different strokes for different folks. the one reviewer i saw valued poseability more, so the gaps didnt bother him. another reviewer said FT looks much better.

i didnt get a sense that it recieved glorifying love tho. its just less hate of it.

MP arcee... now that had a lot of hate, and for good reason.

 

I had the exact same experience as you... It's some serious cognitive dissonance. I'm seeing it a lot here lately. Usually it's with Takara or FansToys, but even the latter seems less insane by comparison...

And full disclosure, I still pre-ordered it when it was first listed with retailers because I didn't know which Trailbreaker to get at the time, but I ended up not paying Amazon for that pre-order and letting them cancel it.

I'm hoping to buy Outrider in a week or so. Not sure when exactly, because I'll probably go the Taobao route, so it depends on when family members are doing their next Taobao order (I think my first time, I ended up only paying the local shipping fee, so it works out super-cheap to just freeload on their shipping, haha).

What I decided I really want to do is get all the MP-style Trailbreakers (especially now that XTB is reissuing the toy version of Aegis, presumably with the previous mould changes), then make a detailed video going over all of them, from unboxing all the way through first impressions, transformation, and everything else, and even coming back to them all after some time to give as much information on them as possible so that anyone still on the fence can make as informed a decision as possible without buying them all for themselves.

Buuut that's really expensive, so short of getting some of them dirt-cheap (e.g. MMC's Terraegis is one I'd like to play with but the only places I can find it are charging about the same price as Outrider, and Badcube Speedbump doesn't look like it's worth much of anything) or borrowing sealed ones from someone (already unlikely, let alone the fact I'm in New Zealand), I probably won't be able to do that.
I'd still love to do that with Trailbreaker and some others at some point though. There are tons of options, and short of that video I posted (which is good but missing some details as well as MP-56), nobody else has done a comparison between all of them (it's mainly Outrider vs. Aegis and MP-56 vs. Outrider).

I've almost entirely only seen glowing praise for MP Trailbreaker. Even the criticisms end with "but it's perfect so it's okay" logic (something which happens with FansToys a lot too, to be fair). I saw that with the MPG Trainbots even when they were breaking on people (almost like making your Masterpiece figures out of clear plastic is a bad idea), but that's a WHOLE other discussion...

I'm fine with preferring articulation, but some of the sacrifices don't need to be made just for articulation, and is often just an excuse.
For example, Masterpiece Trailbreaker's shoulders don't even articulate properly without forcing (and damaging) or modding them. However, the shoulders, nor any of the articulation, don't affect the Jay Leno face or the gut with blue sides.

Another example: Arcee's entire chest is completely ruined so that she has butterfly joints (as if they couldn't have found another way to do it anyway). Even if we accepted that the compromise was the only way to do that, that doesn't explain why literally the entire vehicle ends up on her back.
Both FansToys and MMC have less accurate vehicle modes, sure, and MMC's is rather basic, but both try to place parts of the car in other areas too, whether it be using parts of the legs or the torso, or even folding things into her pauldrons. Takara just stuck it all on the back and then made it fold up in a way that scarcely improves upon just leaving it as-is in vehicle mode.

 

Go read the official MP-56 thread. All the Takara loyalists are simply in love the figure. Everything is just perfect according to them.

 

That's likely because those that remain are those that are very dead set on cartoon accuracy. And the MP is without question the most cartoon accurate version of Trailbreaker.

Thankfully, I don't care about cartoon accuracy at all (only some cartoon details like TC's colours or Wheeljack having grey limbs instead of black, things I think look better or more unique). So FT it is for me.

But if I wanted a cartoon accurate MP Trailbreaker, the MP would be my choice without question. And that's the people who on this forum still buy official MP's and post about it.

 

Actually, I thought this version did a better job with cartoon body proportions as well as a more toon accurate alt mode. I have both and planned on sticking the TT one with the MP-9/10 hybrid styled bots, and the FT one with the MP-36/44 styled bots.

 

Aside from his face...

 

Could be. Can't say. I honestly hate his Animation model face and vastly prefer the toy head in every way possible.

