Toy Review: Transformers Masterpiece MPM-15 Brawl

Review:  #840

Name:  Brawl

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Masterpiece

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Masterpiece

Mold Status:  new

PACKAGING:

As part of the Masterpiece Movie Series, which gives us Masterpiece version of characters from the live-action movies, Brawl comes in a really nice black box as typical of the Masterpiece series.

The back has some good stock photos, as well as the sides, which shows off the fantastic tank mode.

TANK MODE:

Brawl transforms into a modified M1 Abrams tank, and naturally being in the Masterpiece line, he is absolutely stunning.

He is fantastic from all angles, brimming with details.

He is huge too, justifying his high price.  He's much chunkier than a Leader, roughly around twice the mass.

He's covered in camouflage, and there's some brushed metal from place to place.  If you've ever had a Brawl toy before, you can tell where some of the robot parts are, such as the head underneath the turret, and the feet that double as tanks at the back.

The cannon can tilt up and down.

While the two turrets can independently rotate.  He's not compromised at all which is very impressive.

While expected, he doesn't have real working treads, that would have been too complicated.  Instead he has smaller plastic wheels underneath that would allow him to roll on a smooth flat surface.

He comes with a ton of accessories though, the two robot weapons, a chopped up arm, and a bunch of fire effects.

The fire effects can be plugged onto each of the cannons, as well as specially molded pieces for the missiles.

The two robot weapons store in tank mode by pegging on top of the turret, which honestly doesn't look that great, so it's better to leave it off.

An amazing tank mode that doesn't actually have any flaws.

TRANSFORMATION:

As expected, Brawl has an extremely complicated transformation.  You will need the instructions, given all the small things you are required to do.  It even gets a bit confusing and lost, with how you're moving each small piece and wondering how it affects everything else and why you needed to do it.  In general, the turret form the arms and also the backpack.  While the front is the chest and torso, and the back are the legs.  It's impressive when he slowly takes shape over the course of the transformation but it is one where you don't really want to do it too much just due to how time consuming and complicated it is.

ROBOT MODE:

So after that massively complicated transformation, you are rewarded with an equally amazing robot mode.  Wow, Brawl is just simple stunning.

He has some kibble, but they are expected kibble such as the turret on his back, and some pieces around his limbs that couldn't completely fold away.

He has an awesome head sculpt, and with all the other Masterpieces, there is a gimmick related to the head, and for Brawl, it's that his mouth can open and close.

He's around the height of an older Leader but twice as wide, and as mentioned, he is much heftier with a transformation that is three to four times the complexity.

Despite transforming from an accurate tank to an accurate robot mode, he really does have the kibble spread out in a balanced well.

There are some diecast in the feet so that his centre of gravity is lower.

And as expected of a figure in this line, there is an unbelievable amount of sculpted detailing.

The two weapons just peg onto his forearm.

Brawl is an imposing figure, and even when he just standing in a neutral A-pose, he has a commanding presence.

Articulation is great as you expect, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrist, fingers, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

Although the shoulders are on this more unusual disc shaped hinge, which may take a little bit of getting used to, to get the effect that you wanted.

Of course, you can continue to use the blast effects here which looks fantastic.

To replicate Brawl's fate in the first movie's final battle, his left arm can detach and you can attach a broken piece instead.

Coupled with the blast effects, and you can replicate the damage he took in that iconic scene.

Apart from that, there are no other gimmicks, Brawl just looks good.  He pretty much has all ratchet joints, which is required to sustain his weight.

An awesome awesome robot mode, and surprisingly enough, an almost flawless one too.

OVERALL:

Masterpiece Brawl is another winner in the Masterpiece Movie line.  He looks amazing in both modes, with barely any compromise in either mode.  Sure, he has a complicated transformation but that is usually a plus for a lot of people and especially in this higher end range.  Brawl is highly recommended and definitely worth the cost.

