Transformers Masterpiece: Lambor MP-12

I know I'm probably one of the last bloggers on planet Earth to review Takara Tomy's awesome Transformers Masterpiece Lambor, but I say better late than never!  Actually I took and edited the photos some time ago, but this review (as well as many others) just got buried and pushed back further and further.  Blame the delay on life.  Enough about that.  Want to know what I think about this beautiful toy?  Seriously? Alright then, here we go!

Takara Tomy continues the Masterpiece tradition with the flat black cardboard packaging with slick, glossy images.  One thing that glaringly stands out on this release is the inclusion of the gold Lamborghini logo.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time in a very long time that Lamborghini has licensed their brand for Transformers.  On the back of the box is a lot of Japanese text.  Sadly I have no idea what any of this says nor have I found a translation.  Glossing over the words and focusing on the pictures there are some great shots of Lambor in both modes with Convoy / Optimus Prime.  Scale wise I believe Takara Tomy has hit a home run.

I was surprised to see the instructions were folded up.  I half expected the instructions to be laid out in a nice booklet a la BinalTech.  This is actually the back side of the sheet.  I shared this side since it showed off Lambor's accessories along w/ the cool thumb nail from the G1 animation using said weapons.

Behold!  Lambor in all his Lamborghini beauty!  99.7% of the Transformers in my collection are displayed in robot mode, but when I took Lambor out of his packaging for the first time I swear it was very tempting to just place him immediately on a shelve as is.

When early reports surfaced of the relative smaller size of Lambor a lot of people went into panic mode.  When the first pictures hit the internet a lot of complaining seemed to accompany those pictures.  I tried to remain neutral until I had a hands on look.  After inspecting the car over and over I'm satisfied.  Yes, the car is slightly smaller (barely) than a standard modern voyager sized Transformer, but I'm OK with that.  I don't always equate bigger with better.  Take Optimus himself.  MP-01 < MP-10 easily.

As sexy as the car looks, it's not without a few flaws.  From the image above you can probably tell the two spoiler pieces don't want to stay in line with one another.  It's not horrible, but worth pointing out.  A widespread problem with this release were the paint applications.  The majority of the body is cast in red plastic, but the roof section has been painted red and on some of the figures the paint apps were a bit sloppy.  I believe I got a little lucky with mine as the paint looks pretty good.  This also brings up the issue that the two shades of red are a little off.  The large tampographed Autobot symbol on the hood is a bit excessive in my opinion.  It's grown on me over time, but I do wish Takara Tomy would've made this an optional decal or just made it a bit smaller.  So much for "robots in disguise".

I know a lot of fans really wanted Lambor to have rubber wheels like the G1 toy, but we get solid plastic wheels instead.  While I do agree that rubber wheels would be nice and gives off a more authentic look, I'm sure plastic is cheaper in the end over rubber.  I also don't have to worry about the tires cracking and falling apart with age like some of my G1 Autobots.

Both of Lambor's rocket launcher and flare gun can be attached while in car mode via a small peg hold on the top of the roof.  The flare gun actually attaches to the rocket launcher itself.  I don't care for either look, but hey at least it's an option.

Transformation is rather simple and straight forward.  It's obviously more complicated than his G1 self, but not so involved that you'll feel like hurling your figure across the room in a fit of rage (look at you Big Convoy!).  The designers absolutely nailed the head sculpt and over all look of the figure.  I'm still amazed at the similarities of this figure and his animation model.  This was the first new figure that I've opened in quite some time that I simply had a hard time putting down.

Articulation is amazing.  If I wasn't so horrible with coming up with dynamic poses I'd show this off more, but I'll guess you'll just have to trust my word.  For a figure of this size he is amazingly light weight.  I'm not a huge fan of die-cast metal in my toys so this MP figure is right up my alley.

Lambor's rocket launcher can be installed on either shoulder to complete the look that you best prefer.  Sadly though the rocket launcher doesn't launch missiles like the G1 version.  In my haste of taking these pictures I completely forgot to photograph Lambor with his square shaped pile drivers attached.  From what I could tell they simply just fit over his hands.  Nice touch, but what I really hoped he would come packaged with was his rocket pack as seen in the More Than Meets the Eye episode.

Now what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't share a few comparison pictures with his G1 self...especially after referencing it so many times.

As you can tell there are a few differences in the overall look between the two (no exposed wheels on the shoulders on MP-12), but there is no misunderstanding that this is Lambor...sorry, Sideswipe!

Before I get ready to prep my next post there is one more thing to share.  Hasbro Asia started releasing character specific commemorative coins with the Encore release of Devastator if my mind serves me correct.  The vendor I acquired Lambor from included this with my release which was a pleasant surprise.

The coin comes in very clever packaging. The "tire" can be turned a full 360 degrees while the coin doubles as the wheel's hubcap.  I think you'd have to tear apart the packaging to remove the coin so I just opted to keep it as-is.

Interestingly both the packaging and the coin say Sideswipe and not Lambor.  This has fueled the suspicion of whether or not this figure would see a release in the United States.  Personally I'm not holding my breath (due to the Lamborghini licensing deal) and others must not be either as the price of this toy has significantly risen on the secondary market.  For once placing a pre-order made sense.  Lambor by far was worth the $44 (before shipping) I paid.  I originally hadn't planned to pick up MP-13 (Red Alert), but after playing with this toy I quickly placed my next pre-order.  Now that the bar has been set high, I can't wait to see how the Fairlady Z trio turn out.