#masterpiecetheater

Toy Review - Action Toys' Bike Robo DX [The REAL Masterpiece Cy-Kill]

SMR

Apr 9, 2018
3 min

Toy Review - Action Toys' Bike Robo DX [The REAL Masterpiece Cy-Kill]

When Go-Bots started falling behind Transformers back in the hey-day of transforming robots duking it out in the toy aisle for a kid’s hard-begged-for cash, Tonka opted to go bigger…making Super Go-Bots, toys akin to their smaller brethren with similar transformations (mostly…I STILL can’t figure out Super Spay-C) but on a larger scale…better fitting in with their main competitors from Cybertron. It’s pretty obvious how this worked out. So, here in the modern age, should we b

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Masterpiece Theater Showdown: Takara's Shockwave Vs. FansToys Quakewave

SMR

Mar 31, 2018
5 min

Masterpiece Theater Showdown: Takara's Shockwave Vs. FansToys Quakewave

While most of the early Transformers were taken from Takara’s Microman and Diaclone toylines, giving them the Masterpiece treatment was pretty easy with minimal fuss. However, some of the toys in the 84 and 85 waves were licensed from other toymakers…most notably Shockwave and Jetfire. With this aspect deflating collectors’ hopes in ever seeing a Masterpiece Shockwave, as usual, third-party companies sprang into action to provide their own versions. The one that caught my

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Masterpiece Theater - Smokescreen and Hot Rodimus

SMR

Nov 24, 2017
4 min

Masterpiece Theater - Smokescreen and Hot Rodimus

For this episode of Masterpiece Theater [So glad PBS has opted not to sue, by the way. – Ed.] we’ve opted to go for something old and something new. [Well, relatively new…given your timely updates. – Ed.] So let’s delve a little deeper into MP-19 Smokescreen and MP-28 Hot Rodimus. For most of what you need to know about Smokescreen, all you have to do is refer back to my review of his mold-mates, MP-17 Prowl and MP-18 Streak (or, since I grabbed the Toys R Us version, MP-06

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Masterpiece Theater - A Seekers Sampler: Skywarp, Sunstorm and Thrust.

SMR

Oct 1, 2017
5 min

Masterpiece Theater - A Seekers Sampler: Skywarp, Sunstorm and Thrust.

You ever get the feeling that perhaps there’s a game amongst the Decepticon ranks that’s a variant of the old “duck, duck…goose!”? This review will likely back that up as we play a game of Seeker, Seeker…Conehead! The lead picture above shows two of the three Seekers we’ll be taking a look at, Sunstorm and Thrust, but we’re also going to take a look an older version of the mold, Skywarp, as well. Let’s start off with the old fart, Skywarp. The version we’re looking at here

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Toy Review - Wei Jiang's M01 Commander (Masterpiece Evasion Mode Optimus Prime)

SMR

Feb 12, 2017
5 min

Toy Review - Wei Jiang's M01 Commander (Masterpiece Evasion Mode Optimus Prime)

More often than not, when something is called a knock-off, it's meant in a derrogatory way...and usually it's merited. After all, a knock-off is exactly that: an item that presents itself as an original item, but lacking the original's quality. They're certainly not new to Transformers collecting, hell, it's why the rub-signs first appeared in Generation 1 toys back in the 80s. As collecting entered the 21st century, knock-offs have certainly persisted but the line has als

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Action Toys' Blackbird Robo and Mixer Robo - Masterpiece Snoop and Blockhead

SMR

Jan 21, 2017
4 min

Action Toys' Blackbird Robo and Mixer Robo - Masterpiece Snoop and Blockhead

How do you follow up a wave that had two marquee bots (if you’re in the west) in Cy-Kill and Leader-1, a solid entry who not too many knew until you showed them a picture (then it was often “Oooooh…that guy!”) in Tank and a marquee bot if you’re in the east but otherwise a bit player in Screwhead (or Rod Drill)? [Honestly, there’s a way to work that out in your brain. See, even in GoBots, he was always Rod Drill…but either no one on the Renegades liked him or he was viewed

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Action Toys' Bike Robo - Masterpiece Cy-Kill

SMR

Oct 10, 2016
2 min

Action Toys' Bike Robo - Masterpiece Cy-Kill

As much as I’d love to subtitle this review “…Or how I stopped worrying and love the parts-former,” well, that’s not exactly true. Instead, I think maybe the best way for me to convey my feelings about Bike Robo is to dub him…the Anti-Tracks. You see, when I first opened the box for Bike Robo (who, from here on out, will be called Cy-Kill) he just looked…well, for lack of a better term, disappointing. Sure, when you think of the original Go-Bot, of course there’s going to

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SMR

Aug 9, 2016
3 min

Masterpiece Theater - Tracks

I knew the exact moment when Masterpiece Tracks and I weren’t going to get along…when I was putting in his damn side mirrors. Everything prior to that point had been great. Granted, everything prior to that point…I hadn’t actually come in physical contact with the actual figure. I managed to score one from Past Generation Toys via Amazon for $50…with free two day shipping, so, you know, that was kind of awesome. And that’s where the awesome ends. Which is weird really…sinc

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SMR

Jul 25, 2016
4 min

Masterpiece Theater - Rodimus Prime

I hate this thing. Granted, that makes it sounds like there’s nothing positive about MP-09, Rodimus Convoy (or Rodimus Prime here in the States)…and that’s not entirely true. What ends up hobbling this figure is that it’s too ambitious. I mean, it goes from a Hot Rod robot mode to Rodimus Prime robot mode to Hot Rod vehicle mode to Rodimus Prime vehicle mode…all in one toy! While you have to praise the audacity behind this idea and the concept behind the execution…the actu

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Masterpiece Theater - Prowl and Bluestreak

SMR

Jul 6, 2016
3 min

Masterpiece Theater - Prowl and Bluestreak

After the good start with Sideswipe and Red Alert, the next mold selected for the Masterpiece treatment was the workhorse of the Autobot cars: the Datsun (now Nissan) Fairlady Z. Sure, maybe I’m overstating [You? Never. – Ed.], but 3 Autobots shared this mold; Prowl, Bluestreak and Smokescreen. At the time of this writing and accompanying photoshoot, I’ve only managed to acquire two of the above, Prowl and Bluestreak. For whatever reason, I’m having some difficulty trying

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Action Toys' Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos Series Wave 1 - AKA Masterpiece GoBots

SMR

Jun 30, 2016
5 min

Action Toys' Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos Series Wave 1 - AKA Masterpiece GoBots

It was 2 years ago, 2014. [Thanks for clarifying, with the way you put out articles, we might not actually post this for another year. – Ed.] Pictures leaked out of some Asian toy show and emerged on the Transformers websites of the prototypes. New toys for Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos were shown in grayscale prototype form. For the uninitiated…GoBots. New GoBots. In those initial pictures we saw Blue Jet (Fitor), Eagle Robo (Leader-1), Rod Drill (Screwhead), Bike Rob

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Masterpiece Theater - Sideswipe & Red Alert

SMR

Mar 30, 2016
3 min

Masterpiece Theater - Sideswipe & Red Alert

Takara started off their Masterpiece Transformers Autobot Cars perfectly. You see, back in the 80s, independent of whether or not you were into Transformers, really, even if you were somewhat oblivious to cars, you were STILL a member of one of three camps: the Porsche 911, the Ferrari Testarosa or the Lamborghini Countach. I was, and still am, an avid fan of that third camp. So, when Takara announced that they were following their newly scaled Optimus Prime MP-10 with Lam

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