MP24 Star Saber

        Hello and good day boys and girls, this week is an exciting week for me as I have just received my MP-24-StarSaber. It has been a 20 years wait and I'm loving it! Well, StarSaber is not from the G1 continuity, but rather from a totally different generation of Transformers show. The series is awesome and if you have not watched it, go check it out!  After the G1 cartoon ended in season 4, Japan has a few releases to continue the Transformers story. As a summary: 

G1--> TF Headmasters--> TF Masterforce--> TF Victory--> TF Zone

Why the heck would Takara jump all the potential G1 MP and produce StarSaber? Well, he is actually a fans choice from a voting from a while back. 

StarSaber is the new commander for the Autobots / Cybertrons, and is known as the greatest swordsman / "swordsrobot" in the universe. He belongs to a subgroup call the Brainmasters. He is a childhood hero to many kids around the world like Optimus Prime, just that he is much cooler and stronger and bigger. Way bigger. This dude is actually combiner size! Well, in the cartoon at least. 

Here is a picture of him I got from the internet. Well, he is not your average G1 Transformers, has a lot of Japanese influence into it. From the design and color, one might mistaken him for a GUNDAM haha!

Before we start, lets have a look at his transformation from this video from youtube. Ah...... brings back memories. While playing with MP-24, this song keeps going on and on in my head. Sweet memories.....

Lets have a look at MP-24 StarSaber's box. His box design is similar to other MPs, the Masterpiece black box.

At the back, we get to have a look at him in his actual size, alternate mode , Saber mode and  StarSaber mode.

And the usual collector's card

Back of the collector's card. His stats are almost perfect across the board. Wouldn't be surprise if they put a perfect 10 for all stats.

Instruction manual

Comes with his collector's coin as well. The front part features the chest piece for StarSaber.

When you flip up the first part, it will reveal Saber's chest piece.

Flip up that part, and you will have the coin.

Close up

Back of the coin

A close up shows the back of the coin features StarSaber's vehicle mode.

Here how MP-24 is out of the box.

First the red jet is Saber in alternate mode.

The little guy is called Brain of Courage 

 The other part of  StarSaber's alternate mode is called V Star. This is mainly StarSaber's body. It is a flying spaceship/Carrier. 

Close up.

Other parts include his sword/blade, blaster, shield and parts for display stance 

His shield can be modified to become a display stance for his alternate mode.

We now move on to our smallest guy in the box - Brain of courage. Well, he looks like a miniature StarSaber without his battle helmet on. Some may call the paint job a bit sloppy but with a figure this small and to put on paint on it, I guess we cannot ask for too much. The details on this guy is not too bad considering his size.

SIde view for our little friend.

Back view.

To give you an idea how small he is, here he is with Fansproject Function X-2 head master and Steelcore. Cute little fellows.

He does have simple articulations at the shoulders and hips. No other articulations.

 Next we move on to Brain of courage's Transtector, Saber. He transforms into a Cybertronian jet and if you watched the video earlier, it is very cartoon accurate, details are excellent. The paint job is also quite nice, love the chrome bits at the back of the jet which will later become StarSaber's chest piece.

Side view for Saber's jet mode.

Back view shows the thrusters and landing gears clearly.

A little close up.

The cockpit does open up to allow Brain of Courage to enter and pilot it.

All aboard!

Nice and comfy inside.

The bottom of the jet. From this view, we can roughly see the robot mode under the jet.

He also has a front landing gear.

Next we move on to V Star.

He is quite a huge spaceship and sometimes used as a carrier in the cartoon series. It too is cartoon accurate. 

Front view for V Star.

The main weapons are 2 blasters located on either side of the spaceship and the antenna from the helmet can also be imagine as weapons I guess. The blasters can be open up to reveal missile launchers located inside. ( will be shown in pictures below )

Side view.

Back view also reveals the thrusters 

Close up

At the bottom of the space ship we can roughly see the robot mode and I didn't adjust the face plate well, and StarSaber's head is all reaveled. ( Should be hidden, my mistake )

The designers are nice enough to add on landing gears not only for saber's jet but V Star as well. These are his front landing gears.

Back landing gears.

By lifting up the blasters, you will see the missile pods/ launchers.

Both Saber jet and V Star can combine to form StarSaber's true alternate mode. For this combination process, you just need to flip up Saber's front wings and fold down the back wings.

