Transformers MP-51 Arcee Images from Wonder Festival 2020 and $145 Price Revealed

Arcee looks great. I wonder if Blurr won't be too far along. I imagine it's easier to create the G1 season 3-4 bots/cons as part of the MP line since many of them had futuristic alt modes that don't require licensing.

Wow! These MP prices are getting insane. Easy pass.

This is a tough one... my last 3 mps all had pieces break (tiny pieces that don’t make much of a diff). They’re so complicated I’m scared to ever transform them. The prices have sky rocketed. Might try and stretch for this.... but justifying an mp acquisition is getting harder.

Funny how they used two Tr figures and older springer in the display. Still would prefer them finish off the ark crew....

DigiBash / PhotoShop by @ikkilo --

Considering all the 3rd party figures have handled the backpack much better (though this one does fall into the current cartoon accuracy aesthetic much better), and are all about 40 to 50 bucks cheaper, this is an extremely easy pass.

I can't help but feel that they've got the robot mode mistransformed. The chest plate looks like it should be sitting higher up, covering more of that white "collar." Sliding that panel upwards might also help to flatten out & lift those overly pointy, somewhat low-sitting robo-boobs (assuming there's a joint there - I can't see clearly enough to say one way or another).

Aside from that, the only other thing that really stands out for me is that backpack. Since it's one of Arcee's defining characteristics, it makes obvious sense to include it here. However, it does make me wonder just how top-heavy this will make her. I guess we'll have to wait for in-hand reports to see whether or not this will cause any robot mode stability issues...?

BumbleDouche wrote:I can't help but feel that they've got the robot mode mistransformed. The chest plate looks like it should be sitting higher up, covering more of that white "collar." Sliding that panel upwards might also help to flatten out & lift those overly pointy, somewhat low-sitting robo-boobs (assuming there's a joint there - I can't see clearly enough to say one way or another).

Aside from that, the only other thing that really stands out for me is that backpack. Since it's one of Arcee's defining characteristics, it makes obvious sense to include it here. However, it does make me wonder just how top-heavy this will make her. I guess we'll have to wait for in-hand reports to see whether or not this will cause any robot mode stability issues...?

Side profile:






Arcee didn't actually have a backpack, just those shoulder pieces. But it's understandable why the toy would considering she didn't really have visible car parts either, I guess.
It's curious that she's posed with a stand though.

I don't think the chest is mistransformed, see how the white stripe lines up with the rib-cage area in this picture.

For now it's a no from me. I'm done pre-ordering MPs for the foreseeable future.

Meh. Having Legends Deluxe Arcee makes this MP an easy pass.

Hmmm, I'm afraid you may be right. As you pointed out, the continuity of that white stripe (especially when viewed from the side) suggests that Arcee might be on display exactly as Takara intended. If that turns out to be the case, this figure will be an easy pass for me. The weird, angular & pointy Lara Croft-esque boobs coupled with the granny-like low position of those boobs are seriously unappealing, to say the least.

My cynicism tells me MP Arcee is only here because it is an easy mold for Redecos* and because Fembots haven't been as popular as they are right now.

*None of the other Movie characters really have all that much potential for mold reuse/retooling:

Arcee - Elita-1, Nightbird, Chromia, Nautica, Lancer
Galvatron - Grey or Purple
Kup - Electro/n
Blurr - N/A
Wheelie - Dion
Cyclonus - Strafe, Ferak
Scourge - Sweeps
Wreck-Gar - Scrapheap

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:My cynicism tells me MP Arcee is only here because it is an easy mold for Redecos* and because Fembots haven't been as popular as they are right now.

*None of the other Movie characters really have all that much potential for mold reuse/retooling:

Arcee - Elita-1, Nightbird, Chromia, Nautica, Lancer
Galvatron - Grey or Purple
Kup - Electro/n
Blurr - N/A
Wheelie - Dion
Cyclonus - Strafe, Ferak
Scourge - Sweeps
Wreck-Gar - Scrapheap

Masterpiece is not Generations quite yet when it comes to "cheapening out" on redeco characters. Hell, outside of MP-10 they've been quite conservative, with normally only 1 pretool and a possible later + release each.

