Review: Masterpiece Sunstreaker

I passed on Sunstreaker when he first came out. There were two reasons for this: the first, that, despite being a fairly major G1 character, I've never had any particular love for him; secondly, that this is the figure in which Takara - for no other reason than 'because they can' - hit the Masterpiece toyline with a massive price hike (a price hike which hits ridiculous levels with the current Dinobot release - but that's a rant for another time).

I went to TFNation last weekend hoping for some kind of discount on Sunstreaker so I could finally add him to my collection. There was a discount, however there was still a very clear difference in price between him and all the other, similar sized, cars in the line.

Anyway, I forked over the money and now I have him. Was he worth it?

Skipping to the end: not really. As I've said, I'm not really enamored with the character; I'm sure Sunstreaker fans are likely to be far more positive. He looks good - don't get me wrong - as both a car and a robot, and is highly poseable. The transformation process, as you'd expect from a Masterpiece, is highly involved and quite clever, but I didn't find sitting there and fiddling with him particularly fun...and fun is the main reason I buy Transformers.

At no point have I thought, 'This is well worth the 80 quid I paid out for him.'

Yes, it's nice to fill a gap in the G1 team, but should the house begin to burn, he'll be the last thing I run to save. Sorry, Sunstreaker, I'm just don't like you very much.

Review: Masterpiece Bluestreak

Bluestreak, eh? The unloved brother of police car Prowl and racing car Smokescreen. While Bluestreak is...well, he's not even blue. He's a dull grey and black combination. Odd hint of silver, but mostly he's a boring grey car. Sometimes a slightly 'meh' character can be saved by a cool back story, but he's never really gotten one of those.

Three Masterpiece Transformers are being released by Takara to round off the year, all slight remoulds of each other. Prowl, the most famous, arrived last month; Smokescreen, the cool one, is released at the end of November; and in the middle...well, there's Bluestreak.

There's hardly going to be fights in the toy aisles to get hold of this one.

Review: Masterpiece Soundwave

In the UK we had to wait a million billion years for MP-10 aka Optimus Prime to make his way across the Atlantic. Many - me among them - had completely given up ever seeing him, but earlier this year, a little after Christmas (that was well timed) he finally arrived on the shelves of Toys R Us.

Due to this, when it was announced that MP-02 aka Soundwave (yeah, the numbering is completely messed up) was going to be released in the UK, everyone expected this to be in 2025. But no! He actually arrived in Toys R Us only a couple of weeks ago - barely a few months behind the US. It was a miracle indeed.

Review: FT-03 Quake Wave

There are a load of 3rd Party 'fan' companies producing transforming robots inspired by the Hasbro originals. Some good, some bad, all improving with each subsequent release. It's wise to be wary when a brand new company produces something. There's bound to be flaws - plastic quality, breakages, poor paint... the list is endless.

Rules, exceptions and all that. Despite being labelled as #3 (the first couple of things they designed/announced have never gone into production), Quake Wave is the first release from new company Fan Toys.

And it's perfect.

Buy it now.

What, you want more? Fine...

Review: Masterpiece Sideswipe (/Lambor)

The Masterpiece series of Transformers toys has been running for quite a number of years now. The aim: to produce collector-targeted high-quality toys based on the Transformers as seen in the 80s cartoon. After doing numerous jets and Primes plus a few other things, Takara have now moved onto cars. The first of which (there are many, many lined up for the end of this year and into the next) is Lambor, or, as most people reading this will know him, Sideswipe.

As a 'collector' figure Sideswipe comes with a 'collector' price tag. The price is high and when you look at the size of the box you can't help but feel ripped off. There's no other way to describe it: Sideswipe is tiny. As much as I like this toy (and I do - I'll get onto that in a minute), the cost of the thing is ridiculous and is why I initially passed on him. The only reason I eventually bought him is that Kapow Toys are selling future cars at a much lower price.

But onto the toy...

MP Sideswipe is an amazing update of the G1 toy and cartoon character. Takara have really outdone themselves with him. In many ways this is the ultimate Sideswipe toy and it's hard to believe that a better one could ever be produced. He looks like he's just jumped out of the TV screen. He feels solid and has enough articulation to be posed in any way you can think of. Whereas previous MPs such as Megatron, the jets, Hot Rod, I wouldn't let my children anywhere near, I think Sideswipe is well enough made that they could play with him without fear of damage.

Worth mentioning, because I didn't realise before I opened the box, is that Sideswipe comes with the piledrivers he used in the cartoon. I thought they were an Amazon.jp exclusive, but it looks as though chromed piledrivers were the exclusive and non-exclusive Sideswipe comes with perfectly acceptable silver versions. No version, however, comes with his jet pack. Sad face.

Being licensed by Ferrari means that his car mode is exactly how you'd wish it to be. Ground clearance is limited so be careful what you drive over, but otherwise I can't really fault the mode. The gun clips handily into the roof for storage which is a nice touch. Transforming between robot and car is simple, intuitive and fast. You won't be needing the instructions for this.

He looks good in the photos. He's even better looking in person.

But it has it's flaws.

There are two main annoyances with the toy. The first is the legs: they're hollow. So while I said, slightly further, up that Sideswipe is solid, he's not quite as solid as he might be and it does look a bit silly when posed in certain ways and viewed at certain angles. There's also no clip to hold the legs in place so they come apart, to some extend, when trying to pose the legs.

