Hello and good day ladies and gentleman, man am I excited to do this review. Finally got my hands on MP-20 Wheeljack! and I am very very impress with what I see so far from the MP line. Wheeljack is basically the crazy scientist in the Autobot group, and one of the original members of The Arc. He has created numerous gadgets for the Autobots, although he has to go through tons of failures to finally get one of his inventions to work. Of course his most notable creations are the Dinobots. Wheeljack and Ratchet are basically the Dinobots' mum and dad lol. Aside from inventing stuff, he is sometimes seen helping Ratchet repairing wounded Autobots. Well, honestly, despite Wheeljack having a lot of screen time, he is not one of my favorite character in the G1 series as a kid, mainly he is not much of a front line warrior and he does have a very weird face sculpt, but he is one of the Mp series and I didn't hesitate to buy him.
Here are some pictures I've taken from the internet regarding Wheeljack.
This is a very awesome painting of Wheeljack that we have always imagine in our minds :)
And this is Wheeljack from the G1 cartoon. He is one of the few Autobots who can really fly, as we can see he does have those Voltron like wings at his back. He does have a very unique face plate, unlike the other autobots, and he does not have lips and when he talks, the grey "fins" at either side of his cheeks glow blue. He does have his rocket launcher. ( I guess its a thing in the 80's as a lot of Autobots have it )
And this is a very very sad picture as we can see Windcharger and Wheeljack's body, as they perish in the battle of Autobot city........ millions of little hearts were broken in the 1986 movie. Initially when I was little, I only notice windcharger and not really sure who's body it was beside him, then it occur to me it was Wheeljack after I watch it again few years later, and again a few years later, and again, and again...... though I hated that they have to kill off so many Autobots, its still the best Transformers show ever!
Well, we move on to our latest MP Transformers - MP-20 Wheeljack. He comes in a black box, and pretty much similiar size and design with the other MP cars. He does have the Lancia logo in front of the box, with Wheeljack himself in alternate mode and robot mode.
Back of the box, filled with Japanese words that I cannot read, but it shows all his accessories and his scale with MP-10, similiar to the other MP cars as well.
He is his collector's card.
Some stats. I guess the stats are correct, and I got no complains this time.
His instruction manual.
He we have his gift coin. The colour is Wheeljacks favorite colour - red, green, white and black.
We can also see a faint Autobot logo incoporated in the background.
As you open it up, you can see the coin with Wheeljack's face on it. Mine is a bit rotated, but the worse mistake anyone can ever made is the misspelling of Wheeljack into Weeljack. Not sure why they didn't check it, and I've confirm with other collectors and they all have the same issue with the spelling. Not the end of the world, just makes me wonder why.....
You will also notice he does come with 2 black pieces of plastic which are actually his rear view mirrors. Not sure why they didn't just plug it in. Some say its because you need to take them out when he is in robot mode? I'm not sure. Anyway, you just break them off by twisting or cutting, basically Gundam style. You only need 1 pair, and I think its a good gesture to include another pair for spare, just in case.
Another interesting accessory that Wheeljack comes with is his anti-hypno chip device, or anti hypnotic device, seen in the G1 episode " The ultimate doom" where humans were turn into slaves by Megatron with Hypno chips.
The device is very nicely detailed and has a nice bluish chrome color. Well it basically does nothing besides being an accessory Wheeljack can pose with.
Wheeljack uses his creation to free all human slaves.
And it does comes with a mini instruction manual.
Other accessories include his shoulder canon and his gun. Both are silver in color and details are indeed good.
Shoulder canon is made up of 2 parts, where you can connect and disconnect them, but they have no spring mechanism what so ever to shoot out his rocket. Not that we need them right? its so childish to with for some thing like that right? we are adult collectors here and WE DO NOT NEED IT TO SHOOT! Its a masterpiece, we are suppose to display him, not going al " pew! Pew! Die decepticon! " Right? Right? ;)
He he is out of the box. He comes in his alternate mode like other MP cars, and I must say the details put into this mold is absolutely amazing. The paint job is excellent for my figure, minimal paint smudges, vibrant colors, very eye catching. As a whole, i think he is slightly heavier than other MP cars? he just feels a little heavier on hand, good weight and I'm loving it.
Here is a picture from the internet where Wheeljack is in his alternate mode.
Close up front view.
Side view looks good, with all the decals and his classic G1 number 539. He does roll around pretty well, instead of dragging along the floor. His wheels are made of plastic ( wish one day MP tyres will be rubber, that will be awesome! ) not much details on the tyre itself, a little too smooth for a race car, but its no big deal.
Back view looks ok, nice and simple. Mine has a little red smudge on his left rear light.
Top view.
Close up.
His shoulder canon does fit on top of him like other MP cars.
His gun can be stored at the rear of the car to form his exhaust pipe. Toyworld BII (not bumblebee) his this similar trick to store his weapon, guess it only works for Transformers with small pistols.
Takara has done a good job keeping everything folded up nice and compact, without interfering with his wheels turning, and no hollow parts.
Tooks some pictures from the net for Wheeljacks's alternate mode and I am really really amaze with the accuracy. Even the cartoon does not have all this details.
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Transformation for Wheeljack is fun and slightly more complex then the MP-12,14 and MP 17,18,19 mold. At first glance, he really impresses me. This is G1 Wheeljack jumping right out of my TV and right into my hands. this G1 reminiscence is totally awesome! The color is great for me, the body portions and ratios are as good as they can be, the face plate, the shoulder canon, the wings! OMG! really excited to have him. Only part I really think that can be improve upon is the feet. They are a little bigger then they should be but its just a little nit pick as I can't really find out anything wrong with him.
