If I see something I think is relevant, I'm going to comment on it.

 

By all means

 

I'd say keep holding on. Combiners across the board of course take more time to develop, and we weren't entirely sure how long Raiden was in development for before the initial silhouette was shown way back when. I'm double-dipping on Raidens anyway (1 Takara and 1 Moon Studio), so while I hope we get to see Raiden, I personally won't worry much about if there's a lack of him at the show.

My best guess is that if we do see Raiden at Wonderfest, it'll most likely a CAD render, lineart or hell, a gray proto.

Aside from that, I hope we at least get to see a bit more in regards to Skids, Thundercracker and any other new MPs that could be coming this year (Still rolling my dice for Sideswipe 2.0...).

 

This is so odd to me, mps first combiner after 17 years is..... raiden? It seems like a huge gamble to do such a huge and expensive project on such an obscure and niche character. I dont see it selling particularly well.

 

The target market for Masterpiece has way more appetite for trains than Western markets. TakaraTomy has a whole non-Transformers line with just transforming trains called Shinkalion. Plus the partnering for licensed alt-modes will get the model train scene + IRL train foamers over there to potentially cross-pollinate for this release.

 

Remember, the primary market for the MP line is Japan. Raiden may seem obscure outside of Japan, but it’s a character from their TF series and trainbots seem to be super popular there.

 

Interesting, good to know.

 

Not to mention Raiden being rooted in Diaclone alongside Devastator

 

The world does revolve around the Western Transformers fans alone......

 

I'm aware, even so I didnt think raiden had a big fanbase in japan or that trains were so popular.....

 

Knowing us we’d still keep waiting haha. But yeah I’m sure they’ll want to say something. This definitely has more interest than the armada optimus we saw ages back.

Yeah. This also matches with the supposed Takara trend of preferring popular vehicles as opposed to characters. So cars like the Datsuns, the new Skids, and Raiden as a bunch of trains makes a lot of sense to do now because people who don’t like transformers and will just buy accurate models of vehicles will be onto this.

Whereas the Constructicons, despite being very popular characters, don’t have a high appeal in terms of people wanting super accurate construction vehicles.

 

Adding to the fact that Shinkansen Trains are used in everyday transportation in Japan, and have a historical impact overall, It really makes perfect sense for Takaratomy to cash in on Raiden’s popularity...

 

After collecting for 17 years, obscure and niche becomes much more interesting.

 

Dosent necessarily make it financially viable though...

 

Which gets released first - Raiden or HSR in the States?  

 

Oh definitely the 3rd party Raiden first...

 

Well a good thing this is an extremely financially viable idea.

 

Answer: Japan

 

Wait, wait... wait! What is this "Jay-pan", "Juh-payn", "Jepuhn" you speak of? As an American, I only know of three other countries, America Jr up North, that place below us that doesn't speak English and Hawaii. Are you trying to tell me there's more to the world than that?

US of America. US! That's who the toy manufacturers should be catering too!

... ... ... Yeah.

 

Truth be told, I don't think Raiden himself does per say, even in Japan. But trains and trainbots do have a large fanbase, and the project so far seems to be more about the collaboration with the licensees rather than Takara making their first MP Combiner.