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Solo Leveling (2024)

Solo Leveling is a 12 episode anime based upon the Korean web novel. It’s set in a world like ours, but just that one day in the recent past, gates started opening and monsters travelled through. Coincidentally, conventional weapons like guns do not work on those monsters. At the same time, latent powers within humans started appearing, and these powers allow them to kill those monsters. Thus, the group known as Hunters were born, who are now employed to fight back the monsters that keep threatening to appear and disrupt the world.

The mechanics are such that gates will appear, and the Hunters have a time limit to enter those dungeons, find the dungeon boss and kill it. Otherwise, the gate will fully open, and monsters will pour out. It’s a gamified system that we’re used to. Hunters are ranked from S to E, and the story follows Sung, who is a lowly E ranked Hunter. He joins a run of the mill dungeon raid party to earn some money to support his family.

Given that this is anime and Sung is the protagonist, we know that the raid will not be a normal one. Well, it started off okay but then it starts to diverge, and what we get is a brutal event that’s probably every adventurer’s worst nightmare. The party is trapped facing enemies that massively outclass them. It tinges onto a bit of horror, and it isn’t afraid to show some brutal deaths. Sung shines here in that he uses his head to try to solve this encounter which is more like a puzzle rather than pure combat. Despite the slow first episode, it rapidly ramps up the pacing by the second episode.

Unfortunately, that’s where the positives kind of slowly taper off. Sung finds himself in a special situation, that ends up allowing him, and only him, to “level up”. In the real world where people’s latent abilities are pretty much set in stone and cannot ever rise in the ranks, this is a crazy development for Sung, and something that only he has. The implementation of this, however, is that it effectively gamifies the whole thing even more. He gets pop-up windows, menus, stats, ability points to distribute, daily quests, special abilities, and more.

The problem with the anime is that it pushes Sung from zero to hero within the span of an episode or two. Sung goes from the weakest to mid to the strongest way too quickly. Within a few in-story weeks he has an amazing body, and 10x his original strength, stamina and experience. He can take down bosses solo that are a few ranks above him. What this means is that like a lot of other anime protagonists, by fast forwarding his journey on gaining his power, it can feel, to the viewer, that he did not work hard to get it, and got gifted it too easily, making Sung more like a wish fulfilment character rather than one that the viewer can stand behind and empathize with.

Then, the story beats become predictable if you have watched anything like this before. It doesn’t matter that this is set in the real world anymore, it functions the same as if a character got transported into another world like in an isekai anime. The systems, the way the guilds work, and even the antagonists that Sung faces off, are all something we’ve seen before. You can easily see how Sung will face off others who are less ethical, and that he will eventually accept to use his powers to save and protect himself, getting used to fighting more powerful monsters. He will have enemies look down upon him only for the tables to turn as he reveals his true power. They’re not bad concepts, just that it’s not done in an original way.

The overpowered nature of the main character comes all the way to the forefront by the middle of the season. It’s one thing to put in a level system, it’s another to completely disregard the implicit relative power levels between Sung and his enemies. From being able to barely defeat a D-rank boss, he can then easily defeat a C-rank boss and then a week later, go and defeat a S-rank boss. The trick? Pure willpower. It’s stretching it a bit and is terrible as it shows little growth for the character at all.

There are no stakes for Sung, which deflates most of the scenes. The anime had a promising opening but then took the lazy route subsequently. A good example is towards the end of the season, Sung is fighting a boss many times higher than his level, is shown to be much stronger, much faster, and just all round severely outclassing Sung. So what happens? After spending most of the episode having the boss deliver a severe beatdown on Sung and about to lose, Sung just uses his willpower to kill the boss within one minute. It has a lack of impact. And it doesn’t help that Sung now has an uncountable number of skills, and convenient perks that just kills any sense of effort and skill.

Overall, Solo Leveling is an average power fantasy wish fulfilment self-insert anime. There is an intriguing story and mystery behind it, such as reason for the level system, which is occasionally teased, but the general plot direction is too predictable and too shallow. There is little character development, and the main character gains power so rapidly that it kills any sense of reward and satisfaction. It uses the typical plot device of willpower being able to overcome any odds, so why include a level system when you can just ignore it and still defeat your enemies?

