The Transformers: MPG

Generation 1 continuity family « MPG Toyline Webcomic Comic 1 Comic 2

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]

Beginning in 2022, 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. This was followed up with Masterforce headliner Ginrai in 2024 and Godbomber in 2025, with the addition of redecos for Shattered Glass Optimus Prime and Jetfire based on the characters' previous Masterpiece molds.

With the end of Masterpiece in 2024, MPG will serve as TakaraTomy's singular toyline for such "high-end" product. Notably, the aesthetics of MPG figures (sans redecos from the Masterpiece line) feature a more intricate hybridization between the cartoon designs and their toy equivalents, making them closer to the earlier Masterpiece figures before cartoon-accuracy became the standard design philosophy for the line in the second half of the 2010s.

Fiction

MPG has received a smattering of fiction in the Japanese market, thus far focused on the initial Trainbot project.

The 2022 edition of the Generations series of Japanese guidebooks saw brand veteran (and MPG concept artist) Yuki Ohshima reprise his 2010s "Train Wars" series of Trainbot-centric stories. The initial three MPG toys were advertised in a prequel elaborating on their "childhood" being constructed by human scientists in Japan and their contentious relationship with their "big sister", the ninja android Nightbird. The 2024 edition followed up with another installment running parallel to the events of the Headmasters cartoon characterizing the new MPG-original Trainbots Ginou and Yamabuki.

Also in 2024, the TV Magazine comic for young readers Transformers Go! Go! produced a devoted "event" titled Shushupopo!! ^[3] to commemorate the conclusion of MPG's Trainbot project. In this two-part special edition, 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 MPG-01 Trainbot Shouki (2022-06-25) MPG-02 Trainbot Getsuei (2022-09-24)

2023 MPG-03 Trainbot Yukikaze (2023-02-25) MPG-04 Trainbot Suiken (2023-06-24) MPG-05 Trainbot Seizan (2023-09-30)

2024 MPG-06 Trainbot Kaen (2024-02-24) MPG-06S Trainbot Raiden (2024-02-24) MPG-07 Trainbot Ginou (2024-09-28) MPG-08 Trainbot Yamabuki (2024-10-26) MPG-09 Super Ginrai (2024-12-28)

2025 MPG-10 Lift-Ticket (2025-02-22) MPG-11 DK-2 Guard (2025-02-22) MPG-12 Shattered Glass Optimus Prime (2025-03-29) MPG-13 Shattered Glass Jetfire (2025-03-29) MPG-14 Godbomber (2025-06-28) MPG-14S God Ginrai (2025-06-28) MPG-15 Cybertron Rattle (2025-Sept) Nucleon Quest Super Convoy

MPG-01 through MPG-08 Trainbot Raiden

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available at mass retail. All 2025 figures

Design

Notes

• MPG-01 Trainbot Shouki received an Excellence Award in the "High Target" (read: collector) Toy category at the 2022 Japan Toy Awards.^[4]

References

External links

• MPG official website