Masterpiece Thread
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pre-ordered "Autobot Burn Out" via pulse while feeling optimistic that my financial situation will be in better shape by next summer
I find it funny that the diaclone deco girls are way more exciting to me as Masterpieces than the likes of Arcee/Nightbird and Blackarachnia
I find it funny that the diaclone deco girls are way more exciting to me as Masterpieces than the likes of Arcee/Nightbird and Blackarachnia
MPM-12N Nemesis Prime Revealed
That was fast. The first of the new Takara reveals has already dropped: MPM-12 Nemesis Prime! Source: Taghobby
www.allspark.com
Hmm. I don't have the Bumblebee Movie Masterpiece Optimus. If that's expensive (relatively speaking) now then going for Nemesis Prime could be smarter. He looks good anyway. I don't see any changed parts, though. Still has the kitty ears in truck mode. But I like the cute kitty ears so that's a good thing. :3
The truck mode would be terrible even without the ears. It just looks unfinished. It's especially egregious considering how late to the party this MP was, and how much better the Studio Series truck is.
But this thing does have some good ideas. The transformation has a couple 'whoa' moments where it accomplishes in one step what some third party versions accomplish in twelve. If you don't mind the truck mode, you might love this.
But this thing does have some good ideas. The transformation has a couple 'whoa' moments where it accomplishes in one step what some third party versions accomplish in twelve. If you don't mind the truck mode, you might love this.
So it dawned on me that I don't have much savings. That I'll never be able to afford surgeries/cars/et-cetera I may need at this rate unless I change something. So I'm thinking about finally growing up and cutting back on my toy-collecting. And it was immediately obvious where most of the money was going. My pre-orders for Masterpiece figures cost more than all my non-Masterpiece orders combined. I remember a time when I lived without Masterpiece figures. When I had none, or when I had one (Wheeljack, who only cost me 30 dollars). Was I feeling bad then for not collecting Masterpiece figures? I didn't collect EVERY Transformer then after all, and I still don't now.
So I'm thinking of cancelling all my Masterpiece pre-orders. Which is a disturbingly high number, actually. It sucks, but if I can save money for more important things, it can be okay to let go of excess luxuries like MP Skyfire.
Anyone else start and stop collecting Masterpieces at a point? They're nice, but are they THAT nice when you take the prices into account? Nearly every one of them has a good or great Generations or Studio Series counterpart now. I'll still finish collecting the Trainbots, but the other pre-orders might have to go. Might have been good to come to this conclusion before dropping so much money on them, but I largely like what I got anyway. And maybe I can go back to collecting them in the future. Nothing decided for sure yet, but you've seen my updates in the "Toys bought in 2022" thread. I don't think anyone can really deny that I spend way too much money on toys.
And it may not be a Masterpiece, but it goes without saying that Canon Optimus Prime's order gets cancelled first, even with BBTS's early discount considered.
Sorry for such a downer post. But I felt like saying this would help me grip this and make a better decision.
EDIT: I looked up Wotafa's video for Canon Optimus Prime. I definitely underestimated the transformation quality. I still think the robot body could have been better for the price, though.
EDIT 2: Before anyone says something, yes, the engineering on most Masterpieces is awesome. Look at the nonsense transformation of Movie Starscream (MPM-10 of course). Insane. But it's all about what you can justify spending, I suppose. And I wish I could afford to buy them forever. But I need to think more about my future now. I don't even have anyone to inherit my mountain of pinned and screwed plastic when I'm gone.
EDIT 3: I cancelled 5 of my 7 Masterpiece pre-orders. I only kept the two Trainbots. I also cancelled the Canon Optimus. In this batch alone that's more than a thousand dollars saved. For coming years when I don't buy those Masterpieces it'll be even more. When I'm on my deathbed, it would bug me much more that I never got what I REALLY needed instead of a handful of extra expensive toys every year. I'll also be cutting back on my buying of older TFs so I can save more money. Spending too much on Thunderhowl was another wake-up call for how casually I was buying things. I was actually looking at the BW Metals Jaguar loose at 210 dollars and thinking it might be an acceptable price for me. It's okay. I'll live a better life when I have savings to spend on important things. I'm sure. :3
So I'm thinking of cancelling all my Masterpiece pre-orders. Which is a disturbingly high number, actually. It sucks, but if I can save money for more important things, it can be okay to let go of excess luxuries like MP Skyfire.
Anyone else start and stop collecting Masterpieces at a point? They're nice, but are they THAT nice when you take the prices into account? Nearly every one of them has a good or great Generations or Studio Series counterpart now. I'll still finish collecting the Trainbots, but the other pre-orders might have to go. Might have been good to come to this conclusion before dropping so much money on them, but I largely like what I got anyway. And maybe I can go back to collecting them in the future. Nothing decided for sure yet, but you've seen my updates in the "Toys bought in 2022" thread. I don't think anyone can really deny that I spend way too much money on toys.
And it may not be a Masterpiece, but it goes without saying that Canon Optimus Prime's order gets cancelled first, even with BBTS's early discount considered.
Sorry for such a downer post. But I felt like saying this would help me grip this and make a better decision.
