Should go great with your my little pony collection.

This isn't X-Transbots we're talking about. They already did the "tea set" with Aegis!

 

I try to bring a little class into this shit show and all I get are snide and snarkiness. I don't need it man!!!

 

Who should be using the tea set? Fort Max and Metroplex? I’m confused.

 

It's like a mini Megatron gun, and everyone thinks just because a few seekers, and Optimus had one..every figure should have one now. Too much brand X 

 

Just wanted to move this here to free up the MP Cliffjumper thread and in case anyone wanted to get something out of this rather than just send it to the ether.

Oh absolutely, though it's in the scheme of things something that affects a minor amount of releases.

Best two examples I can give you are Soundwave and Springer.

Springer

First reveal, circa July 14th, 2016





Edited physical prototype, Sept. 20th, 2016



Plastic colored physical prototype with further edits, April 28th, 2017



Finished colored prototype reveal, July 5th, 2017



Somewhat minor, but I made sure to save the best for last.

Soundwave

First reveal of Fans Toys Soundwave, circa July 20th, 2011



Fans Toys FT-02 Acoustic Wave, colored render reveal showing a radically different design, circa Jan. 16th 2012



But then MP-13 came out the following year, causing FT to push back their Soundwave. Nothing out of the ordinary later on, as the same would be said for their Hot Rod coinciding with MP-28, though unlike Soundwave, he actually came out a year later.

Acoustic Wave laid dormant for years.

Until July 13th, 2019, when FT had Soundwave circle back for another radically redesigned reveal run.



And then December 13th, physical prototypes.



Feb. 10th, FT's infamous COVID reveal photo. Note the lack of thigh flaps as now the entire waist pieces became the thigh flaps.



And then July 6th, 2021, the infamous rebrand, which also marks the final prototype which then went up for pre-order and is now in the people's hands.



Though as for Cliffjumper, I personally see no need for much of a difference to be made, so I expect the render to still be pretty accurate to whatever the final product is going to look like. It certainly looks further ahead than the initial Springer render did by comparison (since i've posted that here). To the point where, barring any complications, I would honestly expect Parkour by Q3 2022 the earliest.

 

Been thinking about the way TT are going. Naturally, conversation has been revolving around Acousticwave and what Takara will put out with their 2.0, and it's interesting to read what is being said. I have the opinion that TT will 100% put out a more cartoon accurate version of Soundwave than that of FT/RP - there's no doubt in my mind about that. FT's design choices and aesthetics are "inspired by", whilst walking a line somewhere between pure-toon and worldly-realism.
Whether TT provide their fan base with a toy aesthetic as well is something I'm not so sure on - I just don't see how they can nail both in one figure without letting one side suffer, so I wonder if they'll throw everything at the toon look and leave the toy look on the cutting room floor. My doubts stem from the curvature in the line-work used for Soundwave's animation model and the contrasting square-edged design of the toy. Then there's the obvious colour differences and sculpt and panel detailing between the toy and the cartoon.
Perhaps this has had some bearing on FT's choices, which is evident in the accessories they provided in their final product, and even so, they have clearly left some details out that in hindsight would have been very welcomed additions, which would have also enhanced the figure to another level. For instance: the opaque, lightblue chest window and a yellow tapedeck deck frame for the toon purists. For the most part I think FT have tried to stay true enough to both toy and toon and have done a very decent job on each, without really letting their respective sides down. But as TT push further towards the toon aesthetic it seems like it would be harder to pull it back in a "toyward" direction in order to find a balance.
I read a few comments from several members mentioning the "straight edges" of AW's legs not being true to the animation and then a few others mentioning the "plain panels and lack of details" that are missing from AW but are inherent to the toy, and it really is a case of not being able to please everyone, even when trying to do just that. Does it boil down to having a toon "shaped" figure with two different paint jobs and slight mould changes for the detailing?
When I look at MP52, 47, 36, 29, and 51 for instance, they have rounder edges and some nice curves in places and a heavily weighted bias towards the cartoon (which TT have done so well). But I'm really hoping to get an FT take on the Seekers at some point and if / when they do I'm sure they will stay true to their own design aesthetics (which I love so much and prefer) and although they won't be as "toon" as Takara's, they'll look amazing alongside Thomas, Quakewave, The Stunticons and the rest of the FT Deceptigoons.
One thing I am sure of though is that TT's Soundwave 2.0 will be much more posable than AW, as will MP-52 compared to an FT Seeker release in future.

Anyway... just some thoughts rollin' around in here.

--

I didn't know of the Chojin Masterforce namesakes. I just thought they were "nods" to the animation: Hydra being a gesture towards the multi-formed Sixshot - remove one head only to find five more (I think nine - is it? - according to greek mythology). Roadking taken from the dialogue between Prime and Motormaster in "The Key to Vector Sigma - Part 2". And Pheonix being a spin on "Skyfire" - a bird of flames.

 

TL;DR

 

 

Bombusbee has jazz preorders again. Only 4

【Pre-order】Fanstoys FT-48 Jive Jazz

Mirage and cliff jumper as well

 

The Darkwings Buster and Hydra/ G1 recolored Darkwing and Dreadwind. KFC had some CAD images of the them, for MP designs. Road King is G1 Powermaster Slapdash in Masterforce. Phoenix is the Japanese equivalent of the Pretender G1 Cloudburst. All Masterforce characters. They do match the motif their characters portrayed in the American series we watched. Skyfire rising out of the "icy tomb" reborn an Autobot. King of the road makes sense for Motormaster and the Hydra has 6 appendages ‍♂️. I just got the KO to compare to the TT official product. So far it's looking exactly the same. The jet mode is well put together on mine, almost as good if not better than the shape mine was in. The led extra head was worth it for half the price. MP-52+ didn't have any issues that I know of. Yet.

I got the last Jive 3 Phantasm left. Gracias!

 

Thank you. I’ve had Jazz and Mirage on order for a while now but missed CJ from them. I have two po’s now so I can drop one at release depending on pricing. Cheers for the heads up!

Edit: my two CJ PO’s are at different sellers.

 

Thank you!! I get one PO for Clif

 

How is this Bombu fella so cheaper?

 

Glad to be helpful. I was mainly concerned about preordering dirty man the transforming toilet when I noticed the added preorders.

 

Bombusbee was way more expensive on the DiBot reissues though!

I like Bombusbee okay. ShowZ has easily become my retailer of choice.

 

Yeah, we don’t know the price for Jazz, Cliffjumper and Mirage, they could end up being great or expensive.

We knew the price of Soundwave and upcoming Trailbreaker and Hoist because they’re noted in the details beforehand.

 

With very decent alternatives in Jazz and Mirage a higher price might hurt them. This looks to be the best CJ yet though so maybe people will swap out on him? With the TT version on the horizon that might hurt them as well. Outrider still has PO’s available and Hoist because the XTB ones are actually good… the price on these two isn’t as high either. As always though… we’ll find out soon enough.

 

They had 689 so bulk purchase got them a fat discount. That's what I'm thinking.

 

I wonder how all these Chinese factory shut downs are going to effect release dates?

 

So will ft cliffy be released under the Robot Paradise line?