Paint or no paint, I still think they did it best with MP-06 and MP-07, Skywarp and Thundercracker.

Those aren't painted but the black/blue plastic is covered in either a clear coat or most likely lacquer. It gives the cast plastic a very nice sparkle, almost metallic looking, and it's very strong, durable and scratch resistent.

Takara has proven in the past they can use a very white plastic. If they'd use that and put a layer of lacquer on it, then it would look sparkly metallic just as good (or beter) as being painted. And if MP-6 and 7 are anything to go by, then we wouldn't need to worry about chipping or scratching.

 

I honestly don't care if it'll be painted, or covered with a clear coat or lacquer, as long as it looks and feels premium and is scratch resistant enough.

 

I'm not sure if Outrage Culture really counts as "fandom" anymore. Always pissed, always bending over backwards to find things to be pissed about. I've said it before, it reminds me of Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. Never satisfied.

I'm sure there will be a billion things to hate about this Jetfire, too. It's gotta suck to carry that around with you every day. Kinda feel bad for anyone leading that lifestyle.

 

Takara MP-10 was painted (most noticeable in contrast to the unpainted obliques and biceps). Thing is, it was until our MVP @Dean ML pointed out that Takara’s MP-10 was painted while Hasbro’s wasn’t that anyone even cared about the paint aspect. Before that, people only commented on the difference between the shades of blue.

Have to agree the line is doing better than ever. Look how many views the MP-51 Arcee thread got, or hell even the new Starscream thread, compared to previous MP threads. Not to mention that the MP-44 thread is still the most viewed thread ever.

 

5 MP's this year (well, one is a semi-announcmenet-this one-) and not even June yet.


Best year ever?

 

One of the best for sure.

 

Time for them to drop some proper grey resin proto pics for this bad boy and let @chchchch work his colour-shoppin' magic ... 

 

Possibly...but most expensive MP year, just by volume.

 

I don’t even consider MP-53/54 to be in the current MP line let alone get official numbered slots - what a let down!
So isn’t it really only 2 MPs this year? Starscream and Skyfire ? MP-51 Arcee was in December no?

 

Nah. We are getting 4 MP's this year, not 2. I really do not care about numbered slots, One is Starscream and the others are Thundercracket and Skywarp. They are different enough.

And Skids, which sucks and I'm not getting.  

 

Oh, come on. He's an MP through and through, and the finest looking carbot since the Datsuns, imho. Plus, they gave us a lower price. What's not to like with Skids, I seriously don't get the hate!?  

Oh, and way more detailed alt than many carbots in the line. MASTERPIECE!!!   

 

That thing is not a MP at all, the articulation is way way backward, not to mention the strange hybrid look, twig arms, over-wide shoulder. The most unacceptable part for me is that, he is not TOON ACCURATE at all!

 

I see business just picked up.  

 

I dunno man, toon or non-toon (and actually speaking as someone who errs towards the anime look) the level of outrage just seems wholly disproportionate to me, so like I said: I just don't get it. Truly.

All I see when I look at this guy is one damn fine looking MP carbot. As good as, if not better, than most existing carbots in the line, irrespective of toon accuracy:

Takes me back to the Marvel comic days, Charlene, everything that is Skids.

Sprinkles a little bit of the animation (e.g: hands minus the derpy arms sprouting from his waist) some Marvel, and some toy influences into the mix and the end result of all those is - imo - superb.

But different strokes for different folks, I guess.

 

Bro, I don't hate skids, I just don't like that Takara decided to make new figures according to the aesthetics 10 years ago and reduce many articulation. And they even intend to continue this trend, as if they have already deny all their effort they did on toon-figure in recent years. I mean I can see Cybertronian magic on inferno and every releases after that, but this time, I see much more limitation due to cost-reduction maybe.
Speaking of toon-accuracy, I really think that is a good standard for MP line, because it provides consistency. If they go back to the aesthetics 10 years ago, they could just easily blend something that is hard to achieve on the figure with some so-called modern-reality detail (such as Optimus' wheels on the leg, Hound's wheel on the feet and the wings on Starscream's feet, such things may happen in the future figure if they stick to the aesthetics of Skids, man I just don't wish the term "stylized" overwrite all the impossible magic achieved by the toon bots).

 

I wonder if the mix is going to be something like secondary/Japanese-centric characters are going to get the cheaper, less complex releases. Skids and Raiden for example.

And on the pricey, super toon, and complex side would be the tier one/evergreen characters like the Seekers and Jetfire.

 

I think price and complexity changes are across the board, we probably won't see another mp44 or mp39 for a while. I think they were trying to listen to some of the feedback they were getting back. It does sound like their plan is to increase the pool of available characters. It's kind of hard for all 13 minibots or even most of them at mp-45 pricepoint, but scaled back some they become a lot more likely.

 

G1 Skids is one of the single ugliest animation models from the cartoon, I find it very weird to complain about this being ugly while wanting something that resembles a bloated animation model with arms that come from the waist.

 

I still would rather get the G1 toy deco and sculpt of Skids.

I wonder if/when they would release it?

 

Are you joking or do you really not know that the G1 toy version will never happen? The G1 toy is a Macross VF-1S and Harmony Gold is notorious for suing anyone who even thinks about making anything related to Macross. If you really want a Masterpiece that looks like the G1 toy your only option is to buy a Bandai DX VF-1S (or equivalent) and custom paint it like this one. This looks amazing and is pretty much exactly what you want:

Minor/Repaint: - Bandai DX Chogokin VF-1S repaint into G1 Jetfire