The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I hope Takara put their A team on this.

Looks to me like they put their "fold 90% of the alt mode into a backpack that shell forms around the robot" team on it.

[David Hingtgen]

I think she'll be able to do like movie Jetfire, in that you can separate the figure into a robot, and a vehicle, bar 1 piece that is shared.  (in this case, the lower half of her chest) 

[crackpot]

I don't know... needs a lot of work. 

 

 

[anime52k8]

I think it's pretty clear who has the best Arcee:

 

At least Tigertron looks cool. I was honestly expecting him to just be cheetor with new heads; I'm really happy to see that they went all out on reflecting the differences between the CGI models. (wonder if we're gonna get toy version cheetor out of this mold? )

[crackpot]

7 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

I think it's pretty clear who has the best Arcee:

 

At least Tigertron looks cool. I was honestly expecting him to just be cheetor with new heads; I'm really happy to see that they went all out on reflecting the differences between the CGI models. (wonder if we're gonna get toy version cheetor out of this mold? )

Takara has the alt mode. I think nobody really has the bot mode down though.

[anime52k8]

8 minutes ago, crackpot said:

Takara has the alt mode. I think nobody really has the bot mode down though.

That wasn't quite what I meant but then again this is just my (incredibly biased) opinion.

[crackpot]

5 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

That wasn't quite what I meant but then again this is just my (incredibly biased) opinion.

What did you have in mind then?

[JB0]

27 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

I think it's pretty clear who has the best Arcee:

Big Firebird's Nicee or GTFO. I am a man with some specific interests, and everyone's just gonna have to deal with it.

 

 

In all seriousness, Takara has a distinct advantage in vehicle mode since their designers are leaning hard into the "alt mode is a cocoon around the humanoid mode" approach.

Once you remove the need for the vehicle parts to even be a part of the robot(and just throw them all into a giant backpack), it makes life a lot easier. Doubly so for a character like Arcee, who was designed for animation instead of based on an existing toy.

[anime52k8]

10 minutes ago, crackpot said:

What did you have in mind then?

See here:

3 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Big Firebird's Nicee or GTFO. I am a man with some specific interests, and everyone's just gonna have to deal with it.

This guy gets it.

[M'Kyuun]

Nicee's cool, I dig the design, as both of her modes look good, but she's clearly heavily stylized, and not really the G1 version that we're comparing.  TW has probably the nicest looking bot mode between Ox, FT, TT, and TW, but they just gave up on the alt mode. It's a shame, b/c the front of their alt mode, short of the exposed tires, comes closest to the art out of the third parties. Takara nailed the car mode, but the bot mode pays the price  with that very disorganized and non-compact backpack.  The Ox version has probably the most compact backpack. The turned 'lights' don't really look right though.

Usually Takara do a good job on faces, but I didn't like the face sculpt for MP Hound, and Arcee just looks bad. What's going on with Takara? It's like they fired all the really talented artists and hired the Japanese equivalent of Rob Liefeld. 

[David Hingtgen]

I think you may be on to something there---Takara's does have odd-looking feet...

[JB0]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

TW has probably the nicest looking bot mode between Ox, FT, TT, and TW, but they just gave up on the alt mode.

You're not wrong. I actually laughed when I saw that "car".

[lechuck]

So... the major complaints seem to be the face, backpack, curvy waist/abdomen and - the big one - the chest cover positioning.

The Face should not be an issue, if Takara continues the trend of supplying alternative faces. Backpack - it is what it is, I put it down to Movie/Season 3 shenanigans, not sure how one thinks all that car stuff can be hidden in a very feminine styled robot body. Regarding the curvy parts, I can live with it but I too would have appreciated a more angular approach.

Personally, only the chest cover issue bugs me the most, sort of holding me back from really accepting this latest entry.

[Scyla]

So MP-50 is a oversized knockoff of MP Cheetor?

I had hoped for something more special. The number 50 seems to hold no significant  meaning for Takara.

Having both FTs and the OX Arcee I think I‘m good. Especially the OX does the transformation so well.  I don‘t think Takara can outdo MMC on this character.

[lechuck]

I am more disappointed that we did not get a Decepticon and preferably someone/something that does not carry the Micro Change heritage or is just an evil Autobot variant again.

