The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[lechuck]

Because Takara's aim is to have the robot and vehicle mode follow the animation as close as possible and not necessarily the transformation sequence.

In an interview Takara has explained that they had a challenge of properly mass shifting MP-44 from alt-mode to robot, hence the classic fold-out arms was omitted and the side panels were introduced to help beef-up the lower legs and simultaneously narrow down the body/torso area during transition to robot form for proper appearance (and of course vice versa for vehicle).

MP-10 also makes a transformation concessions by having that waist rotation to bring the legs in the right direction, the animation gif makes it clear how very wrong that is.

[tekering]

I miss the early days of the line, incorporating classic toy detail beyond Sunbow's animation models...

MP-1 is still the definitive Prime for me.  

Edited September 2, 2019 by tekering

[RichterX]

On 8/30/2019 at 12:55 PM, anime52k8 said:

The entire side of the truck cab folding up into the leg.

Reminds me of this guy, turn it inside out

[Alex GS]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

I miss the early days of the line, incorporating classic toy detail beyond Sunbow's animation models...

MP-1 is still the definitive Prime for me.  

it looks awesome!

[anime52k8]

29 minutes ago, RichterX said:

Reminds me of this guy, turn it inside out

I want a Softimus prime. 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, RichterX said:

Reminds me of this guy, turn it inside out

I have one of those!  I actually bought it for my collection of Primes, but it doesn't exactly stand in a detolf.  I wound up letting my daughter have it.

[David Hingtgen]

9 hours ago, lechuck said:

Because Takara's aim is to have the robot and vehicle mode follow the animation as close as possible and not necessarily the transformation sequence.

In an interview Takara has explained that they had a challenge of properly mass shifting MP-44 from alt-mode to robot,

You know, eliminating the voice-box, would have reduced the mass, making their job easier... 

Though for me, the sheer fact that we have TWO different window-fronts now, for a super-subtle difference, shows just how ridiculously toon-accurate they're going, not matter what the cost-benefit ratio is.  "10x more complicated, with added hinges and seams all over the alt-mode now, for 1% more robot accuracy".  There's no 'balance' sought between designing the modes/looks whatsoever. "Robot-mode-accuracy, no matter the cost".  I thought the "standard" MP idea of having two different front grilles was a bit much (always makes the transformation way more difficult than it should be, and is an easily-scraped piece), but you can barely even tell the window difference.  And "the chest windows" are THE most iconic part of Prime's look.  His truck windows SHOULD be his chest windows, with zero transformation for that area.  It's almost unfathomable that they're not. (Heck, young me didn't like that aspect back with G1 Powermaster Prime, felt like a rip-off).  

[JB0]

21 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

(Heck, young me didn't like that aspect back with G1 Powermaster Prime, felt like a rip-off).  

It really didn't help that PM Prime made zero attempt to do anything at all with the truck front, so he wore a windshield and radiator on both sides of humanoid mode.

[M'Kyuun]

13 hours ago, tekering said:

I miss the early days of the line, incorporating classic toy detail beyond Sunbow's animation models...

MP-1 is still the definitive Prime for me.  

Yep, still an amazing figure; I love all the mechanical details, especially the simulated hydraulics in the elbows and knees.  His truck mode was a bit compromised, but that bot mode was simply gorgeous. 

Not crazy about the toon-accuracy-above-all design philosophy that Takara has so vehemently embraced, as the compromises are becoming too many for my liking. I loved the approach of keeping the real world vehicle details in bot mode- it made them feel more 'real', and added character. That said, having watched an MP-44 transformation vid, I'll give Takara props for their engineering prowess, but at the end of the day, MP-44 is basically a shell-former (cab area), and, as David H. mentioned above, the pains taken to flip his windshields for an iota more toon accuracy just seems superfluous. Moreover, for the first time in a G1 OP, they've eschewed the classic transformation sequence in favor of shell-forming to better simulate the bot mode's toon proportions (which varied from scene to scene, ep to ep) He's missing his iconic silver stripe, and his fuel tanks are now just chromed flat planks. They didn't even paint his windshield wipers. I dunno- it takes the toon-design adherence too far for my liking, and cements my confidence in my purchase of Magic Square's MS-01, which takes the best elements of MP-10 and marries them with a minimalist toon look, especially in the legs. It retains all the truck detail in the cab section, and even uses the same grill for both modes. It's pretty much everything I wanted in an updated MP Prime, so I'm happy with my choice. For those who prefer MP-44, I hope it satisfies; I still think Takara, for the most part, are the masters of the genre, but the current obsession with toon accuracy is becoming increasingly counter to what I want in collector grade Transformer figures, and it saddens me a bit to think that way. 

