Review: #147
Name: Tigertrack
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2013
Size Class: Masterpiece (MP-12T)
Variations: a repaint of Sideswipe, also shares mold with Red Alert
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
Tigertrack is a Tokyo Toy Show 2013 exclusive, coming in a black shiny box (it's reflective and not matte like the normal Masterpiece boxes). There's a grayed out piece of artwork on the front.
While we only have an outline of the robot for the back, which is slightly disappointing, since TakaraTomy usually has awesome official pictures.
A scan of the box's front to show the details more carefully. You'd notice the prominent Lamborghini badge.
And the back, which has the bio and shows the contents inside.
In terms of accessories, there's not too much. There's his shoulder cannon, a gun, two jackhammers and a sticker sheet with two Autobot stickers of difference size.
Don't forget the bio card! Show's a nice piece of colored artwork (the same as the one on the front).
The back shows the official photos of the figure as well as some tech specs.
VEHICLE MODE:
Tigertrack transforms into a yellow fully licensed
Lamborghini Countach LP500S. The whole body is painted yellow, so the shade of yellow used is consistent (it's unavoidable but the paint used on transparent plastic is still a slightly different shade).
This is an amazing vehicle mode. It's a very accurate replica. Sure, there are transformation lines breaking up the smoothness but all the painted details and proportions are spot on. Only complaint would be that you can see part of the feet that forms the back of the car (where the exhausts are, it's too low to the ground, which seems weird).
In terms of size, Tigertrack is a bit bigger than a Deluxe, and smaller than a Voyager. Tigertrack is also fully plastic, not even rubber tires (although I don't really care too much about that), thus Tigertrack feels a bit lighter than you would want.
Supposedly, Tigertrack scales with the rest of the Masterpiece line, particularly
Optimus.
This is one of the best alternate modes a Transformer figure has had since the Binaltech/Alternator era. Tigertrack proudly displays his Lamborghini badge at the hood of the car.
Tigertrack is well painted, apart from the lavish coat o the whole vehicle shell pieces, the headlights, rear lights, vents etc are all painted. Although it kind of makes you wish that the exhaust pipes are also painted silver too.
You can see the biggest panel breaks are on the side of the car, which forms his arms in robot mode. Tigertrack rolls, as you'd expect, and he sits quite low on the ground.
So, one of the promo pictures of the Sideswipe (the original character for this mold) was how the vehicle mode interacts with Optimus' trailer (i.e. it fits into the trailer).
I guess that's neat, if you're into that sort of thing, but it just limits the size of the figure a bit (Tigertrack needs to be a little bit bigger).
Tigertrack is compact in this mode, all the space is filled up in car mode, which is a nice touch (it's something you rarely see in contemporary figures). You can also see the big difference between the yellow paint and the bare yellow plastic used (you don't see those unpainted pieces in vehicle or robot mode, so don't worry about any inconsistencies).
You can also store most of Tigertrack's weapons in car mode, the two guns peg together...
...and then you can plug to onto the roof. Okay, so it's not exactly storing the gun but it doesn't look too bad. The slot it plugs into is spring loaded, so a panel fills in the gap if the gun is not plugged in, this is a nice touch.
Tigertrack is wide and flat as you'd expect of a sports car.
While this model of Lamborghini still looks nice, it is a little bit dated in terms of the blockiness.
There's no other gimmicks to speak of, it is evident that the designer focused upon the displaying aspect of the figure (that, and I guess Lamborghini would have restrictions about replicating their vehicles and not deforming it too much).
Another thing that's lacking would be chrome! He doesn't have any whether it be the robot or the vehicle mode. It feels a little bit weird although I wouldn't know where they could have put the chrome so that it looks good (definitely not the feet as it'll chip easily).
This is an amazing vehicle mode that faithfully reproduces the Lamborghini Countach. It will look great on any display.
