And the tapes?

 

the tapes are a case closed if you ask me. the MS minions look like mini MP's for this scale and the NA bots look almost as bad as their dated ass SW.

 

 
MS Laserbeak/Buzzsaw looks better
Same w/ Frenzy
The NA Ravage doesn’t look like he is wearing slippers though
And it looks like MS Ratbat has stubby wing tips
I prefer the shape of the NA Ratbat wings but otherwise, the MS Ratbat beats it
Especially in the feet department

 

i like the black feet that MS ravage will have. i prefer the articulated feet over the little hoofs NA is rocking. but at the end of the day im just happy there is finally going to be a great SW on the market.

 

Actually that’s true
Him having articulated toes is a huge advantage in my book

 

I’m gonna wait to see how NA’s turns out in color or whatever and I’ll see which of them I choose

 

Tarnation.

 

i'm holding off judgement until i see actual NA prototypes and comparisons. if NA is significantly smaller figures compared to MS versions, then i'm not even going to compare the two as it's totally different scale and NA is trying to do more with less in my eyes. if NA is in fact about the size of DX9/PT and NA improves on them, i would definitely consider picking them up as the cassettes for DX9/PT are okay at best.

either way, even if both offerings from MS and NA aren't perfect, they still have come along way to improve the cassettes over what exists so far.

DX9/PT:


HS:

 

are dx9, na, hs, if, and ms the main players in the smaller sized wars? this soundwave and cassettes are really tempting me to start up this scale (i currently do mp lines) but i’d hate to mix companies and choose the best figures from each. is there a company that has the overall best lineup? i know “best” is subjective but i’m talking about overall like aesthetics, engineering, and build quality.

thanks!

 

Considering aesthetics, engineering, and build quality, I would hand it to Magic Square. They are making mini Masterpieces while everyone else is making great toys.

MS did have a misstep with their Seeker designs, but the rest of their lineup is extremely solid.

Newage makes awesome, fun figures, and they're cranking them out at a pretty fast pace. They're a very close second.

DX9 and Hot Soldiers are effectively out of the Legends game. DX9 seems focused on MP, and Hot Soldiers hasn't been heard from in forever.

Iron Factory is awesome in that they are more committed to the aesthetics of the IDW comics, setting them apart from everyone else that is still after your G1 money. Their build quality is pretty exceptional, but aside from their combiners, I am not too impressed with the engineering of their figures.

Iron Factory is hard to catch up on collecting, as the value of their figures is good at increasing after they're no longer available from retailers.

Like you said, best is subjective. I think most will agree that G1 collecting is best served by Newage and Magic Square. You really can't go wrong with either, and you can mix the two lines together, to some degree.

 

I am wondering about that too. NA wants to make tiny tiny little transformers and I really like that. The smaller the better, there's something cool about it. Will NAs tapes be much smaller than MS? Hard to say right now.
Everything about MS Soundwave and minions looks great, and I am into it, but I aint gonna count out NA yet. I love their stuff and this is really gonna come down to some side-by-side comparisons between the two before I can even come close to choosing which one I'll get, if not both  

 

i just started out only at the beginning of this year, and my collection is mostly NA at the moment. with a few PT figures that are KOs of DX9, and a few MFT figures, which are more legend+. just started adding some IF in the past month and been looking to get MS optimus prime for quite some time now, and most likely will pickup their megatron when available. i think there's really only two major players with good substantial "lineup", and that's NA and MS. then there's also IF which has a significant offering and big following. but their aesthetics is definitely on their own tangent as they are mostly not remotely G1 in style.

 

well that's what i'm trying to say. clearly MS soundwave is at a larger scale than DX9. not sure how much of that equates to the size of the cassettes, but i'm guessing it's significant from the video of soundwave with their prime and megatron. the question is how much bigger/smaller is NA soundwave compared to DX9 and MS? if NA cassettes is the same or only a fraction bigger than DX9, but significantly smaller than MS, i would still be impressed with what they've accomplished and would consider picking them up.

 

Largely agree. I also mix in MFT for Headmasters and Phase Sixers.

 

How adventurous of you.

 

thanks for the reply guys! just did a quick search on a chosenprime, tfsource, and showz just to see how easy it is to backfill all of ms’s lineup and what damage it’ll do to my wallet, lol. will watch video reviews for them and see how much willpower i have haha.

 

There are some MS figures I would like, but sadly they’d be too big compared to some of the NA figures.

 

you can run through the gamut of most of MS and NA back catalogue through this one eBay seller. there's also MFT as well as a few outliers such as HS, Papa Toys and Pocket Toys thrown in.
MFT da GFL PT Newage NA MAGIC SQUARE MS dx9 MS SMALL TOYS group 1 | eBay

 

HZJ's the best!

 

Oh man, thanks so much for that link! They are a great price to help fill the holes in my collection. My wallet now hates you, but i can live with that.