MP figure reviews

The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone!
Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
User avatar
Shockwave
Supreme-Class
Posts: 6205
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:10 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

MP figure reviews

Post by Shockwave »

Ok, so I didn't see a thread specifically for reviewing MP figures, (I'm guessing it's because most of us don't have any MP figures or just very few of them). So I thought I'd start one, since I actually do have a few.

And I'm gonna start with MP 21G the G2 Bumblebee. When this figure first came out, I saw a lot of complaints that people felt it should have been bigger. Actually having the toy in hand, I can see why. In bot mode, MP Bee is actually shorter than Classics Bumblebee. But, it is also a lot more detailed, so I guess I can understand the price difference (although if you get these on ebay, MP Bee might actually be cheaper than Classics Bee). Anyway, like I said, there is a lot of detail to this figure. It represents an original VW Beetle complete with VW logos and everything and the vehicle mod is actually pretty good. I like the details added like adding the spare tire to the back or just having the license plate there. I also like that the spare tire can store under the front when not in use.

Transformation to bot mode is a little awkward, but no worse than any of the other MP figures I have and it feels familiar while also being something new and different. And it is appropriately complex without feeling unnecessarily complex.

Bot mode is a decent merging of the original cartoon and toy models, the chest area looking more like the cartoon, while the feet are obviously the front end of a VW Beetle. This version came with a jet pack rather than the spike/Daniel/whoeverthehellthatwas and I certainly think it's the better accessory. It's something that can add onto Bumblebee giving added display and play value rather than having to be it's own separate thing. Nothing against Spike or Daniel or whatever, but I never really cared for the humans in G1, so I'm certainly getting more use out of the jetpack. I also like that it comes with three faces: Battle mask original toy face, smiling face, mouth open face. I like having the option to have either cartoon face or toy face, especially on a G2 themed repaint since G2 Bee technically never had any fiction depicting him in anything other than his original G1 version. The color is a flat gold color, not bad, but not shiny like the original G2 toy, and I think it would have had a more G2 feel to it if it had been vacuum metalized. But, I understand why they didn't, since that would have been a lot of vacuum metalizing and more expensive. Still, it actually still felt G1 enough to me that I actually put the G1 logos on instead of the G2 ones. Yeah, it comes with stickers for customizing how you want the logos and license plate to look.

Anyway, overall, I would recommend this figure. Maybe not at it's original ~$70 price tag, but if you can find one for $30ish, then you could really do worse for Bumblebee figures. Good alt mode, good bot mode, lots of detail and features, it's everything you'd want from a Masterpiece. If they were going to scale the vehicles relative to other MP figures, he should be a little bit bigger, but I think they were going for scaling the character relative to his G1 counterparts and in that way, the size feels appropriate. If you put MP Bee next to MP Bluestreak, and then G1 Bee next to G1 Bluestreak, the scale is proportional. So yeah, could be bigger, but not a big deal that it isn't.

Next up: MP Diaclone Bluestreak.
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by JediTricks »

The reason you weren't seeing them is because they aren't an IDW/Generations product, they are G1. We don't have a centralized MP review thread, it appears we just review whatever in their own threads.

I think the cheaper MP Bees on ebay are actually KOs. MP KOs have gotten stupid sophisticated in the last few years, the KO I got - Sideswipe - is ridiculously similar to the authentic.

I didn't even know there was an MP G2 Bee, is it the Goldbug release without an Autobot symbol?

Japan has a fear of gold vac-metallizing poisoning their kids or something along those lines. Back in '95/'96 they wouldn't import the Kenner C-3PO POTF2 figure as-is because of this, had to release an alternate version with a different vac-metalized process that made him greenish. I suspect that's why MP G2 Bee is paint instead of vac-metal.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
Shockwave
Supreme-Class
Posts: 6205
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:10 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by Shockwave »