[treatment]

wotafa's MP-44 video-review part-2 with his transformation-skit finally:

 

[anime52k8]

I think it's kind of unfair to call MP-44 a shell-former. it really downplays what's actually going on with the toy and sort of misses the point of why shell-formers are considered bad.

:edit:

On 9/1/2019 at 8:18 AM, Alex GS said:

I guess we'll just have to wait for the version 4.0 made from reprogrammable smart matter that can account for all the bits that spontaneously change size, instantly vanish, and/or just grow out of nowhere.

Edited September 2, 2019 by anime52k8

[lechuck]

14 hours ago, JB0 said:

It really didn't help that PM Prime made zero attempt to do anything at all with the truck front, so he wore a windshield and radiator on both sides of humanoid mode.

Was Ginrai's debut in Transformers Masterforce before the toy came out? Because in the cartoon Ginrai is depicted transforming exactly that way, meaning Takara wouldn't be to blame if the toy came later?

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Not crazy about the toon-accuracy-above-all design philosophy that Takara has so vehemently embraced, as the compromises are becoming too many for my liking. I loved the approach of keeping the real world vehicle details in bot mode- it made them feel more 'real', and added character. That said, having watched an MP-44 transformation vid, I'll give Takara props for their engineering prowess, but at the end of the day, MP-44 is basically a shell-former (cab area), and, as David H. mentioned above, the pains taken to flip his windshields for an iota more toon accuracy just seems superfluous. Moreover, for the first time in a G1 OP, they've eschewed the classic transformation sequence in favor of shell-forming to better simulate the bot mode's toon proportions (which varied from scene to scene, ep to ep) He's missing his iconic silver stripe, and his fuel tanks are now just chromed flat planks. They didn't even paint his windshield wipers. I dunno- it takes the toon-design adherence too far for my liking, and cements my confidence in my purchase of Magic Square's MS-01, which takes the best elements of MP-10 and marries them with a minimalist toon look, especially in the legs. It retains all the truck detail in the cab section, and even uses the same grill for both modes. It's pretty much everything I wanted in an updated MP Prime, so I'm happy with my choice. For those who prefer MP-44, I hope it satisfies; I still think Takara, for the most part, are the masters of the genre, but the current obsession with toon accuracy is becoming increasingly counter to what I want in collector grade Transformer figures, and it saddens me a bit to think that way. 

Is it really a shell former? To me that would be something like G1 Scourge or Nerf gun Megatron, where you just have large plastic casing hanging of the robot. In MP-44's case anything that acts like facia, will eventually serve a new purpose or contribute to the appearance. As I stated above, MP-10 (and MP-1) has the waist rotation in their transformation, which was never depicted like that in the cartoon, so MP-44 is not setting a precedent and I don't see how one can be worse over the other?  The arms actually do somewhat retain that swing out motion, it is just covered by that one layer of plastic.

Edited September 2, 2019 by lechuck

[JB0]

1 hour ago, lechuck said:

Was Ginrai's debut in Transformers Masterforce before the toy came out? Because in the cartoon Ginrai is depicted transforming exactly that way, meaning Takara wouldn't be to blame if the toy came later?

The cartoon designs were based on the toys. 

Also, any anime mecha designer that would choose that transformation is actively making fun of something.

[mikeszekely]

Not going to do a full review on repaints, but I picked up the Siege Rainmakers, the Siege Phantomstrike Squadron, Siege Thundercracker, and Generations Select Red Wing.  For my in-depth review of the mold, check out my review of Siege Starscream here.

