MP-12 Lambor / Sideswipe size comparison

Long time no post, eh?

As we all know, following Takara Tomy's re-tooling of Decepticon Air commander Starscream, the toy company's next action figure in their Masterpiece line is Lambor, or better known in the western hemisphere as the savvy, albeit reckless, Sideswipe.

If you're as old as I am (or, if you have read my previous post), MP-12 assumes the alternate form of the G1 Sideswipe — a 1980's Lamborghini Countach. If you want to be more specific about it, I believe Sideswipe's an LP 500S (or an LP 500QV).

Lamborghini Countach LP 500S. It's a gorgeous bugger, isn't it?

Anyway, discussions within different Transformers forums have members giving their cents' worth regarding the figure's apparent scale, and I guess we all could only speculate on the actual size. Until this scanned page was taken from Figure King, a Japanese hobby magazine:

The lower-left portion shows an illustration of the recently released MP-10 Convoy (Optimus Prime) together with the upcoming MP-12 Lambor, an indication of the two figures' scale. We all know that the MP-10 is small, but for other self-proclaimed Transformers forum "gurus", the MP-12 looks puny and out-of-scale. Or is it? This is what this post is all about.

Using the magical powers of a very popular image-editing software on a larger version of the scanned illustration resulted into this:

Measuring MP-10 and MP-12's chest widths

As you can see, the width of the Autobot leader's chest has been measured at around 100 (whatever unit that may be), and the width of Sideswipe's chest is at around 89.

Great. If you can still remember your elementary math, we now have 2 givens. All we need now are actual measured widths of the Freightliner FL86 cab-over-engine semi trailer truck, which is G1 Prime's alternate mode, and the Lamborghini Countach LP 500S.

Based on a Google search, I've opened up quite a number of browser tabs just to see if there's any site containing dimensions of the Freightliner, but came up with nothing. So if you've got a trucker-neighbor who happens to drive or own an FL86 semi, please be a darling and measure it's width so I can come up with a more accurate computation. I digress. However, I learned that the standard width for a semi could be no more than 8 feet (96 inches). Yeah, I could use that length.

Finding out the width of an LP 500S was much easier. It is 78.7 inches wide.

Now, I have all the parameters I need. A bit of a warning, though — what follows next is some geeky, algebra shit. Actually, it's quite simple:

MP-10 width in units / standard semi-truck width = ratio for Optimus Prime
MP-12 width in units / Lamborghini Countach LP 500S width = ratio for Sideswipe

Substituting the values would give us:

100 / 96 = 1.04
89 / 78.7 = 1.13

Ergo,

Optimus Prime's ratio = 1.04
Sideswipe's ratio = 1.13

I don't know about you guys, but 1.04 is pretty close to 1.13, especially if one scales it down to the size of toys.

Going a bit further if height is concerned, MP-10 Convoy is around 9.5 inches high in it's robot mode. Based on the scanned image above, MP-12 Lambor's robot mode would be a little over 7 inches.

So, YES, there we have it. Even before it is officially released, I can go out on a limb and say that Masterpiece Sideswipe is on the proper scale with Masterpiece Optimus Prime (at least with the MP-10 version). The "gurus" are wrong.

Great job, Takara Tomy!

Sources:
Wikipedia: Lamborghini Countach
Wikipedia: Sideswipe
Figure King scan
Standard width for a semi-truck

MP-12 Lambor / Sideswipe

Almost fresh off Cybertron Con 2012 in Singapore, Takara Tomy's next Masterpiece is Sideswipe! Nope, not that sleek-silver Corvette Stingray Concept that the younger generation have come to relate to, (no) thanks to Michael Bay's recent movies, but the original one — the Lamborghini Countach, G1 version. Yes kids, the REAL Sideswipe. My generation's Sideswipe.

If the news isn't reason for G1 fans to rejoice, or make them come back to the Masterpiece line, then I don't know what will.

If TakTomy can make it as seamless as Starscream's F-15 Eagle alt-mode, I'm definitely down for at least one piece.

