Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Masterpiece Ratchet, Thrust, Grapple Tracks and Sunstreaker

35 views
Skip to first unread message

Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.

unread,
Jun 20, 2018, 11:20:05 AM6/20/18
to
So I got Ratchet and Grapple 4 weeks ago, Thrust 3 weeks ago, Tracks 2 weeks ago and Sunstreaker yesterday

Ratchet ($40)
So I got him in robot mode, and the instructions go only from vehicle to robot, so I was a bit confused the first time. Especially since the previous owner upgraded his butt. Hes pretty complicated, his front wheels to butt transformation always makes me slightly panic that something will break, and that's from the Takara parts, not the 3rd party upgrade. I've already opened him up once to scrape paint off from the inside so things might slide easier, and I might do it once more. He comes with a giant sled to represent his base mode, but the sled is one solid piece, no movement, no transformation, but all of his parts can plug into it. Even his extra face has a spot underneath,He has 2 guns that can be mounted under his vehicle mode or in his hands, he has a few wrenches, he has some attachments that can become his hands (fold the hands in and attach to the backs of wrists) he has he big repair bay missile launcher and missile, nonfunctional of course, that can mount on the repair bay or on the robot back, he has a scanner readout that you can put under his windshield to display on his robot chest, though his window always just shows random parts so I don't see the point of not having the scanner readout there.

His transformation is pretty complicated, the robot legs house all 4 wheels, you can have just his legs form the part of the vehicle the original G1 robot formed, and his upper torso forms all the parts the original repair bay formed in G1, So yes, this means you can have a van base with a robot torso and arms sticking out the top. He can have his wheels instead of feet. His windshield locking in and out of his vehicle mode is another part that makes me nervous just a tad. Seems a bit ill designed.

I think he's cool, definitely worth what I paid.

Grapple.($70)(but $50 was store credit)
Grapple is pretty amazing. In crane mode his crane arm lifts and extends, he has a number of crane arm attachments, a shovel and a claw, and well I guess the number was 3 including the standard hook. His gun is supposed to attach between the arms in vehicle mode, but his crane arm takes up more space than Inferno's ladder so his gun doesn't fit very well or look good.

His transformation is very similar to G1, but the shoulders do a lot more flipping and maneuvering, the legs have panels that move quite a bit, the crane base folds up on to the back of the legs, the robot head comes out of the cab, and the crane folds rather ingeniously to fold into the cab while also forming the back and butt. His tool arm rotates out of the forearm and swaps with the fist. Only one arm does so. If you leave both fists out, his tool accessory goes all the way through the forearm and into the upper arm. The tools fall off a little easily for my tastes.
Grapple has anime front grill, arm tool and helmet, as well as toy versions of each, 3 facial expressions. He also has the Solar tower widget, but mine was missing the blueprints so I hope he doesn't need them anymore. I left the cartoon helmet and front plate on because I don't want to scratch the chrome with all this playing I've been doing, but I do miss that they don't have wiper blades now. The crane folding, unfolding, extending, and compressing is just genius. I am very happy I chose this guy.

Thrust ($100) (Traded in some Titaniums and other stuff)
Ok I wanted a different design seeker. I didn't need Acid Storm or Sunstorm. I always liked Thrust's design.

So in the store I bought him at, I transformed him from jet to robot to box him up for the owner to put out on the shelf. His transformation is a lot like Starscream, the biggest differences are his wings all attach to the sides of the boots, but he still has the little flaps on his back that have to be transformed as if the wings were attached to the back, otherwise the torso doesn't work out. His head is actually tucked inside the nosecone and not the actual nosecone. The front of the cockpit ends up on the bck of his head, and the cockpit swivels around to put the nosecone in the back like the other Seekers. The nose doesn't lock into the back as well as previous models, and the cockpit seat has to be shallower so it doesn't really hold the clear pilot figure at all. I'm still not sure exactly why, but his arm guns fold in half. He has separate bombs attaching to the wings, and the wing turbines do not move, which is a bit disappointing. I did learn something I'd been missing about transforming the feet correctly on Thundercracker. I had his heels all wrong. I've had Thundercracker for close to ten years and I just learned that.

