The only way to know for sure is to see what the popular opinion is. So chime in. Let's see what the majority thinks is the better Transformer.

Feel free to explain why you chose what you did. And remember, it's purely subjective. There is no right or wrong way to think about it. But in the end, one will be the popular choice. And that can't be argued with

Edit- seeing as how this thread has been moved to the forum exclusive to official figures, the chances of a non biased outcome render the results unreliable.

 

Transformers toy specific discussion goes in the Transformers Toy forum.

Moving...

 

Going to say official, because with out it. .. 3P wouldn't have anything to base itself off of.

 

That is actually a good point. It's not really having anything to do with todays market, but overall I agree that without official having taaken the first step, 3p might not have followed suit.

However, 3rd party exists because of the shortcomings of official. So if official was the best, 3p would not be where it is in todays market

 

I would like to request that you move the poll back. I chose general because it offered the poll to a non biased audience.

 

This poll is pointless being where it is. It's like asking who wants free concert tickets at the end of the line at ticketmaster

 

Design wise, personally I've not yet seen a 3rd party product that holds a candle to the official MP. A few have impressed me on some level like the 3rd Party Jetfire, Dinobots Hound and Megatron but other than Megatron there are no official versions to compare. Now we have MP36, to me it smashes the previous 3rd party Megatron figures and I would guess that would be a running theme in the future.

Quality wise is more debatable, its clear that Takara have been dropping the ball on QC however ironically so far my only poor quality MP are Prowl and Ironhide. My figures such as Ramjet and Starscream don't have QC issues despite their poor QC reputation. I've seen lots of people with poor quality 3rd party and KO transformers too.

 

Weird. I love both my Prowl and Ironhide. I find them to be 2 of my favorite Masterpieces. And I only have Starscream but I find it to be one of the worst designed figures they ever made. Don't get me wrong I still think it's badass but given the options out there, my next 2 seekers will definitely be knockoffs

 

Actually, 3rd party could be seen as a parasite. Not existing because of any "shortcomings", but an opportunistic set trying to capitalize off of another company's IP. If that's the OPINION you're going to present, there's always another OPINION. (this one) It's not a shortcoming when it's the official product. You might not like it, but it's official. Buy it or don't. For the record, this isn't going to go well.

 

Unless you can give us selling numbers this poll is flawed and unreliable from the start, sorry. A group of fans in a forum isn't the world. Let's see who sold more units: that's the more popular choice.
Everything else is just opinion, more or less biased, of a few more or less vocal Individuals.

 

That's one way to look at it.
Let's take Grimlock as an example. I love mine, but he isn't as big as I think he should be compared to MP10. And there never was any more dinobots made nor mentioned, so that is arguable a major shortcoming, and it has been quite obviously filled by players willing to step up to the plate, and very well done by Fans Toys I might add.
So is Grimlock better because it's official?
Does the myriad of dinobots by several companies other than official ones say to a realistic person that there are no shortcomings?
I guess that depends on sales records eh? @darwin

 

I voted official BUT, and it's a big BUT (not to be confused with a big butt) I believe we are getting closer and closer to that line.

3rd party figures are getting close to feeling and looking not just like Masterpieces but in some cases better. FansToys Insecticons and Dinobots are great examples of incredible figures that feel more "high-end" than some of the official MPs.

Now the reason I still voted official is down to something I can't quite put my finger on. Takara still have a knack when it comes to head sculpts and, paint chipping issues aside, the overall finish - though this varies from character to character (compare Ironhides lovely gloss-red finish with the very bare and cheap looking plastic of Shockwave). Head sculpt and finish put Ironhide well above, say, Voodoo.

I think once the 3rd parties run out of figures that Takara haven't touched and vice versa we'll be able to most justifiably compare the 2... But in terms of the Inferno options and the Megatron options there's no denying that 3rd parties are giving Takara a run for their money and many people seem more than happy to mix in unofficial figures to get the MP display which they, subjectively, think looks best.

On a personal note aside from a small selection of FansToys figures I've stuck to official figures so far but, depending on reviews, the Toyworld coneheads may be the first time I actual sell an official product to replace it with a 3rd party rather than the other way around.

Steve.

 

Whenever Takara does a MP of a character and a 3P does a MP of that same character Takara's looks better every single time.

 

Again, the term "shortcomings" is subjective. I don't feel like the TT masterpiece line has many shortcomings. Are there figures we'd like to see? Sure. Does Grimlock not fit in with current scale? Of course he doesn't. Was he designed and released before the line was reset with Mp-10 and the idea of scale was the focus? Absolutely. None of these things are shortcomings, rather impatience on the part of the customer, and this is a circle we keep running in. There are several great looking 3rd party robots out there, but they aren't Transformers. They might look like a Transformer, but they aren't. Look, I'm not arguing for or against 3rd party but there would be no 3rd party MP without TT for them to latch onto. They have become a parasite that wouldn't be jack shit without Takara and the MP-10 reboot. How many 3P (current scale) "masterpiece" figures were around before they figured out there was an official launch, and scale was a major selling point? It took a little while for Quakewave to show up right? TT set the scale, so that's what 3rd party follows (for the most part).

 

MMC Sphinx comes to mind. And it's better than Masterpiece would have done if you ask me. Rubber tires for the win.

 

An interesting observation I have and it could be far fetched but, I find in a broad sense, there are 2 groups of collectors with very different directions of argument happening lately.
1- people who have become dissatisfied with official product and express it.
2- people who are loyal to official product and express their disdain with people who don't like what they do.

Granted, discussion evolves to the 3p folk telling the officialists what's better and vice versa, but generally it seems the 3p folk just want a better product and the officialist folk just want everyone to think official is a better product

 

Right now I'd say neither. I have always wanted to support Takara first but their last few releases have been disappointing IMO. I would have thought that an official MP Megatron would be an "instacop" but I can't force myself to like the thing. I guess the only way to express my displeasure to Takara is by not opening my pocketbook.

3Ps are too inconsistent for me. Some look fantastic like Grinder but amongst all the 3P companies homeruns are few and far between.

 

Unfortunately when you put a 30-40 year old man behind a computer screen they often turn into over-opinionated man-babies. I think the entire internet, never mind a toy forum, could do with a lot more tolerance towards other peoples opinions.

Unless they're wrong of course. ;-)

 

Since when did a question about scale need an answer containing ethics and sales numbers?

I couldn't answer as I'd answer both. Alot of what I'd buy third party wise would be considered perfectly scaled with official figures. That's where the smart money lies, make it fit with Takara stuff and you make it more desirable.

There is a third group. Ppl that happily buy both and mix match what they see as best. They tend to not be so vocal and just enjoy the golden times we're in.

 

3P is somewhat inconsistent. But some companies are really playing their A game. Fans Toys is a great example of that.
MMC is a great example of inconsistent.
And then there are companies like the one who made that awful yellow Lamborghini that couldn't even hold it's own weight. I forget the name but wow was that ever bad