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Bounti76 wrote:I'm assuming if this is correct, they're counting the recolors, Masterpiece 00+s, etc in that number? Because if Ginrai is only MP-60, and they're going to 100, that would still leave 40 more figures to release to hit 100. There's still SO many G1 figures that don't have an MP release- Jazz, Mirage, Cliffjumper (whatever happened to that prototype and eventual color sample? ), Warpath, Brawn,.... most of the "minibots", now what I think about it.... Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, Springer, Blurr, etc...I just can't see (or understand) them just stopping with Ginrai, calling it a day, and only focusing on combiners.

I have a theory that the made Cliff as the mold was available and they were thinking Porsche would give them the license when they did RotB Mirage, but Porsche only approved Mirage specifically, so Cliff has been gathering dust waiting on a hopeful license. Jazz would be an all new mold, which is why we hadn't seen anything with him.

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:And now Super Ginrai. And, I guess, if we want God Ginrai we'll have to go 3P.

Why wouldn't they simply put Godbomber in the MPG line when he's as much a combiner as MPG Super Ginrai?

I guess they could, buy why would I assume they would at this point? They haven't advertised it and, lacking any info that it's coming or in production, I'm going to assume it isn't a thing.

They only just revealed Super Ginrai. It's not like every Autobot leader's Magic Mushroom partner gets revealed at the same time. The original Godbomber, CR God Magnus, Armada Jetfire, Armada Overload, Energon Omega Supreme, Energon Wing Saber, Cybertron Leobreaker, and Cybertron Wing Saber all came out long after their respective wearers, and each of those wearers never advertised any of their upgrade partners upon their initial releases either.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:And the price. I mean it's one thing to say "Transformers isn't that popular in Japan", but how much is the average fan really going to pay for Hoist or Skids? I mean every TF is someone's favourite and all, but ... we got Skids and we didn't get Blaster. Or Jazz. I mean come on. There are some obviously popular characters and others that are less popular.

For Skids, it was less about the character and more about his altmode, which is a car type that is a much bigger deal in Japan than the rest of the world. Honda made a big deal about it.

Was it a success?

Apparently enough to churn out three more separate-character uses of the mold as Reboost (who was boldly released on the same day as Skids), Crosscut (who saw release a mere four months after the first two), and Burn Out (just under a year after Crosscut).

They may have just revealed him, but they also just said the line was over. I guess Godbomber could be in the next line, but given the MP line's overall spottiness, I dunno. Like I really wouldn't assume it's coming. Victory Leo didn't come. An MP Megatron counter to MP-10 didn't come. Galvatron didn't come. No Blaster. There's a lot of MPs you would have thought were on the horizon given importance or their counterpart existing, but it just never happened.

On the Skids repaints ... I know they were made, but did any of them actually do well? They were all released at the same time. Okay. But that's an opening gambit. Did they sell well? You can crank out as many repaints as you please, but if you can't sell them it's almost a waste of time.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:And now Super Ginrai. And, I guess, if we want God Ginrai we'll have to go 3P.

Why wouldn't they simply put Godbomber in the MPG line when he's as much a combiner as MPG Super Ginrai?

I guess they could, buy why would I assume they would at this point? They haven't advertised it and, lacking any info that it's coming or in production, I'm going to assume it isn't a thing.

They only just revealed Super Ginrai. It's not like every Autobot leader's Magic Mushroom partner gets revealed at the same time. The original Godbomber, CR God Magnus, Armada Jetfire, Armada Overload, Energon Omega Supreme, Energon Wing Saber, Cybertron Leobreaker, and Cybertron Wing Saber all came out long after their respective wearers, and each of those wearers never advertised any of their upgrade partners upon their initial releases either.


They may have just revealed him, but they also just said the line was over. I guess Godbomber could be in the next line, but given the MP line's overall spottiness, I dunno. Like I really wouldn't assume it's coming. Victory Leo didn't come. An MP Megatron counter to MP-10 didn't come. Galvatron didn't come. No Blaster. There's a lot of MPs you would have thought were on the horizon given importance or their counterpart existing, but it just never happened.

