The Transformers: Masterpiece
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The Transformers: Masterpiece (トランスフォーマー マスターピース, Toransufōmā Masutāpīsu, also The Transformers: Master Piece)[1] is a toyline of collector-focused toys that are primarily based upon characters from the original The Transformers cartoon, but manufactured with today's advanced engineering techniques. As a line aimed towards collectors, Masterpiece Transformers tend to be very expensive, with larger and more complex conversion schemes to achieve closer accuracy and greater articulation than toys aimed at children.
Though the Masterpiece line is largely developed by Takara/TakaraTomy with the Japanese market in mind, the line is also distributed by Hasbro in Asian markets outside Japan, and in Australia as Target and Toys"R"Us exclusives. Hasbro has also redecoed/retooled molds from this line for release in their own markets under various toy lines, and almost always as store exclusives. These Hasbro versions originally saw release as Walmart exclusives until 2009, when they were succeeded by Toys"R"Us. From 2013 onwards, Hasbro released its versions as a single cohesive line (instead of as part of other, contemporary lines), with a numbering system similar to the one used by TakaraTomy. However, by 2015, the figures were again co-branded as part of the Generations line, while still continuing their numbering system. Beginning with TakaraTomy's MP-43 (as well as the MP-17+, MP-18+ and MP-20+ versions released around the same time), Hasbro officially distributed all-new figures as imports available from various online retailers and specialty stores. The Hasbro versions differ ever-so-slightly from the Japanese-distributed TakaraTomy versions by the addition of a tampographed Hasbro product code number on the figure itself, and the use of an additional black outer sleeve for the packaging that prominently features the Japanese ID number, but not any actual name for the figure.
The line ended in 2024, with collector toy focus shifting to The Transformers: MPG.
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Scale and rate of releases
Timeline
The Masterpiece line started at a slow pace in 2003, with new molds being released every two years or so, and with redecos/retools being released in-between. The figures that were released back then were exclusive of the larger main characters, and scale wasn't very consistent due to price constraints and their large size, with the results being that figures of certain huge characters (such as Grimlock) were too short compared to other characters they were meant to tower over (such as Convoy).
With the release of a new tooling of Convoy in 2011, the line was rebooted, featuring a smaller, more consistent scale based on MP-09 Rodimus Convoy, and a significant increase in releases per year. Rather notably, Masterpieces of the smaller characters were introduced.
Starting in 2016, Beast Wars characters were added to the line, and the series began a shift towards even more extreme cartoon-accuracy.
2021 saw the beginning of a swing in the other direction towards an Alternators-style focus on licensed vehicle mode accuracy and, subsequently, vehicle mode scale, beginning with simultaneous release of MP-53 Skids and MP-54 Reboost, marketed almost entirely on the back of their popular Honda City vehicle modes.
In 2022 the trend kicked into high gear as TakaraTomy launched the MPG line with the Trainbots, in a big swing for Japan's massive model train market. The figures are made to the model train "HO scale,"[2] which—whether or not intentional—also makes their individual robot modes fit the same cartoon-based scale as the current mainline Masterpiece Transformers, having the individual components stand slightly taller than the standard Autobot Cars, but makes Raiden and the individual train modes undersized by comparison.
Back on the cartoon-based side of things, 2022 also saw the announcement of MP-57 Skyfire, who, in a truly awe-inspiring display of mass-shifting reproduction, features a series of Autobot miniatures for vehicle mode to accommodate his use as a transport in the cartoon.
Definition
From the 2011 "reboot" era of the Masterpiece line to present, the focus of making everything to "scale" with each other mostly refers to robot mode scale, as there are a few size discrepancies between the vehicle modes of the individual figures. To counter this, some figures include their own miniatures to represent an accurate vehicle mode scale, such as the aforementioned Skyfire figure, which features miniatures of Convoy, Meister and Wheeljack, to create the illusion that he has mass-shifted between his two forms. Another example is the Autobot Car, Hound. Hound transforms into a Willys Jeep, which is a much smaller vehicle compared to the other Autobot Cars, yet his robot mode is the same height as them. The line-wide, universally-scaled Spike Witwicky figurines included with MP-10 Convoy and MP-44 Convoy are an accurate size for Hound in robot mode, but too small for his vehicle mode specifically, even if they scale fairly well with the other Autobot Cars' altmodes, so a larger Spike figure was released with Hound, made to specifically sit in his seats in jeep mode, to reenact scenes from "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1", Part 2" and "Part 3". The other line-wide, universally-scaled figurines can also be sat inside MPG Shouki, as a reference to the original Diaclone toy and the Diaclone pilots, even though the figurines are grossly out of scale with the train mode itself.
