{"id":24552,"date":"2013-08-21T00:32:10","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T05:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=24552"},"modified":"2013-08-21T00:35:12","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T05:35:12","slug":"transformers-masterpiece-mp-12-sideswipe-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=24552","title":{"rendered":"Transformers Masterpiece
MP-12 Sideswipe Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> I was ready for a little change of pace this week when I looked across my \u201cpending review\u201d list. I\u2019ve been doing my best to keep on the site\u2019s bread & butter, 6\u201d reviews, but one of the great things I\u2019ve been collecting of late has largely gone ignored on the site: Transformers Masterpiece. <\/p>\n

A lot of it has to do with the line being really heavy on repaints. I\u2019m okay with this \u2013 smart mold use only helps my favorite toy lines along in these expensive times, but it makes it tricky to do reviews. Do I need to do a full review on Red Alert? Not really. He could get by with a brief review and some good pics \u2013 as long as I\u2019ve already reviewed the mold progenitor that is. Oops.<\/p>\n

Yeah. Acidstorm. Black Convoy. Tigertrack. I\u2019ve got some MPs piling up, so I need to get on the ball, go back a few months, and get the initial release on the books. That\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m doing today with MP-12 Lambor, or as we affectionately know him here in the states: Sideswipe! (And for the record, I won’t call him Lambor twice… okay, three times).<\/p>\n

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I never had Sideswipe, any version of Sideswipe, as a kid. I still have an affinity for him because he was a popular character, but I think his alt mode also makes him a little more important to me (and iconic to all) than some of his Transformers brethren. I mean, not very much is more 80s than a Lamborghini Countach. Though starting off in the 70s, that car hit market saturation in the 80s. Movies, TV. Micro Machines. Heck, this car got posters (do cars even still get posters?)! And it was only natural that it made its way into Transformers (multiple times over). <\/p>\n

Sideswipe arrives in his iconic alt mode and, honestly, I find myself tempted to leave him that way for vast periods of time. I\u2019m usually into Transformers\u2019 for the bots, but Masterpiece has been doing a fantastic job on the alt modes. In Sideswipe\u2019s case, I feel like I could almost leave him in car mode and convince my buds that I\u2019ve started collecting toy cars instead of figures. <\/p>\n

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The attention to detail is that good. First, you have the engineering to fit an entire Transformer into the alt mode cleanly, but it\u2019s the little things that sell it. The tampos are spot-on featuring the tiny bull shield logo on the hood and the and the name on the rear of the car. The line work is sharp and just about everything looks in place. I think the only visible kibble in this mold is at the rear of the car near the mufflers and it still manages to blend in well. <\/p>\n

Part of the polished look is due to an all-encompassing paint job that covers the car in the alt mode. While this does open the door for some QC issues, particularly around the clear-molded roof and windows pieces, I ended up with a pretty sharp example for my shelves. I do have to be a bit careful during transformations, particularly under the side-view mirrors as I think that\u2019ll be an easy spot to wear down the paint over time. <\/p>\n

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And lest you forget (or try to be mean to your friends) that this is Transformer, the hood features a great tampo of the classicly-placed Autobot logo. It looks right at home on this car, doesn\u2019t it? And if it\u2019s not just menacing enough, Sideswipe\u2019s shoulder cannon can plug into the car\u2019s roof (along with the rifle, if you\u2019d like) to give this figure a crazy 80s, car wars feel. <\/p>\n

While the alt mode is pretty magnificent on its own, the real fun begins when you start to transform him and pull the robot out of its disguise. The transformation process itself is pretty slick and I\u2019ve seen more than a few \u201cin-between\u201d pics that almost look like animation or artwork of the character transforming. Everything folds out nicely and there are some good examples of ingenuity at work like the lower legs forming as a \u201creverse\u201d box of the car\u2019s rear and a willingness to give Sideswipe brain surgery (his head folds open) so that it fits cleanly in the alt mode without looking wrong or messed up in bot mode. <\/p>\n