MP is over. MPG continues.
God Bomber seeing as his entire schtick is to combine with Super Ginrai, makes all the sense in the world to be released in the MPG line later.

Yes, yes, they have yet to release a Victory Leo for MP Star Saber, but well, maybe God Bomber is an easier option.

Look. I just have no faith that they'll release any given MP no matter how much sense it makes. None at all.

Until they announce it it hasn't happened yet. Even if it makes sense for it to happen because it's the toy's thing and part of the character it hasn't happened yet. Even if there's a leaked prototype it hasn't happened yet. Even if there's spots on the toy itself to accommodate such a combination it hasn't happened yet.

I don't think I'm being needlessly skeptical here. Their MP line has simply lost my goodwill and trust. I'm ... a little surprised at how much trust there is on the boards that they will actually pull through and actually release a Godbomber for this guy.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I don't think I'm being needlessly skeptical here. Their MP line has simply lost my goodwill and trust. I'm ... a little surprised at how much trust there is on the boards that they will actually pull through and actually release a Godbomber for this guy.

There's something on their site or in the marketing materials that makes reference to this being part of the "God Ginrai project", and you need Godbomber for that, so it's pretty reasonable to expect it.

For everything else, yeah, best to have no expectations whatsoever. For example, expect MP Cliffjumper to never happen, then be pleasantly surprised if it does.

We didn't get Victory Leo because Takara Tomy really didn't want to do Star Saber. He was far outside their plans for the MP line at the time and only got made because he won a poll. And then he ended up not being a great seller for them.

Emerje

Why is everyone so surprised the Masterpiece line is ending?

When Studio Series Ultra Magnus came out, I was wondering who this toy was for. We already had a masterpiece Ultra Magnus and excellent WFC Kingdom Magnus.

The Studio Series '86 is already an excellent competitor for the Masterpiece series.

If you add the HasLabs releases, the annual "commander class" figures, and a long list of excellent third party releases, I can definitely see that the Masterpiece Line stops playing the role it played between 2004 - 2010 or 2011 - 2016.

I would have liked to see a logical conclusion to the line.
But for now I mostly want to celebrate the excellent toys this line has given us over the past 20 years.

Sculyblast wrote:Why is everyone so surprised the Masterpiece line is ending?

When Studio Series Ultra Magnus came out, I was wondering who this toy was for. We already had a masterpiece Ultra Magnus and excellent WFC Kingdom Magnus.

The Studio Series '86 is already an excellent competitor for the Masterpiece series.

If you add the HasLabs releases, the annual "commander class" figures, and a long list of excellent third party releases, I can definitely see that the Masterpiece Line stops playing the role it played between 2004 - 2010 or 2011 - 2016.

I would have liked to see a logical conclusion to the line.
But for now I mostly want to celebrate the excellent toys this line has given us over the past 20 years.

Only the original Masterpiece that started in 2003 is ending, Takara Tomy said everything is moving on to Masterpiece G and unless Hasbro says otherwise Masterpiece Movie will be continuing as well.

Emerje

I know I said Powermasters Prime was MY prime as a kid growing up and I was really intrigued by this release but after looking at the official pics.....I'm not so sure.

I was really hoping the cab would be a suitable stand in for the likes of an MP-44 and I could make Super Ginrai if I wanted but it honestly looks kinda not great. I knew he'd be different and definitely not as good but the core and crotch area look kinda weird and the Super Ginrai mode looks super weird with the way his shoulders pop up (however, even as a kid, I thought that was goofy so there's actually a small amount of charm to that). It's also just kinda....bland.

My theory is that I will hem and haw until it is sold out and not end up with anything.