The Beast Wars figures, on the other hand, are made to their own unique scale when compared to the G1 character releases, as is obvious, when comparing G1 Convoy with Beast Wars Convoy, since the Maximals and Predacons are meant to be wayyyy smaller than the other characters in the line. Uniquely, all of the Beast Wars characters to date are also scaled accurately in beast mode, as well as robot mode (at least based in a cartoon context).
MP-24 Star Saber is an outlier when it comes to scale, as an accurate cartoon scale for the character would make him roughly the size of a mainline Titan Class figure, just due to the Japanese sequel cartoons making every character after the original cartoon more and more giant (seriously, Convoy is only listed in cartoon production scale as 6 meters tall, while Star Saber is listed at 22 meters tall!). TakaraTomy knew this when making Star Saber, and elected to make more of a generic scale that fits better with the Generations toys of the time. Ironically, Masterpiece Star Saber is better scaled with your War for Cybertron Trilogy-era toys than the HasLab Legacy Star Saber is.
Fiction
The Transformers: Masterpiece toyline has received some light fictional support throughout its extensive run, thus far largely within the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity.
Comics
Masterpiece received e-HOBBY comics between 2010-2011 to provide fictional justification for their various exclusive redecoes, as well as a smattering of higher concept comics told sporadically through the Transformers Generations book series beginning in 2014 and continuing to this day.
e-HOBBY
- "MP-1B Cybertron Commander / Convoy Black Ver."
- "MP-3G Destron Air Commander / Starscream Ghost Ver."
- "Destron Doppelgänger Black Rodimus Convoy"
Generations book series
- "Controverse"
- "Reborn"
| « | "Wars" series (Masterpiece) | » | |
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Perhaps most notably, Masterpiece inherited Yuki Ohshima's series of comics colloquially known as the "Wars" series from TakaraTomy's short-lived 2012 Generations toyline (not to be confused with the modern super-brand) beginning in 2015 with "Rodimus Wars," a Transformers: The Movie prequel advertising the then-upcoming MP-28 Hot Rodimus and MP-29 Laserwave. As of this writing, the series has moved on to an ongoing distant prequel to the primary arc of the series' Generations incarnation, "Train Wars," to advertise the MPG Trainbots.
IDW Publishing
Masterpiece briefly rode the coattails of Hasbro's Collaborative crossover brand into mass market comic books in 2019 with MP-10G Optimus Prime Ecto-35 Edition's prominent appearance in the Transformers/Ghostbusters comic, albeit very much playing second fiddle to Collaborative's original character for the Ghostbusters x Transformers subline, Ectotron.
End of G1 Universe
2022 saw the surprise announcement from TakaraTomy of a devoted webcomic for Masterpiece, named "End of G1 Universe" and published directly on the Masterpiece website, beginning with MP-48+ Dark Amber Leo Prime. The next installment in brand veteran Hayato Sakamoto's series of pack-in comic epics following the finale of the comic for TakaraTomy's arm of the Generations Selects franchise the previous year, the series sets the ostentatious goal of concluding the behemoth Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity.
Prose
Pack-in plotlines
Beginning around 2015 with the blue variant of Masterpiece Bluestreak, TakaraTomy began to build out the bios printed in the instructions of its original decoes into full-on recurring prose plotlines penned by all-around brand renaissance man and Collector's Edition veteran Hirofumi Ichikawa[3] that continue to this day. Known participating releases include:
- MP-18B Bluestreak
- MP-23 Exhaust
- MP-25L Loudpedal
- MP-26 Road Rage
- MP-31 Delta Magnus
- MP-42 Cordon
- MP-39+ Spinout
- MP-54 Reboost
- MP-53+ Senatorcrosscut [sic]
- MP-53+B Dia Burnout
- MP-56+ Riggorus
Separate vignettes are occasionally included to supplement the bios:
Transformers × Evangelion
This tiny crossover franchise with the wildly popular Neon Genesis Evangelion brand received a short blog feature on the TakaraTomy website.