We need more like Galvatron, Blitzwing, Insecticons, Overlord, G2 Tank Megatron etc.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, lechuck said:

Backpack - it is what it is, I put it down to Movie/Season 3 shenanigans, not sure how one thinks all that car stuff can be hidden in a very feminine styled robot body.

The way FT or MMC did it.

[technoblue]

Takara is all about backpacks now, but for me what’s more agregious than that is the price. There’s too much about this MP-51 proto that harkens back to MP-28 and Takara wants 2x the MSRP.

I’m happy enough with MMC’s Azalea so I might stick to the sidelines this time around.

[mikeszekely]

Oh, I'm definitely sitting Arcee (and Tigatron) out.  I haven't bought an official MP since 28.  I don't really care for the super Sunbow robots carrying their alt modes in a backpack that wraps around them like a cocoon when they transform direction Takara was heading in even before the crazy price creep.

[M'Kyuun]

Y'know, I'm sure the folks at Takara keep an eye on these third party products, especially those they have yet to attempt, and having the benefit of such good examples as Rouge and Azalea, who balanced the bot and alt mode looks very well, with good solutions towards minimizing the backpack (which is an unavoidable necessity in her case), one would be inclined to think it would outshine all the third party offerings right out of the gate. It saddens me that that's not the case. I want an official Arcee, but I want it to be better than the third parties' offerings. So far, Takara impresses with her car mode, which is by far the most animation accurate, but they kinda dropped the ball with her bot mode, so far, and that's really disappointing from a company who should be producing the ultimate versions of these characters, bar none.

I hope venues like Wonderfest generate feedback, and that Takara are watching that fan talk to inform further improvements, b/c as she is now, this isn't the best G1 Arcee figure IMHO. But I want it to be, and I hope they make fixes before final.

[Scyla]

I can‘t think of a single change in any Masterpiece toy once Takara has shown a prototype. I think Arcee will be released like this.

[David Hingtgen]

7 hours ago, Scyla said:

So MP-50 is a oversized knockoff of MP Cheetor?

Well, I mean, Tigatron himself is an oversized knockoff of Cheetor...

[lechuck]

6 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

The way FT or MMC did it.

I don't care or follow third party that much, so I had to check with YouTube and honestly, I am not impressed. Sure they get all the car bits extremely compressed, but at the cost of being very fiddly and messy to deal with as well as not making the actual bot any more attractive or articulate either. I will take the larger backpack footprint if it means I get more - how to put it - industrialized engineering to handle the toy irritation free.

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Oh, I'm definitely sitting Arcee (and Tigatron) out.  I haven't bought an official MP since 28.  I don't really care for the super Sunbow robots carrying their alt modes in a backpack that wraps around them like a cocoon when they transform direction Takara was heading in even before the crazy price creep.

Far to much is made and exaggerated about the backpacks and sorry, but it is simply not true what you are saying.

Edited February 9, 2020 by lechuck

[Scyla]

The MMC Arcee is a joy to transform. The only parts that don’t fit 100% are the connection between the outer  ans inner wing pieces.

The reason why I‘m stressing this is that I feel MMC figured out how to do Arcee in a proper (i.e. fun, straightforward and solid) way. Much like MakeToys handled Despotron. They solved the riddle.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Scyla

[anime52k8]

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

I can‘t think of a single change in any Masterpiece toy once Takara has shown a prototype. I think Arcee will be released like this.

MP03 got a significant reworking after the first prototype was shown. (Yes, I know this is a terrible example,  but still technically accurate.) 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, lechuck said:

Far to much is made and exaggerated about the backpacks

In your opinion.

1 hour ago, lechuck said:

and sorry, but it is simply not true what you are saying.

You're free to disagree with me, but my opinion is still my opinion, not a statement of fact that's provably false.

[technoblue]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Oh, I'm definitely sitting Arcee (and Tigatron) out.  I haven't bought an official MP since 28.  I don't really care for the super Sunbow robots carrying their alt modes in a backpack that wraps around them like a cocoon when they transform direction Takara was heading in even before the crazy price creep.

Beast Wars is not my thing either.

