Respect that the tolerances are tighter in the moving parts, and that if it feels like it should not bend, that you should avoid bending it, and you'll be fine. It's a great transformation, and a great figure.

 

I really like MP 39. It's a great toy.

But now I'll look at it on my shelf and just feel this twinge of resentment cause I know he could have had that great head, the detailed shins, and the chrome rocket hand that Cordon has.

Makes me mad.

 

Cordon doesn't have a 'rocket' hand

 

He might. That chrome gun he's holding looks like it could peg onto the wrist.

 

That's my guess too. Might be a Road Rage or Loudpedal situation where those figures have accessories that go well with the first iteration of their mold (Tracks in their case).

 

I don't see where it could peg into. Sunstreaker's hands are attached with a pin and rivet, so they can't just slide out to be replaced with a gun. I think it's pretty clear that the compromise they've made is a toy-accurate hand cannon which has to be handheld. And of course, Sunstreaker could hold it no problem.

 

Eh, I'm glad thay make the differation betwwen Transformers and Diaclone lines. Even though they have a parent/ child relationship they are two different lines, something at the time they didnt do with the original toys. I think the animation personally left out details from the toys so there would be some differences from the onscreen character and the repurposed diaclone toy.

 

Got around to finally transforming him back from bot to car mode and some serious areas of frustration:
1.) The inner calf panels are incredibly tight on the hinge. It feels like I am bending the plastic when trying to get them to rotate upwards.
2.) The backpack rotation step had me worried I was going to snap the thing. It helped slightly when I opened the backpack and could rotate the peg closer to the joint.
3.) For the life of me, the step where you rotate the front window around to lock into the roof was a huge pain in the *** and was incredibly finicky.
4.) The large gun does not firmly peg into my figure's hand...

Hopefully it will be easier the next time through, because the above really put a damper on the figure for me.

It's the above sort of things that may make think about the cost hyperaccuracy in both modes has on the complexity (and fun factor) of the figure. I think there is such a thing as too complex.

As a side note, I am started to note tiny pinpoint "dots" on the chrome after only handling it for a few hours. Only used a clean t-shirt to wipe down the chrome after handling. Anyone else notice this?

 

So going by how MP36+ has the toy colors and features, will a MP39+ have a toy head and missing black accents from the car? God I hope so.

 

I understand this. I love MP-39’s design, posability and transformation, but I had to make my peace with the plain shins (knowing that details wouldn’t have detracted from the animation look) and a face sculpt that didn’t really do it for me - a face sculpt that doesn’t even look like the cartoon (the eyes are the wrong shape, as is the chin). The latter was made worse because the Sunstreaker G1 face sculpt was one of my favourites. And now it turns out that Takara had these things up its sleeves all along, but just held them back to scupper us into buying the mould again.

And it’s worked, damn them! A repaint I wouldn’t have cared about is now my most anticipated figure of the year because of that fantastic G1 head sculpt. I’m glad we’re getting it, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially given the prices involved and how Inferno came with these sort of options out of the box.

 

Now we've seen MP-36+, the possibility of MP-39+ seems quite real. 36+ isn't advertised as another character as they have done with Exhaust, Loud Pedal etc, it's clearly a toy-version of Megatron. So we have the potential for everything people want in a Sunstreaker toy:

red on shoulders
Cordon's head
Cordon's gun
Cordon's shins
clear or black-tinted windows
real world accurate care details like Cordon
toy-accurate Autobot logos

Inferno was a bit of an exception, because one of his cartoon faces actually matched the toon very well (hence why it was used with Artfire afterwards). That worked well for Artfire, because it meant he had an alternate shouting face, something I'm not sure we'll get from 36+ or 42. That chrome chest plate is definitely a toy homage though (makes me think we won't even get 33+ or 35+).

You're dead right, that those shins could easily have been included with Sunstreaker. But at that point they would have had to include the toy head (which isn't even 'easily' removable by design, Takara don't ask people to swap ball-joints), and then everything else for toy-accuracy, otherwise people would complain it's half-assed. And even then, people would complain the blue windows don't match MP-12.