Toys
Standard Masterpiece line
Takara/TakaraTomy
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Amazon Japan exclusive accessories
Between MP-12 and MP-21, several figures, when ordered from Amazon Japan, came with a separately-bagged exclusive accessory for the figure.
| Figure | Accessory |
|---|---|
| MP-12 Lambor | Two pile drivers |
| MP-13 Soundwave | Two additional Energon cubes |
| MP-17 Prowl | Missile launcher |
| MP-18 Streak | Missile launcher |
| MP-20 Wheeljack | Hypno-chip disruptor |
| MP-21 Bumble | "Battle face" |
Special editions
Hasbro
Due to the brand unification, nearly all Hasbro Masterpiece releases after Generations MP-10 Optimus Prime are imports of TakaraTomy toys above with new slip-covers. Masterpiece Movie Series releases after MPM-4 Optimus Prime, meanwhile, are the same toys in both Hasbro and TakaraTomy markets, with the former often releasing toys as store-exclusives.
2003
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2006
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2007
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2010
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2011
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2012
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2013
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2014
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2015
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2016
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2017
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2019
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Sublines
Masterpiece Movie Series
The Transformers: Masterpiece Movie Series (トランスフォーマー マスターピースムービーシリーズ Toransufōmā Masutāpīsu Mūbī Shirīzu) line, based on the live-action film series, with toys designated MPM-##; this line originally consisted of detailed redecoes of Leader-sized toys from the 2010 Transformers toyline and was canceled after only two releases. It was later revived in 2017 for the 10th Anniversary of the first movie, this time featuring all-new molds. The revived line was released in conjunction with Hasbro, with the toys co-branded "Hasbro" and "TakaraTomy" on their packaging.
2010
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2017
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2018 | 2019
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2020
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2021
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2022
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2023
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2024
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Other Masterpiece sublines
- The Masterpiece Brave Series (マスターピース 勇者シリーズ Masutāpīsu Yūsha Shirīzu) line, with toys designated as MP-B##, which was cancelled after only two releases; these being MP-B01 King Exkizer [sic], released in 2005; and MP-B02 Dragon Kizer [sic], released in 2006. Bandai acquired Sunrise (the company that originally produced the Brave cartoons) in 1993, but seemingly didn't hold the rights to produce figures for the franchise until roughly the 2010s. As such, most updated, Masterpiece-esque Brave figures and model kits are currently produced by Bandai and their licensees. Whether it was complications between the rival companies owning the rights to the Brave franchise, or something else entirely that led to the Masterpiece lines' cancellation after only two releases, is uncertain.
- The Zoids Masterpiece (ゾイドマスターピース Zoido Masutāpīsu) line, with toys designated as MPZ-##.
For obvious reasons, neither the Brave Series nor Zoids Masterpiece lines are covered on this wiki.
Design
The Masterpiece line has had a number of designers.
Since MP-25, each Masterpiece figure has been designed as a team effort, led by Hironori Kobayashi, and any names given are within the scope of the larger team.
Standard Takara Versions
| Mold | Designer | Notes |
| MP‑1, MP‑2 | Hironori Kobayashi | |
| MP‑3, MP‑6, MP‑7 | Hironori Kobayashi (initial design) & Shōji Kawamori (final version) | |
| MP‑4 trailer | Hisashi Yuki | Designed in one night![4] |
| MP‑5 | Hisashi Yuki | Designed in twelve days[5] |
| MP‑8, MP‑9 | Hironori Kobayashi | |
| MP‑10 | Shogo Hasui[6] | |
| MP‑11 | Hironori Kobayashi & Shogo Hasui | |
| MP‑12 to MP‑21, MP‑23 | Shogo Hasui | |
| MP‑22 | Shogo Hasui (initial design) & Hironori Kobayashi (final version) | Kobayashi took over the design to enable the carrier to carry four car MPs[7] |
| MP‑24 | Hisashi Yuki | Hisashi took on MP-24 in order for the other Masterpiece figures to be released on schedule[8] |
| MP‑25, MP‑26 | Hironori Kobayashi[9] | |
| MP‑27, MP‑30 | Hironori Kobayashi | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2015 book |
| MP‑28 | Vehicle styling by Yūya Ōnishi, main developer Tomoya Miyake, edits by Hironori Kobayashi | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2015 book |
| MP‑29 | Hironori Kobayashi | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2015 book |
| MP‑36 | Embellishments and refinements by Yuki Ohshima | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2017 book[10] |
| MP-53, MP-54 | Yūya Ōnishi, Kōjin Ōno | Ōno returning to his own Diaclone work as well as his own car |
| MP-56 | Kōjin Ōno | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2022 book |
| MP-57 | Kōjin Ōno, concept art by Yuki Ohshima | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2022 book |
Masterpiece Movie Series
| Mold | Designer |
| MPM-1 | Shogo Hasui |
| MPM-2 | Shogo Hasui |
| MPM-13 | Sam Smith, Tomoki Tatsumi[11] |
Awards
- The Masterpiece line as a whole won the 2016 Long Life Design award (PDF link) presented by the Good Design Awards.
