Video Review of Takara Tomy Transformers Masterpiece MP-40 Targetmaster Hot Rodimus

So with this out I was reminded of something about the mold when I needed to use the instructions to reference a small point. Namely, if you follow the included instructions verbatim, you're going to have a tougher time than you should transforming the backpack. Instead of having no fun at all, I've prepared a tutorial on an alternate transformation sequence that is much easier and importantly, more fun. I put this up on Twitter last night and figured I should mirror the content here for the enjoyment of those not on one of the machines leading to society's downfall.

Let's do this!


Text of what to do is right below the corresponding image. This one's just saying hey, here's the robot guy! He says to follow your instructions for the part where you start with the car until the point a bit after you've folded out the hands.


You're going to get to a step that looks like this. This is where you should throw your instructions in the trash! Ok don't do that, you'll need them later.


The first thing you should do here is reverse that decision it had you make to fold down the collar pieces. Trust me here, do this (unless you have tiny hands, and I mean teeny tiny. Because I have tiny hands.)


Now undo the two halves of the car roof on that pivot joint. Note the small hole on the front half towards the rear of the windshield. We're about to use that hole.


Leave the shoulders alone! Remember, we're ignoring Takara's instructions. Go ahead and plug in the back of the neck to the windshield. You may have to wiggle some stuff near the waist to get it aligned right. Also, this is where you'll find out if you transformed his head correctly. Hope you did, I'm not covering that.


Now for the reason this is actually better! This is where you plug the shoulders in to the side of the windshield. Note the backpack out of the way. You'll have clearance to get your fingers in there to secure a tight fit. I know what I said. You took it there, not me.


Once both shoulder panels are clipped into the sides of the window, you can put the collar pieces back down.


If you stare really hard you'll notice this photo skips ahead a touch. That's because I originally didn't push the collar pieces down far enough and took a picture later on which I cropped instead of undoing things. Regardless, push them down as far as they need to. They'll go, but be careful. You shouldn't have to push too hard.


Now start assembling the backpack. I think you see what to do here, but refer to the instructions for the details of this if needed.


Now fold the pivot joint down through the vertical clearance. If you're keeping score, the instructions have you do this well before now. Bad instructions, bad!


Almost done here. Aim for these two posts in his tramp stamp region. It's a technical term. Yep.


Kapowee! You just sold a car.


Not really but now you can go back to your official instruction manual for the legs. Hope that helps you have more fun with Transformers

Have we any information at all as to the next G1 masterpiece release?

Gambitgreen wrote:Have we any information at all as to the next G1 masterpiece release?

Not officially announced, but we know from the design team that Trailbreaker and Hoist are being worked on.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Gambitgreen wrote:Have we any information at all as to the next G1 masterpiece release?

Not officially announced, but we know from the design team that Trailbreaker and Hoist are being worked on.

Emerje

Optibotimus once said to look at 3rd party companies and what they're making to see what the next MP might be. With that said I'm putting my money on a Super Ginrai.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Gambitgreen wrote:Have we any information at all as to the next G1 masterpiece release?

Not officially announced, but we know from the design team that Trailbreaker and Hoist are being worked on.

Emerje

Optibotimus once said to look at 3rd party companies and what they're making to see what the next MP might be. With that said I'm putting my money on a Super Ginrai.

I think we're a few years away from a Super Ginrai announcement since they've had fans investing a lot in the Legends versions. Plus with BW Dinobot coming this summer and Beast Megatron expected to be announced soon, probably for the winter, we need to fill the smaller MP new mold quota for 2018.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Gambitgreen wrote:Have we any information at all as to the next G1 masterpiece release?

Not officially announced, but we know from the design team that Trailbreaker and Hoist are being worked on.

Emerje

Optibotimus once said to look at 3rd party companies and what they're making to see what the next MP might be. With that said I'm putting my money on a Super Ginrai.

I think we're a few years away from a Super Ginrai announcement since they've had fans investing a lot in the Legends versions. Plus with BW Dinobot coming this summer and Beast Megatron expected to be announced soon, probably for the winter, we need to fill the smaller MP new mold quota for 2018.

Emerje

Victory Lio?

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Gambitgreen wrote:Have we any information at all as to the next G1 masterpiece release?

Not officially announced, but we know from the design team that Trailbreaker and Hoist are being worked on.

Emerje

Optibotimus once said to look at 3rd party companies and what they're making to see what the next MP might be. With that said I'm putting my money on a Super Ginrai.

I think we're a few years away from a Super Ginrai announcement since they've had fans investing a lot in the Legends versions. Plus with BW Dinobot coming this summer and Beast Megatron expected to be announced soon, probably for the winter, we need to fill the smaller MP new mold quota for 2018.

Emerje

Victory Lio?

Wouldn't MP Victory Leo be a rather massive figure in his own right? I'm thinking only an inch shorter than Star Saber. As much as I look forward to them making him so day, this isn't his year.



Emerje

Yeah, Victory Leo is a BIG character. Star Saber alone was Combiner-sized in the cartoon. Victory Leo was about the same mass as Star Saber.

