Takara designer interview,Gives hints on MP future releases.

[Tigermegatron]

Takara staff designer interview, Talks about the creation process of MP TF toys & Gives hints on MP future releases.
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... piece.html

H: We hope to release 2 larger and 2 smaller MPs this year as well. There are some characters already named as possibilities, but my personal favourites are Meister (Jazz) and combiner Bruticus. I recall saying the same thing 2 years ago at a toy show. (*laughs) I do want to make them come true, but it is hard to accomplish.... Although I am working with the intention of releasing all characters eventually.

- Now that Soundwave is out, how about Laserwave (Shockwave)?

H: To be honest, what I'd love to release most is Ultra Magnus

[Shockwave]

Neat! Great information, thanks for sharing this TM! Also, looks like that fully armored UM that we want might not be that far off after all....

[JediTricks]

Jazz would be a Porsche, now that Lamborghini has given approval for an MP this seems very likely as they're both owned by Volkswagen, that would be quite awesome to get a real Porsche Jazz after all these years.

Bruticus, are they just going to release the FOC figure as a "Masterpiece", or what?

[Tigermegatron]

Jazz would be a Porsche, now that Lamborghini has given approval for an MP this seems very likely as they're both owned by Volkswagen, that would be quite awesome to get a real Porsche Jazz after all these years.

My speculation if their doing a MP Jazz,Then they'll most likely repaint/retool him into 1985 Stunticon Deadend. 1987 Headmasters Stepper is also likely to happen.

Bruticus, are they just going to release the FOC figure as a "Masterpiece", or what?

My guess is they do a MP Version,it'll be all new molds & based off the 1985 earth modes designs. They will probably recolor it in G-2 Bruticus colors.

If Takara does any MP TF combiners,I prefer they do 1980's combiners that didn't get update combiner toys or not as many as bruticus & superion got. I'd like to see Takara do MP TF Combiners toys for Predaking,Devestator,Menasor,Liokaiser.

[Shockwave]

Bruticus, are they just going to release the FOC figure as a "Masterpiece", or what?

My guess is they do a MP Version,it'll be all new molds & based off the 1985 earth modes designs. They will probably recolor it in G-2 Bruticus colors.

If Takara does any MP TF combiners,I prefer they do 1980's combiners that didn't get update combiner toys or not as many as bruticus & superion got. I'd like to see Takara do MP TF Combiners toys for Predaking,Devestator,Menasor,Liokaiser.

This is the impression I got from the interview as well, which is why I don't think they would repaint Jazz into Dead End. I do think they would do the Targetmaster Ricochet. But I think if they do the Stunticons at all it would be all new molds. With Bruticus, I'm just wondering how big the individual pieces would be. I'd like to see the limb bots be the same size as the Autobot cars with Onslaught being the same size as Prime or the Seekers.

[Sparky Prime]

It would be interesting to get a Masterpiece combiner like Bruticus, but I wonder how they would pull that off. Some of the 3rd party combiners lately have looked amazing, so hopefully if they ever do make one, that's the route they would take. I'd love to see Ultra Magnus, complete with his armor. And Jazz would be a very nice choice as well, but his alt mode would present a bit of a problem with licensing...

[Tigermegatron]

Bruticus, are they just going to release the FOC figure as a "Masterpiece", or what?

My guess is they do a MP Version,it'll be all new molds & based off the 1985 earth modes designs. They will probably recolor it in G-2 Bruticus colors.

If Takara does any MP TF combiners,I prefer they do 1980's combiners that didn't get update combiner toys or not as many as bruticus & superion got. I'd like to see Takara do MP TF Combiners toys for Predaking,Devestator,Menasor,Liokaiser.

This is the impression I got from the interview as well, which is why I don't think they would repaint Jazz into Dead End. I do think they would do the Targetmaster Ricochet. But I think if they do the Stunticons at all it would be all new molds. With Bruticus, I'm just wondering how big the individual pieces would be. I'd like to see the limb bots be the same size as the Autobot cars with Onslaught being the same size as Prime or the Seekers.

Why not? Dead end is a porse that transforms into a robot. they probably don't even need to create a new head sculpt nor give the toy different weapons.

Takara isn't going name the black repaint Ricochet,Because this name was created by Hasbro. Takara already has the Stepper name & that's the one they'll be using for the black MP Jazz repaint.

[Tigermegatron]

It would be interesting to get a Masterpiece combiner like Bruticus, but I wonder how they would pull that off. Some of the 3rd party combiners lately have looked amazing, so hopefully if they ever do make one, that's the route they would take. I'd love to see Ultra Magnus, complete with his armor. And Jazz would be a very nice choice as well, but his alt mode would present a bit of a problem with licensing...

If Takara ever did a MP Bruticus toy. at their prices,they'd be better off selling them individually. Because a MP Gift set at Takara's prices would be well over $300.

I think only Hasbro can get away with selling MP Bruticus in a Gift set. Because Hasbro Sells TF toys for 75% less than Takara does. Hasbro's MP Bruticus in a Gift set would probably sell for under $125 at TRU stores in America.

Lamborgini & Porse are owned by Volkswagen. Takara already got one liscense going with VW,So it'll be easier to get more Like Porse,Beetle. YEAH I EXPECT TO SEE TAKARA DO A MP Bumblebee toy maybe in 2014 or 2015

If Takara does a MP Ultra Magnus. their going to use the MP-10 Truck cab/robot toy. Then add a new mold car carrier trailer that can wrap around the MP-10 robot toy & form a robotic suit of Armor.

[Shockwave]

Why not? Dead end is a porse that transforms into a robot. they probably don't even need to create a new head sculpt nor give the toy different weapons.

Takara isn't going name the black repaint Ricochet,Because this name was created by Hasbro. Takara already has the Stepper name & that's the one they'll be using for the black MP Jazz repaint.

Because if they're going to Dead End as part of Menasor they would at the very least need to retool it to be part of a combiner. Unless they somehow pre-engineer that into Jazz, but that wouldn't make much sense for Jazz. And in G1, they were different models of Porsche. I mean, Cliffjumper was a Porsche too, so why not repaint Jazz into Cliffjumper as well? The "Dead End-as-a-Jazz-repaint" thing didn't start until the 2011 Botcon Animated Stunticons box set. So yeah, there is precedent for it but I couldn't really see them doing it if they're planning to do Menasor.

I forgot that was a Hasbro thing, but that could be how Hasbro would release it. I mean, we are getting Acid Storm this year, so heck, anything's possible at this point. Heck, it wasn't even that long ago that I thought we'd never see an armored Ultra Magnus and here we are with this article coming just this side of confirming it, so yeah, I definitely could be wrong.

[Sparky Prime]

Why not? Dead end is a porse that transforms into a robot. they probably don't even need to create a new head sculpt nor give the toy different weapons.

I don't think they would make an MP Dead End that was a straight up repaint of MP Jazz... I mean, Dead End looks totally different from Jazz in his robot mode, and they are different models of Porsche's. And if the idea is to make Bruticus, Dead End would need to be engineered to combine.

I think only Hasbro can get away with selling MP Bruticus in a Gift set. Because Hasbro Sells TF toys for 75% less than Takara does. Hasbro's MP Bruticus in a Gift set would probably sell for under $125 at TRU stores in America.

I think a lot of that cost for a Takara version of a figure is actually to cover the cost of importing it from Japan, rather than what it would cost if you got it in Japan.