Friday, April 3, 2015
Review: Masterpiece MP-24 (Part B): Star Saber
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Takara Tomy |
| Figure Number: | 24 |
| Origin Series: | Transformers Victory |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 34cm tall |
| Original Price: | 18,000 yen |
| Saber: |
(Click image for Part A of the review)
For those who didn't know, my review of MP-24 is split into two parts. This review is already part B or part 2 which focuses on V Star and Star Saber himself; all the information about the packaging, the Brainmaster and Saber can be found in Part A: http://murakami-night.blogspot.com/2015/04/takara-masterpiece-24-part1-saber-review.html
| Details - V Star: |
The V Star is a mobile battle platform that's also a part of Star Saber, much like Saber's Jet mode, every aspect of the V Star was translated into figure form perfectly for the Masterpiece version. Completely with it's laser barrels as well as the "battle up helm turret", the V Star definitely has a great attention to detail down to its paint apps. Like my comments in Saber's Jet mode, the V Star is not without flaw as the wings have some minor smudges between the blue linings and the white plastic but the good side is, it has less of those smudges as opposed to the Jet's paint misses.
A look at the back shows you the highly detailed thrusters of the V Star though for some weird reason, I can't fully flush up the left booster. (QC maybe?)
By opening up some panels underneath, you can unveil the V Star's landing gears and thus allow you to display it in stand by mode.
As we rarely see the V Star on its own, the Masterpiece does it completely well by also incorporating a gimmick to allow Saber's jet mode to connect and combine with it to form a battle-ready aircraft.
Additionally, the V Star is the second piece to feature cross compatibility with other TF lines such that there are 3 5-mm ports available and ready to plug in those 5-mm weapons anytime.
By the default, the instructions does tell you that you can port the Star Laser at the back port, and in addition with that I've ported in some blasters from Fall of Cybertron deluxes.
Upon being combined with V Star, Star Saber's alt mode becomes really wide and also becomes almost double the length of Voyager Brainstorm.
| Details - Star Saber: |
Going to the main dish of the entire set, Star Saber in robot mode certainly does not disappoint! The head mold is so damn perfect, there's really nothing more I could ask for. Addtionally, if the diagonal antennas don't sit wit you, you can choose to straighten it up but again, for accuracy, Star Saber will have it bent diagonally for this entire review.
What's amazing is that once you transform Saber into Star Saber's chest, there's a flip you need to make on the vents of the plane to change it from red vents to black vents which also contributes to how much accurate this guy can get. Particularly nothing aside from the V Star's and Jet mode's paint flaws can be seen here and again, the chrome still is a let down but I guess it DOES looks good in Star Saber's robot mode. The overall proportions of Star Saber is definitely good as there's a proper beef in his silhouette especially to his forearms and legs. As one can expected from the Masterpiece line, the transformation is very clean as there are no unwanted kibbles to be found.
To give more gimmicks, you can actually flip Star Saber's backpack to reveal the Star Laser port found in V-Star; addirionally, to be even a lot more crazy accurate (as seen in his transformation sequence), the tips of V-star can opened up to indeed hold both of the small and big blades.
As an additional coverage, as Star Saber can be seen in a non-battle up look in the series from time to time, you can indeed opt not to put on the Battle Up helm to have Star Saber retain Saber's small head if you'd like.
The size is something I really love about this Masterpiece, upon forming Star Saber, there is a very huge height jump from Saber, thus, making Star Saber probably around the size of Gestalt figures. (Though I can't say for sure since I don't have any gestalts yet.) But as a comparison, below is Star Saber standing next to his alternate universe GT-sister, Anna, and then next to my former tallest Autobot, Mebsuta (Ultra Magnus).
| Accessories: |
Star Saber retains all of Saber's useable accessories but now comes with a Shield and a new setup for the big Saber Blade. The set comes with a long handle which can attach with the default hilt of the big Saber Blade, thus, forming a more appropriate and more proportioned blade for the Cybertron Supreme Commander.
