Month: August 2012

This is TFviews.com’s review of Toys R Us-exclusive Masterpiece Thundercracker.  This MP Thundercracker is based on the TakaraTomy MP-11 Coronation Starscream figure, itself a significant remold from the original MP-3 Starscream, correcting several issues with that original Masterpiece Seeker figure. TRU is charging $69.99, and this is their first Masterpiece Seeker US release after the first 2 – Starscream and Skywarp – were released through Walmart in ’07 and ’09, respectively, with the former released at $49 and the latter at $60, so inflation on the Masterpiece Seekers hasn’t been too painful at least; meanwhile, non-Seeker Masterpieces Rodimus and Grimlock went for $50 and $70, respectively, in the last few years. Keep in mind that Takara release their own MP Thundercracker in ’08 in Japan, but that was a different mold.

This will be another primarily-photos review, I’ll keep notes in list form in their various sections. Once again, great care was taken to present this figure in realistic light whenever possible. Please be sure to check out the large-sized images, this time linked from the medium-sized photo pages. Also, note that some images are comparing the original US Masterpiece Starscream set to this one.  Continue reading Masterpiece Thundercracker TRU-exclusive Review

This is TFviews.com’s review of the HasbroToyShop Comic Con-exclusive FOC Bruticus 5-pack.

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For those who don’t know, this set is an exclusive paint scheme meant to represent the Combaticons as they appear in the upcoming video game, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. While the mainline releases of the 5 Combaticon figures won’t be coming for a few more months, and the game itself won’t be released for a few more weeks, fans who were fortunate enough to either be at the 2012 Comic Con International in San Diego from July 11th through the 15th, or online at the exact right time when HasbroToyShop’s website released their small held-back cache of sets a few weeks after get to experience the Combaticons as they were originally planned for release, before the character colors were changed to brighter mainline looks.

This review will be primarily a photo review, most of you who know my style have seen very long written reviews, but for this review I will list only the broad strokes in brief lists and notes for each character. For those interested, great care was taken to shoot these photos in an extremely natural, realistic lighting so as to present the authentic visual impact of every aspect of this monumental figure set.

Continue reading Fall of Cybertron Bruticus SDCC-exclusive 5-pack Review