The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Xigfrid]

That looks like the seller has been hacked, even the GT-03 Optimus prime EX at 49$ is too suspicous. 

Then i realized that I prefer this OP Ex than the classic G1 OP, even as ET-01 or MS-01 flavors. Am I weird ? !

[mikeszekely]

18 minutes ago, Xigfrid said:

Then i realized that I prefer this OP Ex than the classic G1 OP, even as ET-01 or MS-01 flavors. Am I weird ? !

No, Op Ex is a great figure.

[JB0]

3 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

Then i realized that I prefer this OP Ex than the classic G1 OP, even as ET-01 or MS-01 flavors. Am I weird ? !

Nah. Not everything has to be a slavish perfectly toon-accurate toy, though that is definitely where the money's at. There's plenty of room for reimagined homages.

Heck, all this Optimus love lately's had me fishing out Classics Prime. He's still a fun toy, though the arm-shields are no smaller a wrinkle now than when he was new. I still think the exhaust pipe gun is awesome.

[mikeszekely]

Wanted to get this up quick, because a.) my Magic Square Optimus comes today, and b.) it's been a super long time coming.  This guy first came out in something like 2015 or 2016, and I preordered and prepaid for a reissue all the way back in March.  This is Gigapower's Guttur, their MP Snarl.

Like Gigapower's other dinobots, Guttur isn't as slavishly cartoon accurate as, say, Fans Toys' Sever, but I don't think it's fair to he's toy-accurate and leave it at that.  I think he's a happy medium between the two.  He's got big, round shoulders, gray forearms, and not a lot of the toy's sticker details on his torso aside from cartoon-accurate molded gunsight-looking pattern and the red right below it.  He doesn't have halves of a Stegosaurus head hanging off the sides of his knees, either, although he does retain the toy's dino legs on the outside of his robot legs.  He's also got some spots of red, black, and blue paint on his legs and red on his shoulders that can be thought of mimicking the toy's stickers, but AFAIK so did Sever.  I'd say that the biggest visual difference that separates Guttur from the cartoon model or Sever (aside from the visible dino legs) is his pelvis, which is black with some red, silver, blue, and yellow painted details that similar to the toy's stickers, while the cartoon and Sever both have a red pelvis.

There's not a lot to add that I haven't said in my reviews of Grassor and Graviter.  His silver parts are painted with a nice silver sheen, his red parts are either a red chrome or a very metallic red paint, and the gold parts are all a gold chrome.  The black and translucent parts are really the only unpainted parts.  His size and give him a premium feel that combines with his bling for an incredible shelf presence.

Do note that, like the other Gigasaurs, you can purchase this guy in a non-chromed metallic version.  The metallic version retains the silver paint but swaps the red paint/chrome for bare red plastic and the gold chrome for a metallic gold paint.  

Guttur comes with a few accessories (possibly more if you get the metallic version, but I'm not sure if all the parts that came with the original came with the reissue).  You've got his sword and gun, both of which are pretty G1-accurate.  The gun does have a non-so-accurate red tip on the barrel, and the sword splits the difference between toy red and cartoon gray by putting a red blade on a black handle.  Both accessories light up, but I don't have the right batteries.  Additionally, you get a missile launcher that the G1 toy had, some translucent parts, black parts that fit into the back of his head, and a sheet with eye stickers on jeweled red material  Last but not least, you get an alternate head with a snarling face, red eyes, and red forehead instead of the neutral face, blue eyes, and silver forehead that comes installed.  Swapping the head is as easy as pulling it off the ball joint and popping the other one on.  However, as long as you haven't wedged one of those fillers into the back of his head you can unscrew it and take it apart.  In theory, this lets you choose your own forehead/eyes/face combo.  In practice, I couldn't get the face off of the red forehead, so I'm going to wind up with red forehead, snarl, and blue eyes when I think I'd prefer silver forehead, snarl, and blue eyes.

(Mini rant, but where did the red forehead come from?  The G1 toy had silver, the cartoon had black.  But both Sever and the ToyWorld snarl have red, and Guttur has a red option.)

As mentioned, Snarl's head is on a ball joint.  He can look up a little and tilt his head slightly, but his chest is too puffy for him to look down.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets and can extend laterally 90 degrees on another ratchet.  Biceps can swivel.  Elbows bend 90 degrees on ratchets.  His wrists swivel.  Each finger is individually articulated.  The thumb is on a ball joint at the base with no additional joints.  His fingers have a pin hinge at the base knuckle and one additional hinged knuckle.  His waist can swivel, and mine is super tight.  His hip skirts have hinges to get out of the way, and his hips go forward a little less than 90 degrees forward and backward on a ratchet, and laterally 90 degrees on another ratchet.  His thighs swivel around the hip joints.  His ratcheted knees bend one click under 90 degrees if you leave everything tucked away properly, however you can move the halves of the dinosaur head and get enough clearance to go one click beyond 90 degrees.  His feet are kind of weird.  The gold toes can move up and down a little, and they can pivot a little.  There's also a part in his heel that can pivot, so he has a flat base to stand on when his legs are spread a little, but their range is a little limited.  However, due to his transformation his entire lower leg can bend inward at the knee on a ratcheted joint.  I wouldn't use it to an extreme degree, but just a click looks pretty dynamic.

A special note here, apparently Guttur's hips were an issue originally.  They were too weak, or something like that.  That's definitely not the case with this reissue.  The forward/backward ratchet doesn't feel super strong, but I can pick him up, turn him horizontally, and give him a shake, and nothing moves.  The ratchets support the weight of the legs, and there's no play between clicks.  He's rock solid.

Both the gun and sword have tabs on the handles that peg tightly into slots on his palms.  The sword is a little wide, so his thumb can't wrap around it, but it's not going to fall out.

The missile has a peg on a double hinge.  You can plug it into a port on either forearm, or into the screw holes on his back if you want it over his shoulder.  If you're like me and not planning on using the missile launcher you can flip a peg out of the butt of the rifle and peg it into one of the screw holes.  One of the translucent parts is a clip that can peg into the other screw hole, and it fits around his sword so you can store both weapons on his back.  Unfortunately, the clip has to be removed for dinosaur mode.

He's got one other little easter egg, something the other Gigasaurs don't have.  You can open the sides of his chest up, like that one episode of the cartoon.  There's nothing in there except for some molded circuits and wires, but it's nice that Gigapower used some silver, blue, and black paint on those molded details.

Guttur, naturally, turns into a Stegosaurus.  There's not a ton of difference between Snarl's cartoon and toy in dino mode.  Like both, Guttur's got gold front legs, gold legs from the knee down on the rear, gold head, spine plates, and head, translucent circles on his hips, and is otherwise predominantly silver with a little red on his back near his hips and tail.  He's got more molded and painted circuits and wires in the gap where his dino legs tuck in for robot mode; I guess that's closer to the toy than the cartoon's dark gray arrow.

What he doesn't have is eyes.  There's molded spots for them, but all you get for color is the stickers I mentioned back in the accessories.  That's frustrating, because everything else about him feel so premium.  It's baffling that they cheaped on on that one last little detail.

In dino mode Guttur's head can move up and down a tiny amount, as well as look left and right a bit.  His mouth does open, and inside are a pair of individually-hinged cannons.  His front legs can rotate at the hip on a friction joint, and laterally just a little bit.  The knee bends on a ratchet and has about 90 degrees of range.  The front paws can't tilt up and down but a hinge does give him an ankle pivot.  His rear hips are his robot shoulders, with ratcheted rotation and 90 degrees of lateral spread.  His new dino knees can move forward and backward a little, but they're fairly limited.  They can also swivel on his robot-mode bicep swivel, but his robot-mode elbow is tucked away.  His rear paws can move up and down, plus the toes can bend up.  Like the front paws he does have ankle pivots at the rear, but they have less range.  His tail has a joint for a little side-to-side wiggle, but he doesn't have the range or the up/down motion to actually use his thagomizer.

The peg holes on his robot forearms are still available on his rear dino thighs, so you can plug in the missile launcher, sword clip, and gun, just not all three at the same time.  

Finally, if you really want that G1 toy look Gigapower's got you covered.  Simply fit the translucent parts over his head and neck, and voila.

While there are a ton of official and 3P Dinobots out there today, after all this time your only MP choices for are still just Gigapower and FansToys (unless you count the too-small MP-08 or the OS KO).  Happily, you really can't go wrong with either.  FT's are slightly more cartoon accurate, Gigapower's are a little bigger, blend in some extra toy details, and deliver a more premium finish without needing to track down some X-version repaint.  Both sets enjoy quality materials, quality construction, and simple, effective engineering.  What it really comes down to is a mix of availability (which ones happen to be readily in stock when you want to buy) and which has the small differences you prefer.  I'm happy with Guttur and the other Gigasaurs, and I'm looking forward to maybe finally getting the last two this year, so yes, I'd definitely recommend Guttur.  Just know that FT is good too.

[technoblue]

33 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Do note that, like the other Gigasaurs, you can purchase this guy in a non-chromed metallic version.  The metallic version retains the silver paint but swaps the red paint/chrome for bare red plastic and the gold chrome for a metallic gold paint.  

Thanks for the review.  Unless GigaPower decided to forego the paint for the reissue, the Metallic version should have matte red paint baked onto the plastic. Grassor and Graviter have a similar red paint application, and it has a texture to it. Also, there are reports of red paint rubbing on the foam packaging for both the Metallic and Chrome reissues. Something new to watch out for, I guess.

38 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

A special note here, apparently Guttur's hips were an issue originally.  They were too weak, or something like that.  That's definitely not the case with this reissue.  The forward/backward ratchet doesn't feel super strong, but I can pick him up, turn him horizontally, and give him a shake, and nothing moves.  The ratchets support the weight of the legs, and there's no play between clicks.  He's rock solid.