You basically just combine Saber's jet in front of V Star. Again, very very cartoon accurate. Feel like it jumped out from the TV and into my hands. It looks totally awesome!

For comparison, I've taken a picture from the internet. 

Front view

Top view.

Side view.

 A little close up and we can see Brain of courage sitting comfortably inside.

You can store StarSaber's weapon at the back of his alternate mode to add some more firepower.

Time to use the display stance. Looks good !

NExt we have a look at all of the weapons.

Saber's sword is made up of 2 parts. The handle and the blade piece.

Love the chrome that they did for the sword.

As for Star Saber's sword, it is made up of 3 parts. The front of Saber's jet, the blade, and grip.

Again cartoon accurate.

Here we have a little comparison between StarSaber's Sword and Fansproject intimidator's sword.

Here we have a look at blaster or Saber laser. Initially I thought this smaller grip is for Saber to hold in robot mode, but it is actually the form for attachment onto StarSaber's back or V Star.

You can flip the handle and Star Saber can grip it nicely in this form. Saber too can hold on to the gun but the handle look a bit long for Saber and looks a bit awkward. 

Next we move on to Saber transforming to robot mode.

Take out Brain of courage.

Dislodge the front part of the jet.

Transform the hands

Transform the legs.

This gimmick is very very cartoon accurate, though the 80's StarSaber toy has already achieved this, but just want to stress it again, it is a very cartoon accurate transformation.

Open up the chest piece 

Place Brain of courage inside.

Close the chest piece slowlyyyyy......... and you will enjoy the process of watching Saber's face pop up. 

And there you have it. Cartoon accurate transformation.

The front part of his jet can be attached at the side of either  shoulders.

At a glance, he is a very very cartoon accurate looking Saber. Love it very much. The visors brings back memories.... 

His weapon is a sword and the front part of his jet mode works as a shield.

Posability is a average, not a ton of articulations but enough to perform some interesting poses.

Which Destron should I destroy first?

Saber's head can turn side to side but limited range of movements. About 30 degrees to the left and to the right. He is unable to look up or down due to the gimmick of Brainmasters.

Head sculpt is as accurate as you can get. Love the details and design.

 Hand abduction is about 100 degrees each side.

He can rotate his shoulders 360 degrees, but some manipulations are required because part of his jet at the back impedes smooth rotations.

Hip flexion is about 90 degrees.

Hip extension is minimal, about 10-15 degrees.

Knee flexion is about 80-90 degrees.

Upper thigh swivel allows him to rotate a full 360 degrees.

Lower thigh also allows a full 360 degrees swivel.

His feet can fold up totally as part of transformation, but unable to tilt down at any degree.

The instruction manual suggest to bent the thighs backwards at the hips and then straighten it at the knee joint for more stability.

If you straighten the whole thing the figure might tilt forward slightly.

He has a biceps swivel and allows a full 360 degrees rotation.

Elbow joint flex at 90 degrees.

Wrist has a 360 degres rotation. his thumb is in a fixed position, the other 4 fingers move as one unit.

Hip abduction is also minimal, about 10-15 degrees each side. Sadly he does not have any waist rotation.

Side view of Saber.

Back view.

Saber performing the "invisible chair" trick.

Well, there you have it. Saber in all his glory!

Here is a picture taken from the internet.

As accurate as you can get with decent articulations. Wish he could hold the gun though.

For transformation to StarSaber, you just tuck in the hands like jet mode

You then flex his legs to a "L" shape formation 90 degrees to each other.

Back view.

Transformation for V Star from Space ship mode to robot mode is very simple. Also, very cartoon accurate figure and transformation steps.

 Back view. 

You just slot in Saber into V Star

In the cartoon series, Star Saber sometimes stay in this mode when he is back in base or not in battle. Probably to get some fresh air.

Here is a picture from the internet for that mode.

Next detach the battle helmet and attach it onto Saber's head. There you have it, Masterpiece StarSaber! I can't say this enough, he looks very very cartoon accurate. The Head, body and limbs ration is excellent, color is spot on, nice chrome at the chest, all a StarSaber fan could ask for. Its like a dream come true. Some fans waited years and years for this to happen and its finally here! Pure awesomeness !

Have a look at his side view. Looks sleek and clean.

Back view looks nice as well.

Here is StarSaber with his blaster and Saber blade.