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Toy Review: G.I. Joe x Transformers Collaborative Bumblebee A.W.E. Striker with Lonzo "Stalker" Wilkinson

Review:  #839

Name:  Bumblebee A.W.E. Striker with Lonzo "Stalker" Wilkinson

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  G.I. Joe x Transformers Collaborative

Year of Release:  2023

Size Class:  N/A

Mold Status:  new

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:

Released as part of the Collaborative line, this one featuring G.I. Joe and has one of the most popular Transformers characters, Bumblebee.

The packaging is huge, and it has some really nice artwork on the front, and normal stock photos at the back.  It's in a slip case though, so it is a slightly odder type of packaging than what we're used to.

STALKER:

The pack comes with a G.I. Joe figure, being Stalker, itself in its own separate packaging.

Taking him out of the packaging and Stalker is supposed to be a modern replica of his 1984 toy and you can feel this.

It has a simpler kind of detailing, and the proportions and jointing are average.

He comes with a display stand that you can peg the foot onto, so that he will be stable.

He also has a machine gun that he can hold in his hands.  Articulation is average, with a few hinges for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.

BUMBLEBEE (VEHICLE MODE):

The star of the set is of course Bumblebee himself, and he transforms into an A.W.E. Striker vehicle.

It's a striking vehicle, and is designed to look like the original G.I. Joe toy.

Perhaps most surprising is how big he is, above is a size comparison against a Leader and Voyager Transformers toy.

There are plenty of details too, from the open cage featuring proper seats, to the large wheels and painted detailing.

Although to be honest, this vehicle feels a bit cartoony / toy-like, and the huge size makes you expect him to be heftier, instead he feels light and the plastic used feels softer and cheaper.

Bumblebee has a ton of play value via interactions with Stalker (and other G.I. Joe figures).  Stalker can sit in the driver's seat...

Or stand out to the side...

Or man the gun at the back.  There's a lot of options.

Bumblebee roll very well thanks to his large wheels.

The gun can angle up and down for a bit, and you can swivel the antennas as well.

While it can be a bit simplistic feeling, it has so much play value that you can forgive it.

TRANSFORMATION:

Transformation is probably the weakest aspect of the figure.  It felt like it wasn't designed by veteran Transformers designers as it feels sloppy and inelegant.  The back is the robot chest, with the front unfolding to become the legs.  There is a strut that runs along the vehicle that ends up collapsing to form the robot torso and that's the biggest weakpoint as it doesn't properly click into place so it flops around like crazy with everything else attached to it.  The arms are from the sides of the vehicle.

BUMBLEBEE (ROBOT MODE):

Bumblebee's robot mode looks good at first glance but has a few key weaknesses that leaves a lot to be desired.

He carries a momentous amount of kibble, it's crazy how much there is.  The roll cage as well as the big wheels, and various panels, just creates a mess of a robot mode.

The head sculpt at least looks very good, and the more angular helmets gives Bumblebee a very heroic look.

A quick size comparison in robot mode again and he's a little bit shorter than a Leader, but you can see that he is bulky.

Articulation is okay, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.  However, with all that kibble and weight, it's not fun posing him, as he can flop around.

His weapon is the gun from vehicle mode, that he can hold in either of his hand.

Stalker can also stand in his back to main the gun, which looks pretty cool.  Bumblebee loses the other places that Stalker can stay on though compared to vehicle mode.

As mentioned, this robot mode is flawed as he feels unstable and too simplistic.  If more effort was made for some of the kibble to fold away, it would have been a lot better.  As it is, Bumblebee feels awkward.

The worst part is his torso which doesn't properly clip into place, so this is one for display rather than play.

OVERALL:

For the high price, the set is not worth it that much.  Even on steep discount, you can still feel a bit ripped off at times gives the unstable robot mode.  The vehicle mode is probably the best part of the figure with how much interaction it has with the G.I. Joe figure.

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