That's a relief! The hip ratchets were such a disappointment for me, and I didn't have the patience to wait for the replacement pieces that were sent out with Grassor later on. My old Chrome Guttur couldn't stand straight without me fiddling with him constantly. It was a frustrating thing at the time.

I recall there was another problem, although I don't know how wide spread it was, where the arm joints were loose on the early copies of Metallic Guttur, Luckily, I didn't experience any of that with my old Chrome version. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting a new Metallic Gutter to add to my GigaPower team, then Swoop...

 

[Tking22]

Over the last several years I've had a number of friends get interested in 3P Transformers, some asked about legends scale, which I couldn't help with, and MP, which I absolutely could. I am usually hard pressed to recommend 3P carbots, for many, they never look QUITE right, and always seem a bit off somehow, so my go to for recommendations is Dinobots. Always Dinobots, glorious Dinobots.

You can't go wrong with Giga of FansToys, they both made damn fine, quality figures. And for me, they both stand as perfect examples of what 3P MP can do, they are pretty spot on for QC, imposing and huge, they hit the nostalgia hard for either fans of them in the toon or the original G1 toys, they're properly scaled, both companies put out premium finishes, and both sets of dinos have some fantastic engineering. The other big point? Compared to some 3P carbots these days, their transformations are EASY AND FUN, there's nothing really difficult on any dino from either company, you can transform them up on a whim just for fun. They're expensive, yes, but getting one in hand you pretty much immediately fall in love, they're big, well made, and fun, they usually always become center pieces for an Autobot display.

On a side note, TE-01 will be here Friday.... I'm looking forward to an MS-01 review by mikeszekely.

I do want to check out MS-01, but not as Optimus, I'm waiting on the inevitable white Magnus repaint, I think the thick, more blocky look will work for that just fine. Conversely, I feel TE-01 should make a Prime with chrome instead of silver paint, grey hips, add the cab stripe, yellow eyes, and call it a "toy" inspired TE-01. Then again I would also kind of be interested in an MS-01 in the "toon" colors, white legs, no cab strip, etc.

 

 

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, technoblue said:

Unless GigaPower decided to forego the paint for the reissue, the Metallic version should have matte red paint baked onto the plastic. Grassor and Graviter have a similar red paint application, and it has a texture to it.

Huh. I didn't know that. It just looked like bare plastic to me. I wonder why they didn't use a glossy paint, or something with a satin metallic sheen? Well, I stand corrected.

 

3 hours ago, Tking22 said:

I'm looking forward to an MS-01 review by mikeszekely.

3 hours ago, Tking22 said:

Conversely, I feel TE-01 should make a Prime with chrome instead of silver paint, grey hips, add the cab stripe, yellow eyes, and call it a "toy" inspired TE-01.

That would fix most of my complaints with TE-01.

As it stands, I'm interested in picking up TE-01, but having already bought MS-01 and with a bunch of other stuff trying to beat CNY I decided to wait for the second release in April/May.

Edited January 16, 2019 by mikeszekely

[Kuma Style]

 

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Huh. I didn't know that. It just looked like bare plastic to me. I wonder why they didn't use a good plastic, or something with a satin metallic sheen? Well, I stand corrected.

I had to double check and make sure my memory wasn't playing tricks, but sure enough Peaugh mentions it in his video review of the Metallic Guttur test shot way back when. Given how there is a texture on the later Metallic dinos, I'm hoping that GigaPower is continuing to use the same application. When compared to the Chrome versions in photos, it does look dull but in person it looks quite nice (to me anyway) and I have Fans Toys X dinos so I am all set for a group of shiny brutes.

RE: TE-01

I've warmed up to it after watching Ben's review--especially that truck mode--but I'm also trying not to go overboard like I did with my third-party Megatron purchases. I need to see more before I cave. 

[Kuma Style]

 

[captain america]

[derex3592]

Well....my $49.95 TE-01 off EvilBay .... or whatever it is....shipped out yesterday from Somewhere, China.  .  We'll see what shows up on my porch in a few weeks! 

 

 

[Negotiator]

$50 te-01???

I sure hope it isn't a bogus envelope.

[derex3592]

Me too! 

[Xigfrid]

3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Well....my $49.95 TE-01 off EvilBay .... or whatever it is....shipped out yesterday from Somewhere, China.  .  We'll see what shows up on my porch in a few weeks! 

 

 

Let us know what arrives, the guy had another stock of 4 and I am still hesitating. I think if he had the MS version I would have tempted the devil ;P

[derex3592]

I'll definitely let everyone know what comes! 

[M'Kyuun]

Good luck; hopefully you got a good deal. As for me, I'm awaiting the arrival of my Magic Square Prime on Saturday. Looking forward to it.

[mikeszekely]

I think most Transformers fans would be willing to admit that MP-10, great as it was, is a bit dated by today's standards.  While Takara is set to replace MP-10 with MP-44 later this year, a newer company known only for making Legends-scale figures decided to beat them to the punch, and the result is MS-01 Light of Freedom, the first MP-scale figure from Magic Square and the opening salvo in 2019's MP Optimus war.

Some people who are going for total cartoon accuracy and basing their image of Prime on a very specific image of Prime's animation model may find MS-01 a little too beefy.  Such is their subjective prerogative, but I think he was animated fairly inconsistently and was often drawn, even in the '86 movie, as a little chunkier.  Measured from shoulder to shoulder, around his waist, or the thickness of his forearms actually has him fairly close to MP-10, which nobody used to have a problem with.  And in a lot of ways, Magic Square fixed a lot of MP-10's other issues.  His torso is a little shorter and his legs are a little longer, with better balance between his thighs and lower legs.  His arms, especially in his forearm area, are shorter.  On the whole, MS-01 has much better proportions than MP-10.

Cartoon accuracy is another consideration, but a contentious one.  I think everyone expects a level of cartoon accuracy in their figures, but after a point there's a divide between people who want their toys to look exactly like the cartoon because that's how they remember the character and the people who feel looking too much like an inconsistently (and often poorly) animated 35 year old cartoon isn't the best way to go (full disclosure, I'm in the second group).  MS-01 definitely pushes for more cartoon accuracy than MP-10.  He's got smaller faux fuel tanks on the outsides of his legs, and his rear tires are neatly hidden away.  The vents on his shins are blue instead of silver.  He sheds some of the extra molded detail that MP-10 carries, especially the rivets.  Some of the molded detail he does have, including the molding on his thighs and the little triangles above his shin vents, are more in keeping with the line work that was on Prime's animation model.  Although his smokestacks, grill, and faux fuel tanks are all chromed he's got more of a matte and less metallic look with a very light gray used for his thighs, pelvis, forehead, and some of his face, and a slightly darker gray for his torso and mouth plate.  Still, cartoon purists will likely bemoan the fact that MS went with gray instead of white on the pelvis and thighs, that his fingers aren't more rounded, that he's still got too much molded linework on his shoulders and lats, that he's still got windshield wipers, or that his grill is too realistic.  Needless to say, none of those issues bother me.  Minor issues that do bother me would be the visible red mushroom pegs that his hands are attached to, the tabs on the inside of his forearms, and that his blue crotch piece is a little too small.

One other note is that the plastic feels like an improvement over the stuff Magic Square uses in their Legends figures, but still similar, and there's very little paint on him.  I kind of like this plastic, and I think it looks fine without the paint, but there are definitely some people who are going to be bothered by them.

Given that MS-01 has a little more bulk than Transform Element or Takara's upcoming figures a lot of people are wondering how he compares with different Megatrons, not just MP-36.  I think he's a match for Maketoys' Despotron in terms of physical dimensions, but the lack of metallic paint (especially silver) and more subtle molded details aren't exactly a match.

Anyway, MS-01 comes with a few accessories.  You've got your Energon axe, your ion rifle, an alternate forehead, and some battle damage parts that I will almost certainly never use.  Swapping the regular parts for the battle damaged parts requires pulling his lats off on a little tab and simply opening his chest and pushing the windows out.  I'm digging the rifle, which has a much better shape and size than the one that comes with MP-10, although it can't fold up and store in his back.  I think it also looks better than the replacement rifle that you get if you buy articulated KFC hands for MP-10.

Regarding the alternate forehead, the difference if pretty subtle.  Basically, the default head (right) is smooth and a little more rounded on top with a flared bill, like a ball cap.  The alternate (left) is a more direct copy of MP-10's with molded lines and a wider band that comes to a sharper point over his nose.  While I think I'd have been totally fine with the MP-10-style head, in hand the default head looks more correct, so that's what I'll be going with.

One area MS was really able to improve over MP-10 was articulation.  MS-01's head is on a hinged swivel, so he can look up about 45 degrees, down until his chin touches his chest, and rotate.  His shoulders rotate on friction joints.  Like MP-10 you can pull his arms out from his body to reveal a hinge for lateral motion, but unlike MP-10 it's ratcheted and can get a full 90 degrees.  Plus, when fully extended he's got butterfly shoulders that can go a little backward and about 60 degrees forward.  He's a double-jointed friction elbows.  Each joint can do 90 degrees by itself and combined can curl his arm nearly the whole way up.  I think using the lower joint first looks more natural, but it's much tighter than the upper joint.  He's also got two bicep swivels, one at the top of the bicep and one between his elbow joints.  Again, the joint I think you'd want to use most of the time (the upper one) is the tighter one.  His wrists can swivel.  He's got individually-articulated fingers.  The thumb is on a ball joint with one additional knuckle hinge, and the fingers are pinned at the base with one additional knuckle hinge.  His waist can swivel.  Due to a system of hinges for transformation he's also got an ab crunch that can go 90 degrees forward and at least 45 degrees backward.  However, using the ab crunch can really break up the sculpt.  His pelvis has hinged flaps in the front and sides; the front flaps on mine are a tad loose, and pulling out the side flap also pulls his butt down and out.  With the flaps out of the way you get a little less than 90 degrees forward and about 45 degrees backward on a ratcheted universal joint, and just over 90 degrees laterally on a soft ratchet.   His thighs swivel around the universal joint, and although you can't swivel them all the way around you can turn his legs 90 degrees in either direction, which is plenty.  His knees are double-jointed, friction on top, ratcheted on the bottom.  Part of his knee opens up to reveal a diecast piston inside.  A lot of people think the knees are ugly, but they don't bother me, especially if you only use the lower joint.  Again, both joints can do 90 degrees by themselves, and combined you get nearly 180.  His toes can bend up and down, and there's a little play in his feel and the whole foot.  Plus you've got about 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

His rifle uses the standard MP method of having tabs on the handle fit into slots on his palms.  His axe works sort of the same way, in that there's a handle that tabs into his palm, but it goes with it's chunk of spiked orb on the bottom of his fist.  Then the part with the axe fits over the top.  YMMV, but the tab on one side of the axe handle was longer than the other kept pushing out when I tried to put the axe on his left hand, but it works fine in his right hand.