On the same note, just think of all the repaints MP-12 could spin off:

1. Sunstreaker
2. Red Alert
3. Clamp Down
4. Deep Cover
5. Tigertrack
6. Breakdown
7. Punch/Counter-punch
8. Free Wheeler
9. Laster
10. Flame/Motorvator

The list is literally a bevy of Lamborghini alt-mode goodness!

If there's one more wish that I could make for this release, it's to include a proper amount of die-cast for MP-12 and its variants.

Sources:
Seibertron.com
TFWiki.net
Cybertron.PH

Mastermind Creations Hearts of Steel Seekers

Up until recently, I've never been that much of a 3rd-party fan. But ever since TFC Toys released their Hercules gestalt a a nod to the G1 Devastator, I became a convert.

And now, another 3rd-party manufacturer, Mastermind Creations, is breathing down the wallets of adult Transformers collectors by way of their Hearts of Steel Seekers. The prototype renders look awesome, and I'm pretty sure that Mastermind Creations has the capability to translate the said renders very faithfully into the actual figures.

KM-05 Air Screech

KM-07 Stormer

KM-05 Warper

Like I've said, awesome huh? In case you're wondering, the three Knight Morpher figures above are homages to Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp, respectively.

Are you going to get one? Perhaps, the three? I will.

Source:
Mastermind Creations' Facebook page

Transformers: Prime Robots In Disguise Bumblebee Video Reviews

Here are a couple of video reviews for the TF: Prime RID Revealer/Deluxe Bumblebee figure courtesy of Peaugh and Optibotimus





As a bonus, here's Peaugh's review of the Transformers Generations Deluxe Skyshadow



By the way, Hasbro has announced during the 2012 Toy Fair that next year will be the year of the Transformers Generations, wherein the company is planning to release 40, yes 40, Generations figures. I'm willing to bet that majority of the said figures will be deluxe-classified.

My wallet's already weeping. And that's good. ^_^

Transformers: Prime Commander-class Figures

I'm really, really excited about this upcoming release of Cyberverse Commander-classes from the Transformers: Prime series, and I believe that these Robots In Disguise figures from the said show will continue to burn and expand the already-ginormous hole in my wallet.











Optimus Prime and Starscream has got 2 weapons each. Megs is a bit 'meh'. Bulkhead's, well, like what he's supposed to be — massive! Soundwave is just plain gorgeous; and it is indeed awesome that Hasbro has retained ability of Laserbeak to detach from his master, just like in the deluxe version.

I must say that I'm tipping my hat off to Hasbro toy engineers in making the TF: Prime figures (in all their respective classes) as show-accurate in their representation as possible.

Yup. I definitely can't wait.

Source:
New Looks at Transformers Prime Cyberverse Commanders On the Card

Transformers: Prime Entertainment Pack feat. Bumblebee and Starscream

Ooooh boy, here comes another Entertainment Pack for Transformers: Prime.

I really like their take on Screamer's colorway in this future release.

As human tokens, M.E.C.H. Commander Silas and a M.E.C.H. Soldier tags along for the ride. I was half-expecting Special Agent William "Bill" Fowler and June Darby to be the ones included, but I guess bringing in some antagonists after the included kid-heroes in Entertainment Pack 1 makes more sense.

I'm willing to bet, hoping actually, that there'll be Entertainment Pack 3 which would include Agent Fowler and June.

Source:
Seibertron.com

What's up, Hasbro?

First you kick your North American fans in the dick by not releasing the TF: Prime First Edition figures in U.S. soil...

... then you make the remaining Movie Trilogy Series available only in Asia and Canada.

It seems that, for one reason or another, Hasbro is currently favoring the Asian market in terms of much-awaited releases.

Finally, you come up with crappy names that replace long-standing figure-size conventions.

• Deluxe-class figures are now called Revealers
• Voyager-class toys are now Powerizers
• Leader-class ones are now known as Weaponizers

I know, this new Transformers naming convention is geared towards kids, but I still don't get it.

Sources:
Hasbro addresses Transformers: Prime First Edition U.S. release
Toy Fair 2012 - Hasbro Cancels Transformers Dark of the Movie Figures for the USA; Canada and Asia to Finish Out the Series