Initial thoughts on MP BW Megatron from HK...

[xueyue2]

Originally Posted by Nocturn

My MP-43's still in box. Will post back if it's anything less than pristine when I open it. Hoping these issues are limited and rare, not only for my own sake, but also for all the other suckers who dropped hundreds on this piece of plastic, too.


"A $300 toy shouldn't have these problems"

Okay but TR Trypticon, a $230 toy, had multiple, widespread, almost ubiquitous problems. Yes it's a lot bigger but it's also FAR less complicated than ANYTHING in the MP line. Most figures that release these days have SOMETHING wrong with them, SOMETHING you have to look out for. Whether its QC or a design flaw. MP-36 has problems. The cost of a figure does not preclude it from the potential to have issues.

HasTak don't care. They have us by the short hairs and they know it. I'm not saying they're right, but so long as people are buying $700 Optimii, why would they change their ways?

There are parts on MP Cheetor and Dinobot that still make me break out in cold sweat. Just be delicate with your things. Cheaper figures can break just as easily as expensive ones, though I find I'm less delicate with the cheaper ones (and therefore the cheaper figures, are the ones I end up breaking).

So long as HasTak keeps catering to the 90's kid in me, I'm going to keep buying fragile, overpriced, BW MP's. So long as they have a market for this shit, complaining won't change anything. Older fans may feel they're getting priced out left and right, myself included, but there's new fans (kids) coming to the brand steadily, and the new fans have no concept of what things "used" to be worth.

Every time a thread about QC, pricing, or the general state of TF toys come up, we see the same arguments.

"Back in my day this wouldn't have flown!"
"This toy is smaller than a toy of the same size class from 15 years ago!"

Thing is, it's 2019. It's not back in the day, it's not 15 years ago. The market has shown repeatedly that HasTak will not only survive being this consumer-unfriendly, they continue to thrive doing so. The history of the brand has brought us to this point, where HasTak can get away with whatever they please. They'll sell you the dump they took this morning in a box marked MP-50 for $500. They do not care.

What you say are true, and I'm so glad I'm not into BW series, so I don't have to pay this ransom to HasTak.



Also I vote with my wallet instead of paying 600 for MP44, I just buy 3rd parties with better quality and much less price tag.

[TRUCKvsGUN]

Well said, Nocturn, though I gotta state disagreement with the narrative of Takara being some uncaring entity without pride in their products. These guys are serious about what they do, and they take great shame when something goes really bad - as is the Japanese way - like the refunds they offered everyone when Encore God Fire Convoy's voicechip was screwed up. We can all learn from the Japanese peoples' highly-developed sense of shame. I can't help but roll my eyes when people drone on about corporate greed or lack of consideration or paying "ransoms" when it comes to Takara, or for that matter most Japanese businesses.

Right on about times changing, though. BW MP Megatron is so far beyond anything they were doing 15 years ago. To pull off something like this, you need more parts, and smaller parts, and that means higher prices and more potential for things to go wrong. Not that stuff didn't break back then, either.

If yall want something cheap and blocky, I've got just the thing for you: the OG BW Megatron.

[Nocturn]

Originally Posted by TRUCKvsGUN

Well said, Nocturn, though I gotta state disagreement with the narrative of Takara being some uncaring entity without pride in their products. These guys are serious about what they do, and they take great shame when something goes really bad - as is the Japanese way - like the refunds they offered everyone when Encore God Fire Convoy's voicechip was screwed up. We can all learn from the Japanese peoples' highly-developed sense of shame. I can't help but roll my eyes when people drone on about corporate greed or lack of consideration or paying "ransoms" when it comes to Takara, or for that matter most Japanese businesses.

Fair enough. I concur that Japanese corporations do tend to take more pride in their products (speaking as, personally, a lifelong Nintendo fan, they put far more pride into their games and systems than, say, Microsoft.). I would disagree that their pride and customer care extends beyond Japanese consumers, though.

(Again, just look at Nintendo. Caters to the Japanese market first, NA and Europe markets are treated second-class. Games here release later, or don't come out at all... Mother 3... Switch Cloud versions of Ass Creed and Resi7...)

I have a tendency to refer to, and think of, Hasbro and Takara as being essentially the same company. I realize this is a fallacy, and many of Takara's practices are markedly better, but they're just as guilty of price-gouging, and the brand's overall decline in material quality, to my eyes, at least. Certain LG figures are nigh indistinguishable from their Hasbro counterparts, but cost an arm and a leg more. MP Prime v3 took away the benefit of the doubt on that. Couple this with the fact that Takara doesn't operate a webstore that we can import from, forcing us to buy their products at an inflated price from secondary sellers, and I'm not inclined to feel as if they're on the consumer's side. Granted, operating such a store may infringe on Hasbro's international distribution rights for the brand? IDK I'm not a lawyer.

However this is degrading into a matter of opinions, and mine isn't worth jack shit, lol. Hope everyone is enjoying their MP-43's, and nothing is breaking!

[Pascal]

All the reports I've seen on Facebook are praising the figure.

Honestly, can't recall the last time I broke a figure. Oh wait, I did break the nosecone on MP-11 Starscream because I didn't know what I was doing. Other than that... 2 Transmetals Megatron (GPS), a Perfect Effect Arcee (didn't follow the instructions)... that's it.

[Pascal]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6eqW_vj9c

[ssjgoku22]

Originally Posted by Pascal

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6eqW_vj9c

Yeah, I linked this video on the last page. As long as your not extremely rough or heavy handed (and come on, are you really like that with any masterpiece), the figure will be fine.

[MapleMegatron]

Another breakage report on Megatron at the very same spot. Seems like none of our worrying was unfounded.

https://www.allspark.com/forums/topi...3#entry3864742

That makes it quite a few broken crotch reports on a 300$ toy.

[Pascal]

It's so easy to pretend being careful AFTER the fact...

[MapleMegatron]

Here's the bobby skullface review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=CKRhBlRRFZc

[xueyue2]

Originally Posted by MapleMegatron

Here's the bobby skullface review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=CKRhBlRRFZc

I think BSF gave it a pretty good score even his version did has tons of stress marks, but he didn't break anything, that's the most important part.