Side view looks good with no overhanging parts. Nice and compact.
Back view looks ok as well, no hollow parts.
Top view. My only nit pick here again is that his back which consists of the back portion of his alternate mode does not peg in very tight. Not that it falls off or anything, just that if you touch it, it just wobbles around.
His wings or fins are semi transparent grayish plastic. Not entirely grey like his canon or face, I'm not sure why they design it that way, not that it makes him any less cooler, just wondering why. His face plate and head sculpt design is spot on and I would say its 99.9% accurate to G1 Wheeljack. What if Takara made the fins at the side of his cheeks to be semitransparent and light s up in blue LED light with the push of a button! Man they would totally blew every collector's mind! and that would be super awesome! Just a thought. His eyes are painted blue, similar to the other MP Autobots but more noticeable as they are not covered up like other MPs.
His cheek fins lights up every time he talks, as we can see from this picture I got from the internet.
Closer look. Damn, he looks gorgeous. Those blue eyes.....
Back view of his head sculpt. There are pictures in the net showing that we can actually open up his face plate showing Wheeljack's original face. I'm not going to risk damaging my figure, so I'm not going to do it.
His shoulder canon can fit on either side of his shoulder, or you can remove it for a cleaner view.
His head can tilt down this much.
He can looks up fairly high.
Head can perform a 360 degree turn around.
He can do a 90 degrees shoulder abduction, not full 180 degrees. Its on a hinge and swivel joint.
Elbow flex up to 90 degrees. Its on a hinge joint.
Internal rotation of 360 degrees for his biceps' swivel.
Shoulder does rotate a full 360 degrees around, and of course you have to move his wings out of the way in order to do a full 360.
He does have a wrist swivel and it has a full range 360 rotation.
His 4 fingers move as a whole to open up his fists. Only his thumb stays stationary.
The thing that I notice is that Takara has very much improve the mold for the hand and for MP-20, the fingers looks thicker, better details and the way the fingers align themselves looks more natural. Good job Takara for being so detail! Really appreciate your attention to details.
See? it looks better and more natural.
Here if we compare with MP-14's hand. You can see d groove for MP-20 is deeper and longer, allowing him to secure his weapons nicely. If you notice, the fingers on MP-20 appears thicker and the way the thumb is align is also different.
As the fingers align, MP-20's index finger is a little further away from the other 3 fingers.
He does have a waist swivel. A full 360 degrees of it.
Sadly he is unable to perform a perfect split, only to about 60 degrees.
Well he can do a perfect split this way :)
Hips are on a swivel and hinge joint.
Thigh rotation. Thighs are on a swivel
Knee flexion, to about 90 degrees, its on a hinge joint.
Some foot extension. Ankles are on a double hinge.
He can do a full 90degrees rotation at his ankle, making him very stable and posable.
As far as his joints are concern, they are all very tight. not too loose, not super tight, just right to make him pose steadily, but not super tight until a great effort is required. Good job on the joints as well Takara!
Well, his look without the shoulder canon and back fins.
He holds his weapon very very well and stable. His weapon does not pop out if you close his fist entirely and this is another part where Takara has made improvements, really happy they fix the problems for all MPs, where they cannot hold their weapons securely.
MP-20's grip on his weapon. Nice and tight, and natural.
Compare with MP-14 or other MP cars, weapon only holds steady if fists not not clench fully.
Some poses.
One of the neat feature is that he is flexible enough to pose holding his shoulder canon.
Prime: " Wheeljack look! A Decepticon!"
Wheeljack: " Where? I can't see him"
well since he can't perform a perfect split, he can only do a side kick, rather than a high kick.
Wheeljack with his anti Hypnotic device. Looks more like he is holding a lunchbox or toolbox to me, lol.
Full accessory.
Comparison with MP-14. More or less the same height with MP-14. In the G1 cartoon however, Wheeljack looks a bit shorter then the other autobots, somewhere between Ironhide and the minibots.
Roughly the same height as well with Bluestreak.
Guess the scale is just fine with MP-10
With Fansproject function X-1
With Unique toy's Mania king.
Optimus prime, I present to you, our newest member of the Autobot, the Dinobots!
Grimlock: "Me Grimlock no like creator!"
Wheeljack: " Oh just shut up and transform!"
Wheeljack: " Now thats a good boy. "
Wheeljack:" Ok Grimlock, give me a big smile towards the camera."
There are some complains about MP-20 and some of them include chest piece being bigger than it needs to, his feet looks too big, body proportions not totally accurate, the paint on his chest is not the same pattern as in the G1 cartoon.... but when we stop to think, it is really not easy to produce a toy which is accurate to an actual vehicle on earth, bearing in mind the scale must be compatible with MP-10, and make it transform into a robot as accurate as you can remember it in the 80's with tons of articulations. I guess those are all nit picks that we can think of but in our heart, I'm sure we still say :"This is an awesome figure!"
Some good points about MP-20 that I can think of:
1. Feels like they have improve the plastic quality, I'm not sure, but the plastic feels better and good weight.
2. Joints are tight and will endure multiple transformations and play time :)
3. Improved articulations
4. Improved hand mold for better grip on weapon
Thank you again for reading.
