You win big fella, lol. I now only have MP-3G, MP-11 and MP-52. Oh shoot, I forgot to count the oversized MP-11 with Walscream paint scheme.

 

ouch... i feel ya

 

Yeah now you got me thinking, maybe more. Starscream for me has definitely been replaced the most in my collection, hands down. I've been waiting for one that looks like this with good ankle tilts for too long!

 

see that TC bee ship is just such a horrendous sight to look at. Ugh.

 

I'm not a huge fan of Starscream but I have to say that DS-001 has made me feel eager for a Transformers toy in a way that MP toys used to.

It's sad that these days, I look to unofficial options for my Masterpiece or "ideal" toy representations of certain characters.

I know that for 3rd party enthusiasts who are deeply entrenched in unofficial toys, this isn't a revelation, but for me, while I have some 3rd party toys, they are the minority of my collection. I usually look to 3rd party options for things that aren't currently available in official form.

I look at something like MP-52 and in isolation, it looks good...but not great. I look at DS-001 in isolation and immediately, no hesitation, I think "Damn, now that is Starscream!". Nothing against 3rd party products but that seems wrong to me.

If nowhere else, MP products should be the secret weapon, so to speak, of official Transformers toys. But they aren't. Not anymore. It could change but right now, it seems like anything TT does, someone else can do better or at least match.

MP-52 is not TT's first try at Starscream. It's a good take but good should be below Masterpiece threshold of acceptability.

This post isn't meant to say 3rd party is better than official or vice versa. I'm just sharing my thoughts on the feeling I have of MP state of affairs that has been gradually forming in my mind over the past several years. DS-001 simply made it apparent that, to me (simply my opinion), MP isn't what it used to be in my eyes.

 

Oh, lord.         is right. Welp, fixed again.  

 

Yeah, looking at this figure, the Starscream I've been yearning for all these long years, sometimes I can't help but feel like...




(But to be honest, I feel that way about all of the cool stuff I've wanted for so long that's finally coming out only after I've become a cynical old fart)

 

There’s something to be said about 3p in general, it showed that there was enough demand for cartoon-based MP Seekers that fans would pay for(MakeToys Seekers). Also the fact that despite being more complex than MP-52 and not all review copies having instructions, no one has broken DS-001 yet, is pretty surprising to me. That tells me it’s constructed well and should be able to be forgiving when handled. I’m almost certain if something was to break, it would’ve been reported by now(a lot earlier actually).

I’m a seeker fan and am brand agnostic when it comes to that. There’s appeal to DS-001 because it does a lot of things right. Borrows NewAge engineering but with a more appealing jet mode. MP-52 inspired robot sculpt but better leg proportions and better hand articulation. Clean and innovative missle to null ray transformation.

For $140 I can definitely see the appeal for this.

 

Isn't it amazing this was only announced in June?? That has to be some record for shortest release window.

 

BMB and its "affiliates" seem to either have crazy fast turnaround time or they just don't announce their products until they're almost ready for production. Same thing happened with their improved KO of UT Dragoon - super quick turnaround time.

 

And at a fraction of the cost...

 

3d printed screw covers? Is that something people would want? I bought a set of vinyl sticker screw covers for my FT Jetfire but mostly I ignore the screwholes - 3d printing seems like overkill.

 

I'm not even clear on how the hierarchy works here. This is a rebrand of Transform Element which is under Black Mamba?

 

Just got notice. Paid, so excited to receive this from Show Z! Kinda wish I had paid for the more expensive shipping to get it sooner but it’ll be fine.

 

Basically. TE is BMB's 3P non-KO branch, and for whatever reason has been branded as Deformation Space for this guy and their Blaster. If they hadn't this would have been TE-04.

 

That's part of it, but honestly BMB just seems to have a lot of surnames. I guess TE and DS are their "non-KO original design", Aoyi Mech is their "improved KO" line, and they're also behind IT with their improved MP36 KO. I'm sure they have other aliases as well, just like with Weijiang, Model Wizard and New Evolution.

 

Most of the ones on the inner thighs and back I can ignore... Not keen on the ones in the middle of the air intakes or the ones on the side in jet mode - mainly because they're not just screws but screws with washers which give a very unfinished look, like it was put together with Meccanno.

 

I swore that one trio of seekers would be enough and I'd never replace the MP11 moulds... oh well can't wait for Omegalock to get this sent out. I'll chalk it up as Seekers Tax that all masterpiece collectors have to pay. I'm definitely having a go at getting the Cape & Crown set modded to work with this.

 

Just watched the latest video and, having seen three different videos of this guy, it got me thinking and I just wanna ask: all of you who were so sure that this KO'd or borrowed engineering or whatever from Newage, do you feel silly yet? The assumption was based on almost nothing - the most tenuous similarity in leg transformation, that really wasn't all that similar (all we saw was one of the tail wings in the leg - not even the vertical tailwing like NA, and upside-down from what NA's is) - and you guys just wouldn't let it go. Seriously, nobody jumps to conclusions like people on this board.

Ok, rant over. Sorry, it just drove me nuts how so many seemed to think it was a sure thing based on... right, I said my rant was over. *deep breath* So anyway, I have a few minor critiques based on what I've seen but otherwise I'm thrilled and I can't wait to get this guy. I really don't like those itty bitty flaps that just kinda' dangle until you put them into place on the jet's back. That's the kind of thing that should never make it to a final product - find a better way to do it (still not as bad as those dumb dangly bits on Apollyon's inner shin) . I'm also not thrilled with the way the armatures that the arms connect to have to flip around - three transformations I've watched and nobody has managed to make that look anything but awkward and a struggle. I mostly love how he looks from the back but the big pivots on the wings and especially the empty space underneath them just looks sloppy. Also the wing flaps make sense but it's just a shame how much of a blight they are on what is otherwise almost a perfect back - a transformer with no backpack, whose back looks almost perfect to the character model and it's ruined by some flaps hanging down. Okay, ruined is a strong word, but they certainly disrupt the aesthetic. Kinda' wish that that part of the wing had separated and folded away into the torso or legs or something rather than sticking with the MP-11 style flaps (though I'll admit that the magic that's already being achieved with the torso and legs probably doesn't leave any room for another miracle).

Otherwise, damn, this is a spectacular figure. Looks spot on, is wonderfully articulated, well painted (maybe a little too well, honestly - I prefer a figure be durable over being painted) and manages a pretty damn nice alt mode (bulky underside notwithstanding) and the cleanest bot mode of any Starscream I've ever seen, and one of the cleanest bot modes of any TF I've seen. Can't wait to have him ruthlessly kick my TRU MP-11 to the curb.

 

I agree with you on your rant. Not sure why lately as soon as a lot of people see something look similar there is this insistence that it is copied/KO'd directly from another existing bot or brand. There are always going to be similarities in transformations when the same character gets released over and over. When it comes to the sculpts these companies are more than likely just going by the source material as others have pointed out because when you look at DS-01 & MP-52 side by side the heads are as different as they are the same and this goes for TE-01 & MP-44 too.

I get what you're saying regarding those parts with the backpack but where would they go or how should they fold to make it cleaner without adding to more engineering that may interfere with the form and function of other areas. I'm sure those things could be cleaned up but at what cost? It could make the retail cost higher, or create smaller more delicate parts to deal with. In some way or form there is almost always a compromise that has to be made and some bots will always have it worse than others even in the cleanest attempt.