(apologies in advance for the less-than-stellar pics)
Okay, so many of you have seen the pics of the box art already, but in case some of you haven't, here you go:
Once opened, you can see that the plastic insert, layout and everything almost exactly resemble the official MP Seekers. Even down to the instruction manual, collector card, stickers, etc. BUT WAIT!!!! It's not an instruction manual, it's a mini-comic and featured on the very last page is the first look at...we'll get to that later.
Here is jet mode. When you first handle it, it "feels" like an official MP Seeker. Same weight, sturdiness, etc. So far, it doesn't feel cheap.
The rear wings fold up, then you slide the legs out just like normal, same transformation, etc. Since these don't have the hip kibble, the transformation is altered slightly. Once you have the feet in place, just slide the wings up alongside the leg so it will give more of a stationary stance.
The legs feel funny...not cheap, but almost like they're a bit lighter in weight. This will come into play later. Here you get a look at where the conehead goes in transformation, no adjustments are necessary the transformation is smooth.
The rest of the figure transforms just like the regular MP seekers. Everything seems good so far, right? Well, on to the negatives.
The figure will not stand straight up, with it's legs straight, without teetering backwards. The legs are lighter, making the diecast parts of the upper torso weigh it down even more.
**EDIT: CORRECTION - I didn't have one of the side-wings extended enough, so he does in fact stand up straight. However, it must be said that you do need the side wings for extra support.
Meaning, if he's standing up straight, slide the wings down so they're flush with the same surface as the feet. If you spread the legs to give him a dramatic pose, then you need to slide the wings down further to touch the surface and give more support.
BUT, this isn't really anything new because the "official" MP seekers have the wing supports as well, this is just due to the change in design. So, just to reiterate, it stands just fine.**
But hey, how many of you display them in stiff poses anyway, right? We all go for dramatic poses. Well, when you spread the legs apart to the first notch, they automatically spring back into the straight position. Whether the spring is too tight, or one of the notches in the groove isn't deep enough, who knows. However, you have to really widen it's stance in order to have a dramatic pose. Either that, or use the other piece that connects to the base (standard in all MP seeker releases) that gives it an aerial pose.
Other than that, the joints are tight throughout, no out-of-the-box stress marks or anything (granted it would be harder to tell since it's mostly white). Truth be told, it looks just like an official Takara-Tomy release (imagine that, lol). Highly recommended.
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