Takara Tomy Masterpiece MP-21 Bumblebee Sighted at Australian retail

I wonder if they show up in US Toys'r'Us stores. I doubt that. I personally never seen Takara's masterpieces in US T'r'U! At least here in Florida.

What's with this Daniel Witwicky business?

sol magnus wrote:What's with this Daniel Witwicky business?

Ugh... Don't start that $@&# again!

Uh...I'm sorry?

In my instructions there's a Headmasters still of Spike - not Daniel - wearing the exo-suit in vehicular mode. I just started posting here, so this might be a thing. I was just legitimately confused.

I think the conclusion of that argument is that the figure included is definitely Daniel, unless it's definitely Spike.

I think I'm going with bionic Chip Chase

Va'al wrote:I think the conclusion of that argument is that the figure included is definitely Daniel, unless it's definitely Spike.

i dont see why it matters...

In any event, I find it interesting Australian TRU stores get Takara Tomy product...and that its priced so...flexibly.

As far as the MP-21 figure is concerned, I love it. Almost as much as my MP-17 and incoming (grr..still hasn't arrived yet) MP-22.

What's flexible about the price? That's showing the exchange rate of USD to Australian. I also think it's cool to see on a Toys R Us shelf, but even if he were released here, no one would ever see him. Damn scalpers

Kapiko Customs wrote:I wonder if they show up in US Toys'r'Us stores. I doubt that. I personally never seen Takara's masterpieces in US T'r'U! At least here in Florida.

Alas, the United States is outside of TakaraTomy's distribution jurisdiction.

sol magnus wrote:In my instructions there's a Headmasters still of Spike - not Daniel - wearing the exo-suit in vehicular mode.

That is Daniel in that Headmasters still.



It's from the episode 33, "Duel on the Asteroid", in which Daniel pilots the Exosuit to reach said asteroid to try to stop the fight between Chromedome and Sixshot.

Desslok2201 wrote:What's flexible about the price? That's showing the exchange rate of USD to Australian. I also think it's cool to see on a Toys R Us shelf, but even if he were released here, no one would ever see him. Damn scalpers

Yeah, I guess I was thinking 99 US, where it would be 80 here. By flexibility I mean high. But, it's not. To Americans. Well, not more than they've been charging, anyway. 99 bucks is probably a lot in Australian dollars, though.

Sabrblade wrote:

Kapiko Customs wrote:I wonder if they show up in US Toys'r'Us stores. I doubt that. I personally never seen Takara's masterpieces in US T'r'U! At least here in Florida.

Alas, the United States is outside of TakaraTomy's distribution jurisdiction.

sol magnus wrote:In my instructions there's a Headmasters still of Spike - not Daniel - wearing the exo-suit in vehicular mode.

That is Daniel in that Headmasters still.



It's from the episode 33, "Duel on the Asteroid", in which Daniel pilots the Exosuit to reach said asteroid to try to stop the fight between Chromedome and Sixshot.

Well, I guess it is Daniel, then!

sol magnus wrote:Uh...I'm sorry?

In my instructions there's a Headmasters still of Spike - not Daniel - wearing the exo-suit in vehicular mode. I just started posting here, so this might be a thing. I was just legitimately confused.

It's daniel in Spike's suit. People said it was Daniel and other said it was the Spike exosuit. Both statements dont have to be mutually exclusive.

Can we please stop talking about Schrodinger's Witwicky?

The box and instructions just call it Exosuite, but apparently Takara's recent Masterpiece book is very insistent on it being Daniel.
Logically you'd expect it to be Spike, due to him and BB being in the Movie together, but actually, looking at the (crappy) head sculpt, it does look more like Daniel than Spike.

Oh, and should anyone care, this guy on tfw makes filler parts to hide the gaps in BB's forearms.
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... m-fix.html

zodconvoy wrote:Can we please stop talking about Schrodinger's Witwicky?

Dead Metal wrote:The box and instructions just call it Exosuite, but apparently Takara's recent Masterpiece book is very insistent on it being Daniel.
Logically you'd expect it to be Spike, due to him and BB being in the Movie together, but actually, looking at the (crappy) head sculpt, it does look more like Daniel than Spike.

Oh, and should anyone care, this guy on tfw makes filler parts to hide the gaps in BB's forearms.
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... m-fix.html

For 6.75 shipped, I'm definitely considering those forearm covers. They look pretty nice.

As far as the exosuit, I'm getting the Dr. Wu replacement heads. More expensive than what we got, but at least it means Spike/Daniel won't look like melted wax.

sol magnus wrote:In any event, I find it interesting Australian TRU stores get Takara Tomy product...and that its priced so...flexibly.