If you're like me, you might be thinking that his axe is a little on the puny side.  I don't usually pose my Primes with axes anyway, but if it really bothers you the axe from MP-10 will mostly fit around his fist.

Depending on the exact look you're going for, MS-01's smokestacks can slide up and down on his shoulders.  I personally like the bottom of the stack to be roughly even with the shoulder, but in the cartoon it's often drawn reaching to nearly his elbow.  The pipe at the top of the stack can slide in and out as well, so sliding the whole thing down doesn't leave him with short stacks.

Like any good MP Prime you can open his chest and reveal the Matrix of Leadership inside.  It is removable, and as Matrices go, it's ok.  It's mostly diecast with silver and copper paint and a smooth translucent blue orb... I just happen to think that the Matrix that came with MP-10 had a better sculpt.  And no, MP-10's doesn't fit in MS-01.

Much ado has been made of the fact that, mostly due to his transformation, there's no Matrix cover besides the chest windows themselves.  In hand, I do wish there had been some sort of cover, as the Matrix is visible through the windows, but it's not as bad as I thought it'd be.

Speaking of transformation, it's pretty smooth, intuitive, and enjoyable.  In some ways, it's similar to MP-10's.  His head still folds into his torso, although it goes in through the back instead of the chest.  His lats still fold down and spin 180 degrees to bring out the tires, flaps on his back still ride those spinning lats to bring the headlights and the sides of the bumper forward.  His waist still rotates 180 degrees, his toes still fold up, and his thighs still collapse into his lower legs.  The differences are that there's more going on with the legs to bring out his rear tires and truck mode fuel tanks, the piece with the headlights and bumper is has more of the cab front on it, and panels unfold from his arms to fill in the sides of the truck.  Also, there's no faux grill.  The grill and Matrix chamber pull out, the Matrix chamber spins around to reveal the bumper, and then the whole thing rotates 180 degrees and pushes back in.

The truck mode is ok, overall.  The cab loses some of MP-10's details like the rivets and the ladder by the fuel tank, but the fuel tank isn't squished like it is on MP-44.  Plus, unlike TE-01 and MP-44, MS-01 retains the stripe on the cab.  I know some people want it gone in the name of cartoon accuracy, but I think the cab looks unfinished without it.  Unfortunately, behind the cab things are a bit of a mess with a hitch section that's very obviously robot legs.  I don't think he's any worse than MP-10 in that regard, but I can't argue that Transform Element looks way better back there than Magic Square.

The overall dimensions between the MS-01 and MP-10 are fairly similar, with MS-01 being slightly shorter top to bottom and front to back, but nearly identical in width and overall length.  Like MP-10, MS-01 has rubber tires and chrome on the stacks, grill, wheels, bumper, and fuel tanks.  It's worth mentioning that the side mirrors on MS-01 don't feel as good as MP-10s, and one has even popped off on me, but aside from those mirrors MS-01 fits together better than MP-10.

One thing I find odd about MS-01 is that the instructions have you turn around part of the vents on his shins, revealing a flatter surface with a pair of tabs per leg.  The tabs don't work with MP-10's trailer; all you can do is kind of perch the trailer on him, and even then it's a little too high.  Yet skipping that step doesn't hinder anything else.  You can get the same truck mode without flipping those panels around.  So why'd MS do it?  Why have those four little tabs?  Could MS be working on a trailer for MS-01 at a later time?  I've skipped buying trailers for GT-03 Op Ex and both Fans Hobby's Laser Optimus and Scourge figures, and would honestly have preferred if MS-01 worked with MP-10's trailer.  But if the price is reasonable I could probably talk myself into buying an MS trailer for this guy.

Sometimes it's the little touches that get me.  You have to undo the sides a little, but you can open the cab on MS-01 just like you can with MP-10 and the G1 toy.  Unlike MP-10, though, you don't see the back of his head.  Instead there's a little centered seat, painted in black.  That's absolutely an homage to the molded seat left in the G1 toy for a Diaclone pilot, and I love it even if I don't have any Diaclone reboot guys to stick in there.

One last thing to mention.  Due to how the panels in his arms unfold and lay against the side of the cab, you can pull his doors open.  Looks pretty cool from the front, but from the side there's just a wall of red behind the door.

2019 looks like it's going to be bringing us not one but three excellent MP-style Optimus Primes.  None of them are absolutely perfect, though, and it's mostly small subjective details that make the most difference.   I know some people prefer the cartoonier look of TE-01 and MP-44, but I hate the white thighs and pelvis on both, I really hate the backpack on MP-44, and while I could live with the lack of a thigh swivel on TE-01 it still bothers me more than anything on MS-01.  Some have criticized MS-01 for being too similar to MP-10, but I honestly think that's a strength.  I loved MP-10, and MS-01's improvements to articulation and changes to the legs and the overall proportions fixed my biggest complaints with it.  There's also the fact that most of you probably already have MP-10, and even with its flaws you might be thinking it's good enough that you don't want to replace it.  And that's fine.  All I can tell you is to take a look at the options.  If you think TE-01 looks better, maybe go for it.  Even with MS-01 in hand I'm still thinking about grabbing one.  But if you like the way it looks you'll probably be happy with MS-01, and I personally think it's inexpensive enough that it's worth buying to replace MP-10, so I recommend it.

[mikeszekely]

BTW, there's some discussion about MS's plastic over at TFW2005.  If you've ever handled one of MS's Legends figures, or maybe some older Fansproject stuff like the Protector armor, you kind of know what to expect.  But a point that's being made is that it has a kind of soft, matte appearance, and some people are wondering how it looks with other red MP-style figures that might have a glossier plastic or paint.  The lighting isn't great here, since this is from my actual display instead of my review space, but I think MS-01 looks just fine.

[derex3592]

Great review! Gotta admit, he does look good doing that ab crunch pose! 

[valhary]

Agree almost with every word even though TE looks better in truck mode is unforgivable the ugly division in the head and the ridiculous overprice of Takara facilitated me the choose

Also recommend the Toyworld Primorion a underestimated Prime because is a little more bigger than the MP-10 in robot mode but works enough in alternate mode with the MP-10 trailer and in my personal opinion is a quite worthy competitor inside the market of the masterpiece Optimus 

[slaginpit]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I think most Transformers fans would be willing to admit that MP-10, great as it was, is a bit dated by today's standards.  While Takara is set to replace MP-10 with MP-44 later this year, a newer company known only for making Legends-scale figures decided to beat them to the punch, and the result is MS-01 Light of Freedom, the first MP-scale figure from Magic Square and the opening salvo in 2019's MP Optimus war.

Some people who are going for total cartoon accuracy and basing their image of Prime on a very specific image of Prime's animation model may find MS-01 a little too beefy.  Such is their subjective prerogative, but I think he was animated fairly inconsistently and was often drawn, even in the '86 movie, as a little chunkier.  Measured from shoulder to shoulder, around his waist, or the thickness of his forearms actually has him fairly close to MP-10, which nobody used to have a problem with.  And in a lot of ways, Magic Square fixed a lot of MP-10's other issues.  His torso is a little shorter and his legs are a little longer, with better balance between his thighs and lower legs.  His arms, especially in his forearm area, are shorter.  On the whole, MS-01 has much better proportions than MP-10.

Cartoon accuracy is another consideration, but a contentious one.  I think everyone expects a level of cartoon accuracy in their figures, but after a point there's a divide between people who want their toys to look exactly like the cartoon because that's how they remember the character and the people who feel looking too much like an inconsistently (and often poorly) animated 35 year old cartoon isn't the best way to go (full disclosure, I'm in the second group).  MS-01 definitely pushes for more cartoon accuracy than MP-10.  He's got smaller faux fuel tanks on the outsides of his legs, and his rear tires are neatly hidden away.  The vents on his shins are blue instead of silver.  He sheds some of the extra molded detail that MP-10 carries, especially the rivets.  Some of the molded detail he does have, including the molding on his thighs and the little triangles above his shin vents, are more in keeping with the line work that was on Prime's animation model.  Although his smokestacks, grill, and faux fuel tanks are all chromed he's got more of a matte and less metallic look with a very light gray used for his thighs, pelvis, forehead, and some of his face, and a slightly darker gray for his torso and mouth plate.  Still, cartoon purists will likely bemoan the fact that MS went with gray instead of white on the pelvis and thighs, that his fingers aren't more rounded, that he's still got too much molded linework on his shoulders and lats, that he's still got windshield wipers, or that his grill is too realistic.  Needless to say, none of those issues bother me.  Minor issues that do bother me would be the visible red mushroom pegs that his hands are attached to, the tabs on the inside of his forearms, and that his blue crotch piece is a little too small.

One other note is that the plastic feels like an improvement over the stuff Magic Square uses in their Legends figures, but still similar, and there's very little paint on him.  I kind of like this plastic, and I think it looks fine without the paint, but there are definitely some people who are going to be bothered by them.