Additionally, while not in robot mode, you can disassemble the shield handle and switch it with a display stand that comes along with the set; the stand latches on to the V Star and securely holds it in place.
| Articulation Points: |
This is where the Star Saber begins to surprise me, as you know (or not), the Battle Up only sits on Saber's head, so naturally, the limited swiveling motion of Saber's neck joint retains.
However, the best thing about the battle up mask is that it has a built in neck hinge and that the space where Saber's head goes into is good enough to allow Star Saber to look up and down to very satisfying level.
Additionally the Battle Up Mask's face has it's own built in hinge which does allow Star Saber's up and down motion to extended by a little.
Now the engineering on Star Saber's joints are wonderfully thought out BUT his biggest enemy in the articulation department is none other than his design itself. While the arms can be rotated to a full 360 motion, raising them sidewards is so limited due to how bulky his shoulders are.
However, you can definitely see how much thought was put on to this, in order to support the limited sidewards raise, they actually put a minor hinge on Star Saber's biceps to actually extend his reach. Pretty neat if you ask me.
Additionally, Star Saber can cross his arms by unlocking a tab to where the shoulders are attached.
Going to the rest of the arm, Star Saber's biceps actually have swivels in both connecting points so you could fully utilize his arms for many action poses. His elbows are double jointed and the wrist has a swivel but the attachment point also serves as a hinge for the hands. Lastly, his hands are a bit better than Saber's such that his index finger is separately hinged from the remaining other three fingers, however, the thumb stays static.
Star Saber does have a very minor ab crunch and a limited waist swivel that allows you to move the upper torso by around probably 30 degrees to either side.
Another one of the points blocked by his design would be his hips, due to his waist assembly, the sideways split just goes to around 45 while kick forward reaches an almost perfect 90. Much like his biceps, his thighs have swivel sections in both connectors while his knees can around to just somewhere near 45. A good improvement on Star Saber is the fact that his ankles can now tilt which does a lot to help support poses and of course, you can push his feet down to emulate a tip-toe feature.
| Poseability: |
As his alt mode, there's fairly some things you can do such as an intense aerial fight and the docking sequence of the Jet mode to the V Star; just the right amount of fun from an aircraft I must say.
One neat feature of Star Saber is the fact that if you don't "Battle Up" him, you can still pretty much enjoy everything he's got so some unarmed and shooting poses was what I thought of for that version of Star Saber.
Bearing the name Star Saber, of course, it was pretty much legit to just pose him around with his big Saber Blade.
Having wield his shield together with his sword definitely works wonders for the character and definitely makes it good to pair him up with other Meelee Autobots.
He's definitely a lot more play value than Saber does but unfortunately, as much as I would've wanted to do a lot of dynamic poses, I don't have any kind of support stand that will help me capture this guy on dynamic poses but definitely his articulation points aren't a letdown like Saber's and this definitely seals the deal for this guy. I wasn't expecting much movement from a masterpiece since they are more of display pieces for me but this definitely surprised me.
Last but not the least, I find it fun that Anna is now in a better scale with him rather than his GT-R version haha.
| Final Thoughts: |
As my first masterpiece figure, this definitely gave me A LOT of impression on how masterpiece releases stand these days in terms of detail AND articulation. I really am impressed and I am definitely not regretting one single bit of penny with much this guy goes for. For those who grew up with Transformers Victory like me or MP collectors alike, this is definitely a highly recommend release. The representation is almost perfect if you ask me but definitely, Star Saber also gets his share of flaws; despite those said flaws however, you still have a very decent and solid representation of the character. And finally before I finish the 2nd part of the review, I pre-ordered MP Star Saber from one of my favorite shops, Onegai Onii-chan!
I give Star Saber (as an entire deal) a 4.5 out of 5.
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Good review, I received mine yesterday, I got it for a good price but unfortunately laws are different in the EU and I had to pay a lot for custom payments to receive it. You forgot to mention that the V-Star frontal laser can be opened to reveal missiles and that he includes expansion ports in the feet in case they release a MP Victory Leo.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the tax. Also, thanks for the info, I really didn't notice those.
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