Takara Tomy Masterpiece MP-19+ Smokescreen Anime Colors New Official Images And Release Date

Xaxis

I emailed Sure Thing Toys to check on my Smokescreen+ order and here's the response I got. Figured I'd share it here to let folks know what's going on with those orders. Interesting information in there as well about distribution on these figures.

Additionally, they were having email server issues and this response didn't reach me the first time they sent it out.

I'm not going to cancel and will patiently wait for their distribution to start flowing. Their price on Smokescreen+ was a good one and they already have my money. Right now, I'd prefer to let them keep it than to go buy this particular figure elsewhere for more.

Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m also waiting with them. Because of your post revealing that Surethingtoys uses DiamondComics to distribute their stock, I did some quick detective work and found out when DiamondComics is reopening….It’s May 20. Two more weeks ain’t so bad. I ordered Smokescreen+ as a personal treat during the lockdown, can’t wait to have it.

Xaxis

I emailed Sure Thing Toys to check on my Smokescreen+ order and here's the response I got. Figured I'd share it here to let folks know what's going on with those orders. Interesting information in there as well about distribution on these figures.

Additionally, they were having email server issues and this response didn't reach me the first time they sent it out.

I'm not going to cancel and will patiently wait for their distribution to start flowing. Their price on Smokescreen+ was a good one and they already have my money. Right now, I'd prefer to let them keep it than to go buy this particular figure elsewhere for more.

Thanks for this! Glad someone got a reply. I emailed them twice the last 3wks and didn’t receive a reply. I’ll wait a bit longer to try an support the little guys.

I emailed Sure Thing Toys to check on my Smokescreen+ order and here's the response I got. Figured I'd share it here to let folks know what's going on with those orders. Interesting information in there as well about distribution on these figures.

Additionally, they were having email server issues and this response didn't reach me the first time they sent it out.

Thanks for your order. I'm sorry we haven't been able to get this out to you sooner.

Hasbro started shipping this to retailers in March (best we can tell, though original promised date was January). That's when we saw it popping up everywhere. There's two huge Hasbro distributors in the USA, Diamond Comics and EE Distribution, and that's where 99.9% of North American retailers get their product. We deal manufacturer-direct with every single brand we stock EXCEPT Hasbro because they chose to only work through distributors and not deal with the hassle of direct relationships.

EE Distribution decided to stay open during this pandemic (How? We aren't sure, since they are in California and were ordered to close, which is what every other toy company did), received their stock and shipped to their retailer partners. Diamond Comics chose to close down their operation. And, of course, you can guess which company has our business. EE Distribution is a division of Entertainment Earth, who would be our #1 competitor. We don't like buying product from a company who directly competes with us for customer's business, so due to the conflict of interest, we procure Hasbro product elsewhere.

Sure Thing Toys typically receives 2-3 deliveries of new product daily. Since March 16th, we've received ONE DELIVERY TOTAL. The flow of new products has ceased completely. With the exception of Funko, every manufacturer is closed for business right now.

Sadly, there's not much we can do right now but wait. I hope you can continue to be patient on this one. We even looked into grabbing these from EE Distribution as a way to get them to our customers, but they are sold out and not getting more anytime soon.

If you don't want to wait any longer, we can always cancel for a full refund. Obviously, that's not what we want, but we aren't going to hold your money if you want to look elsewhere.

Wish I had better news.
Ryan
Sure Thing Toys

I'm not going to cancel and will patiently wait for their distribution to start flowing. Their price on Smokescreen+ was a good one and they already have my money. Right now, I'd prefer to let them keep it than to go buy this particular figure elsewhere for more.

Ah well if it's put together in the same place, then they finally got them trained perhaps! Smokescreen feels more like a masterpiece than Bluestreak.

Sam

Pretty sure 19+ himself was made in Vietnam no?

Oh yeah, just double checked on TTMall, you're right!  

Markus76

If I'm not mistaken, they switched to a factory in Vietnam for a few figures then went back to China for Smokescreen. It is noticeably a better put together figure than the last few releases.

I wish there was a simple explanation or pattern like this, but it's not the case. Prime v3 was manufactured in China and Hound was at least assembled in China. Vietnam has been used as far back as MP-10.

I just got this guy and Bluestreak+ together. I gotta say Bluestreak wasn't the best, he had a super loose elbow and felt like the mold was getting aged out, but then my Smokescreen is fantastic. The paint, the tolerances, the whole thing felt well crafted. I hope Takara can keep things going in a Smokescreen + direction and I'll be buying.

M Alex

I'll put it this way: I prefer the original Prowl (the only thing I like more on the plus is the blue windows; I had the plus on preorder, but cancelled), I think the new Bluestreak looks fine, I like the faces, the fact that he's got a ball joint head, effect parts, and so on, but that alt mode is meh. Not enough going for him to make me consider a change. But Smokescreen… Never got the original, didn't like it, also not that much connected to the character. But the plus… Oh man! It's fantastic, pops immediately… Love the guy.

The original Bluestreak did have a great paint job though. Personally I dig the contrast with the other cars, who beside Hound have nice glossy paint jobs.

Smokey is completely badass imo!

Sylent

They look great! What background are you using for this?

Thanks. The background I have are X2 Toys backgrounds.