We've all heard it. Most recently I've seen it a number of times in the GCreations IDW Prime thread.

"Why do we need to have everything in MP scale? Why do all these companies have to make everything in MP scale?"

Well, I don't speak for everyone but I'm going to tell you why. I'm not 10 years old.

That's right. I'm a 43 year old who likes nice things. Sure, I dink around with the occasional mass-released Hasbro 'toys' that are meant for kids. Titans Return has been one massive fan wank that has kept me entertained since the first release of the line and likely will until its very last. But that is all the more reason for wanting something wholly different out of 3rd party.

From 3rd party I don't care whether its G1, IDW, MTMTE, or whatever else, I want a superb quality collectible. If I want a deluxe class figure I'll go spend the $15 bucks at the local WallyWorld for that. Because it doesn't matter if its deluxe, voyager, or whatever...if it's 3rd party its going to be pricey. So if I am going to spend pricey I want something that fits my mitts, not something that disappears in my hands. I want a box that makes me want to display it just as much as the figure(Generation Toy you devils). I want it to made out of amazing plastic(I'm looking at you MMC). I want to have a buttery smooth transformation(Spartan you sexy beast). Lifting it should feel like I actually bought something other than air(Jupiter sent me to the moon).

You see, I'm not buying or wanting a Masterpiece 3P figure because it is 'in scale' with other figures. I'm buying a Masterpiece 3P figure because I want a figure that feels like the designer poured their ever loving soul into it and the factory broke the bank to delivery the golden egg of quality into my sweaty anticipatory hands. And if it doesn't meet that criteria than I'm going to sell it and replace it with something that does.

 

MP shouldn't be just a scale but what the figure should be. A lot of the time I think that idea has been lost.

 

Masterpiece should mean a "Masterpiece" (i.e)
1. Higher quality materials
2. Great articulation with great range of poses and strong joints.
3. Essentially Zero QC issues, a masterpiece should go through in theory a longer development process to ensure this is true or it's not a masterpiece just a big toy.
4. Many other points i can't think of right now.

 

As a MP hater i disagree, i too am not 10yrs old and although i'm only 35, i think the Hastakomy MP series sucks. I'm a lover of the CHUG, i'm a lover of the MMC IDW of the MT Combiners and a bunch of other random CHUG like things, that's what i want and what i buy. I gave up on MP after MP megs and now they sit in a toy box of doom while things like Shadow Emissary, Commutus, Chaos and FP Shadow Commader/Scythe adorn my shelver, but hey as long as everyone gets what they want

now this i do agree on, it was never meant to be a scale but more the figures jumping out from your fav weekly cartoon episodes which although that was pretty cool i think the toys were better so Jazz with the wing doors and wheels on his shoulder over that plane Meister cartoon any day of the week and 2x on sundays

which takes us back to how it's been lost in translation. like above mentioned, it's not about materials or even QC issues as HTT has plenty of those throughout their MP line, it was about having the figure you saw in the cartoon in hands, utter garbage if you ask me

 

What exactly is MP scale? I used to think that was MP-01- and for some time I was happy.

Then it was rescaled to MP-10 because Takara are cheap skates.

Now for me MP scale means Wei Jang MPP- and its all I want.

 

I definitely agree with MP also being the true physical representation of the characters we saw on screen in the cartoon or comic book and not the size of the figure.

But, imho , if it's going to be called a "Masterpiece" then I think QC, materials and functionality should all be superior to what some may consider "the kiddy" lines.

For the expense of an MP figure, I don't think that's asking too much.

 

Build quality comes in many sizes. Think Iron Factory which is legends.. think X-Transbots Windcharger, which is only masterpiece in nomenclature  .

 

I do chugs, chugs are fun. However, I agree with the OP. Masterpiece isn't a scale although it's nice to have these sweet hunks of plastic and metal be in scale with each other. It's about the best representation of the character made in high quality materials price be damned.

 

in fairness it should be the end all in QC but MP Rodimus calls and begs to differ, though QC issues are far and few btwn

 

KBB's MP10v would be my rebuttal.

Quality build? Check. Diecast? Check. Paint? Check. I mean, the thing is literally MP-10, only with diecast, more paint, and better joints than my official one (OK, technically he loses the trailer but he gains some extras along the way, so we'll call it even).

Packaging? It's not as nice as GT's, but it's the same harder cardboard.

But then we get to the real heart of complaints against MP scale. In alt mode, MP10v is almost the size of a G1 Optimus toy. No one here is arguing that they want cheap, hollow toys, they're arguing that you can have a high-quality adult collectable that doesn't have to be a foot tall. Toys that are roughly Voyager-sized are big enough that they don't have to sacrifice engineering, materials, or paint but their smaller size makes them less expensive, easier to handle, and easier to display.

 

Then you really need to invest in XTransbots figures!!!

 

In addition to everythig you said, Masterpiece scale seems to be the sweet spot at which third-party items are either the same price or even cheaper than comparable official items. Even if there's something at the smaller scale that I really like, it's really hard for me to justify paying like 4x the price. Whereas if I look at a mp scaled toy, even if I'm not completely convinced it will be my permanent figure, I'm willing to take a flyer on it because it's just as cheap as any other masterpiece toy I could buy, or even substantially cheaper (inferno, seekers, coneheads, megatron and shockwave... im looking at YOU)

 

I agree with most of the things people have been posting here on what MP "should" be in terms of quality and aesthetics. I've since limited my purchases/collecting to only MP-ish products, using the criteria that most people state above. However, the issue of MP scale, is very important to me when collecting and displaying individual characters next to one another.

