Took mine out and had a play with him today. My impressions:

I've never owned the G1 toy and Ive only watched the Victory series once (never even got around to watching Zone) and that was many years ago and I only half remember it so I dont have a big emotional connection to the character. I mainly got him as he looked big and cool in all the media about him.

The 3 robot modes all look quite cool. Im wondering if the little brainmaster dude is now the smallest TF I own? I like how the Sabre mode without the face really does give the impression that its a bigger mech suit for the little guy. Then put all together into Star Sabre he is very big and impressive looking indeed! The sword and shield are great, though I think he could have benefited from a bigger gun.

The vehicle modes? Hmmmm. Well the Sabre jet mode is ok, I like how the brainmaster can become the pilot and fits in there really well, unlike many TF toys where someone is a pilot.

The V-Star battle platform I found to be a real letdown. It may be correct in the way it reference the old cartoon and the original toy but I found for something so big it was woefully simplistic and really holds no appeal. They should have really beefed it up with... I dunno... a lot more little details or stickers or more weapons or something.

The jet combined to the V-Star - it just doesn't do it for me. Again, I know its technically correct, a platform that becomes a giant jet booster thing for the regular jet to fly into outer space- but it just seems plain and weird looking.

I found the transformation sequence for all this to be too simplistic for a Masterpiece, especially such a huge one. Oh there is lots to do with all the different modes, but transformation wise its not impressive and doesn't offer a helluva lot of play value.


Overall Im not sure he is worth the money I spent on him, especially since he would be in my top 10 most expensive single transformer toy purchases. I'll play around with him some more when time allows, I may grow to like him better. Until then he can be an impressively proportioned big bot sitting up on my shelves.