Altmode definitely. But then TT still has this policy of making the altmode as accurate to the real thing as possible, save for the colours.

But the proportions of the MP are more accurate to the animation model than any other version. Put them next to each other and TT have come close to reproducing it -- at the usual expense of gaps and folded parts at the side. It's just not a very flattering design to start with, so it looking awkward is what it needs to look like.

Another reason why I prefer almost every version over the TT one. If MMC's had been good, that would've been my Trailbreaker. Utimately I settled for Outrider and hope that I can one day put a toy head on him. But the MP is the most cartoon accurate.

 

Seeing a lot of what equates to “Stop liking what I don’t like!!1!!11!!!” in this thread.

FT looks better, TT seems to be more posable. So what if someone picks a different one to you? If they enjoy it isn’t that the point? It is after all a toy.

 

this whole thing devolved into a caste system a long time ago.

 

yeah. we're going to always have FT and MP loyalists. i'm in the "i'm a toy hoarder" category, so i just buy everything  

 

Yeah. I just like buying robots. I have the FT, so I don't feel particularly bothered to get the official Trailbreaker... but I'll totally buy a blue (or yellow) repaint, just because it's fun.

 

   

I hear that! Seeing so many butts hurt because ppl are actually happy is one of the funniest things ever when it comes to the hate culture of today. They crack me up. Arcee all over again.

Ppl just need to be happy that we have multiple options. But if not, at least they'll keep me entertained. AND we don't have to pay for it!

 

so just got Outrider today, so def late to the party. Anyone working on a toy head for him?

 

Guys I am very tempted to get Outrider, will you recommend it?

And do you know where I might get a good price?

Thanks!

 

He is very Fanstoys. If I had to point at the most Fanstoys-y figure I have, it would be Outrider. He's fine, but there's nothing surprising about him. He has the FT feel, the FT finish, and the transformation goes through doing the usual FT sort of tricks. He ticks all the boxes, but it feels like he was designed as a box-ticking exercise. Which is all fair enough, of course, as if you have a winning formula then you can stick to it. But it meant that I find him rather dull.

He's definitely pretty, but I get more fun from the MMC version since I like to play around with the figures.



So you might absolutely love him, and I can understand why some people would. Or you might say "oh, is that it?".

 

Spot on. He's about as unsurprising in hand as you can imagine. There's zero wow factor. If you like it in images, you will like it in hand. Not a bad thing, but there's nothing stand out about him.

 

I'm in the Trailbreaker business so I just bought them all, don't give a damn about others think.

 

It’s usually only in the FT and official threads that I see much blind loyalty. People should feel free to like what they like without people riding their ass about it, but at the same time, it’s important to at least acknowledge when one’s favorite is flawed. Most FT and TT loyalists seem to struggle with that, and they often fail to see the merits of other figures. That’s my biggest issue.

Neither the TT nor FT version of Trailbreaker meet my personal expectations. MP-56 in robot mode is without a doubt the more toon-accurate, if that’s your thing (it certainly isn’t mine). For those that like animation fidelity— warts and all— it seems to fit the bill. The odd proportions, strange face sculpt, and washed-out colors all scream “Sunbow”, yet the truck looks more realistic, as is Takara’s usual style with MPs.

Ourider is almost the opposite of the MP. The robot is cleaned up, more “hero” proportioned, with better color saturation and a more idealized representation rather than a cartoon-literal one. It’s more like the Hasui MPs of old— which drew upon multiple sources for inspiration— except for the lack of sculpted detail and the alt mode, which is very toon-like. I’m a “car guy”, and the finalization of the truck design is essentially what canceled my PO on Outrider.

Honestly, both the TT and FT designs are respectable efforts. Just because I or someone else doesn’t like them doesn’t make them bad, and the fact that someone else thinks they are the ultimate plastic representation of the character doesn’t make them the only rational choice. I don’t see a problem with voicing one’s preferences as long as they understand they are stating opinion and not fact, and if they are being respectful rather than insulting to others.

Personally, I favor Badcube’s Speedbump, despite its (numerous) flaws. I won’t even begin to say it’s the best design, but I like it the most. I’d rank XTB’s second.