MP Tigatron News with $170 Amazon Pre-Order, Official Images and Inclusion of Megatron Rubik's Cube

It's been a while since I've watched Beast Wars, but what episode is being referenced with Megatons head attached to Tigatron's chest?

Rodimus Knight wrote:It's been a while since I've watched Beast Wars, but what episode is being referenced with Megatons head attached to Tigatron's chest?

It's not attached to his chest. It's the virtual cube puzzle Tigatron had to solve when he hacked into the Preds' base to learn about the alien Golden Disk in "Before the Storm".

Rodimus Knight wrote:It's been a while since I've watched Beast Wars, but what episode is being referenced with Megatons head attached to Tigatron's chest?

It's from the season 1 episode "Before the Storm." Tigatron is sent to infiltrate the Predacon base to gather intelligence. Once inside, he uses that purple cable thing to hook himself up to a computer terminal, allowing him to navigates his way through the Predacon systems via a virtual reality type setup. It's in that virtual reality that he comes across a representation of Megatron's jumbled up face, which he then solves in order to access Megatron's secret files.

you know, it never occured to me until now that having a giant animal head on your chest seems really cumbersome. like, you wouldn't be able to do much of anything with that blocking your sight of everything below your chest.

Not gonna lie, that Amazon JP price is tempting me on him. and he looks fantastic!

He just seems a bit too big for me and my Beast shelf, even though his representation on my shelf is Tigerhawk

It's now 18,985 yen. WTF.

UPDATE: you can check out with that 18,985 price, but the confirmation reflects the original preorder price.

Yup, gonna have to get this.

Damn. This figure is spectacular. It's almost too awesome for Tigatron. Just incredible. I think the Masterpiece Beast Wars figures have become my favorite Masterpiece figures because they are so evocative of what they look like on the show. Awesome for Beast Wars. Not so awesome for G1.

I'm really struggling with this one. I want him, but I'm finding the price tag hard to swallow for a figure i sort of already have a good representation of

Except that that representation is a cat-bird mashup thing that doesn't really show him as a separate entity
The original regular Tigatron toy's not a horrible representation, mind you, cream-tinged though it is. There's a show-colors Takara version as well, although you'd be dropping MP levels of money on a Beast Wars Deluxe.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Except that that representation is a cat-bird mashup thing that doesn't really show him as a separate entity
The original regular Tigatron toy's not a horrible representation, mind you, cream-tinged though it is. There's a show-colors Takara version as well, although you'd be dropping MP levels of money on a Beast Wars Deluxe.

Except i am OK with Tigerhawk being both Tigatron and Airazor, they are what i consider a Fusion combiner, having them like that is the same as having a combiner and all of it's components, to me at least.

I'm not really a fan of how the original toy looks, and this one is great, but he's just not a character I feel the need to have, as great looking as he is

Seibertron wrote:Damn. This figure is spectacular. It's almost too awesome for Tigatron. Just incredible. I think the Masterpiece Beast Wars figures have become my favorite Masterpiece figures because they are so evocative of what they look like on the show.

I agree. It helps that we already had an idea of them in three dimensions.

william-james88 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Damn. This figure is spectacular. It's almost too awesome for Tigatron. Just incredible. I think the Masterpiece Beast Wars figures have become my favorite Masterpiece figures because they are so evocative of what they look like on the show.

I agree. It helps that we already had an idea of them in three dimensions.

It also helps that since Beast Wars was in 3D, Takara's current design lead isn't trying to make the perforce 3-dimensional toys look like dumbed-down 2-dimensional images (which is what's happening to G1 MPs now).

Can you believe that the last we heard of this Masterpiece Tigatron was before the COVID 19 lockdown? Well, with parts of the world getting back to normal, there was actually a comiccon that Hasbro physically attended just a few days ago. And they brought in not only their products but also the products they are importing from Takara, such as God Neptune, Super Megatron and MP-50 Tigatron. Those toys were on display and you can see images of them below. Also on display was the upcoming MP Arcee, MPM Starscream, the Quintesson Pit set and basically the entire output of the year so far. The convention in question was the Hasbro Fans Expo in Hong Kong. The images came from Toyswalker, Hobymizer, and DMS Toys Treasure on Facebook.

...I'm not seeing the images.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:...I'm not seeing the images.

Pretty sure he hasn't finished the article. Complain after it goes on the front page.

Emerje

Will this be posted in the other threads, considering it deals with figures from different lines?

Is it just me, or that new Megatron look absolutely MASSIVE? Glad I preordered him.

And looking at Arcee, I can now forgive her backpack after seeing the ER and Cyberverse version. It's still big, but very compact at the same time.

I see that I'm commenting in the MP Tigatron thread. I have no interests in that figure but I can tell that the fans of the character will LOVE him. He's big, and perfect looking in both modes.

Agreed about Arcee... I just wish they’d done something about her chest. It’s not even about the size.... just the awkward shape/alignment. Starting to think it was a compromise with it being the front fender, and how they set the shoulders up. Really wish they’d tried again.

