MP-36 Megatron

Oh boy, the big one, Masterpiece Megatron.  I knew that at some point Takara would work to update the horrible thing that was MP-05, a figure so bad that I put him in my closet a couple of months ago.  I'm still not sure what to do with him, but that's not what I set out to talk about.  What I want to talk about is how incredible MP-36 is.  I sincerely think that this is what the entire Masterpiece line has been leading up to.

I can't believe that I let this guy sit at my mailbox at the UPS Store for almost a week before I picked him up and then waited almost two weeks after that before I even opened him.  I was hesitant on what to do with him since I wasn't super excited about him when he arrived.  Reading so many rumblings about scratching pain, parts breaking off and just poor QC gave me pause.  Couple that with the fact that I knew that I'd be getting a Megatron with orange plugs that I wasn't sure would come off, and I was just unsure of what I wanted to do with him.

Upon opening him up, I don't know what all of the complaints were about.  Megatron 2.0 is a delight.  I don't think I've ever handled a better Transformer.  Ever.  There are no wasted parts or details on this guy.  In more capable hands, there would be an infinite amount of awesome poses, but I'm not that guy; I'm still working on it.

Transforming into gun mode had me pretty nervous.  I've seen pics of what people have done to their Megatrons through forcefully putting pieces into place.  My MP-05 Megatron broke on his first transformation, so I've been extra careful with figures since that fateful day, but I sweat still poured from my brow while I slowly folded, slid, and moved parts to and fro.  At one point, I even looked up different YouTube videos just to make sure I was doing things correctly.  All in all, I think it took me about an hour to transform him for the first time.  It took me about two minutes to get him back to robot mode after that.  Perhaps I was being a tad bid overly cautious, but I didn't want to break something that I had spent so much money on.  Oh, as far as the scuffing on the barrel in concerned?  Never happened.

I'll admit that the Megatron 2.0's price point had me a little concerned at first.  It seems like the prices on Masterpiece figures seem to be going up all of the time.  Once I had Megatron in hand, that price was damn worth it.  This guy has a plethora of accessories and swappable faces.  I didn't photo them all, but they're all incredible, like the mace.  Takara has been forcing the energy mace on every Megatron release since the book-style series it seems, and this is the first time I really enjoyed it.  It's proportioned much better than all former versions.

The chain from the mace can be removed and replaced with a jointed piece and I really dig it.  Takara really nailed this accessory.

There's the obligatory pistol from The Transformers: The Movie, but I'll spare everyone the ubiquitous setup shots form the movie.  I'm also not going to showcase all of the battle damaged parts that come with Megatron.

The accessory that I like the least would be the sword. Yeah, I get the significance of it all, and I know it's place, but I still think it's cheesy.  This one is much improved over the one that came with MP-05 and it even breaks down into two pieces so Megs can hold just the sword hilt.

 Megatron loves walking among his troops.

Megatron is a stone cold killer, and I think that this pic conveys that feeling. I may redo this picture with a better setup and more bodies.

Finally, someone to lead my Decepticon army.  Hopefully we'll get more Decepticons in the near future.  Aside from the Megaplex repaint, that is.

Masterpiece Megatron 2.0 is the ultimate Masterpiece figure, in my opinion.  It's been six years since MP-10 was released. ushering a new age of unified scale, and those six years have been leading up to this bad boy.  Don't have him?  Go get him.  Now.

MP-35 Grapple

When Inferno was announced in the Masterpiece line , I knew that Grapple wouldn't be far behind.  After receiving Inferno, the wait for Grapple became unbearable.  For as much as I enjoyed Inferno, Grapple was a character that I seemed to enjoy more, just from his history during season 2.  I don't really recall anything that Inferno did, but I sure remember Grapple getting scammed by the Constructicons into building the Solar Power Tower, which puts Grapple over Inferno in my mind, even though Inferno is a firetruck.

Like Inferno (last mention, I promise), Grapple comes with a ton of accessories.  Just as I did with Inferno (sorry), I'm only going to discuss and show accessories that I like.  Out of the package, Grapple looks just like he did on the show.  For some reason, the fact that the crane can extend and move up and down was perhaps the feature that I least expected, especially at this price point.  I actually think I spent ten minutes just playing with the crane.  I might be 8 years old.

For some reason, there's a shovel attachment, like a cherry picker.  It's pretty nifty and now that I think about it, I could totally put Spike or Daniel in the bucket.  That's what happens when you take pictures one day and type up the review weeks later.  Man, Spike even looks like a phone repair or cable guy.  Hindsight.

My favorite attachment has to be the claw.  Just seeing it makes me say, in wonder, "The Claw" like I'm a toy alien.  I've never been good at the claw game, but with this attachment, I was able to grab something.

I grabbed the freaking Solar Power Tower!  I'm not totally enamored with the Solar Power Tower (that's a mouthful) as an accessory, but it is nifty.  I've decided to go with the more toy accurate look so I'm only going with the chromed pieces.

