Masterpiece Movie Series MPM-15 Brawl

Given the number of Third Party Masterpiece-analogues I own, I have been fairly slow in getting into the official Movie Masterpiece line, largely because they've become so expensive since Barricade, Jazz and VW Bumblebee. Their size and requirement for shelf space has obviously played a role as well, given the limited space now available in my home but, in several cases, I've divested myself of older toys of a specific character to make space, because the Studio Series versions were better representations of the movie CGI, made to a more appropriate size, with vastly improved engineering and articulation.

Brawl, however, was one that I owned the Leader class toy from the original movie's toyline, and had been sufficiently pleased with it that the Voyager class Studio Series toy was surplus to my requirements. However, when the improved oversized KOs came out, I reconsidered and sold the Leader class toy to make space in my collection for a more accurate replacement (or tried to, at least: the courier lost it en route to its new owner, so I had to refund the buyer and then neither of us had the toy!). It was never an urgent purchase, though, particularly while I was only working intermittently as a freelancer, and the more I looked at the SS mold, and its oversized KOs, the more shortcomings I saw. In the end, it wasn't till last year - having started a new job - that I decided to shell out for the Masterpiece instead... and, even then, I only bought it because it had been discounted by about a third of the original UK RRP.

Given the lacklustre presentation of MPM Bonecrusher, my expectations for this figure were somewhat lower than they could have been for a Masterpiece figure. So, let's find out how this compares to the existing Masterpieces in my collection.

Generations Selects Legacy: Evolution Antagony

Femme-Bot Friday #90

These days, even now I'm back in full-time work, impulse buys of TransFormers toys are few and far between, because my abiding impression is that overall quality has dropped substantially versus toys from a few years ago. Where a new figure is a remake of an earlier Generations toy - especially something like the Kingdom Waspinator mold feeling like a cheap knockoff of the 30th Anniversary toy - I'm even less inclined to pick up the newer version.

However, Legacy Inferno was the first new toy of the Beast Wars character since the 1997 original, which I've never owned, and Antagony was a BotCon 1998 exclusive repaint as a Femme-Bot, which I've also never owned... The new toy appeared to be such a hopeless simplification of the original, losing most of its impressive features, so Inferno was among the majority of Legacy toys that I skipped.

And yet... when I happened upon Generations Selects Legacy: Evolution Antagony - ostensibly a limited edition repaint by Hasbro themselves - at a branch of Game inside a Sports Direct in Eastbourne, that old impulse arose. Could this be another case of buyer's remorse? Let's take a look...

Yolopark AMK Series TransFormers One Elita-1 (Cogged Bot Mode)

Femme-Bot Friday #89

I'm honestly still not sure what I think of TransFormers One. While it was great to have a fully CG animated movie - and one that looked fantastic, at that - if felt more like a series of loosely-connected set-pieces than a coherent, considered - or even valuable - addition to existing TransFormers lore. I'm not a great fan of origin stories at the best of times, but the problem with creating one for the cinematic TransFormers oeuvre is that the general public will inevitably ask "but how does this connect to Bayverse?" and, no matter how one tries to convince them it's a new, wholly separate continuity, that's too much for the general public to grasp, given the cultural impact - for better or worse - of the Bayverse series movies. After all, each attempt to reboot the franchise since the diminishing returns of those five movies has met with failure - including TransFormers One.

On top of that, I've always been dubious of the concept of the T-Cog - the singular component that grants a Cybertronian their capacity to transform - because it simply makes no sense. How would a race evolve with such a huge aspect of their 'biology' reliant on a single 'organ', the removal of which poses no significant problem for their function? And why should the reintroduction of a T-Cog to their living anatomy - particularly a T-Cog from another Cybertronian, as presented in this movie - trigger an instant increase in physical size, rather than simply unlock the ability to transform that must surely have been already built-in?

All of which is, let's face it, entirely beside the point for a write-up of a non-transforming 'model kit' based on one of the movie's characters, so perhaps I should leave further discussion till I (can be bothered to) get round to writing up my full, unfiltered thoughts about the movie... Perhaps after I inflict it on Courtney give it a second watch. Instead, for now, let's focus on the supreme irony that is a non-transforming figure of the transforming, upgraded form of Elita-1.