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, Victory Leo is a BIG character. Star Saber alone was Combiner-sized in cartoon. Victory Leo was about the same mass as Star Saber.

I was just going with what I was hoping for. I guess any longer they'll have to re-issue Star Saber around the same time. Is Cliffjumper a possibility?

There's a third party MP Victory Leo and yes, it is huge. If they make an official one they're going to have to rework some things on Star Saber because the joints on that toy cannot support the weight of the Victory Saber backpack. Sure, KFC could have made their version a little lighter, but I'm not certain how much it really would have helped.

ScottyP wrote:There's a third party MP Victory Leo and yes, it is huge. If they make an official one they're going to have to rework some things on Star Saber because the joints on that toy cannot support the weight of the Victory Saber backpack. Sure, KFC could have made their version a little lighter, but I'm not certain how much it really would have helped.

I wonder if it would be possible for Takara to try to make Victory Leo as lightweight as possible, since when the two combine in the cartoon, Victory Leo seems to lose a lot of his mass when in backpack form, as the animation model of the backpack seen during the combination sequence looks quite thin (but not unreasonably thin).

Sabrblade wrote:

ScottyP wrote:There's a third party MP Victory Leo and yes, it is huge. If they make an official one they're going to have to rework some things on Star Saber because the joints on that toy cannot support the weight of the Victory Saber backpack. Sure, KFC could have made their version a little lighter, but I'm not certain how much it really would have helped.

I wonder if it would be possible for Takara to try to make Victory Leo as lightweight as possible, since when the two combine in the cartoon, Victory Leo seems to lose a lot of his mass when in backpack form, as the animation model of the backpack seen during the combination sequence looks quite thin (but not unreasonably thin).

There could be some magic in there, but MP Star Saber's knees and hips just don't like much else for back weight. Maybe some knee joints with a locking mechanism or even a new Saber made of diecast to function as a counterweight would help. Either way I do hope they do something that works better, because outside of using a stand there's not a great way to display the current option for MP Victory Saber so I keep them separated.

So I've finally gotten around to played around with Targety Rodders! And took pictures of the affair!



















How do I feel about him? Mmmmmmm.... mixed.
If you recall, I'm a huge Hotrod fanboy, and the new MP mold is among my top 3 MP's. Obviously the "animation error" color scheme is weird, but I can forgive it. However... after handling the brand new MP Targetmaster that came with Artfire, I feel reviving that old Offshoot(?) mold was just flat out lazy. I don't want to imply that he is flat out TRASH, but he is certainly dated compared to fresh work.

Does MP-40 have the visor? I could have swore I saw an image with him having it, but then I haven't seen it again since

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Does MP-40 have the visor? I could have swore I saw an image with him having it, but then I haven't seen it again since

Yes it does but this time it's clear plastic.

Bringing this thread back up since I finally got my MP-40, and it is pretty sweet! I really like the colors, even if they are a bit all over the place and loud. And the transformation is pretty fun, almost something like I would expect from a voyager or leader figure actually. He's like MP-12 with the sort of simplicity that is still fun and productive.

I am not a fan of the grips for the weapons though. He cannot hold his weapons perfectly straight since they do not want to go into the grips in his hands. But other than that, he is fantastic, and I cannot wait to mess around with him some more!

I cant tell, are the faces and eyes colored differently from MP 28 to MP 40?

So MP-40. This was a figure I've nearly sold several times. Just haven't liked it. But, I got him a saw weapon from MP-28, and it is amazing how much 1 accessory can change an opinion. This is now a great figure I enjoy.

So I guess with that one little accessory, you finally saw value in him?

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:So I guess with that one little accessory, you finally saw value in him?

It finally meant i had fun with him. The mold certainly is not on par with my other MPs, but the saw made it more fun and worth it. I've had him for almost 3 years, so it finally hit that point where it was fun to have and play with

The white part on his waist/crotch area (even if screen accurate) was a turn off for me. That's why I got MP-28 instead. (You're welcome for the saw, btw. )

Ah yes, the white that comes from insistence on precisely duplicating the AKOM color layout warts and all, including coloring Hot Rod's crotch as if it was the top part of his windshield (which is how it was in Dery's first draft of his design).

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:So I guess with that one little accessory, you finally saw value in him?

It finally meant i had fun with him. The mold certainly is not on par with my other MPs, but the saw made it more fun and worth it. I've had him for almost 3 years, so it finally hit that point where it was fun to have and play with

Well, I'm glad you're finally enjoying him. Although I'm wondering now if my pun was too subtle.

Rodimus Prime wrote:The white part on his waist/crotch area (even if screen accurate) was a turn off for me. That's why I got MP-28 instead. (You're welcome for the saw, btw. )

I am very thankful for that saw! It ignited my enjoyment for this figure at last.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:I'm wondering now if my pun was too subtle.

I only just now saw it.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The white part on his waist/crotch area (even if screen accurate) was a turn off for me. That's why I got MP-28 instead. (You're welcome for the saw, btw. )

I am very thankful for that saw! It ignited my enjoyment for this figure at last.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:I'm wondering now if my pun was too subtle.

I only just now saw it.

Ba-dum-tsh!