A little close up for his head sculpt, really love it. very nice details and great accuracy.

You can adjust his antennas any way you want. Let it be straight up or all the way to the side. For me, I like it this way.

Checking out the side view

He has limited articulations over his head, as he is a battle helmet on top of Saber's head, so they have roughly the same range of movements side to side.

His head can tilt up just a little bit. ( not sure if you count that as range of movement, but yeah, he can tilt his head up just a little bit.)

He can rotates his shoulder to a full 360 degrees.

Shoulder abduction is about 40 degrees. Here are some complains for this figure and that is his shoulder abduction movements are not very tight and sometimes his hands won't stay in this position.

Upper biceps swivel allows a 360 degrees rotation.

Lower biceps swivel also allows the same movement

His elbows are kind of on a double hinge, with the upper hinge allowing about 30 degrees flexion and the lower hinge allows a 90 degree flexion. Another complain I had is that his lower biceps flexion is not very strong and sometimes it flops down when he holds his sword.

Here we have some extra range of movement for posing, kind of like the shoulder joints for MP-22 Ultra Magnus where you can pop out the elbow joint.

Pop it out and you have an extra hinge 

Another extra rotation is an outward movement of the biceps for some extra range of movement.

His wrist can rotate a full 360 degrees, with some minimal side to side motions.

His thumbs are in a fixed position, his index finger can move independently but his other 3 fingers move as a unit.

 He has some waist rotations, but minimally, about 10-20 degrees each side. Wish he had more, so that he can do more awesome poses with his Saber Blade.

His crotch piece can be life up to allow some clearance for hip movements.

 Hip flexion is about 80 degrees.

Hip extension is minimal at about 10-15 degrees

Hip extension is limited by this red piece at the buttocks.

Hip abduction is about 40-50 degrees each side.

He also has a thigh swivel allowing a full 360 degrees rotation.

Knee flexion is about 80 degrees.

He can tilt his foot all the way down.

You can even flex the front part of the foot to help in posing on uneven surface.

He can tilt up his foot to some degrees but the back part of his foot is tilted as well.

And I'm sure every StarSaber fans will flip his foot over to check for any signs of possibility for MP Victory Leo. Well, there is a tab like thing at the bottom of StarSabers foot and fingers crossed StarSaber Fans, we may have a Victory Saber yet!  :)

True to his cartoon self, the developers of MP-24 did go through the trouble to make the storage for his Saber Blade's Blade exactly like the cartoon. Really impress with their dedication.

Open up

Store the 2 chrome blades in. The right one is for the bigger blade and the left one is for the smaller blade.

Well the blade comes out the other end, so he better watch his back when he sits down lol.

You can also store his blaster and hilt of his sword at the back.

 Posing time! ( Man I really suck at posing and photography....)

Well if you Transformers Victory fans remember, there are times that you saw this pose before in the series.....   :)

Sweet sweet memories.....

He does have a so called base mode, but I won't go into that because he looks kind of funny.

Next we have some size comparison. Here he is with Intimidator.

StarSaber with Quantron.

Fansproject function X2 on the left, Fansproject revolver core on the right.

He really dwarfs MP11

Here he is with Fanstoys not swoop

Posing with other leaders of the Autobots. Man, Optimus sure is tiny.

 With other MP for better size comparison.

Welcome to the club StarSaber!

Just to give you some idea the size for each of StarSaber's parts.

StarSaber playing with himself....

Here are some pictures from the internet. I think the G1 toy already looks very awesome and they do actually follow the transformation same like the cartoon, but the MP series knock it up a notch to make it more perfect. 

Here is a picture of Victory Leo. He is a triple changer which transforms into a lion or a jet. God Ginrai's consciousness was transferred to this body before he died.

Picture of god Ginrai from TF Masterforce series. He is basically a triple upgrade for Optimus

Here we have a look at Victory Saber, the combination of StarSaber and Victory Leo. 

If Takara really releases Victory Leo, prepare for a new level of Nerdgasm!

To me, MP-24 is a very precious figure for me as they brought my childhood hero back to life! I was not fortunate enough to have a G1 StarSaber as a kid as we could not afford an ecpensive figure, but I'm really glad I have him in my hands now. He is a very very awesome figure and for those not familiar with the transformers victory series, go watch the series and you will appreciate how precious and awesome this figure really is.


Thank You for reading.