Spurred by the "objective" 3P comparison between Maketoys and DS Starscream, I've conducted my own written comparison between MP11 and our new MP52. I don't own an MP03 ver anymore but will detail any comparisons with that as well.

Comparison is between MP52 Thundercracker and MP11 TRU Thundercracker [USA ver]

Robot mode: Straight off the bat you can tell that each figure goes for very different targets/audiences. MP11 came out in the early part of the 2010 decade, where the MP line was shifting gears from a more "fancy, but one-off" approach to a more "faithful to G1 but taking cues from other media" rollout. MP11 was the second release in that rollout, following MP10 Convoy. In contrast, MP52 Thundercracker is coming from the other end of the spectrum; "as G1 cartoon accurate as humanly possible", and it shows as he looks more like a non-transformable Super 7 figure than a transformer. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but an observation.

MP11 TC instead takes on a more toyetic approach [this particular USA ver, the Takara MP11 TC was more cartoon-accurate in terms of colours]. Remnants of the MP03 engineering and approach can be seen here; neat details in the knees and pistons in the elbows make for a more "realistic" robot approach. The imposing height, sharp headsculpt and massive angled wings give MP11 more presence, not to mention sculpted detail all around. MP52 instead goes for a smoother look, and is shorter, with less pronounced wings [a deliberate by-product of his transformation]. The relatively flat colours, proportions and lack of visible detail give more of a cartoon print out vs the more comic/toy look of MP11. That is not to say he is underdetailed; the inside of MP52s wings feature an exorbitant amount of tech detailing which again reminds of those Super 7 interior detailing on their larger figures. Both feature the chest missiles in good detail.

In short: Both feature gorgeous robot modes that go for very different things. Some may prefer the taller, imposing if a bit lankier approach of MP11, whereas MP52 goes for a more chunky 80ies robot man look. The colours are gorgeous either way; dark navy blue for MP11 or lilac blue all over for MP52.



Stability/articulation: Straight off the bat, there's a 10 or arguably closer to 15 years difference between the two, and it shows. In reality, the figures have broadly comparable articulation; double jointed knees, foot articulation, shoulders, elbows, double neck joints. MP11 has a limited waist joint [MP52 has no waist articualtion] and a deeper elbow bend, but other than that realistically there's no comparison between the two. MP52 has two outward shoulder joints, an impressive butterfly joint, much more pronounced and articulated fingers, ankle tilts [just about] and even a sculpted neck joint, which makes for the double neck joint not being unsightly from certain angles. True, it has no waist joint, but it has an impressive forward waist tilt joint. MP11 has a deeper knee bend, but much more restricted forwards and sideways movement at the hip. The joints are there, but they are restricted by panels that don't move.

In terms of stability, each figure has its own strengths. MP11 has simpler and more robust ankles/feet; when you plop him down, he stays planted. In contrast, MP52 has ankles/feet that are a lot more intricate in their engineering and no heel spurs, so he's more likely to be unstable. MP52 is also heavier [lots more die-cast from what I can tell]. However, this advantage turns around when you actually pick up the figure to mess with it. MP11 has no torso locking mechanism; it is very easy to dislodge his waist/torso and have to faff around with it to get it back to position. In doing so, you're also likely to dislodge one or both of his wings, or the backplate. MP52 is rock solid. Everything tabs together and stays tabbed. Again, a recurring theme, this makes MP52 a lot more "action figure"-esque than the previous incarnation.




Transformation: Both are MP figures and care should be exercised when transforming them. MP11 is fairly straightforward and dare I say has a degree of chonk to it. Parts slide, retract and tab together firmly. You can leave the null rays on and swing them around on their armatures, but if struggling you can always pop them off and back again. The transformation is a big carryover the MP03 days, prioritising the jet silhouete to anything else really, but has numerous remoulded parts which result in a "rougher" jet underside. The nosecone twisting and fitting through the torso is a nice G1 update. The whole thing is very utilitarian; it gets from point A to B without a fuss. In contrast, MP52 is a LOT more involved. Slavish G1 toon accuracy means that a lot of parts have to tidy and hide away a lot more. The tailfins slot in the backpack and the horizontal stabilizers retract into the lower legs. The wings are very impressive in how they lose about 20% of their mass for robot mode by a clever double fold, and any excess parts tuck away neatly. The whole cockpit/nosecone section re-emerges from the robot torso; it does something relatively similar to MP11 in that it has to break apart to tuck away. The arms are fairly straightforward but things need to be done in a very specific order for the jet mode to come together, due to the number of parts that collide and tab in. The null rays have a very neat transformation to shorten then for jet mode. Like MP11, they can be removed if you want to, but can stay tabbed in throughout. The intakes also pull a very impressive shift forward to expose vents for jet mode that stay hidden in robot mode.

In short, MP52 is flashier, neater at parts and has a lot of pizzah, sometimes unnecessarily so IMO. As highlighted above, there is a 10-15 years difference between the designs. Even so, it's nowhere near as day and night as say MP05 to MP 36 Megatron.

