In-Hand Images of MP-12 Lambor (Sideswipe)

Nice catch! Might just be me, but those pics don't look all that great. Looks more Alt than MP..

The big main gap along the top of the door seems reduced in car mode compared to earlier pics. Though the big panel right below the NACA duct (big black triangle) seems to stick out a bit.

Wonder how much of it is QC, and how much is simply "how carefully it was transformed".

I'm torn on him. On the one hand with the cost I wouldnt want him to be deluxe size, but on the other I'd want him to fit in with the CHUGs I currently have with my MP-10.

The only thing that bothers me is that his arms just don't fit the the girth of his chest. They're too small.

looks good to me

Can't wait for him

Looks pretty good. First pics I've seen showing his inner calf. Hollow but not too bad.

Looks good, but that is one giant ass Autobot symbol on his chest. If they dialed it back maybe 25%, it'd look a little better. Sideswipe posing like Capt'n Morgan is nice though. XD

I got him preordered at bbts but the more I see of him Im starting to wonder if I want to cancel and wait for a US release.......although knowing tru the price wont be much cheaper
it may be diferent having it in hand rather than loooking at pics......still $90 for such a small figure. Wonder how much we are payinb for yhe lamborgini logo?....lol

Worse than Universe Sideswipe?

Updated the first post with a link to more pictures.

this thing is a masterpiece..fucking epic!!!!

Alert and Labor?
Is TakaraTomy not allowed to Call them Red Alert and Sideswipe anymore?

So when do they repaint him yellow and call it sunstreaker?.....god I hope they dont go that way but its takara so they prolly will.

Not sure if joking or serious, but a Takara rep has gone on record saying they realize Sunstreaker is a very different mold and has a very different transformation than his bro Sideswipe. It can be taken from this that Takara won't pull a Classics move (as clever as that switcheroo engineering was during its time) and just repaint the Lambor mold yellow (and with a new head) and call it Sunstreaker.

I was kinda joking...... but I would not be surprised if takara pulled that crap again regardless of what they say

Looks absolutely amazing! It seems the plastic is actually painted in red which looks great, although it's a nightmare for QC. Regardless, I hope Hasbro pursues the rights to distribute this here, as it looks spectacular. Just not 80 dollars spectacular considering it's the size of a large deluxe.

Yeah, the chest should have compressed a bit.

About 50 smackers lol. Idk honestly. I really like what I'm seeing though.

between Tigertracks, Deep Cover and Clampdown, i'm not too worried about them pulling that. Sunstreakers design is super-unique, and the new Masterpiece modus operand seems to be all about recreating G1s pretty faithfully.

It always amazes me how crappy pics can make a great figure look bad, and vice versa. I don't think the arms in those pics are positioned correclty. TJ Duckett's photo work has sold me on several figures that look bad otherwise. These bad pics haven't made me regret my preorder. Here's hoping some better ones turn up as these things make there way into the wild.

Yet Red-Alert doesn't have shoulder wheels, the doors hanging off his arms or the spoiler on his back. Those were key things that, aside from head and color, differentiated him from Sideswipe. They kinda-sorta molded wheels onto his shoulders, although it's still not correct. Still, I wouldn't expect them to use this mold for Sunstreaker, since the two didn't even share the same mold in G1 like Red and Sideswipe did.

Perhaps. The Alternity molds for Convoy and Megatron did this (chest hood/grill compression) quite successfully. But what's done is done. The Lambor mold is what we're getting and I'm liking it quite a bit, despite its quirks and imperfections.

Looks fantastic. I'm completely sold on ANY Masterpiece that isn't another Optimus Prime.

I hope youre right. I just have that fear in the back of my head that's gonna come out with a white prime with the blue face plate and call it Ultra Magnus...lol

anyway back to sideswipe....he does look great in some pics and absolutely terrible in others
but I think I'll go with the good ones and keep my pre order

Looks good. Any diecast in these new masterpieces?

Still absolutely no idea if I want to get this or not lol. I mean, it looks great, but I've never been a huge fan of the Sideswipe character (not that I have anything against him of course).

I think I'll wait and see if Hasbro releases their own version here in the states. This isn't really and essential to me like Soundwave and his minions are (IMO).

From that pic, the feet have so much space and gap. Wow, in alt.mode, he's big, really close to Prime cab. I thought he was a lot smaller in vehicle mode but that's not the case.