True. But Arcee is the first one to potentially open that gate. As I said, Fembots are 'in' right now, HasTak wouldn't want to pass up any opportunity to capitalise on that.

Also forgot Springer on my list of Movie characters

From the looks of it, there is no way this figure can stand upright. Virtually all of Arcee's vehicle mode ends up on her back, and her tiny feet have no heel spurs. The fact that the display figure needed support isn't encouraging. I don't collect MPs, but for those who do, I hope Arcee comes with a stand.

Yeah, my impression also is that she's way too top-heavy, hence not being displayed standing freely. I do like how she looks color-wise, it's more accurate than the T30 version, but I also think the chest section should have been done better. At that price, it's an easy pass for me as well, I wouldn't put more than $60-$70 up for her.

I don't think it's fair to judge just yet, she's a long ways from being a finished product. She isn't even at the gray model stage yet, this is more like something they 3D printed and hand painted. There's a lot of imperfections in the plastic and parts just barely clinging on. There's still room for improvements.

I look at her and my only real thought is, "well, her backpack certainly is better than Hot Rod's."

That and I really need to get around to buying Ultra Magnus.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:I don't think it's fair to judge just yet, she's a long ways from being a finished product. She isn't even at the gray model stage yet, this is more like something they 3D printed and hand painted. There's a lot of imperfections in the plastic and parts just barely clinging on. There's still room for improvements.

I hope so but have been burned before on that hope. She doesn't look great in a few key areas right now. Outside of the car mode this doesn't look any better than the MMC one I picked up last year.

ScottyP wrote:

Emerje wrote:I don't think it's fair to judge just yet, she's a long ways from being a finished product. She isn't even at the gray model stage yet, this is more like something they 3D printed and hand painted. There's a lot of imperfections in the plastic and parts just barely clinging on. There's still room for improvements.

I hope so but have been burned before on that hope. She doesn't look great in a few key areas right now. Outside of the car mode this doesn't look any better than the MMC one I picked up last year.

To be fair, it was pointed out that her chest is mistransformed, beyond that, I got nothin'

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Emerje wrote:I don't think it's fair to judge just yet, she's a long ways from being a finished product. She isn't even at the gray model stage yet, this is more like something they 3D printed and hand painted. There's a lot of imperfections in the plastic and parts just barely clinging on. There's still room for improvements.

I hope so but have been burned before on that hope. She doesn't look great in a few key areas right now. Outside of the car mode this doesn't look any better than the MMC one I picked up last year.

To be fair, it was pointed out that her chest is mistransformed, beyond that, I got nothin'

I agree that her plastic looks sub-par and will surely be better on the actual release, but is the figure's design likely to really change between now and production? I would doubt it, as Takara probably wouldn't make such a big reveal for a figure who's design isn't pretty much finalized (barring tweaks that would come with further testing, etc.). Building off your observation though, since this looks like a rough plastic prototype, could the eventual addition of some die-cast parts help to balance her a bit?

I'm also pretty sure she's transformed correctly. Otherwise, the white stripe on her chestplate and ribcage wouldn't line up, and molded detailing on her collar would get covered up.

This said, I don't want to sound like I'm hating on the figure, I think it look pretty good overall. I'm just concerned about her stability.

Another observation, she seems to have a pin for a hinge on the back of her head. Can the top of her head open to flip out a visor, perhaps? Or could this just be for face-swapping?

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Emerje wrote:I don't think it's fair to judge just yet, she's a long ways from being a finished product. She isn't even at the gray model stage yet, this is more like something they 3D printed and hand painted. There's a lot of imperfections in the plastic and parts just barely clinging on. There's still room for improvements.

