DSC_1394
So... I think it's been like nine months since I preordered her. As you may recall, 2020 was a rather hectic year of scrambling. Since her early release is Australia back in October, information and photos have been trickling in about this figure, mostly with people being upset at the chest on this figure.
Of course, wouldn't be the first time that people just kept ragging on and on about an aesthetic feature of a figure without actually thinking about where the money REALLY is, which in this case is the transformation and articulation. So now it's my turn to take a stab at it.
Presenting MP-51: Arcee.
I have no idea what you have to do, but I never seem to get the MP releases that come with the coins, nor am I ever offered the option of actually buying them.
Arcee is arguably the most famous Fembot in Transformers history, definitely amongst G1ers like myself because unlike Elita-1, Arcee actually had a role on the show. Fun fact - Arcee is the American name for the character, with the Japanese name being Ariel.
For those in the Transformers collecting world, 2020 was kind of a big year for Arcee, with two mainline release, this MP, the third party Nicee, and the third party Peach Girl. Nicee came along in October or so and it wasn't bad at all. It had a love/hate aesthetic and decent engineering for a small company and a reasonable price tag of around $90 USD. MP Arcee here was on preorder for 12,000 Yen or about $115 USD, though her retail price was 15,000 Yen.
I'd say in terms of content, Takara-Tomy didn't so much as surprise me with how many accessories she came with, but rather I was somewhat surprised with how many GUNS they packed in with her, as she comes with three weapons in total, each with its own blast effect. She also comes with a holster (not sure if it actually can hold her pink pistol, but there is an opening for it), three additional faceplates (smile, annoyed, and I think just speaking, and a protruding weapon she must have used in an episode or something. Sadly, no mini Daniel to inappropriately be attached to.
Vehicle mode does look like it popped off my 80s TV screen, both in terms of form and colour. It also goes to show that the designers of the Earthrise Arcee at least got her alt mode generally right. One of the nicer things about these movie designs is that unlike the 1984 line, there's no real standard with regards to what these should look like in real life. Otherwise, the only real other things to note about this mode are that it has a fairly detailed cockpit and the wheels work. Oh.. you can plug in her various weapons in this mode as well, if you're into that sort of thing.
Transformation to robot mode is that long and complicated process that you've come to expect from Takara,-Tomy, all in the name of getting that show accurate bot mode as much as possible, - not just as a static image, but as a three dimensional object.
The collapsing of the rear and cockpit areas in particular must have been a nightmare to come up with., though I'm sure it was not as annoying as coming with up the expanding mechanism for Megatron's legs, or the sheer madness that is apparently the newest MP Optimus Prime.
The resulting robot would have been perfect if they had fixed the chest. It looks to me that the overall issue that in order to keep the head the right size, they had to compensate with a smaller chese to make it all fit in car mode. I think if they had made a two piece or fold out chest it might have looked slightly off with all the hinges, but the overall chest would have been the right shape.
The overall body itself has a pretty screen accurate silhouette. The backpack is not accurate, though they did their best though to be honest the top heaviness of the figure bothers me more than the inaccuracies, even on the show her shoulder pylons were always fairly substantial, albeit without that giant car hood between them.
In addition to swapping out faces, Arcee has a targeting visor built into her head, which can flip down and be applied to any of the four faces.
Of the three MP quality Arcees I own, MP Arcee has the most articulation and overall best range of motion.. She's got toe, ankle tilts, ankle side titlts, double jointed knees, thigh twist, hips, waist, mid torso, shoulders with an additional joint to allow for crossing of the arms, double jointed elbows, wrist, fingers, neck, and head. As part of the transformation, her thighs pop out, and this allows for a great deal more flexibility when posing her legs, though I suppose some people would call it cheating. I say if it's good enough on camera, it's good enough for me. I also really enjoy the range of motion for her head, which makes poses of Arcee in prone position actually feasible.
The soles of her feet are made of metal for that bit of extra help keeping her stable. I think they should have made her entire leg out of the metal because she needs the weight.
From a Paint and Build Quality perspective, well considering that Hasbri.Takara-Tomy has not let me down with regards to the main line, its generally pretty rare that I run into something that is truly bad. Mind you, there were stories circulating about how MP Beast Megatron and Hound weren't exactly made of sterner stuff, Arcee seems to hold together just fine, with no real fragile areas that I can see. Paint work is nice and clean, as is the finish on the parts, with excellent colour selection across the board. As for joints.. if you can get Arcee to balance properly, you're gonna find that she holds together nicely. Everything fits into its intended groove, notch, or tab.
In my books, MP Arcee is a very competently designed addition to the ranks. The chest thing is unfortunately, as is the top heaviness, but she really is fun to play with and pose, which combined with a pretty good overall aesthetic overrides these two drawbacks. Of course, as always, your mileage may vary, as some people understandably can't get over the chest thing.
Just remember, though, there's more to a Transformer figure than one part.