Jet mode: They both turn into a gorgeous rendition of the F15 with most of its bells and whistles. MP11 is slightly larger. As a byproduct of sharing the design with MP03, MP11 is also a lot more gimmicky; opening cockpit, nosecone radar, airbrakes, jet engine detail. MP52 has an opening cockpit, nosecone radar, some airbrakes [absent is the large spinal airbrake] and has opening jet engine panels but no detailing in. Where MP52 excels IMO is in the landing gear; the rear landing gear are way more accurate to the real world vehicle, as opposed to the flip out wheels of MP11. However, MP52 drags the entire chest of the robot mode with no attempt to hide the chest intakes; a large panel hides over the faux robot mode cockpit but does nawt to hide the rest of the robot mode details.

The MP11 USA ver also features fab tampograph and nods to cartoon/toys/comics for Thundercracker with a lovely tampograph on the tailfins, a refraktor camera n the sides, toy-oriented air brake details and G1Joe/G1 toy tampos on the side of the cockpit. The MP11 takara version does not have these.


Accessories: They both come with a display stand, although the MP52 stand is bigger and adjustable. The MP11 stand is far smaller [good for more limited spaces] and all of his other accessories can tab in on or under it, making it a lot more self-containing. MP11 also features sidewinder missiles for the jet mode; a carry over from MP03, where the null rays were just a pop on-off feature. To use these missiles you'll now need to either get creative or take out the null rays altogether. MP52 instead comes with a lot of blast effect parts [the norm in the 2021 action figue era]; two yellow jet boosts for vehicle mode and 3 purple blast effects for robot mode. Due to their ports, you can only use the purple ones if you have the null rays in their robot configuration; doable in jet mode but you'll end up with much longer missiles.



Price: The Takara MP11 SW/TC duo and the coneheads retailed for about 150 GBP in UK import stores. MP52 is currently at about 179-189 in those same stores. At those prices, you are getting a LOT more bang for your buck with MP52 in every conceivable way. But, you can easily snag an MP11 version of the mould between 50-100 GBP second hand these days and at that point it boils down to an individual's sensibilities. MP52 Starscream was plagued with QC and assembly issues; so far Thundercracker seems better built.

 

It’s quite interesting comparing the various Haslab projects. I feel we’ve got much better value for money with Victory Saber than the other franchises, granted some are licensed but even so.

 

What can you do, 21st century capitalism...

 

Things about Yodel I “love”, they ask you to provide more information but then don’t actually allow you to because they have literally the shittiest customer service method possible…..

 

Personally, it's a tipping point for me, and that's saying something as a Ravage purchaser! So I don't pay it  

 

and yet, still no grey or gold suit ironman... that'll be my first ML figure if they do one or both.

nevermind, i confused it with this version  

Transformers The Game (Director's Cut) (Armada game) | TFW2005 - The 2005 Boards

 

What? Never knew they did a directors cut of that game!

Oh. It only came with a making of dvd as extra. Still, pretty nifty.

 

Morning all

Got a stinking cold so just having some fun with some figures.

Special Ops



Security detail…




Lambro’s



Not put any pre-orders in yet for any of the legacy figures. Mainly cos I’m broke until payday tomorrow but also feeling a bit “meh” about the reveals. I will definitely get skids and I will probably get kickback but I am having difficulty finding space for new figures as it is so not sure if I am going to be able to accommodate dragstrip and the special teams/scramble city combiners. I am pretty much operating a “one in, one out” policy now and I didn’t come to generations in time for CW so I don’t presently own any of the combiners, only POTP abominus. Menasor was however the only combiner I had complete as a kid so there is the rose-tinted nostalgia factor to contend with…

On reflection, I won’t pick up G2 laser prime and will probably wait for the inevitable scourge black repaint.

 

It's a fan club. If you join a singer's fan club, you pay money for exclusive merchandise, events and other perks. It's the same concept.

 

Calling it now: Laser Prime Cab with Earthrise trailer. Not having a delivery trailer would just defeat the whole point of one themed after a delivery based company IMO.
Oh god, they'll brand the shoulder speakers as Audible won't they?   Listen to audio books in EXTREME VOLUME!!!!

Speaking of calling it, hands up everyone who was speculating QR codes on boxes for character bios 

My guess for HasLabbing the Skystriker is there isn't sufficient brand confidence in GI Joe at Hasbro for such a thing at general retail. I don't know if the Snowspeeder you're referring to was also HasLab but if not, that of course has the weight of a global juggernaut behind it.

As for pre-ordering things 9 months in advance, Galvy I was unclear if he was exclusive to Pulse or not, I'm still unsure so setting him aside the only fig I did end up pre-ordering with them for that lot was Arcee due both to not having to pay anything up front so having a safety order, but also recent experiences with distribution of some fembots being notoriously bad (I'm looking at you Chromia...) so again, safety order... if a better option comes up at one of our local shops I'd happily order from them instead.

 

Also I just realised with people saying how Legacy Bulkhead looking like Bayverse Hound, this is almost a reverse of what often happened with Bayformers of slapping the name of a recognisable character on a character with little similarity to the namesake, and in some cases with an altmode of an entirely different character. In fact this is happening again in Rise of the Beasts with that famous Porsche G1 character.... Mirage ._.

