Takara Transformers

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
It looks like they scaled them to each other in alt mode since SS fits in Primes trailer...and we all know I prefer alt modes correctly scaled to each other :D

Yeah, I'm really a "bot scale" guy. While I will buy all these MPs, it will bug the living shit out of me that Sideswipe will be a midget compared to Starscream and Soundwave. A fight between autobot minions and decepticon minions shouldn't look like David vs Goliath.

I don't give two shakes about alt-mode scale. If they used that logic, Soundwave and Megatron bot modes should be 1/16" tall next to 10" Starscream.

But I'm glad they appeal to someone else's TF neurosis, if not at all to mine :)
 

Midget

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Mar 14, 2011
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How do you TF fans even deal with the inconsistencies between alt-mode and bot-mode scales? I mean the "groaning" Megaton has been bugging me for years!
 

G.I.*EDDIE

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How do you TF fans even deal with the inconsistencies between alt-mode and bot-mode scales? I mean the "groaning" Megaton has been bugging me for years!

It's what keeps me from getting more TFs than I'd like...I just won't have a collection all out of wack with each other...


I'm not gonna have a 1:6th scale Snakeyes hanging with a 1:18th scale Duke along with 1:72nd trooper all aboard a Hotwheels scale hummer...


So my TF "collection" is based on alt modes...whatever vehicle a TF takes the form of determines his robot mass...I personally will not except the convenient excuse of mass shifting...it's why I've never liked characters like Soundwave, Megatron, Reflector (though at least with him they did keep the bots smaller), or Blaster...even as a kid, I cracked up when Soundwave in disguise would transform and blow up into this huge bot...
 

Midget

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Exactly why I have the Anniversary Prime, and a few of the smaller Bots... they all have to be in scale with each-other or some level of OCD kicks in.

Although the Alternators were the exception. I have those becuse they look like normal car models.
 

Mandingo Rex

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The Decepticons are all over the place. I just let them slide, but I like for them to be roughly in scale to Prime in bot mode (when it's "leader" guys like Soundwave, Shockwave, Megatron, and Starscream). The Autobots I prefer to be in scale in vehicle mode, but with slightly larger bot modes with clever engineering so they can extend arms/torsos. I think the Alternator and MP lines have done a decent job in making legs extend enough to get a semi-decent height out of the vehicles, while compacting enough to be in scale in vehicle mode.

Honestly, I liked MP-01/04 being roughly in scale with the 1:24 Alternators, but with the new MP-10 scale, I think they'll be in better bot-scale to each other.

Until they make a reimagined series where there's no size warping and alternate modes that aren't silly (pistol, micro-cassette, bugs), as long as they're going off of G1 alt modes and bot modes, there's got to be some suspension of disbelief. This is where I lie.

So the direction of the current MP scale (with MP-10 resetting Prime's size) is enough give-and-take for me to be fine with it (MP-01/04/05 excluded, obviously).

I do hope we get a rescaled/redesigned Megs before long, though, because I want to display them all together, and unless I get rid of MP-04 and MP-05 when the new Megs comes out, I will likely just display the 2 larger scale ones at work on my desk and keep the rest at home.
 
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nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
I don't know why alt mode scale doesn't bother me. Normally it would, but I just accept that Brawn is a much smaller car than Mirage... although in real life this wouldn't be true.

And I'm ok with whatever pseudo-science explanation they give for Soundwave and Megatron being tiny in alt mode. The one that bothered me was the insecticons, as they weren't real-world sized. They were always shown not as tiny bugs, but as giant insects, which confused me even further because their alt mode clearly didn't disguise them in any way. Why bother?

I never display my TFs in alt mode. In fact, I wouldn't care if my TFs didn't even have alt modes. I love the franchise because of the characters, not because they turn into stuff. At this point in my life, I'm over the transformation part of the lore. I just like the big robots. So that's why I prefer the bots to be in their traditional bot scale.
 

Midget

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Nacho- that makes sense. Now that I think about it, all my transformers are in bot mode too... guess it doens't make that big a difference if I'm never going to put them in car mode or whatever.
 

Mandingo Rex

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I prefer to display them all in bot mode. In fact, the only one who gets transformed more frequently into both modes is probably Grimlock. (The Dinobots share the same "dumb" factor as the Insecticons as far as using it as a disguise, but what they lack in logical disguise they make up for in the fact that they're fucking badass DINOSAURS and not silly bugs.)

Understanding that the entire TF toyline is just a mashing together of "awesome Japanese toy lines that involve transforming robots", the scale issue makes sense. Sort of, at least as far as the why of it.
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
Very true. And when they mashed all those lines together, they probably never expected the line to last more than 12-18 months, tops. Thus the details were pretty insignificant back then. Has they known that we'd still be hung up on the stuff they cobbled together in 1984 nearly thirty years later, they'd likely have put a little more care into details like scale.

And yeah, dinobot alt modes are equally unnecessary, but they do look cool. It's their extreme stupidity that keeps them outside my circle of favorite TFs.
 

Mandingo Rex

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Yeah, but for a show and toy target at young boys back in the mid 1980s, they were pretty awesome. Between cars, robots, war toys, space ships, jets and dinosaurs, you couldn't have cobbled together a more AWESOME! toy line.
 

pcsguy88

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Mar 14, 2011
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Dinobots will always be my favorite. Their characters suck, but the toys kick serious ass. I love that MP Grimlock transforms easily enough to switch him around on occassion.
 

xxxx

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alright fella's...i got a few questions for you all,i'm looking to buy a re-issue soundwave.what is the current value of one of these?...and what do you think is a fair price for one of these sets?...also what do you guys think of the ko soundwaves from china?
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
Which one? Takara 1 or 2, TRU, SDCC?

Truth be told, they are all going to be expensive, anywhere between $75 and $150 depending on which one you go after and the condition of the toy, the box, etc.
 

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xxxx

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Apr 13, 2011
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Which one? Takara 1 or 2, TRU, SDCC?

Truth be told, they are all going to be expensive, anywhere between $75 and $150 depending on which one you go after and the condition of the toy, the box, etc.

either a takara or the tru version...times are hard,and i've noticed that people are putting up the tru version because their broke...but they are asking between 70 and 120 pounds for one,is that about right?or is that a little to high?
 

xxxx

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does anyone know anything about the knock-off soundwaves from china?as these are almost identical to the g1 version[obviously not as good a quality though]however they are very cheap to buy.
 

Mandingo Rex

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I have the third one pictured... It came with just Ravage and Laserbeak. I kind of wish I'd gotten the one that came with Ratbat, too.

I never have gotten, but have always wanted, the humanoid cassettes. They haven't reissued those lately for a moderately decent price, have they?
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
I think I have the 1st takara one, the TRU, and the SDCC. I got the purple one for display purposes because it's the most vintage looking. Then I bought the TRU version b/c it came with better cassettes. Then I got the SDCC version because it came with even more cassettes. I'll likely end up selling the TRU version, but it's buried so deep in my storage unit, I couldn't get to it any time soon. Maybe a year from now!

70-120 pounds seems high, as that's what I'd expect to pay in dollars, but maybe that's the going rate abroad. I don't know how UK TF prices differ from the US market.
 

Mandingo Rex

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I'll wait for Takara. They knock them out of the park, at least all the new molds since MP-05.

I hope they either make him with a collapsible scope/cannon, or an alternate one that's not so ridiculously oversized. After getting my hands on MP-10, the vast improvements over MP-01/04 make me confident that they can pull it off.

I just hope they don't wait years to do it.
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
My concern is that if the 3rd parties do it well, there will be no official version. I notice HasTak has completely skipped the obvious conehead repaints. Why? Because there is no way to make them enough better than the igear version to make us purchase them again.

Given, Megatron is more of an A-list character, and they would likely do another version of him no matter what these renegade companies do, but if the 3rd party version is good enough, I might take the plunge anyway.

BUT, I'm glad they are doing Sideswipe and Soundwave before revisiting Megs. Otherwise it would seem like the line would be nothing but MP Leaders. I like the leader characters, but the line and mythos are really incomplete without some of the other big names as well.
 

G.I.*EDDIE

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I would be ecstatic if he was in scale with THS-02...I want a whole complete line in that small scale with the same level of detail and quality...

How awesome would that be?!...a small scale of TFs that doesn't take up a half a room when you have a full collection...sorta like Joes...


Either that or each bot be true 1:18th scale to go WITH Joes :D
 

G.I.*EDDIE

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Mar 14, 2011
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Gosh dang it!...I've been avoiding this new MP scale, but they keep making so many in that scale...I may have to get on board
 

G.I.*EDDIE

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Depends on the rest of my collection...to scale with the rest of MPs though, ole Grimmy would have to be pretty massive