Toy Review: Masterpiece Sunstorm

[GoktimusPrime]

Series - Transformers Masterpiece
Sub-line - N/A
Size/class - N/A
New/remould/redeco - redeco of MP11 Starscream
Wave - N/A
Released here - N/A (released in Japan August 2012, Amazon exclusive)
Approximate Retail Price - 13650JPY ($170)
Approximate Size - 23cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - F-15 fighter jet
Main Features/Gimmicks - 'Masterpiece figure'
Main Colours - amber, yellow, white
Main Accessories - Coronation regalia: cape, crown, 2x shoulder-pads

I never got MP11 (and I've yet to see one IRL), but I'm impressed by how solid this toy is -- a significant improvement from the original MP Seeker mould. The less vehicle accurate looking underside of the jet mode is an easily acceptable compromise for what is a much better action figure design. I don't know if the improvement is worth paying an extra 3650JPY ($45.65) for though... so considering the increased RRP I'm glad I skipped Starscream in favour of Sunstorm -- cos at least the exclusiveness makes the higher RRP easier to swallow (both MP11 and Sunstorm have the same RRP).

The crown and shoulder pads are easy enough to clip on, but the cape is kinda cumbersome and gets in the way of some stuff in the back. But once you get it on it looks nice, but it's easy to mis-align during play. The cape's opening/closing gimmick is really nice. I like how the crown and shoulder pads are chrome purple... I wasn't expecting that. The transformation is simpler yet more elegant than the old MP Seekers, though clipping the main wings on can be fiddly/tricky. Same with manoeuvring the arm guns to the wings and back -- but I like how they tried to come up with a way to move those guns from the arms to the wings without actually detaching them, so kudos to TakTOM for the effort.

The yellow and amber look kinda odd -- I think the toy would look better if they just made it primarily one colour or the other. But I suppose they wanted to break up the monotony (like on G1 Sunstorm), but honestly, the whites already achieve that. The airbrushing on the main wings is really nicely done, as is the "Tetrajet" logo on the sides of the cockpit area. Sunstorm has yellow "chopper flames" on his amber forearms, which is also a nice touch for the character. The toy pretty much features the same thing as all the other MP Seekers. It comes with a silver chrome "holographic pilot," which actually looks like a jet fighter pilot instead of another Dr Arkeville, so that's kewl.

Recommended if you can get it at about RRP, which is already quite expensive.

Photos

In Coronation Regalia w/ cape closed


Cape opened


Rear view (cape opened)


Cape closed




Regalia removed


Comparison w/ G1 Sunstorm


Chest missiles


Jet mode w/ landing gears deployed. Inset: Tetrajet logo


Radar dome & cockpit opened


Air brake. Inset: close up.


Wing flaps down and engine exposed


Wing flaps up & vector nozzles positioned down

[1AZRAEL1]

I got mine today, and i gotta say i really like it. It is a good improvement on the other mould. Haven't had the time to change him into jet mode yet.

[SharkyMcShark]

His vehicle mode looks like a Barcelona away top from this season.

Presumably whoever coloured it was a fan of the gradient tool on MS paint.

[GoktimusPrime]

Heh, just realised that I never added a poll on this thread (oops ). Added one now. I voted "Only if--" <--- only if you're really interested in having an MP Sunstorm and you can get it for its already damn expensive RRP. At $170 Sunstorm has been the most expensive Masterpiece toy I've ever purchased -- $20 more than what I paid for Hasbro MP10 Optimus Prime! That's a _LOT_ to pay for what is fundamentally a retool/repaint of the original MP Seeker mould.

[Kazza]

Well owning all 3 new mold seekers, sunstorm wins hands down, his color palette is much surperior to TC and SS. I love it... and the chrome shoulder pads... yummy

[UltraMarginal]

I voted not interested,

Price: a bit high for a repaint/retool of a mold I have 4 other versions of.

Availability: not so easy to come by, but then I haven't really looked very hard for it either.

the Mold: I was happy with the original mold, it is a little hard to get it to stand but it looks much better in vehicle mode.
For a line that's all about vehicle accuracy and robot mode accuracy, the booms that hold the null rays and don't allow for proper missiles to be added in vehicle mode ruin the new mold for me, visually.

I realise it's a special exclusive, if it was more mainstream and accordingly cheaper i might have been more interested.

