ALL THINGS TRANSFORMERS!!!!

[franpincho]

Honestly it's simply that Takara-Tomy's release schedule is a good fit for both my available shelf space and what I'm willing to invest financially in a collection. That, and I've found I appreciate the figures more when they average one new one every 2-3 months. There are some amazing 3rd party figure of characters I'd love to own, but limiting myself to just Takara-Tomy releases (& just Season One & '86 Movie characters) helps me keep the hobby in check

Fair enough. I get where you are coming from.

Since I stopped collecting everything else besides TF's (MP's) about two years ago, I'm ok with some 3P offerings here and there on top of all the TT releases. TF's are really not all that expensive all things considered.

Seeing how some HT dollies average $280 nowadays, I really find myself in awe when I hear people collecting those, plus MP's! I know budgeting helps but man.

TT's releases seem to be a bit more frequent than before though.

 

[Spanbauer]

Had a chance to take some photos of Masterpiece Thrust today. Happier with this figure than I feared I'd be! The red isn't as dark as the original toy (which I would have preferred), but it's not bright firetruck red like it appears in many photos. Lots of metallic paint accents on him as well, including the gold reflective eyes. Great face sculpt, too!

 

[soundwave]

Lovely pics Span

I have always adored Thrusts Alt Mode...my 2nd fave Decep Jet behind Dirge but I just can't get on board with the Robot mode on the MP version.

He's just never jelled with me, those knee pads really put me off & I just feel that he looks a bit too bulky for me.

I do like the snarley face though & the colours look great.

I am probably in the minority here but I actually prefer the look of Toyworlds Cone Heads to Takara's efforts.

 

[franpincho]

Had a chance to take some photos of Masterpiece Thrust today. Happier with this figure than I feared I'd be! The red isn't as dark as the original toy (which I would have preferred), but it's not bright firetruck red like it appears in many photos. Lots of metallic paint accents on him as well, including the gold reflective eyes. Great face sculpt, too!

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great stuff! You need Ramjet now!

 

[Pro Design]

I am probably in the minority here but I actually prefer the look of Toyworlds Cone Heads to Takara's efforts.

i'm with you... prefer the TW cone heads as well. have dirge on the way from china as we speak. so far reviews have been fantastic for it. i like the different look and size to separate them from the outdated seekers...

 

[Spanbauer]

Lovely pics Span

I have always adored Thrusts Alt Mode...my 2nd fave Decep Jet behind Dirge but I just can't get on board with the Robot mode on the MP version.

He's just never jelled with me, those knee pads really put me off & I just feel that he looks a bit too bulky for me.

I do like the snarley face though & the colours look great.

I am probably in the minority here but I actually prefer the look of Toyworlds Cone Heads to Takara's efforts.

Thank you! I actually love those giant knee pads! Anything to make this retool stand out from the Starscream mold.

I'll be honest with you; I'm not crazy about any company's seeker molds. In fact I think Takara's seeker mold is hands-down their weakest one in the rebooted Masterpiece series. So much kibble & poor articulation/posability compared to their other figures. Someone really needs to take a fresh stab at the Seekers and just start over from the ground up (so many of the 3rd party options still seem to use Takara's work as a springboard). Features I'd love to see:

- Do away with the back kibble so everything tucks away nicely inside the body

- Wings that collapse or are just smaller to begin with so as not to get in the way of the arms & legs

- real waste articulation & ab crunch

- better feet with rear tailfins that hide away inside the legs (when appropriate)

That said, Thrust is actually a huge improvement over my Hasbro Starscream: the body doesn't come apart when you try to rotate the arms, the legs aren't so stiff and he has more range of motion given that his design fixes the wings to the legs instead of the back. And yeah, the face is great; it doesn't come across very well in photos but the grey of the face almost looks like clay & has a really nice finish to it.

great stuff! You need Ramjet now!

Thanks! Haha! I've got the one conehead I wanted; I try to stick to one figure of each mold, actually (I have Starscream, but I felt Thrust was enough of a retool to justify). The one time I broke that rule was with Ironhide and Rachet and I regret it; I'd have been fine with just Ironhide!

 

[Wanderer]

Do you do that out of brand loyalty or just because of IP infringement?

Personally, I love what TT is doing now. If it was up to me, I'd make everything cartoon accurate but I get how some might not like that.

I'm planning on getting FT's Skifire, and I'm currently collecting GIGA's Dinos. But as a brand lover (I love TF's and everything they represent to my childhood). I rarely do 3P, but when I do, they must wow the **** out of me, or they must be something TT does not even remotely care about doing themselves at the present time.