So n robot mode, all his weight on his boots makes him a little harder to balance than Thundercracker but not by much. He looks really good, but his wings are still pretty huge. I wish some of the wing kibble (not the turbines) did end up on the back, similar to how they did Dirge (whom I also transformed to box up for sale, and might end up buying) but they didn't, so the whole wings end up on the boots.

His jet mode is impressive, the vertical panels on the back pop off their joint easily, but reattach easily. the pilot still cannot remain seated properly in jet mode.

Tracks($40)
This makes me remember so much how cool I thought G1 tracks was. He comes with Raul (sp?) a tape-deck Blaster, a pistol, 4 mirrors (2 each side, mine came with a total of one) and a gun to attach to the front from that one scene from that one episode. Also mine was missing the flight stand.

So in car mode, all clear windows, low clearance but rolls well. He is very detailed.His front plate is a flat panel because as already described there is a gn on a flat panel that can fit into there. I wish they had managed a way to make the gun fold inside the car.They did with Sunstreaker. So in vehicle mode, his hood opens and he has engine detailing. his hood panels are held on by tiny struts, and I suspect in ten years from now we will see many hoodless Tracks on Ebay.

Flight mode transformation:
You will want to just pull his wings on the bottom open and pull the arms out, but you have to pull the wings open then pull the back half of the car open to adjust the shoulder joints before you can have the arms out to the sides. the missile-pods are in the back window and you have to have the back half of the car open to flip them out as well as flipping the tail fins out of the top. the tail fins are so flush in vehicle mode and so tiny that it's hard to reach them and get a grip to pop them out. The back folds back together, but now you have the arms out the sides, the fins out the back, and unlike the G1 toy his rockets are underneath the vehicle, and much punier. His arms sort of tab into slots o the car sides, but it doesn't mesh together quite as well as the g1. There are gaps in the sides. Mine was missing the flight stand, but he came with one originally.

Transformation to robot:
His transformation is very similar to the G1. His back folds back, but then it rotates 180 degrees to put the rockets up top (very small rockets) and the legs split apart, but then there is a more complicated leg transformation, with a few steps that I probably wouldn't realize if I forgot to do them. His hood separates into two and is the backs of the legs, a panel between the legs folds out and does 180 while the front wheel and front fenders pull out to the sides to do their own 180 with the feet folding out from underneath. The car front fender folds inwards, and the center panels become the front shins. there is more shoulder fiddling, his windows and windshield fold up to meet the shoulders which have to do yet another configuration dance from flight mode. Don't forget to pull his head out from under the roof as you do it, and there's a panel in the roof that flips around to reveal the Autobot symbol. His doors flip up and unfold to form the back, though it's under the back windshield backpack. His fists rotate out of the arms instead of push out like the G1.

It's interesting that the rockets are no longer separate pieces compared to g1, and they manage to be put in every pose, but they're still so small. I realize we got the cartoon or comic flight mode, not the comic, but it threw me for a loop.

In robot mode, you can store his pistol, his blaster, and the flight mode gun on his butt. In vehicle mode his butt is in the front windshield, but due to space constraints you cannot store all 3 in there in vehicle mode.
His side windows have bolts in the middle of them. I wish they had some kind of cover for the bolts.

Sunstreaker ($90)
I've been drooling over him for weeks, but I couldn't justify the price, and he was on hold for a mystery customer who didn't show up for six weeks. The customer didn't show up and I managed to find $70 worth of trade in stuff I didn't want (a bunch of Iron Man movie stuff)

Amazing. Amazingly Amazing. He comes packaged in big-engine car mode, he has 3 faces, an alien mask, a big pistol, a small pistol, a wheelchair, and a Chip Chase to accessorize the wheelchair. Oh, he also has 4 mirrors, and I can understand how easy it would be to break these.