I hope so but have been burned before on that hope. She doesn't look great in a few key areas right now. Outside of the car mode this doesn't look any better than the MMC one I picked up last year.

To be fair, it was pointed out that her chest is mistransformed, beyond that, I got nothin'

Actually, that has been fairly well debunked. Her sides line up too perfectly for that to be a mistransformation.

Well, given it isn't the finished production piece, it is all just wild speculation at this point anyway. Plenty of time in the design process for minor issues to be ironed out.

Seems strange that Takara would make a mistake like that, regarding the chest being lower on the figure then the model sheet they likely used when designing her. A first glance would have said that there was too much collar and neck showing. Unless of course the whole chest assembly (front and sides) is supposed to sit higher Then again, on the other hand, look at mp 45...

Ironhidensh wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Emerje wrote:I don't think it's fair to judge just yet, she's a long ways from being a finished product. She isn't even at the gray model stage yet, this is more like something they 3D printed and hand painted. There's a lot of imperfections in the plastic and parts just barely clinging on. There's still room for improvements.

I hope so but have been burned before on that hope. She doesn't look great in a few key areas right now. Outside of the car mode this doesn't look any better than the MMC one I picked up last year.

To be fair, it was pointed out that her chest is mistransformed, beyond that, I got nothin'

Actually, that has been fairly well debunked. Her sides line up too perfectly for that to be a mistransformation.

Oh. Well that's a shame; I'd have considered getting her if she looked a bit better put together - I have a soft spot for really well designed fembots - but if this is how she's supposed to look, then I'll pass

Ironhidensh wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Emerje wrote:I don't think it's fair to judge just yet, she's a long ways from being a finished product. She isn't even at the gray model stage yet, this is more like something they 3D printed and hand painted. There's a lot of imperfections in the plastic and parts just barely clinging on. There's still room for improvements.

I hope so but have been burned before on that hope. She doesn't look great in a few key areas right now. Outside of the car mode this doesn't look any better than the MMC one I picked up last year.

To be fair, it was pointed out that her chest is mistransformed, beyond that, I got nothin'

Actually, that has been fairly well debunked. Her sides line up too perfectly for that to be a mistransformation.

But then her abdomen is no longer show accurate.

I want to be on record stating that I think she is mistransformed. That chest piece will move up.

There should be a band of white between the two gray portions of her lower torso.

She will still look worse than other offerings of the character, but I don't think that torso issue will be the lingering mark.

Counterpunch wrote:She will still look worse than other offerings of the character, but I don't think that torso issue will be the lingering mark.

Maybe in robot mode, but so far this alt mode looks better than the other options we have and no parts forming.

It's not just the chest that's off. Her abdomen is also too curvy and rounded off like the Thrilling 30/Legends mold, when in the show her animation model had an angular, more squared off abdomen.

For once, Takara has slightly forsaken show-accuracy for a MP in favor of giving it a more, for lack of a better term, sexualized look.

I feel like this post from The Allspark puts it best regarding this figure's weird proportions:

What we're going to have to get past here is that this toy isn't being designed to be wholly G1 accurate. I'm pretty sure this is Kobayashi back at it again and "perfecting" his robo-waifu. He's given her the curvy, toned abs again, and this time cleared up her backpack area a bit to not obscure the view of her butt and pinup-style arched back. The chest proportions have been altered to reflect a realistic bust-line, with the breast area starting at the armpits. Her eyes are a bit bigger and more anime doe-like than they ever appeared in the animation.

"Kobayashi" being Hironori Kobayashi, the designer who worked on the engineering of the Thrilling 30/Legends Arcee mold. Though, some are claiming it's actually Yuki Ohshima (Mr. Kiss Players, himself) who's to blame since he designed the aesthetics of the T30/Legends Arcee mold.

