I can appreciate the engineering that went into the design but, the transformation looks like a big mess. Something iād transform once and then never attempt again.
I swore I posted this and forgot to hit send.
If that one is happening, Big Convoy has gotta be in the cards. Iām just made that I bought the encore edition a few months ago.
Found the G1 Reissue Soundwave & Cassettes at Wal-mart!
Cassette packs seem a bit expensive at $20. But there have existed those High-Quality knock-offs with G1 Accurate packaging but, i never got those because they usually wanted something like $50+ for one pack. $40 for Official releases versus $80+ for the Knock-offs is a Better deal for sure.
Those High-quality knock-off G1 soundwaves always went for around $75āish. So $50 for him is a good deal also.
The only reissue I grabbed was Prime. I only paid $25. If youāre looking for this release, then itās a fantastic buy since it is supposedly a 1:1 of the original. I honestly donāt get why they just didnāt release the cassettes with Soundwave as a set similar to Devastator.
The packaging/boxes wouldnāt be accurate to the originals if they did that.
Also iām happy they FINALLY went through the trouble to get the original G1 Soundwave mold. Was tired of seeing these Japanese SoundBlasters recolored as Soundwaves!
Canāt hold more than one cassette but i always Loved the look of that flush cassette door better. Soundblaster can hold two but, only because they made the door bigger and i was never a fan of the way it juts out of his chest.
Or perhaps heās still the Soundblaster mold but, they retooled his chest to be like Soundwaveā¦
Optimus Primeās box was styled after the original release as it didnāt have the trailer. I think an exception can be made for that type of release.
This version is the a revision to the original release of the character in Japan.
No sir, that trailerāless Prime got flack from the community. Seriously, $50 for a G1 Prime with no trailer and an inauthentic box? That was a horseshit move by Hasbro and partially invalidated the whole point of a āG1 Reissueā to begin with.
Thats probably part of the reason those Primes warmed the shelves for so long, before eventually being clearanced out at $35, at a lot of the wal-marts i went too. $35 for a trailerāless G1 Prime is actually what Prime should have been at to begin with. Most likely would have sold a lot better too.
Something tells me Hasbro didnāt profit as much as they were expecting from that move, the way those Primes lingered on shelves.
I think you missed my point. Prime had a box that was created for the release. They could have done a new set for Soundwave with all of the cassettes and used the G1 art in the process.
Actually, it was you that missed my point. On WHY they didnāt do that. Thats why i was citing how the Prime release caught hell for having a different box (in addition to the missing trailer).
Wonāt someone think of the boxes?! 
If thatās what you took away from the discussion, ok.
I wonder if the MPM line is going to redo Starscream (Gorilla Chicken). As strange as the designs are, they actually have a shelf presence. I have all the MPM releases now with the exception of Megatron. I figured itād be a slippery slope.
The is a lot more to the articulation of MP-44 than meets the eye.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1wN3Digo7e/
Theyāve got Peter Cullen audio in the sound box. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Not for $449.99 it isnāt! Takara can suck a hard one with those prices.
If i wanted MP-44 that badly, iād just grab one of the great 3rd party figures for 1/4th the price. Iād NEVER pay what Takara wants for the official release. Anyone that does? Is a damn fool.
To each his or her own.
Iām not paying anywhere near that price (with shipping).
I got mine from Amazon, but looks like Nippon Yasan has it for Pre-order pricing still:
https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/26876-transformers-masterpiece-mp44-convoy-ver30.html
Also, apparently the Unicron figure deadline has been extended to Oct 6. Looks like it has over 5K backers.
Amazon just charged me. $326.08 out the door. Iāll have it Wednesday.
In the mean time, more comparison shots:
As silly as this pose is, very few MP figures can pull this off (and look good doing it)
Movie Head vs Season 1 Head
Starscream cosplaying as Prime and Battle Damage
Great articulation and the fact they have Peter C. on a Japanese toy is Ace.
I sound like a grumpy old man but the more cartoon aesthetic makes me feel less that this is super high end collectible. It looked odd on MP Inferno with itās flat red chunks. The vehicle mode really looks plain if it is more cartoon accurate.
Maybe if there is a chance in Hades that Hasbro would sell it through a US store in the next few years for like $250 ,I would maybe get it.
Given the fact that this will be repainted into oblivion, you will definitely be able to find it at that price second hand.
I know if you do this it not be in itās original condition anymore
But there theses paint pens that are sold for Gundam models to do fine detail linework, probilly make all the super fine detail pop.
You can also probilly make your own wash for the details (practice on something you donāt care about first), Citadelās Nul Oil wash goes on too thick for this application.