TRANSFORMATION:
Tigertrack isn't hard to transform, but he isn't that easy either. It's very satisfying and for the most part, intuitive. The way his legs form is different, it's basically panels of the vehicle rear flipping open to form his legs (i.e. the panels wrap around his robot thighs in car mode). It's very well done and is easily the best part of this transformation. The arms are average in terms of cleverness, but it is executed well. The hood doesn't deform in any aspect (so that Tigertrack ends up having a fairly large chest/torso), and the roof of the car (along with the doors) don't do much either. The doors fold in a little bit but in general, it's a big piece of solid transparent plastic. Overall, it's a fun transformation that you wouldn't mind doing more than once. At least it's not nerve-wracking or make you chip your toy.
ROBOT MODE:
The robot mode is almost as amazing as the vehicle mode. Tigertrack looks great here, the proportions are pretty good (although some say the chest is a bit too big/wide) and he has a good color scheme.
He wears most of the vehicle roof on his back. The Lamborghini doors fold in, but that's the only manipulation of those parts, so it feel as if this big piece of plastic could be compacted down further.
Other than that, there isn't much kibble here. He wears the spoilers above his feet, although it looks pretty good there. The mold is cartoon accurate (although it matches the G1 toy quite well too). On a side note, I only attached the shoulder cannon on his right side coz that was how he was drawn in the box artwork.
The head sculpt is decent, but there is not lightpiping (the eyes are painted blue though). The head can swivel from side to side and also look up. Something to note is that they used the Sideswipe helmet but the Red Alert face, to create a unique head compared to the other two. While the Red Alert face isn't all that different (just some slight proportions and not as 'evil' looking 'slit' eyes as Sideswipe), it is an appreciated effort.
Tigertrack expands a little in this mode, being more Voyager sized, although he still feels a bit short compared to the revised Masterpiece Optimus.
As mentioned, the way his lower legs are formed are by two panels flipping around. They've added in another flap to partially cover the hollow center. That gap is not noticeable in real life but I just wanted to point it out. It's an interesting transformation concept that hasn't really been done before.
Tigertrack comes with two weapons. The aforementioned shoulder cannon, and also a handheld gun (doused in silver paint).
The gun has a rectangular peg that corresponds to a slot in his hands (either is fine) to secure it. His hands are jointed, but only the fingers as one solid piece move (not very useful).
The other weapons are a carry over from the Sideswipe release, black jackhammers.
To attach them, you need to flip his hands in, then plug these jackhammers directly, it can get a tight fit (i.e. annoying to detach). To be honest, they don't look that great, best to leave them aside.
His side profile looks good, there's nothing that majorly sticks out like a sore thumb. Tigertrack is solidly built, everything holds and pegs together well (although the shoulders could be designed a little bit better, or at least peg into somewhere).
Articulation is excellent, as you'd expect (no excuses for a Masterpiece figure to be a brick in this day and age). The range is impressive, most of the joints are using pins, so they won't wear out as fast as, say, balljoints.
The only weak part in his articulation would be his feet. There's the most static part of the body since they cannot tilt side to side. They're not extremely limited, mind you, it's just something that sticks out here.
You can get some great poses out of this guy. I've tried to pose him like the box art... and completely failed, *sigh*.
There's no more gimmicks here to speak of. Apparently he has more paint applications than either Sideswipe or Red Alert (the original characters of this mold).
To be honest, it would be nice if there were some more painted highlights to break up the solid white and yellow. The shoulder gun also looks a bit too big for him.
As mentioned, all the visible yellow parts here are painted, which is a nice touch, there are no inconsistent shades of yellow unlike so many other toys.
A great robot mode that looks great. He'll display well and has quite a few options with his weapons too.
OVERALL:
This is a great figure. Maybe he's not amazing or will blow your eyes out, but Tigertrack is one solid bot. The vehicle mode has a lot of attention to detail, and makes for a nice replica display piece. While the robot mode keeps the G1 look and updates it with modern day engineering. I loved how they painted all the visible yellow parts with yellow paint to give it that nice premium shiny look (even if the weight doesn't support the hope that maybe there are some diecast parts). Recommended if you can get him at a decent price.
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