I did a video over a year ago where I went through my Transformers Masterpiece collection at the time, and described what I thought were the "Masterpiece Moments"for each figure.
Here is the first video! Hope you can check it out :)
I've added 14 figures to the MP collection since, so Takara has been releasing on average one MP figure each month, which is pretty amazing. I figured it was about time to do another video, so here's the second Transformers Masterpiece Moments update video with my thoughts on the latest figures :)
Here are some pics of the latest figures too.
Love the repaints :)
MP-24 Star Saber:
Not one that I particularly like, but that's mostly since it's part of the Japanese G1 continuation that I have no nostalgia for. Overall still a nice figure, but reminds me more of gundam than Transformers lol :)
MP-12G G2 Sideswipe:
Love the black paint and face sculpt. Bad ass guns and sword are cool too!
MP-21G G2 Bumblebee:
Gold paint is very nice.
MP-11S Sunstorm:
A much better repaint than the Hasbro version that looks like Ronald McDonald!
MP-12T Tigertrack:
Nice yellow paint app, but nothing all that special. I so wish they made a proper Sunstreaker!
MP-14C Clampdown:
Another nice repaint job on this one. No QC issues on mine.
MP-18B Bluestreak:
The Diaclone blue they should've done first!
MP-18S Silverstreak:
Decent homage to the G1 toy, but most collectors were waiting on MP-18B.
MP-23 Exhaust:
If only I could get the coin with this one too!!
MP-21R Red Bumblebee:
Love the glossy red on this!
MP-26 Road Rage:
I wish this had a metallic red paint app, but overall still a nice variant to have.
MP-25 Ironhide:
Hated the hip panels in the promotional pics, but in hand I dont actually mind them! Overall a great MP addition to the collection!
Finally got the final Insecticon from Fans Toys with FT-14 Forager (aka Kickback). It's another fantastically well-built figure from Fans Toys. These are every bit as worthy of being called "Masterpieces" as the official MPs!
Here's the link to my full review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. It shows you where you need to be careful with the wing rotation and shoulder transformation, so check it out if you want to be sure to not break your figure!
Great set of contents.
Love the alt mode! Scary transformation the first time, but once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad.
Fans Toys have done an outstanding job with this set of Insecticons! I'm usually an official MP collector, but Takara are just taking way too long to release Decepticons. And with companies like Fans Toys putting out unique designs like these, with generally exceptional build quality, there's really no need to wait! Highly recommended!
After I got the Asmus Toys Aragorn figure recently, I knew I'd have to get the rest of the Fellowship if they were to release them all. With their latest release with Merry and Pippin, I'm not as impressed as I was with Aragorn. But overall, still happy to have these in the collection.
Here's the full video review on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Hope you can check it out! :)
Some pics of the packaging and figures.
The head sculpt likenesses could've been a bit better, but the tailoring and material of the outfits is awesome. Looking forward to seeing more releases in this line!
Have missed my usual quarterly YouTube channel trailer videos showing some of the photos I've taken during 3 months periods. So figured I'd play catchup with three trailer videos covering the quarters from July 2015 to March 2016. Hope you can check the out at the links below :)
I've been a huge Star Wars fan since I was a kid growing up in the 80s. Ever since I starting collecting 1/6th scale figures, the dream has always been to get the core Star Wars cast from the original movie. I could've gone back to get some of the older versions, but being spoiled by Hot Toys quality, I decided to wait.
And now that Hot Toys have finally completed the core cast of heroes from A New Hope, I can definitely say that they have made the dream come true! These figures are overall pretty damn fantastic, and this release of Princess Leia tops it off with perhaps the best head sculpt of them all!
Click through below for my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel!
The packaging art is the usual classy style, with nice editing on the cardboard insert. Unfortunately they've still gone with the Death Star 2 from Return of the Jedi instead of the first from A New Hope! Minor detail, but something they should've known lol
I got the exclusive version with the backdrop of the scene where she hands over the plans to Artoo. It's a pretty flimsy kind of cardboard, so definitely not the quality of the backdrops we used to get in the DX releases. So if you missed out and just got the regular, I don't think it's a big deal at all.