Australia has been receiving a mix of Takara Tomy and Hasbro MP's off and on since Takara Tomy MP-02 was a Target exclusive (it didn't sell too well)

TRU Australia has now taken the Masterpieces on-board exclusively. The price is about standard for them.

I shudder to think what Ultra Magnus will be when he's released here (which he will be - heads up there News Crew) given that Seekers went for around $150AU back in the day.

The forearms don't really bother me, since the way I pose 'Bee you can't really the empty slots. Still, I like the initiative the guy put in on it, and I like custom Masterpiece parts where applicable so I'm going to order a set.

Dead Metal wrote:The box and instructions just call it Exosuite,

Au contraire, mon amie. The box DOES say it's Spike.



"ExcelSuits no Spike mo henkei"

Roughly translated: "ExcelSuit Spike, also transforms"

Diem wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:The box and instructions just call it Exosuite,

Au contraire, mon amie. The box DOES say it's Spike.



"ExcelSuits no Spike mo henkei"

Roughly translated: "ExcelSuit Spike, also transforms"

Sorry, Diem, but that mentioning of Spike on the box holds no water.

エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。 = "Ekuseru Suuto no Supaiku mo henkei." = "Spike's Excel Suit also transforms." That's all the box image caption says, which isn't wrong since both of the suits worn by Spike and Daniel in the movie belonged to Spike.

The instructions for the suit contain a description for the Exosuit itself (rather than for the person inside the suit, which only mentions both Daniel and Spike as examples of people who have worn it.

The toy itself is identified as just "Exo-Suit", but the head of the user is definitely more Daniel-like than Spike-like.

And the Headmasters cartoon screencap that accompanies the write up in the instructions shows Daniel as the one in the suit rather than Spike.

Sabrblade wrote:Sorry, Diem, but that mentioning of Spike on the box holds no water.

エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。 = "Ekuseru Suuto no Supaiku mo henkei." = "Spike's Excel Suit also transforms." That's all the box image caption says, which isn't wrong since both of the suits worn by Spike and Daniel in the movie belonged to Spike.

It says エクセルスートのスパイク, not スパイクのエクセルスート. I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese but I'm pretty damn sure that means it translates to "ExcelSuited Spike", not "Spike's ExcelSuit"

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Sorry, Diem, but that mentioning of Spike on the box holds no water.

エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。 = "Ekuseru Suuto no Supaiku mo henkei." = "Spike's Excel Suit also transforms." That's all the box image caption says, which isn't wrong since both of the suits worn by Spike and Daniel in the movie belonged to Spike.

It says エクセルスートスパイク, not スパイクのエクセルスート. I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese but I'm pretty damn sure that means it translates to "ExcelSuited Spike", not "Spike's ExcelSuit"

That's how Japanese sentence structure works. "Excel Suit no Spike" means "Spike's Excel Suit" or "The Excel Suit of Spike". の ("no") is a word that shows possessive description. In this case, it refers to the Excel Suit as belonging to Spike.

To get "Excel Suit Spike" (or "Excel Suited Spike", if you prefer), it would have to say "エクセルスートスパイク" (Ekuseru Suuto Supaiku).

Sabrblade wrote:

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Sorry, Diem, but that mentioning of Spike on the box holds no water.

エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。 = "Ekuseru Suuto no Supaiku mo henkei." = "Spike's Excel Suit also transforms." That's all the box image caption says, which isn't wrong since both of the suits worn by Spike and Daniel in the movie belonged to Spike.

It says エクセルスートスパイク, not スパイクのエクセルスート. I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese but I'm pretty damn sure that means it translates to "ExcelSuited Spike", not "Spike's ExcelSuit"

That's how Japanese sentence structure works. "Excel Suit no Spike" means "Spike's Excel Suit" or "The Excel Suit of Spike". の ("no") is a word that shows possessive description. In this case, it refers to the Excel Suit as belonging to Spike.

To get "Excel Suit Spike" (or "Excel Suited Spike", if you prefer), it would have to say "エクセルスートスパイク" (Ekuseru Suuto Supaiku).

The の certainly is a possessive modifier but it depends on word order. If it's (person)の(item) then yes, it absolutely means that the item (which is the subject of the sentence) belongs to the person, in which case it would be Spike's ExcelSuit.