From left to right, that's Red Wing, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Starscream, Nova Storm, Acid Storm, and Ion Storm.  As far as I know, Red Wing is a Target.com exclusive only sold to holders of Target's credit or debit card, Skywarp is available in an Amazon-exclusive Phantomstrike Squadron bundle, Thundercracker is a regular retail release, and Nova Storm, Acid Storm, and Ion Storm are available as a three-pack in Target stores (at least here in the US).

Very little has changed from the Starscream mold.  The robot chest doesn't fall off of the others as easily as it did on Starscream, so that's a plus.  Thundercracker and Red Wing also sport a new smirking face.  I myself am probably going to swap Thundercracker and Starscream's heads, because if anyone should be smirking it's Starscream.

Other than that the only real difference is the colors.  So just a few quick thoughts:

I really dig Red Wing.  Those colors just work for me.  Reminds me a little of Armada Starscream.

Thundercracker is Thundercracker.  I've really nothing else to say there.

So the Rainmakers are, apparently, based on this scene from the cartoon.

Which is fine, I guess.  I mean, I love that they're not trying to work any camo deco or grays or whatever onto Acid Storm.  He's unapologetically a solid block of lime green, and I love it.  It's the other two that I'm less enthusiastic with.  Ion Storm is just too close in color to Thundercracker, like he came from a scene were they actually meant to use him but the animators were too lazy to color him properly that day.  The color breakup would have been better if they'd gone with purple Hotlink instead another blue.  And while I do like the the bright yellow of Nova Storm, ever since he had an arc in the old Dreamwave comics Sunstorm is a much more popular yellow Seeker, and one I'd rather have instead.  But of course, Sunstorm and Hotlink weren't part of the Rainmakers, they showed up in a different episode alongside a third blue Seeker, now named Nacelle.

So... do I buy a second pack of Rainmakers and repaint them, or hope for another three-pack...

Finally, Skywarp isn't actually black, he's kind of a dark gray.  He's also the only one with a large swath of alt-mode that isn't in his primary color.  Not sure how I feel about that.  As previously mentioned he's part of the Phantomstrike Squad, which means if you want this last of the three main Seekers you have to buy $50 pack that includes three extra Battlemasters.

There's nothing exactly new going on here.  On the left we have Shrute, a purple and gray repaint of Aimless (who himself was a slight remold of Blowpipe).  I think he's supposed to be Hairsplitter, one of Spinister's Targetmaster partners. Terror-Daxtyl is a repaint of Pteraxadon in colors that match Shrute.  And Fracas is a recolor of Firedrive, and I use recolor lightly here.  If you look at the box, apparently his colors were supposed to be inverted, but what you get in the box is basically Firedrive with limbs that are a slightly darker gray.

So do I recommend them?  Depends how much you like the Starscream mold, or how many Seekers you actually want, because there's really nothing new here.  Personally I thought that the Siege Decepticons were a little outnumbered, so I'm in favor of a little troop-building.

[Kuma Style]

 

 

 

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Yes!!!! Looking foward to your review and more pictures Kuma.

[sqidd]

Crap picture, sorry. I just dug this dude up. It's been away for years. I need to find the battery pack. The fires on the base,  beat up Barricad's eyes and the sword and muzzle flash light up. I think it's pretty cool. I forgot I had this. I nee to get him cleaned up, find the battery pack and put it on display.

 

 

[Negotiator]

 

[Kuma Style]

8 hours ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

Yes!!!! Looking foward to your review and more pictures Kuma.

Hey thanks! Sucks having gotten this guy  thr afternoon before the start of my work week but I'm knocking it out slowly but surely.

 

 

[anime52k8]

4 hours ago, Negotiator said:

>snip<

god damn that looks hideous.

[M'Kyuun]

10 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

god damn that looks hideous.

Yeah, straight on from the front is really the only good angle. I like that they gave him his SD Beetle alt mode, but the bot mode turned out pretty bad, especially the backs of the feet and the huge kibbly backpack.  While I'm usually impressed by Takara's engineering, this figure is a complete letdown.

[mikeszekely]

16 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

god damn that looks hideous.