Accessories-wise she's pretty barebones, with some hands and the two blasters that she used in the movie. The big selling point of course is the head sculpt itself. Initial prototype photos looked amazing, and thankfully they haven't really changed too much for this final production version.
The sculpt and paint application is beautifully done. Some figures only have a good likeness from certain angles, whereas this sculpt looks pretty spot on from every angle. The hair is also nicely done, and I'm definitely glad they went with sculpted hair and not rooted hair on this! The buns look great!
Some people have said the facial expression is a little bland. It's a neutral expression for sure, but I think it conveys her natural beauty really nicely. To me, it doesn't have that blank zombie stare like some other Hot Toys female sculpts have had in the past.
The iconic white Death Star outfit has its pros and cons for sure. The overall look for me is great, although the length at the ankles could have been more to reflect the way the movie costume dragged on the floor.
Hot Toys used a very thin material, but luckily it doesn't feel too delicate to touch or move. I think they went with such a sheer material to try and replicate that see-through texture that it had in the movie. But that removes any weight from the costume so it is difficult to get it to hang right on the body.
To prevent the material from ballooning out at the waist and thighs, they actually designed it with some garter belt type straps around her thighs that are then sewn to attach to the outfit itself. I worry that over time that area might get damaged or degrade, so something to watch out for.
The hood is wired, but in the end that is almost its downfall too because it is extremely difficult to get it to lie flat along her back when the hood is down. I haven't bother trying to cover her head with it, so left the wires folded the way they were out of the box. It sat against the back fairly well, but any slight movement will make it start bending away from the body, which ruins a bit of the realism that a nice heavier material would have. The pic below is the best that I could do, so that will be the way it stays!
The boots are nicely done though, with a good leather look to them. The best thing is that they don't have the collapsed ankle issue that plagues the Han Solo figure. I'm not sure if they added extra padding there, or simply that the ankle pegs are not as long to have a gap. Either way, it articulates well without having a bad unrealistic bend in the ankle.
Despite the issues with the costume, overall I think it looks fantastic. As a representation of Princess Leia in her Death Star outfit, this is certainly the best figure ever done for that look. Together with the other figures from the core cast, they all look incredible together. It's taken a while for this setup to finally be possible in my collection. But Hot Toys have definitely made it worth the wait!
As soon as I saw teaser pics of the Bandai Tamashii Nations Bruce Lee figure, I knew I had to have it! It was released in Japan a month or two ago, and only recently came into stock at Big Bad Toy Store. So I finally got my first S.H.Figuarts figure, and I must say I am most impressed!
Click through below for my video review of the figure on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel!
Love the very collector friendly packaging, and definitely love the array of accessories that is included! Comes with all the weapons you'd expect from Enter The Dragon, and with 4 different face plates you'll have all the iconic expressions and poses covered!
The stand out feature for me is definitely the poseability, with a fantastic range of articulation throughout the body. The way it can hold it's balance without the need for a stand is amazing!
If this is the standard by which their Star Wars S.H.Figuarts line is made, then I now totally understand why so many collectors are getting away from Hasbro and jumping onto Bandai! The quality is awesome, and totally justifies the increased cost over Hasbro Black Series figures!
You can certainly get this guy into all sorts of poses, and the fun factor is just through the roof! I had so much fun playing around with the different face plates, choice of hands, and the weapons. If you're a Bruce Lee fan, then I would say this figure is a must-have! It might be small, but puts many larger figures to shame! Highly recommended!
Click the link below to head on over to BBTS and pick up this awesome figure for yourself! :)
I've loved every single figure release so far in this Bandai Tamashii Nations Star Wars line. Based on the Japanese feudal costumes that originally inspired the iconic Star Wars designs, these figures have a fantastically unique look to them, and have great build quality to boot.
The most recent release is the Sandtrooper, which shares much of the same design as the original Stormtrooper, but with some nice little unique changes.
Click through below for my full video review of the Sandtrooper over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel! Make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe too! :)
The packaging is the same classy, very collector-friendly style of the earlier releases. Bandai simply know how to sell these with great artwork and photos on the box. All the accessories are packaged nicely, and have some great touches.
It comes with two large rifles to mimic the large rifles carried by Sandtroopers in the movie. It also comes with the standard katana and sheath that you attach to the belt. And then of course there is the amazingly detailed and painted backpack. The assortment of swap out hands all cater for holding the accessories and other poses, so all around a nice package.
