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03-12-2009, 09:51 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 356
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The Toynami Masterpiece Ride Armor is a repackaged and slightly re-designed version of Beagle's MOSPEADA Ride Armor. The differences between the two boil down to different packaging (Toynami book-style box vs. Yamato style oversized window box) and a different head sculpt for the rider.
So how does it all boil down? Let's take a look: The Figure The base figure looks really nice as long as you don't look too closely at the cloth the joints are covered in. The stuff is REALLY cheap feeling, and if I had any sewing talents at all I'd be seriously looking into making something out of thin pleather or something similar. Ah well. Screw holes. They may bother some people. Your own mileage may vary. Ugly stitching on the arms. Gratuitous groin shot showing how the fabric is kind of pulling apart. For the record, it was this way out of the box. His front groin armor just sort of loosely clips on. It wont fall off on its own or anything, but it's just a little odd. He's got these ... cylinder things. They plug into the cycle's "fuel tank". They're energy packs, I presume. I ... uh... haven't actually watched Mospeada. The much maligned head. Personally? I like it more than the thin-lipped Beagle version. When it comes down to it, 9 times out of 10 you're probably going to be posing this figure with the helmet on so it doesn't even matter. Overall Thoughts: The figure on its own is decent. The cloth is a little irksome, and it's definitely not up to the level of quality of the average 1/6 figure, but when it comes down to it it's a fairly minor negative in the grand scheme of things. He's got ratcheting knees, and tight joints all around that make him really stable. He can pose nicely and wont look at all bad if you chose to display the set without the armor. ---------------------------- Next up: The Bike (Sorry for the darkness of some of the photos. I only have one light and it's on a very short plug, eheh.) It may be crazy, but I honestly think I like displaying this set with the figure and bike separate and untransformed. The bike looks really great. If I get another one (only if they do a different bike style though, such as Yellow or Hoquet's), then maybe I'll reconsider, but I think I'll keep my set like this for the time being. ... plus, it gives other people the opportunity to pretend to be badass bikers. There's some flex in the front struts that gives a kind of "shock absorber" feel to the bike that's very satisfying. The wheels are a kind of sticky soft rubber that will pick up every piece of dust on your display shelf, though. One side has a kickstand. Surprise surprise. The other side has mounting holes for ... A gun! How to turn Sunday Morning road-rage into something on the five o'clock news! Nice exhaust. Overall Thoughts: Believe it or not, I had an easier time getting Animated Waspinator to ride the bike than Stick/Scott, but that was before I gave up on trying to use the footrests and just pulled his legs up and as tight to the body of the bike as possible. Hey, he's got armored boots on, right? He wont lose any toes or anything. The bike itself is a really nice piece even on its own. It locks together well and feels very solid. My only real complaints are in the tires (believe it or not, I would have preferred a hard rubber or soft plastic, as it is the extremely soft rubber pulls in every spec of dust and hair in the region and coats itself with them) and that the rear of the seat doesn't really lock solidly, giving itself just enough flex to look disjointed if you aren't careful. The front windscreen also doesn't really lock into anything and will easily be knocked out of place. All these are really minor knocks against what is otherwise a great looking and feeling futuristic bike. ... but that's not why anyone's buying this set, is it? Read on for more... Last edited by QuinJester; 03-12-2009 at 10:19 AM.. |
03-12-2009, 09:52 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 356
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Transformation
Yes, the cornerstone of any Macross-related product - the transformation. Since its announcement, the Beagle/Toynami Ride Armor was touted as having the first complete perfect transformation of any Ride Armor with NO parts removal whatsoever, even the parts you would think should such as the arm mounted missile launchers and the Shoulder Armor. Did they pull it off? Well, first let's take a look at how the bike breaks down. The starting point. Here we go... The front and rear wheel mounts unclip from the wheels. These will be the arm and hip armor, respectively. The front part of the bike unhooks from the nose and the front wheel swings all the way around to the back of the bike. Then... um.. well ... uh... the back end kind of ... Er, I'm not sure what ... is that supposed to go there? Oh god, I think I made it angry. I have no idea what's going on right now. Hm, okay, well, those top bits kind of swing around and get jammed behind and under the wheels, I think? That looks right ... Okay, so maybe that was a little over-dramatic, but it's a REALLY complex transformation with a lot of stuff going on and pieces going every-which way. Not a single part (intentionally) comes off during the whole process, leaving you with the entire bike compressing into a backpack with a body housing on the front to put a guy into. It's very impressive, if more than a little awkward. As you can see from the above shots, the armguards/missile launchers are on a moving piston, allowing them to mount to the arms while never detatching from the bike. Clever! You can mount the armor on the included stand as-is, kind of like a museum display piece. It actually looks really neat to display it this way. The armor on display (with properly transformed shoulders and boosters extended) Overall Thoughts The first time you do it, the transformation will give you fits. Subsequent times will go much smoother, but it's still not the sort of thing that will go very quickly and it's definitely geared to appeal to the "more complicated is better" crowd. Despite being complex, it still doesn't feel very fragile, and I've never felt like I was going to break anything during my manhandling. It's a very impressive feat and I applaud the designers who made it. -------------- Armor Mode The pièce de résistance. GATTAI! Hehe. Stick? Stig? Scott? Whoever you call him, he looks AWESOME. ... Unfortunately, as you can see here, he practically requires a "third leg", care of the detachable stand arm, to keep upright. ... and it's no surprise why he needs it, with a backpack like that (which has most of