I’m pretty sure when Takara Tomy created the Masterpiece G (MPG) line, it wasn’t meant to replace the Masterpiece line. The “G” stands for “Gattai” (combiner), “Giant,” and “Great.” Including Super Ginrai (MPG-09) in the lineup makes sense—it’s a combiner and pretty massive when combined. So far, so good. But then came this: Takara Tomy Transformers MPG-15 Cybertron Rattle. That’s right, the Cybertronian rat—better known as Rattrap outside Japan—has gone Masterpiece, or more specifically, Masterpiece G.
This announcement throws the whole “G” concept off the rails, making me suspect even more strongly that the decision to drop the Masterpiece line in favor of MPG was an afterthought. Rattrap isn’t large. Sure, he’s a giant rat, but he’s still small by Transformers standards. So he’s not “Giant,” and he’s obviously not a “Gattai.” Is he “Great,” then? Maybe—judging by the design. The initial product images make it look like Rattrap stepped right out of the CGI animated series.
Beyond that, not much is known about the figure except that it’s one of the next MPG releases. What we do know is that it will cost 15,000 yen and is slated for release in September 2025. In case you’re not caught up, here’s the MPG lineup after MPG-09 Super Ginrai: MPG-10 Lift Ticket, MPG-11 DK-2 Guard, MPG-12 Shattered Glass Optimus Prime, MPG-13 Shattered Glass Jetfire, and my personal holy grail, MPG-14 God Bomber.
Notably, MPG-10 through MPG-13 are retooled or repaints of earlier Masterpiece figures, which means they don’t scale with MPG Raiden or MPG-09/MPG-14. If the axing of the Masterpiece line wasn’t an afterthought, I don’t know what is. My take? Takara Tomy never intended to scrap the line entirely and had these releases already in the pipeline. Ending the MP line at MP-64, with 104 Masterpiece figures, doesn’t feel like a “beautiful” number to end on. If they had, they couldn’t have celebrated the MP-60 as the 100th Masterpiece toy.
As for the smaller MPG scale? Cost. I think that explanation writes itself.
Images: Takara Tomy [JP].
