I haven’t done an unboxing, haul, or figure preview in a while, so I figured today would be a good chance when a quaint little package arrived on my doorstep earlier.
I had preordered this particular item quite a while back, and I believe it was delayed a month before finally shipping out. This would also be my first order from TFSource.com.
Hot on the heels of the recently reviewed Masterpiece Prowl comes another Autobot car, our favorite crackpot engineer Wheeljack. This Masterpiece has been announced for a while, and at last it’s shipping out.
Quite excited to get another Autobot car in the collection; I’m really looking forward to getting the entire G1 line-up in their vehicle forms. MP-21 Bumblebee should be following in close pursuit.
Not gonna lie though, Wheeljack’s pretty hefty on the wallet. I paid a bit more for this one than I did for my Prowl and Sideswipe, though I think they should all be the same price. For a figure of this size, the regular price point is always hard to swallow, but I’m willing to bet the car licenses (in this case Lancia) have something to do with that.
Right out of the outer box, simple collector-friendly packaging as usual. I’ve come to appreciate these little packages – at first glance it may seem like Takara cheated us out in the accessories department, since we hardly ever get anything there, but the value and worth is in the figure itself. These Masterpieces are no joke; the cheap gimmicks and fluffy accessories aren’t needed.
Frontside of the instruction manual. I like the breakdown for Wheeljack’s bio, his vehicle form, and even bits on his pretty generic weaponry like “laser gun.” Too bad I can’t read Japanese.
Normally I actually like buying U.S. versions of Masterpieces, since they’re usually more cartoon-accurate and much cheaper than their Japanese counterparts, but it looks like the Autobot cars won’t be arriving stateside anytime soon. I’m surprised Prowl got a Toys R Us Exclusive release, but from that indication I’d say Sideswipe is doomed to stay as an import.
Straight out of packaging, shoulder cannon assembled. So apparently Wheeljack transforms into a Lancia Stratos Turbo (gahd that’s such a kickass name for a car); I’ve never even heard of Lancia anywhere else though. Guess it was a popular brand in the 80’s? I sure as heck have never seen anything remotely labeled Lancia on the streets before.
Included in the little instruction manual is surprisingly a pair of side-view mirrors attached on a tiny sprue, like Gunpla. I’ve never seen anything like this before with a Masterpiece, and am curious as to why they didn’t just have the mirrors glued in on the figure.
They don’t seem that easily breakable. Regardless, one just has to twist them off the central piece and peg them into Wheeljack’s chassis. No fuss no muss, though I think I’m gonna go in and paint the mirrors in silver. The all black is so boring.
Went ahead for the first transformation. Up on his feet in person, I gotta say he does look much better than I expected from the promos. The transformation is actually pretty fun, and you can generally figure out which areas of the car turn into the robot just from observing his biped form. The arms were folded up all crazy-like though, I’m gonna have to consult the manual for converting him back.
Satisfyingly tight joints, no defects or quality control issues as far as I could see. This is probably one of the most colorful and paint-heavy Masterpieces out there. I’m kind of paranoid about scratching any of his stripes or decals, though hopefully they’re resistant enough to withstand a few transformations. We’ll see how well it holds up when I get around to its review.
Joined up with the rest of the Autobots. Takara’s seriously capitalizing on the good guys lately; no Masterpiece love for the Decepticons. I have three Seekers that use the same mold and one Soundwave, c’mon Takara!
In any case, Wheeljack’s looking good so far. With any luck I’ll get around to a full review for this guy sometime soon, though Soundwave still hasn’t gotten anything since the last time I did this…