I think its more the collar that's off putting about her, she can pull off some good poses though that can hide it

ZeroWolf wrote:I think its more the collar that's off putting about her, she can pull off some good poses though that can hide it

I agree, the collar on Arcee is poorly done. If they'd manages to giver the top of her torso a slant up to the collar it would have looked better.

The backpack is fine for me. I know some of the 3P companies have done it better, others have done it worse. I did order the official one since I want to support the character. Actually preordered two of them to display in robot and vehicle mode.

Super stoked about Tigatron, can’t wait for him to arrive.

And you know, the note I see of MP-51, the better she looks. I’m going to plan on getting her.

Tigatron might be a pass depending on how good or bad Kingdom figures are. Arcee I'll wait until a third party improves on it or actually manages to make a decent one otherwise the oversized ko generations figure isn't likely to be replaced.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Will this be posted in the other threads, considering it deals with figures from different lines?

I put the images of the big upcoming ones in their own threads too just now. cheers!

Tigatron always had a much better overall aesthetic to his Cat Bot design than Cheetor. The MP only highlights that further. I was surprised he was the one to follow BA, though. In a similar engineering-sharing vein, I wouldn't be surprised if MP Tarantulas is already in the pipeline.

I'm really looking forward to Tigatron. Little Cat needs Big Cat. And Dinobot needs his philosophical foil.

The day has come. Transformers MP-50 Masterpiece Tigatron is shipping out from Japan and will be with you soon (really soon if you went through Amazon Japan). Of course, some fans already got him and in hand images are popping up online. We have some gorgeous images from Alfes' Twitter along with an image of the box, give to us by Takara. Speaking of Takara, they also provided an instruction video for this rather complex figure.
That video is posted below (it was mirrored on youtube by Cybertron21).

So, wo among you is getting this figure soon? Once you get it, make sure to give us your thought on him on the boards.

got charged today by amazon japan, but hasn't shipped yet. can't wait to get him in hand

Sometimes it’s like Strongbad is doing the instructions;

Step 1: move this piece a bit

Step 2: move that piece a bit more different

Step 3: put that piece back where it came from but in a different way

Step 4: kick The Cheat.

Damn that figure does look perfect. It looks better than the cgi cartoon model in some photos. I'm not collecting MP anymore. Very happy Kingdom is a thing, I do like Beast Wars a lot but some of the main characters are very hard to get new.

I think this Tigatron will make a lot of fans happy.

Nice. I've been so busy today that I hadn't even checked my email until just now and the first thing on there was a shipping notice from DHL saying Tigatron would be here Tuesday!

Emerje

god, he looks so good, they seriously nailed it with this one; I can practically hear Blu's voice

Tigatron just arrived from Amazon Japan. He had shipped Friday so this is pretty lightning quick for a toy arriving from literally the other end of the world.



We have had many in hand images, so you know he looks great.
We had a conversion video so you know he's complex.

But two questions remain: Is he a good toy and, more importantly, is he worth it?

That's what we will explore now in this review, that's all that's left to discuss and it's what matters most.

I will start by addressing something, though his design has callbacks to Cheetor's (since their original toys were the exact same), this is a completely different toy. Then only aspect of the transformation that is similar is that the front legs end up in the back and can connect together in a cross pattern. That is it. Every single other element is completely different offering fans a new transforming experience.

And I'll tell you, this is a better toy than Cheetor. With Cheetor, you had a very sleek build so there was some extra kibble in the rear area. But with Tigatron, the designers really went out of their way to highlight the musculature of tigers, which are the largest felines out there.





That larger mass permits the leg kibble and feet to integrate within the beast mode. It becomes my favourite part of the transformation. While a lot of it is panel-y (or shellformer-y to some), that foot transformation is just one of those wow moments that use simplicity and precision to fully convert an elements while using the some of the same parts. You can see it below.







The Tiger mode does suffer from a lot of panels though, so posing him or inserting the gut gun will have some panels detach while to try to reconnect others. I don't know why they didn't have the thigh panels fasten properly. They end up leaving gaps and it's not like they are shaped this way to fasten more properly in robot mode.



The eyes are articulated and can be green or orange since the spheres that make the eyes are green on one side and orange on the other and they can turn on a 360 axis for you to alter colours. It's too bad that the exposed part of the gut gun is not the part with the tiger stripes, making the beast patter on the gun fake kibble. It is the only fake bit though, since, unlike Cheetor, the Tiger head is used in both modes.



So, back to conversion, while there is a lot of undoing panels and flipping and folding, I found this far more enjoyable than Cheetor or other recent MPs. There are tiny pegs and latches that do require some finesse, and folding certain pieces of Tiger skin was really stressful due to how tight they were, but nothing broke on me. And best of all, I did something rather risky, I didn't use the instructions. While I recommend you follow instructions, the fact that I was able to get from one mode to the next without them meant that it wasn't obtuse. My favourite part was the legs since that is a completely different transformation to any Beast Wars MP to date. Another part I liked was at the very end where it seemed I had finished but the hips still seemed to be facing backwards, since that robot detail was on the back. What usually happens is you reorient the entire hip but the swivel didn't allow for that kind of movement. As it turns out, that specific robot mode detail can rotate around the hip to face any direction you want.









