Masterpiece Cyclone
I want to start this review by stating to you, the reader, that I don’t want to be repetitive in my review of Toynami’s Masterpiece Cyclone Volume 1. It is exactly like Beagle’s Mospeada ride armor that was reviewed by fellow CollectionDX member, Atom a couple weeks ago. You can check out his brilliantly written full review with video HERE. Or you can scroll down the page to the attached video of the Beagle/Toynami ride armor.
In this review I am going to show mostly pictures as well as briefly discuss the differences between Toynami’s and Beagle’s versions. I hate to disappoint people but the only difference is the packaging and the head sculpt. Yup, that’s it folks.
Now, I know what your thinking, you may think that Toynami just took the Beagle ride armor and changed the head, repackaged it and called it a day. Well, you would be wrong! Let me explain. The toy is actually a joint venture between Beagle and Toynami. George Sohn, the president of Toynami actually helped with the design and production costs. So you see, this is an actual Toynami product as well as a Beagle product.
Starting off, we have Toynami’s phenomenal packaging shown below. The really cool thing is that like the Masterpiece Beta, what is inside the package is actually worthy of the elaborate packaging! It’s really hard not to appreciate Toynami’s great packaging. Check out the artwork that’s expertly done by Tommy Yune on the outside of the book style case. I also really love the certificate of authenticity, its a very nice touch. The certificate gives you a sense of pride knowing that you have a very limited edition toy, 1 of only 3,000 to be exact.
The next thing that’s different about Toynami’s Masterpiece Cyclone and Beagles Ride Armor is the head sculpt. In the following five pictures you we clearly see the differences. The fourth picture down gives you a side by side of Toynami’s version on left and the Beagle on the right. The fifth picture shows an actual anime shot of Scott/Stick. It is my opinion that the Toynami version is much closer to the anime than the Beagle.
The next three photos are showing Scott with some of the included accessories (for more info please refer to the Beagle ride armor review). The third photo down shows Scott slaying CollectionDX’s fearsome Gore Sky Deviler.
After re-watching the first episode of Robotech: the New Generation I was kinda curious if I could somehow change the ride armor into its storage mode. The next 3 photos show you what I came up with. The third photo is the actual line art. What do you think? Not too bad…
Moving forward, this photo is the ride armor sans Scott. I urge you to watch Atom’s video below before you attempt to get the cyclone to this stage of transformation. The transformation is very involved and complex.
The next six photos give you a walk around of Scott donning his Cyclone ride armor. Again, for more info please refer to Atom’s Beagle ride armor review.
The next two photos below show the included display stand. Yup, same as the Beagle. My only gripe is that Toynami didn’t include an Robotech sticker for the display stand.
The last five shots show you the ride armor in motorcycle mode. It truly is a thing of beauty and is very anime accurate. Check it out! Scott can actually ride his cycle, unlike the original Gakken version. You have to admit, After you look at the Gakken ride armor you can see that toy tech has come a long way!
In conclusion, the Cyclone ride armor is another “Home Run” for Toynami. George Sohn, president of Toynami has another feather to put in his cap. Please, do yourself a favor and get one of these before they are sold out and prices get astronomical. Also, do yourself another favor and buy the Toynami version. It will save $50-$100 dollars in cost and in my opinion is is a better sculpt/value. Check out the ebay links below for some good deals on Toynami’s Cyclone ride armor.