But in this case it's (item)no(person), which means the person is the subject of the sentence and the item is treated as an adjective. For example the famous movie "Akai Kami No Onna" which translates to "The Woman with the Red Hair", not "The woman's red hair", or "Tonari no Totoro" which translates to "Neighbour Totoro", not "Totoro's next door". As such, "ExcelSuit no Spike" would be "Spike, with the ExcelSuit" not "Spike's ExcelSuit".

Gotta remember that the part that comes after the の is the subject of the sentence!

I don't know who's schooling who.

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Sorry, Diem, but that mentioning of Spike on the box holds no water.

エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。 = "Ekuseru Suuto no Supaiku mo henkei." = "Spike's Excel Suit also transforms." That's all the box image caption says, which isn't wrong since both of the suits worn by Spike and Daniel in the movie belonged to Spike.

It says エクセルスートスパイク, not スパイクのエクセルスート. I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese but I'm pretty damn sure that means it translates to "ExcelSuited Spike", not "Spike's ExcelSuit"

That's how Japanese sentence structure works. "Excel Suit no Spike" means "Spike's Excel Suit" or "The Excel Suit of Spike". の ("no") is a word that shows possessive description. In this case, it refers to the Excel Suit as belonging to Spike.

To get "Excel Suit Spike" (or "Excel Suited Spike", if you prefer), it would have to say "エクセルスートスパイク" (Ekuseru Suuto Supaiku).

The の certainly is a possessive modifier but it depends on word order. If it's (person)の(item) then yes, it absolutely means that the item (which is the subject of the sentence) belongs to the person, in which case it would be Spike's ExcelSuit.

But in this case it's (item)no(person), which means the person is the subject of the sentence and the item is treated as an adjective. For example the famous movie "Akai Kami No Onna" which translates to "The Woman with the Red Hair", not "The woman's red hair", or "Tonari no Totoro" which translates to "Neighbour Totoro", not "Totoro's next door". As such, "ExcelSuit no Spike" would be "Spike, with the ExcelSuit" not "Spike's ExcelSuit".

Gotta remember that the part that comes after the の is the subject of the sentence!

Either way, as stated in Junkion, Arcee called it Spike's Exo-suit. So it is technically accurate. The suit Daniel wore was also used by Spike sometime between 1986 to 2005. When he grew up, size requiremnts had to be adjusted, so Spike upgraded into a bigger one.

As for "who" is the soft chewy human pilot, we better ask Yuki or somebody at Tomy/Takara to clear this up?

fenrir72 wrote:

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Sorry, Diem, but that mentioning of Spike on the box holds no water.

エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。 = "Ekuseru Suuto no Supaiku mo henkei." = "Spike's Excel Suit also transforms." That's all the box image caption says, which isn't wrong since both of the suits worn by Spike and Daniel in the movie belonged to Spike.

It says エクセルスートスパイク, not スパイクのエクセルスート. I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese but I'm pretty damn sure that means it translates to "ExcelSuited Spike", not "Spike's ExcelSuit"

That's how Japanese sentence structure works. "Excel Suit no Spike" means "Spike's Excel Suit" or "The Excel Suit of Spike". の ("no") is a word that shows possessive description. In this case, it refers to the Excel Suit as belonging to Spike.

To get "Excel Suit Spike" (or "Excel Suited Spike", if you prefer), it would have to say "エクセルスートスパイク" (Ekuseru Suuto Supaiku).

The の certainly is a possessive modifier but it depends on word order. If it's (person)の(item) then yes, it absolutely means that the item (which is the subject of the sentence) belongs to the person, in which case it would be Spike's ExcelSuit.

But in this case it's (item)no(person), which means the person is the subject of the sentence and the item is treated as an adjective. For example the famous movie "Akai Kami No Onna" which translates to "The Woman with the Red Hair", not "The woman's red hair", or "Tonari no Totoro" which translates to "Neighbour Totoro", not "Totoro's next door". As such, "ExcelSuit no Spike" would be "Spike, with the ExcelSuit" not "Spike's ExcelSuit".

Gotta remember that the part that comes after the の is the subject of the sentence!

Either way, as stated in Junkion, Arcee called it Spike's Exo-suit. So it is technically accurate. The suit Daniel wore was also used by Spike sometime between 1986 to 2005. When he grew up, size requiremnts had to be adjusted, so Spike upgraded into a bigger one.

As for "who" is the soft chewy human pilot, we better ask Yuki or somebody at Tomy/Takara to clear this up?

