I love the battle damaged look so much!

 

Not in the knee, but one half of the outward ratchet in the hip is missing.

 

Finally picked up my copy yesterday. It was truly an event for me, my childhood friend getting his from the same shop too. We used to hang out daily in school, nowadays much less, due to "Life". It was great to geek out over lunch while waiting for the precious cargo to arrive.

My copy’s paint was as good as I could’ve hoped for. Grey and yellow close to flawless. The only issue, both knees lack any sort of ratcheting in the lower joint out of the box. Both legs, the blue tab cant lock in to the hole. Too big. Relying on friction for the lower joint, but seems to hold any pose I want so far.

Unboxed as soon as I got home and spent hours with him. I am truly happy and he is now my favourite Transformer and favourite toy maybe. He is Prime.

Masterpiece moment? For me would be how the panels all fit together nicely to form a solid and beautifully shaped posable lower leg. The rest of the transformation, like how an artist speed paints something seemingly at random, and only realizing what it is at the last moment. Boom! It certainly was a difficult transformation though. Couldn’t have done it without the videos. I think I will leave him in bot mode. I almost broke a small panel in the foot because I missed the previous step in the manual, to push the feet down 90 degrees first. Stress marks now. Also scuffed the far right and far left orange paint on the truck roof lights during transformation.

Pleasant surprise - the very high level of playability the trailer, cannon and Roller now offer. There’s so many different configs it’s amazing! I never thought of MP as pure toys like, say CHUG, but this trailer and components certainly comes close. This is such a HUGE improvement over previous iterations. The OCD in me also appreciates Roller docking in securely, the storage shelf and being able to store Prime’s rifle in a number of places.

All in all, I am stoked and glad to have purchased this. He is certainly lighting some dark hours of mine.

 

Um wow... So some copies even come WITHOUT legs/knees ratchet out of the box?? I hope you guys will send them back ASAP and get compensated. The community needs to send a strong message to TT.

 

"scan to warehouse"

 

As some of you guys may know TT provide pdf versions of the instructions for MP’s on their website. Their website is slooooow so I’ve uploaded the pdf for MP44 elsewhere in case anyone wants to grab it. This link is valid for 30 days.

I find the pdf version of the instructions so much more useful than the printed version. They are high quality with a great level of detail when you zoom. I hope someone finds this useful.

Uploadfiles.io - item_tf_mp-44_manual.pdf

 

I want to try applying grey covering film to the ribs instead of the paint. I just have to test if that sticks to the plastic first.

 

It's taken me an hour and a half, I've got bleeding cuts on my fingers from various sharp edges, my nerves are frayed and there are flakes of red and blue all around me... Yes that's right folks I've been transforming MP-44 for the first time!  

The positive stuff first: He looks great in each mode, he's very expressive and has a decent amount of accessories. I seem to have been fairly lucky with QC, everything is as I imagine it should be. Visually this is way better than MP-10 (which I never much cared for).

The negatives, at least for me, aren't really about the build or the sculpt or even the decision to make a third MP Prime. It's as I feared; the transformation is just ridiculous. I mean obviously we've known since the first pics that he has cheating windows and faux gas tanks etc, but having avoided any videos or discussion of the transformation I really wasn't prepared for the extent of hoop-jumping this figure goes through for little visible benefit. MP-36 was complicated, and considering the extremes of his two modes I fully understand that, but Prime shouldn't need to be more complex than Megatron surely? Tiny folding pieces everywhere, exploding panels, things that don't fit if they aren't lined up a certain specific way. I guess I've just become used to Takara's transformations being fluid; smooth and deceptively simple, the 'Masterpiece moments', the elegance of guys like Grapple and Ironhide. Prime is like X-Transbots meets Badcube in comparison, no pleasure at all to transform. There had to be an easier way. I wouldn't mind but after all that effort the back end of the cab doesn't even look finished! Maybe I'm being overly harsh but a neat, clever transformation has always been part of the fun in this game, and I'm afraid MP engineering just jumped the shark for me.

But grumbles about the execution aside, I'll enjoy having MP-44 posed on the shelf and seeing what I can do with him. I'm just not looking forward to transforming him again that's all! (not good for someone who makes stop-motion transformations lol).

One issue I had going back to alt mode is the little blue flap between the front wheel and the gas tank. The instructions and photos seem to imply the flap should slot into the red folded parts under the vehicle, but when I do it like that the sides of the cab don't want to lay flat and the gas tanks are misaligned:



And yet if I mistransform it so the blue flap stays flat against the red ladder piece everything lines up great. Anyone else find this?

 

Mines exactly the same. Try as I might, I just cant get the fuel tanks to line up

 

Pickup game anyone?

 

Yep! What a coincidence! Gald to neet a fellow Malaysian TFW2005 board member!  
I havent had the time to mess around with my MP44 yet. How bout your copy..any issue so far?
Cheers bro.
Edit; just read about the knee ratchets having issues... aww man.

 

Great thanks. How do you apply it? With a brush? Rub it in with a cloth?

 

Fixed the knees on mine. I feel so much better now.

 

Magnificent photos. They have inspired me to persevere with and keep MP44.

 

Looks like Starscream-in-disguise hasn't noticed the little yellow spy looking down on proceedings.  

I do love this figure - the robot mode is beautiful - but I totally agree with this. The transformation wasn't as bad the second run-through, but as someone for whom the transformation is a huge part of the pleasure, I can't see myself transforming MP-44 very often. With most MPs, I can come back to them a year or two later and transform them without referring to the instructions, because the process is fluid and intuitive once you've been through it a couple of times. It's too soon to say whether that will happen with MP-44, but I somehow doubt it. Also, while some fake parts have always been a necessary evil, I do think it takes things too far when nearly *everything* is fake, so that you even have duplicate fuel tanks.

But I still get a big grin whenever I look at this guy on my shelf.  

The trick seems to be to get the blue clips next to the fuel tanks into place:



They seem to ensure the fuel tank sits straight, but getting them into place on both sides of the truck is hell, because unless everything is lined up just right, they both sit out farther than the part they need to clip to - and it's not a particularly strong clip.

 

Does anyone else have a loose shoulder ratchet joint? Or has any idea how to tighten it? It's a pricey figure so I'm pretty nervous myself to pull it apart...

 

Great review. I watched it multiple times to enjoy the impressive camerawork.

 

I think I must have something internally not quite 100% in the cab (though it all looks fine) because I can get the blue clips on when that aforementioned flap is mistransformed, but not when it's where it should be. But this is only my first attempt into truck mode so we'll see how it goes next time. I'm definitely going to need the instructions handy with this fella...