For G1 Masterpiece, though, this will be a first. Although I may have raised an eyebrow to Takara's price increases and quality control in the past, I would usually cave in and buy most of them. My only real disappointment until recently was Ultra Magnus (MP-22) and that had me skipping Delta Magnus by default. I wish I was a little more critical when the likes of Prime v3 and Bee v2 were announced, because those two were hard and costly teaching lessons. Hound's quality issues are a travesty and I still haven't transformed mine out of fear of breaking it. That's no way to enjoy a Transformer.  I can only hope that I'm one of the lucky few or that someone like IT comes forward to do it right for Takara or maybe that Takara gets it right in a Hound reissue.

For Arcee, the only way I'll buy in this time is if TT ends up creating some real magic with her. I'm not seeing it now, so the ball's in their court.

Edited February 10, 2020 by technoblue

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, Scyla said:

The MMC Arcee is a joy to transform. The only parts that don’t fit 100% are the connection between the outer  ans inner wing pieces.

The reason why I‘m stressing this is that I feel MMC figured out how to do Arcee in a proper (i.e. fun, straightforward and solid) way. Much like MakeToys handled Despotron. They solved the riddle.

Well stated. Azalea's not just a good representation of G1 Arcee, but a fun Transformer toy. As a lot of these companies strive towards more complexity, sometimes for complexity's sake, the result is a toy that's frustrating and unpleasant to transform.  MMC usually do a good job in this regard. While her car form isn't 100% accurate, it's still pretty darn close, the tradeoff minimal, and the engineering very well done. The fit of the fender in fender to form her backpack, and the staggered look of her calves are really my only two major gripes.

+1 for not liking the backpacks on MP-44 or MP-45.  At least Prime's folds up for decent presentation; V2 Bee's is a disorganized looking mess on a character that should have no backpack if staying true to his G1 toy or animation models. MP-45 stands out in my mind as the weakest design in the series thus far, with too many concessions to bot mode. 

6 hours ago, Scyla said:

I can‘t think of a single change in any Masterpiece toy once Takara has shown a prototype. I think Arcee will be released like this.

I hope this is an exception to the rule, then. Arcee needs some fixing.

[JB0]

38 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I hope this is an exception to the rule, then. Arcee needs some fixing.

Honestly, if they didn't see a problem with Bumblebee 2, I'm pretty sure they're going to push forward with Arcee. 

At least she's not a complete mess in both modes, and the backpack is on a character that is SUPPOSED to have one. And she's a new MP instead of a redesign of a previously-visited character(a character with notoriously poor reputation in the line, at that).

 

Hmmm...

I wonder if MPRC wasn't rushed in after TakaraTomy saw a bunch of legally-distinct converting robots that turned into pink cars come out and sell well. She doesn't really align with the current state of the line(not season one), and she doesn't show the attention to detail one would expect from the current MP line's humanoid modes(which are all designed to look EXACTLY like the cartoon from a specific angle).

I think they decided she was a "now or never" option, and banged something together to get some of that sweet sweet Arcee money before the well dried up.

[Metal_Massacre_79]

On 2/9/2020 at 1:05 AM, M'Kyuun said:

It's like they fired all the really talented artists and hired the Japanese equivalent of Rob Liefeld. 

That made me laugh, probably more than it should have, but totally on point.

[Tking22]

I don't want an MP Arcee, anything beyond season 1 is honestly a pass for me, keeps things simple. That said, I'd totally go with MMC if I wanted one, easy pass on FansToys and Takara. The MMC may not be as toon accurate in alt mode, but I can care less, it looks far superior in bot mode. The Takara is honestly quite bad looking IMO, the backpack is next level, even for Arcee, the face is really off, and the chest looks terrible, nice alt mode though I guess. 

Totally in for Tigatron, Beast Wars is my jam and will always be far more important then G1, which I did not grow up with, I was a nineties kid. Tigatron is far more then an over-sized Cheetor, to be accurate at least. To be accurate, he will clearly require a hefty amount of new molding, obviously some bits here and there from Cheetor can be used but not as many as some would expect or imply. Honestly though? Even though I'm in for Tigatron, he wasn't very high on my want list, I was hoping for Rhinox or a damn Predacon. 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Pics of new toys from ToyFair are out and about. Arcee has a hoverboard now. 