Does the designer count? Shogo Hasui says it's Spike:

https://twitter.com/hasui_tf/status/446481661669015552

I will admit that the translation is not perfect, and that more literally the phrase "エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。" would translate to "The Excel Suit of Spike also transforms." But as that's wonky English, it is not too much of a stretch to rephrase this English translation to sound more natural in a native English tongue, resulting in "Spike's Excel Suit". Plus, considering that the rest of the packaging and instructions all refer to the suit itself as the primary marketed subject of the set (aside from Bumble, that is), it would not make sense for that one little image caption to treat Spike as the center of attention against all of the other packing material doing so for the suit.

As I noted previously, there is a description in the instructions that, for any other MP toy, would normally be a character description. But in this toy's case, it's a description of the suit itself, rather than the character inside it.



Though it does mention both Daniel and Spike, it only mentions them as examples of those who have worn the suit.

And the accompanying cartoon image of its vehicle mode shows Daniel inside it.




Plus, the line art in the Official Masterpiece Guide Book unambiguously shows Daniel as the one inside the suit:



With all this info stacked towards Daniel being the one in the suit, and with the toy itself officially being marketed by its own packing material as not even a character but instead a piece of equipment just named "Exo-Suit", it seems highly illogical that that one image caption should be interpreted as intending to contradict the rest of the set.

Diem wrote:Does the designer count? Shogo Hasui says it's Spike:

https://twitter.com/hasui_tf/status/446481661669015552

He may have intended for it to be Spike, but the end result goes against his intentions. We think there must have been some sort of a slip up during the design process that resulted in the toy's head looking more like Daniel instead. But either way, authorial intent is psuedo-official at best. After all, the toy's official name is "Exo-Suit" anyway, so as far as the toy itself is concerned, its true identity is the suit itself, rather than the person inside it.

william-james88 wrote:I don't know who's schooling who.

me neither. but hasnt there already been 2 pages of debate dedicated to this already? wasnt the mystery solved?

shajaki wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I don't know who's schooling who.

me neither. but hasnt there already been 2 pages of debate dedicated to this already? wasnt the mystery solved?

In the Masterpiece gallery thread.

Sabrblade wrote:I will admit that the translation is not perfect, and that more literally the phrase "エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。" would translate to "The Excel Suit of Spike also transforms." But as that's wonky English, it is not too much of a stretch to rephrase this English translation to sound more natural in a native English tongue, resulting in "Spike's Excel Suit".

It would be more like "Spike of the Excel Suit also transforms.". But hey, we're never going to get a clear answer. Except for that it totally says it's Spike on the box, and the designer said it's Spike, and every Japanese blog I've read on it says its Spike, and the eHobby site says that the suit is the "Spike version", and all the western sites that had orders for this figure had it listed as Bumblebee and Spike. But hey, it could be Daniel.

Diem wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Diem wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Sorry, Diem, but that mentioning of Spike on the box holds no water.

エクセルスートのスパイクも変形。 = "Ekuseru Suuto no Supaiku mo henkei." = "Spike's Excel Suit also transforms." That's all the box image caption says, which isn't wrong since both of the suits worn by Spike and Daniel in the movie belonged to Spike.

It says エクセルスートスパイク, not スパイクのエクセルスート. I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese but I'm pretty damn sure that means it translates to "ExcelSuited Spike", not "Spike's ExcelSuit"

That's how Japanese sentence structure works. "Excel Suit no Spike" means "Spike's Excel Suit" or "The Excel Suit of Spike". の ("no") is a word that shows possessive description. In this case, it refers to the Excel Suit as belonging to Spike.

To get "Excel Suit Spike" (or "Excel Suited Spike", if you prefer), it would have to say "エクセルスートスパイク" (Ekuseru Suuto Supaiku).

The の certainly is a possessive modifier but it depends on word order. If it's (person)の(item) then yes, it absolutely means that the item (which is the subject of the sentence) belongs to the person, in which case it would be Spike's ExcelSuit.

But in this case it's (item)no(person), which means the person is the subject of the sentence and the item is treated as an adjective. For example the famous movie "Akai Kami No Onna" which translates to "The Woman with the Red Hair", not "The woman's red hair", or "Tonari no Totoro" which translates to "Neighbour Totoro", not "Totoro's next door". As such, "ExcelSuit no Spike" would be "Spike, with the ExcelSuit" not "Spike's ExcelSuit".

Gotta remember that the part that comes after the の is the subject of the sentence!

Either way, as stated in Junkion, Arcee called it Spike's Exo-suit. So it is technically accurate. The suit Daniel wore was also used by Spike sometime between 1986 to 2005. When he grew up, size requiremnts had to be adjusted, so Spike upgraded into a bigger one.

As for "who" is the soft chewy human pilot, we better ask Yuki or somebody at Tomy/Takara to clear this up?

