The most recent Masterpiece Transformer, Trailbreaker, was released in Japan late 2022, and my copy actually just arrived quite recently. So, figured I'd open it up while it was still relevant.
So.. Trailbreaker. I honestly can't remember anything about the character. I barely remember the toy, to be honest, though I do recall that I'd never handled a complete 80's toy ever as every kid lost something, usually the fist. But, I am nostalgic for 80s vehicles and really goofy bot modes (necessary to be accurate to the show), so I was all in.
You wouldn't think it, but Trailbreaker is an expensive figure, with a MSRP of just over 21,000 Yen, putting it at the upper price point for something of this size. The price point is partially justified (more on this a bit later) but from looking at this, you'd be correct in wondering why. The actual box Trailbreaker comes in is the same size as that used for the run-of-the-mill MP Autobot. Contents include:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 3 x Faceplates (Neutral, Open Mouth, Smiling)
- 1 x Replacement Grille
- 1 x Left Fist
- 1 x Multi Nozzle
- 1 x Acid Effect
- 1 x Parabolic Antenna
- 1 x Decal Sheet
I will say this - while there's not too much in terms of parts, at least most of them are given lovely, lovely chrome. It is kind of odd that a character known for his force field capabilities... doesn't come with a force field effect.
The wrist mounted weapons are interchangeable between the arms. and could even have nothing by blinged out death bringers equipped on Trailbreaker rather than hands.
The decal sheet, much like the grille, is used to give the toy a more toon accurate look or more toy accurate look, depending on your tastes. I passed on applying any decals, as my sticker applying skills are terrible.
Vehicle mode is an officially licensed Toyota, specifically a 4WD Hilux. Unlike the Honda City that Skids uses., I don't think I've ever actually seen one of these in real life despite it still being a relevant product to this day. Still, the look of vehicle is unmistakably 1980s with it's patented non aerodymamic curves. It's a more accurate vehicle mode as compared to the original toy. The orange stickers on the vehicle point more towards toon accuracy rather than toy accuracy.
His Parabolic Antenna attaches to the roof of the vehicle mode. It's gigantic and over the top, which is pretty much what we like to see from our 80s robots.
Transformation into robot mode is a relatively straight forward affair/ But between my inability to read Japanese and the hard to decipher diagrams, it took me a while to figure out that you're supposed to unlatch the various components of the truck bed cover so that it will latch onto the body properly. This does, of course, result in a rather large and unsightly backpack. But the good news is that when the inevitable Hoist retool comes out, this shouldn't be an issue... SHOULDN'T being the key operative word here. There's also that undesirable ability to basically see through the body from the side, but again that's to be expected from these figures - they can't all be like Inferno.
One other thing I just noticed, which is solely on me, is that I forgot to turn one of his shoulder weapons on its side so that it mimics the toy/show.
In terms of overall aesthetics, Trailbreaker is TALL, definitely more so as compared to the show where pretty much everyone was the same size. But, according to some stats I dug up, Trailbreaker is 5 m whereas most of the other Autobots are about 4 m tall. So while this does look weird, I'm willing to accept that as canon. The waist, however, needs to be wider - the figure ends up having similar proportion issues that affected Ironhide and Ratchet. The shoulder mounted weapons are tiny - they should have been oversized and frankly I would have been OK with attaching parts to the figure rather than having it embedded in the transformation.
The head sculpts are also a point of contention for some collectors. I don't personally have any attachment to the character, so to me the heads look appropriately goofy. I've heard rumblings about how some collectors aren't too thrilled about the chin and the general proportions of the face being off - I can definitely see it if I do a side by side, but again as a casual when it comes to this character, I'm not as bothered as the hardcore people. If I had to go for a favourite, I'd go with the smiling face. It's not the only smiling expression I have with my Transformers, but it's the one that looks the least psychotic.
Articulation is a mixed bag of "pretty good" and "this kind of sucks". The lower body is pretty much on par with most other MP figures. In fact, moving a bit further up, Trailbreaker features a pseudo ab crunch, and can actually tilt over at the abdomen. The neck and shoulders, on the other hand, are functional at best. The shoulders I can understand as there's the bulk of the torso to deal with.. but at the same time if there were a few more joints in the shoulder/upper arm, the useful range of motion could have been increased. I mean, the thing is already 22,000 Yen... I'm thinking a few bucks could have been spared for some additional joints to help out with the shoulder. The hands are the standard MP hands, featuring relatively articulated fingers, but for whatever reason, a thumb that is only articulated at the point where it joins the palm, so his thumb is perpetually bent at a 90 degree angle.
Paint and Build Quality are what I expect from a premium Takara Tomy product, so there's no surprises there. I mean it's not extraordinarily good, it just doesn't suck like the mainline product. Which brings me to an interesting observation - unlike pretty much every other Transformer product I've seen in the past 5 years, Trailbreaker is actually Made in China. Not only that, but the label "Made in China" wasn't even printed on the box - it was printed on a sticker that was slapped on the box, which seems to me like this was a last minute change or something.
All product used to be made there, but then for cost savings and Unified Product, everything was moved to Vietnam. I think Takara still uses China for its solo product, especially their higher end stuff like Diaclone, but I'd need to confirm that. Very interesting this happened at all though.
So ultimately for me, this wasn't a bad figure. The overall product came out quite well, and has that charming 80s toon vibe to it, though some tweaks to proportions, shoulder articulation, and weapon size would have been ideal. I'm not really caring much on how accurate it looks compared to the show, but completely understand if you're not a fan of this figure due to that fact. At the end of the day, despite his flaws, Trailbreaker at least didn't turn out like Ironhide and Ratchet.
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