I don't think that the robot mode looks so hot, but I love the chibi alt mode.

ToyWorld's Bii is where it's at for me.

[anime52k8]

5 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Yeah, straight on from the front is really the only good angle. I like that they gave him his SD Beetle alt mode, but the bot mode turned out pretty bad, especially the backs of the feet and the huge kibbly backpack.  While I'm usually impressed by Takara's engineering, this figure is a complete letdown.

 

Even from the front I don't like it.  I don't like how short the arms are, I don't like the shape of his torso and the head sculpt is strait up nightmare fuel. Basically the only part of the bot mode I like is from the waist to the ankles, everything else looks terrible.  The Choro-Q alt mode is pretty cute but I kind of prefer realistic alt modes for cars. Also the fact this costs more than sunstreaker and over twice what mp-21 costs is insane. If anything I think I'd rather get the G2 bumblebee.

[technoblue]

Hm. It looks like the reviewer messed up the bottom piece of the backpack. I think it's suppose to accordion in more and the car hood then covers the kibble.

But anyaway, Bee v2 (heh) does have this odd aura about him. There are a few limited camera angles where he is very photogenic and looks quite like his toon counterpart. And then there are other angles where the illusion falls apart and it looks like we are looking at Bee's stunt double (a la Spaceballs).

[mikeszekely]

Went to Walmart the other day, and I finally found a copy of Deluxe-class Siege Refraktor... and then today I got my Siege Refraktor Reconnaissance Team set delivered.

I don't have any major aesthetic complaints, aside from the fact that he's a little hollow when viewed from behind.  The size is right, and he's certainly cartoon accurate.  In fact, I think I like the colors on him better than my Maketoys MP-scaled Reflector.  The only other thing I'd point out is that the green doesn't quite fill his whole chest, due to how his transformation works, but that's pretty minor.

Of course, in the cartoon there were three of them, and only one had the shutter tummy.  And if you feel the need to buy three copies Hasbro's got you covered, as the shutter is removable- indeed, it has to be removed for transformation.  The peg on the other side is smaller than 5mm, though, so you don't have a lot of other options.  If you don't want to store them in the box there's a spot on his butt that you can plug the shutter into.

Refraktor comes with an odd-looking gun and an odd-looking shield.  We'll touch on why they're so odd in a bit.

Refraktor's got pretty good articulation for a Hasbro Deluxe.  His head can swivel and he can look up, but he can't really look down.  Shoulders rotate and extend laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double-jointed and can curl nearly the whole way up.  No wrist swivel.  His waist can swivel.  His hips can move forward, backward, or laterally on universal joints.  His thighs swivel, and his knees can bend 90 degrees.  His toes can point down, and he's got 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

His gun has a 5mm handle as well as 5mm pegs on either side of the back of the gun.  His shield has two 5mm pegs, one perpendicular to the shield for plugging into his arm or shoulder, and one parallel to the shield for holding in his hand.  In addition to said hands, he's got 5mm peg holes on the outside of his shoulders, on the outside of his forearms, on his back on the outside of his shins, on the inside of his shins, and a pair on the underside of each foot.

Aside from bot-mode hollowness, if there's one thing I'm going to ding Refraktor on it's his alt mode.  Just like with Soundwave, it seems Hasbro's content to lay him down with his head and arms folded away and call it a "spaceship."  His chest unfurls to hide his thighs a bit, his shield hides the gaps you uncovered when you moved his chest, and his gun is pinned between his toes, but it still seems like pretty lazy engineering.  Partsforming is even involved, as you have to remove the shutter tummy to fold the chest down, then you relocate it to a peg hole that's revealed when you fold in his head.  Fortunately, it's not your only option.

While you could buy three retail copies of Refraktor for maximum cartoon accuracy, the easiest way to get three Refraktors is to order the Siege Reconnaissance Team set from Hasbro Pulse.  This set is based on the G1 toy, though.  While there aren't any changes to the mold, so they all have the same flat chest window and same bullet-shaped helmet and face, the trio come in different colors that help make it easier to tell which one is which.  Specifically, the red one is Spectro, the one with gray arms and blue legs is Viewfinder, and the one with blue arms and white legs is Spyglass (and in my Siege head-canon the retail Refraktor is simply a fourth Refraktor team member named Reflector).  Since they're toy-based the shutter on Viewfinder's tummy is black instead of silver.  There are shutters for Spectro and Spyglass, too, but I have them on their butts.

