Kal El Reviews:

[KalEl]

Generations Armada Starscream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtr...O7P6ta0oxNwf9Q

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Beast Wars Dinobot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9OtMn8VPT0

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Just wanted to share my new youtube channel banner, aweomely made by OTCA member LANCALOT!!! Thanks BRO!

[KalEl]

Video Review of Beast Wars Fuzors Quickstrike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcp8STO6K1U

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Beast Wars Inferno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QVLz_uB2Io

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD9fNWqsO-k

Another fantastic Masterpiece update to the G1 Favourite Wheeljack from Takara Tomy. Although not their best in my personal opinion, this release is definitely a very good all round release. Fantastic Lancia Stratos alt mode, licensed by the car company, which has become the norm on the autobot car releases.

The robot mode is very on topic, from the head to the wings on his back right down to the big slabs or car hood feet. The dinobots creator is well represented in the masterpiece line.

Transformation is relatively intuitive and once one has gone through it once or twice it becomes quite easy. Overall articulation is great and very well balanced. With nice detailing over most surfaces, a good example of this is the transformation joint for the wrist.

Overall 100% worth picking up for any G1, masterpiece or transforming robot enthusiast.

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[KalEl]

Masterpiece MP-22 Ultra Magnus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKO-eMIuol4

It's Mother F'N ULTRA MAGNUS! Whoa! Takara have hit this release way out of the park, with an awesomely accurate and badass Masterpiece of the City commander himself; Ultra Magnus.
As I write this, I have just received both Masterpiece Ultra Magnus and Masterpiece Bumblebee (Bumble). Both releases are incredible (more coverage on bumble soon). Magnus is a massive beefcake of beefynus, he hits the animation model perfectly with many improvements of course.

With both complex and quite simple engineering incorporated, magnus is quite intuitive to transform to and from both modes, the cab transformation may give you a little grief initially but then its a piece of cake. The biggest things to watch whilst transforming are to be careful when rotating the smoke stacks. But the biggest thing to be very careful and mindful is transforming the pelvis plate back and forth as it easily is stressed and in some instances it has broken on copies of the toy. My advice is applying even and gradual pressure whiles rotating the joint as close to the hinge as possible. Stress marks may still appear but it should help in the long run. One tip is leave the plate in its robot mode position permanently as it doesn't overly affect the overall aesthetics. See the tutorial video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6o7-K1Rd9w

Overall articulation is great considering how big and blocky Magnus is, the only thing he is really 'missing' is a waist rotation but that is really nit picking. Also with big slabs or diecast for his feet, Magnus is ULTRA stable. See what I did there haha. In truck mode, the car carrier is fully functional just the its G1 predecessor as well as a detachable cab with spots for Spike and Daniel to ride along. The carrier mode is capable of carrying four masterpiece cars (with the exception of hotrod/rodimus) or similar sized transformers.

One let down of a figure of this kind and price is the visible sprue marks in various place of Magnus body, most egregious being on his forearms. It may have been unavoidable but I wish more care was taken in removing them from the injection moulded sprue.

Overall Ultra Magnus is an A1 release and well worth picking up. I personally thing at a sub $200 price tag, he is great value for your dollars.

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Combiner Wars Powerglide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCiXi2fHofw

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Combiner Wars Bombshell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWampb2PQSM

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Transformers Masterpiece MP-21 Bumblebee (Bumble)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQgwfX2eMqs

Wham Bam Thank you Takara! You just went a made old Bumblebee cool again!
This figure is the epitome of ‘good things come in small packages’. Excuse me while I gush, I love this figure. It’s engineered so well its right on topic and bumbles size makes him hard to put down. A intuitive transformation with some cool little trick like the top of the hood folding into the torso during transformation is fantastic.

Bumble has so few flaws, some have complained about the ‘hollow’ forearms from where the hand reside in alt mode. But this is nit picking at it rawest form, in my opinion its not that noticeable. The other issue is good old yellow paint and its inconsistency in application, that on top (pardon the pun) of being applied to different plastics. In pictures the colour difference was quite noticeable, but in hand it is much less egregious. There definitely are differences in hues but overall im happy with it.

Bumble comes with a few extra bits and pieces including a extra face plate (which is barely different to the other, a slight smirk), a spare wheel which can replace the small black licence plate on the rear. A small blue hand gun which will store between the front wheels in alt mode and if you picked of the Amazon or market exclusive versions, bumble came with a battle mask face plate and a Masterpiece collectors coin.
The biggest accessory is the inclusion of Spike in his exosuit or is it Daniel in his exosuit….. The debate continues, its FIBRIR/RIBFIR all over again. So we shall call him spaniel :P.
Spaniel is a great little inclusion but lacks some basic paint applications and a little articulation. That being said im happy he was included.

Bumblebees car mode is Very accurate to his real life car mode, even down the the single mirror on his left hand side. That being said, the car mode is not accurate to the show model. The animation showed bumble as a squat little bubble of a beetle opposed to the lengthier real life analogue. But overall who cares, because Bumblebees robot mode more than make up for this necessary oversight for lack of better words.

Bumble is a must have for any Transformers fan and transforming robot fan alike. I’ll be picking up any future repaints of this guy myself. If you see him for what you consider a good price, I highly recommend picking him up.

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