Back in the distant history of 2019, we were pleased to inform you of the extremely surprising announcement of MP-10ASL Convoy (Atmos Safari LeBron Ver.) that heralded the collaboration between Japan’s Atmos designer shoe brands and TakaraTomy’s Transformers. Not only that, but later at least four other Atmos x Transformers MP-10’s were shown off at Atmoscon 2019 and other Japanese toy shows. Then MP-44 was released and the Transformers Masterpiece collector landscape entered feudal state of unrest that were are still feeling the aftershocks from to this day. The Atmos MP-10’s were forgotten, a mere remnant of a simpler time. Until Wonderfest 2020…
Enter MP-10 Duck Camo Convoy. This little mallard hadn’t been heard from since Atmos Con Vol. 6 (Their 2019 event), and you can see him and his other missing masterpieces from coverage at Snakas Blog. With Atmos Con Vol.8 only week away on March 7-8, the time seemed right for a potential return of the Atmos MP-10’s, and was there ever! With what appears to be the final production version of MP-10ADC on the floor at Wonderfest 2020, and a reports of a release sometime in March, 2020, Atmos Con Vol. 8 seems like the likely launch point for this toy.
Official photos were released just yesterday by Hobby Dengeki also indicating the toy’s release is imminent. Let’s take a second to reacquaint ourselves with this wild Japanese exclusive, shall we?
Duck Camo Convoy is one odd duck (nyuck nyuck!). His deco is completely asymmetric with flip-flopped green parts other than the hands and thighs. It’s also following suit with Ecto-35 Ghostbusters MP-10G that has two different colors of translucent plastic on the windows vs the waist. Most MP-10 toys have only one color of clear plastic shared between those sections.
There also appears to be two different colors of chrome on this figure: a green-tinged chrome on the hubcaps, grills, lights, bumper, and gas tanks, but an orange hue seen on the smoke stacks. Speaking of orange, check out those tires! That is some contrast baby! In truck mode the asymmetry is even more apparent, with a 50/50 split down the center of the front of the truck. This is truly a first-of-its-kind premium street deco for a Transformer figure.
Thanks to the efforts of my associate Mr. Shinn, we can point out that the final production version of this figure differs from the initial mock-ups shown in 2019. Specifically the laser rifle’s colors have been changed from brown plastic with orange painted vents, to orange plastic with brown painted vents. The rest of the deco appears to remain unchanged, except for the addition of the black Autobot insignia on the left shoulder which matches the style and execution of the same logo seen on MP-10ASL. It’s worth noting that until we see the final packaging, we are assuming the naming convention will follow suit with the letter “A” placed after the Masterpiece number to account for this being an Atmos release. As of this writing, this figure has been dubbed MP-10DC, but we are adding that A in there just because we respect our boys at Atmos!
The little information we have for this release comes from this small placard which was included in the Atmos x Transformers display. My good pal @hobbydrifter who supplied me with these photos did us all the service of translating this piece of information (with a little help from his born and raised Japanese wife, thanks Naomi!)
Yellow part: The Transformers brand continues to partner with different leading brands.
White Part: Following on from Transformers Convoy Safari Lebron James Version which made big news as the first collaboration in March 2019, New Second Collaboration will happen in March 2020.
Red Part: Second Collaboration is ATMOS Duck Camo.
So there you have it. Duck Camo lives and if you’re a Masterpiece completist, well you better buy a flight to Japan and tickets to Atmos Con Vol. 8 in a few weeks or prepare to open up your wallet! It’s now much more likely that the rest of the Atmos collaborations we’ve seen will at some point see production. As of right now, there is one online retailer with a pre-order for the toy, but you can’t actually buy it yet. Tsk tsk tsk… Lebronvoy had an initial retail price of ¥20,000 so I think we can readily assume this one will be in that ballpark, unless it was produced in a significantly lower quantity. Oh and let’s not for the other main attraction here…
If you’re really all in, you can even get the shoes that this Transformers release is homaging: The Air Max 90 Atmos “Duck Hunter Camo” Nikes. If you think Transformers prices are insane, well I’ve got some bad news for you, bucko. It’s unclear if a re-release of this shoe will coincide with the Toy’s release, but stay tuned for more information as it comes! Till then, keep collecting, Collecticons.
