Offhand what bothers me isn't the "cartoon" look, it's the hiding of bits and kibble where I expect more from the BW MP's now.

Two (possibly 3 things) pop out to my eye. If they don't bother anyone else, that's a-ok, but they don't seem like good solutions to me.

1) Lion forelimbs and paws are just hanging off the back of the bot forearms. Nothing seems to have been done to hide or minimize their appearance.
2) Rear end of the beast mode doesn't look particularly clean. Again I'm considering MP-43 as the new standard. Megs has panels to be sure, but by and large the beast body appears cohesive and not gappy or full of hard angles whereas Dinobot has a rougher silhouette. Cheetor also has a pretty good outline if we're talking feline modes where there are a some bits and gaps, but the overall look is very organic.
3) The bot parts in the beast chest (and possibly the sides? only one shot of beast mode) don't appear to have much effort done do disguise parts that are not white lion. This doesn't bother me as much, but then a good look a the side can push me one way or another.

I fully acknowledge that we have limited views of the best mode,

 

I'm rather surprised by that myself. Lol

 

Do you guys remember the metallic painted version, uh I think it was a reissue or something? There was one released and it had gold hair and the red was like metallic Fleck. I wonder if they're going to do that for this guy? Honestly with this guy you can do as many repaint as you can Prime.

 

As unfortunate as it is, MP BA makes it very clear that MP BW Megatron’s ability to look good in beast mode was more due to how easy it was (even the original could do it) and is the exception rather than the rule for MP BW toys

 

I love this. Makes me even more excited for the figure, because of it’s screen accuracy! I just hope he’s not any more than $150-ish.

 

Oh no they flipping didn\'t. I figured we were going to get him ar some point but not before the rest if the season 1 cast. Just goest to show you never really know what Takara has in store.

 

Lol I hate how his official name is Tasmanian Kid. Like, why not just stay “Kid”? He didn’t even want to be the Tasmanian Devil lol.

 

First off, this is (presumably) great news for thos who dig this character. (I say presumably because I have no interest myself and honestly think the goofy lion face in beast mode is kind of disturbing - but I guess its accurate to whatever this comes from)
But no interest for me.
Good for those who like it but personally I see it as a little unfortunate for the overall focus (or lack thereof) of the MP line.
It's gone from tightly focused on G1, to adding some random G2 and comic repaints, to whatever show Star Saber came from. Then they throw in Beast Wars and now Beast Wars 2...
The MP line is a random hodge-podge and it's just gonna get worse as more and more designers at Takara put their hands up and say "I want 'this guy' to be an MP!"
It's great that they split the Bayverse stuff off into a separate line as it allows a more consistent focus. I kind of wish Beast Wars had gotten the same treatment.

What this does confirm, pretty clearly to me, is that Takara are never going to give us a full MP run from ANY line. Takara are never going to do every G1 figure, they won't even do every Beast War's figure. They'll just, more and more, be adding random characters to the MP line up.
It's yet another reason to be grateful for 3rd Party companies. Without them, none of us would ever get to finish a collection... unless that collection is "random characters that Takara decides to include in a toyline".
I know it's unpopular to praise 3P's around here, but for me, they become more and more vital with every Takara release. Maybe that's because I'm primarily a G1 collector, but I think I'd be equally disappointed if my focus was Beast War's and I started seeing Animated or Prime figures being shoe-horned into MP.

 

That's a pretty fair assessment. While I am excited for this release, it would be nice to see the line have some focus. I don't know it's designer influence so much as business execs being over cautious. They are in the business of selling after all, so they are going to hop around generations and plug the leader characters, and the stand outs they know will sell.

Sometimes simple isn't bad. Part of why I love the MP 32 mold is because it doesn't have to be complex. Because it has less moving parts it feels more sturdy to me.

 

Any word on price?

 

I'd imagine they'll do Black Lio Convoy as the first repaint, having said that though Black Lio doesn't have any red on him unlike his successor Nemesis

 

I thought I saw someone say something about a "guarantee that it would be less than 30,000 yen"? That's US$275 give or take.
I think it will depend greatly on size. Is this MP Primal size or MP 10/44 size?

 

Hope we get Flash Lio and Burning Convoy

 

It's Primal size, there's a pic of them next to each other from the show. I was thinking less than $150 since there's no vehicle license involved.

 

Needs a retool down the line for a furry lion alt mode.

 

Is that a picture of MP-48 next to MP-38 or a screengrab from the show of the two characters side by side?

I would guess if it's that small, probably around MP Hound cost?
Bearing in mind of course that this seems to be a very popular character amongst Japanese fans and that's really the only audience Takara care's about. Given that, they may feel comfortable extorting fans a little with a higher price. I mean, it's not like they've shown any reluctance to charge like a wounded bull before now. 

 

In my head its like this:
1. The 1997 original Beast Wars was done in CG style..hence their characters are obviously made out of many layers and textures of polygons. As such the more number of parts and complex transformations are translated to their MP selves to achieve uncanny levels of realism.
2. Hand drawn / traditional cel animation for BW2 = simplistic lines and very straight forward transformations.
Lol. WSX logic.  

 

If this isn’t a joke:

Idk man, you’ve seen the newer MP designs. Far more complex.

 

I know that MP Lio Convoy looks simple and has clean lines in bot mode.. but theres still so much hidden features and clever transformation steps we are yet to explore. Its just afew pics for God's sake! Lol