Grapple in robot mode?  Exquisite.  The proportions on this guy are amazing.  My Grapple came with both fists attached, but I've always had my Grapple with the chromed wrist barrel attachment, so that's what I'm going with for the Masterpiece version.  Wrist barrel attachment?  I've always called them missiles.  How was I to know?  I was 8 when Grapple was released.

I had a lot of fun posing Grapple.  This mold just seems to lend itself to more poses than a lot of the previous Masterpiece figures.  Or it could be that I've just now started getting posing ideas.

Transforming Grapple is just such a delight.  It's just intuitive.  Breaking down the crane arm for the first time gave me fits, but subsequent transformations have been easier.

My only quibble with Grapple has to do with the Arc-welder rifle.  Mine is a chore for Grapple to hold onto; it's difficult to position the rifle securely.  Add in the fact that you can't position the rifle with the hand open all of the way, and it just isn't fun to do.  Also, the screaming face will most likely stay on Grapple for a very long time.

The chuckling face seems almost boastful to me.  Maybe Grapple is bragging about how he made the Solar Power Tower?

Grapple and that red firetruck guy, together, striking a pose.  Man, those wings on red firetruck guy really stand out.

And for no apparent reason, Red Alert joined the party.  Yeah, he's more of a friend to red firetruck guy but aren't all Autobots friends?

I tried something different with this photo set, and I'm entirely sure I'm happy with the results.  I shot from a much lower angle than before, but I didn't adjust the lighting accordingly.  Some of these pictures just seemed washed out to me, and that's all due to lighting.  The angles looked pretty good, they're just so badly lit.  One day I'll get this right.
 

MP-33 Inferno

Why are running poses so hard?

The latest Masterpiece figure arrived at my personal mailbox weeks ago, and I just got around to opening him up.  I have to say that I regret waiting as long as a I did, since Inferno is perhaps my favorite figure of the year.

Let me start this off by stating that there will not be a lot of pictures showing off the accessories or animated versions of the face or anything like that.  I prefer my Inferno like the toy I had in 1985, minus that missile for a hand.  There will only be a few shots with the missile hand.

Once I got Inferno out of the box, I was struck by how large Inferno is.  I mean, the G1 figure was larger than the rest of the cars, but I really wasn't expecting this.  He's hefty, to boot.  The ladder is a much more improved version of the G1 figure's.  The G1 figure's ladder always felt like it would separate at any moment.

This is a ladder that I would not be afraid to climb.

As a kid, I always wondered what the little white knobs on the side of the fire truck were for, and Takara gave me an answer.  I suppose I could have just Googled it or asked a fire fighter, but that would've been too easy.  I prefer to wait 30 years for an answer.  This is a nifty feature that doesn't really do anything, but it's a nice thing.

Transformation into robot mode was fluid and surprisingly easy.  I figured that there would be some step that would frustrate me or make me afraid that I would break something, but I was incorrect.  Transformation is almost exactly like the G1 version.  My only quibble would be the things on Inferno's shoulders.  As a kid, I always folded them back, and on the Masterpiece version, that option isn't available.  This is a problem of personal aesthetics, and I'm sure I'm in the very tiny minority on this.

Hey, that's mighty fine looking Inferno, that is, what with his two fists.  I've never been a fan of bots missing a fist; it's a symmetry thing, I think.  Man, this is one pretty figure.  The legs and feet look great and proportionate.  The more I look at Inferno, the more I fall for him.

Thanks to the way Inferno transforms, his head features what I call two-step articulation for his head.  The box housing his head moves left, right, and up and down.  Inferno's head moves as well, which gives many possibilities for some sweet poses.  Sadly, I'm not much at posing.

The amounts of articulation on Inferno are insane.  Just in the upper legs/hips, I think I counted four points of articulation.

A tried and true way for me to tell if I really like a figure is by the amount of pictures I take.  With Inferno, I took quite a few.  Inferno really lends himself to a lot of poses.  I just love everything about him, really.

Every picture that I took featured the G1 toy accurate trimmings.  I never even bothered trying out any of the 'toon inspired stuff.  Just not my cup of tea.  Especially not the attachment to allow Inferno to carry Red Alert.  They're neat and all, but just not what I need.

This is the first time that I've ever been able to get this pose right with a figure.  I've seen it done with all sorts of Masterpiece figures over the years, but I've never been able to do it.  Just another reason Inferno has endeared himself to me.

Be sure to click on the pictures for full size images.

I did try out the yelling face.  I'm a big fan of the old man yelling pose.

Grapple should release in a couple of months, and I can't wait.  Even more exciting? Artfire.  I'm sure that they'll be just as incredible as Inferno.  Seriously, this is a great figure.  Certainly best this year, and top -5 for all time in the Masterpiece history.

Masterpiece Thrust

Look, another Seeker.  Man, Takara is really getting their money's worth out of this mold, not that I can blame them.  Thrust was always my favorite of the Coneheads, so surely he'll be my favorite of the Masterpiece Coneheads, right?