Given that MS-01 has a little more bulk than Transform Element or Takara's upcoming figures a lot of people are wondering how he compares with different Megatrons, not just MP-36.  I think he's a match for Maketoys' Despotron in terms of physical dimensions, but the lack of metallic paint (especially silver) and more subtle molded details aren't exactly a match.

 

Anyway, MS-01 comes with a few accessories.  You've got your Energon axe, your ion rifle, an alternate forehead, and some battle damage parts that I will almost certainly never use.  Swapping the regular parts for the battle damaged parts requires pulling his lats off on a little tab and simply opening his chest and pushing the windows out.  I'm digging the rifle, which has a much better shape and size than the one that comes with MP-10, although it can't fold up and store in his back.  I think it also looks better than the replacement rifle that you get if you buy articulated KFC hands for MP-10.

 

Regarding the alternate forehead, the difference if pretty subtle.  Basically, the default head (right) is smooth and a little more rounded on top with a flared bill, like a ball cap.  The alternate (left) is a more direct copy of MP-10's with molded lines and a wider band that comes to a sharper point over his nose.  While I think I'd have been totally fine with the MP-10-style head, in hand the default head looks more correct, so that's what I'll be going with.

 

One area MS was really able to improve over MP-10 was articulation.  MS-01's head is on a hinged swivel, so he can look up about 45 degrees, down until his chin touches his chest, and rotate.  His shoulders rotate on friction joints.  Like MP-10 you can pull his arms out from his body to reveal a hinge for lateral motion, but unlike MP-10 it's ratcheted and can get a full 90 degrees.  Plus, when fully extended he's got butterfly shoulders that can go a little backward and about 60 degrees forward.  He's a double-jointed friction elbows.  Each joint can do 90 degrees by itself and combined can curl his arm nearly the whole way up.  I think using the lower joint first looks more natural, but it's much tighter than the upper joint.  He's also got two bicep swivels, one at the top of the bicep and one between his elbow joints.  Again, the joint I think you'd want to use most of the time (the upper one) is the tighter one.  His wrists can swivel.  He's got individually-articulated fingers.  The thumb is on a ball joint with one additional knuckle hinge, and the fingers are pinned at the base with one additional knuckle hinge.  His waist can swivel.  Due to a system of hinges for transformation he's also got an ab crunch that can go 90 degrees forward and at least 45 degrees backward.  However, using the ab crunch can really break up the sculpt.  His pelvis has hinged flaps in the front and sides; the front flaps on mine are a tad loose, and pulling out the side flap also pulls his butt down and out.  With the flaps out of the way you get a little less than 90 degrees forward and about 45 degrees backward on a ratcheted universal joint, and just over 90 degrees laterally on a soft ratchet.   His thighs swivel around the universal joint, and although you can't swivel them all the way around you can turn his legs 90 degrees in either direction, which is plenty.  His knees are double-jointed, friction on top, ratcheted on the bottom.  Part of his knee opens up to reveal a diecast piston inside.  A lot of people think the knees are ugly, but they don't bother me, especially if you only use the lower joint.  Again, both joints can do 90 degrees by themselves, and combined you get nearly 180.  His toes can bend up and down, and there's a little play in his feel and the whole foot.  Plus you've got about 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

His rifle uses the standard MP method of having tabs on the handle fit into slots on his palms.  His axe works sort of the same way, in that there's a handle that tabs into his palm, but it goes with it's chunk of spiked orb on the bottom of his fist.  Then the part with the axe fits over the top.  YMMV, but the tab on one side of the axe handle was longer than the other kept pushing out when I tried to put the axe on his left hand, but it works fine in his right hand.

 

If you're like me, you might be thinking that his axe is a little on the puny side.  I don't usually pose my Primes with axes anyway, but if it really bothers you the axe from MP-10 will mostly fit around his fist.

 

Depending on the exact look you're going for, MS-01's smokestacks can slide up and down on his shoulders.  I personally like the bottom of the stack to be roughly even with the shoulder, but in the cartoon it's often drawn reaching to nearly his elbow.  The pipe at the top of the stack can slide in and out as well, so sliding the whole thing down doesn't leave him with short stacks.

Like any good MP Prime you can open his chest and reveal the Matrix of Leadership inside.  It is removable, and as Matrices go, it's ok.  It's mostly diecast with silver and copper paint and a smooth translucent blue orb... I just happen to think that the Matrix that came with MP-10 had a better sculpt.  And no, MP-10's doesn't fit in MS-01.

Much ado has been made of the fact that, mostly due to his transformation, there's no Matrix cover besides the chest windows themselves.  In hand, I do wish there had been some sort of cover, as the Matrix is visible through the windows, but it's not as bad as I thought it'd be.

 

Speaking of transformation, it's pretty smooth, intuitive, and enjoyable.  In some ways, it's similar to MP-10's.  His head still folds into his torso, although it goes in through the back instead of the chest.  His lats still fold down and spin 180 degrees to bring out the tires, flaps on his back still ride those spinning lats to bring the headlights and the sides of the bumper forward.  His waist still rotates 180 degrees, his toes still fold up, and his thighs still collapse into his lower legs.  The differences are that there's more going on with the legs to bring out his rear tires and truck mode fuel tanks, the piece with the headlights and bumper is has more of the cab front on it, and panels unfold from his arms to fill in the sides of the truck.  Also, there's no faux grill.  The grill and Matrix chamber pull out, the Matrix chamber spins around to reveal the bumper, and then the whole thing rotates 180 degrees and pushes back in.

The truck mode is ok, overall.  The cab loses some of MP-10's details like the rivets and the ladder by the fuel tank, but the fuel tank isn't squished like it is on MP-44.  Plus, unlike TE-01 and MP-44, MS-01 retains the stripe on the cab.  I know some people want it gone in the name of cartoon accuracy, but I think the cab looks unfinished without it.  Unfortunately, behind the cab things are a bit of a mess with a hitch section that's very obviously robot legs.  I don't think he's any worse than MP-10 in that regard, but I can't argue that Transform Element looks way better back there than Magic Square.

The overall dimensions between the MS-01 and MP-10 are fairly similar, with MS-01 being slightly shorter top to bottom and front to back, but nearly identical in width and overall length.  Like MP-10, MS-01 has rubber tires and chrome on the stacks, grill, wheels, bumper, and fuel tanks.  It's worth mentioning that the side mirrors on MS-01 don't feel as good as MP-10s, and one has even popped off on me, but aside from those mirrors MS-01 fits together better than MP-10.

 

One thing I find odd about MS-01 is that the instructions have you turn around part of the vents on his shins, revealing a flatter surface with a pair of tabs per leg.  The tabs don't work with MP-10's trailer; all you can do is kind of perch the trailer on him, and even then it's a little too high.  Yet skipping that step doesn't hinder anything else.  You can get the same truck mode without flipping those panels around.  So why'd MS do it?  Why have those four little tabs?  Could MS be working on a trailer for MS-01 at a later time?  I've skipped buying trailers for GT-03 Op Ex and both Fans Hobby's Laser Optimus and Scourge figures, and would honestly have preferred if MS-01 worked with MP-10's trailer.  But if the price is reasonable I could probably talk myself into buying an MS trailer for this guy.

 

Sometimes it's the little touches that get me.  You have to undo the sides a little, but you can open the cab on MS-01 just like you can with MP-10 and the G1 toy.  Unlike MP-10, though, you don't see the back of his head.  Instead there's a little centered seat, painted in black.  That's absolutely an homage to the molded seat left in the G1 toy for a Diaclone pilot, and I love it even if I don't have any Diaclone reboot guys to stick in there.

 

One last thing to mention.  Due to how the panels in his arms unfold and lay against the side of the cab, you can pull his doors open.  Looks pretty cool from the front, but from the side there's just a wall of red behind the door.

2019 looks like it's going to be bringing us not one but three excellent MP-style Optimus Primes.  None of them are absolutely perfect, though, and it's mostly small subjective details that make the most difference.   I know some people prefer the cartoonier look of TE-01 and MP-44, but I hate the white thighs and pelvis on both, I really hate the backpack on MP-44, and while I could live with the lack of a thigh swivel on TE-01 it still bothers me more than anything on MS-01.  Some have criticized MS-01 for being too similar to MP-10, but I honestly think that's a strength.  I loved MP-10, and MS-01's improvements to articulation and changes to the legs and the overall proportions fixed my biggest complaints with it.  There's also the fact that most of you probably already have MP-10, and even with its flaws you might be thinking it's good enough that you don't want to replace it.  And that's fine.  All I can tell you is to take a look at the options.  If you think TE-01 looks better, maybe go for it.  Even with MS-01 in hand I'm still thinking about grabbing one.  But if you like the way it looks you'll probably be happy with MS-01, and I personally think it's inexpensive enough that it's worth buying to replace MP-10, so I recommend it.

Great Review as Always!!

[M'Kyuun]

Great review, Mike. I'm surprised to find out that MP-10's trailer doesn't actually hitch up, as I thought that was the point of those rotating shin vents as well. Alas, beyond completing Optimus' look in truck mode, I never really felt it to be very relevant, beyond containing Roller. My MP-10 trailer has spent the duration in the box, and at this point is buried under the boxes of all the other TFs I've bought since, so I appreciate the mention of it in the review. If MS are planning to make their own trailer, I think I'll be skipping it. It does, however, beg the question why they didn't just make a separate fifth wheel attachment like TE; it's a cheap and easy way to achieve compatibility without compromising the sculpt.

Anyway, looking forward to getting my copy this weekend.

[JetJockey]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I think most Transformers fans would be willing to admit that MP-10, great as it was, is a bit dated by today's standards.  While Takara is set to replace MP-10 with MP-44 later this year, a newer company known only for making Legends-scale figures decided to beat them to the punch, and the result is MS-01 Light of Freedom, the first MP-scale figure from Magic Square and the opening salvo in 2019's MP Optimus war.

