MP 20 Wheeljack in color

The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone!
Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
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JediTricks
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MP 20 Wheeljack in color

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http://tformers.com/ig.php?dispsize=800 ... e-king-194

Why so skinny? This was one of my most-desired guys and it's like he has polio or something. His feet are hollow too. All the previous MP cars have been really great too, so it's stunning for this to be skinnier than the cartoon.
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Tigermegatron
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Re: MP 20 Wheeljack in color

Post by Tigermegatron »

To be quite honest,I am not pleased with how any of the MP TF Voyager sized cars-bots look. I just don't like how overly blocky & thin the robot modes look. I would have preferred a classics approach but using newer liscensed cars designs & better sculpted robots modes. Examples: 1- I would have given MP Bumblebee the newer VW bug design with a neo classics robot mode. 2- MP Sideswipe & Sunsreaker,I would have a newer Lamborgini car design with a Neo classics Sunsteaker/sideswipe robot mode. I would have made these more bulkier & at least 6 3/4 inches tall in robot mode.

I still think this was a bad idea,As it's taking time,resources,talent,slots & budget money away from Takara doing the bigger scale MP TF toys like Galvatron,Sixshot,Shockwave,Cyclonus,MF Overlord & combiners.

While the Alternators/BT's had there own problems. Like using generic limbs,body parts & wrong liscensed car modes. At least they were more bukier & taller than these MP TF Voyager sized cars-bots. The average Alt/BT stood around 7 inches tall in robot mode. While these MP TF Voyager sized cars-bots are around 6 1/4 tall in robot mode,These are barely over the 6 inch deluxe scale.

The movie verse Human Alliance $29.99 toys get a major bonus for having some robot modes almost be around 8 inches tall. The liscensed car sculpts were really nice. Sadly things went downhill real fast once the toy transformed into robot mode. While the Some of the sculpts look unique & seperate from each other. Some had ugly sculpts in the robot heads,weirdly misportioned limbs,some that were bent weird ways. some had short cuts in sculpt & engineering. Some had exaggerated proportions that seem to feed into each robots personal persona theme.

I honestly think HasTak,Should have combined all the positives that Alt/BT,Alternity & $29.99 & used these ideas when creating MP TF Voyager sized cars-bots.
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Re: MP 20 Wheeljack in color

Post by JediTricks »

Wheeljack is shipping! I just paid Anime Export the $10 for cheapskate shipping, bringing my MP 20 to $55, eep.
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MP 20 Wheeljack review

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MP Wheeljack arrived yesterday.

First off, Anime Export, what can I report? Well, unfortunately, they shipped it with a thin layer of bubble wrap and a small amount of crumpled paper on the top in a close-fitting cardboard box of modest thickness, which left my WJ's box dented pretty heavily on the right side, so if those things matter to you, maybe find another seller. If however you enjoy the figure alone and want to save $40, I'd still recommend them.

As for the box, the official Lancia seal isn't quite as impressive as the Lamborghini seal (and mine's a knockoff that's still better!), but it's so Wheeljack. The instructions are the most vague instructions I've gotten from Takara ever, they cover every step but there are some elements which are too nuanced to handle (perhaps the written instructions would have helped, I forgot that I could have translated them with my phone), but I will give them some flak for pulling a Hasbro by having some steps impossible to complete due to not de-tabbing other elements first. The instructions and included card do look nice though. It's really weird having the side mirrors attached to a tree (just a small bar, but that's still a model tree), but at least a second set is also included.

Out of the box, WJ's alt mode is lightly mistransformed, and oddly this is exactly how both MP Prowl US and MP Sideswipe KO came, so I guess Masterpiece cars just can't keep it together in shipping. Once transformed to and fro though, alt mode looks pretty slick and has a ton going on, lots of sculpting and decoration, very tight visually, only a few little elements in the sculpt are more toyetic than vehicle (mainly the B-pillar spoiler, but also the tires are overly simple - though they roll great for racing slicks and are nicely wide). The rear louvers are actually sculpted as louvers. The pistol accessory tabs to the underside to become a larger tailpipe, while the shoulder missile has a spring-hidden port on the B-pillar spoiler that is way nicer and better-hidden than the one on Sideswipe. The vehicle does require working a lot of parts into place perfectly, and even then there's a chance that something will be a fraction of a millimeter off somewhere else causing a small gap somewhere, so patience and a skilled hand at massaging transformations is helpful. The vehicle mode is essentially the same height and width and length as Sideswipe's alt mode, which is a touch oversized since the Lancia Stratos HF Turbo group 5 race car is narrower and not quite as long as the Lambo LP-500, but probably wouldn't look as good if WJ were true to scale all dinky.

