Masterpiece Theatre

Because now I have an idea.

But already I'm getting ahead of myself. In earlier postings, I casually mentioned that I had found TF Beast Wars Neo/II Heinlad on eBay. It arrived during the week, and it's just the cutest little alarm clock (I kid you not - it's battery operated, and you need to push down the robot's head to shut it off) in the world. Transformation is fairly simple, but both beast (Tanuki raccoon-dog) and robot modes are effective and reasonably poseable. Cyber-scrotum are scary but, hey. He's a laugh, and he comes with a jug of sake which forms the barrel of the robot's gun.

Following in from that purchase, I went and ordered Masterpiece Megatron and Alternator Rumble from one of my oft-used foreign dealers, then added Hasbro Commemorative Sideswipe, Takara's Superlink Black Rodimus, and the previously mentioned Wonderfest Black Convoy from a trio of eBay dealers.

If that weren't enough TransFormers-related splurging, my Collectors' Club exclusive Astrotrain and Airazor were dispatched recently, and I got a letter from ParcelForce on Wednesday saying they were holding onto them pending the payment of Import Duty (and their own £8 'handling fee' sort of thing). Because I was home quite late on Wednesday (work going crazy, then eating out), I decided to make the payment via the ParcelForce website. Helpfully, they were offering next-day delivery (though, upon examination of the small print on the letter, they cannot guarantee next-day) so I went for that...

...And was very disappointed when it failed to arrive. I took the letter into work with me on Friday, so I could phone them angrily if it didn't turn up again. Sure enough, it didn't... But Masterpiece Megatron and Alternator Rumble did, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Checking the ParcelForce website, it turned out that my package from the United States of America was still 'Held', despite another page assuring me that delivery had been rescheduled when I made the Customs payment.

The guy I spoke to when I phoned the depot couldn't explain why it hadn't been picked up for delivery, and was most apologetic, going so far as to have it delivered today, at no extra charge. You just know I would have been aggravated at the mere suggestion of paying extra to have it delivered two days late.

So when I arrived home this afternoon - having had a hugely fun night out, and laden with goodies from the Notting Hill Farmers' Market, procured on the way - there were two large boxes awaiting my keen attention.

Starting with the Club exclusives, both are packaged in lovely boxes with foam inserts to keep them safe and secure. The boxes feature prints of the painted artwork for both characters and, while I wouldn't necessarily say either were brilliant, I recognise the effort that went into them, and appreciate the enhanced look of the packaging. The print quality is excellent, and the box is nice and sturdy. It is somewhat amusing that both boxes are printed with the words "Adult collectable, not intended for use by children.", but there's a label on each which reads "AGES 5+".

Both are reworkings of old models with new heads and paint-jobs - Astrotrain is essentially Armada Jetfire, while Airazor was previously used as Energon Slugslinger. Both heads are of reasonably quality, though Astrotrain somehow reminds me of a Frankenstein's Monster, with his large, red, staring eyes. None of the Armada model's electronics have been removed - the middle booster/B.F. Gun still has two sound effects in and of itself, and one Mini-Con activated sound to accompany the deployment of two extra tailfins. Four Mini-Cons are included with Astrotrain: Starcatcher is a bland, unpainted white and grey version of the Mini-Con packaged with Armada Jetfire, while Astro-Hook, Astro-Line and Astro-Sinker are somewhat cleverly named and well-painted versions of the Giant Planet Mini-Con team from the TF: Cybertron line. Of the three, Astro-Sinker is probably the best - a black submarine with metallic purple details. Airazor, meanwhile, is without electronic gimmicks due to her smaller size. The models is possibly one of the most complicated and involved TransFormers of that size - all panels which fold up here, round there and down the other. I'm particularly pleased to have this one because Slugslinger never made it to the UK as far as I can tell. Where Slugslinger had his 'Spark Crystal' on display on his chest, Airazor has a faintly pearlescent white blob. This may be because the original mold was a Decepticon, but I would have though it easy enough to correct.

In the next box was Alternator Rumble and Masterpiece Megatron. I must admit I purposely took my time getting round to Megatron and, as I write, I still haven't even attempted to transform him. It's not that I'm worried about things breaking, just that it is such a stunning model, I want to savour it. Does that sound perverse?

He comes packaged with a sight (which also acts as his arm-mounted Fusion Cannon, and contains a watch battery-powered red light that very effectively blocks the crosshairs in the sight), a hand-held blaster, an energy blade (both from his battle with Optimus Prime in TransFormer: The Movie), an energy mace (from his battle with Prime atop the Sherman Dam in the TV series pilot) and a little thing called Kremzeek that looks like something out of an episode of Scooby Doo.

Masterpiece Megatron truly lives up to the title - it's a work of art, and a beautiful one at that. Many 'fans' have started knocking the Masterpiece line for its lack of die-cast metal. From what I've seen, die-cast content was never one of the main issues of the line. If one examines MP-01, the locations of its die-cast parts are broadly identical to the locations of die-cast parts on the original Generation 1 Optimus Prime model - upper chest and lower legs. MP-03 Starscream's only metallic parts are structural, and Generation 1 Starscream is likewise. MP-05 Megatron has approximately the same metal content as his Generation 1 counterpart, the exception being his upper legs. That said, on my Gen 1 Megatron, the metal legs wore away the plastic nubs that was supposed to keep his legs extended in robot mode, so perhaps this is a good thing. Masterpiece Megatron has already taken his place on my shelves...

Alternator Rumble was always going to be disappointing in comparison to something like that, even with spring-loaded piledrivers. Originally, I'd intended to ignore Rumble - it's not a particularly special car (the new Honda Civic?! How passé), and he doesn't have hands in robot mode - something I'm sure they could have worked in if they'd tried. That said, why must a robot have hands? If his purpose is to reduce everything to rubble, piledrivers are terribly appropriate. As it turns out, he's a very poseable model, too, so I'm glad I decided to pick him up.

Photos will be forthcoming for all, not least because now I have a huge backlog of website updates to deal with, quite apart from the new look of the thing.

So anyway. Masterpiece Theatre. Now I have Masterpieces Convoy, Starscream and Megatron, it might be fun to do some photo-comic things. This rather depends on coming up with some kind of story, but it would be fun to try.

Other creative thoughts include a neat idea for a T-shirt or two, but I'm thinking I might send it to the folks at Genki Gear, to see if they might like to do it properly. Don't want to give the game away here, but suffice it to say it was inspired by a recent purchase...

That's all for now...