Cranky

Yes, 90mm vs 102mm. Yes hagane, yes Xship, no core protect (extra seals to keep water out that unfortunately also keep water in). 8 pin vs 6 pin gives finer tuning resolution but also higher total braking if/when needed. All the bait/application stuff is just personal preferences. It’s just a reel. They’re both good reels with slightly different features. Generally speaking people would find the faster/smoother Scorpion MD better for glides. The higher speed Tranx is pretty similar though. Lower gear ratio Tranx are nice for slower retrieves for those of us that can’t reel dirt slow and get impatient. They’re not the end-all-be-all of swimbait reels but they do a nice job.

Actual Tranx clone for the most part (frame, spool, internals, etc) for the JDM market but came before it. Again, different gear ratios and obviously different color too.

Aside from the obvious gear ratio and handle choices… Scorpion MD has a different spool VBS pin system that handles Swimbaits better and also has micro module gears instead of HEG (coarser teeth). The Scorpion casts better and is the smoother reel. The Tranx would have arguably slightly better gear power for very high resistance winding and longevity but is not as smooth. This is the trade off between MM vs HEG gears.

Loving the new 2023 model… really prefer it in every way over the previous DC offerings. Might be one of the best looking Shimano reels to date too, it’s super clean. I do think they made a huge mistake with the XG and HG ratios, they’re so close it’s almost pointless to have both options. Shimano would have been much better off with the XG and then something 5 or 6 to 1 range for something to actually differentiate it. For a 200-size spool it’s actually a pretty big (long) frame in my opinion, but casts like a dream with that extra distance between the spool and levelwind.