The figure itself has some nice modifications specific to the Sandtrooper. The yellow pauldron replaces the right shoulder armour and is nicely painted. The armour, as with the other figures, is adjustable to support a wide range of articulation. The neck area also has some additional paint detail in the plastic strings that tie the armour pieces together.
The left armour is also slightly modified from the standard Stormtrooper, with a more rounded design. And of course there's the obligatory leather pouch across the front of the shoulder too. It's molded plastic, but looks nice with the molded detail and paint.
The backpack fits onto the body via a peg that slides in fairly easily and allows for a bit of rotation to align the backpack how you like. I really love the molded detail and dirty metal paint app on this piece. It's instantly recognisable as the Sandtrooper backpack, but has a great unique quality to it.
All posed up, the Sandtrooper looks amazing. I was going to get two, as I already have two Stormtroopers and have two Royal Guards on the way. But with other Stormtrooper variants on the way, I figures I'd save the money and get at least one of each trooper variant.
Here's the Sandtrooper side by side with the Stormtrooper. The larger of the two rifles does look slightly ridiculous being so damn big, but it's a comical effect that I don't really mind lol!! For a more realistic look, you can always go with the thinner rifle that is more aligned with the traditional smaller blaster. For me just for some pop on display and interesting conversation, I'll be sticking with the bloody big rifle :)
Together with the other figures, it really shows how unique this line of Star Wars figures really is! I get more questions on these figures than most others in my collection when friends and family come over to check it out. I love the designs, and can't wait to get my hands on the Royal Guards that are hopefully coming out in May! Stay tuned for that review :)
I get mine from Big Bad Toy Store, since many of these are Tamashii Store exclusives in Japan that are harder to get. Click the links below for all the BBTS order details! :)
I had held off on getting into the Asmus Toys 1/6th scale Lord of the Rings figures because I had heard some back things about their quality in some of the earlier figures. But gradually I heard some decent things, and their Aragorn got some fairly decent feedback.
So after talking to some collectors who also had the figure, then assured me it was worth the purchase. I read that there was an "exclusive" version that came with an extra screaming head sculpt, and it looked like Big Bad Toy Store still had it in stock. So I took the plunge and made the order.
And I am definitely glad that I did! I have not been this impressed with an overall 1/6th scale figure package in a very long time! The amount of accessories and overall quality of the costume and headsculpt make this one helluva value for money proposition!
Click through below to see my full video review of this great figure. Scroll on down for more pics and thoughts :)
The packaging is really nice with some great photos of the character from the movie and the figure itself. The figure is housed in similar foam to that used in previous Hot Toys DX figures, and the overall presentation is very high-end.
Once you get everything out of the box, you're sure to be impressed with the amount of stuff included! The diorama base is a definite highlight for me, with gorgeous felt moss that really give it a realistic texture and look.
The array of accessories is immense, with good quality throughout too. The blades are metal, the cloak is thin yet poseable, and the travel bags have great fake-leather look and feel. Even the bow has an awesome rubbery string that really helps in action poses with him drawing back on it.
With so many things to place on the figure, it does take a while and a lot of patience to get things to sit well on the figure. Tying the sword sheath, quiver, and travel bags on the figure, and then trying to get the cloak and cape to drape nicely certainly took time.
With some advice from collectors I managed to get things arrange in a way that I liked, and posed up on the great diorama base. All setup, it certainly carries a lot of presence on display.
One area of course that troubled many was the accuracy of the head sculpt. The alternative open mouthed sculpt is pretty bad, but the standard one does look much better. The forehead is a little high, but from most angles he doesn't have too much of a cone-headed look. In fact, after heating up the hair and pushing it down a bit, I managed to improve it slightly to my liking. The paint app on the face itself is certainly not to Hot Toys standard, but is definitely on par if not slightly better than most from Sideshow.
In the end, if you're a fan of Lord of the Rings and collect 1/6th scale figures, I highly recommend this figure. Now that Merry and Pippen have been released, Gandalf the Grey is up for preorder, and Asmus have teased Legolas, it appears they will make the entire Fellowship. So I for one am all in now for the Fellowship figures from Asmus!
