Toy Review - MPM-05 Movie Masterpiece Barricade

(please post comments, photos or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just some brief details to start you off)

This review is for both versions, as the Japanese version should be almost the same or identical to the Hasbro version.

MPM-05 Barricade
Series - Masterpiece
Sub-line - Movie
Size/class - n/a
New/remould/redeco - new
Wave - n/a
Released here - Not here yet (if at all) (Hasbro version out in Asia FEB 2018 - Japanese version out April 2018)
Approximate Retail Price - ?? (10,000yen for Japanese version)
Approximate Size - about 20cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Police car
Main Features/Gimmicks - spinning weapon
Main Colours - black, white
Main Accessories - spinning weapon


http://www.toycollectors.com.au/tran...2018/mpm05.jpg

Griffin, not sure if these are worth adding to the opening stats:

Approx. retail price - JPY8000 (HLJ - the cheapest price I could find)
Approximate Size - 19cm
Alt-mode – Saleen S281 Extreme


The third figure in the restarted Movie Masterpiece line, and the first Decepticon in the line since Starscream.

Vehicle mode

https://i.imgur.com/MjcwLWd.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/aUuLayG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nFCJfDj.jpg

A customised Saleen S281 Extreme. Barricade is mostly rendered in glossy black plastic, with clear headlight lenses, windows, and strobe bar. The doors are painted white. The bullbar is dark grey plastic. Lights and reflectors are marked in paint. Barricade has several tampographed police markings, including his distinctive "To Punish and Enslave" motto.

The black plastic conceals most of the shutlines on the car's body, but one shutline interrupts the white door and cuts into the tampographed police signage and badge, detracting from what is otherwise a fairly clean car.

It could just be my particular figure, but I'm finding that the rear wheels come out of alignment easily.

https://i.imgur.com/RZ5KgzO.jpg

Somewhat surprisingly, Barricade is noticeably bigger than Bumblebee in vehicle mode. A 2005-spec Saleen S281, based on the 5th generation Ford Mustang, is actually shorter and narrower (by 3cm in each direction) than a 2010-spec Camaro. At this scale, they should be pretty much the same size.

Transformation

The transformation broadly echoes that of the original deluxe class figure from 2007, but it's far more involved, as one would expect of a Masterpiece. The arms in particular have numerous steps. The legs, in contrast, are simple to transform.

On mine, the joint on the frame that folds and locks the front of the car down to form the chest is particularly tight. Hopefully this will loosen after a few transformations.

A subtle, undocumented step is that the rear wheels split along their length when forming the backs of his hands, revealing moulded detail inside.

It might be worth being careful with the top portion of the doors that have the windows; it seems to me that the leading edge with the hinge is particularly vulnerable to paint scratching.

Robot mode

https://i.imgur.com/DTg4QNN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UlnaM8u.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Nehz7T5.jpg

Barricade stands just over 17cm at the top of the head; the quoted height of 19cm is the top of his shoulder-mounted windows. Some areas are coloured in metallic blue, which help to break up the black. The blue isn't as bright or obtrusive as we had been led to believe in early photos.

As in previous Movie Masterpieces, there is diecast metal here - the grille and headlight assembly, part of the torso, and the feet are painted metal.

The chin can potentially get caught behind his 'collar', but there are two points of articulation in the neck, so it is possible to move the head up to get the chin clear.

The arms looks somewhat ungainly, and the forearms in particular have an angular, almost 'broken' or 'disjointed' appearance due to the arrangement of the different panels that make them up, but the result is faithful to the character art.

Barricade has the articulation one would expect, save for the wrists, which are locked due to the way the figure transforms. The one big downside to the robot mode is that the shoulders don't have a solid locking point, so they tend to shift when moving the arms.

https://i.imgur.com/iHmMUMY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nttTia4.jpg

Barricade's single accessory is his impressive gyro-flight blade (that's the name given to this weapon in the The Movie Universe guide book for RotF). To attach this weapon, one needs to transform the forearm back to its vehicle mode configuration in order to make a slot for attachment accessible.

https://i.imgur.com/YpPsto7.jpg

The weapon comes with a transparent plastic stand for display when not in use.

https://i.imgur.com/RAmc2ul.jpg

Despite his size advantage in vehicle mode, Barricade is actually slightly shorter than Bumblebee in robot mode.

Verdict

https://i.imgur.com/Ar72JPn.jpg

Barricade lacks features compared to other toys - no miniature Frenzy or spring-loaded weapons here - but he makes up for it with detail, fidelity to the character art, and an interesting transformation.

Whether you like the angular design or not is a matter of personal taste, but as a representation of that design, this is as good as it gets for a transforming figure. Previous transforming Barricades never quite captured his angular silhouette or his imposing gyro-flight weapon. The Robot Replicas Barricade got close, but of course, it couldn't transform.

Although Barricade is well articulated, as mentioned before, the shoulders can be a gripe for anyone trying to pose the figure, since they don't lock in robot mode. Despite that, I think Masterpiece Barricade is still worth recommending on account of the aforementioned visual fidelity and detail.

Surprised by the lack of love here for poor Barry. My son transformed him and it was fairly straightforward, probably why I enjoy MP car figures the best since I don't like particularly complex transformations. While I prefer Bumblebee, Barricade makes a nice foil standing next to him on the shelf. Will definitely keep buying these Movie Masterpiece figures.

I got mine this week. I was a little hesitant as I wasn't sure about the face, and I'm not sure if it still matches my idea of what Barricade's face should look like. Still the details and paintwork are top notch and he looks pretty epic in a battle pose with Bumblebee. The arms/hands are a little tough to do much posing in due to limited articulation but that's about my only gripe.

Bring in Ironhide, but I'm also hanging out for a MPM Megatron.