JediTricks wrote:The reason you weren't seeing them is because they aren't an IDW/Generations product, they are G1. We don't have a centralized MP review thread, it appears we just review whatever in their own threads.
Oh ok. I only speculated on this mostly based on that I don't see MP show up in the hauls threads very often.
JediTricks wrote:I think the cheaper MP Bees on ebay are actually KOs. MP KOs have gotten stupid sophisticated in the last few years, the KO I got - Sideswipe - is ridiculously similar to the authentic.
In looking through the listings, some of them were KO and some weren't. Most of the KO listings actually say they are KO, but I didn't see much price difference between the authentic ones and the KO. I actually got mine from BBTS on their one day sale.
JediTricks wrote:I didn't even know there was an MP G2 Bee, is it the Goldbug release without an Autobot symbol?
I'm only aware of three official releases of MP Bee: The regular yellow version that comes with Spike, the G2 version which is the one I have, and the red version. As far as I know, there isn't an actual "Goldbug" version of it yet (but I wouldn't put it past Takara, we can probably look forward to that news later this year). This one definitely is G2 Bee. It doesn't have logos painted on, rather they're stickers included so that people can decide for themselves if they want G1 or G2 logos on him.
JediTricks wrote:Japan has a fear of gold vac-metallizing poisoning their kids or something along those lines. Back in '95/'96 they wouldn't import the Kenner C-3PO POTF2 figure as-is because of this, had to release an alternate version with a different vac-metalized process that made him greenish. I suspect that's why MP G2 Bee is paint instead of vac-metal.
Huh. That's interesting. I would not have guessed that based on past TF releases (I recall one of the common fan complaints about the Henkei line was overuse of vacuum metalized parts). This does make me wanna track down the green 3PO now. Sort of. I already have 4 C3PO figures so I really don't need a 5th, but that would be an interesting oddity to have.
User avatar
Shockwave
Supreme-Class
Posts: 6205
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:10 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by Shockwave »

Alright, and as promised, review time! MP Diaclone Blue Bluestreak. Finally a version of Bluestreak that I don't have to paint myself if I want it to look like his original box art. Yeah, I honestly think that's where my obsession with this comes from. The original G1 line is no stranger to box art/promotional pics looking slightly different from the toy that came in the box, but I think the reason why this one stands out so much is because there was a completely different color scheme. Everything is different, vehicle mode, head, arms, legs, everything. And in a line where the only differences between several characters is color, it's like having an entirely different character on the box than in the box. And personally, I've always liked the blue version better. I think the colors of blue, white and silver compliment each other better than the black red and silver of the toy release. Which is why I was THRILLED when I heard they were doing this figure. I knew immediately that I would get one and that it would be the only MP Bluestreak I will get. Nothing against the others, but I just think this one looks better. So now that I have one, how does it stack up? Let's find out.

Bluestreak comes boxed in vehicle mod so I'll start with that first. Diaclone Bluestreak's colors are probably the weakest on his alt mode with most of the car being blue except for the hood, which is silver. For a toy Autobot, that's fine, but if you were to put that on an actual car someone would assume that you had gone to Pick N' Pull and bought a replacement hood after an accident and just never got it painted to match the rest of the car. In spite of this, I still like it. The blue and silver compliment each other well and if it was going to have silver somewhere the hood does seem like the best place for it. The detail is great and seems to have all the details one would find on the car, that being a Datsun Z-28 Turbo. I have seen several of these on the road and this is pretty much what they look like.

Transformation: The transformation is much more complex version of the original toy. By that I mean that things aren't exactly the same, but everything in bot mode winds up in more or less the same place in alt mode as the original toy. The head and arms are under the hood and the back end separates to become the lower legs and feet. The added complexity mostly facilitates the better articulation one typically sees in MP figures which means that that the extra steps don't feel like they are there just for reasons, but that there is actually a point for why everything moves the way it does.

Bot mode: Bluestreak's bot mode is where everything comes together, especially the colors. The silver hood makes a lot more sense when balanced out with silver upper legs, biceps, waist, gun and head cannons. The original figure actually has white parts for the lower torso and upper legs, but I don't feel like having them silver here hurts the figure in any way. In fact, I think the silver helps because it actually provides consistency. The articulation on Bluestreak is pretty detailed. He's got what you would expect from an MP figure: Ball jointed head, full movement of shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees, ankles and even finger joints. The individual fingers don't move, but there is a hinge so that he can have either an open hand or a closed fist/hold his gun.

Overall thoughts: I really like this figure. Aside from my own personal 30 year obsession with this thing, as a figure it stands up, both literally and figuratively. The detail, the transformation that is complex but necessarily so, the colors, the paint, the articulation. This really does feel like a Masterpiece. Which, for me, makes having this figure all the more satisfying. If you don't have any MP figures and are looking to start or are looking to get an MP version of Bluestreak, this is the one to go with. Also, this one came with a coin. So yay! Now I can go around flipping it like some Transformers version of Two-Face.