Like the retail Refraktor, the Recon Team comes with the odd-looking guns and shields, one for each member, done in black instead of silver like the shutters.  As an added bonus, though, you get a camera flash, three bits of "armor," and a rubbery little Kremzeek.  Kremzeek has little holes in his feet that fit over the tiny pegs used for effects parts on any Siege figure.

Two of the armor bits fit onto Viewfinder's shoulders, and I love it.  It really adds to the toy-style look and helps him feel a little more unique than just being Reflector except blue instead of purple.  The camera flash has two pegs on it, and while the instructions show it pegging into Spyglass' shoulder I like having him hold it like another weapon.  The last armor bit is for Spectro, but no matter where you put it on him it looks really awkward.

Now, if you have three Refraktors, retail or the three in the Recon Team, you have another alt mode option.  You can stick the three guns together and use one of the shutters to make a tripod, and the shields combine to form a telephoto lense.  Then you can transform your Refraktors into cubes instead of "spaceships" and stick them together so the middle one is facing one way and the two on the ends face the other way to form a camera.  The peg on the shutter lets you plug the tripod into the base, and the telephoto lense plugs into the belly of the middle bot.  It will fit over the shutter if you left it on.  As for the third shutter, I like to leave it on top of Spectro, pretending it's a shutter button.

The advantage the Recon team has over three retail Refraktor, though, is the extra parts.  Spyglass' flash plugs into one of his feet to become the camera's flash.  Viewfinder's shoulder armor tabs together than slides over the top to become the camera's viewfinder.  And Spectro's armor sort of makes that grip bump that a lot of SLR cameras seem to have, plus it's got some extra molded knobs that don't move or turn but do help sell the idea that this is a camera.

Of course, because the Refraktor mold itself is unchanged the Recon Team is still perfectly capable of turning into a trio of "spaceships."  Do note, though, that I couldn't find any way to stow Viewfinder's shoulder armor at all and no decent way to stow Spectro's camera kibble armor.  Spyglass' flash can plug into one of the peg holes on the top of the ship, in front of the chest windows.

I recommend Refraktor... in fact, I recommend three of them.  And unless you're really a cartoon purist, I recommend the Recon Team over the retail figure.  The extra pieces really help with the camera mode, and I like being able to tell the three apart from one another at a glance.  Or maybe do like I did and grab the Recon Team and just one of the retail Refraktors.  That way you have a cartoon-accurate one, but you have four uniquely-colored versions and you can still make one camera.

[M'Kyuun]

My Recon Team is to be delivered on Wednesday, but I also have three of the regular Refraktors, as well, so best of both worlds I suppose. Normally I wouldn't double dip on a set, but I couldn't resist having an updated G1 Reflector, as I still have the original, and I'm glad they added the extra parts to make the camera mode more accurate.

[treatment]

moar Wotafa MP-44 video.  Transformation review part-2 --> bot-to-truck...

 

[mikeszekely]

So, from mid August until Labor Day weekend I was in Beijing visiting my wife's family.  We weren't doing anything touristy and I wasn't actively shopping for anything, but there's a mall near my in-laws' place (We-Life in English, 未来广场 in Chinese) with an indoor playground that we'd sometimes take our four year old to play at.  Naturally there's toys for sale at the playground.  With some vacation pocket money left over at the end of my time there I decided to splurge on Transformers Platinum Series Year of the Rooster Optimus Prime.