Notes
- Like with previous lines, the official Hasbro-initiated imports of Masterpiece figures were also assigned code names. For the 2021 releases, the "theme" for those code names was "snacks":
- Arcee: "Airheads"
- Black Convoy: "Cavaliers"
- Spinout: "Snickers"
- Tigatron: "Twizzlers"
- Skywarp: "Sahara"
- Autobot Skids: "Kalahari"
- Reboost : "Sonoran"
- The Hasbro Pulse listing of the Anti-Gravity Pedestal Tenseg Base Optimus Prime Set comes sheathed in a Masterpiece-branded sleeve for the box, but the page does not list it for very obvious reasons. (Its code name was "Colorado", for those wondering.)
References
- ↑ MP-01 Convoy's box featured an early English logo that put a space in between "master" and "piece". From MP-2 Ultra Magnus-onwards, the logo was changed to "Masterpiece" with no space.
- ↑ Figure King 285: Interview With MPG-01 Raiden Development Team – English Translation at Soundwaves Oblivion
- ↑ "Not all, but yes. I wrote most of Diaclone/Microchange repaints bios, except MP Tigertrack/Clamp Down/Bluestreak/Enemy & other cassettes (though I did original e-Hobby and Encore)."—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2022/12/18
- ↑ TakaraTomy Staff Interview - Hisashi Yuki on Masterpiece: Even more horrifying was the plan of reissuing MP-1 to go with Megatron - simply reissuing him wasn't considered to be appealing enough and it was decided to give him a trailer...I was told to come up with a proto (of the trailer) by the end of May, and I designed it in one night. [...] I couldn't shirk my task as the release date had already been set by backward calculation. I really did the best I could though there just wasn't enough time.
- ↑ TakaraTomy Staff Interview - Hisashi Yuki on Masterpiece: - I hear the first Masterpiece figure you created was MP‑5 Megatron and you hold the fastest development record with it. [Yuki]: That is right. (*laughs) I was not assigned to be in charge of it initially, but due to the circumstance within the company I was unexpectedly handed down the project. The schedule came with it and I was stunned when I realised that I was only given 12 days, about 2 weeks...To make it worse, at the time of my receiving the task, even the product size wasn't decided. (*tears)
- ↑ TakaraTomy Staff Interview – Shogo Hasui on Masterpiece: - Tell us about the time when you began working on the MP series. [Shogo]: MP-10 Convoy was the first Masterpiece I was involved in developing. When the project was conceived I was mainly working on the products for the overseas Hasbro market, but was given a chance to develop a Masterpiece for the domestic market irregularly.
- ↑ TakaraTomy Staff Interview – Shogo Hasui on Masterpiece: - [Shogo] Ultra Magnus, who was selected to be MP-22, was a character I was dreaming of making into a product since the time of MP-10 development. I was happy to be finally able to work on him. As there had already been several real car MP figures and Ultra Magnus is a car carrier that can carry them, I considered Magnus as a certain milestone in the new MP series. I wanted the car carrier to have a capacity of at least 4 real car MPs while in robot mode his height needed to be as close as seen in the cartoon. The transformation process was expected to require lots of folding of the parts to achieve it, and solving that problem became a very important task. Upon agreeing on that point, Kobayashi took over to work on the transformation mechanism and (Ultra Magnus is) finished as he is now.
- ↑ TakaraTomy Staff Interview - Hisashi Yuki on Masterpiece: - So the idea was to ask the fans directly what they want first, then realise it as a product. [Yuki]: Yes. It turned out Star Saber was the winner. Hasui, the main series designer, was going to be in charge of the 30th anniversary MP originally. But he was fully occupied with Bumble and Wheeljack, and since Star Saber was a character I was attached to personally, I stood for the job eagerly.
- ↑ SDCC 2015: The Shogo Hasui Report: - "I did ask about Tracks and he said he did not design him but he did say (I BELIEVE Kobayashi…again hard to understand) and slowly said Lead Designer. He also said that the same designer did Ironhide and he began to say another name (Ratchet) but stopped himself."
A subsequent interview in Transformers Generations 2015 named Kobayashi as the designer of Ironhide, confirming him as the designer in question. - ↑ Generations 2017 MP-36 translated article
- ↑ Sam Smith on Instagram
