Growing up in the 80s meant I was around for the genesis of what would become Transformers. Of course, that meant that years and years would go by before I truly understood why so many toys look different in promotional paperwork compared to what we got - that was the magic of repackaging Diaclone toys.
Perhaps one of the most visually striking of these Diaclone colour schemes is the Blue and Silver Fairlady Z, which made a sharp looking car that much more appealing. The toy was marketed to us as Bluestreak, and when stock of this toy finally dried out, all future versions of this character was then Streak in Japan, or Silverstreak for us in the Hasbro world.
As an homage, Diaclone recolours of relevant toys has become a thing, even in the mainline releases. One such recolour is of the MP-18 Silverstreak figure.
MP-18B isn't a particularly rare figure, at least compared to other MP releases. It's just I didn't feel like paying aftermarket prices, and so I waited on for years and years. As luck would have it, a few weeks ago I attended a local toy show and was able to finally get one of these for $70 CAD, which is much better than paying the $100+ USD that most stores are asking for.
Contents of the set are no different than the MP-18, and actually pretty much all of the Fairlady Z brothers. You get the figure, his pistol, and two shoulder mounted rocket launcher covers.
The two tone colour scheme really does make things look much sharper than its pure silver counterpart. This of course also affects robot mode.
Being an older figure, this was one of those figures that was based on the toy aesthetic rather than the animated look. I imagine if they revisited this it would mean fewer details on the thigh and forearms, but overall it would mostly remain the same. Certainly took a lot of visual cues from the original toy and the Binaltech/Alternator versions of the figure, ultimately resulting in a this beautiful figure, though I must say I do miss having the interiors of the Binaltech/Alternator line up.
From an articulation perspective, you're getting that above average experience, with better than Deluxe class figure articulation. I think with ab crunch and better head range of motion, you'd be pretty much pushing what this body could do, as many of the joints do have restrictions imposed on them due to the bulk of the body. The giant feet help with stability so wide legged poses are more easily accomplished than with smaller footed figures.
From a Paint perspective, I'm not going to say it's all perfect or anything, but on the whole it's certainly in line with some of the stronger paint apps from this line. Furthermore, colour selection is excellent with no jarring difference between painted and unpainted surfaces. All paint applications are smooth, with no overspray or other texture problems.
Build wise, there haven't been any wide spread issues that I'm aware of. Everything generally holds together well, and there's no reports of paint scrapes or breakage that seem to plague newer releases. The shoulder launchers are a bit flimsy, and I feel that the cavity for the launcher attachments is a bit on the large side. Parts finishes are generally quite good, with the occasional poor sanding spot, which is par for the course.
The MP Fairlady Z figures have always been solid performers, especially for much earlier designs. While a tad limited in terms of articulated, it truly looks quite nice, and if you're an MP collector but you don't have one of these, I'd highly recommend you add one to your collection. If you're not a completist and only one one of this particular vehicle, then Bluestreak is the one to get. Without a doubt, it's the nicest looking one of them all.
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