The U.S. MP Grimlock will have the crown from what I've heard. The only way to get that with the JP MP is to buy the even more expensive store exclusive King Grimlock set. Yes, I really want that crown.

What?

Same toy, not. Go ahead and buy the cheap, watered-down for kids to suck on, American Hasbro version. If you're even collecting Masterpiece Transformers, then you should already be hands down Takara-only - with the exception of the Wal-Mart Masterpiece Starscream, which is cartoon accurate. It is not the same toy.

Has-blows, Sanjeev. Has-blows.

But seriously, it is $150 versus $50. I guess I need to see the U.S. version first, but that is a huge price difference. I'm not that much of a Takara (or TakaTomy) snob.

Well...first of all, I can't really hate on Hasbro for most of the stuff they do. I mean, they're a fucking toy company in the midst of a tanking economy...

Anyway, let's look at the facts: the MP-01 was released here at a fraction of the cost of the Japanese version. It had shortened smokestacks (which you could buy aftermarket replacements for), and it it had "battle-damage" paint: black smears around the wrists that you could easily remove with acetone. At least the gun was black instead of grey.

I don't think they ever released the Megatron toy here, did they?

The Takara (Japanese) release of Starscream was atrocious. Not sure what they were thinking, but they decided to release him as blue (and not even "Thundercracker blue")...which doesn't correspond to how he looks in the original toy *or* cartoon. Hasbro then releases it in the right colors--again, at a fraction of the price--but with the same black smears. After about 5 minutes of acetone-rubbing, it's a perfect Starscream.

Further, Hasbro just released an MP Skywarp. For $30. THIRTY FUCKING DOLLARS. Just got one from Walmart for a friend's birthday. And no "battle-damage"...it's perfect out of the box.

And now...an MP Grimlock for a fraction of the price. Are they gonna mess with its paint? Maybe. But if you live in the US, it's kind of a no-brainer. They're SO much cheaper, and the flaws are easily fixed.

TO be fair, the Starscream and Skywarp Hasbro releases we $60 retail, and quickly hit clearance at Walmart.

I honestly can't explain how the US releases of the MPs are so cheap, especially when they don't actuallly sell well. The Shitty economy US mass toy market doesn't get or seem to want them. Maybe I'm just tryig to justify having prordered the Takara MP Grimlock day and date. I have no regrets tho... The toy is honest to god flawless. A true engieering marvel after the only mildly impressive Megs and Seekers.

Well, I just think it boils down to the "adult collectibles" market in the States being less developed (less socially accepted?) than the adult collectibles market in Japan. Can't blame Hasbro for trying...

I would also imagine that Hasbro has relatively low R&D invested on the MP designs since they were either developed solely by Takatomy or jointly by the two. Add to that the fact that Prime and Starscream have been reissued and repainted about 3-4 times each in Japan already (not to mention the repaints of Starscream here).

I agree with Sanjeev that the market for this stuff is not the same in the U.S. Sort of a similar situation as the 12" DX Gundams, when those were imported by Bandai America.

I just scored the skywarp masterpiece at wal-mart today for $20. I can't figure out how to change his head. The box and instructions say there are 2 heads. $20. Is a steal for this figure!! I wish I could find a starscream for that much. I can't wait for the tru grimlock. I have some imports but with the price cheaper here I will be happy with the u.s. Versions. I saw a black unicron at a toy shop today $80. Where did this come from? When was unicron black?

This is a fairly newer american toy I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime. A rapping hipster electro beat dropping McDonald's white trash fish on the wall, with a b-side!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvCnBohBE0

Is anyone buying Iron Man 2 toys? Just got War Machine and Mark I - both are awesome.

Im buying the shit out of the IM 2 toys, they are 2 for 10.99 at TRU rightnow. I will post some pics of those and my GI JOE collection in a bit.

Here are a few Iphone shots of my Joe collection, I know you cant see much. Ill post more detailed pics another time.

I went to a action figure museum today. CRAZY! It is in Pauls Valley Oklahoma. They have a TON of g.I. Joes. I forgot how big the aircraft carrier is. And the nasa looking ship. They had a lot of star wars,marvel,d.c., and varous 80's toys. They were lacking in the Transformers department. They only had 20 at the most.It was a cool place to visit. I only saw one godzilla figure but it was 2ft. Tall and it looked old. I almost want to go back and donate a secret base skull brain figure. I am not sure if they have any pics on-line or not. They had a lot of stuff that I forgot about, or burried, or caught on fire. Good times!

Same here. Only Iron Man 2 fig they didn't have online were the Mark VI figures.

MOTUC MossMan sold out in 3 minutes today. Holy crap!

I didn't even know about the daylight savings time and missed out! Oh well, he'll probably be reissued soon enough anyway.

There's been a bunch of discussion of Iron Man 2 stuff on TBDX, but it's mainly about the Mega Bloks toys (which are more fun, anyway, if you ask me!).

Dope MOTUC Moss Man Pic (not by me)

This guy is seriously my new fav. of the line.

Anyone else here collecting the UFC round 5 figures? I've got half a dozen of them and love them, they're like the old Pride vinyl figures but can be picked up at k-mart for 10bucks. I haven't opened any of mine, so I'm not sure what they're made of, but I think they might be vinyl.
The new series (with Kimbo) will be coming out soon, can't wait.

I normally don't use the word retarded but I don't know how else to describe UFC figures.

you could describe them as
super retarded

regardless I'm glad to see the ufc and mma grow in popularity and get to a point whete these figures are all over. They kind of have a bobblehead aesthetic which I like but I think if you're familiar with the fighters you probably appreciate the poses more.

"Totally retarded" works as well. On a more positive note I would have expected some tribal and Affliction shirt accessories for a more authentic UFC look.

There are a bunch of dragons at McDonald's right now for a new dragon movie. In the Happy Meals. I got a double headed blue winged dragon with red spots on his back. Not too bad. Looks Kaiju-ish.