Next up: The only other MP I own at the moment: MP-10 Optimus (Hasbro version).
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by JediTricks »

Shockwave wrote:In looking through the listings, some of them were KO and some weren't. Most of the KO listings actually say they are KO, but I didn't see much price difference between the authentic ones and the KO. I actually got mine from BBTS on their one day sale.
Oh yeah, you got authentic. When I dug into the differences in package and item for Sideswipe, I found that a lot of the ebay listings claiming no KO or not mentioning it at the $40 range were KOs anyway, and even reported a few for asking more than the KO price. The one I picked up claimed authentic but was a KO, I wasn't surprised at the price. If the Bees aren't that different, Takara misjudged the audience for the item.
I'm only aware of three official releases of MP Bee: The regular yellow version that comes with Spike, the G2 version which is the one I have, and the red version. As far as I know, there isn't an actual "Goldbug" version of it yet (but I wouldn't put it past Takara, we can probably look forward to that news later this year). This one definitely is G2 Bee. It doesn't have logos painted on, rather they're stickers included so that people can decide for themselves if they want G1 or G2 logos on him.
Ah, ok, I wasn't sure. The small size kept vs pricetag kept this one from being in my wheelhouse.
Huh. That's interesting. I would not have guessed that based on past TF releases (I recall one of the common fan complaints about the Henkei line was overuse of vacuum metalized parts). This does make me wanna track down the green 3PO now. Sort of. I already have 4 C3PO figures so I really don't need a 5th, but that would be an interesting oddity to have.
Only gold vac-metal, not silver or other colors. This is a fair image of it: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjAw/ ... z/$_57.JPG


Congrats on the blue Bluestreak. The Hasbro release of regular is $50 at TRU now but it's just not tempting in the silver/black livery when I already have Prowl.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
Shockwave
Supreme-Class
Posts: 6205
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:10 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by Shockwave »

Yeah that's one good thing about BBTS, you always know you're stuff is authentic. I got mine on a one day sale for $50, and for the amount of versatility in display with this thing, I feel it was worth it, despite the size.

Also, that's interesting about the gold metalizing. And I see that 3PO is from the line where all the male characters were sculpted to look as buff as He-Man. And 3PO looking that buff is actually kinda hilarious.

I also never really cared for the black hooded version either. Actually I think that's a large part of why I've had a weird obsession with Bluestreak over the years. Back in the days of G1, the box art and promotional materials all showed the blue version, the cartoon was based on the black hooded version and then the toy was all silver. Especially when you look at the three Seekers on the Decepticon side and wonder how these three things aren't just three separate characters... yeah, it was inconsistent. In my head I always just substituted the blue version, probably because I thought since his name is BLUEstreak, he should actually have blue in his color scheme.
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by JediTricks »

Shockwave wrote:Also, that's interesting about the gold metalizing. And I see that 3PO is from the line where all the male characters were sculpted to look as buff as He-Man. And 3PO looking that buff is actually kinda hilarious.
Yeah, it was the mid '90s and roid-rage figures were everywhere. GI Joe Extreme and TMNT are good examples from '95:
http://www.yojoe.com/action/other/extreme/
http://www.tmnttoys.com/95figures/supermutes/index.html
http://www.tmnttoys.com/95figures/jimlee/index.html

There were a lot more than that, of course, but those immediately sprung to mind. 3PO's heroic physique is really funny, but that whole '95 wave of POTF2 is like that.
I also never really cared for the black hooded version either. Actually I think that's a large part of why I've had a weird obsession with Bluestreak over the years. Back in the days of G1, the box art and promotional materials all showed the blue version, the cartoon was based on the black hooded version and then the toy was all silver. Especially when you look at the three Seekers on the Decepticon side and wonder how these three things aren't just three separate characters... yeah, it was inconsistent. In my head I always just substituted the blue version, probably because I thought since his name is BLUEstreak, he should actually have blue in his color scheme.
Totally. It also just looks more prominent and exciting. The all-silver is good too, naturally that ALSO is an exclusive for the MP line.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
Shockwave
Supreme-Class
Posts: 6205
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:10 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by Shockwave »

Well to kill some time until my preordered MP Shockwave shows up, here's the review of MP-10 Optimus Prime. I might even compare it to MP01 since I had that one back in the day (did I really just say that?). The version I have is the Hasbro one supposedly sold at Toys R Us. I say supposedly because at no point did I ever see one there. In fact, I could say that for just about all of the MP figures. Except Grimlock. Anyway. This one was ordered through BBTS and came with a Vector Sigma and Key.