Interesting, I wonder if the sales will be affected by the designers own personal quest (if the rumours here are true)

Proportion comparisons between MP and Legends Arcees:

What's kinda sad is the the fact that I think the T30 Arcee did it better than the first look at the MP.

Really wished she had looked better from the start, she's a weak link right off the bat

I do think the MP has the nicer vehicle mode.

Sabrblade wrote:I do think the MP has the nicer vehicle mode.

The vehicle mode is definitely the saving grace so far, and looks to be the nicest Arcee alt mode for this category

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:What's kinda sad is the the fact that I think the T30 Arcee did it better than the first look at the MP.

I agree, glad I got the legends one when I could. And I like the vehicle mode, it has nice robot mode integration.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/loopaza




Pose:








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...Well, this explains Earthrise Arcee.
They basically (and foolishly) tried to shrink the MP down to a Deluxe-class figure.

Well, this should put to rest the mis transformed chest complaints.


Still not sold on this figure.

Oh dear, that's not so good. The chest is oddly...droopy, which is NOT a good look for her. Combined with the messy backpack, the extortionate price and the inevitable QC issues and I think this will have to be a pass. A shame as some parts look quite good, and the vehicle mode is awesome. But overall I think I'll try and hunt down an MMC Azalea.

I will say, it does look much better than some of the recent MPs (Bumblebee 2.0 and Hound spring to mind), but then it has the advantage of being based on an '86 movie design, which were generally more detailed and refined looking than the Season 1 and 2 models.

So that's how it was meant to be, a shame. Oh well, at least Tigatron looks good (I do wonder if there has been some changes behind the scenes as to the designers. There's been a notable shift since mp 44, with the non BW figures)

The new Masterpiece mantra: "Show-accurate no matter what! ...Unless the designer is horny."

Sabrblade wrote:The new Masterpiece mantra: "Show-accurate no matter what! ...Unless the designer is horny."

Makes me dread the day they get around to doing MP Thunderblast, considering.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The new Masterpiece mantra: "Show-accurate no matter what! ...Unless the designer is horny."

Makes me dread the day they get around to doing MP Thunderblast, considering.

In her case, the CG model was already, um, "talented" (Sailor Moon fans will get that reference), so her MP wouldn't have to deviate from show-accuracy like the droopiness of this MP's chest does.

Sabrblade wrote:The new Masterpiece mantra: "Show-accurate no matter what! ...Unless the designer is horny."

Honestly, compared to some previous MPs, I'm actually glad to see compromises taken with the whole cartoon-literalist thing. The MP-10 era design philosophy of staying true to the character whilst updating the aesthetics was definitely preferable to the madness that gave us Bumblebee 2.0, and in some ways this is a return to form. The problem is that they chose to do it with a character whose show model is borderline impossible to make into a transforming figure even with compromises.

Black Hat wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The new Masterpiece mantra: "Show-accurate no matter what! ...Unless the designer is horny."

Honestly, compared to some previous MPs, I'm actually glad to see compromises taken with the whole cartoon-literalist thing. The MP-10 era design philosophy of staying true to the character whilst updating the aesthetics was definitely preferable to the madness that gave us Bumblebee 2.0, and in some ways this is a return to form. The problem is that they chose to do it with a character whose show model is borderline impossible to make into a transforming figure even with compromises.

I think you're completely missing the point that the "compromises" done here that deviate from the cartoon model were done not to improve the figure but to evidently conform to Ohshima's waifu fetishes.

Sabrblade wrote:

Black Hat wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The new Masterpiece mantra: "Show-accurate no matter what! ...Unless the designer is horny."

Honestly, compared to some previous MPs, I'm actually glad to see compromises taken with the whole cartoon-literalist thing. The MP-10 era design philosophy of staying true to the character whilst updating the aesthetics was definitely preferable to the madness that gave us Bumblebee 2.0, and in some ways this is a return to form. The problem is that they chose to do it with a character whose show model is borderline impossible to make into a transforming figure even with compromises.