This is how Thrust was supposed to look, thanks to design by Floro Dery.  To be honest, I never really paid attention to the character model when I thought about Thrust beyond the head.  Until Masterpiece Ramjet, I hadn't realized that the bulky knees were a thing.  I don't even flip the nosecone up on the original figure.

Until now, I didn't realize just how close to the animation this guy was.  That actually adds a nice level of appreciation to Thrust and Ramjet now.  At any rate, articulation is pretty much what one would expect from this mold that's about 10 years old.  There appears to be a loose waist situation with a lot of these guys now, most likely from mold degradation.  Still, Thrust looks great in robot mode.

My, does Thrust look spectacular in jet mode.  Those VTOL wings look great in Masterpiece scale.

While Ramjet had shells that could fit over the null rays to give him a more cartoon accurate look, Thrust comes with null rays that fold up in this mode and extra missile pods that attach to the wings.  Very cool look.  This is how I wanted Thrust as a kid.  Man, those reds, grays, and blacks are just so gorgeous.  Just based on jet modes, Thrust is my favorite Masterpiece Seeker so far.

As much as I love Thrust, I do a have a minor quibble with the way the wings attach to the body in jet mode.  The right wing, left as you look at the picture, doesn't really want to tab in.  Every attempt to keep the wing in is momentary at best.  It doesn't look so bad in the picture, but it's annoying.  Thrust always looks like he's leaning.

Here's Masterpiece Thrust with his G1 version.  As you can see, they look just alike!

Thrust and Ramjet, together again, at last.  It's amazing what a set of wings can do to a figure.  I didn't really care for Ramjet mainly because of the bulky wings.

And now Thrust gets to live out his fantasy of taking out Prime.

MP-11NR Ramjet

Ugh, another Seeker mold.  It's funny that I would have that type of reaction to the reuse of a mold after all of the reuses of the Lamborghini mold that I eagerly snatch up without hesitation.  Then again, I've never really been a fan of the Masterpiece Seeker mold.  The lack of waist articulation, the fact that every time I pick up a Seeker in my case, the freaking torso lifts up all add up to a figure that just doesn't appeal to me for the most part.  Why do I keep buying Seeker mold figures?  Because they look so damn nice.

Out of the box, Ramjet is a stunner.  Many people prefer the iGear versions of the Coneheads, but, in my opinion, their heads are way too small.  MP-11NR's head is in just the right proportion.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by the transformation sequence with the cockpit - it actually twists during transformation. 

Poseability isn't something that Seeker's are known for, but I think I did the best I could with these pics.  Then again, I'm sure there will be tons of better poses out there.  I don't put a lot of time in trying to achieve poses with the Seekers.  They're just too fiddly for me.  The large wings actually helped with some of the poses that I tried.  They offered a bit of stability.

I will say that I got fascinated with how Ramjet is able to turn his head.  I mean, that's just a standard feature now, but I really got into it.  Possibly 95% of the pictures I initially took were just of Ramjet turning his head.  Part of me wants to say that I'm joking, but I'm not.  After decades of having a Ramjet that couldn't turn his head, I got stuck on it with this guy.  Sure, every Ramjet released after 1995 is capable of doing such a simple thing, but they don't have the right stupid look on their face.

Yeah, I love the stupid look on Ramjet's face.  It's perhaps the most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time.  Ramjet was always a bit of a dullard thug on the show, and the Masterpiece sculpt just really nails it.  I've seen a fair bit of outrage online over the sculpt, and it usually boils down to "He looks stupid!"  That's the point.  Ramjet looks stupid because he is stupid.  Great job, Takara on capturing the look.

Ramjet transforms into a jet.  I know that this is shocking to most, since Seekers are usually known for transforming into recliners, but Ramjet breaks from tradition.  At any rate, I really like the balance Takara found with the missiles.  Ramjet still sports the skinnier rays while in robot mode, but shells can be placed over them while in jet mode to give Ramjet the fat missiles.  They can also be added while in robot mode if you're looking for a more toy accurate look.

Ramjet seems to beset with quality control issues.  Just recently, Takara issued a recall on the figure to fix an issues where the left and right shoulders were swapped.  I've also read reports of landing gears falling off and just over poor quality.  Luckily, mine arrived in pretty good shape.  The shoulders are fine, as is the landing gear.  There is a spot where the left wing tabs in where the paint flaked off a bit, but it isn't major.

Here's a horrible shot of all of the Seekers together.  I didn't feel like pulling out the Wal-Mart MP-03 deco, or the original MP-03.  I do have the Skywarp MP-03 figure in this shot, however.  Sadly, Skywarp is the great miss in my collection.  I passed on him for unknown reasons, and I've been kicking myself over it ever since.

The rest of my MP-11 mold figures seem to feel the same way as they've turned their backs on him. 

Bring on Dirge and Thrust!  Or else Ironhide gets it...