MP-14 Alert

When it was announced that Takara would be releasing Masterpiece Sideswipe, I was excited.  When it was announced that they would then follow that up with a retooled release as Red Alert, I was ecstatic.   Sideswipe is nice and all, but it's great to see some second season characters getting Masterpiece love.  Man, Masterpiece Inferno would be great.  Anyway, I've always loved Red Alert.  He's a paranoid security expert.  His paranoia almost enabled Megatron to defeat the Autobots once.  It's been used to great effect in the comics.  All in all, he's a great character.

There isn't anything to really say about this figure that hasn't been said about Sideswipe.  The transformation is the same, but there are some nice differences with some of the tooling.  Red Alert features a new head which is modeled after his animated appearances.  It's about time that a Red Alert wasn't just a pure repaint of Sideswipe with a light bar attached to the roof. This is as close as I could get with my camera without it getting blurry.  I think it's time for a new camera.  As you can see, the head is beautiful.

See, different heads.

Another difference, as you can tell in the above photo, are the shoulders.  Keeping with the animated model, Red Alert has tires molded onto his shoulders.  Yet another difference is the size of the Autobot insignia.  Thanks to the Fire Department symbol, Red Alert gets a re-sized insignia.  It's a good size.  Sideswipe's should be that smaller size as well.

The last new detail is the light bar.  It's a light bar.  Nothing much to say about that.

Fan service?

Red Alert also comes with an accessory that attaches to his head to recreate his paranoid state from the cartoon.  I don't really care about that, just like Sideswipe's pile drivers.  As a final note, I know a lot of people have had issues with paint or parts that don't fit together quite right.  I can honestly say that I haven't had that problem with either release.  Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

"Bump it, bro!"