Make no mistake though, IF TT ends up making Skifire, or the Dinos, the 3P options will go. As simple as that.

Many people collect for different reasons and that's all ok as long as we keep it cool, I guess. Personally, TT can't be beaten at its own game and never will, but if some think differently, more power to them.

I do love your unflinching (occasionally misplaced) loyalty to TT. More power to you pal!

 

[EndoSickness]

Finally got my MP G1 shelf done, now I only need to hang up the pics again, but for now I like that very much:











Last shot again, just cropped, so the perspective is right.

 

[Spanbauer]

Fantastic setup, Endosickness![/url] Great backdrop but also great, great poses. Is that a reprolables diorama image or something you put together yourself?

 

[EndoSickness]

Thx, man.
That floor is actually a pic from TFW2005 that´s avaiable for free. Different high res pics for a papercraft Teletraan. I just did a little biut myself and got it printed an now cut by me.

The background I did myself. 2 screenshots from TF:TM and they fit cool IMO.

 

[HPGR_Thrawn]

Great display!

 

[Spanbauer]

Few more Thrust photos. Really wish MakeToys would move forward with their "Howling Meteor" 3rd party Starscream; it'd be nice to see a fresh take on the Seeker mold.

 

[hordeall]

Having bought 2 mp Shockwaves already I still hope a KO company makes a richly colored version because this one is so bland and cheap looking.

 

[dedguy]

I know Takara has changed to a completely different aesthetic but when I see photos of the newer figures with the pre-MP-22 stuff it just looks wrong. Like seeing Shockwave next to Soundwave. Being both shorter and a completely different visual style is jarring. They don't look like they go together at all.

 

[hordeall]

Shockwave has been the exception in my mind. Inferno / Ratchet / etc look fine with the earlier MP's even though they are more toon. Shockwave is just very dull.

 

[Spanbauer]

Having bought 2 mp Shockwaves already I still hope a KO company makes a richly colored version because this one is so bland and cheap looking.

I know Takara has changed to a completely different aesthetic but when I see photos of the newer figures with the pre-MP-22 stuff it just looks wrong. Like seeing Shockwave next to Soundwave. Being both shorter and a completely different visual style is jarring. They don't look like they go together at all.

Shockwave has been the exception in my mind. Inferno / Ratchet / etc look fine with the earlier MP's even though they are more toon. Shockwave is just very dull.

Couldn't agree more. I cannot stress how disappointed I am with Shockwave's finish; he looks like a $20 figure, but he cost $160. It's not just the choice of purple that's the issue but also the fact that it's just cheap-looking bare plastic; likewise for the parts of him which are grey. Shockwave was always going to be a difficult figure to make look premium given that he is 90% a single solid color, but Takara-Tomy could not have missed the mark farther. If they or Hasbro ever do a toy deco with a deep painted purple & chrome or metallic accents, I'd sell this one in a heartbeat.


Here's the mockup I did a while back comparing what we got vs what I wanted.

 

[Wanderer]

Finally got my MP G1 shelf done, now I only need to hang up the pics again, but for now I like that very much:

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Last shot again, just cropped, so the perspective is right.

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Wow I'm speechless. One of THE Best dios I've seen

 

[koolkollectibleskhai]

Here's my somewhat late review of MP-33 Inferno. It's another bloody awesome new mold from Takara, with some ingenious engineering worthy of "Masterpiece Moments" for sure!

 

[Cryoguns]

Couldn't agree more. I cannot stress how disappointed I am with Shockwave's finish; he looks like a $20 figure, but he cost $160. It's not just the choice of purple that's the issue but also the fact that it's just cheap-looking bare plastic; likewise for the parts of him which are grey. Shockwave was always going to be a difficult figure to make look premium given that he is 90% a single solid color, but Takara-Tomy could not have missed the mark farther. If they or Hasbro ever do a toy deco with a deep painted purple & chrome or metallic accents, I'd sell this one in a heartbeat.

I agree 100%. I think the color choices are what's taking the MP line too far in "cartoon accurate". Soundwave and Starscream like in your example would look so much more dull with their cartoon colors only. It also turned me off to the TT Megatron. I'll wait until they release a differently colored version of Megatron, and I honestly probably would rebuy Shockwave if they went with a deep metallic purple with silver highlights like the original toy.

So, TAKARA! Take note! We want Cartoon accurate molds with Toy accurate colors!

 

[SlickVic38]

TF5 trailer being released during halftime of MNF.