Bot mode: I'm starting with this since this is how he's packaged... Mostly. The trailer is folded up, but cab is in bot mode. He stands about 9" tall, making him about 3" shorter than MP01. I can't help thinking that maybe Takara wanted to keep going and start making more MP figures, but didn't want them all to be so gosh darned huge so they decided to scale Prime down a bit and scale the rest to him. And so far it seems to be working. The other upside of this is that we also got an MP Prime that actually came with a trailer, the lack of which is something that always annoyed me about MP01. Yeah, I know MP04, but that thing was like half a grand, so unless you were in an upper tax bracket, good luck. Anyway, MP-10's bot mode is probably as close to a super detailed version of the Floro Dery cartoon design from G1 as you could get while still having it be transformable. he's got great articulation, even some of the fingers move. Not all of them like MP01 did, but that minor loss is to be expected at a smaller scale. Mouthplate doesn't move either but again, that was to be expected. The chest opens up to reveal the Matrix and it even has the detail seen in the BW cartoon, which is a nice nod. It also makes the Matrix feel more secure in the chest. His gun can fold up and store in his back, which is also cool and even sort of offers an explanation for how or where he would randomly find his gun at just the right moment in the cartoon. He only has one Autobot logo (I usually prefer my Primes have two), but wah, whatever, at least it's molded and painted. chest grill, smokestacks and fuel tanks are all chrome. The trailer opens out into the combat deck similar to the original toy. I say similar because the Roller launch thing is absent and it seems lacking for it. Not that I actually want to launch roller out of the trailer but because there's nowhere to lock it in place in alt mode. Or any mode. It just... sits there, where it sort of should be... ish. Other than that, the trailer is awesome. The missile launcher thing has almost all the functionality of the original G1 toy without actual launchers and there's a TON of detail in there. Roller is more detailed as well, with a back end panel that can fold over and cover the top of the back. There's a hole on top of the back that looks like it can hold something, possibly with gun, but the gun doesn't fit. So not sure what that's for. The interior of Roller is hollow which makes a good place to store the Key to Vector Sigma when Prime's not holding it. Oh and the Key is gold chrome and die cast metal. VS is still a plastic ball. And no stand :| Prime also comes with the energy axe he had for two minutes in that one episode, that one time... Member? 'Member that one time? yeah. I never attach it to him either.

Transform! Yeah, I'm not gonna describe the whole transformation since if you've transformed MP01, you could reasonably know what to expect with some differences. The hands and headlights convert differently and there's some tweaks to the feet/leg transform as well. For the trailer, fold it up and done.

Alt mode!! So yeah, Prime's a big red truck. But you knew that. What you might not know is that in alt mode his cab form actually has a place for the trailer to lock into place so that some third party thing doesn't have to just sort of sit there awkwardly. And the trailer hitch turns allowing for movement. I should also mention that the trailer also has stands that can be folded out to prop it up even when it trailer mode but not connect to the cab. Also, this thing came with a mini figure of Spike who fits comfortably in Prime's cab. Or the cockpits of the trailer. Or roller. He has 4 points of articulation which puts him on par with current Star Wars figures. ZING!! I think the one main missed opportunity here is storage. There's plenty of room in the trailer for everything to go, but they didn't actually make places for things to go. There's no place to snap the axe into, or for Roller to lock into place or even for either Vector Sigma or the Key so almost all of that winds up just rattling around in the trailer. As I mentioned in the bot mode part above, his bot mode houses his gun so that's not an issue, but still they could have made places to store everything else, especially considering the "real estate" they had to work with. I dunno, it just leaves me with that same feeling I get when I spend a lot of time getting to that hard to reach place in a video game only to realize there's nothing there because the developers didn't think anyone would or could make it there.

