If they can just show a silhouette of Jazz at Tokyo Toy Show, that would be awesome. Don't need to know what number it is or when it's coming out. Just as long as it's confirmed.

 

To be fair, they are sold at mass retail in Japan, I think.

 

Yes they sold at TRU and other toy shops and electronics/appliance shop. You can't compare them to Gundam but yeah you can pick them up in stores. AmiAmi has a store in Akihabara.


What if they rolled out Dinobot and Grimlock 2.0?

 

And what if... they were the same figure? Buh-buh-buuummm...

 

Agreed, let's not jump to the conclusion that the minibots are imminent. The remaining minibots will require 11 new, unique molds. Even if TT has plans to do all of them (I'm sure the designers want to), it will take a looooong time to get them all out, at least if they stay at their current pace of 3-4 new molds per year. And I'd love to see a Bugbite from the Bumblebee mold. I'm surprised we haven't seen more Bee redecos.

I hope so. MP-39 hasn't gone up for preorder at any of the Japanese shops, has it?

 

I suggested exactly that recently and got shot down for being a "wet blanket". But apparently that interview is now gospel which means every single character will be released and in quick succession.

 

When they mentioned they rotate with G1 and BW, you don't think at some point they will start RID 2001?

 

I know there's been a lot of back and forth on this thread between the optimists and the pessimists with the future of the MP line. I know I'm not trying to be a "wet blanket" when I point out that I just don't see any ramping-up of the MP line. Remember all the moaning about the slow pace of the line and G1 MPs being dead before MP-39 was revealed? That seems to be forgotten now. I'm just trying to manage my own expectations, that's all. Everything I say is IMHO, of course. I'm not telling anyone else not to be optimistic. I dearly hope they're right. I could be completely wrong and would love to be. I'd love for TT to announce a couple minibots, a Dinobot, a Triple Changer, and the first member of a combiner team for 2018.

But the plain facts are for that to happen, TT has to start cranking out new molds quicker than they have been. We got 5 new molds in 2016; we will get 3 new molds in 2017, 4 if Dinobot makes it out before the end of the year. Which year is the anomaly? Was 2016 just a happy accident that we got so many molds in that year and 2017 is more the norm, or is 2016 going to be the new norm and 2017 is just the calm before the storm? Time will tell.

 

They might at some point. An MP RID Scourge/G2 Laser Prime seems like money in the bank.

My goodness, can you imagine the nerd-rage in this thread if TT announces RID MPs? Both G1 and BW folks will finally find something to agree on: complaining that RID is taking away slots.  

 

Only G1 and BW for me.

 

Yeah not suggesting anyone order from them given the reports of their service at the moment, but it's some evidence the BBTS 120 USD price is indeed a joke.

 

The fact that none of the Japanese retailers have posted yet suggests to me that places like BBTS and Chosen Prime are just trying to get the twitch preorders on their books to avoid losing sales to their Japanese competitors that can offer a discounted (from whatever the price ends up being) preorder price.

 

It's an indication of nothing, they just pulled that number out of their ass.

 

Yeah, but so did BBTS

 

Which is right on track for... EVERY release, thus far?? Yeah, people stating Sunstreaker is $120 based on what bbts.com puts up is as much a joke as then using that as a placeholder price. It'll come to light once we start getting real pricing from Japan.

 

2017 has been the most active MP year yet with reissues, new moulds, repaints, movie mp's, bw mp's. Megatron was recently announced to have a reissue in Q4. It may seem the line is moving slowly but they just keep ramping up production. So what happens in 2018 when there are no movie MP's and reissues to coincide with big characters like Megatron? You guessed it....more G1 MP's and more new moulds.

I wonder if the Megatron reissue announced later this year is to coincide with a new G1 character. MP Galvatron incoming?

 

$75 is about Ironhide price which is about where I see him. I don't know if PC posts its price before the japanese etailers or not but just comparing prices they were similar to HLJ. I guess take that for what it's worth since we want know for sure till probably next week.

I don't know if I'm being overly optimistic or not but the fact they acknowledged they have 2 different buying demographics seperated by age and other factors gives me hope that we will get an increased pace. Basically they know they have an older G1 demographic that they know will spend the money. Best thing in their case is to take advantage of it while its still there. The more I think about characters like combiners and triple changers may may have some trouble since at some point they will vie for spots with the likes of Galvatron, Sixshot, Overload, Ginrai, and whatever -masters they decided to make. That said, Im fully expecting a Super Ginrai in the future,seeing how well the LG one has sold.

 

Never watched Car Robots, but I'd be all for them being included in the line. Scourge and Sky-Byte would be pretty awesome~

 

If you're pulling a number out your arse to get early orders you probably go high, no, like BBTS? Or do PC have a history of speculating low and raising the price later?

 

2016 was pretty active too. Five new molds, including the first BW figure, indicating a new direction for the line. Two Coneheads, who were a pleasant surprise. Delta Magnus, Loudpedal, MP-14+ (a subline which has, so far, not produced any future figures). It was a nice year. I don't know if 2017 is necessarily a ramping-up or not. Not for new G1 characters, anyway. They may be ramping up production for reissues, BW MPs, and movie MPs. But for new-mold G1 MPs? Barring a last-minute surprise, we have a grand total of two new G1 molds.

Nothing we're getting on the G1 front in 2017 is completely unexpected. We got/are getting Grapple, Megatron, Artfire, Dirge, and Sunstreaker. Megatron and Sunstreaker are the two new molds, but one is a leader character (and a character who we all knew they would re-do eventually) and the other is a carbot (who, despite the licensing problems, I think most figured they would make eventually). Leaders and carbots have been the mainstays of the line. The other three were just finishing up on the expectations of 2016 (the last Conehead and the obvious Inferno redecos). The reissues of Starscream, Soundwave, et al., were just to put Megatron's lieutenants out there again to go along with MP-36. Again, not unexpected. My guess is the MP-36 reissue for Q4 is just to put the figure out there again to meet demand, not to coincide with another release.

The movie MPs are a separate line with separate numbering, but I would agree its emergence does signal that the Masterpiece concept as a whole is here to stay for the foreseeable future, which bodes well for more G1 and BW MPs. But will TT finally step outside their comfort zone and make a minibot not named Bumblebee, a triple changer, a combiner? And who says the movie MPs will take a backseat in 2018, and G1 will be the emphasis again? 2018 is a movie year too, with the Bumblebee solo flick scheduled to come out. In fact, if Hasbro's ambitious plans for the TF Cinematic Universe take off, every year may be a movie year.

I never watched the cartoon either and only have a handful of the toys. The cool thing about potential MP CR/RID is that the majority of the molds were from G1, G2 or BW, so any RID characters have ready-made redeco options (Scourge into Laser Prime, Sky-Byte into Cybershark).