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Once you\u2019re done you end up with a decent-sized Transformer, about 6-6.5 inches in height. I think it\u2019s after transforming the figure once that he really starts to shine. Here\u2019s this little on-model Lamborghini and then it gets turned into an on-model robot. That\u2019s what the Masterpiece is really about and Sideswipe is a shining example of it. <\/em> Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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The robot mode sculpt is fantastic and if there\u2019s been compromise for the sake of the engineering I don\u2019t much see it. I think some angles might exaggerate the width of the hood\/chest, but that\u2019s about it. I\u2019m much more keyed in on the terrific head sculpt and the overall good proportions. Again, it appears very little compromise was made and the figure is better for it. <\/p>\n

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Also, the articulation worked into him makes him one of the better six-inch \u201cscale\u201d Transformers to come out in a long-time. Though some of the articulation is achieved through some complex hinges & swivels, Sideswipe essentially features ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, hips, & ankles, hinges at the elbows & knees, and swivels at the biceps, wrists, waist, and thighs. He may not be able to do some of the more extreme poses, but I\u2019ve found plenty of fun poses for him with the great range the joints give him. In a sense, if you just wanted to collect highly-posable 6\u201d robot figures, this is your man… er, robot. <\/p>\n

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I think the only real issue to take up with Sideswipe might just be his size. In his alt mode, he\u2019s scaled to interact with the MP-10 trailer and does so well even if there\u2019s no real way for a Countach to ever manage so steep a ramp. In robot form, he does seem a little small compared to the larger MPs that have come before, but he\u2019s surprisingly not. The size relation not only matches some of the style sheets \u201coccasionally\u201d used by the animators, but the relative heights to the original toys also appears to be similarly. Ultimately though, scale is more in the eye of the beholder when it comes to Transformers. If it looks like to you or not will depend more on you than whatever source material you choose to back yourself up (because there is no doubt conflicting source material elsewhere). For me, I do think the cars look a little small next to the jets in bot mode, but cars also also smaller than jets, so I\u2019m good. <\/p>\n

Sideswipe included the two aforementioned accessories and two others. The shoulder cannon itself feels more like a part of the figure and can be attached on either shoulder in bot mode or in the roof in alt mode. The classic rifle has also been given an update and is designed to fit into a groove on the palm of either hand. He looks sharp with the accessory, but I\u2019ve often found myself leaving it in the box and just letting him hang out with his menacing shoulder cannon.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of accessories left in the box, Sideswipe also includes two \u201cpile-driver\u201d hands. These hail from the cartoon and can be attached by spinning the hands back into the forearms and attaching them to the reverse side. I don\u2019t have much use for these, but they are a cool feature and help enhance the value of the figure. <\/p>\n

I also have to laugh at myself a bit because there are two other accessories that were packaged exclusive with Sideswipe if you purchased him from Amazon Japan, vac-metal jackhammer hands. I ended up buying a set from BBTS, but I can\u2019t for the life of me figure out where I stored them. A smart man would say the original packaging, but no luck. Tigertrack does include a set, so be sure to check them out in that upcoming review. <\/p>\n

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Overall, last year, when Masterpiece looked like it was gearing up to actually realize its potential, I was admittedly a little hesitant. The toys looked awesome. Heck, they are awesome. But they can be expensive. Over the last year, I would say I\u2019ve made an adjustment to the cost. In the same way, I don\u2019t much care about paying $20 for a well-articulated, six-inch figure, I\u2019ve also accepted that I\u2019ll be paying $70-80 for the Masterpiece cars if they\u2019re not going to get a domestic release from Hasbro(and so far, they\u2019re not). <\/p>\n

In a sense, this is the Transformers line I\u2019ve been waiting for and as long as I\u2019ve got the cash, I\u2019m going for it. Yes, the high price does have its drawbacks. QC must be spot on (and we all know it can\u2019t be for every single one) and there really can\u2019t be much I don\u2019t like about the final product. Thankfully, that\u2019s the case with Sideswipe. I got a great looking figure that has been a blast to own. It made ordering Red Alert a no-brainer and even pushed me into buying Tigertrack (who I absolutely don\u2019t need, but the Countach looks sweet in yellow). The MP line is pricey, but it\u2019s just one more example that it\u2019s a great time to be a toy collector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \t

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