Shipping from overseas starting this week, and hopefully hitting my doorstep next week, Toy Alliance is bringing back the Action Masters line in a big, big way.
Robo very recently provided some details on 3A’s G1 Optimus, and while that is a pretty slick-looking figure, for my money’s worth, I think the Toy Alliance line and their MAS-01 might be more my speed. But, since Robo hadn’t seen anything on this one yet, and Robo sees damn near EVERYTHING, I thought a little overview might be handy, as the preorders start to ship.
A couple things to note, if you haven’t seen or heard of this line yet — these are, like 3A, officially licensed Transformers by way of Hasbro. That means if you’re unsettled by third-party items, you’re okay here. Now, unfortunately, with that official branding comes the burden of not competing directly with Hasbro’s own Transformers. So they don’t transform. That’s a make or break for a lot of people, and it’s with good reason. It’s especially tough because when you look at MAS-01, he looks very transform-able. But, there’s not much point being sore about it, clearly this is the price you pay for sharing the branding.
Buuuut after looking at these pictures and seeing some prototype reviews last year, I got over the lack of transformation. More so than just about any recent release, and even somewhat over MP-10, MAS-01 represents my ideal Optimus Prime in terms of visuals. And since transformation engineering isn’t a factor, this will likely be one of the most poseable Primes we will ever see, with double joints, abdominal joints, finger and wrist sockets — basically the “Marvel Legends suite” of articulation. We also get some LED lighting, with some bold blue eyes and a removable light-up Matrix of Leadership.
And the sheer size is definitely a bold design choice as well. Prime is 18 inches tall, and with his blocky styling, he looks even more massive than Combiner Wars Devastator does at nearly the same height. I think he’ll look pretty good next to the Titan Fortress Maximus, which he scales oddly accurate to the comics with. And if you have 1:18 Joes … well … damn you.
The pricing, all considered, is pretty damn decent for something this big. He is of plastic construction, as opposed to the die-cast of a lot of the other high-end Primes, but the materials used look to be a step above the mass-market ones (like Fort Max and Metroplex), while still appearing pretty play-friendly. He is available for preorder on BBTS.com, and at the time of this writing is priced under $200, depending on shipping, which makes him significantly less than the 3A model, and really only about $25-$30 more than the Hasbro Citybot-Class.
As Prime is the first in the line, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention who MAS-02 is slated to be:
And those two alone would make for a helluva display. I do wonder, though, if we were to get, say, Grimlock, would he be a 20-inch bot, or a 20-inch T-Rex? I honestly don’t know which I’d prefer. Anyway, while I patiently await the chance to review mine, feel free to visit some early reviewers on YouTube — I suggest Ben’s Collectibles look at the prototype from last year, and it looks like there might be a few production reviews now up as well. And if you want to talk a little bit of wish list, I think I’ll join you below.
