Toy Review - MP Cassettebots vs Cassettetrons

MASTERPIECE STRIPES, NIGHTSTALKER, ENEMY & WINGTHING
Series - Masterpiece
Size/class - N/A
New/remould/redeco - Night stalker is new, Stripes is a remould of MP Ravage, Enemy and Wingthing are redecos of MP Frumble and Ratbat respectively
Wave - MP-15/16E
Released here - No (TakaraTOMY Mall exclusive, January 2018)
Approximate Retail Price - 10,800JPY (about AU$125)
Approximate Sizes - varies (see individual descriptions)
Allegiance - Autobots and Decepticons
Alt-modes - Cassette tapes
Main Features/Gimmicks - can be stored in MP Soundwave's chest. Wingthing can attach to MP Soundwave or MP36's arm
Main Colours - varies (see individual descriptions)
Main Accessories - Enemy has 2 guns and 2 piledrivers, four cassette cases

I only got the Decepticons so someone else will have to review the Autobot Cassettes -- although I have seen/handled the Autobots so I'll type up my overall thoughts about them later. Too tired to write reviews now but I have translated Enemy's tech specs bio. I'll translate the others later.

https://image.ibb.co/fZtfZw/mp_enemy_techspecs.jpg

Translation of Wingthing's bio
https://image.ibb.co/fkagRb/mp_wingthing_techspecs.jpg

Translation of MP Stripes' bio
https://image.ibb.co/en06SG/mp_stripes_bio.jpg
STR: 9 INT: 2 SPD: 5 END: 8 RNK: 2 CRG: 9 FPR: 3 SKL: 7

Translated MP Night Stalker's bio
https://image.ibb.co/diiYrb/mp_nightstalker_bio.jpg

Thoughts about these toys...

Enemy and Wing Thing are straight up repaints so, what you see is what you get.
Autobot Stripes is a repaint of MP Ravage, but with new guns that resemble Steeljaw's guns. Night Stalker is an entirely new mould who resembles Steeljaw, but he has Ravage's weapons. This is of course in reference to the Encore toys where Night Stalker has Ravage's missiles and Stripes has Steeljaw's. The shoulder joint on the Night Stalker that I saw was broken - the pin sheered right off when The Scream Man took it out of the tray. Not sure if he was just unlucky or if others have experienced it. So far his is the only one I know who's had it happen, but I also haven't heard from anyone else who owns MP Night Stalker. For now I'm assuming that it's an isolated freak occurrence.

Of course, this is also a fair indication that TakaraTOMY may be planning on releasing an MP Steeljaw in the near future. They definitely now have the mould for it. Does this mean that the other Autobot Cassettes and possibly Masterpiece Blaster may be in the works?

So.... What's Night Stalker like as a toy?

He's... ok. Quite poseable, the missiles are on a double joint so you can have them angled down above the hind legs so the back half of the figure is less holey.
Only real downside is due to the fact a chunk of the cassette folds over itself to form the mane, the figure is small compared to ravage/stripes.

My figure came with one other major issue - super loose leg:
https://youtu.be/lBoRtiV8mCs

No one else online so far has complained of this so I think I've gotten unlucky.

Took some comparisons of Masterpiece and vintage Enemy the other week.

https://i.ibb.co/bB9kGdV/52498743-10...44966912-o.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/yNRzqpz/52474496-10...89189120-o.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/WvvcwCZ/52688616-10...89422080-o.jpg

Is a cool set. I have mine too. Can't believe it's a year after this release and still managed to get a set for a decent price.

Promo shots showed Stripes with silver guns, but comes gold. Weird. But the QC on my set seems pretty good. Would be nice to try get a G1 enemy now. But I'm happy with my set. I love cassettes, so worth the money.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 1AZRAEL1

Is a cool set. I have mine too. Can't believe it's a year after this release and still managed to get a set for a decent price.

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Can’t believe it’s a year after its release and there is still no sign of MP Steeljaw (or Blaster!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

Can’t believe it’s a year after its release and there is still no sign of MP Steeljaw (or Blaster!)

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It's one of the great mysteries of Takara!

I was with Tha_Phantom when he took these photos. It was great to see a G1 Enemy in person. :)