His doors open, his hood opens, his spoiler folds in half for a hidden gun to pop out of the back. His headlights pop up. That's right. Pop-up headlights. they actually pop up. If we ever get Sideswipe 2.0 or 3.0, or whatever the next is, I want working headlights because they proved it can be done.

Regular car mode
So he can go from tricked out super-car to regular Lamborghini (I know, odd to use regular referring to a Lamborghini) but the first step is to fold the rear thrusters down to reveal the normal tail lights. Then you open the doors, swinging them up not out, then take the panels behind the doors and fold them down. This releases the engine block. Lift the engine block which will fold the back half back, then the engine flips forward into the car. There are silver flaps on the back of the engine manifold that really just get in the way here but are useful for robot mode. Tons of panels all fold together to form the back half of a regular Lamborghini. The sides fold back and the doors close.

Robot mode
Open the doors and the hood, open the side panels behind the doors. Pull the front apart, and the doors and sides will fold out from the sides, completely unlike any previous Sunstreaker. The thighs unfold from the shins, the hood ends up folding down to the butt. The doors fold in half and form the sides of the legs (the mirrors fold with this then have a tight journey into the legs) then the panels behind the doors fold down onto the backs of the legs and wrap around the ankles. The front folds up to form feet, with the wheels forming the center of the foot and heel spurs folding down from the undercarriage. Lift the back like you did to change the engine, and you can rotate the arms out from there. The shoulders have the same yellow pieces as the G1, only proportionally smaller which I do not mind. rotate the shoulder pylons to move them further out onto the shoulders instead of up against the neck. His forearms come apart and reassemble to extend the arms and fists in a rather ingenious yet inexplicable manner. His backpack is a bit of a mess, the flaps that were on the back of the car manifold meet up with the chromed flaps that were on the underside of the car to form a bigger manifold, possibly too big. Due to transformation restrictions it doesn't meet up quite perfectly, but close. Flip up his car roof, under which is a slider to pop up the robot head, then flip the roof around to reveal the Autobot symbol and the chest with some small fake windows on the side. There are little tabs under next to the head slider, pop those out to hold the chest in place (loosely, but well enough, not like Sideswipe's chest tab which was too strong)

He is super complicated but super detailed in robot mode. You can still pop out his headlights if you wish.

The instructions show a place to put the guns inside the car engine in car mode, and I just don't think it's there. There's no space left in the engine in car mode. The guns can each attach to the top of the car, or attach to the robot back.

Overall mass-wise I reduced the mass of what I own while upgrading the quality. I am completely happy with every purchase I made.
I missed the MP Hot Rod new version, but am looking at the MP Rodimus with 3rd party camper shell.

I also got the Cybertronian motorcycle Chromia, and I like her despite the fact she can barely hold her gun and her rear wheel will not stay together. She makes 7 female Autobots that I have that are from semi-G1 storyline, vs 0 Deceptigals.

Zobovor

unread,
Jun 20, 2018, 10:50:04 PM6/20/18
to
On Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at 9:20:05 AM UTC-6, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:

> So I got Ratchet and Grapple 4 weeks ago, Thrust 3 weeks ago, Tracks 2 weeks
> ago and Sunstreaker yesterday

At least you're spacing your purchases apart. That's good planning.

> I think he's cool, definitely worth what I paid.

I think they did a fair job with Ironhide and Ratchet, but I dislike their body proportions. Maybe their cartoon models are just terrible to begin with.

> The tools fall off a little easily for my tastes.

I had that problem with Grapple, too. I actually added a drop of super glue to the inside of the gun attachment and let it dry. Fits a bit better now.

> but mine was missing the blueprints so I hope he doesn't need them anymore.

They're fairly unremarkable. I seem to remember scanning it and giving my toy a copy of it because I didn't want to damage the original. I am really bad about remembering where I put stuff, though...

> I am very happy I chose this guy.

He's awesome!

> Ok I wanted a different design seeker. I didn't need Acid Storm or Sunstorm.
> I always liked Thrust's design.

I gotta get me Ramjet and Thrust and Dirge some day. It's the ultimate in decadence to just keep buying the same expensive Japanese toy six times. I clearly have no shame.