 

£3 sd g1 guys in quality save picked up a Soundwave for the mantlepiece myself
There's optimus, jazz, bee, megs, Soundwave and screamer

 

Pulse. It's pretty much all about the free postage.

So I ordered a bunch of stuff this weekend (which is job done for Hasbro) but only actually bought the Zartan pack, and with that I'm now in "getting my money back" territory on the free postage - so anything now is making the case that the £20 Premium thing was "worth it", but even with stuff like SG Jetfire/SG Starscream and a Legends Hercules on the way in the next month, at the full £40 it wouldn't have been worth it.

All the exclusives except that one Star Wars one (who knew Dave Filoni was that popular?) Seem to still be available so early access didn't matter.

So if it's £40 next year to rejoin I'm probably not going to bother because I just won't order enough to make that pay.

Is it as terrible and "morally wrong!" as the RetroBlasting crowd would want people to think? Is it the Unacceptable Face of Capitalism ©®? That's a personal calculation. I don't think it is. As long as I'm getting something of value out of it then I'm not being cheated, and I'm a grown man collecting stuff they make - it's all "unacceptable" in a First World sort of way.

Plus some of the RetroBlasting thing is his personal agenda and biases (not supposed to like Modern, it's not as good as Vintage etc etc) and I'm not ok with some of that.

When I think something is priced too high or doesn't represent good value (looking at you Agent Ravage) then I just won't bother. Mileage is going to vary.

 

Tesco's, for those that care

 

Ah! We’ll remembered! I recall seeing that and thinking “bollocks” at the time, I wasn’t double dipping for the sake of a DVD….still don’t think I’ve ever seen it!

On a separate note I’m clearing out a load of PlayStation J-RPGs, I was struggling to price them so may be out on some and would always rather deal with people in here. Let me know if anything piques folks interest  

| eBay

 

You know, I realised that depending on how it's implemented a Prime Ratchet figure in Legacy could also work for a Lost Light shelf. There were times when reading MTMTE/LL that he kind of made me think of a mashup of G1 and Prime Ratchet's design.

 

Yeah, the £20 enticement fee last year was fine - but I'll walk away from a £40 renewal fee next year.

 

Agreed. Having the same legs makes it easy to mix and match cabs and trailers. I'll give it a glance if it's a nice, strong blue colour cab, but if it's the (more likely) pale blue to match the branding, it's a very hard pass.

I think 2022 for me is going to largely be a year of sullenly letting Legacy pass me by, and taking the time to accumulate Cybertron, Energon and Prime stuff that I regret missing. That and a campaign to hunt down every Generations Thunderwing and amass them into a huge pyre in the middle of the Mojave desert, dance around it and chant "GIVE US A COMMANDER CLASS THUNDERWING YOU COWARDS". It's the only logical step.

 

I just hope the Croc Masters figure isn't too expensive...I have my original so I need to buy this.

Hopefully he won't be as pricey as the Commando Snake Eyes set

 

I am with you on prioritising older figures I regret missing. Chiquita Prime is now the centerpiece of my collection.
Regarding Legacy, I suspect I will replay 2021: buy most new releases, and resell 80% of that.
After one year, this is what I am left with:
Core (2/7)
WFC-K1 Optimus Prime
WFC-K2 Rattrap
WFC-K3 Vertebreak
WFC-K12 Starscream
WFC-K13 Megatron
WFC-K21 Soundwave
WFC-K22 Dracodon
Deluxe (3/16)
WFC-K4 Cheetor (not purchased)
WFC-K5 Blackarachnia
WFC-K6 Warpath
WFC-K7 Paleotrex
WFC-K14 Airazor
WFC-K15 Ractonite
WFC-K16 Huffer
WFC-K17 Arcee (fuck this shit)
WFC-K23 Predacon Scorponok
WFC-K24 Wheeljack (not purchased)
WFC-K25 Wingfinger (not purchased)
WFC-K26 Autobot Tracks (not purchased)
WFC-K31 Shadow Panther (won't purchase)
WFC-K34 Waspinator (not purchased)
WFC-K32 Autobot Pipes (won't purchase)
WFC-K33 Autobot Slammer (yeah baby)
Voyager (1/6)
WFC-K8 Optimus Primal (not purchased)
WFC-K9 Cyclonus
WFC-K18 Dinobot
WFC-K19 Inferno
WFC-K27 Rhinox (not purchased)
WFC-K35 Tigatron (won't purchase)
Leader (0/4)
WFC-K10 Megatron
WFC-K11 Optimus Prime (FTS)
WFC-K20 Ultra Magnus (FTS)
WFC-K28 Galvatron
Commander (1/1)
WFC-K29 Rodimus Prime
Titan (1/1)
WFC-K30 Autobot Ark

8/35, or 23%. If I keep this trend, I guess my Legacy Menasor is already on its way to ebay.

 

He's £40 (ex postage) on SAF and C&C (incl postage):

*PRE-ORDER GI Joe CLASSIFIED SERIES ACTION FIGURE Twin Pack - Croc Master & Fiona

https://www.comicsandcocktails.co.u...-Series-Croc-Master-&-Fiona-2-Pack-p409356611