I've had this figure for over a month now, and he still stands on my computer desk along side so I could pick him and mess with him whenever I want, or simply just look at him and appreciate what an amazing job TakTom have done. I don't this this ever happened since I got back into collecting 16 years ago. And this is counting RotF Leader Optimus, which I simply could not put down for a very long time.

Now that the newness has worn off and I know this figure like the back of my hand, I can start re-evaluate it more objectively. And I still think he's the best Masterpiece figure to date and potentially one of the best of all time. When look at his robot mode and pose him, I sometimes completely forget this is a fully-transformable figure. That's how good the 'bot mode is. The only compromises for the 'bot mode for me are the thighs can stand to be thicker and the feet a bit wider, both of which are determined by the width of the gun handle. This is by no means a complaint though, because short of adding transformation here there's no side-stepping the issue; and that would make this transformation unnecessarily long and complicated. I feel that the designers made the right choice to compromise these two areas. After all commercial industrial design is all about making the right compromises.

The panel lines in gun mode don't bother me at all, b ecause how else would it be able to make a cartoon accurate chest out of a realistic gun chamber? Bottom line is, the gun turns out to be the right size with the best internal proportions on the market, and feels great in hand.

This figure is going to be the benchmark for the Masterpiece line in a long time coming.


Quote Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy View Post
I also think it's got a lot to do with Japanese media in general and their simplicity with character types. Starscream has a booming voice, as does Desslok from Uchu Senkan Yamato. Its because they are easily identifiable as a bad guy.
I agree in general, but not in the case of Starscream here. I personally feel that the Japanese Starscream conveys a young and cocky personality. This I assume is a different interpretation of the character and you sense some cultural difference here. They were not trying to make him a hysteric clown type of a character with a high pitched voice that Chris Latta created, but rather a young and ambitious second-in-command that is more cocky than plain stupid.