Classics/Masterpiece Starscream

Back when I wrote about Takara's MP03 Starscream, a whole fifteen years ago, I said I'd gladly acquire every iteration of this mold if I had the money and the space. While space is still something of an issue (I am in the process of thinning down my collection, but it's a slow process due to real life concerns), I happened to find this guy on eBay for a surprisingly reasonable price... When I later received a discounted offer from the seller, I just had to buy... Especially as I'd been having a rather trying time at home (due to redecoration work) and in the office, while Courtney was away travelling across Europe, and basically needed something cool to cheer me up.

Since MP03 emerged, I have to confess I've had a love/hate relationship with this iteration. Part of me feels the whole G1 colourscheme does the mold a disservice... but part of me thinks the mold transcends the ridiculously bright paint job, resulting in a truer interpretation of G1 Starscream.

So, let's take another look at this now 20-year-old mold, and see how it stands up to scrutiny in the year that is the 40th Anniversary of the original animated movie...

Flame Toys FuRaiModel Kit Arcee

(Femme-Bot Friday #88)

So, after enjoying the Windblade kit, it was a foregone conclusion that I'd want the Arcee kit as well. This model kit seemed to take a while to arrive - first revealed back in 2022, it wasn't available (in the UK, via my usual channels) till late 2023, at which point I snapped her up and, unlike with Windblade, started building her soon after she arrived... and, instead, this draft has been sitting around waiting for me to complete it for more than two years now.

Just like Windblade, Flame Toys' second Femme-Bot kit met with a mixed reception but, Arcee being dearer to the hearts of fans of a certain age, it was perhaps even more vitriolic. It's a strange thing to observe, frankly, that the 'mom/babysitter' character from the 1986 animated movie - who was clearly designed with the male gaze in mind - is somehow not 'allowed' to be sleek and feminine, even though Hasbro's most recent versions of her have been precisely that, just with an entire car shell stuck on her back.

As I've said before, the very idea of non-transforming TransFormers is anathema to me, but it's been apparent for some time that Hasbro themselves - and even Takara Tomy, to a degree - are incapable of designing good Femme-Bot figures, and it's really been up to the Third Parties to innovate. And, while this isn't a Hasbro or Takara Tomy product, it is officially licensed... and, because I really enjoy model kits, they've become an exception... as future Femme-Bot Fridays may continue to demonstrate.

For the moment, though, let's take a look at this new interpretation of Arcee, to see how she compares to other depictions of the character.

Unexpected Challenges

Back in March, my girlfriend took the opportunity to go travelling around Europe. Over the last year or so, she'd had two complicated bereavements within the space of just two months, a toxic situation had developed at work at much the same time and, all the while, she was working on her Masters degree in Space Science and Technology. When she received her results (pass with distinction) she handed in her notice and started planning in earnest a trip she'd fully expected to have to put off till she retired.

This presented a useful opportunity for me to get some work done on our flat, since I'd only have to worry about my own (in)convenience. I've needed to get the ceilings redone ever since the roof got fixed about two years ago, so that was the main job I wanted to get done. Courtney and I had also discussed redecorating the bedroom, so I was even able to tag the redecoration onto the end of the ceilings refit, once I had her preference for paint colour.

But what has this to do with TransFormers, you ask? Why is this momentous enough to warrant a blog post?

Well, because I ended up transforming a bunch of my figures into vehicle mode for the sake of portability (also to pass the time while work was going on in another room), and completely empty an Ikea 'Detolf' cabinet so it could be moved without the contents falling over (or out).

And the figures in this cabinet were largely Masterpiece and 3P MP-analogues, with a couple of exclusives.

So, while work progressed in the lounge, I had the cabinet temporarily in the bedroom, with its contents spread out on the bed and, in every case, the instructions stashed away in the boxes which were, naturally, inaccessible... Some of the figures were notoriously breakable, or had complicated or fussy transformations, while others were simplicity itself... Here's a quick breakdown: