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I have been on the original MPM-04 Forum in the toys discussion and relayed some photos of some minor paint applications I was trying to do on the MPM-04 Optimus Prime. I bought the Hasbro version, which showed up in Singapore, shoulda waited.. I found MPM-04 Hasbro Version at my local Toys-R-Us for 99.00. They had 3 there, with a weird security device around them...

anyhow..

First I want to stress what this customization is about.

You see for me, it wasn't about making the figure Totally match the movie in colors, as in Painting the entire figure. It was about the minimum paint applications that Hasbro or even Takara should do in order for this To be called a "Masterpiece". Takara has released images of their version. While I like that they painted the foot hoops, I Think there are paint applications which were not Applied, and should have been. While I like the Takara Tomy, I prefer the darker metallic style grey HASBRO had used in their release, it kinda reminds me of the Three-A version which has the darker style greys on it as well.

Now to start, I posted these images of my work in transition before actually finishing the paint work. I plan to show off the silver painted apps I did to the gun, and the brushes and clear coat I am using.






But to Start off, I want to show the finished product, while I get busy formatting this thread posts showing the images and the lead up to more final product paint apps, and where they were applied. Stay tuned!

Again, this customization is what I think should have been done with the Hasbro release. I am hoping this customization is something that Hasbro should pay attention to, if they release a future Masterpiece Movie Figure of this mold, with redone abs, and minor changes to make the figure look like the Dark of the Moon movie version. If this helps get us a more accurate paint app version there, then I think I have done my job well.

Okay so here I am going to show what I did to the figure. ultimately, I decided some places due to rubbing should remain stock colored, and or plastic colored so as not to paint and have chipping. I ALSO wanted to only paint enough so that this figure matches my future purchase of MPM-03 Bumblebee and other future Masterpiece Movie releases. My main issue with this release was a lack of additional paint applications. To me, it felt like they half-assed the figure. Tabbing issues on Alt-mode aside, I think the figure as a whole is great, but for minor problems in Alt-mode and missing Paint apps. While I can't do anything about the engineering, I can however make the figure worthy of it's title "Masterpiece" by just adding minor paint applications that quite Frankly, Hasbro should have released the figure in.



Here are a couple more beauty shots of my figure and highlights of where the Paint was applied.

Incidentally, the color that matches Prime's Blue the closest.. is called Testors Blue Fluorescent. That's the closest color I could find that didn't require mixing. Also, the Model Masters Silver is the best and brightest to match the silver already on the legs. I used Testor's Gold to paint the orange like areas, that should be gold.

Here you see the Gold Apps applied to the torso, the knee area, along with Silver applied to the lower legs, and inside the knee joints inside the golden rings. Now Prime doesn't look like he is wearing shorts as the original Hasbro release made him look.



As you can see, I also tackled the back of the legs...

The Blue added to the pieces is proper in my estimation, and in addition, above the hip just under the back is a small Hexagonal Butt plate, which I painted as well. You can only access it by giving Prime basically a rectal exam to paint it, but I painted it blue like I felt it should be done. Additionally the interior of the arms should have a blue piece as well, which I did, and the shoulders should have a golden piece on it.


I painted the struts under the arms all gold, along with the Nike like Check mark on the head. I added the gold to the inner leg joint where the knee is as a ring, and there again, you see the silver used. I twisted the silver leg joints around as I painted them. I was worried that painting silver along that lower leg would rub, as there is a bit of hangover on the top originally painted thigh. It actually has enough clearance to paint those sections without paint rubbing when turning the leg-thigh joint just above the knee.

I did the gun in silver, and black spray as the overlay on the tip. I used a clear coat spray (Satin) guaranteed not to yellow. It made the gun a bit dull, because I over sprayed some on it, but it still looks great, and the peg for the gun inside for the hand doesn't rub off silver.

Here are a couple of More Images. See How the Dark of the Hasbro Grey actually matches the ThreeA Optimus Prime figure, arguably the best rendition of the robot mode, and CGI accurate..





To Me, the Minimal Paint apps I have applied is how the Masterpiece MPM-04 Optimus Prime should have been released by Hasbro. Premium Paints, silver, gold and the blue's should have been done on the first release. However, if you got the Hasbro and don't want to spend any more money on the TAKARA TOMY release version, just do a bit of painting.. and you will have in my humble opinion, a better colored figure then Takara, and feel satisfied that the dark grey is actually kinda accurate.





So if you're not sure you bought the right release.. just do a bit of paint, and you'll feel like you have the best of both worlds, and a bit more accurate figure for your collection, and not too overly painted so as not to match your future Masterpiece Movie figures. This is How Optimus Prime MPM-04 Should have been released.

Cheers!

That is a very nice job fixing up the omissions in his paintwork, which are kinda annoying for something called a Masterpiece. Although for my money, their omitting his second gun was a greater sin

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:That is a very nice job fixing up the omissions in his paintwork, which are kinda annoying for something called a Masterpiece. Although for my money, their omitting his second gun was a greater sin

Thanks. After much time and paint, I finally went and bought the LT02 version, and that is now my display piece, and I placed my painted Hasbro in the box. IDK, I was happy with my painted version, but the inconsistencies in the transformation, lineups, tolerances and alignment were just too much for me to take, so I went 3rd party on him. I love the figure, but Hasbro and TT should have done better.

I do agree, Prime should always come with two guns, even the new VER3 should come with Prime's seldom seen pistol.

These are very nice! Actually I accidentally discovered this while searching for images of Prime in order to do exactly this, adding some touches here and there to make the figure pop.