You've seen the news. MP36. Megatron two point oh hell yes. It has been long rumoured to be on its way and suddenly here we are. The MP size Despotron and Mightron sort of came out of nowhere and were released very promptly. Maybe it is because I am not wearing my tinfoil hat today but it seems awfully convenient that these 3P's blast out something before an announcement or release of an official figure.

From memory, a similar thing happened with Bii (ToyWorld's Bumblebee).

Given Megs 2.0 was not public information when Despo and Mightron were announced, does this suggest 3P's have insider info on the MP pipeline?

Now, we also have every 3P company out there making a Trailbreaker and Hoist, one of which had announced a different figure for their next release before pushing that back. Is it fair enough to assume TT plan to release their own soon too?

Or is it all just a coincidence? It does make me a little wary about jumping in for a 3P figure now until I am sure an official version isn't coming soon.

 

3rd party companies definitely have insider info. How much would be a point of debate, but they definitely have info. Some of it even trickles down to fans, even if it's not obvious how.

 

It's been verified and even spoken about in interviews that official TT employees congregate with 3rd party TF designers regularly.

So any news about official figures are probably mainstream information to the 3rd party's these days.

For their sake, not ours, they would probably not want to say too much given how much lost revenue they'd miss if everyone know an official was coming out at all.

That said, I have not bought an official figure since MP Magnus and Hot Rod.
And would probably not buy any official if a 3rd party is making one unless it's a favorite character or mine.
Like Megatron  

 

I'd say it's a very strong indicator...yes.

 

I only care if the effort is superior. Megatron 2.0 looks like a joke.

 

It certainly seems like that is the case. However it no longer matters to me because third parties are capable of producing on par, if not better than, figures now. I still will buy Takara products but they are by no means the end-all-be-all anymore. TT Megatron will find a place in my collection, likely next to Laserwave, but I can tell you already he will not make the cut for the main display.

 

Yes, I would think the 3P companies have more of an inside scoop than the general Transformer fan base. The number of designers/engineers that can churn out feasible, production ready designs for transforming robots is probably not that high of a number. So to me, it makes sense that official and 3P designers/engineers know of each other, if not actually work with each other.

It's like art. When another artists sees a painting or sculpture they really like, or is impressed by, they're going to want to find out who painted/sculpted that piece of art.

If not that then, the factories producing 3P most likely know where official product is getting produced. Most likely same region in China. China is big, but not that big. Production, especially quality toy production, happens in a specific region.

 

 

I agree as well. 3rd party can be on the same, if not better, level than TT's. I like them all, official and 3rd party, but just because one has a TT stamp on the box, doesn't make it better IMO.

 

It seems to be happening way to often for it to not be the case. It even seemed rather convenient that the the MP-11SW reissue was announced at around the same time the KO seekers of BB7 and KBB came onto the scene.

 

It used to be that the Takara release was superior to everything else, hands down. With the release of MP Megatron 2.0, I am starting to understand why people are unsatisfied with the new direction the figures are taking. I love the cartoon, but it shouldn't be the only thing that MPs are taking inspiration from. After all, the cartoon was badly animated most of the time. The newest MPs look like 3D versions of the cartoon cels, nothing else. I want my MPs to be better than that. I am very glad that 3P options are available. I love my Despotron  

I also think that including stickers with badly animated faction symbols is a really, really stupid idea. Why would anyone use them? If I was going to buy Megs 2.0, I would hope to God that the poorly drawn Decepticon insignia on his chest is NOT a tampo.