Yeah seriously people with your pitchforks, not to be big-headed and all but I'm reposting my previous post here, all it takes is reading interviews to understand how the company works.


Right I've been thinking about this all morning so here goes. My first reaction to the news was a sinking feeling in my stomach, but now I've had some time to do some reading.

I'm a fan of what Shogo Hasui is done. Still, I like MP-01, MP-08 looks good, and though it is plagued with problems MP-09 looks pretty good too. MP-11 is great (shame that the top half doesn't hold on to the bottom half properly, but otherwise I like the mould).

It's funny because originally Shogo Hasui was called 'Mr Starscream'. Check out this staff interview: 2009 interview.

Here's an interesting quote from it:

Now, from that we can gather that these guys must be a pretty tight-knit team. Ok, the interview is from 2009, but I imagine not much has changed. A small team, probably not that big of a deal if some roles get changed because it seems to be quite a collaboration.

Case in point, a quote from this 2011 interview: 2011 interview.

Note how he says 'our' future hopes. Sounds quite collaborative.

Again the mention of 'we'. Also interesting aside, he mentions combiners, but anyway that's a nugget for another thread.

So, interesting to note is that:

Right, so Hasui was brought in at the same time as Kobayashi was busy doing MP-09. With the success of MP-10 it seems fair to let Hasui take the reigns a little, although being Mr Starscream he did decide to pay homage to the preceding MP designer by allowing Kobayashi's original Starscream to be made into MP-11. Remember, this is a collaborative effort.

Hasui even praises Kobayashi's Optimus Prime Masterpiece:

Indeed you did Hasui-san, MP-10's feet don't fall off half the time I transform him!

Another interesting hint at a collaborative effort:

So Hasui didn't necessarily want to hide the rear tyres, but the team members won him over. That sounds like quite a collaboration to me. Remember, we're only talking about 7-8 designers.

That brings us back to this:

So Hasui consulted Kobayashi, who knows if he did so just for MP-10? He obviously did for MP-11. And who's to say that Kobayashi won't be consulting Hasui for MP-20 onwards? These guys are part of a team. It seems to me like we're making maybe too much about who the lead designer is. The point is, that the new direction for the MP line was set from MP-10, and Hasui talks collectively about that direction i.e. 'we'.

I thought it would be useful to bring certain points that people may have forgotten to the forefront. Credit to the original posters for posting those interviews.

 

Rage, bitch and moan: the fanboy equivalent of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This thread is hilarious.  

 

^ Go Team Masterpiece!

 

Gotta love how ACToys slapped their own watermark of the ones I put on those images when I scanned them originally for the Allspark.

Where did you find these at ACToys?

You can see the originals in the thread below:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/969457-dengeki-hobby-february-2014-scans.html

Randy

 

Sorry about that, Randy! I didn't notice the "AllSpark" watermark under the "ACToys" one. I've edited my original post to give the correct credit. Someone reposted your scans on the ACToys forums here:

Regarded as the world's best news [small 林弘典 will succeed in 2014 Lin Zhang Tao Wells MP Series is designed to re-charge] (2L Update magazine charts) | Transformers General Category - AC Mode Play Network - the world's la

 

I don't have a problem with this. I've liked just about every MP release since the very beginning.

 

Thanks for the link!  

Randy

 

Feeling much better about this news now.

Also, can we get a better shot of that Star Saber drawing? That's the MP design, right? Seems like that should be front page news...

 

Thanks for reposting (missed your first one). This is a very useful compilation of information.

 

I love your posts.  

 

People love to whine and complain. There has not been one bad MP yet.

 

MP-02, MP-03, MP-06 and MP-07 would disagree with that. They were just awful... and not even in hindsight - at the time of release.

MP-01/04 and MP-05 did the trick for their time and still have a relevance unto themselves as two great stand-alone figures, so I agree that no one should downplay their merit in hindsight and in comparison to the newer, more refined MP's we have today.

MP-08, while small and in a need of a LOT of improvements, was also great as a stand-alone figure that didn't/doesn't really fit in with any MP that came before or after.

And MP-09, while I loathe the character and won't touch the figure with a 20 foot pole, also DID manage to be the first ever screen accurate depiction of Hot Rodimus Prime - something none of us thought could ever actually be done.

 

Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but I think you're going a bit overboard here...

 

Blah, nevermind. I'm tired of arguing with fans that have this weird obsession with tearing down the early MPs just to validate how awsum the new MPs are. Really sad.

 

This, I agree with, as in all of it.

Every MP released has it's merits and it's deficiencies. Some more than others, but I cant think of one that is awful or crap or horribly bad overall.

 

Very true. Aside from the size/scaling issue and non-useful and unwieldy metal, MP-01 (or rather, MP-04) has better proportions and looks more like the Marvel/Sunbow model sheets than chimp-arms MP-10. He's just too damn big for the rest of the line and for the current thrust of the line.

 

Yes, that is correct. I've owned it.

BUT-- No trailer, and is the most fragile figure ever (don't you dare transform it!) - downright brittle, and QC is horrible, the fun gimmicks have been neutered, etc.

IF Hasbro/Takara made MP-04 at that size, all problems solved, really.

 

I forgot this point in my initial post. With the line designed the way it has been the last two years, we were getting a LOT more characters, not just Starscream and Convoy over and over, and it looked like the line could announce just about anyone from the 1984/s1 to 1986/s2 years.

I hope a change of designers doesn't alter that part of this line.

 

Agreed; as much as Megs needs an update and some people want a Hot Rod v2 or Grimlock v2, I'd personally rather the line continue to focus on never before created characters (AKA. more autobots, shockwave, galavatron, etc.). And for the love of God, please no more seekers for a while!

 

One of the few, lol.

I'm quite enjoying people tearing up MP Grimlock right now, saying all sorts of things for him, when up until 2 f*cking days ago the only complaint was "he's too short".

Now there's things like "too needlessly complicated" by having a dino spine gimmich in dino mode that doesn't interfere with his articulation or his robot mode, then "doesn't fit with any line" when people have been using him for classics AND MP figures or the all time classic "Hasui could have done him better".

I swear to god 8 months ago 90% of these people didn't even know who Shogo Hasui was, and now they are elitists.

Oh the irony.

The only thing currently not in this thread is Star Saber bitching or how "USA is the main market for the figures that are made for the Japanese market, can't you tell?"

Or "They'll HAVE to make the Dinobots now".