Third Party Fans Hobby have updated their Facebook account with our first image of their upcoming MB-06 Power Baser Black Version (Nucleon Quest Super Convoy/Optimus Prime).
We have a very impressive black redeco of MB-06 Power Baser, which resemble the colors of the G1 Nucleon Quest Super Convoy (black repaint of Super Ginrai) which was a Toys R Us Japan exclusive while back in 2001. We sill have no price or release date at the moment, but according to the Fans Hobby’s Facebook pre-orders are coming soon.
You can check out the mirrored images on this news post and then join to the ongoing discussion on the 2005 Boards!
velencourte
I'd love to get in on a reissue of Power Baser — I got Double Evil recently and I'm in love!
Magna Jet Convoy
Which PM prime are you left with @Dodgy Dan ? I've been petitioning FH recently to do another reissue. If enough people do likewise, they might do one.
Dodgy Dan
Good luck finding one though. Sold mine a few months back because A: I needed the cash, and B: I mistakenly believed I could make do with just one PM Prime. Now I can't find the bastard anywhere. Now I am all of teh sad. I'm sorry, alright! Please do another reissue! I'M SORRY! I NEED MY CHONKY PRIME BACK!!
I swear there's something slightly magic about FH figures. I just love 'em…
GunFire Alpha
Ha, yes you do
ph4zed
The V2 has the moveable bumper for bot belleh though… Get him nao.
KlotziDotCom
I hate you guys because now i want a Power Baser V2 although i don't NEED one. Ugh.
Super Mecha Dad
I'd be shocked if toyhax didn't do a set for the toon version to make it look more like the toy/pmop
Snaku
There's a thread for Takara PMOp here. But yeah, like @ph4zed said, the one that's the whole combined figure is the cartoon deco while the one that's just the cab is the toy deco (he also apparently comes with stickers to put on the combined mode to make him more toy looking).
ph4zed
Same with these cabs
Magna Jet Convoy
Some interesting and intuitive answers gang! While we're on topic – it looks like there'll be 2 versions release of Ginrai – one with, one without the trailer. Is this correct? A bit like how they released Missing link G1 Optimus/Convoy? If so, is there any visible differences between the 2 Ginrai's? Again – referring back to Missing Link OP – one was toy, the other toon.
Snaku
I need to see more of Takara but here's what I've got so far.
Power Baser cons: The corebot kinda' sucks. I know, I'm sorry, but I just don't like it. His abdomen is all hollow and gappy, there's a gap at the waist, the hip skirts are tiny and don't do a particularly good job of being hip skirts and they also get in the way. Standing him next to other MP figures, he stands out and not in a good way. The combined bot looks great albeit very stylized and deviates from the character quite a bit. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is up to the individual but it does mean that the Takara version has something to offer that this one doesn't. The trailer is kind of squat and messy looking – you have panels that flip over to fill in gaps but then they leave a dent or void where they came from. The hip skirts are anchored in the wrong place and get in the way of waist rotation. He's very very back heavy – if I try to put him in a neutral pose, I mostly don't need to worry about him falling over but he always wants to lean back and I have to compensate with the posing. He's got those weird random tampos that make him look like a human-built mech rather than a sentient robot. And, while he technically has the necessary articulation, it's actually kind of difficult to get him into any pose other than stoically looking heroic.
Power Baser pros: The shelf presence. The combined bot is bulky in exactly the right way and just exudes majesty. He's the kind of figure that, when you scan your eyes over a shelf, he makes you stop and stare. With the Marvel upgrade, he may not be a 100% accurate rendition of the character but he just looks like the character. He's very satisfying to handle and even fun to transform (not many MP figures can make that claim these days). And, while he's stylized in a way that deviates from the source material, it's damn good looking stylization. He has feet!! (more on this later)
Takara cons: A very very big con in my book is when a figure can't move their ankles front to back and it very much looks like he can't. What good is all the articulation in the world if you can't put his freaking feet on the ground?! Why do MP designers keep doing this?!?!/rant Both core and combined mode have big "capes" suffering from Takara's design sensibility of "nobody ever looks at the back" – the core's cape is semi-understandable as the whole front of the truck is back there (I hate it but it showed up in the Japanese cartoon so everybody treats it like they have to design their figures that way), but the combined mode just has a giant slab of the trailer on his back, sticking down past his waist. The core bot just doesn't look like an MP figure – he looks like a mainline figure OSKO'd to MP size. Granted, he'd be one of the nicer mainline figures but that still leaves him looking not very MP. The truck cab is just plain missing a chunk on the side with the robot thigh completely exposed – no little ladder thing or gas tank. The combined arms stick up really high from the trailer – I guess it's accurate but they stick up reeeealy high. The double barrelled guns have those side fins that join in the middle – again, it's accurate, but it just doesn't look as nice as Power Baser's double guns which have a clear separation of the barrels. The truck front sits too high in combined mode, giving him a lanky look (yeah, I suppose that's how he looked in the Japanese cartoon but it's wrong for PMOp). Combined mode doesn't have feet. Like at all. No feet. It looks like there are some kinda' platform things on the bottom of his legs that can tilt side to side to approximate an ankle tilt but visually the area that is supposed to be his toes or whatever just stays in the same place. Seriously, give Transformers feet!!!
