Any news about the Hasbro Asia price?

 

That makes sense. I figured this topic had been asked and answered when he was announced. I hadn't been able to find it anywhere, but I was REALLY hesitant to ask cuz I knew I'd be resurrecting the horse just to beat it to death again. Thanks for not being an ass about it.

 

Yep, that needs a reissue for all those who don't have a 3P Reflector with mini mode version.

Nope. And nobody's going to try. It's becoming an in-joke at this point...

 

Lol, yes they are, which is why Madarake, in Japan, is currently PAYING people around 15,000 yen for them, which is much more than some other MP figures.

The more you know, eh?

Yup, I'm definitely not bothering with this. More money for other toys!

 

Those two new pictures have put to bed any doubts about the colour.
They are perfection. Well done again Takara.

Luckily, anyone with a reflector set will already have a mini camera, but it really should have been an essential accessory included with Thundercracker.

 

That’s true. And from these pics alone, I’m not that bothered.

I just know it’ll feel weird in hand. Or maybe it won’t. But I feel like it will feel weird.

 

Having had the full MP-11 experience, I’d say they are good looking bots for their time, but are awfully limited when it comes to posing and don’t blend well with most of the current MPs.



Tho the cone heads do a better job of pulling off the toon look than the season 1 trio does.



For me these guys will probably all end up in a nice Jet display on some flight pose stands, since they still look awesome in alt mode.




All and all, after selling off my Maketoys bunch about a year ago, I’m glad these guys are coming out so quickly and I’m looking forward to the upgrade, tho my wallet probably disagrees.

 

That's not far off what's happening in the twitter pics. They're taken on a phone with the lens close up to the torso making it look bigger. Compare with the proper photoshoot pics...



Same figure, pretty much same angle, but chest canopy 20% smaller in the photoshoot pics if you overlay them. Proportions look fine in the proper pics to me.

 

My I'm sure they don't blend well with the current MP aesthetic, which is why I don't really bother with many official MPs these days (favouring 3P or KO offerings).

 

That’s quite an impressive array of boxes.

 

Huh, I thought the Canopy section sticks out too much from side but it’s accurate to the cartoon model  

 

Wow, look how nice the blue matches. Gorgeous. This might be an office prototype since you can see the pin access ports (circled in red) for easy disassembly not present in the official pictures. As stated by @Liampope , this was taken with a cellphone camera, so can we trust the blue to be “true”? It’s more vibrant than the subdued flat blue of the official pictures. I’m waiting to see a magazine layout of TC so we can judge where the blue lands. Standing next to objects we already own like the Soundwave can really help too. Also, thanks to Liampope’s overlay skills of detection, I feel a lot better about the awkward proportions seen in the cell pic.

 

What I now want my official masterpiece year to roughly resemble ...  

MP52 Starscream
MP52+ Thundercracker
MP53 Skids
MP54 Galvatron
MP55 Skywarp
MP56 (Cliffjumper, Jazz or Mirage)

 

Cliffjumper has a Porsche alt-mode, so he seems a bit of a pipe dream at the moment. If TakaraTomy could breach that licensing barrier finally, I feel they'd probably aim for Jazz/Meister first.

 

Agreed. Given that the maximum number of new characters we'll get announced in 2021 (outside Skids & seeker repaints) will probably now be TWO, I'm keeping that MP-56 slot open for either CJ, Jazz, or Mirage. Now Skids is dealt with, and if not Trailbreaker/Hoist, the next carbot should ideally be one of those three.

Given Skids this year, a minibot is more likely than two regular sized carbots I feel (has that ever happened concurrently in a single year's MP release schedule?) Of those, the only other two possibles from a sales p.o.v. are Huffer or Brawn, I guess. Can't see them randomly plumping for, say, Powerglide or Cosmos over core S1 Ark characters.  

And getting back on subject to the seekers, I'd personally be fine with them just doing the main three in this new mould, leaving the coneheads as is to fill those slots with other characters. They were more toonified in some ways already (e.g: face sculpts) so fit better with the newer line; different design aesthetic mixes things up and differentiates them anyway.

 

I've been sorta surprised that Trailbreaker (and maybe Hoist. Hard to say how closely the two would be linked, since their animation models diverged quite a bit) hasn't been sooner on the docket. Maybe just less popular characters? Especially since pickup trucks aren't much of a thing in Japan anymore? Otherwise, I don't think Toyota would be much of a license holdout.

 

which current MPs? They fit well with anything since Megatron (a few figures before even, plus there's the + versions), this hyper toon isn't coming from nowhere

 

How reliable is ShowZ? I might order from them if I can't find Thundercracker locally for a reasonable price.

 

Think it's more this erratic schedule they seem to have, where the number of G1 releases always seems to be in flux. I'm expecting them sooner versus later, I still think that hi-lux is attractive enough, that it's no need to shy from it.