To the best of my knowledge, Year of the Rooster Optimus is a totally unchanged Hasbro release of Hybrid Style Convoy, a toy first released in 2006, the same year as the original Classics Prime and a good five years before MP-10.  As you can see from my comparison with New Age's Bumblebee, this version of Prime is basically Legends-size, and borrows heavily from MP-01 for aesthetics.  He's full of diecast, silver paint, and even some chrome on the grill, smokestacks, and fuel tanks.  I actually remember really wanting this thing back in the day.  I guess back then a figure that looks basically like MP-01 in a sub-Deluxe size was an impressive feat, and if I'm being charitable I don't think YotR Prime looks too bad, especially given his size.  That said, there are other options for a Prime at this scale, and I'm not sure this one has held up.

Prime comes with his trailer, a flight stand shaped like the Autobot insignia, a jetpack, Roller and his little fuel hose, his ion blaster, his energon axe, and some alternate fists- open, semi-splayed right and left hands, a pointing right hand, a grasping left hand that's angled a bit for holding his rifle with two hands, and a pair of fists that look closed but have little notches in them.  The notches are for posing him holding the Matrix.  That's right, if you open up his chest there's a tiny Matrix inside.

The trailer does what Optimus trailers do, for the most part.  It opens up, and when you do geared teeth will push the supports out on the sides.  The repair drone can unfurl, and there's the cutout in the top of the trailer so you can do that thing where the trailer is closed but the drone's on top. The drone's cockpit even opens, although there isn't really room for anything inside with the silver-painted molded detail, and it lacks the missiles of the G1 toy. 

Something I like about the trailer is that there's spots for Prime's rifle, axe, and even compartments for the extra hands.  There's no place for the jetpack and stand, though, and curiously not really one for Roller.  I mean, sure, you can set him in there, but there's nothing really to lock him onto and no way to launch him.

Prime's head is on a ball joint with fairly limited range.  His shoulders can rotate and extend laterally about 90 degrees, plus the joints can extend from his torso a bit and give him a bit of a forward and backward butterfly.  His biceps swivel just above the elbows, which bend 90 degrees.  His wrists are ball joints for rotation and a little but of tilt.  I'll mention here that the ball joints are pretty tight, tight enough that I didn't feel comfortable pulling the hands off and changing them with other hands or the axe. His waist swivels, and because it's basically a ball joint he's got some sideways/backwards tilt and a very slight ab crunch.  His hip skirts don't have hinges, so he can only move his hips about 75 degrees forward or backward and about 45 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his double-jointed knees get well beyond 90 degrees.  His feet can tilt up and down, and he's got a somewhat limited ankle pivot.

He can use the jetpack by sliding his arms through the straps and plugging it into his back.  The stand has a little tab on it that fits into a slot on Prime's undercarriage.  His ion blaster fits into his default fist, with a second handle further up that folds to the left or right like the RX-78 Gundam's for a two-handed grip.  And, and I love that this is an actual feature, the smokestacks and fuel tanks can rotate 90 degrees to work as guns.  There's even gatling barrels molded onto the fuel tanks.  Now, these parts don't move on either of my reissue G1 Primes, but I distinctly remember the smokestacks on my G1 Ultra Magnus turning back in the day, and even though I don't recall Prime or Magnus doing it in the cartoon you better believe that my seven year old self was totally convinced they were shoulder guns.

I guess, at the time, a tiny, well-articulated, (mostly) G1-accurate Prime that transformed at all was an impressive feat of engineering and we were just supposed to overlook the fact that this alt mode is trash.  The windows overhang the grill and headlights, it's gappy, and Prime's legs don't collapse at all.  I can't get the little tabs on Prime's arms to line up with their sockets, either, which isn't helping with the gaps.  It's a mess, although it does sort of remind me of the old Classics Deluxe-class Prime that came in the two-pack with the green tank Megatron.

As bad as the alt mode is, it does have rubber tires, which is pretty impressive.  And it can pull the trailer.

If you can't tell from looking at the truck mode, the robot mode is definitely the star of the show here.  And again, I don't think it's bad.  The paint and diecast give it a feel that reminds me heavily of old Gobots toys, and he's got pretty good articulation.  However, the ball joint in his waist makes him feel a little floppy there, and the pieces with the truck headlights on his forearms that fold up over his fists are simply held on with tension.  They have a tendency to pop off when you're manipulating him.  And however impressive he was at the time, the MP-01 aesthetic feels a bit dated in 2019.  Combine that with an awful, awful alt mode and a reduced price tag that's still around $75 (I actually paid ¥799, or about $112), and I really can't recommend him.  There are much better options for a Legends-size Optimus Prime at lower prices available today.