Also, Google translation for pic #39:
"It is said that the tire is a bit disappointed because the plastic bulk seemingly small flaws or some"

Hm, looks like he come with plastic tire.
I see TTomy abandoned the booklet manual for MP12, kind of miss the art at the front cover.

mmm. me likey but i just cancelled my preorder because i feel confident he will get a US release next summer. Not so sure on red alert so i kept that one.

That's probably as likely as MP Menasor's right leg were a Sideswipe remold. IJS.

In case anyone's wondering, the 1st reviewer posted that the wheels aren't rubber and there's no die-cast, other than that everything is perfect to him.

None of these are deal breakers. I would have liked some die-cast in the feet or spine to lower his center of gravity and give him some heft, but that's not too big of an issue. I'm still shocked how good the vehicle looks. Arms are a bit stocky, but he certainly looks to be up to masterpiece standards.

I can understand no die-cast if it's not beneficial to the figure, but no rubber tires? That's just ridiculous. One of the staples we've come to expect from the masterpiece line are things like the rubber tires and chrome, it's a shame if those are being omitted now because even though those features don't automatically make a good toy, they can add to the overall impressiveness and sophistication if done right.

Plus it's 80 bucks. They shouldn't be cheapin' out. Like the above poster said, it's not a deal-breaking thing, but it is disheartening.

While I like rubber tires, if they can make the wheels look great out of plastic, that's what I'd prefer. Rubber has the risk of cracking over time and can have a lot of other issues. I like the security of the wheels being just made of plastic.

I've personally never had trouble with that. My RID toys' tires cracked, but that was because they were more of a rubberized plastic than actual rubber. Not a single one of my G1 toys' tires have cracked or are close to cracking though, so I guess it depends on if they use good rubber or not.

It also depends on climate I believe. I live in a climate that tends to go from super dry to super humid. Those quick changes in humidity can negatively affect the rubber tires. Temperature does it as well.

Y'know... I'm still pretty excited about this, but I agree with some of the comments for sure...

- hollow legs
- HUGE Autobot symbol is a bit ostentatious
- be kind of nice if his arms -converted- into piledrivers rather than needing add-ons.
- even for Sideswipe, his chest is big. Considering that Alternity pulled it off, it would have been really impressive if they'd managed to collapse his chest a bit.

I mean, considering all the fanfare over this being "Masterpiece", I'm not sure what that means anymore. There's little to no metal, and his engineering isn't THAT amazing. Maybe if they'd managed some of those little touches above, it would feel a bit more... y'know... special and worth the big price tag. I mean, this should feel AT LEAST as fancy as Alternity figures do... I hope.

Anyway, on that note, I'm waiting for a Hasbro release (again, I hope)... I really like this, but at the moment, it doesn't really feel like a great value over regular products at Takara's price.

zmog

I think my problems re:chest in these photos is the fact that the shoulder gun is missing. I never noticed the problem before this. I think that giant gun balances the chest size out in a way that looks weird without it.

I'm getting this, but I don't think it's mp quality..... :/
It looks rushed,,,,,, compared to complex transformation on the others.. Looks like they just threw this one together....

As excited as I am for him, these pics have suddenly made me decide to cancel my PO and just wait to get him later. Weird.

There's something about that face.

fail, rubber tires is a must on an mp

really? those are their original Japanese names.

next you are gonna be shocked when Japan starts calling Optimus Prime by his original name over there, Convoy

- I like the hooded chest but unless a smaller fake hood could replace it in bot mode any seam across that hood would look worse imo.
- I dislike inner side of the lower legs and would have been happy for the good old (low on engineering) slide down legs if it meant filled out lower legs. I dont want to pay for complexity in MP's, i want to pay for the best solution.
- i have had rubber perish so i'm ok with using plastic.

Gutted about the lack of rubber tires (I've never had any crack on my G1, BT, Aternity or previous MP toys) - seems such a strange thing to suddenly abandon and puts this back into "expensive Classics toy" category.

Also wish they'd kept the doors whole - the lines on the side in car mode look crap whereas you expect lines where the doors are outlined. Strange decision again.

Autobot symbol... Meh. Much preferred the BT approach of only having the symbol visible in robot mode.

Was looking forward to this but I dunno now... I'll still get him... I just think they dropped the ball a little where there was no obvious need to.

meh, not for me... sorry. Red Alert has more appeal for me, IMHO.

^FYI, Takaratomy has started officially to call Optimus Prime by his Americanized name and dropped Convoy.

Wasn't that just for American import releases, like movieverse/Animated/TFP?

yeah, it only started with movie, mp-10 was still convoy after all

The hands of Sideswipe seems even bigger than the head....