Some people who are going for total cartoon accuracy and basing their image of Prime on a very specific image of Prime's animation model may find MS-01 a little too beefy.  Such is their subjective prerogative, but I think he was animated fairly inconsistently and was often drawn, even in the '86 movie, as a little chunkier.  Measured from shoulder to shoulder, around his waist, or the thickness of his forearms actually has him fairly close to MP-10, which nobody used to have a problem with.  And in a lot of ways, Magic Square fixed a lot of MP-10's other issues.  His torso is a little shorter and his legs are a little longer, with better balance between his thighs and lower legs.  His arms, especially in his forearm area, are shorter.  On the whole, MS-01 has much better proportions than MP-10.

Cartoon accuracy is another consideration, but a contentious one.  I think everyone expects a level of cartoon accuracy in their figures, but after a point there's a divide between people who want their toys to look exactly like the cartoon because that's how they remember the character and the people who feel looking too much like an inconsistently (and often poorly) animated 35 year old cartoon isn't the best way to go (full disclosure, I'm in the second group).  MS-01 definitely pushes for more cartoon accuracy than MP-10.  He's got smaller faux fuel tanks on the outsides of his legs, and his rear tires are neatly hidden away.  The vents on his shins are blue instead of silver.  He sheds some of the extra molded detail that MP-10 carries, especially the rivets.  Some of the molded detail he does have, including the molding on his thighs and the little triangles above his shin vents, are more in keeping with the line work that was on Prime's animation model.  Although his smokestacks, grill, and faux fuel tanks are all chromed he's got more of a matte and less metallic look with a very light gray used for his thighs, pelvis, forehead, and some of his face, and a slightly darker gray for his torso and mouth plate.  Still, cartoon purists will likely bemoan the fact that MS went with gray instead of white on the pelvis and thighs, that his fingers aren't more rounded, that he's still got too much molded linework on his shoulders and lats, that he's still got windshield wipers, or that his grill is too realistic.  Needless to say, none of those issues bother me.  Minor issues that do bother me would be the visible red mushroom pegs that his hands are attached to, the tabs on the inside of his forearms, and that his blue crotch piece is a little too small.

One other note is that the plastic feels like an improvement over the stuff Magic Square uses in their Legends figures, but still similar, and there's very little paint on him.  I kind of like this plastic, and I think it looks fine without the paint, but there are definitely some people who are going to be bothered by them.

Given that MS-01 has a little more bulk than Transform Element or Takara's upcoming figures a lot of people are wondering how he compares with different Megatrons, not just MP-36.  I think he's a match for Maketoys' Despotron in terms of physical dimensions, but the lack of metallic paint (especially silver) and more subtle molded details aren't exactly a match.

Anyway, MS-01 comes with a few accessories.  You've got your Energon axe, your ion rifle, an alternate forehead, and some battle damage parts that I will almost certainly never use.  Swapping the regular parts for the battle damaged parts requires pulling his lats off on a little tab and simply opening his chest and pushing the windows out.  I'm digging the rifle, which has a much better shape and size than the one that comes with MP-10, although it can't fold up and store in his back.  I think it also looks better than the replacement rifle that you get if you buy articulated KFC hands for MP-10.

Regarding the alternate forehead, the difference if pretty subtle.  Basically, the default head (right) is smooth and a little more rounded on top with a flared bill, like a ball cap.  The alternate (left) is a more direct copy of MP-10's with molded lines and a wider band that comes to a sharper point over his nose.  While I think I'd have been totally fine with the MP-10-style head, in hand the default head looks more correct, so that's what I'll be going with.

One area MS was really able to improve over MP-10 was articulation.  MS-01's head is on a hinged swivel, so he can look up about 45 degrees, down until his chin touches his chest, and rotate.  His shoulders rotate on friction joints.  Like MP-10 you can pull his arms out from his body to reveal a hinge for lateral motion, but unlike MP-10 it's ratcheted and can get a full 90 degrees.  Plus, when fully extended he's got butterfly shoulders that can go a little backward and about 60 degrees forward.  He's a double-jointed friction elbows.  Each joint can do 90 degrees by itself and combined can curl his arm nearly the whole way up.  I think using the lower joint first looks more natural, but it's much tighter than the upper joint.  He's also got two bicep swivels, one at the top of the bicep and one between his elbow joints.  Again, the joint I think you'd want to use most of the time (the upper one) is the tighter one.  His wrists can swivel.  He's got individually-articulated fingers.  The thumb is on a ball joint with one additional knuckle hinge, and the fingers are pinned at the base with one additional knuckle hinge.  His waist can swivel.  Due to a system of hinges for transformation he's also got an ab crunch that can go 90 degrees forward and at least 45 degrees backward.  However, using the ab crunch can really break up the sculpt.  His pelvis has hinged flaps in the front and sides; the front flaps on mine are a tad loose, and pulling out the side flap also pulls his butt down and out.  With the flaps out of the way you get a little less than 90 degrees forward and about 45 degrees backward on a ratcheted universal joint, and just over 90 degrees laterally on a soft ratchet.   His thighs swivel around the universal joint, and although you can't swivel them all the way around you can turn his legs 90 degrees in either direction, which is plenty.  His knees are double-jointed, friction on top, ratcheted on the bottom.  Part of his knee opens up to reveal a diecast piston inside.  A lot of people think the knees are ugly, but they don't bother me, especially if you only use the lower joint.  Again, both joints can do 90 degrees by themselves, and combined you get nearly 180.  His toes can bend up and down, and there's a little play in his feel and the whole foot.  Plus you've got about 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

His rifle uses the standard MP method of having tabs on the handle fit into slots on his palms.  His axe works sort of the same way, in that there's a handle that tabs into his palm, but it goes with it's chunk of spiked orb on the bottom of his fist.  Then the part with the axe fits over the top.  YMMV, but the tab on one side of the axe handle was longer than the other kept pushing out when I tried to put the axe on his left hand, but it works fine in his right hand.

If you're like me, you might be thinking that his axe is a little on the puny side.  I don't usually pose my Primes with axes anyway, but if it really bothers you the axe from MP-10 will mostly fit around his fist.

Depending on the exact look you're going for, MS-01's smokestacks can slide up and down on his shoulders.  I personally like the bottom of the stack to be roughly even with the shoulder, but in the cartoon it's often drawn reaching to nearly his elbow.  The pipe at the top of the stack can slide in and out as well, so sliding the whole thing down doesn't leave him with short stacks.

Like any good MP Prime you can open his chest and reveal the Matrix of Leadership inside.  It is removable, and as Matrices go, it's ok.  It's mostly diecast with silver and copper paint and a smooth translucent blue orb... I just happen to think that the Matrix that came with MP-10 had a better sculpt.  And no, MP-10's doesn't fit in MS-01.

Much ado has been made of the fact that, mostly due to his transformation, there's no Matrix cover besides the chest windows themselves.  In hand, I do wish there had been some sort of cover, as the Matrix is visible through the windows, but it's not as bad as I thought it'd be.

Speaking of transformation, it's pretty smooth, intuitive, and enjoyable.  In some ways, it's similar to MP-10's.  His head still folds into his torso, although it goes in through the back instead of the chest.  His lats still fold down and spin 180 degrees to bring out the tires, flaps on his back still ride those spinning lats to bring the headlights and the sides of the bumper forward.  His waist still rotates 180 degrees, his toes still fold up, and his thighs still collapse into his lower legs.  The differences are that there's more going on with the legs to bring out his rear tires and truck mode fuel tanks, the piece with the headlights and bumper is has more of the cab front on it, and panels unfold from his arms to fill in the sides of the truck.  Also, there's no faux grill.  The grill and Matrix chamber pull out, the Matrix chamber spins around to reveal the bumper, and then the whole thing rotates 180 degrees and pushes back in.

The truck mode is ok, overall.  The cab loses some of MP-10's details like the rivets and the ladder by the fuel tank, but the fuel tank isn't squished like it is on MP-44.  Plus, unlike TE-01 and MP-44, MS-01 retains the stripe on the cab.  I know some people want it gone in the name of cartoon accuracy, but I think the cab looks unfinished without it.  Unfortunately, behind the cab things are a bit of a mess with a hitch section that's very obviously robot legs.  I don't think he's any worse than MP-10 in that regard, but I can't argue that Transform Element looks way better back there than Magic Square.

The overall dimensions between the MS-01 and MP-10 are fairly similar, with MS-01 being slightly shorter top to bottom and front to back, but nearly identical in width and overall length.  Like MP-10, MS-01 has rubber tires and chrome on the stacks, grill, wheels, bumper, and fuel tanks.  It's worth mentioning that the side mirrors on MS-01 don't feel as good as MP-10s, and one has even popped off on me, but aside from those mirrors MS-01 fits together better than MP-10.

One thing I find odd about MS-01 is that the instructions have you turn around part of the vents on his shins, revealing a flatter surface with a pair of tabs per leg.  The tabs don't work with MP-10's trailer; all you can do is kind of perch the trailer on him, and even then it's a little too high.  Yet skipping that step doesn't hinder anything else.  You can get the same truck mode without flipping those panels around.  So why'd MS do it?  Why have those four little tabs?  Could MS be working on a trailer for MS-01 at a later time?  I've skipped buying trailers for GT-03 Op Ex and both Fans Hobby's Laser Optimus and Scourge figures, and would honestly have preferred if MS-01 worked with MP-10's trailer.  But if the price is reasonable I could probably talk myself into buying an MS trailer for this guy.

Sometimes it's the little touches that get me.  You have to undo the sides a little, but you can open the cab on MS-01 just like you can with MP-10 and the G1 toy.  Unlike MP-10, though, you don't see the back of his head.  Instead there's a little centered seat, painted in black.  That's absolutely an homage to the molded seat left in the G1 toy for a Diaclone pilot, and I love it even if I don't have any Diaclone reboot guys to stick in there.

