Toy Review - JP MP-25 Masterpiece Tracks

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

No review thread for Road Rage yet, huh? I might just put my thoughts in here until one crops up.

Besides Star Saber, this is my first non-Shogo Hasui MP experience. MP-wise I've got MP10 Optimus V.2, Soundwave and his cassettes, Exhaust (which I haven't gotten around to opening yet), Prowl, Bumblebee, Star Saber, and Lambor. If I had to set what I'd consider a 'baseline' for MP standards, It'd probably be Prowl. Bumblebee and Soundwave are the best IMO, Optimus V.2 and Lambor are solid but not quite as good as 'wave and 'bee, Star Saber is good for what he is, but Prowl seems to be the most 'default' MP for me. He's well-designed, solid, and more than adequate, but not really amazing like Bumble. He does what he's supposed to do - be a high-quality update to G1 Prowl - and not much more.

Road Rage...does not live up to that standard.
She's fiddly, over-complicated, and not really all that dynamic. To be fair, she looks nice in either mode, and the headsculpt is great, but ultimately her flaws as a toy outweigh her positives, at least for her price-point. The remolding is well-done, but ultimately the base Tracks mold itself is just too limited to make for a truly memorable piece. If she'd had thigh- or knee-swivels, if her weapon (which looks nice and solid and powerful) had clipped in to her wrist a little more securely and her head locked in somewhere, if her transformation was a little less fiddly and the wings and shoulders didn't clash with each other then she'd be great, but as it is...
She's just...OK.
It's less that she's a bad figure, and more that she's got a lot of minor flaws that all add up to make her less than good and just...OK.
And for a Masterpiece, that's kind of not OK.

I voted "Only if..." If you can get her for ~$30-$40, it's not a bad deal. If you're a huge Corvette Stingray fan, then sure, why not? Otherwise, I'd suggest passing on her.

[drifand]

No review thread for Road Rage yet, huh? I might just put my thoughts in here until one crops up.

Besides Star Saber, this is my first non-Shogo Hasui MP experience. MP-wise I've got MP10 Optimus V.2, Soundwave and his cassettes, Exhaust (which I haven't gotten around to opening yet), Prowl, Bumblebee, Star Saber, and Lambor. If I had to set what I'd consider a 'baseline' for MP standards, It'd probably be Prowl. Bumblebee and Soundwave are the best IMO, Optimus V.2 and Lambor are solid but not quite as good as 'wave and 'bee, Star Saber is good for what he is, but Prowl seems to be the most 'default' MP for me. He's well-designed, solid, and more than adequate, but not really amazing like Bumble. He does what he's supposed to do - be a high-quality update to G1 Prowl - and not much more.

Road Rage...does not live up to that standard.
She's fiddly, over-complicated, and not really all that dynamic. To be fair, she looks nice in either mode, and the headsculpt is great, but ultimately her flaws as a toy outweigh her positives, at least for her price-point. The remolding is well-done, but ultimately the base Tracks mold itself is just too limited to make for a truly memorable piece. If she'd had thigh- or knee-swivels, if her weapon (which looks nice and solid and powerful) had clipped in to her wrist a little more securely and her head locked in somewhere, if her transformation was a little less fiddly and the wings and shoulders didn't clash with each other then she'd be great, but as it is...
She's just...OK.
It's less that she's a bad figure, and more that she's got a lot of minor flaws that all add up to make her less than good and just...OK.
And for a Masterpiece, that's kind of not OK.

I voted "Only if..." If you can get her for ~$30-$40, it's not a bad deal. If you're a huge Corvette Stingray fan, then sure, why not? Otherwise, I'd suggest passing on her.

Someone that I will keep in mind as you pointed out exactly how I felt about Tracks. meaning I won't be too happy with Road Rage either.

What bugs me is the over engineering at the wrong places, and the paint on both Tracks and Road rage is plastic mould colour than more of a painted feeling. You look at Bee is still painted, while you like Prowl, I love Streak. Heck even Smokescreen is painted, you can see the gloss, is there, it isn't a dull finish.

One downside was the elbows is only bent 90 degrees while other car mps can do a better pose.

[prjkt]

well Tracks is now my third MP figure, picked him up from the post office this afternoon.

First things first, I really like the paint job/colours - that metallic blue just pops, and is the whole reason I paid almost as much for the United Tracks version over Hasbro's a couple of years ago. I'm a sucker for shiny paint, which is why I got G2 Bee over the original release.

Car mode is sweet, not as solid as Sideswipe/Lambor, but still impressive imo. Long and thin in comparison, just under a cm longer, but 2-3 cm narrower.

This carries across into robot mode, tall and lithe, looks like he'd be taller than Lambor, but head height is about the same, just his backpack is higher. My main complaint is his feet seem look to far separated from his legs in comparison to both Lambor and Bumblebee.

Articulation is a little limited - his wings limit arm movements a little, elbows and knees are a little less than 90° so he's definitely no Bee in that regards. However he does have a slight bend at the waist which'll help him look down to Raoul a little easier or lean back for "flight" display

Overall, tbh, I'm still quite impressed with this figure - I guess I don't have the same level of expectation as some of the others here as I'm used to Generations level figures

[FruitBuyer]

I purchased Tracks on a whim and after playing around with him, I think I like him more than Sideswipe though still below Wheeljack and Prowl.

Granted Tracks does have a fiddly transformation, it's not much worse than Sideswipe (whose head thing always scrags my goat). Both have my favourite alt-modes of all car bots however Tracks wins out because of the poses he can do with the flight stand. I love being able to do all the flying type poses with him.

The backpack doesn't bother me that much, I actually think it's pretty well done given Tracks character design.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

If anyone's chasing these guys, apparently they're being marked down pretty heavily on the Japanese sites.
Shame about the value of the dollar, but still...

[drifand]

If anyone's chasing these guys, apparently they're being marked down pretty heavily on the Japanese sites.
Shame about the value of the dollar, but still...

Yup way marked down, 3950. Jpy for road rage

[philby]

i got him a week or so ago but haven't even transformed him or anything yet! i like looking at the car and the little blaster hehe

[Kranix]

Interesting that so many seem to dislike Tracks, I really like him.

He looks brilliant in all modes (love the colour!) and although he isn't as solid as far as weight goes as some other MPs it didn't bother me.

I found the transformation really easy, not fiddly at all. I usually stick with the instructions with MPs but no need with Tracks.

However, separation of the legs first up was scary hard, I thought I would break him. Also one of his legs is a bit loose.

Still, all up he was well worth the $82 AU shipped I paid for him, he adds a lot to my collection.

[drifand]

I saw this

http://news.tfw2005.com/transformers-masterpiece/

And it appears they tried the other mask for tracks and I think I like it

Transformed tracks yesterday and I think is still a bit messy in putting it "together" in car mode.

I think I will leave it in bot mode for good.

[FruitBuyer]

Finally have Road Rage in hand and I must say that despite the flaws, most of which are simply due to the Tracks mold, I really like her, probably even more than Tracks.

Her weapon is a bit loose but I like the design and it's a welcome change from every other weapon which are essentially handguns or rifles. I like her red paint more than Sideswipes, even though it doesn't have the same glossyness that Tracks has.

All in all, I must say I'm quite happy with the Tracks/Road Rage figures. Maybe because I'm a bit more laid back but the flaws don't bother me as much. Of the voyager car-bots that I have I rank them like this:

1. Wheeljack
2. Road Rage
3. Tracks
4. Prowl
5. Sideswipy (I simply cannot get over the head thing)