Anyway, overall I'm pretty happy with my MP-10 Prime and for right now he's my default full/regular sized G1 Prime (As opposed to the Legends figures which are their own set and in their own scale). Great paint, great detail, great articulation. A few missed opportunities with the trailer, but nothing deal breaking. And the features that are there provide a lot of play or display value. And right now the price is about as good as you could get. When this first came out, it sold out immediately. The retail price was ~$119.99 if I'm not mistaken and then immediately jumped to over $300 on ebay. AND PEOPLE WERE PAYING THIS!!! Not me. I refused. There was no way I was gonna shell out that much for a figure I should have been able to get locally, given that I do actually have THREE TRUs in driving distance. Well lucky for me BBTS got a restock for 159.99 which means I only paid $40 more than I would have at retail. I can live with that. Still not thrilled, but I won't bitch about it either. And it's still there and in stock for that price. The funny thing is the reissue that was supposed to come out a little later, did but for some reason, that one is 189.99 and doesn't even have Vector Sigma. I don't get it. Anyway. Point is decently detailed figure still available for decent price, I don't think anyone would be disappointed.

On a side note, MP Ultra Magnus uses the same model of cab for his alt mode but apparently transforms completely differently. I would be interested and might get one just to compare the difference, but that will still be some time later if I do that. And hopefully I can have a review of my namesake by the end of next week. :D
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by JediTricks »

MP Shockwave and Hot Rod arrived today, customs kept them for 3 days but didn't maul them. Here's a brief first-impression of each:

Shockwave is pretty simple in sculpt, not even that sharp compared to most MPs, and a somewhat simple transformation. Alt mode has too many screw holes and is a little obvious, but is fun as hell to pew pew with, and the gun has a switch to go from trigger pulling shooting to a pulsing on and off effect, I can't help but love it. Bot mode has a lot of charm and a few interesting transformation tricks. The light-piped eye is good when lit, a little green when it's not catching light. The articulation is good, there's good waist articulation when you pull up the torso (thank you google translate image translation). The gun hand using the clear design looks amazing when on, jazzed me up on this figure a ton, there's a light pipe in it that glows well, and it pulse-cycles a few times. No tampo'd faction logos tho, they're stickers so you can go comic mode or toy. Really could use more paint. The mini-Shockwave pistol is awful to get in or out of the hand, have to put it in the palm loose, close the fist most of the way, then it'll slip in; forget and it's a broken thumb. Luckily the hands swap easily.

Hot Rod is very different from Shocky, an intricate sculpt and lots of paint, also mismatched PVC to ABS plastic colors where Shock doesn't suffer that. Vehicle mode is a bit massage-y but looks decent and has some nice detail at the headlights. I like the weapon storage slots. Transformation has a lot going on, very less annoying than MP9 version, even the goggles are simpler. Bot mode is pretty solid, only real drawbacks are the very flat oversized chest, the backpack is a bit big and full, and the torso-crunch gets engaged more than I'd like. Otherwise, pretty decent. Both guns look great, and the buzz saw isn't quite as nice as the prototype's paint but it's still very decent. The fishing pole is kinda cute, well-made, but dubious choice of accessory.

I just realized, no coins for me, HLJ wtf?
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
Shockwave
Supreme-Class
Posts: 6205
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 4:10 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: MP figure reviews

Post by Shockwave »

MP Shockwave. Finally, my MP namesake has arrived. I'll admit, I'm loving this figure, for obvious reasons. I don't have much more to say about the toy itself that JT hasn't said, other than I like the new transformation, specifically how it's been reworked to have the gun barrell be part of the transformation rather than an accessory. And I also like how it has it's own light source separate from the gun arm. Incidently, they did great with the gun arm, both attachments light up. Even the light purple one, if you look into the end of it, you can see the light. The mini Shockwave is amusing and a fun accessory. Now, that's not to say that I don't have a few... not really complaints, but things I would have done differently. First up is the color. This thing is bright. Like, really REALLY bright. Like G1 Skywarp bright. I generally prefer a much darker purple for Shockwave, like the original toy and comics. And I think the hands would have been better with index finger articulation not unlike what MP -10 has. My only other complaints are that the head piece is hard to lock into place and the middle section of the chest doesn't always stay down, but other than that, I'm a pretty happy camper. Over all I think this is a pretty good value for the money. It should also be noted that, thanks to Prowl's advice, I ordered this from Amiami.com, I saved about $34 after shipping. So yeah, MP Shockwave comes highly recommeded.
Post Reply