[mikeszekely]

Titan-class Scorponok.  Like I said after the earlier reveal, he looks pretty much perfect to me, although I'll be mad if they don't include his gun.  Which they probably won't; they sold Fort Max with no weapons aside from his shin guns.

Hasbro's doing the double-Headmaster thing they did with Fortress Maximus.  No, it's not totally G1-accurate, but even as a kid I thought it was kind of weird that they were both big bases, Headmasters, and rivals, but Scorponok just had Zarak while Fort Max had Cerebros and Spike.  I like that the smaller Titanmaster has a face that's a lot like the G1 toy's Scorponok face, but the larger robot gives me Headmasters vibes.

He'll be sold separately, but I'm psyched to get a Deluxe-class Fasttrack.  I want it, and I want it now.  For whatever reason I love these updates of the pack-in robots that came with the old G1 citybots.  Hasbro probably won't do it for me, but I hope someday to get a Deluxe-class Scamper to replace the pretty terrible Legends-class one that came with Titan Metroplex.  And if Brunt can get an transforming upgrade, so should Slammer.

Since @Valkyrie Hunter D mentioned it, yes, we're getting a new Deluxe-class Arcee.  I like it; the proportions look better than the older Generations figure; in a lot of ways, I think it looks better than the upcoming MP Arcee.  It does look like she's going to be a shellformer, though, with the front of the car forming a backpack and the rear forming an accessory.  Not ideal, but giving that ramps/shield look like a thing in Earthrise and this is a mass-market Deluxe I'll let it slide.

Conformation came that Ultimate-class Skylynx does, in fact, split into both the Sky and Lynx portions.  I wonder how articulated that neck is?  either way, I'm not to broken up about missing the ol' Combiner Wars one anymore.

Skylynx will have his traditional shuttle-with-a-box mode.  But I like that when they're separated Lynx isn't just a box; he'll have a base mode that serves as a launch platform for the shuttle.

Anyway, all four of these figures look like winners to me.

 

[M'Kyuun]

Of all the upcoming Siege figs, Arcee was the one I most anticipated to see how they improved her over the Generations figure. The figure looks better, but at the expense of her being a parts-former, with her car mode shell from the windshield back becoming a most unconvincing 'hoverboard' that looks like the shell of a car. There aren't any pics showing if it can even attach to her bot mode, but I'm not at all happy with the compromise. I don't like it for Cliffjumper, either. It's astoundingly lazy, and counter to the whole point of transforming toys. I hope this isn't becoming the new norm for Transformers.  MMC was able to make a similar sized figure and fold the majority of her car mode into her shoulder pods, so the engineering already exists to make it work. I wish Takara would try harder. Upon second look, her chest is even fake, so it appears that no part of her bot mode is involved in the transformation- she's a robot in a two piece shell---extraordinarily disappointing to say the least.

I will say that Earthrise Arcee's bot mode looks way better than the MP mold, especially her face. They nailed it. The shaping of the chest looks much better, too. She's a nice looking Arcee action figure, but a Transformer in name only.

I was never a big fan of SkyLinx, neither the characterization nor the design. However, I kinda like what they did here for Earthrise Skylinx. I usually give little credence to base modes, as they usually just look like a stretched out robot to me, but I like this one, with that shuttle perched on the launchpad. The 'griffon' mode looks pretty good, too, although to me, he looks more like an Apatosaurus with wings. The Lynx part looks great, but those chicken legs on the bird mode look pretty dodgy. The whole package appeals to me, though, so I may have to consider finally adding a SkyLinx to my collection.

Cheers to those who've been wanting a Scorponok to go with the rest of the city bots. Not my cup of java, but I'm happy for those who've been waiting for it.

 

[anime52k8]

1 hour ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Pics of new toys from ToyFair are out and about. Arcee has a hoverboard now. 

I mean, that's one way to keep the mass of the backpack down.

[M'Kyuun]

1 minute ago, anime52k8 said:

I mean, that's one way to keep the mass of the backpack down.

It's inexcusable. If they're too inept to figure out the engineering to make a proper transforming figure, then they shouldn't bother.