EDIT: I looked up Wotafa's video for Canon Optimus Prime. I definitely underestimated the transformation quality. I still think the robot body could have been better for the price, though.
EDIT 2: Before anyone says something, yes, the engineering on most Masterpieces is awesome. Look at the nonsense transformation of Movie Starscream (MPM-10 of course). Insane. But it's all about what you can justify spending, I suppose. And I wish I could afford to buy them forever. But I need to think more about my future now. I don't even have anyone to inherit my mountain of pinned and screwed plastic when I'm gone.
EDIT 3: I cancelled 5 of my 7 Masterpiece pre-orders. I only kept the two Trainbots. I also cancelled the Canon Optimus. In this batch alone that's more than a thousand dollars saved. For coming years when I don't buy those Masterpieces it'll be even more. When I'm on my deathbed, it would bug me much more that I never got what I REALLY needed instead of a handful of extra expensive toys every year. I'll also be cutting back on my buying of older TFs so I can save more money. Spending too much on Thunderhowl was another wake-up call for how casually I was buying things. I was actually looking at the BW Metals Jaguar loose at 210 dollars and thinking it might be an acceptable price for me.
It's okay. I'll live a better life when I have savings to spend on important things. I'm sure. :3
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At the risk of going all pop-psych - when something interferes with your quality of life, it's officially a problem. You're making the healthy choice if collecting has begun to feel like a burden. It's ok to be sad about cutting back, but it seems like you're also making the right call.
I've been at this toy collecting thing since the mid-nineties when they first started selling Star Wars figures again, and I've gone through phases of greater or lesser activity based on income. I've sold off vast swathes in downturns and reaccumulated when things got better. Sometime in the last year and a half or so I went through and canceled every single pre-order that wasn't pre-paid like a Haslab/crowdfund and it felt like a relief. While it became super convenient for toymakers to start putting out a quarter's worth of product for preorder at once, nothing really brings it home like seeing that $300+ price tag repeated over and over again, and I realized it wasn't worth it. I'm at a very fortunate phase of life right now where - within reason - money is not an issue and there's still just too much stuff.
As for MPs specifically - they've just gotten out of control and I don't believe the value is there any more. I put all my Beast Wars MPs away (to be sold) because the new Kingdom figures are just so good. We have essentially the entire first season cast now and combined, they cost less than MP BW Megatron. As for G1, I skipped the last Prime though I did get the most recent Starscream just out of curiosity. The train-bots are super cool but waaay too expensive for me. The funny thing is, I have a tough time imagining who they could even do going forward that I'd even be interested in. I think Hound was the last MP that I felt I "needed" to finally fill that hole on the MP shelf. I've gone 3P for the gaps so even if they did the Dinobots or something, I wouldn't bother.
The good news is - these will all still be out there down the road if and when you find yourself in a more stable position. Sure, you may pay a bit more to acquire them off Ebay - but then you know for sure you're buying them because you want them, not because you think you have to.
I've been at this toy collecting thing since the mid-nineties when they first started selling Star Wars figures again, and I've gone through phases of greater or lesser activity based on income. I've sold off vast swathes in downturns and reaccumulated when things got better. Sometime in the last year and a half or so I went through and canceled every single pre-order that wasn't pre-paid like a Haslab/crowdfund and it felt like a relief. While it became super convenient for toymakers to start putting out a quarter's worth of product for preorder at once, nothing really brings it home like seeing that $300+ price tag repeated over and over again, and I realized it wasn't worth it. I'm at a very fortunate phase of life right now where - within reason - money is not an issue and there's still just too much stuff.
As for MPs specifically - they've just gotten out of control and I don't believe the value is there any more. I put all my Beast Wars MPs away (to be sold) because the new Kingdom figures are just so good. We have essentially the entire first season cast now and combined, they cost less than MP BW Megatron. As for G1, I skipped the last Prime though I did get the most recent Starscream just out of curiosity. The train-bots are super cool but waaay too expensive for me. The funny thing is, I have a tough time imagining who they could even do going forward that I'd even be interested in. I think Hound was the last MP that I felt I "needed" to finally fill that hole on the MP shelf. I've gone 3P for the gaps so even if they did the Dinobots or something, I wouldn't bother.
The good news is - these will all still be out there down the road if and when you find yourself in a more stable position. Sure, you may pay a bit more to acquire them off Ebay - but then you know for sure you're buying them because you want them, not because you think you have to.
I've had peaks and valleys with MP collecting over the years, too. Like Dake, I've been in the collecting game since the early 90s and have watched a lot of things come and go. I didn't really lock in to the Masterpiece thing until Takara started doing the '84 cars. Then it was on for me!
But as time passed, I became less and less interested in paying upwards of $100 dollars for figures that I (to be honest) just did not like transforming. That's not to say that there weren't moments of incredible engineering feats. And I know, I know: they're supposed to be higher-end collectibles; but for me, I just no longer saw the fun, the need or the value, so I stopped. The recent Trainbots were tempting, but I knew that I would end up feeling like I wasted money on things that would ultimately just sit there, so I left them alone. I still collect the odd MP here or there (I threw down on the upcoming Skyfire/Jetfire), but I have no feelings of obligation or desire to build a more purposeful, dedicated MP collection.