I think you're completely missing the point that the "compromises" done here that deviate from the cartoon model were done not to improve the figure but to evidently conform to Ohshima's waifu fetishes.

The only compromises that I can see that can be attributed to that would be the stomach section being curvier and softer looking than the cartoon model, and even then it could be argued that it was a decision based less on "I love me some robot tummies" (not that there's anything wrong with that) and more on "this looks better than a straight-up box body". Ironically, the chest actually looks less waifu-y than the cartoon model, sitting as low as it does resulting in her looking a bit, uh, saggy. As far as the other points go, the "arched back" is barely arched at all- it's not ramrod straight but it certainly looks natural, whilst the backpack is still too big to be considered "accurate" (because the model basically had some shoulder pods and nothing else, which doesn't work for a transforming figure). The face seems accurate to me, but then the cartoon was pretty inconsistent with facial proportions (and, uh, everything else) so meh.

Sure, it has had liberties taken with the design (as MPs should IMO) but it's hardly overbearingly different from the source material. I don't entirely like how it looks but that's just because she looks like she won't be a very good toy rather than because she's too womanly or whatever.

...Also, are we seriously at the point where we're seeing people asking for a more egregious kibble backpack now?

Am I missing something about the robo boobies that the straight guys are picking up on? They look fine as is, realistic and natural, not "saggy." Gives her a more mature, matronly look. Can't be "perky" forever. He neck color looks a tad long, but again, not out of the normal range of variance of human proportions. I think the backpack too is about as small as physically possible. I'm very impressed with this figure as is.

Wolfman Jake wrote:Am I missing something about the robo boobies that the straight guys are picking up on?

See the top two comparison pics between the MP and the Thirlling 30 figure that I posted above. Her chest is much lower on the MP than on the Thrilling 30 figure, which more properly reflects where they are supposed to be as seen in her cartoon model and other sources.

Sabrblade wrote:The new Masterpiece mantra: "Show-accurate no matter what! ...Unless the designer is horny."

I thought that was the whole point of the MP Fembots? Since Blackarachnia at least. They are selling these things to the same fans that buy stuff like this:



Transformer Sexy Mouse Pad

They couldn't find another fem bot so they went with gender swapped Bumblebee? Also, I can't feign suprise with them existing. They've long been a staple of anime merchandise. Plus we live in a world where one designer looked at a 3p Arcee and said "You know what this needs? A realistic set of rubber breasts". A niche within a niche, within a niche.

As I've always said, I don't think gender should exist among Giant Alien Robots, especially oversexualized designs. Yet whenever I hear people vehemently champion Fembots, this is the type of thing I assume they want. The same people that gave MP Blackarachnia's shockingly mediocre Beast Mode a pass because the Bot Mode Robo Boobs looked good.

Lack of gender =/= male by default. Also, gender =/= sexual organs. That being said, robot girls, especially robot girls that turn into things, don't need to be curvy. G1 Arcee and BW Blackarachnia are kinda stuck with it, but there is such a thing as getting carried away.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:As I've always said, I don't think gender should exist among Giant Alien Robots, especially oversexualized designs. Yet whenever I hear people vehemently champion Fembots, this is the type of thing I assume they want. The same people that gave MP Blackarachnia's shockingly mediocre Beast Mode a pass because the Bot Mode Robo Boobs looked good.

Speaking as someone who thinks MP Blackarachnia looks great (though I still need to get her...) I forgave the somewhat questionable spider mode because her show transformation is utterly impossible, and the fact it even resembles a spider at all with a robot mode that accurate, good looking, poseable and kibble free is astonishing. And also because Blackarachnia is one of my favourite Transformers characters ever.

Honestly, I really don't think this Arcee, for all its flaws, is majorly oversexualized. 100% accurate? No, but then that's impossible with a transforming Arcee. Takes a few creative liberties? Yes, but with the exception of the chest I think they're mostly improvements to the show model.