In the original G1 days, Motormaster, the defacto leader of the Stunticons, had the distinction of being the closest thing to an “evil” Optimus Prime as we could hope to get. Motormaster’s alt mode, a black flat-nosed truck with an accompanying trailer, set him up to be Optimus’ evil doppelganger, long before “Nemesis Prime” was repainted into existence. Of course, G1 Motormaster’s ‘bot mode was unique and was in no way simply an Optimus Prime repaint, so it’s rather nice that in this Motormaster update there’s enough retooling here to establish Motormaster as his own figure and not the easy “evil Optimus Prime” repaint Hasbro is so fond of. Unfortunately, project budgets carry certain restrictions, so in this new Combiner Wars line, neither Optimus nor Motormaster is outfitted with a trailer, but that just means their alt modes are similar enough that Motormaster and his Stunticons can easily be mistaken for a crew of Autobots by the population of whatever city the crew happens to be tearing through, and that was the point of the Stunticons, at least initially.
So how does this new Motormaster fare as a figure? Let’s take a look!
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Motormaster is a voyager-class figure, so he does come packed in the new Combiner Wars window box. The packaging is fairly basic and much of our attention is drawn to the actual figure in the box rather than the graphics meant to help sell it on the shelf — just as it should be.
Out of the box, before I could even fawn over the sculpt and paint, I was struck by how “floppy” he seems to be. I do think this is a great-looking figure, and it’s awesome to see a character like Motormaster finally get the voyager-class treatment, but, unfortunately, he is not without his issues. Now, I haven’t picked up the new Optimus Prime, the figure upon which Motormaster is basically built upon, so this is my first encounter with the mold. So while I do love the way the figure looks, I’m not as impressed with its functionality.
His scale is right in-line with other voyager-class figures, even last year’s movie Galvatron, who essentially shares a very similar alt mode with Motormaster. The blockiness of this new figure, however, is strangely satisfying, and I can’t help but think of the G1 days and the crude G1 cartoon and comics when I pick him up and handle him.
For accessories, Motormaster comes with just this giant sword, which then becomes Menasor’s primary weapon since it looks as though the handle is sculpted in such a way to accommodate both figures’ hands. The sculpt of this thing is impressive and intricate, and I am a fan of the silver color Hasbro chose to deck it out in. It is huge, though, so it is probably a better fit for Menasor, actually.
Motormaster is well-articulated, but some of his joints, like his knees, are a bit on the floppy side. This may be unique to just my figure, however. His knees aren’t ratcheted the way his hips are, so I can see them getting even looser in the future. His elbows are a bit odd as well. Due to his transformation scheme, his elbows are “accidentally double-jointed,” so they tend to bend in ways that look a little weird. It’s an easy thing to correct, but it would have been nice if his lower arms were able to lock in place in his ‘bot mode, if only to facilitate a more natural-moving arm joint.
Motormaster’s ‘bot mode is the more striking mode of his two main forms, which is probably due to the noticeable lack of paint apps on his alt mode. Apart from some purple highlights and a touch of silver, he’s mostly just the grey color he was molded in, which does compromise the authenticity of his alt mode. Now, this is not a Masterpiece release or anything, but a little more paint here would go a long way in making him look like more than a toy truck meant for a toddler.
It’s a nice-enough sculpt that would benefit greatly from some paint apps thoughtfully distributed so as to make him look like a more convincing threat in this mode.
As part of the Menasor combiner team, Motormaster forms the head and torso of the Stunticon Goliath, and he’s looking sufficiently mean and imposing. Be sure to check back next week as we take a closer look at the finished combined form of the mighty Menasor!
Thanks to Hasbro for sending along this sample for review, and be sure to check back next week as we finish up our look at the Stunticons!
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