As for the end of the Masterpiece line itself, that's a bummer. Looking back, I'm just kind of disappointed we only got what we got over the course of 20 years. Still no Kup or Galvatron, a questionable Rodimus Prime, a saggy-boobs Arcee, not a single triple changer. We got some v2.0's of the early ones that needed it (3 in the case of Optimus) but no redux of Grimlock or Soundwave (I don't own Soundwave, sadly, but I got the vibe that he's kind of a brick). We did, very strangely, get Skids, who I just bought and absolutely love, but none of the more popular minibots like Powerglide, Cosmos, Warpath, Brawn, Seaspray, etc.

I hope MPG ends up being a decent line but I do wonder if it'll an era of cheaper "Masterpiece-lite" toys instead of adult collectables. There's so much left for Masterpiece to do and I really loved having a top-tier, very adult oriented, line of cost-be-damned Transformers. On the positive side, wonder if it will bring in the Armada-era of Transformers into the Masterpiece line due to the combiner-centric launch of the line but that's pure speculation.

Regardless of all these issues, I better start saving to pay the 500$CAN required to buy this monstrous MPG-09.

And they better have God Bomber planned.

Having handled Legacy Gears and SS86 Blaster I had this thought about the Masterpiece line ending. Both figures are Masterpiece quality, to the point that I'm asking myself what more could I want. In the case of Gears, it's some alternate faces, and Blaster, more cassettes. Doing some quick math, if they were to do another release of Gears, possibly in the SS86 line with a more curmudgeonly face, that would be another $25 which means both Gears cost $50 which is still lower than ONE MP Gears with interchangeable faceplates. Having the Kingdom Blaster already, if they were to do two Core releases for Rewind and Steeljaw, it would still be cheaper than buying the ONE MP Blaster with cassettes. I just think the normal design evolution of the Generations lines has surpassed the need for the Masterpiece line.

chuckdawg1999 wrote: I just think the normal design evolution of the Generations lines has surpassed the need for the Masterpiece line.

I've been thinking that since at least the Siege line.
And SS86 pretty much confirms it.

also, the scale is much more manageable space-wise.

As far as I'm concerned as long as people keep buying enough MPs to justify Takara Tomy making them then there's room enough for it to exist alongside the retail lines.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:As far as I'm concerned as long as people keep buying enough MPs to justify Takara Tomy making them then there's room enough for it to exist alongside the retail lines.

Emerje

I bet that a retail Super Ginrai would have no choice to be a HASLAB. One that would cost as much as Omega Prime I bet. At best, the HASLAB would include God Bomber.

Because the MP exist, would a HASLAB Super Ginrai ever be a thing? Star Saber says that odds are not zero.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Emerje wrote:As far as I'm concerned as long as people keep buying enough MPs to justify Takara Tomy making them then there's room enough for it to exist alongside the retail lines.

Emerje

I bet that a retail Super Ginrai would have no choice to be a HASLAB. One that would cost as much as Omega Prime I bet. At best, the HASLAB would include God Bomber.

Because the MP exist, would a HASLAB Super Ginrai ever be a thing? Star Saber says that odds are not zero.

A HasLab Ginrai project would definitely include God Bomber to complete the package. And no, the MP wouldn't rule out a HasLab or even a retail release, it's Prime after all.

Incidentally the Hasbro Price on MPG-09 is only $30 more than HasLab Omega Prime at $280. Honestly that's a much better price than I was expecting. Likewise MP-44S is $220 to MP-60 at $160. Surprisingly well priced for MPs.

Emerje

Any Canadian can have a better deal by buying in a Canadian shop rather than Amazon.jp

Even if the base price at Amazon is 50$CAN lower on average, you save a great deal on shipping and maybe taxes.

For me, I cancelled my Amazon.jp preorder (around 490$CAN shipped and taxed) and I bought it from Age 3 & Up instead. (409$CAN, free shipping and only ONE tax included.)

Saving the equivalent of a leader class TF is pretty significant.