One last thing to mention.  Due to how the panels in his arms unfold and lay against the side of the cab, you can pull his doors open.  Looks pretty cool from the front, but from the side there's just a wall of red behind the door.

2019 looks like it's going to be bringing us not one but three excellent MP-style Optimus Primes.  None of them are absolutely perfect, though, and it's mostly small subjective details that make the most difference.   I know some people prefer the cartoonier look of TE-01 and MP-44, but I hate the white thighs and pelvis on both, I really hate the backpack on MP-44, and while I could live with the lack of a thigh swivel on TE-01 it still bothers me more than anything on MS-01.  Some have criticized MS-01 for being too similar to MP-10, but I honestly think that's a strength.  I loved MP-10, and MS-01's improvements to articulation and changes to the legs and the overall proportions fixed my biggest complaints with it.  There's also the fact that most of you probably already have MP-10, and even with its flaws you might be thinking it's good enough that you don't want to replace it.  And that's fine.  All I can tell you is to take a look at the options.  If you think TE-01 looks better, maybe go for it.  Even with MS-01 in hand I'm still thinking about grabbing one.  But if you like the way it looks you'll probably be happy with MS-01, and I personally think it's inexpensive enough that it's worth buying to replace MP-10, so I recommend it.

I was hoping you would make a big review. If you are still thinking about getting the Transform Element version, I'm curious what you'll think about that one in person. And if there will be additional changes to the second release. But that Magic Square one does look good. I can't remember what I did with the trailer when I had the original toy. So I really don't need the trailer myself. That's why I'm pretty much out on the official version now. Even though it's clever that they figured out a way to get figures in the truck. Perhaps that's why the backpack is so big on that one though.

[M'Kyuun]

Concerning MP-44's voluminous backpack, it's mostly comprised, based on the transformation pics, of the panels forming the lower front half of the cab face. There's also potential for it to encapsulate the electronics module, featuring the Japanese voice actor saying various phrases from the show. Other than some gaps in the torso and some messiness in the hitch section, it's really the glaring flaw of MP-44. Well, that and the price.

4 hours ago, JetJockey said:

Some have criticized MS-01 for being too similar to MP-10, but I honestly think that's a strength.  I loved MP-10, and MS-01's improvements to articulation and changes to the legs and the overall proportions fixed my biggest complaints with it.

I agree with Mike. MP-10 still stands as a good representation, albeit with proportional and aesthetic differences that made it not quite the screen accurate version many wanted. I think Magic Square got that, and so produced what is essentially an MP-10 update, 'fixing' those elements that weren't quite right. Essentially, MS-01 is the Prime toy I wish we'd gotten from Takara instead. However, for a design dating back to 2012, MP-10 has been a very successful toy, probably the most successful Optimus Prime toy ever made, given all its iterations and rereleases. Not a bad basis for an upgrade. 

Watched Bobby Skulface's review on MS-01, and his major nitpick was the lack of paint, but paint is a bit of a requisite to Skullface, so take that for what you will. It's not important to me, especially on a figure with multiple moving parts that may rub. As long as the plastic used gets close in hue, is uniform, and durable, I'm good with it. To me, fit and function are the biggies when dealing with a transformable figure- strong joints, preferably multi-detented ratchets, and effective tabs and locks make or break them, as well as a high range of articulation throughout. Judging from the reviews I've watched and read, Magic Square checked the boxes.  But getting back to paint, I think all the necessities are there, minus the leg vents, which I vehemently wish were silver, but I get what they were going for. Presumably, Toyhax to the rescue. I wanted to remark on the use of blue paint that differs somewhat from the base plastic on the legs, which Bobby thought 'Bizarre'. It's something I noticed early on, and appreciate, for subtly breaking up what would otherwise be big mono-blue slabs. I also like the little bit of mechanical detail molded and painted on the insides of the legs- it's a nice touch, unnecessary, but I'm glad they did it. I also like the little hydraulic cylinder detail in the knees; it hearkens back to MP-01, which I loved for all its mechanical detail, even if the truck mode suffered for it. Overall, it strikes me thus far as a pretty good update for venerable old MP-10. While it's not without flaws (no Matrix cover, visible mushroom pegs in the hands, no hitching ability for MP-10's trailer, large hitch deck and prominent waist in truck mode, potentially problematic windshield wipers), what it gets right trumps the flaws, most of which I imagine will see fixes from one source or another over time. I'm hoping my anticipation will be rewarded; if this turns out to be a good figure over the long run, I'm curious to see what the future holds for Magic Square in the MP realm. Hopefully not govt C&D.

 

[mikeszekely]

Well, I don't know where I'm going to display them, but between Stereo Master and MS-01 I'm pretty impressed with Magic Square, so I guess I'm taking the plunge into Legends now (besides, they're a pretty good way to hit the $150 free shipping mark at a lot of US stores when you're almost but not quite there).  While there are other figures I want more, I decided to grab Red Warrior, MS's Legends-scale Sideswipe, because he seems to be drying up at some stores and I got FOMO.

I mean, yeah, that works.  I know some people were into BadCube's Sideswipe because it collapsed his hood chest and gave him more cartoon-accurate proportions, and those people might be a little disappointed to see that Red Cannon retains MP-12's broad chest.  But Sideswipe was pretty much the only Season 1 carbot I actually had as a kid, so it doesn't bother me (I even tend to think of his shoulder cannon as black and white instead of all white).  The wheels on the outside of his legs are a little higher than the cartoon, but he doesn't have tail lights over the top of his feet.  I can't tell if it's an illusion due to those missing tail lights or if it's real, but Red Cannon's legs look longer and/or slimmer, like he's got better proportions.  He retains the molded lines on his forearms and thighs, the triangle on his crotch, the silver knee pads, red panels on the outside of his forearm, and his shoulder cannon.  the only detail that's immediately noticeable as missing are those shoulder bumps (white on Siege Sideswipe and MP-12+, silver on regular MP-12).  But when I looked at scenes of Sideswipe from the cartoon they often weren't there, so I'll let their absence slide.  My only real complaint is the head, which has a bland, mushy sculpt.  So what we have here is a pretty good-looking, G1 cartoon Sideswipe.  Just smaller.

How much smaller?  Here he is with Legends-class Combiner Wars Blackjack.  As a Legends car with a Legends car, that seems to work, but it should be noted that he's only half a head shorter or so than MS's Blaster.  MP-12 comes up to the bottom of KFC Blaster's tape deck door.  Should MS have made Red Cannon smaller?  Should they have made Stereo Master bigger?  Or is it MP-12 and Transistor that are out of scale?  I don't really know.  I guess I'll pick up a few more MS Legends-scale figures and decide later.

Red Cannon doesn't come with a lot of accessories, but honestly that's fine.  You get his shoulder cannon, which has a slot that fits onto a tab on his shoulder.  It has a hinge so the barrel can move up and down a little.  He also comes with his gun.  As was the case with Stereo Master, MS used a smaller (3mm?) peg for the handle, so his hands are proportional instead of having Iron Factory's hands-bigger-than-the-head syndrome.

Articulation is good on Red Cannon, which I'm starting to see as a hallmark of Magic Square's designs.  His head is on a swivel, so he can look around but not up or down.  His shoulders are on ball joints that can rotate and extend 90 degrees laterally, but a transformation hinge in his torso will get you more.  He's got bicep swivels, a hinged elbow that'll get you 90 degrees, and a second hinge at the top of the bicep below the swivel.  I'll function as a double elbow joint in a pinch, bringing his total curl to 180 degrees.  His hands are fixed, which is fine for this size, but he does have wrist swivels.  His waist can swivel, and he's got 90 degrees of ab crunch.  His hips are ball joints that can do 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees laterally, and almost 90 degrees backward.  He's got cut thigh swivels where the mold line is.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet can bend down as much as you want and up slightly, plus his toes can also bend up and down.  Finally, he's got basically 360 degree ankle pivots.

Red Cannon's vehicle mode is... ok.  The transformation is simple enough, and you're left with a little Lamborghini, roughly the same size as Blackjack's car mode, sporting black painted windows and rolling tires.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any way to store is accessories in this mode.

My gripes are that this mode isn't super accurate.  And not in a "cartoon accurate Countach isn't an accurate Countach" way, in a "that's not right" way.  Like the bumper, which MS painted silver, was always black, even in the cartoon.  He's got not side mirrors or tail lights, but as a Legends-scale figure I can let that slide.  Besides, he is sporting little dual exhausts, and they did try to paint most of the vents.  The oddest thing to me is that the black trapezoid on the roof isn't black, despite being black in both the cartoon, toy, and real car, and the vented engine bay door and little trunk (painted black and red on MP-12, and totally red in the cartoon/MP-12+) is flat out missing.  Instead, you can see his black shins and some of his silver knees peaking out, along with a little white from his feet.  Now, I am a little more forgiving due to the smaller scale, and I do prefer that a company prioritizes the robot mode.  But I do really wish that MS had come up with some kind of fold out flaps or something to hide them.  Maybe if the shins turned inside out to collapse the legs instead of working on a slider...

Speaking of sliders, that's my other big complaint with this figure.  The car panels on the sides of his lower legs are on sliders.  For transformation they pull out away from the leg and turn 180 degrees.  The problem is that they don't stay tabbed together super great in robot mode.  I've had them come untabbed and start to slide out plenty of times while manipulating him.  Still, I think this is one of Magic Square's earliest releases (maybe only the Inferno/Grapple mold is older), so maybe they've improved since then (based on Blaster they have), and even with his flaws Red Cannon is still a pretty impressive figure it's size.

Now, I've heard good things about Iron Factory's Sideswipe, but AFAIK Red Cannon is the only Legends-scale G1 Sideswipe, and I think he fills that role effectively.  If a Legends-scale G1 Ark crew is what you're after Red Cannon is a good figure.  He just doesn't seem to be on of MS's best figures.

(Side note, shooting this review reminds me of how good Siege Sideswipe is.  Someone should borrow the engineering and make a G1 Sideswipe out of it.) 

