COUNTDOWN: 6 noteworthy facts about Masterpiece Transformers

Whether operating under the rebooted banner of MPG or its original title, the Masterpiece line continues to be a solid talking point when it comes to Transformers collecting.

After all, with so many releases over an extended period, there are bound to be a few nuggets of interest along the way! So today, here are 6 noteworthy facts about Masterpiece Transformers that you might find intriguing.

#6: It’s the longest-running single line in Transformers history

Let’s kick off on an easy (but important) one! Starting in 2003 with MP-1 Convoy, there’s no debate Masterpiece has outlasted any of the competition when it comes to longevity. Even if you count MP-60 Ginrai as being the final release to bear the classic title, that’s still 21 years of output, to say nothing of the ongoing MPG line. True, things have hugely changed in such time, which becomes especially obvious when you look at the many differing incarnations of characters like Optimus Prime from over two decades, each giving a sense of what the line was striving for at the time of their debut. Perhaps the largest surprise here is how TakaraTomy never planned for Masterpiece to become an ongoing endeavour initially, as exemplified by the numbering on those early releases; it was given the identifier MP-1 (as opposed to the obviously incorrect MP-01!) because the powers that be couldn’t foresee it going into double digits. True, it didn’t happen for the subsequent eight years, but still!

#5: MP-10 did not set the current Masterpiece scale

One consideration that is entirely synonymous with Masterpiece collecting is scale. Seriously, just check any comments section or message board to do with the toys and you’ll see folks talking about the size of everything and whether or not it’s ‘correct’ and in scale with something else. Now, in reality, it’s often a lot more complicated than it might first appear – that tends to happen when you’re primarily basing things on a rather arbitrary hand-drawn cartoon from four decades ago! – but still, the line is famed for having its fairly consistent sense of scale at the heart of it all, and in the minds of many collectors, that’s been true since the debut of MP-10 Convoy back in 2011. The Carbots which followed were all designed to work alongside their leader, fitting inside the trailer and such, MP-36 Megatron was made to match its eyeline, and even larger releases like MP-57 Skyfire seem to keep the same proportionate sense of size to make them look about right versus the animation. But here’s the thing – MP-10 wasn’t the first to do it, as he was, in turn, designed to scale with the preceding release, MP-9 Rodimus! In fact, the marketing even highlighted how Optimus and the future Autobot commander would work together in such a fashion, which means it all traces back to that earlier release.

#4: Masterpiece was the first line to deliver a G1 blue Bluestreak

Of all the many extensive wishlist items lodged firmly in fans’ minds, few are as elusive as the idea of a blue Bluestreak! Ever since the 1984 toy was recoloured to be silver – dropping its Diaclone precursor’s navy colouration despite the name chosen for the character still being an obvious nod to it and all of the packaging and marketing surrounding the Transformers release continuing to showcase the original blue hue – the mere notion of the colour scheme has been almost legendary in collector circles. Sadly, we’re yet to see such a thing on the G1 mould itself outside of a now exorbitant Diaclone original (although some of us haven’t given up hope yet!), but that’s not to say Transformers hasn’t toyed with the idea on newer designs since. True, the first blue Bluestreak was 2008’s Binaltech Impreza (and no, we’re *not* talking about the lusciously-liveried Smokescreen here!), but Masterpiece came through by finally adorning the classic G1-style Fairlady Z with the colour in 2015 when it delivered what might be one of the best repaints of all time in MP-18B. Beautiful!

#3: It took 10 years to get an assembled Beast Wars Maximal cast

Let’s be frank – the mere notion of ‘complete rosters’ is a myth when it comes to Masterpiece collecting. Such a statement may sound odd, considering the whole line was built around doing just that from the beginning of the so-called “MP-10 era” onwards. Yet, as time has rolled on and the focus of things has shifted somewhat, there’s been little in the way of completing anything, truth be told – just ask the G1 fans who are still waiting for their assembled Ark crew! Sure, the Masterpiece Movie line-up pulled off a full 2007 Autobot cast once MPM-11 Ratchet dropped in 2020, but the more surprising story is a complete crew of Beast Wars Maximals with the advent of the upcoming MPG Rattrap. We’d still need Airazor for the full season 1 spectacular, but just having the initial party of five feels like quite the accomplishment already, especially as it took a lengthy ten years to get here and because they’re still surprisingly harmonious with one another in terms of design. Again, whilst G1 collectors are left to juxtapose the inconsistent styles of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, they’ll no doubt be looking at the Beast team and wondering what might have been.

#2: There’s still no G1 Jazz

Not to rub salt in the wound here, but following on from the point above, it seems as though G1 collectors may be waiting for yet more time to come to see one of the most desired characters in Transformers history make their Masterpiece debut. Yes, Jazz has topped many a wishlist ever since the likes of MP-12 Sideswipe dropped back in 2012, as despite a steady stream of Carbots during that lengthy time, the Autobot Special Ops Agent has been decidedly MIA. Speculation persists it’s down to TakaraTomy being unable to secure a Porsche licence, especially after relations with the car company were notably frosty back during the early 2000s Binaltech days when a different take on the character was mooted. The assertion Porsche wants nothing to do with so-called “war toys” has lived on in infamy ever since (despite this quote seemingly coming from one single phone call at the time). However, it also appears as though tensions have cooled significantly in more recent years, what with the automotive manufacturer hopping on board for Rise of the Beasts in 2023, even contributing to the film’s marketing, and granting permission for a fully licensed rendition of Mirage in the Studio Series line. Now, there may be more to the situation with a G1-styled Jazz, of course (that Martini livery likely doesn’t help, either). Still, whatever the case, it feels like the fan-favourite Autobot is set to remain a pipe dream for at least the foreseeable future!

#1: Various designs still have zero repaints to their name

There’s no denying that Masterpiece is typically a repaint-heavy line; one only has to consider the MP-10 mould to really see the evidence of this, with no less than 13 subsequent releases (and counting?) in different colour schemes across both TakaraTomy and Hasbro since its 2011 debut. Yet that’s not universally the fate of every Masterpiece mould, with some only getting the odd recolour here or there and still a surprising number of designs that have yet to be utilised outside their initial release. We made a list of those candidates a few years back, and not much has changed during that time (although there is another stab at Lio Convoy now, at least!). MP-47 Hound and MP-45 Bumblebee remain the most surprising examples, as both have fairly obvious potential for such makeovers (especially the latter). True, there was a supposed Cliffjumper prototype during the rounds for some time, and rumours persist that the moulds for these characters have been lost due to factory shenanigans. Whatever the case, unless such a retool makes it to market one day, we may only get one use out of both of these divisive designs.

So that’s our list!

TTFN