It’s been a while since I purchased a Takara Tomy Masterpiece Transformer and I’ve been lagging behind with my collection. Right now, I’m focused on finishing up the G1 line as those are the Transformers I grew up watching. So, over the weekend, I went to Greenhills, which is the Philippines’ mecca of collectible toy shops. Sadly, it does seem that a lot of shops are not concentrating on Masterpiece Transformers as there is a startling lack of Masterpiece Tranformers nowadays at Greenhills.

Still, I did manage to get a G1 Masterpiece Transformer. Because I got myself a brand spanking new MP-56 Trailbreaker! Now, the question is if it’s a good Masterpiece Transformer or a bad Masterpiece Transformer. The only way to find out is to actually break it out of the box and play with it for a while!

Out of the box, I do have to say how impressed I am with how MP-56 Trailbreaker looks in his vehicle mode. Takara Tomy did an outstanding job with the modelling. It does closely resemble an old-school Toyota Hilux camper as seen in the cartoon. What’s even more impressive is how Trailbreaker’s vehicle mode does have some moving parts integrated in it, such as doors and hoods that can open. The rear of the camper portion can also open and, according to the instructions, you can even fit in a Masterpiece Transformers figure of Spike in the driver’s seat. I don’t have one so I’ll just take their word for it.

Trailbreaker also sports are rare thing with Masterpiece Transformers: a couple of accessories for its vehicle mode. Sure, Takara Tomy may add a port where you can attach or store their guns but they rarely have a true blue accessory just meant for use for when the Transformer is in vehicle mode. Then again, it is just the radar dish Trailbreaker popped out once in the second episode of the cartoon series. The other accessory is a replacement grill that is more cartoon accurate. I don’t think I’ll be putting this on because it does look very blah. Still, I appreciate the effort and I do hope Takara Tomy adds more stuff for their Masterpiece Transformers’ vehicle modes in the future.

Now we get to transforming MP-56 from vehicle to robot mode and… oof! This was a pain! I understand that Takara Tomy really want to set the Masterpiece Transformers line apart from the other Transformers “toys” that are out there by using all their engineering skills to make cartoon accurate looking vehicles and robots. They’ve been doing a good job for the most part but, sometimes, the process of getting them into their different modes can be a little too complex now! There are a myriad of tiny double joints, making me really nervous as these look like breaking points. There’s also very little room for error as the clearance for some of the parts are very miniscule.

It certainly doesn’t help that the instruction sheet is virtually a poster and, in all honesty, kind of hard to decipher. Some of the images aren’t exactly clear on what you should me moving and how they’re supposed to move. I had to go to YouTube to look for much more clearer explanations on how to get this Trailbreaker into robot mode! Thankfully, EmGo316, a very cool toy collector, put up a video with easy to follow instructions on how to transform this Masterpiece Transformer.

Once you do go through the nerve wracking process of getting MP-56 into its robot mode, you are indeed left with an impressive looking Trailbreaker… when viewed from the front and the back. He looks cartoon accurate and I do love how the backpack isn’t too big, which is where all of that folding on double hinges really pay off. I also do love how solid Trailbreaker’s arms and legs feel while still retaining an amazing amount of articulation.

The legs specifically are great as they’re sturdy enough to hold Trailbreaker’s weight even when bent in weird configurations. I also have to mention how the feet also have multiple joints so you can actually have Trailbreaker have a wide stance without the fear of him falling over. His right hand also has a lot of articulation as even the thumb has a joint. It’s mostly there as part of his transformation but it’s still a near feature.

Unfortunately, viewing Masterpiece Trailbreaker on its side is a totally different story! Despite all of the folding in of parts you have to do to get it from vehicle to robot mode, Trailbreaker still has an astonishing number of hollow points. Its chest area is basically a gaping hole from shoulder to shoulder.

Also, thanks to the way the front hood is situated, it does look like Trailbreaker has a bit of a gut. I do wish the flattened it out to make him look a little more sleek and, more importantly, more cartoon accurate. I’m not sure how they would do this without sacrificing how solid it generally is in robot mode, though. So I guess this is more forgivable than the hollow point I mentioned earlier.

When it comes to accessories for Trailbreaker’s robot mode, there isn’t actually a lot to talk about. Takara Tomy really love giving their Masterpiece Transformers a bunch of removable faces and MP-56 is no different. I do have to say the “gaping mouth” version is the best and I’m probably going to make it the permanent face on my Trailbreaker. You can replace his “hose” hand with either the force field generator seen from the cartoon or another standard hand. There’s also a little explosion effect which you can plug into any of his gun ports.

While I will say this is still a good Masterpiece Transformer overall, I do believe MP-56 is one of Takara Tomy’s lesser successful ones. This version of Trailbreaker does look fantastic in vehicle mode, the the number of hollow points in his robot mode comes off as plain weird, especially when you factor in all of the pain you have to go through for his transformation process. I can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed with this one but, like I said, it’s still a good figure. But I don’t think I’ll be taking it out of the box all that often.

Do you have a MP-56 Trailbreaker? How does it compare to the other Masterpiece Transformers out there? Let me know in the comments section below!