If you're one of the many people that were intrigued by MP-60 Ginrai and MPM-09 Super Ginrai but really needed more views, then here you go! Scans from Japan's Figure King magazine #315 posted to Facebook by user Three Star Toys (三粒星星玩具屋) feature four page spread of photos of the actual (not final) figures including shots from the sides and behind. There are also a few comparison shots showing the truck cab to be only a little bigger than that of the G1 figure while Super Ginrai towers over the original figure. We also get get to see comparisons between the two Super Ginrai heads. There's a few good looks at their articulation including the good news that it appears Ginrai can stand up straight if you aren't a fan of the constant crotch trusting of the stock images, and can nearly bend over enough to touch his toes. Unfortunately they still remain aloof about the size of both modes.









Orders are still open at most retailers. Do the new images change your mind about this figure one way or the other or do they simply reenforce your current opinion? Let us know in the Seibertron Energon Pub forums!

Super Ginrai looks to be about the height of MP Star Saber, HasLab Deathsaurus, Siege Jetfire, and your average CW-style Combiner.

Which one is the "toon" head and the "toy" head?

Also, it look great overall.
I preordered my MPG-09 Super Ginrai at Age 3 & Up. This way, I saved around 80$CAN despite the base price being around 50$CAN more expensive at A3U compared to Amazon.jp. The free shipping and a single tax make a HUGE difference for this here Québécois.

Thousands of years ago I had the original Powermaster Prime version, and I always hated the look of the thing. The ridiculously undersized arms, the immobile oversized legs, the macrocephalic head, the false truck front . . .

It's good to see they fixed the irritating proportion and articulation issues, but they unfortunately kept the false front. While this is a vast improvement, It just doesn't seem like enough of an improvement to blow half the grocery bill on. I'm still recovering from Raiden.

The fake chest is cartoon accurate.

-Kanrabat- wrote:The fake chest is cartoon accurate.

I really dislike that phrase. It's so often used to excuse poor design or various perceived flubs when the cartoon itself is notorious for being riddled with animation errors.

As for the figure itself (the full super robot that is), I'm slowly coming around to it. I have a serious soft spot for Powermaster Prime. I still prefer the look of FansHobby Power Baser but this is slowly winning me over.

~ Grim

Big Grim wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:The fake chest is cartoon accurate.

I really dislike that phrase. It's so often used to excuse poor design or various perceived flubs when the cartoon itself is notorious for being riddled with animation errors.

~ Grim

This.

Maybe this is why the Masterpiece line has really lost its luster for me. The designs are "cartoon accurate" but very, very boring. I feel like the Bee movie designs struck the best balance of detailing and G1 nostalgia (though I am one who rails constantly against the never-ending stream of G1 Redux we seem to continuously get any more).

-Kanrabat- wrote:Which one is the "toon" head and the "toy" head?

Red eyes = toy
Blue eyes = toon

Big Grim wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:The fake chest is cartoon accurate.

I really dislike that phrase. It's so often used to excuse poor design or various perceived flubs when the cartoon itself is notorious for being riddled with animation errors.

Not the same cartoon. This is Masterforce, which wasn't error-ridden like the G1 cartoon was.

The cab torso as is was how the animation model was designed because of how the toy was designed.

For reference:

First-Aid wrote:

Big Grim wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:The fake chest is cartoon accurate.

I really dislike that phrase. It's so often used to excuse poor design or various perceived flubs when the cartoon itself is notorious for being riddled with animation errors.

~ Grim

This.

Maybe this is why the Masterpiece line has really lost its luster for me. The designs are "cartoon accurate" but very, very boring. I feel like the Bee movie designs struck the best balance of detailing and G1 nostalgia (though I am one who rails constantly against the never-ending stream of G1 Redux we seem to continuously get any more).

Same, here. Most recent MP toys are just bland. I got 8 MP-11 variants and I like the extra detail they put into robot mode, while I won't ever consider buying a MP-52 one, even if it were a different Seeker. When Skids came out, I was hoping they ditched the bland cartoon looks, yet unfortunately it was one of a kind (well, not counting its variants).