> Also mine was missing the flight stand.

I like the idea of the flight stand, but I never really use it for display. I think it's mainly intended for his flying car mode, and I tend to display all my Masterpiece toys in robot mode.

> So in vehicle mode, his hood opens and he has engine detailing.

If you check the episode "Make Tracks" when Raoul opens his hood, the designs are identical. Takara did their homework.

> Amazing. Amazingly Amazing.

Don't have Sunstreaker yet, but I've heard a lot of good things about him. I'm happy for you.

> Overall mass-wise I reduced the mass of what I own while upgrading the
> quality. I am completely happy with every purchase I made.

That's awesome. I really think the Masterpiece toys hit the mark more often than they miss. They really are exceptional collectibles.


Zob (allergic to myself, apparently)

Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.

unread,
Jun 22, 2018, 8:56:45 PM6/22/18
to
On Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at 9:50:04 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> On Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at 9:20:05 AM UTC-6, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
>
> > So I got Ratchet and Grapple 4 weeks ago, Thrust 3 weeks ago, Tracks 2 weeks
> > ago and Sunstreaker yesterday
>
> At least you're spacing your purchases apart. That's good planning.
>

More like my will eroding. Not sure if I'll get Wheeljack or Bumblebee next because they are cheap, or save up for the Rodimus with trailer next. I'll probably cave and get all of them.

> > I think he's cool, definitely worth what I paid.
>
> I think they did a fair job with Ironhide and Ratchet, but I dislike their body proportions. Maybe their cartoon models are just terrible to begin with.
>

The butt implants definitely helped with the body proportions. I think they are spot on.

> > The tools fall off a little easily for my tastes.
>
> I had that problem with Grapple, too. I actually added a drop of super glue to the inside of the gun attachment and let it dry. Fits a bit better now.
>
> > but mine was missing the blueprints so I hope he doesn't need them anymore.
>
> They're fairly unremarkable. I seem to remember scanning it and giving my toy a copy of it because I didn't want to damage the original. I am really bad about remembering where I put stuff, though...
>
> > I am very happy I chose this guy.
>
> He's awesome!
>
> > Ok I wanted a different design seeker. I didn't need Acid Storm or Sunstorm.
> > I always liked Thrust's design.
>
> I gotta get me Ramjet and Thrust and Dirge some day. It's the ultimate in decadence to just keep buying the same expensive Japanese toy six times. I clearly have no shame.
>

It was intriguing to see what they changed to change the wing design. Unfortunately they put ALL of the wing kibble and struts on the legs, and it's massive. I wish just a little folded up onto the back, give the back flaps a justification for still folding.

> > Also mine was missing the flight stand.
>
> I like the idea of the flight stand, but I never really use it for display. I think it's mainly intended for his flying car mode, and I tend to display all my Masterpiece toys in robot mode.
>
> > So in vehicle mode, his hood opens and he has engine detailing.
>
> If you check the episode "Make Tracks" when Raoul opens his hood, the designs are identical. Takara did their homework.
>

Yes, I realize this, just wish his hood was attached in a more secure feeling way.

> > Amazing. Amazingly Amazing.
>
> Don't have Sunstreaker yet, but I've heard a lot of good things about him. I'm happy for you.
>

I almost got the rd party guy a few months ago. I wonder if I would have been as happy. Probably. I'll never know.

I found out his small gun has 2 joints in it, not just the one I found, so it folds up really really tiny. Being able to stow completely inside Sunstreaker by the barest margins, I like this gun now. The bigger gun seems way too big. Sort of like Sideswipe's giant G2 style guns. He uses the gun in all of 2 episodes, but I think it's slightly oversized here. He doesn't shoot missiles from his wrist either.

> > Overall mass-wise I reduced the mass of what I own while upgrading the
> > quality. I am completely happy with every purchase I made.
>
> That's awesome. I really think the Masterpiece toys hit the mark more often than they miss. They really are exceptional collectibles.
>
>
> Zob (allergic to myself, apparently)

I'm allergic to cats. They sleep on my face.
0 new messages