But as time passed, I became less and less interested in paying upwards of $100 dollars for figures that I (to be honest) just did not like transforming. That's not to say that there weren't moments of incredible engineering feats. And I know, I know: they're supposed to be higher-end collectibles; but for me, I just no longer saw the fun, the need or the value, so I stopped. The recent Trainbots were tempting, but I knew that I would end up feeling like I wasted money on things that would ultimately just sit there, so I left them alone. I still collect the odd MP here or there (I threw down on the upcoming Skyfire/Jetfire), but I have no feelings of obligation or desire to build a more purposeful, dedicated MP collection.
To elucidate further, the last MP I bought was the most recent Optimus. It was $300? dollars. The Siege one isn’t quite as good and some of the colors aren’t what I’d prefer (white thighs or die!) but the MP just isn’t worth 6x as much. Now when the choice was between a G1 MP and say Classics Prime then each one was fulfilling a niche. That’s no longer the case.
I *am* all in on the MPG line since I find it pretty damn unlikely we’re going to get CHUG Trainbots and the current ones scale pretty exactly with the new Legacy Combiners but that’s also going to be half a grand for Raiden :/
I *am* all in on the MPG line since I find it pretty damn unlikely we’re going to get CHUG Trainbots and the current ones scale pretty exactly with the new Legacy Combiners but that’s also going to be half a grand for Raiden :/
I never even really bothered collecting the MPs (I literally own three) but at this point the Generations stuff is Good Enough® for me to not really care about getting any more, with rare exceptions. (I would be all in on the MP Trainbots because I am absolutely obsessed with trains so much you wouldn't believe but even then I can't justify the cost of them as much as I'd love to)
Don't feel bad, my nephew loves trains and has a huge collection. I know he'd love the trainbots but between his age and their price, I know that's not a good idea at all. I have the original MP Optimus I got in a clearance bin, MP Grimlock, and Ghostbusters Op. Those are plenty for me, I even skipped Thundercracker, as a friend gave me the great Classics-mold one AND the Legends size CW one, and I later got the voyager 2-pack. Between all those, I don't think I made a mistake skipping something where I could see in Toys R Us looking through the plastic, that many thin plastic parts rotated on plastic struts the thickness of toothpicks, and more recent MP versions have gotten worse...
As far as the collecting trends in general, I'm rapidly being priced out of a lot. And not just Transformers. I posted a 'protest pic' of MP Grimlock on my Godzilla shelf, because the mechagodzilla I wanted wound up over $300. I can't do that right now. Mecha-King Ghidorah, same story. I had a computer blow and I needed that more. I sold most of my TFSS stuff, all my Alternators, etc when I last had to have a tumor out. There's nothing wrong with admitting you just can't waste the funds, it's healthier to admit it BEFORE you actually NEED to.
As far as the collecting trends in general, I'm rapidly being priced out of a lot. And not just Transformers. I posted a 'protest pic' of MP Grimlock on my Godzilla shelf, because the mechagodzilla I wanted wound up over $300. I can't do that right now. Mecha-King Ghidorah, same story. I had a computer blow and I needed that more. I sold most of my TFSS stuff, all my Alternators, etc when I last had to have a tumor out. There's nothing wrong with admitting you just can't waste the funds, it's healthier to admit it BEFORE you actually NEED to.
I rarely open my MPs, due to not really enjoying them (I HATE transforming them, due to their increasing complexity and unintuitive design). I don't like the obsession with the G1 toon aesthetic, the increasing price and the lack of QC.
Recently, I recently received MP trailbreaker and opened the box, took out the car and then put it back in the box. I then watched a video on YouTube, showing all about it and then tossed the whole thing into storage. I've got a box of "can't (be bothered to) transform these back to fit inside the packaging" MPs and I didn't want to add another one to it.
However, I've been fiddling and playing with my Haslab Star Saber for about a week and painting and customising an old Takara Legends Overlord for a few days too.
Official MPs just don't do it for me.
I might just buy KO versions of MPs from now on. I usually do it for Bayverse MPs, so I might start to do the same for G1 versions. I've heard that in several cases, the QC is better for them and they're about half the price of the originals.
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It's one of the worst sculpts they've delivered so far in Masterpiece. It's missing details, has off proportions, and generally looks wrong for G1 Cliffjumper. Is that really the finalized model? I'm surprised they'd let it out like this. Of course I would have obsessively bought it anyway if I hadn't thankfully decided to stop buying non Trainbot Masterpieces.
I'm not one to judge a figure by unreleased factory samples, but he looks very good to me. Hopefully an official reveal is coming soon.
I mean that looks like Cliffjumper in the G1 cartoon to me.
Of course that means it looks like garbage but that also seems to be what Takara wants out of Masterpieces, for better or worse (it's worse, if you ask me).
Of course that means it looks like garbage but that also seems to be what Takara wants out of Masterpieces, for better or worse (it's worse, if you ask me).