Takara Masterpiece MP-28 HOT ROD w/coin

As a masterpiece figure, Hotrod looks great, but feels really fragile. Lots of thin swivels and twisting parts. My figure even had some slight stress marks and dried glue streaks on the underside of the car hood, and worse of all, the Autobot brand is off center on the chest. Robot mode looks quite compact in hand. The much maligned "backpack" really tabs tightly and looks fine when placed next to other mp figures. Articulation is fantastic. You can get many poses from the 1986 movie and he holds them well. Transformation is rather straightforward.

It's an OK toy. Not as good as the other masterpiece figures I've purchased. Fun to transform, but his limbs are just too lanky, especially his legs. Fun to pose, but those legs just look too skinny.

I have always had a soft spot for Hot Rod/Rodimus, despite his vilification by many other fans as a "matrix-stealing Prime-killer". my excitement at Takara's and Hasbros MP-09 was high and anticipatory, but the reality of him was just a bit delicate and fragile seeming. Not so with MP-28- he has a very innovative transformation yet is robust enough to make me feel like he can be transformed back and forth many times. His likeness to both the animation model and the original toy is excellent, exactly what you would expect from this line. accessories are good, with the fun addition of the fishing pole from his scene with Daniel in the movie His motto, as imprinted on the coins pouch is "my actions speak louder than words" and I will be proud to put both up in my display next to Prime and Ironhide and my other icons If I have one quibble(a tiny one) it's that he has a matrix receptacle but the matrix is not included, leaving me with buy a third party matrix or Steal MP-09s(which will set off my OCD for a while) or leave him unmatrixed. It doesn't affect my very enthusiastic 5 stars however. He's excellent

Not too happy with Takara's design choice to sacrifice the torso's proportion for the gimmicky storage of MP-10's matrix ... in his stomach. And then they don't even include the matrix! Well, at least it comes with a fishing pole which allows you to wrap his arms in such a way that his lower torso is hidden. Held off buying this for a long time. Only bought this to support Takara Tomy 'cause they "can" make true masterpieces.