[Tking22]

29 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Well, I don't know where I'm going to display them, but between Stereo Master and MS-01 I'm pretty impressed with Magic Square, so I guess I'm taking the plunge into Legends now (besides, they're a pretty good way to hit the $150 free shipping mark at a lot of US stores when you're almost but not quite there).  While there are other figures I want more, I decided to grab Red Warrior, MS's Legends-scale Sideswipe, because he seems to be drying up at some stores and I got FOMO.

I mean, yeah, that works.  I know some people were into BadCube's Sideswipe because it collapsed his hood chest and gave him more cartoon-accurate proportions, and those people might be a little disappointed to see that Red Cannon retains MP-12's broad chest.  But Sideswipe was pretty much the only Season 1 carbot I actually had as a kid, so it doesn't bother me (I even tend to think of his shoulder cannon as black and white instead of all white).  The wheels on the outside of his legs are a little higher than the cartoon, but he doesn't have tail lights over the top of his feet.  I can't tell if it's an illusion due to those missing tail lights or if it's real, but Red Cannon's legs look longer and/or slimmer, like he's got better proportions.  He retains the molded lines on his forearms and thighs, the triangle on his crotch, the silver knee pads, red panels on the outside of his forearm, and his shoulder cannon.  the only detail that's immediately noticeable as missing are those shoulder bumps (white on Siege Sideswipe and MP-12+, silver on regular MP-12).  But when I looked at scenes of Sideswipe from the cartoon they often weren't there, so I'll let their absence slide.  My only real complaint is the head, which has a bland, mushy sculpt.  So what we have here is a pretty good-looking, G1 cartoon Sideswipe.  Just smaller.

How much smaller?  Here he is with Legends-class Combiner Wars Blackjack.  As a Legends car with a Legends car, that seems to work, but it should be noted that he's only half a head shorter or so than MS's Blaster.  MP-12 comes up to the bottom of KFC Blaster's tape deck door.  Should MS have made Red Cannon smaller?  Should they have made Stereo Master bigger?  Or is it MP-12 and Transistor that are out of scale?  I don't really know.  I guess I'll pick up a few more MS Legends-scale figures and decide later.

Red Cannon doesn't come with a lot of accessories, but honestly that's fine.  You get his shoulder cannon, which has a slot that fits onto a tab on his shoulder.  It has a hinge so the barrel can move up and down a little.  He also comes with his gun.  As was the case with Stereo Master, MS used a smaller (3mm?) peg for the handle, so his hands are proportional instead of having Iron Factory's hands-bigger-than-the-head syndrome.

Articulation is good on Red Cannon, which I'm starting to see as a hallmark of Magic Square's designs.  His head is on a swivel, so he can look around but not up or down.  His shoulders are on ball joints that can rotate and extend 90 degrees laterally, but a transformation hinge in his torso will get you more.  He's got bicep swivels, a hinged elbow that'll get you 90 degrees, and a second hinge at the top of the bicep below the swivel.  I'll function as a double elbow joint in a pinch, bringing his total curl to 180 degrees.  His hands are fixed, which is fine for this size, but he does have wrist swivels.  His waist can swivel, and he's got 90 degrees of ab crunch.  His hips are ball joints that can do 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees laterally, and almost 90 degrees backward.  He's got cut thigh swivels where the mold line is.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  His feet can bend down as much as you want and up slightly, plus his toes can also bend up and down.  Finally, he's got basically 360 degree ankle pivots.

Red Cannon's vehicle mode is... ok.  The transformation is simple enough, and you're left with a little Lamborghini, roughly the same size as Blackjack's car mode, sporting black painted windows and rolling tires.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any way to store is accessories in this mode.

My gripes are that this mode isn't super accurate.  And not in a "cartoon accurate Countach isn't an accurate Countach" way, in a "that's not right" way.  Like the bumper, which MS painted silver, was always black, even in the cartoon.  He's got not side mirrors or tail lights, but as a Legends-scale figure I can let that slide.  Besides, he is sporting little dual exhausts, and they did try to paint most of the vents.  The oddest thing to me is that the black trapezoid on the roof isn't black, despite being black in both the cartoon, toy, and real car, and the vented engine bay door and little trunk (painted black and red on MP-12, and totally red in the cartoon/MP-12+) is flat out missing.  Instead, you can see his black shins and some of his silver knees peaking out, along with a little white from his feet.  Now, I am a little more forgiving due to the smaller scale, and I do prefer that a company prioritizes the robot mode.  But I do really wish that MS had come up with some kind of fold out flaps or something to hide them.  Maybe if the shins turned inside out to collapse the legs instead of working on a slider...

Speaking of sliders, that's my other big complaint with this figure.  The car panels on the sides of his lower legs are on sliders.  For transformation they pull out away from the leg and turn 180 degrees.  The problem is that they don't stay tabbed together super great in robot mode.  I've had them come untabbed and start to slide out plenty of times while manipulating him.  Still, I think this is one of Magic Square's earliest releases (maybe only the Inferno/Grapple mold is older), so maybe they've improved since then (based on Blaster they have), and even with his flaws Red Cannon is still a pretty impressive figure it's size.

Now, I've heard good things about Iron Factory's Sideswipe, but AFAIK Red Cannon is the only Legends-scale G1 Sideswipe, and I think he fills that role effectively.  If a Legends-scale G1 Ark crew is what you're after Red Cannon is a good figure.  He just doesn't seem to be on of MS's best figures.

(Side note, shooting this review reminds me of how good Siege Sideswipe is.  Someone should borrow the engineering and make a G1 Sideswipe out of it.)

 

Wow, what are the odds? I was skimming TFW2005 for more shots of TE-01, and I came across the Hot Soldiers Sky Pillar/G1 Optimus thread, and was honestly pretty blown away by what I saw. Long story short, about three hours later, I found myself with over a half a dozen random G1 style legends figures on the way... Magic Square Sideswipe, Magic Square Trailbreaker, Magic Square Huff, Hot Soldiers Optimus, Hot Soldiers Hubcap and Cliffjumper, Hot Soldiers Bumblebee, and lastly Hot Soldiers Ironhide and Ratchet.

And that was all on a whim, the figures just looked really good, and not being MP, there's no MP circle jerk to speak of, just mostly scale arguments. I was once again quite baffled at how amazing a lot of these figures look, I knew third parties had been doing legends for a while now, but I was always just another boring MP only guy so I never bothered to look into any of it. I'm still just being boring and looking at G1 stuff only, but damn, a lot of these look like mini MP figures, they look fantastic. I've been eye balling, and will probably order, MFT shiny Megatron, and Toyworld legends G1 Wheeljack, AKA Whiskey Jack, he looks insane for a legends figure, totally a mini MP.

[mikeszekely]

38 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

 

Wow, what are the odds? I was skimming TFW2005 for more shots of TE-01, and I came across the Hot Soldiers Sky Pillar/G1 Optimus thread, and was honestly pretty blown away by what I saw. Long story short, about three hours later, I found myself with over a half a dozen random G1 style legends figures on the way... Magic Square Sideswipe, Magic Square Trailbreaker, Magic Square Huff, Hot Soldiers Optimus, Hot Soldiers Hubcap and Cliffjumper, Hot Soldiers Bumblebee, and lastly Hot Soldiers Ironhide and Ratchet.

And that was all on a whim, the figures just looked really good, and not being MP, there's no MP circle jerk to speak of, just mostly scale arguments. I was once again quite baffled at how amazing a lot of these figures look, I knew third parties had been doing legends for a while now, but I was always just another boring MP only guy so I never bothered to look into any of it. I'm still just being boring and looking at G1 stuff only, but damn, a lot of these look like mini MP figures, they look fantastic. I've been eye balling, and will probably order, MFT shiny Megatron, and Toyworld legends G1 Wheeljack, AKA Whiskey Jack, he looks insane for a legends figure, totally a mini MP.

Sky Pillar looks pretty cool and would probably be my choice for a Legends Optimus among what's currently available... but Magic Square has a Legends Optimus coming, and it's looking amazeballs.

It's kind of for that same reason that, while I think some of the other Hot Soldiers stuff like Ironhide/Ratchet looks pretty good, I'll probably hold off and hope MS gets to them.

As for the Hot Soldiers Cliffjumper, I'll be curious to hear your thoughts.  There was something that looked off about their Bumblebee, but Cliffjumper doesn't look as bad.

Speaking of Bumblebee... well, tune in tomorrow. 

[Tking22]

20 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Sky Pillar looks pretty cool and would probably be my choice for a Legends Optimus among what's currently available... but Magic Square has a Legends Optimus coming, and it's looking amazeballs.

It's kind of for that same reason that, while I think some of the other Hot Soldiers stuff like Ironhide/Ratchet looks pretty good, I'll probably hold off and hope MS gets to them.

As for the Hot Soldiers Cliffjumper, I'll be curious to hear your thoughts.  There was something that looked off about their Bumblebee, but Cliffjumper doesn't look as bad.

Speaking of Bumblebee... well, tune in tomorrow. 

I read about MS Optimus but he's going to be a bit too small for me, and I can't believe I'm being a scale guy over legends, but I am. Hot Soldiers Optimus is a bit taller, which works for me. I was torn between NewAge and Hot Soldiers for Bee, but since Hot Soldiers is the only one with a CJ out, I wanted Bee to mirror him as much as possible.

 

Came home to my first legends haul from ChosenPrime, Sky Pillar is FANTASTIC. His waist joint is a bit weird, but other then that he's seriously just a mini MP G1 Optimus, or a mini MS-01, he even has a matrix and chamber at this scale, plus his trailer can actually hold legends carbots.

I've got two more packages coming in, I had to buy a few figures here and there since stock on legends stuff, when it's good, seems to go quick. I've got BBTS and TFSource sending me some stuff too, I need the van bros, plus my Sideswipe and CJ, and I guess since it was a two pack, Hubcap as well.