My favorite officially license MP, is MP-10. That figure is a true masterpiece. Engineering, onscreen aesthetics, build quality, all present in that toy. I like that Takara made that the official scale for their MP line on all subsequent releases. I also just personally like that scale because it's more manageable on a play, engineering, and quality level. When new and expensive 3P figures are released and they are roughly in the same scale as MP-10, it gives cohesiveness to your collection, and a sense of familiarity when comparing your display to what you see onscreen.

For me, that's why everything* needs to be MP scale. So I can satisfy my OCD and display my 3P product next to MP-10 or the other figures released in that official line since.

*not including the combined form of combiner teams.

 

We'll never agree on this topic, but I'm curious about this bit here and your concerns surrounding a toy's suitability to your enormous Trumpian hands.

Here's the question... big toy after big toy hit the market, so you're buying those, you're keeping them on display with boxes... where? I mean, we're of an age, so I imagine you've got three decades of Transformers stuff. Do you just rotate displays? Regularly sell things off? Pay for storage? Buy a second house just for shelving?

The size, for me, is often problematic because with an enormous figure comes enormous shelf space. Now, I've seen photos where many people try to slow the dangers of accretion by stacking everyone standing straight up, toe-to-heel, but by now you've surely learned that is nothing more than a dilatory tactic doomed to failure, and in the meantime you're left with an unflattering take on what are otherwise spectacular pieces. I pass on a number of larger items entirely because I don't think they'd get the showcase they deserve, and I can fit three or four smaller brethren into the same space for three to four times the enjoyment.

Spectacular pieces need their space, and thus those large pieces suited to your outsized paddles all the more so! How do you get around that?
Sacrificing the old or bundling them away into the useless obscurity of storage?

 

I'm in my 30's.

I prefer voyager/MMC style of "chug" to my MP collection. I have thousands of dollars worth of MP's, but I still prefer the former.

Voyager scaled figures are just more fun and weildly to me. I realize the car bots are around voyager scaled; but I still prefer something like MMC's product to them. They may be the same size, but one is more "playable" than the other and most probably much more durable.


So yeah. MP's. Don't really care and don't think they're the be all, end all either.

 

So much this.

I'm considering moving away from CHUG now to just focus on MP (and legends) because some 3P companies are putting out truly worthwhile products that fit that bill.

But I don't care for over-sized stuff. Just MP scale.

Honestly, I handled one tbh I thought it was a cheap KO, which is par for the course for KBB. The panels were not aligned very well, there were tolerance issues and the chrome plating on the grille looked poorly done. It gets a big "meh" from me. It was one of the few KOs I've looked at recently that on close examination actually looked and felt like a cheap .cn KO of a good product. Actually, the best way I could put it is that it seemed exactly like a KBB product. Where a good KO is as good or better than the original product, KBB's are generally inferior to better KOs and to the original product. Sure, save a few bucks and get KBB if all one cares about is price or a cheap toy to bang about, but collectors spend slightly more for the higher quality, more carefully done product. Like Yes Model seekers and when it comes to OP KOs the WeiJiang MPP10 seems superior. Yeah, I get it, it's Voyager scale and the others aren't. Point is, if any of those better companies made an OP in Voyager scale, they'd be head and shoulders better than KBB's. KBB seems to be made for the people who aren't as discerning, perhaps the people who play with the figures like toys rather than the collectors who want a definitive version to pose and display. Which is fine if that's what you're looking for, but the glowing praise of it I find to be unfounded.

 

well, right now I well, right now I have a closet full of storage space that's exclusively devoted to boxes. I really AM starting to encounter the same problem. I've started strongly considering getting rid of some boxes

 

I disagree with those who make that assessment as I see things completely opposite. We have nothing in MP. Oversized is a different category.

We don't even have a combiner yet & barely getting a Omega. Not even close to everything is MP, I'd say 40% & the 4 cities need to be 3 feet plus to accomodate the MP cars .
Everything has been done in CHUG & Voyager scale especially by Hasbro. Just winding down on the 3P but you see them all the time. Nobody is better than anyone for liking what they want but the reasons why are clear. We don't even have 100% toon accurate NTF's in MP scale so I have to settle for Legends/action master scale speaking about B & A engineer who I wish was 2x taller. But I got it to hold out hope a KO company will look at that to OS.

Just that the 3P market for MP fashioned toys has grown the most because the truth is, those figures have the best quality as they are suppose to & for the money we are paying.

I don't even understand the complaint. Tissue anyone?

 

MP should be all the above yes and scale should not matter...except that it does matter because TT and 3P who followed TT has set the scale already. People who want MP quality also want a figure that fits in their already existing MP collection. A 3P can make the best representation of Prime at 5 inch (or 20 inch) height with all the great QC and bells and whistles. But that's not going to fit in anyone's MP collection unless this company or other companies start making "MP" in this scale too which means buying all the characters again and essentially starting over. I mean, that best EVER MP Megatron standing at 5 inches tall is going to look real odd next to my MP10 Prime.

 

Scale is very important to me. It bugged me that the original Hasbro Shockwave was twice the size of Megatron. It bugged me that Fall of Cybertron Shockwave was smaller than Fall of Cybertron Megatron. It totally bugs me that Combiner Wars Shockwave is so tiny.

It may not be that important to some of you guys and I completely understand this. Transformers Masterpiece figures have got it just right. This is why I have stopped buying any other Transformers lines. We all want different things I guess.