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Got my MP-12 yesterday. I have mixed feelings on this toy. The design and engineering are awesome but the final product's quality is lacking as the black paint masks are not too sharp and the red paint is not consistent or smooth on all parts. Not too noticeable, but not as sharp as it could be. I got mine for around $45 after Yen conversion before shipping, so I'm not too disappointed.

So after a fair bit of emailing between myself and China based seller 366offer who supplied my faulty MP-12 Lambor, a resolve was finally made.

After sending many close-up photos of the problems, a couple more emails, the seller asked me to name my refund or to send the figure back for a full refund.
I wasnt keen on sending him back overseas, worried he'd turn up on a desert island somewhere rather than his intended destination!

I requested a partial refund which I would hope could cover any costs to myself for its repair etc. I was offered £15.
Emailing the seller, nice as pie 'n all, I made a slightly larger suggestion which was turned down, for £15 once again?

I felt somewhat annoyed and just wanted to send the entire thing back. This was my second Takara Masterpiece, hoping to stand alongside Takara Starscream, Hasbro Prime, Hasbro Hot Rod, Hasbro Grimlock, Hasbro Skywarp and the Movie Leaders.

After cooling off for a couple of days I decided to take my case to Ebay/PayPal for their thoughts on the matter.
I was more than pleased when Ebay came back to me with an offer of a 50% refund from the total price! Thats a payment of £24 for a faulty Masterpiece! Doesnt feel that bad now...

Looks like I need to do a fair bit of swotting up regarding pin removal.

I can only hope everyone else who are encountering issues with their MP-12s reach a resolve with their respective sellers.
Poor QC issues on any figure, let alone what should be a Masterpiece, should be stopped whilst in the factories, not sold as being new and mint.

I wont make the same mistake with MP Thundercracker or Optimus v2!

Mine finally turned up from Kapow - I paid a lot more than you did but at least some of that price bypassed the bum-rape of a customs charge and I got an as near perfect Sideswipe as I'm going to get - so I got what I paid for. He's way too small for an MP but I suppose this downsizing is the trend-de-jour and having him in hand his pretty much the perfect representation of Sideswipe - he will never be done better than this and I rank him up with MP Grimlock as my fave MP's.

I know Red Alert is coming shortly and Sunstreaker cant be that far away (will Takara have the balls to retool the mold for Sunny or will we just get a yellow repaint with a new head.......?) but I cant help wanting all the '84 cars as MP's now to make up for the mostly disappointing Binaltech series.

Jazz and Prowl/Bluestreak next Tak. Please.

Just got my Sideswipe today, thankfully all the paint applications look pretty good. Aside from the gripes that I wish he was a little bit bigger, and had rubber tires, everything else about this figure is spot-on! I like that he fits together really well in both modes. I find with my MP Rodimus, leg panels are always swinging out, or car mode just doesn't quite snap together all that well, but this guy is really stable in all modes, and doesn't suffer the sort of mis-allignment and visible gaps that I see in most of my other MPs.

I just got my order in this afternoon, and I absolutely love the design! Wonderful transformation sequences and the legs are probably my favorite sections to complete. I really like that the black bottom gets pushed over and helps fill in the hallow area.

What I don't like are the paint apps. It seems that the coat of red paint on some panels weren't thick enough, and there's a small stress mark on his visor. I might just touch that up with some black paint or a marker. Thankfully the silver paint apps are pretty near perfect.

So I decided to check a couple of YouTube video tutorials regrding the removal of steel pins from Transformers.
These short and informative clips gave me the confidence to take a crack at my factory faulty MP-12 Lambor.
Its tool time!

I unscrewed the rear panel (butt) which released the upper body from his legs.
First part successfully done.
Now the difficult part. I carefully started tapping at the problem pin until I felt movement, this gave me a small piece of pint to grip with pliers.
Gently pulling and twisting at the pin it popped out with ease.
Second part successfully done!

Turning the waist/hinge part around, popped the pin back in and tapped it back. All good.
Slotted the upper body back onto the legs and reattached his butt.
Job done!

My relief that I hadnt destroyed this Masterpiece was met with a loud Homer-style 'Woo Hoo'!

A couple of twists and turns and Transformers MP-12 Lambor was successfully transformed as he should be!
After my initial excitement of receiving him, marvelling at his awesome alt mode, then the let down of him being built incorrectly, this has given my feelings towards this latest Takara Masterpiece offering a much needed boost.

Now I just need to tackle his poorly glued head!
By the way, why has he got a flip open head?

Nice one. Well done.

robotmel wrote:By the way, why has he got a flip open head?

It's to allow clearance for the head to fit in alt mode. It gets pretty cramped in there.

Glad to hear you've fixed your Lambor, Robotmel.