Transformation uses the parts of the car so wisely to create the ultimate Wheeljack, but it does so at the cost of your sanity - there aren't even THAT many steps, yet I haven't successfully transformed him from bot mode without instructions once yet because there's just so many things going on. And then you realize there are things listed in the instructions which happen out of order such as the very first step and the way the doors fold down, and it's madness because it's so close and yet SO FAR! The last step of the shoulders/rear torso is also tricky in that it'll seem like you've got it aligned correctly, but without the tiniest extra push the torso doesn't align straight and the hips hang up on the waist parts and the shoulders droop into the chest ever so slightly. Going back to vehicle is easier until the doors have to align, which I think is supposed to be the last step, not just reversing the instructions as they suggest. I still haven't found an elegant way of moving the wings to or fro yet though.

Bot mode is very cool, but suffers from Prowl having been released first. Had Prowl not come out before with his beautiful white paint everywhere looking so slick, Wheeljack's bald white plastic might not have had such a hard time justifying itself, but alas, a mostly-white Masterpiece already exists so it should have been done again and wasn't. The black plastic ain't much to look at either, it's not as dark as the other bots and it's not shiny, it looks like a lower-priced figure, had I paid more for WJ, I would have been miffed. But I didn't, and he's cool. His head is so very G1 cartoon it hurts a little, and yeah, I had to take off the faceplate to see the mustached mouth beneath. The waist and upper legs don't look all that great, the sculpting is thin and simple, this is a trade-off for having a much less hollow torso than other MPs and I accept that, but it does have a headscratch about it.

The body is a good proportion for the cartoon character, he's not monkey-arms like the toy but he's still considerably different from Prowl and Sideswipe in layout. The back plate and the chest windshield/roof do seem a bit like they're facades rather than integral, but the feet are so much the car that they help bring back that feeling. Articulation is good, the elbows aren't double-hinged though, but the feet do hinge to stay flat, and are so big and solid that he's going to be easy to pose doing almost anything.

The little laser pistol feels very appropriate, it's not a rifle like the other guys have, and its quirky shapes make it feel like something WJ might use as a tool, or slap together at the last minute to fight off one of his inventions. The pistol has tabs which hold it stupid-firmly in either hand, getting it in there is a hair's breadth from being worrisome. The shoulder-mounted missile launcher is taken from the cartoon and is hinged only 15 degrees or so. It has a large hole at either end to accommodate the non-firing but removable missile (the missile is lightly slotted to match shallow grooves inside the launcher, so it must be inserted properly or it'll be unhappy), it sticks out farther than on the cartoon but has the right look overall. Both the missile and launcher have the right amount of sculpting, some but not too much; the launcher without the missile looks a bit like a WJ invention (even the Amazon.jp-exclusive anti-hypnosis device), and does fit in the hand.

Overall, MP Wheeljack is a very good figure for the price I paid and sticks the landing on both the authentic vehicle mode and cartoon-inspired robot mode very well. The white plastic (and even the black plastic) is the figure's weakest point, after that the odd hips, but overall it doesn't feel appreciably lesser than the other 2 Masterpiece molds. And that means it's really cool!
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Tigermegatron
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Re: MP 20 Wheeljack in color

Post by Tigermegatron »

I like that MP Wheeljack seems to be the tallest of the MP TF Voyager cars-bots.

Like that their is a humanoid looking face under that face plate.

Don't care for the face plate design. I felt they could have done a rectangular chin piece on top of the lower face plate.

Over all it looks like a toy worth getting.
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Re: MP 20 Wheeljack in color

Post by JediTricks »

WJ really isn't taller than Prowl or Sideswipe, his crest is taller and he has higher wings, but he's the same shoulder and eye height as Prowl and Sideswipe when their legs and feet are all posed straight.

The chin is a good catch, the G1 figure and box character art have the chin, but the cartoon didn't and they went with the cartoon look.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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Re: MP 20 Wheeljack in color

Post by Tigermegatron »

My favorite Wheeljack toy head sculpt on a new age toy is Alternators Wheeljacks head sculpt.
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Re: MP 20 Wheeljack in color

Post by JediTricks »

Too Decepticon-ish for me. Generations is my fav, followed by Prime.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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