Good news, Masterpiece fans! MP-51 Arcee is now shipping, and in some cases, has already shown up! I got a shipping notice Sunday, and a scant 36 hours later, she was at my door, thanks to Amazon Japan.
One Seibertronian, -Kanrabat-, got his even earlier, and was gracious enough to send us a fantastic and thorough pictorial review of the latest Masterpiece figure, the second fembot in the line (after Road Rage). Check out what he has to say and show us below!
GOT HER! So here's my review and lots of linked pictures!
The box is your standard MP box. Small yet effective.
She come packed in vehicle mode with her accessories. Obligatory card and manual.
The vehicle is absolutely PERFECT. All the details are there.
Despite the arms hanging a bit low, the car roll flawlessly.
This beautiful BLURRY picture show that this Arcee manage to actually have the rear of the car.
The interior is perfectly detailled, down to even a painted dashboard!
You can see how everything tuck under the car.
Here's a comparison shot with all the previous G1 inspired Arcees (Except Animated whom I forgot.)
The "tire blow" weapon attach firmly and is pretty menacing looking.
Other guns can attach to the car as well but that look daff.
Transformation is long and hard, but surprisignly not frustrating. Also, everything felt SOLID in hand with nothing seeming fragile or about to break. The instructions have large pictures but sometime, some details are hard to make out. The magority of the transformation is to compress the panels festival that is the car shell in the most compact backpack scientifically manageable.
In the end, we end up with a pretty nice fembot with a backpack that is not too bad in person, considering that the car mode have NO sacrifices. Obviously, Arcee is back heavy and it limit some poses.
The visor is inside her helmet and it's easy enough to put in place. The faces are easy to change but you must mind the alignment of the face inside the head. It's easy to misplace it. But if you do well, the result is pretty nice!
The gun is very easy to place in her hand and it's SOLID. Also, her jointed hands are VERY appreciated. She have the thumb, the index, and the 3 other fingers as a single unit that can move.
Yeas, she have a high collac and "realistic" sagging "breasts". That's an odd design choice but it's not too bad. This Arcee is not the naive young girl, but an hardenned veteran. So it work.
Also....
"Haters gonna hate!"Yup. She can ballance pretty well. I think her legs may have diecast so it help.
She can snipe.
Compared to the previous Arcees.
Arcee have blast effects compatible with her guns.
And a tiny gun that may reffer to a single episode. Complete with it's dedicated blast effect that can't go to any other gun.
Overall, was she worth the 180$CAN total, shipping and taxes included?
I have to admit, YES. Totally. Contrary to my previous purchase with MPM Starscream, I feel that here, I got the best deal and she's worth every single cents that I paid.
Could this Arcee be better? Maybe yes, but some choices had to be made. Here, it's the vehicle mode that got priority so the robot is a bit compromised with her backpack. As for the saggy chest, it may have been avoided, but still, I love that "older" Arcee.
I highly recommend the official MP. Especially for the Arcee lover who have all the official figures and even some Third Party.
