Toy Review: Takara MP-39 Masterpiece Sunstreaker

Takara is really outdoing itself with the Masterpiece line at this point because Sunstreaker just nails it left and right.

Producer: Takara

Price: Approx. $120 USD

Release Date: Dec. 2017

Item Height: Approx. 6.5″

Item Weight: N/A

Batteries: N/A

WHERE TO BUY: The Chosen Prime

So ever since the end of last year I’ve been hearing about how good Takara’s MP-39 Master Sunstreaker is and even though I’ve wanted it I’ve been a lot more selective with my Transformers collecting and was going back and forth about it. Thankfully, Jose of the “Breaking The Mold” podcast and Realm of Collectors family let me borrow his for the sake of review and needless to say mine was ordered before I even finished the review.

Presentation: The box is honestly as standard as it comes for Takara Masterpiece releases in the sense that it literally is the exact same layout used for the majority (see pictures in the gallery below.) However it’s definitely not a slight because it’s a good layout and it’s great to have that consistency in the boxes of a same toyline. I also have to really give Takara a general credit with keeping the box sizes realistic to the size of the products as a lot of companies both Transformers-related and non could take a lesson or two in this area. The figure itself comes in alt. mode nicely cased inside of the plastic shell along with his accessories. The artwork done for the included trading card is also so good that I’d love a larger print of it.

Build: Sunstreaker is made up of fairly light-but-solid plastics throughout. I had absolutely no problems with any areas feeling fragile in the slightest but I will say that if you want to keep it pristine, be careful with the painted areas as a lot of pieces rub during transformation and can cause chipping.>/p>

Accessories: Masterpiece Sunstreaker comes with some pretty cool stuff. for weaponry he comes with his smaller pulse and larger flare guns as well as two additional faces, the alien mask from the Transformers episode “Hoist goes Hollywood,” and an unarticulated homage to the Human character Chip Chase. The extra bits of articulation allow him to hold his weapons in a nice variety of ways (see video) and the weapons also both have storage points on Sunstreaker’s backpack and inside of a panel on his legs.

Articulation: The articulation is the real standout of this piece in my opinion. from ab crunch to butterflying shoulders, I’d say that Masterpiece Sunstreaker is as good of an example as any of a transforming robot toy that’s on the “cutting edge” in this area. The articulation mixed with just how good and smooth the joints FEEL to work around and move really makes it so fun to play with that it mixed with the articulation makes me feel like it will be a permanent “desk bot” for many.

Overall Score: 9.5/10 – Sunstreaker is so good that I honestly feel that Takara backed themselves into a corner with it. Seriously; where do they go from here now that they’ve set this kind of standard? The mixture of look, feel, and articulation in robot mode is just stunning and I’m hoping that every single Masterpiece figure from that is just as good if not better because it’s going to be highly disappointing if not. Even if Sunstreaker just turns out to be a “one off” in terms of this sort of quality I’m still happy to have (finally) gotten a chance to mess with it and definitely recommend it as even someone who isn’t “all in” on Masterpiece transformers nor is a huge Sunstreaker fan like myself can really, REALLY enjoy it. While seemingly unavoidable, the amount of shown kibble inside of the alt. mode when the doors and trunk are open is what keeps this from being a perfect 10.