DSC_1394
So... I think it's been like nine months since I preordered her. As you may recall, 2020 was a rather hectic year of scrambling. Since her early release is Australia back in October, information and photos have been trickling in about this figure, mostly with people being upset at the chest on this figure.
Of course, wouldn't be the first time that people just kept ragging on and on about an aesthetic feature of a figure without actually thinking about where the money REALLY is, which in this case is the transformation and articulation. So now it's my turn to take a stab at it.
Presenting MP-51: Arcee.
I have no idea what you have to do, but I never seem to get the MP releases that come with the coins, nor am I ever offered the option of actually buying them.
Arcee is arguably the most famous Fembot in Transformers history, definitely amongst G1ers like myself because unlike Elita-1, Arcee actually had a role on the show. Fun fact - Arcee is the American name for the character, with the Japanese name being Ariel.
For those in the Transformers collecting world, 2020 was kind of a big year for Arcee, with two mainline release, this MP, the third party Nicee, and the third party Peach Girl. Nicee came along in October or so and it wasn't bad at all. It had a love/hate aesthetic and decent engineering for a small company and a reasonable price tag of around $90 USD. MP Arcee here was on preorder for 12,000 Yen or about $115 USD, though her retail price was 15,000 Yen.
I'd say in terms of content, Takara-Tomy didn't so much as surprise me with how many accessories she came with, but rather I was somewhat surprised with how many GUNS they packed in with her, as she comes with three weapons in total, each with its own blast effect. She also comes with a holster (not sure if it actually can hold her pink pistol, but there is an opening for it), three additional faceplates (smile, annoyed, and I think just speaking, and a protruding weapon she must have used in an episode or something. Sadly, no mini Daniel to inappropriately be attached to.
Vehicle mode does look like it popped off my 80s TV screen, both in terms of form and colour. It also goes to show that the designers of the Earthrise Arcee at least got her alt mode generally right. One of the nicer things about these movie designs is that unlike the 1984 line, there's no real standard with regards to what these should look like in real life. Otherwise, the only real other things to note about this mode are that it has a fairly detailed cockpit and the wheels work. Oh.. you can plug in her various weapons in this mode as well, if you're into that sort of thing.
Transformation to robot mode is that long and complicated process that you've come to expect from Takara,-Tomy, all in the name of getting that show accurate bot mode as much as possible, - not just as a static image, but as a three dimensional object.
The collapsing of the rear and cockpit areas in particular must have been a nightmare to come up with., though I'm sure it was not as annoying as coming with up the expanding mechanism for Megatron's legs, or the sheer madness that is apparently the newest MP Optimus Prime.
The resulting robot would have been perfect if they had fixed the chest. It looks to me that the overall issue that in order to keep the head the right size, they had to compensate with a smaller chese to make it all fit in car mode. I think if they had made a two piece or fold out chest it might have looked slightly off with all the hinges, but the overall chest would have been the right shape.
The overall body itself has a pretty screen accurate silhouette. The backpack is not accurate, though they did their best though to be honest the top heaviness of the figure bothers me more than the inaccuracies, even on the show her shoulder pylons were always fairly substantial, albeit without that giant car hood between them.
In addition to swapping out faces, Arcee has a targeting visor built into her head, which can flip down and be applied to any of the four faces.
Of the three MP quality Arcees I own, MP Arcee has the most articulation and overall best range of motion.. She's got toe, ankle tilts, ankle side titlts, double jointed knees, thigh twist, hips, waist, mid torso, shoulders with an additional joint to allow for crossing of the arms, double jointed elbows, wrist, fingers, neck, and head. As part of the transformation, her thighs pop out, and this allows for a great deal more flexibility when posing her legs, though I suppose some people would call it cheating. I say if it's good enough on camera, it's good enough for me. I also really enjoy the range of motion for her head, which makes poses of Arcee in prone position actually feasible.
The soles of her feet are made of metal for that bit of extra help keeping her stable. I think they should have made her entire leg out of the metal because she needs the weight.
From a Paint and Build Quality perspective, well considering that Hasbri.Takara-Tomy has not let me down with regards to the main line, its generally pretty rare that I run into something that is truly bad. Mind you, there were stories circulating about how MP Beast Megatron and Hound weren't exactly made of sterner stuff, Arcee seems to hold together just fine, with no real fragile areas that I can see. Paint work is nice and clean, as is the finish on the parts, with excellent colour selection across the board. As for joints.. if you can get Arcee to balance properly, you're gonna find that she holds together nicely. Everything fits into its intended groove, notch, or tab.
In my books, MP Arcee is a very competently designed addition to the ranks. The chest thing is unfortunately, as is the top heaviness, but she really is fun to play with and pose, which combined with a pretty good overall aesthetic overrides these two drawbacks. Of course, as always, your mileage may vary, as some people understandably can't get over the chest thing.
Just remember, though, there's more to a Transformer figure than one part.