I don’t usually keep tabs with upcoming Transformers Masterpiece offerings, or their equivalent third-party counterparts, as I’m personally not interested with their scaling, despite the intricate details that go into each release. That said, a recent Masterpiece announcement has caught my interest, and it’s not even an Optimus Prime figure, but can totally pass as one visually.
Takara Tomy has recently announced the two next Masterpiece releases, with both basically sharing the same mold but with different paint and some minor retooling. Along with MP-53 Skids is a red variant, MP-54 Reboost which is a new original Transformers character and based on an existing Diaclone toy that wasn’t included in the original series.
Reboost is based on the Diaclone Car Robot No. 6 toy that transforms into a Honda City R. The Masterpiece version faithfully recreates the same with Reboost transforming into the same red Honda City R. You can see in the comparison with the original above how the new Masterpiece figure gets the same cues and beats of the original toy albeit modern engineering and aesthetics.
Oh, and did I mention that the red and blue color scheme and that head sculpt with the face plate and yellow optics totally passes as an Optimus Prime? I just pre-ordered mine thanks to this aesthetic similarity.
The original Diaclone release included a Honda Motocompo scooter and the same is carried over to the Masterpiece, plus a clear holographic driver to ride either the scooter or the Honda City R vehicle mode. The Motocompo scooter can also be stored at the back of the vehicle mode. For weapons, Reboost comes with a couple of guns and a dual-barreled one.
While recent Masterpiece releases have leaned towards more animation-accurate aesthetics, Reboost and Skids are sort of a return to more classic releases that strike a good balance between animation accuracy and beats of the original toy. While I don’t expect to dive deep into Masterpiece figures, I’d gladly take Reboost as my first purchase.
Transformers Masterpiece MP-54 Reboost
November 2021 / ¥9,800