Most joints are super tight, except for the knees. And that is my biggest gripe about the robot mode, his knees suck. They kind of remind me of Siege Megatron's ankle tilt where you felt you were undoing something rather than bending. I have a neo dodging bullets pose below that shows how he looks like with bent knees. Not great. Another aspect that could have been easily dealt with is the arm kibble does not tab into his arms. I guess it makes it slightly easier if you want to pose his hands but that could just as easily be achieved if you had a small peg you could unpeg.





He is back heavy but his heels are extra tight so I have had no problem keeping him up. And speaking of the backside, the muscular frame of the tiger alt mode is really highlighted there. He has these massive calves (probably from holding up so much upper body mass), it's pretty cool that the strength of the animal mode is conveyed in the robot mode. As for the head, while he comes with 4 extra faces, I really did not care to change them. Aside from my memory of him being really frightened once or twice, the face I most associate with Tigatron is a stoic one with his mouth closed. He was always more of the silent type. The light piping is excellent.







So, let's get down to brass tacks with the following questions:

a)Is this a good figure?
b)Do I see where all my money went?
c)Do I regret spending this much on a toy?



Answers:

a)Yes
b)Yes
c)No

Mine cost $160 USD (before shipping and duty fees). That's almost double Optimus Primal. While I can see exactly where all my money went, part of me will always think that these figures are more than they should be. But that's just the name of the MP game at this point. I prefer this toy to almost all other Beast Wars MPs and I feel as satisfied with him as I do with Dinobot or Megatron, both of which were far more costly.

I will tell you this though, he is definitely the type of figure that is way more fun to convert from alt mode to robot than from robot to alt mode. I'm going to bring him back to beast mode now, wish me luck!

Yay! for not getting broken during transformation (or after by supernatural and plastic chemical means).

The MP looks really good, kinda makes me wish Cheetor was revsited with a version whatever they want to label it. Tempting to have the MP and the kingdom figure as Snow Stalker depending on how it turns out -and if I had the money.

He looks fantastic, great review Will.

Let's GO!!!









Full set of images here!

https://imgur.com/a/zCFVy6b

ZeroWolf wrote:He looks fantastic, great review Will.

Thanks man!

blackeyedprime wrote:Yay! for not getting broken during transformation (or after by supernatural and plastic chemical means).

yeah there were times where I was sweating it with some tight joints, but in the end it all worked out.

Really happy with this overall.

Tigatron looks really nice!

I am glad I didn't order him though, with one potentially coming in Kingdom.

mine is arriving thursday, cant wait.

Man, he looks fantastic! It was worth it for them to not take the easy way out and just copy Cheetor's transformation or even just do a straight repaint like so many suggested they would (I think most of us knew that was never an option, though). Mine comes in Tuesday, can't wait!

Emerje

Transformed him back to beast mode, once again without instructions. Everything was fine and it was quite the treat. He holds together even better now since I placed everything in the right way during transformation.

I do love Transformers that look like they're the same but then transform completely differently. Like MP10 Optimus and MP22 Ultra Magnus, and MP12 Sideswipe and MP39 Sunstreaker.

Very happy they didn't go the easy way with this guy. I'm really looking forward to it. The Beast Wars masterpiece toys are incredible.

I had a box waiting for me when I got home from work today...

I'm seeing words like "incredible" and "fantastic".. really??
This looks terrible! This is panel gapping taken to a whole new level! For close to $200, imo, this is completely unacceptable.

transformers_va wrote:I'm seeing words like "incredible" and "fantastic".. really??
This looks terrible! This is panel gapping taken to a whole new level! For close to $200, imo, this is completely unacceptable.

Do you know of a toy that goes from organic animal to robot with out paneling like that for the same price?

Not for that price, no. However, for lower prices, I think Primal and Rhinox were done a lot better.

Primal is a more valid comparison as Rhinox is only a Voyager class toy with a different design brief. However I think Tigatron had more of his beast mode to hide then the big monkey man.

ZeroWolf wrote:Primal is a more valid comparison as Rhinox is only a Voyager class toy with a different design brief. However I think Tigatron had more of his beast mode to hide then the big monkey man.

He does. Monkey man doesn't even fully change between his two modes.

Though I do admit that those Beast hips on Tigatron are easily the worst part. I really dislike how they don't actually snap in and instead just hover there.

Beast Mode is kinda weak IMO. But robot mode is pretty fantastic, as has been the case with all the BW MPs. Although, I can’t figure out the arm middle thing; pictures show it inserting into a slot on his arm flap, but I don’t quite understand how that works. If anyone has successfully mounted that piece, do you mind sharing a pic with ol’ Maximo?