Probably my last Hot Toys trooper from The Force Awakens, and it's a good one with this new TIE Pilot. Not perfect, especially the damn rigid plastic breathing hose, but other than that it's pretty nice!
Click through below for my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel! :)
Packaging is the usual classy style, with the carboard insert artwork as nice as always.
Compared to the previous Sideshow classic original trilogy TIE Pilot, I have to say I actually prefer the Sideshow figure. But either way, both figures look great on display and should make Star Wars fans pretty happy!
Recently got the two new Transformers Masterpiece figures in MP-29 Shockwave (or Laserwave as he's known in Japan) and MP-11NR Ramjet. Both have divided the opinion of collectors, but for me I love both of them!
Check out the links below to see my full video reviews of both figures over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel :)
MP-29 Shockwave
MP-11NR Ramjet
Both come in the usual classy Takara MP box art, with Shockwave coming with the collector coin too. This time unfortunately a coin was not included with Ramjet for some reason. The other exclusives in Skywarp and Thundercracker both had coins, so I was a little disappointed that Ramjet missed out.
Many collectors have complained about the colour and size of Shockwave, and perhaps the well-received 3rd party Fans Toys Quakewave skewed the expectations on the official MP. But when you compare the figure against the colour and scale from the original G1 cartoon, you'll find that it's actually very accurate! Shockwave was not taller than Starscream or Soundwave from the screenshots that I've seen, and the figure scales pretty closely to that (as you can see in some of the group shots below).
The transformation sequence is pretty simply, with my "Masterpiece Moment" definitely being the all-in-one transformation of the front of the gun to the backpack. The use of the long diecast steel centre pole that connects all that together is a nice bit of engineering. It's a little bit of partsforming to use the base in gun mode to finish off the backpack in purple, but that's not really needed. Either way, I think the figure looks fantastic, with a colour that is nice. Perhaps a tad shade darker would've been good, but the way it is it just fits in nicely with the others anyway.
Ramjet is a heavy retool of the current MP-11 mold, but the changes make all the difference! There is a bit of parts forming to allow the conversion of the null rays in bot mode to being the fatter cluster bombs in jet mode. But for me that's a great compromise to achieve that cheat from the cartoon in a real world toy.
The cheat in the conehead too is also nicely done, and I love the face sculpt and paint app. The dark grey gun metal looks fantastic. The overall proportions of the body also seem pretty accurate to the cartoon. Some collectors have complained that he looks too chunky with large knee pads, but that's exactly how he looked in the cartoon! So again, I'm definitely glad Takara went that route with the figure.
The alt mode transformation is pretty straight forward, although the small red sections of the wing near the front was quite scary the first time. Bending those down definitely feel fragile, so be very careful there.
But once done, the mold difference from the standard MP-11 jet mode looks fantastic. The ability for the wings and arms to tab into each other properly did raise a manufacturing issue with the figure though.
I was lucky that mine had correctly assembled shoulders. But there are many reports of incorrectly assembled shoulders that prevent the wings and arms tabbing into each other correctly in jet mode. Robotkingdom posted the photo below showing the difference between correct and incorrect shoulders.
You'll see that on the correct version, the shoulder plate that connects the arm to the torso has a longer section facing the front of the figure, and the shorter section at the rear. But on the incorrectly assembled version, the plate has been reversed so that the short section is facing the front. This causes the misalignment with the wings during transformation.
If you have a bad one, I'd definitely be contacting your retailer for a replacement.
Overall, these two new MPs are a fantastic addition to the MP Decepticon ranks. They've always been outnumbered by the Autobots, but this levels the playing field at least a little.
Of course the glaring omission that Takara still hasn't resolved is a new Megatron in this scale. It annoys me no end that they are dragging their feet on this. I do have the X-Transbots Apollyon, but it just doesn't feel right until an official version is done! Here's hoping it is announced in 2016! In the meantime, I'll just have to enjoy these awesome bad guys without their leader for now :)
It's the start of April now, so I figured it was time to do another quarterly collection update video! Hope you can check out all the stuff that I've picked up over the past 3 months or so :)
Make sure to subscribe to the channel and stay tuned for all the upcoming reviews this year :)