the bike's mass in it, with all the folding and compressing that goes on). Fortunately, it's pretty much unnoticeable except from the rear, though. The dark color blends in well and the tripod extension is easily ignored considering how much other stuff is going on with this guy. Thanks to the tripod leg, he's a breeze to pose, though. His "open palm" hands double as both his "handlebar holding hands" and all purpose "gripping random objects he can squish his fingers into" hands, thanks to being made from a soft rubber. A look at the "hydraulic" mounting arm that connects the missile launchers to the arm gauntlets. It's a really cool idea, but getting everything in place for transformation is a huge pain, and the handlebars (which are attached to the end of the whole assembly) are constantly going to war with the tires. Overall Thoughts This figure's armored mode is just as impressive as all the component parts that go into it, if not moreso. You lose the letdown of the standalone figure's cloth joints due to them mostly being hidden by armor, and any loose parts on the bike are locked down by the transformation. The only real negatives are the reliance on the third leg to stand upright and the loss of some poseability in the legs and arms due to them now having bits of armor bolted on. This loss seems totally realistic however, since one would expect to lose some amount of mobility when wearing a motorcycle on your torso, and by disconnecting the locking joints you can give the figure back 99% of its unarmored movement. Last edited by QuinJester; 03-12-2009 at 10:18 AM.. |
03-12-2009, 09:52 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 356
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Accessories and Final Thoughts
The Toynami/Beagle Cyclone/Mospeada comes with a stand. It can hold all of the figure's accessories, which is a nice touch and something I've always loved about Bandai's Soul of Chogokin display stands and felt more companies should do. Even though the Toynami version has a different head and is marketed as the Robotech Cyclone, the toy base still bears the Beagle MOSPEADA sticker. Might bother some, but then again, it might also make some people happier about buying it. Either way, there it is. Decapitated heads and extremities are the order of the day. The helmet cannot fit over the sculpted head on either version of this toy; they're two swappable heads. There are three different guns, one rifle which can mount on the bike and the two pistol/SMG style guns. The little grey piece is used to mount the rifle on the bike. Maybe it's just my figure, but I CANNOT get the whole thing to sit straight once I've put the figure inside it. Something just contorts the whole armature ever-so-slightly, giving it a crooked look when viewed from above. As it only happens when the figure is mounted inside the armor, I think it has to do with either the arm hydraulics pushing against the wheels or with the way the body locks into the frame itself. Other random musings: While the toy feels very solid and well designed and the engineering is extremely sophisticated, the materials used to make it don't reflect that same level of quality. The plastic feels alright, but has many "rough" edges, like flash on a model kit when it comes out of a steel mold that's reaching the end of its lifetime. The rubber on the wheels, again, is a kind of sticky feeling soft rubber that is a complete dust magnet and feels impossible to clean. Maybe some armor-all will help that problem. The metal content of the figure, while minimal, feels slightly poorly done. While it may very well be strong, it has the appearance of white metal, the kind used to make wargaming miniatures, and as such makes me think of pewter and other pot-metals. A nice blackened or anodized steel would have given the figure an extra touch of class and really helped make the figure feel like it was worth $200. Oh, right. The price. This little puppy will cost you around $200 for the American release, over that if you opt for the original Beagle version. Let's face it, in today's economy that's a LOT of scratch for a single toy. Final Thoughts So then, is it worth it? <drumroll> Yes, I think it is. Many other companies have made ride armors that aren't as big, and aren't NEARLY as expensive, but all have fallen into pitfalls that come with that smaller size and pricepoint, be it fragility, lazy design (partsforming, parts removal, horrible proportions), or poor quality control. Beagle, and by extension, Toynami, have managed to put together a nicely sized figure that, despite its shortcomings, still manages to FEEL like a quality toy that feels just as good in your hands as it looks on the shelf. It's an enigma; despite having crappy looking materials, it feels solid. Despite having a nightmarishly over-engineered transformation, it doesn't feel frustrating (other than that sweat-inducing first time, anyway). Despite coming with all the display materials and having a price that makes you feel like it should be a display-only piece, it's built and designed to withstand play, whether rolling it around in bike mode or swooshing the armored figure around your home firing missiles at invisible Invid invaders. Is it a lot of money? God yes, it is. But is it a wholly unique and phenomenal figure that simply has no equal for fans of the design or show? Yes, definitely. .. well, until Beagle's next release, anyway... So long, space cowboy... Last edited by QuinJester; 03-12-2009 at 10:50 AM.. |
03-12-2009, 12:29 PM | #4 |
OPTIMUS GUINNESS
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,542
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One of the most in-depth reviews I've seen man, and the first I've seen on this particular version, thanks for posting it! I can't wait to see Rook(Houquet)!
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06-03-2009, 04:06 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 106
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Oh God I`d love one of these tho that price tag,seems worth it in some respects tho still that price tag lol Certainly one to ponder on. Thank`s for a very indepth review.
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06-03-2009, 07:56 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 356
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It's definitely worth a look! Toynami will be releasing a Rand figure shortly, which may have some improvements in terms of parts fit and tightness and such, plus it'll come with a different gun-hand design that looks quite cool.
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Tags |
1/12, beagle, masterpiece, mospeada, ride armor, robotech, scott, stick, toynami |
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