Takara pros: First off, it's just plain a more accurate representation of the character. He looks like Powermaster Optimus (or a Ginrai, whatever that is). The trailer and the truck cab are very clean looking and almost perfectly capture the look (cab sides notwithstanding). In fact the truck mode is ultimately what pushed me over the edge on deciding to buy him. The core bot looks whole instead of missing half his abdomen like PB (he also has a big ol' backpack but we already covered that). He appears to be very well articulated and able to pull off a good variety of poses in both modes.
I realize my pros lists are much shorter than my cons but it's a lot easier to itemize all the little things that they get wrong while what they get right is just kind of "Yeah, this is right." There's a lot to like about Power Baser and, if I could only own one version or the other, I think I would stick with him, but there's enough to like about MPG-09 that I'm probably going to get him (I put down a deposit at ShowZ but I can always change my mind later). If you were to move the truck down about a centimeter in combined mode, lower the shoulders a bit (why is he shrugging?), reduce the backpack/cape, and give him some damned feet, he would be a damn near perfect Powermaster Optimus. Maybe bulk up his arms a bit too – he's clearly based on the anime which had him looking way too skinny for my taste.
GunFire Alpha
Power Baser for me, (articulated) hands-down it's the superior iteration of the character for me at a superior price point.
Also, fuck TT for their shitty QC and zero after sales care.
Rewind
I love what I’ve seen of Takara’s and am excited to get one. Its the first Takara MP I have had any interest in since probably Ironhide.
That said, I adore my Power Baser and it will never be replaced. After 6 years or whatever it is still in my top three favorite 3P releases.
I have room for both. Takara’s will be the ‘accurate’ representation of Ginrai and Power Baser will continue to rule my shelves as the Chonkmaster General.
Super Mecha Dad
I think for all of the complaints about the hands on MPG-09, I fully expect the God Ginrai Gauntlets to have articulated fingies.
Jim1981
Super Ginrai looks better definitely. But the "regular" Ginrai is where Powerbaser just isn't up to my taste and the reason I past. I am actually contemplating now to get Powerbaser as my super Ginrai and MP-60.
Anybody know if Fanshobby is reissuing after the TT news?
Louis
PowerBaser looks MP, Takara looks mainline at least to me especially when you look at the hands and the kibble. I even prefer Make toys to the new Takara MP although the Make toys to me feels more like a legends scale set.
Vancelle
You are right, Power Baser is better in every single way. It has more play value between all of its modes. There's multiple color variants. Power Baser looks better aesthetically because it's more stylized and it doesn't have that awful smooth "toon accurate" look. The arms on TT's Super Ginrai are small and not proportional to the body, whereas Power Baser is nice and thick throughout. Ginrai also has that weird "pushing his crotch out" ab-crunch stance as it's default pose, which just does not look good to me. As for ability to pose, I haven't had any problems with Power Baser and showed off how dynamic it can pose in a post a few pages back. All of my complaints about TT's version also translate to the KFC version as well, but I think KFC's version is even more egregious in how bad it looks compared to Power Baser. Plus the whole releasing the Super Ginrai armor before core Ginrai is just a bad move.
TLDR; Power Baser is the best version amongst all Power Master/Ginrai releases. Fans Hobby wins everytime in my book.
Frankthusiast
I think they aim at different audiences so they could coexist in my shelf. I do have all the Power Baser variants, but a MPG version would bring something else to the table regarding show accuracy and a different take on the transformation process. If not affordable I could pick up the MP just to display the core bot.
Super Mecha Dad
Yeah, I absolutely love both versions of PB that I have, but I get the appeal of a slimmer, more toon accurate version as well. I pre-ordered through pulse, I'm hoping we see the god armor before it releases as that'll be key for me.
octobotimus
I’m torn tbh. I like Power baser more aesthetically, but Takara’s looks so much more dynamic and fun to pose. Takara’s has a bunch of accessories, but Power baser has actual articulated hands. They both seem cool for different reasons.