[GoktimusPrime]

Well owning all 3 new mold seekers, sunstorm wins hands down, his color palette is much surperior to TC and SS. I love it... and the chrome shoulder pads... yummy

Heh... that makes me feel a bit better knowing that I have the best of the lot, as I have no interest in the other 2.

the Mold: I was happy with the original mold, it is a little hard to get it to stand but it looks much better in vehicle mode.

^Absolutely. The new mould is a better robot, the old one was a better jet.

For a line that's all about vehicle accuracy and robot mode accuracy, the booms that hold the null rays and don't allow for proper missiles to be added in vehicle mode ruin the new mold for me, visually.

I don't know if I'd agree with Masterpiece being a line that's "all about vehicle accuracy," that's more like Alternators/Binaltech and Alternity. MP01 didn't have a terribly realistic looking Freightliner FL86 mode; MP10 does a much better job, but neither mould achieve that level of vehicular realism that the old MP seekers or even Binaltech did. Other than the Seekers, most Masterpieces seem - to me - to be more about redoing G1 Transformers as larger and more detailed/complex level. Similar to the spirit of Master Grade Gundam plamodels, but as action figures for Transformers. I think the old Seekers were more the exception rather than the rule for MPs in terms of having Ultra-realistic alt modes. Even MP Megatron whose alt mode has a high level of realism (which as we all know has entailed legal issues with it), was done so more incidentally rather than out of explicit intent like the level of the Seekers. It's not as if they decided to give his gun mode a moving hammer, safety lever, ammo clip, movable slide (to load the bullet into chamber) etc. and other such features that guns would have to make his alt mode uber realistic. Just as well... would've made the toy an even bigger legal nightmare had they'd done it!

I realise it's a special exclusive, if it was more mainstream and accordingly cheaper i might have been more interested.

The thing is... this toy is the same RRP as MP-11 Starscream!! I seriously think recent TakaraTOMY MPs are really overpriced... that's why I skipped Rodimus and MP10 Optimus and ended up getting the Hasbro versions. So I personally thought to myself, if I'm going to pay $170 for a freakin' Seeker, might as well make it a limited exclusive. :/

[kup]

Gallery:























For those interested:

- The cape is a separate piece to the shoulder armor and fully compatible with the MP03 mold.
- The new head can be swapped with the old MP03 head (as in you can 'upgrade' the head).
- The shoulder armor is not backwards compatible with MP03 (The shoulders are too thick on the older mold).
- The crown is also not compatible with the older MP03 head as it looks like he is wearing a big hat (plus it's purple not gold).
- For those that own a 3rd party coronation set for MP03: You will be able to use the shoulder armor with the new cape but you won't be able to use the gold crown on the new updated head.

[Megatran]

Got Sunstorm (along with Starscream Coronation Reissue & Ghost Starscream) yesterday & no longer MISB ... . Probably my least favourite of the MP Seekers in my tiny, tiny TF collection (also have Hasbro Thundercracker & Acid Storm).

Sunstorm's colour scheme in alt mode is good but a bit wishy washy in bot mode with the pale yellow legs and orangish upper body. I have to mention that I never heard of this character until its MP release.

Don't know why he came with the coronation set. Can someone explain? Would have preferred the base plate (with name) and stand.

As an aside for MP Seekers in general:

1. Would have liked to have base plate and stand for Starscream Coronation set as well.
2. There appears to be no name on the base plate for Ghost Starscream?

[kup]

Got Sunstorm (along with Starscream Coronation Reissue & Ghost Starscream) yesterday & no longer MISB ... . Probably my least favourite of the MP Seekers in my tiny, tiny TF collection (also have Hasbro Thundercracker & Acid Storm).

Sunstorm's colour scheme in alt mode is good but a bit wishy washy in bot mode with the pale yellow legs and orangish upper body. I have to mention that I never heard of this character until its MP release.

Don't know why he came with the coronation set. Can someone explain? Would have preferred the base plate (with name) and stand.

As an aside for MP Seekers in general:

1. Would have liked to have base plate and stand for Starscream Coronation set as well.
2. There appears to be no name on the base plate for Ghost Starscream?

I don't think there is any reason why he came with the coronation set. It would have made sense if everything was gang molded together but since Skywarp and Thundercracker did not come with it, then it's there because someone at Tomy thought it would be cool.

On the plus side, this was of benefit to me as I was able to use the much cooler plastic cape to replace the (very early) 3rd party cloth cape I bought several years ago for my Hasbro MP-03. I still have to use the 3rd party crown and shoulder armor but the cape works great as can be seen in the above pic.