No, no, never will this be the case for me. It's the same as with my project cars: if I can't afford to buy it outright, then I have no business buying it at all. Partly because of aesthetics but largely due to price, I didn't bite on MP44 and I won't on MP52. They've exceeded my comfort zone. I realize the engineering fakery required to imitate the lazy minimalist animation of the Sunbow cartoon is tricky, but given that's not my preferred aesthetic, I'm not paying north of $250 for it. On the bright side, hopefully this figure will bring down Meteor prices.

 

I felt that MP-25 Tracks was already a toon version-- he has the humanoid lower face rather than the shield, grey parts in place of the toy's black, yellow chest square, and the cartoon's impression of all of the toy's stickers. All TT can do to make it more cartoonish is to fatten him up and shorten the wings.

 

This is the latest list of types of shipping available from Japan post.

Service availability by country - Japan Post

Here's a question. How do Japanese people alpabetise things?

 

Its worth keeping in mind that this is translated, so it might be ordered based on kanji rules. Canada is a lot harder to find that I’d normally expected !

 

I ordered it at anime-export and cancelled pulse. Note: you can't use local currency with paypal balance (which comes out to $192 in the conversion). Using a credit card and paying in Yen set me to $185.
With the anticipated $30-$40 shipping cost and no US state sales tax, it's going to end up substantially cheaper than Pulse (which was $280, with free shipping and 6.25% Massachusetts sales tax).

So final total probably $215 to $220. I can't imagine Amazon.co.jp being cheaper (or much cheaper) than that.

 

Problem is the cape, otherwise i'll keep in my shelf MP11 as the Movie Starscream, and MP52 as Vanilla Starscream.

 

Too much of a gap for masterpiece only collectors.

Smokescreen Jan 2020
Arcee Dec 2020
Starscream Jun 2021

Starscream is probally it for 2021 as far as New G1 molds.

 

I think it's time for another MP-45. Maybe a nice Microchange blue this time.

 

Last time we has to wait like this we got 45/47. Keep hope alive 
For MP only collectors yeah, that's a humongous oversight to have nothing till June. I do think they feel people will fill the gap with their combiner sets and the Diaclone battle convoy. I think we overlook they aren't as biased as a lot of us are over mainline/mp line.
I'm kind of hoping they announce a BW by the end of the year, so we can get a G1 Wonderfest reveal. There's Shins mystery MP and theyll most likely sell a lot of Arcee's and Starscreams, it would be a shame to not strike while the iron is hot.

 

I just tried and it doesn’t fit.

 

Whew! I just re-read through all of Shin's clue posts in here to get caught up (I haven't been in this thread for a while).

So @Shin Densetsu when you said this:

1. Does this mean that the Mystery MP character had a direct interaction with a triple changer in the G1 cartoon and/or '86 movie?
2. Can you say if said triple changer is an Autobot or Decepitcon?
3. Can you say if said triple changer is one of the main six (Blitzwing, Astrotrain, Octane, Sandstorm, Springer, Broadside)? I'm asking for a yes/no here, not for you to name one specifically (unless you can do so without giving anything away   )

 

Or how about Cliffjumper?

 

We should know very soon if they've signed with Porsche when they reveal the Studio Series 86 lineup, presuming Jazz will be in the initial assortment. If he is, as I assume, I would guess MP Jazz could be a late 2021 release and Cliffjumper follows in 2022.

I don't want to wait another two years for a Bumblebee repaint, though. That's something easy they could push out early 2021 while we're waiting for Starscream.

 

Cliffjumper will be an all new mold, not a Bumblebee repaint. There are too many differences in their designs and very few parts, if any, would be reusable between them. Especially with the way Bee v2 is designed.

 

Retool or an actual new mold?

 

Going by the similarities with Cheetor and Tigatron visually, despite the actually very different figures, I’d guess an entirely new mold. As @Xaxis pointed out, there’s now a functional difference there.

 

I'm going to assume you were responding to my post despite not quoting it.  

Cliffjumper will be an actual new mold, rather than a retool/repaint of MP-45. Look at the character models for Bumblebee and Cliffjumper and you'll see multiple differences all over their designs, from the shapes of their biceps, the pelvis design, legs, etc. That combined with the differences in the shapes of their alt modes and how MP-45 is so very specifically designed around the VW alt mode, these differences will necessitate nearly all parts would need to be newly molded for Cliffjumper. Aside from possibly reusing a few internal parts for joints, which would be so minor that an MP Cliffjumper would no longer qualify as a retool of MP-45. They'll likely use similar engineering but it's highly unlikely they'll share anything beyond a very small percentage of tooling.

 

I wouldnt mind seeing Cliff. Either we'll get a couple of release like 2019 or Raiden will be getting announced by Wonderfest and will be pretty much the only other release. I thought it may have been planning around the virus, why thing are so bare, but they may just be saving budget to announce Raiden.

Would they sell an unpainted box set to keep the price lower, $600ish vs $8 or $900 after discount and then sell individual + painted versions through TT Mall?

 

The catch is you have to pay upfront and these are released more than 180 days from now...AE also doesn't have the best track record when it comes to customer service. They're not the worst, but they're far from great and hassle-free. It's worth the gamble for a 30% discount, but when there are other 30% discounts available... I get not wanting to shop with Amazon, but between the price, customer service, and not having to pay upfront...can't really beat it, at least if you're buying from the US. Those that have to pay import taxes, there are probably cheaper options if the shop is willing to misreport the value...