The Transformers: MPG
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The Transformers: MPG (トランスフォーマー MPG) is a spinoff line of The Transformers: Masterpiece, with toys designated as MPG-##. The series's title is an abbreviation of "Masterpiece G", with the "G" standing for gattai (合体, "combine"), "giant" (巨大化), and "great" (グレート).[1]
The line launched with a series of The Headmasters Trainbots that combine to form the first official Masterpiece combiner. These figures feature an emphasis on vehicle mode accuracy, being produced in collaboration with TOMIX, the train department of TakaraTomy's scale model oriented subsidiary Tomytec, and licensed by a bevy of railway manufacturers. Accordingly, the figures are mostly functional model trains at the HO scale,[2] which also puts them at the right scale for robot mode in terms of cartoon-accuracy. With its ninth release, the line pivoted toward aforementioned show-accuracy with a cartoon-focused interpretation of Masterforce headliner Ginrai. With the end of Masterpiece in 2024, MPG will serve as the singular toyline for such "high-end" product.
Fiction
MPG has recieved a smattering of fiction in the Japanese market, unsurprisingly wholly focused on the initial Trainbot project thus far.
Generations book series
| « | "Wars" series (MPG) | ||
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Train Wars
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The 2022 edition of the long-running Generations series of Japanese guidebooks saw long-time brand veteran (and MPG concept artist) Yuki Ohshima reprise his 2010s "Train Wars" series of Trainbot-centric stories to promote their MPG toys, namely with a distant prequel elaborating on their "childhood" being constructed by human scientists in Japan and their contentious relationship with their "big sister," the ninja android Nightbird.
Transformers Go! Go!
In 2024, the popular children's comic Transformers Go! Go! continued on its baffling quest to sell small children expensive collector product with a devoted special to commemorate the successful conclusion of MPG's Trainbot project with Shushupopo!! (broadly, Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!!). In this special author Haruka Oda introduced a whole new generation of children to the Trainbots, including some of the first characterization for individual members of the team in their entire 37-odd year history.
Toys
2022
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2023
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2024
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Design
| Mold | Designer | Notes |
| MPG-01 | Kōjin Ōno (TakaraTomy), Dai Ono (TOMIX), Yuki Ohshima (concept artist) | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2021 book |
| MPG-02 | Kōjin Ōno, Dai Ono, Yuki Ohshima | As stated in the Transformers Generations 2022 book (entire Trainbot project) |
| MPG-03 | Kōjin Ōno, Dai Ono, Yuki Ohshima | |
| MPG-04 | Kōjin Ōno, Dai Ono, Yuki Ohshima | |
| MPG-05 | Kōjin Ōno, Dai Ono, Yuki Ohshima | |
| MPG-06 | Kōjin Ōno, Dai Ono, Yuki Ohshima |
Notes
- MPG-01 Trainbot Shouki received an Excellence Award in the "High Target" (read: collector) Toy category at the 2022 Japan Toy Awards.[3]
External links
- ↑ MPG hub on the TakaraTomy website
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFigureKing285 - ↑ The 2022 Japan Toy Awards at the Tokyo Toy Show website.
