that looks like an actual robot that the animators were trying to draw for a 30-minute commercial in the '80s. To use Gundam as an example, I want a Masterpiece to look like this:



Not like this:

 

What this man said.

 

For me, MP Inferno and MP Grapple hit the sweet spot when it comes to what I want in my G1 toon accurate figures. Their designs are boxy, clean and very faithful representations of the toon characters.

 

Toon accurate killed my interest in mp

Give me a hasui, Maketoys, or fanshobby aesthetic please. Real vehicle parts being used for the robot mode, hard lines, and lots of detail

 

I prefer the 'real world' alt-mode, and a mostly-clean bot mode that looks like it would turn into that alt-mode.

It's for that reason I didn't get MakeToys seekers (though I was tempted, I have to say). MP11 variants are good enough for me. I also haven't gone in for the TT+ releases (with the exception of Lambor, who I didn't already have).

I guess I'm of the opinion, as someone else said, of wanting a figure that is what the animators were trying to represent with the time and budget they had, rather than the animation being the end goal of the toy.

 

It's nice to read people articulating their thoughts on this better than I ever could. For my part just going from the toys, MP-36, MP-37, MP-44 are ultimately my favourite things that I own, it's probably the engineering magic and a heavy nostalgic injection. Though new FT Stunticons and MMC Combaticons are reaching that level too for example. I don't want to be too rigid, I'm happy to be surprised by an aesthetic, backpack in hand (or not).

 

It may sounds stupid but it's what ever direction Takara choose to go with the line. Ultimitely what I collect is Masterpiece Transformers and Takara own that, all 3rd parties as better at the game they might be than Takara are a supplement to to what Takara is doing.

Takara have gone full toon and I'm happy with that... I was also happy with the MP10 aesthetics of real alt, based around toon'ish characters and would have been happy with that long term. What I'm not happy with is the changing mid way. I also like consistency, as %90 of my collection is now very toon based, a change in direction now would put me off.

MP Sunstreaker though is a perfect example of what I would like the entire line to look like. Incredibly toon accurate whilst having a real alt mode and the option for even realer alt mode by hiding the toon bits. I though that was incredibly clever. He is for me the best example of a masterpiece, official or otherwise.

 

I prefer the look the MP line had for all the MP's they released up to Ironhide and Ratchet. Before they changed it to something else. I want a cohesive set.
Not to pick a fight with the post above. It's purely coincidence. But I can't stand MP Sunstreaker. I own him, but never display him with my other Autobots. I can just tolerate Ironhide and Ratchet. Because I can hide the legs behind a smaller chap. And I didn't buy Inferno or Grapple (got MMC instead). And I won't be buying the new Prime and Bumblebee. Which is fine because there are options. So fair play to the toon crew. It's just a bummer that I might not get my full set.

 

This so much.

My take on it is the way Fans Hobby did with their Overlord. They stylised him, but not overtly so. Just where it was needed.

Same thing with Megs and Mp44....The irony in this is that Sunstreaker suffers the least from it due to that engine pack...Sides though are another matter...Its an engineering phylosophy that I cannot for the life of me understand.

 

Agree.

Concur.

Approve.

Will you please make my G1 Masterpiece toys for me?