Absolutely. I’m all in on NewAge and rarely buy MP for those reasons. But I’d never even bother to compare NA to 3P MP. What’s the point? Apples and oranges, and I’m in the market for apples.

 

I think the comparison is fine to show off how good the smaller figure is, how bad the mp figure looks, or in this case a bit of both.

 

Well if you choose to ignore the points I've made that's up to you of course.

Plenty of us are comparing apples to smaller - often tastier - apples rather than oranges though.

 

Why not? A great many Newage and Magic Square offerings are actually superior to their Masterpiece counterparts, until MP-52 came out Newage Starscream was much better than MP-3 or MP-11, then we have Soundwave, Optimus Prime, Shockwave, Grimlock and Ultra Magnus. Its fascinating to see how the technology progresses and functions but I would personally consider the Legend offerings from Newage and MS to be MP quality items.

But you know, you do you.

 

It can be fun, though!

 

Toy-deco EX version of this thing will get my dollar. I love service-vehicle alts.

 

Yeah, I usually get the first NA release out of FOMO, but I'll definitely wait for EX on this one. My reissue Inferno was one of my favorite independent purchases as a teen.

Also Artfire just because I love his look and want a targermaster.

 

I only had Grapple when I was a kid, but I like all characters from the general mold. I missed out on MP Artfire but I love the deco, and would definitely be tempted by an Artfire by Newage.

 

He looks good, but EX will probably be better. The clear windshield looks kinda "meh".

 

My one real complaint with this deco. Don't do a completely clear windshield if there's nothing inside the vehicle but ugly engineering bits. The windows should have been heavily tinted or opaque.

 

Maybe I'm misremembering, but I seem to recall reading that NA planned to darken the windshield for the final release.

edit: typo!

 

Yup, in the original Weibo announcement. Mangmotion tends to get non-final samples.

Was scrolling through Weibo comments to see if they mentioned recolors (NA said “All”), but apparently a toon head is going to come with the EX, which makes zero sense. Hopefully it still has a toy head alternate or I might be pushed toward getting the regular release.

 

Thanks for the fact check!

As for the head, yeah that stinks, but you might be able to find someone with the regular release to swaps heads with. Heck, I might be that person depending on how the toon/EX head turns out!

 

Thanks! Might take you up on that depending on the release. But I feel like NA changes colors just enough to deter that - the different greens on Devastator, greys/blacks on Grimlock.

 

Good point, you're probably right. EX will likely be black, as apposed to the dark grey of the regular release. I hope not, but we'll find out soon enough!

 

I wonder if we might get a possible Bulkhead retool out of this guy much like the Xtransbots is doing.

Hopefully a better headsculpt if they decide to do it

 

I was thinking about this earlier. I would definitely pick up a copy but I wonder if Newage will stay away from it considering they are almost certainly doing a Hauler which is already a green repaint.

However, some one on Baidu made a custom out of PPT Grapple:

等不了第三方的小比例，我们DIY我们的第四方吧...【小比例变形金刚吧】_百度贴吧

 

Someone asked about Inferno on NA's post about SG Jeftfire. Looks like he might become available in the near future.

 

$97 @ TFSOURCE