Masterpiece Clamp Down MP-14C

I've never claimed to be an expert on Diaclone; I'd go so far as to say that I know nothing about Diaclone.  That ignorance led to me passing on just about every E-Hobby Diaclone inspired reissue in the early part of this century.  In my impetuous early 20's, I saw them as a cheap cash grab by Takara and no real G1.  Yeah, I was a bit of an ass back then.  At any rate, once I learned all that there was to know about how these E-Hobby figures were really inspired by Diaclone decos - and I found out what Diaclone was - I felt like I needed to start tracking these guys down.  I haven't been too successful, because they have really gone up in value on the secondary market.  Thankfully, Takara has given us some of these characters in the Masterpiece line.  First, there was Tigertrack, then MP-18B Bluestreak, and now we have Clamp Down.  And Road Rage, but I'll get into her next week.

One of the first things that I do whenever I get a new Masterpiece figure is that I transform them into robot mode.  I almost instantly curse at myself when I do this because I then remember that I have to take pictures a day or so later.  Keeping the joints as tight as possible has become a priority for me over the last year, which means minimizing the amount of transformations.  There's a logic there that I can't explain, just go with me on this.  During the initial transformation, the light bar popped off.  It appears that mine wasn't glued on at the factory.

Gluing the bar on is certainly an option, but I think I'll leave it as it is.  Clamp Down certainly looks a little sleeker without it.

For some reason, having full knowledge that the E-Hobby Clamp Down was a repaint of Red Alert, I was still surprised to see that Masterpiece Clamp Down was a straight repaint of Red Alert.  I had just assumed that they would combine elements of Sideswipe's head with Red Alert's, like what was done for Tigertrack.  It feels like a bit of a miss.

For accessories, Clamp Down comes with a gun in Red Alert's colors, and the requisite shoulder cannon.  There are also slightly remolded pile drivers that I haven't even thought about using.  I like the extras, in theory, but I rarely ever use them.  They mostly just reside in a storage box.

See what I was talking about with the straight repaint?  The reds on Clamp Down are a little lighter, there is a different shade of blue on the legs, and the chest is obviously in a different deco.  Then again, they are both in law enforcement, so maybe they should share a common theme.  Aside from the whole Lamborghini thing.

Turns out that I didn't take any pictures of Clamp Down in car mode, save for the one with the missing light bar.  And a few others with the Lambo boys, but nothing with Clamp Down solo.  I'll finish things up with some fun pics, I suppose.  Before I wrap it all up, let me say that even with the missed opportunity of his head, I still feel like Clamp Down is a win.  I'm covering him before Road Rage because Clamp Down generated the most excitement in me.  He's a sure fire must have.

Cops and Robbers

On this episode of "Cops"

Dead or alive, you're coming with me

Corporate espionage doesn't pay

Lambo's just hanging out

All the colors of the Lambo rainbow...

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!"