[DyNo]

I received my MS-01 today.  Awesome looking Prime. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by DyNo

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Tking22 said:

I read about MS Optimus but he's going to be a bit too small for me, and I can't believe I'm being a scale guy over legends, but I am. Hot Soldiers Optimus is a bit taller, which works for me.

Hot Soldiers' does look a little bigger than Magic Square's, but judging by how they both compare with MS Sideswipe the difference isn't huge.  All due respect to Hot Soldiers, I'm just loving what MS is putting out, so I'm still going to hold out for theirs.

1 hour ago, Tking22 said:

I was torn between NewAge and Hot Soldiers for Bee, but since Hot Soldiers is the only one with a CJ out, I wanted Bee to mirror him as much as possible.

Respect.  I'm usually the opposite, though.  I like to get different molds of figures that are traditionally repaints/remolds just to help them feel more unique.  It's why I have Maketoys' Grapple and MMC's Inferno, Maketoys' Season 1 Seekers and ToyWorld's Coneheads, and MP Ironhide but Voodoo's Ratchet on my MP shelf.  If Badcube had announced their Sideswipe and Red Alert just a little sooner I'd have bought their Red Alert instead of the MP.

[Tking22]

17 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Hot Soldiers' does look a little bigger than Magic Square's, but judging by how they both compare with MS Sideswipe the difference isn't huge.  All due respect to Hot Soldiers, I'm just loving what MS is putting out, so I'm still going to hold out for theirs.

Respect.  I'm usually the opposite, though.  I like to get different molds of figures that are traditionally repaints/remolds just to help them feel more unique.  It's why I have Maketoys' Grapple and MMC's Inferno, Maketoys' Season 1 Seekers and ToyWorld's Coneheads, and MP Ironhide but Voodoo's Ratchet on my MP shelf.  If Badcube had announced their Sideswipe and Red Alert just a little sooner I'd have bought their Red Alert instead of the MP.

You gotta get MS Trailbreaker and Huff, holy crap, those are seriously two brilliant little figures. Huff is undeniably a mini MP, his transformation is fun and intuitive, and he just looks amazing in both modes. Trailbreaker caught some flak on a handful of reviews on Youtube because some reviewers didn't bother to mess with the figure beforehand. He has a bit of his transformation where the front end of the truck slides forward on a little slider, the screw holding the slider in was VERY loose, which made his torso floppy, 15 seconds later with a small phillips head screwdriver and he's seriously one of the nicest G1 style Trailbreaker figures on the market, I'd even say he's overall more impressive then any of the third party MP options.

I'm bummed on Hot Soldiers Bee, I should've paid more attention but he's WAY too big for my liking, especially compared to MS Huff, who is also a mini-bot, HS Bee is a giant. I already have Hot Soldiers CJ and Hubcap coming in today, I will still open and mess with them, but I doubt I will keep them out and display them, they are WAY too big. Which is odd, my Sky Pillar is HS, so he should scale with Bee from the same company, but I would say he really doesn't, he doesn't even fit in the trailer as well as the MS figures, Huff and TB fit in perfectly. I went ahead and ordered a Newage Flipper, aka their take on legends G1 Bee. Looking at photos and videos, he will be slight,y smaller then MS Huff, which is perfect, but there's no CJ mold mate for him which is a bummer.

I only want G1 season 1 for this little legends collection, so I'll be passing on several MS releases, but there's zero denying they may be the current king of G1 style legends figures, holy crap. Newage has a beautiful G1 Prowl on the way, but MS is also making all three Datsuns. From what you've said, you may want to check out Newage Prowl then look into MS for Bluestreak and Smokescreen. Also, Toyworld has a G1 Jazz on the way, and their incredible looking G1 Wheeljack Whisky Jack has a second run on pre-order now. These legends figures are brilliant, I thought I was done with Transformers since I finished up what I wanted for MP, but these amazing little figures have pulled me right back in.

[sh9000]

I can’t wait for X-Transbots Deathwish and the rest of the Stunticons to come out.

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, Tking22 said:

You gotta get MS Trailbreaker and Huff, holy crap

They're on my shortlist.  Along with their Ultra Magnus.  Oh, and that Beachcomber Seaspray set (because I have a lot of Seasprays).  Actually, they're pretty much all on my shortlist.  I'm waiting on a few other priorities first (MMC Arcee, IF Tarn, and Zeta Silverbolt are all either out or will be very shortly, plus I have preorders down on reissues for Grump, Boost, and Arkose), but I'll probably bust out the ol' PayPal credit card and grab all the MS stuff I'm missing in the next month or two.

3 hours ago, Tking22 said:

I'm bummed on Hot Soldiers Bee

Well how about this guy: New Age Flipper, a very tiny Legends Bumblebee

Flipper is a little squat, but I think his head sculpt is actually better than the official MP's, and I like his overall proportions better than the Hot Soldiers one.  Honestly, I think his backpack even cleans up a bit better than the MP.

And he is adorably tiny!  He's only a head or taller than a Micromaster.  I think the official MP Bee comes up a little taller to MP Sideswipe than Flipper does to Red Cannon, but maybe Red Cannon is a little on the tall side.  Until I get a few more MS Legends figures to really get a sense of their scaling, I'm going to say that Flipper is fine.

Flipper's lone accessory is a pistol.  Said pistol is an adorably tiny replica of MP Bee's.

I'd say that Flipper's articulation could stand to be a little better... but I also can't think of a transforming figure this small with better articulation.  His head is on a ball joint and can rotate as well as look up and down a little or tilt sideways.  His shoulders are ball joints for rotation and a little over 90 degrees of lateral extension.  He doesn't have a dedicated bicep swivel, but his elbows are ball joints so they can swivel there as well as bend a little over 90 degrees.  No wrist or waist articulation, which I can forgive at this size.  His hips are ball joints that can kick forward, backward, or sideways 90 degrees, plus his thighs can swivel a little on balls.  His knees are ball joints giving you 90 degrees of bend plus an additional swivel.  And his ankles are ball joints, so they can swivel, move up and down a little as well as pivot, although the pivot is more limited that I would have liked.

It's worth mentioning that one of the reasons I'm generally not a fan of ball joints is how easily they can get loose.  On my copy of Flipper he's mostly OK, but his hips are already pretty loose.  Fortunately ball joints are one of the easier joints to fix with floor polish.

His fists are basically molded into tab slots, and the handle of his gun is really just a tab.  On my copy he holds the gun fine in his left hand, but it's very loose in the right hand, loose enough that if I turned him upside down it'd fall right out.  Speaking of holding his gun, his hands are molded so they're pointing inward a bit, so Flipper can't actually shoot straight.

If you're a fan of the realistic alt mode Takara went for on MP Bee, I have some bad news for you.  Flipper's closer to the penny racer proportions of the G1 toy and cartoon.  Personally, I'm fine with this.  I dare say I prefer it.  And he's a very tiny Beetle.  He's taller than a Micromaster from the ground up, but from nose to rear he's actually shorter than Roadhandler here.

At this size the panel lines and hinges look like they stand out a lot, but he's so tiny in hand that it doesn't bother me.  I think he looks pretty good, honestly, except for a black hinge maring the sides of the vehicle.  He's even got a notch under the front end so he can store his little pistol while he's in car mode.  My only real complaint is that his wheels are just molded onto yellow flaps and painted black and silver.  They're not real, and he doesn't roll.

Flipper's not as impressive as a Magic Square figure.  He doesn't have the articulation, the tolerances are off in a few spots, and he doesn't roll.  But I think New Age brought a pretty strong sculpt for both modes, and they delivered it in a very tiny package.  For those reasons, plus his fairly low price, I'm able to look past his flaws.  If you're building a G1 Legends collection, I think Flipper will fill that Bumblebee niche nicely, although I could see myself swapping him out later if Magic Square ever makes one.

[M'Kyuun]

Another nice review, Mike. Neat little figure.

I PO'd New Age's Prowl, as it invokes the G1 toy marvelously . Fortunately, from the pics I've seen, it looks like it'll be a step up from Flipper, who's a pretty good representation at this scale. If MS get around to doing Bee, I hope they stick to a similar G1 toy aesthetic. At this point, I doubt we'll ever get another legends sized VW Beetle Bumblebee from Has/Tak, so I'm willing to wait for a decent 3P figure. I thought about getting Flipper, but the articulation is pretty limited and the molded wheels just kinda turned me off to him. However, I'm kinda digging their take on Cosmos over MS's- just has a more squat toon look- yeah, it has a butt flap, which MS managed to turn into a backpack, but overall, it just captures the character to me. I have the old IGear version, and like the Generations Cosmos, liberties were taken with the design making it a cool toy, but not very toon accurate. This one hits the mark for me, and the MS version is runner up. I hope either these guys or MS make a decent Cliffjumper- that's one fig I'm missing from my CHUG shelf b/c I don't want repaints of Bee- I want a fig that looks like G1 CJ, with his own car mode, and we've yet to get that officially.

Although I'm leaning towards the NA takes for Prowl and Cosmos, I do think MS is doing a great job with their legends figs- very evocative of the G1 likenesses, with some cool engineering brought to bear, nice paintwork, very little to no ball joints employed, and really good sculpt work for the scale.  I'm considering their Strongman (Huffer) as an update to my old IGear Huffer, who's still a fun little fig, albeit a bit dated. I like the engineering MS employed in the legs- I'm a little iffy on the arms, and from the pics I've seen, the front end sits lower than the backend, giving it a bit of a hot rod look that makes it look like there may be clearance issues. I'll have to check a few more reviews before committing. If was collecting legends full time, that MS Prime would be so bought- just an incredible looking figure. 

So my MS-01 should be arriving tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it, although, by now I've watched so many vids and read several reviews that all the mystery is pretty much gone. Deciphering the transformation is part and parcel to these toys, and I've kinda spoiled it for myself. Ah well, first world problem.