I think two clear-cut releases make a lot more sense for Sunstreaker, providing we do actually get 39+. And I really hope we do. Sideswipe has had a lot of repaints:
MP-12
MP-14
MP-12T
MP-12G
MP-14C
MP-14+
MP-12+

with Deep Cover still to come eventually. Takara logically want as many repaints as possible from Sunstreaker, especially since they have such a good relationship with Lamborghini. In fact, for all we know when they got the licence the deal might have included X number of possible repaints.

 

I'd be all over this in a heartbeat - even though I can take or leave the red shoulders and shin details. Only thing I'd maybe be less keen on would be the black CR stripes down the side of the car mode - but if they were optional stickers I'd be all in.

Now... Toy accurate van bros would really be interesting!

 

The potential, yes - but it's the uncertainty that's slightly annoying. I'm buying two copies of Cordon so that I can modify one of the heads for Sunny. If I knew there was a toy version of Sunstreaker coming, I wouldn't have to do that. They might do a toy version Sunstreaker, they might not, and if they do it might come in 2019 or it might come in 2021. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect Takara to personally inform me of all of their plans, but I don't want to skip Cordon in the hope of an MP-39+ only to wait in vain. I think providing the swappable shins and toy-accurate head with MP-39 would have been enough for most people. Bah humbug.

 

It's definitely a big pill to swallow when Cordon is so expensive. A lot different from buying Road Rage for a toy-accurate gun or Exhaust for toy-accurate launchers.

I love the little toy homages too, and I think MP-17+ is getting it just right. Finally we're getting toy accurate chrome and grey launchers for Prowl. I imagine MP-18+ will come with chrome and red launchers for Bluestreak too. That's the little toy homage I can get behind. At the same time, I can understand the desire to go a little further. While I would've liked Megatron to come with the toy accurate face and chest, it looks so much better coming in the right colours (chrome!) and matching the whole toy deco. The same could be said for MP-39+.

I guess going forward it'll always be a case-by-case basis (will they make a toy-accurate Mirage and Hound? I guess Detritus will have a toy-accurate face, and so will Mirage's red repaint. And of course Jazz, with Ricochet's face and shoulder launcher). It's opening a lot of possibility, but Takara do like getting a lot of repaints out of each mould. Having said that, we're still waiting on MP-27B...

 

So, once Cordon is released, this will be mine:



If we ever get an MP-39+, I wonder if it will look like this:

 

And this is exactly where I am with this figure, though he may arguably be the best carbot to date, he certainly isn't my favorite, he isn't my least favourite either, he's just in some sort of limbo!

I understand and appreciate all he does but I still can't get that feeling it's a bit too much, given what he turns into and the fact that Wheeljack transforms in a similar fashion as well although less articulated might I add. With Megatron I felt his complex transformation was justified given what he turns into or maybe some epic triple changer like the guy in my sig but this guy not so much. Don't care what anyone says but a carbot shouldn't be this involved. I love toon accuracy but not at this cost, fun of transformation and extra costs to the figure, I think the previous carbots before him got the balance right. In it's defense it is a very intuitive transformation but a bit much for me!

 

I bloody hope so, that's what I wanted all along too.

 

Bumping post to see if anyone has had the chrome issue mention above

 

I think what makes Sunstreaker the most complicated is his backpack. I think his arms are an ingenious and different solution to folding up hands etc, his legs folding away into car mode aren't that different from Wheeljack, just a little more elegant maybe. His head appearing in bot mode is as simple and elegant a Masterpiece Moment as you can get.
The stickler is his backpack, which ultimately needs a few goes through to get down pat. This comes down to the compromises made for Lamborghini to satisfy a real-world Countach. If his backpack wasn't different from Wheeljack's then he would just feel like a slightly more refined carbot, I think. Speaking of triple changers, that's essentially what MP-39 is