Does the designer count? Shogo Hasui says it's Spike:

https://twitter.com/hasui_tf/status/446481661669015552

Sabrblade mentioned about authorial content but what eventually began in the drawing board doesn't end as such but to maybe put to rest this discussion, was this TM or registered in Japan? If it is officially registerd as [ Spike ] or [ Daniel ] then let the dominos fall into their proper place.

Maybe a super sleuth at Japan's patent office coulddig up the patent papers or an interview with the headhoncho of Takara's MP team will clear things up.

Anyone know someone in Japan's patents office or a byline at Tomy?

The Exo-Suit doesn't have a face anyway. For all I know, it's Exo-Suit Wayne Gretzky.

"Spike with the ExcelSuit" or "Spike's ExcelSuit" -- I don't think the exact translation matters -- if it were Daniel inside it would have likely said his name instead.


I think the screencap from "Headmasters" illustrates the suit's ability to transform, rather than the identity of the character inside.

As others have mentioned, Spike & Bumblebee are best friends; and the creator of the toy referred to it as "Spike," so works for me. :)

It's going to be Spike with the MP Autobots, and Daniel with Legends Arcee. ;)

It has no face.

It must be Shia LaBoeuf.

Va'al wrote:It has no face.

It must be Shia LaBoeuf.

And suddenly this is kinda relevant once more

It IS Shia LaBeouf!

So, has this dam Exosuit become the 21st Century version of Rumble/Frenzy?

Flashwave wrote:So, has this dam Exosuit become the 21st Century version of Rumble/Frenzy?

Flashwave wrote:So, has this dam Exosuit become the 21st Century version of Rumble/Frenzy?

Yes XD
Actually, it could also be Carly with short hair

Gonna scrounge for the "battle mask" so here's the "B" man himself with two photobombers

Aaaaaaand... cue the G2 repaint:



Which apparently comes with a few more faces, and... a little version of Sideswipe's jetpack sized for Bumblebee? Okay...

Now, how long before third parties announce a whole new head to turn this G2 Bumblebee into G1 Goldbug? (Although the G2 faction symbol molded on his chest could make that one tricky, unless you just forgo having a clean roof for the alt mode and slap a G1 faction logo sticker on the blank side.)

It pleases me greatly to see that G2 deco. G2 Prime when? Or at least a black trailer with gaudy logos and giant missile launchers.

ScottyP wrote:It pleases me greatly to see that G2 deco. G2 Prime when? Or at least a black trailer with gaudy logos and giant missile launchers.

You'd think with there already being a Sideswipe and now a Bumblebee, a G2 Prime would be a given... Who knows?

Not a big G2 collector myself, though. (Mainly made the post above mainly as I figured it'd be of interest to others.) Even with my Optimus Prime collection, while I have some other G2 Primes, I don't have the initial one as I kind of always just saw it as a repaint of the G1 one with a few extra accessories thrown in. (Only duplicate mold within my Prime collection is for the Pepsi Prime.)

I've been waiting for more G2 MPs ever since Sideswipe exploded into my collection... TO THE EXTREME!!!!

who would have thought... in a million years.. that G2 would get the MP treatment? im $&@#ing loving this! thank you takara for not making G2 sideswipe a one time deal!

also, that molded G2 symbol...

shajaki wrote:also, that molded G2 symbol...

I suppose that is an advantage to the faction symbol having been on a little flip-out panel. It is an easy enough piece for them to remold and replace. Not like they had to remold a whole new roof for Bumblebee!

Thanks to Site Sponsor BBTS and Seibertron.com's own ScottyP we get news of the Takara Tomy's Masterpiece MP-21G G2 Bumblebee! Redecoed with a G2 gold paint job this Bumblebee includes the battle mask swappable faceplate that was exclusive on the original MP Bumblebee that was just released in December. MP-21G will also come with a jetpack instead of the Exosuite that came with the original. You can pre-order yours today at BBTS here.




Remember keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates!

mooncake623 wrote:Thanks to Site Sponsor BBTS and Seibertron.com's own ScottyP we get news of the Takara Tomy's Masterpiece MP-21G G2 Bumblebee!

Not to be too petulant about it... but... can I maybe get a bit of credit on this one?

Yotsuyasan wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Thanks to Site Sponsor BBTS and Seibertron.com's own ScottyP we get news of the Takara Tomy's Masterpiece MP-21G G2 Bumblebee!

Not to be too petulant about it... but... can I maybe get a bit of credit on this one?

Scotty emailed us about this at 8:10 am Eastern time. Next time if possible please email news@seibertron.com

thanks