Edited September 7, 2019 by mikeszekely

[anime52k8]

Do you guys think The MP-10 mold is worth picking up for the first time at this point? BBTS has MP-10SG marked down to $80 and it's kind of tempting.

[derex3592]

MP-10 is still a great figure. If you aren't sipping the Takara Ver3 Kool-Aid (and their aren't a lot that are at that price point) and if you don't care for the look/and or the sort of difficult availability of Magic Square's or Transform Element's offerings, I'd say MP-10 for $80 is a good deal!  

[technoblue]

4 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

Do you guys think The MP-10 mold is worth picking up for the first time at this point? BBTS has MP-10SG marked down to $80 and it's kind of tempting.

Oof. That's a tough question. Back in the day, I bought the original MP-10SG KO which had a different purple with black and yellow accents, and darker blue legs. It was one of the better MP-10 KO releases, although I've long since passed it on. Looking at price alone, I have to admit that buying the official version of MP-10SG for less than MP-18+ is a ridiculous (read utterly fantastic) deal. 

The HasTak official MP-10SG tweaks the colors, but is highly regarded. I say go for it if you want a version of MP-10 w/trailer to add to your collection. The only downsides to this release are that you don't get roller and fitting the matrix in can sometimes be a chore. Apart from that, if you like the official release colors, you're golden.

However, if you find you prefer the purple and darker accents of the older KO, you are not completely out of luck. Transform Element looks to be using a similar colorway for TE-01E.

Edit to add a link to Fabian Wong's photos comparing the old MP-10SG KO and HasTak's official

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/masterpiece-shattered-glass-optimus-prime-asia-exclusive-in-december.1088555/page-10#post-13969197

Edited September 7, 2019 by technoblue

[captain america]

3 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

Do you guys think The MP-10 mold is worth picking up for the first time at this point? BBTS has MP-10SG marked down to $80 and it's kind of tempting.

MP-10 (V2) was an excellent figure when it was released and still is. At $80, even 3P figures cost more than that. Ultimately, the only questions you should be asking are do YOU like MP-10, and is $80 a fair price in light of all the other similar figures currently available.

[valhary]

After watching several video reviews still thinking the TE and Magic Square are better options to get a Optimus Prime cartoonish style 

Honestly Takara focus in the accessories to justify the overpriced but analyzing the figure itself the 3rd party companies achieve a simpler an easier transformation

I feel a lot of over engineering that was the main complain in the Toyworld Primorion that by the way next to this new prime doesn't seem so complicated anymore

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

Do you guys think The MP-10 mold is worth picking up for the first time at this point? BBTS has MP-10SG marked down to $80 and it's kind of tempting.

I thought that MP-10 was amazing when it first came out.  It seemed so much more dynamic than MP-01, and I still prefer the blend of cartoon and real-world details over the super Sunbow thing that current MPs are doing (which is also why I like MS-01 more than TE-01, and both better than MP-44).  That said, the design is a little dated.  The use of flaps to cover most of the rear wheels without anything even attempting to cover the wheel wells bugged me long before the 2019's crop of new Primes, his articulation is a little limited, and he's got long gorilla arms.  His rifle is a little small, too, due to the folding and stowing in the backpack gimmick.  His alt mode is, perhaps, still the best of the bunch, although it doesn't fit together as neatly as MS-01's.

I know you already have MS-01, and for people who already have MS-01 or TE-01 then I don't think you really need the vanilla MP-10.  But I do think it's still good enough that, yes, it's worth checking out the variants like the SG version (although TE-01 is coming in SG colors).  MS-01 is displayed with my MP Autobots, but I still have the Year of the Horse version in a detolf with various other random Optimus figures I've picked up.

[treatment]

MP-44...

 

add/edit:

now with properly inner-knee panel fold. 

And Prime wants a sword, too..

 

Edited September 8, 2019 by treatment