LIke Nicee, MP Arcee received a retool/repaint, specifically MP-55 Nightbird, the Decepticon Ninja!
Let's be honest - considering that Hasbro/Takara pulled the exact same thing when the Legends Arcee was released, is anyone actually surprised at this?
In the G1 Cartoon, Nightbird was just a non-transforming female ninja robot. Through the passage of time (specifically the Legends timeline), Nightbird ends up physically turning into an Arcee clone. Being a Fembot, it was pretty much preordained that she would end up making it into my collection.
Retailing for about the same MSRP as Arcee, MP Nightbird loses a few faces and a rifle, but gains a whole bunch of other things, making her the better value overall. Now, mind you that doesn't mean anything if you don't actually want the thing, but it's good to know.
- 1 x Main Figure
- 1 x Alternate Face
- 2 x Sai
- 1 x Holster
- 2 x Laser Sword
- 2 x Legends Inspired Swords
- 2 x Shuriken
- 1 x Pistol
- 1 x Large Pistol
- 3 x Blast Effects
The Blast Effects and Holster are directly recycled from Arcee, albeit in a different colour.
Vehicle mode, colour aside, is effectively the same as Arcee, which includes the notches on the body panels for attaching various accessories, though truth be told it looks better when Nightbird does it, mostly things don't look so random, or at least they don't if you've handled the Legends toy.
Unpictured is the "Flying Squrriel" mode, which is basically what you get if you slap on some of her weapons in vehicle mode, then call it a flying car a la Tracks.
Transformation to robot mode follows the same steps as Arcee, to the point where they even screwed up a panel or two and had Arcee appear instead of Nightbird. Colours are brought to you by a combination of painted and unpainted plastic, which get the job done. One thing to note, which I guess speaks to Build Quality, is that the vehicle door actually came off the body. The good news, however, is that the part was glued on in the first place, which made restoring it easy. But I didn't have that problem with Arcee. For whatever reason, Nightbird just felt more flimsy overall compared to her predecessor. Not like it would fall apart, but noticeable.
The overall transformed figure reuses quite a bit of Arcee. Main differences would be the head, the entire torso, and the fact there are slots on Nightbirds forearms that allow you to attach weapons. Again, nothing that will blow your mind if you've ever handled the Legends edition.
So while you do lose one face, Nightbird can remove her ninja mask, which combined with the alternate face gives you four display options for the figure. Her surprised face also includes an anime sweat drop running down her left cheek.
The underlying Arcee body is pretty good when it comes to posing, being only truly limited, strangely enough, with regards to the wrists, which is kind of unfortunate given the heavy reliance Nightbird has on melee weapons. Despite these limitations, you can still pull off some pretty neat looking poses, though be forewarned that because of weight distribution (i.e. that huge backpack), you're probably going to have Nightbird toppling over a few times as you're trying to get that pose JUST right.
Her relatively dainty feet don't help matters much, either.
Getting the weapons in her hands, however, can be a test of patience, as well as trial and error, mostly due to the tabs on the weapons that have to be sized and aligned JUST right to make it all come together.
This articulation/transformation also allows you to create her infamous White Swan mode which.... yeah. No idea... it's just a thing. Arcee can pull it off too, though I was too lazy to do it/verify.
The MP Nightbird figure is a nice little "expansion pack" as it were, that builds on the qualities of Arcee and gives you more options to display her with. Unlike Mocha, who feels more like a companion piece to Nicee, Nightbird is her own thing, so even if you don't have an Arcee, you don't feel left out..
So, another one down, and one closer to catching up. Up next, we jump the que and examine something a bit more recent.
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