The other big annoyance is gripping the gun in his hand. There's a small tab on the gun that fits into a slot on the inside on Sideswipe's hand (to ensure a more secure hold), however if you then close the fingers around the hilt, the gun will pop out of the slot and fall away. Sideswipe can hold it, but you have to remember to not close the fist too far. Something is wrong with the measurements somewhere and things don't line up quite as they should. It's not a major problem, but something that shouldn't happen on a pricey toy like this.

You can perform brain surgery on Sideswipe!

What will annoy some, but personally I've now gotten used to, is the complete lack of die cast metal. After it's reemergence with the Binaltech line and initial MP figures, it now looks like this is gone again indefinitely. Also gone are rubber tyres, which is more of a disappointment.

I can't decide on my final nick-pick. It bothered me at first, however I know that it's not something new and is sort of already established: the scale. Sideswipe is tiny compared to MP-10 (the 'new scale' version of Optimus Prime). Whereas the jets, MP-10 Prime, Grimlock and Hot Rod are all about the same size, Sideswipe is much, much smaller. I know the original toy was smaller, I know in the cartoon he was smaller, and I know at this size he fits inside Prime's trailer, but Sideswipe looks a little out of place stood next to his larger friends. Maybe this'll change when we have more cars released, when there are a range of heights, but for now I'm not keen.

With Binaltech Lambor

Overall, however, Sideswipe is a fantastic toy and - should you have the money spare - well worth picking up, especially since the others will cost less. It'd be even better if Hasbro would release him as I'm sure Sideswipe could then be sold in the £30-40 region which would be an absolute bargain.

Review: Masterpiece Optimus Prime comparison, part 1

8(ish - yes, I'm too lazy to actually look it up) years ago the first Masterpiece Optimus Prime (well, actually it was 'Convoy' - the Japanese name) was released. MP-01 was his name. I think everyone was of the opinion that it was AWESOME. It was certainly by far the best Prime figure ever made and a contender for the Best Toy Ever. It weighed a ton too, due to all that metal, the likes of which hadn't been seen since the 80s.

Well, there's a new kid on the block, a new Masterpiece: the MP10. There are reviews all over the internet saying that he's fantastic and if you don't own MP01 (or one of the later rereleases using the same mould) you should definitely pick up one.

But what if you do own MP01? Is MP10 worth paying out for? He's far from cheap. I'm not going to give you a definitive answer, but I will run through a comparison of the two and leave it up to you to decide. After all, ultimately, it is your money.

MP10 is smaller than his predecessor, by quite a way. Only Megatron & MP01 were released in the larger scale, so MP10 nicely fits in with Starscream, Grimlock, etc etc.

As you could probably guess, there's a hell of a lot less metal with MP10. MP01 had giant chunks of metal but MP10...well, there are odd bits but you really won't be able to spot it in the photos. He's still a very solid figure, however (unlike the Rodimus release which was incredibly flimsy) which originates from him being basically a box with legs. A box that's more nicely shaped than MP01, as you can see from the photos.

A lot of the 'extras' found on MP01 are now gone. There are no pistons at the elbows or knees. The little flaps on his lower legs are now fixed in place. There's no button to move his mouth up and down. There are no wrist communicators.

Will you miss these? Probably not.

MP10s much better to post in a standing position. The joints at the top of the legs allow him to stand more naturally than MP01, who either had to have his legs completely vertical, or at 45 degree angles (well, not quite but you get the idea).

The knee joints are interesting. As with the previous model, MP10s upper leg slot down into the lower for transformation. People had issues with MP01s, and my Ultra Magnus (who uses the same MP01 mould) left leg refuses to stay up. I've never had a problem with MP01, however. MP10 is supposed to be improved, with a button-release to get it to drop. It works fine on one leg, but the other is a right pain on the other. The button presses, but then you have to really shove the leg to get it to move.

A new addition are the wheel-covers on the legs. I'm not convinced about these. I liked having the wheels on show and think the covers make his legs look a bit chubby. You can, however, just fold these back out of the way if you wish.

The back of MP01 was a bit messy. MP10 is slightly neater, although still not great (when has it ever been on a Transformer?). The centre back portion flips open and can be used for weapon storage - Prime's rifle folds up to fit inside.

Every Prime these days has to come with a chest compartment with the matrix inside. MP10s chest is definitely a bit nicer-looking.

The matrix itself, is also better with MP10. It doesnt 'open' like the old one, but it is a better sculpt and is now made from die-cast metal.

This final robot-mode problem is the biggest bug for me. MP10 is smaller to make him 'fit' with the majority of the other MPs. If you compare him to Hot Rod (not in Rodimus mode, so he's slightly shorter) you'll find that he's actually shorter. I don't really like this. I think as the leader and greatest of all Transformers, Optimus should be the bigger. Instead he kind of looks a bit short and chubby in comparison. I actually think MP01 fits better.

I know, I know, this is all personal opinion and others will disagree but I'd have liked Prime to have had just that little bit extra on his height to place him above Hot Rod.

Overall, this is figure is a mighty improvement on Hot Rod. Hot Rod was a disaster and apart from my slight leg issue, there're absolutely no quality control problems with him whatsoever.

Is robot mode better than MP01? The body shape is better, for certain. The missing 'extras' don't bother me, but the slight under-achievement in height does.

Next: vehicle mode.