Transformers Legacy MotorMaster review

MotorMaster and his faction within the Decepticons, The Stunticons, were some of my favorites. I loved how they were a squad of Decepticons hell bent on destruction and mayhem in their attempts to be the kings of the road. With a setup similar to Optimus Prime, MotorMaster considered himself the monster of the motorways.

And as the leader of the Stunticons and the core component of their combiner Menasor, MotorMaster is an essential force in Megatron’s army.

After grabbing two Stunticons, I was thrilled to get their leader during a Christmas sale. I decided it made more sense to get the other two before tackling the big guy and now that Dragstrip, Breakdown, Wild Rider and Dead End are here, let’s see if MotorMaster’s Legacy figure is ready to take the crown and truly rule the road.

Packaging: MotorMaster is a commander class figure so he’s in a large, enclosed box that shows him charging into action with the rest of the Stunticons.

The new Legacy package setup is busy. I prefer the cleaner, more streamlined Kingdom setup with the action shot of the Transformer and its alt mode.

There’s still some fun artwork although it’s competing against the bright purple, blues, reds, greens and pinks. And it’d be cool for the Generations logo featured a Decepticon insignia instead of an Autobot one.

He’s missing the QR code, which takes you to Transformers.hasbro.com with his bio.

The back showcases MotorMaster’s bot and alt modes, his battle station and the partially completed Menasor. To keep things clear for collectors, there’s a 5 of 5 logo on the back to show MotorMaster is the fifth Stunticon needed to create Menasor even though he’s the third member released.

Likeness: The name of the game for Hasbro with this line is as close a likeness to the Transformers cartoon as possible.

MotorMaster looks like he stepped off the screen. He’s massive with a wide frame ready to bark out orders to the rest of the Stunticons. The TF team did a great job of translating the streamlined cartoon design into a complex transformable figure without making him look too bulky.

Alt Mode:  The cartoon likeness extends to his tractor trailer mode as well with a fantastic figure translation of the animated source material.

That’s reflected with the cab having dual windshields and the trailer having the accurate side slots as well. It’s a massive vehicle and rightfully dwarfs the rest of the Stunticons.

Transformation: MotorMaster has various transformations. Switching him from vehicle mode to bot mode takes 23 steps. That was pretty reasonable as the transformation was pretty seamless. The one issue with him is one of his wheel sets won’t rest flush so it tends to pop out slightly.

His trailer transformation to a battle station also requires 23 steps. This is largely just pulling the trailer apart and setting the pieces up into foundational parts. While it has 23 steps it really wasn’t that hard to assemble.

It was pretty fun seeing how creatively the TF team put everything together without needing a bunch of excess parts. The trailer does not allow MotorMaster to store any Stunticons in them since it’s fully stuffed with the battle station and Menasor parts.

Naturally the biggest transformation is creating the Menasor shell, which takes a whopping 45 steps to complete. This was definitely more complex and challenging due to some QC issues. I’ll break those down fully with the Menasor review.

Scale:  MotorMaster is taller than his fellow Stunticons and most of the Autobots. He’s right around the same height as Blaster and shorter than Optimus Prime.

In his alt mode, he definitely looks like the leader of the Stunticons as the most prominent and massive vehicle.

Paint: I haven’t had any problems with the paintjob on these new waves of Transformers outside of the occasional failing to match plastic parts (see Sunstreaker).

MotorMaster’s paint work is tight from the purple, lavender, white and silver accents. I really appreciate that paintwork has typically been on point with this line.

Articulation:  MotorMaster’s articulation is very solid. His parts lock in strongly enough that he doesn’t feel flimsy when I moved him, which is key for some of the figures.

His joints are nice and tight so there’s no problem with him losing stability on dynamic poses, which is always a plus.

MotorMaster has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: MotorMaster doesn’t have dedicated accessories, but you can use Menasor’s sword.

Ditto for the turret cannon. They’ll look a little oversized, but he can use them.

You could probably also include the trailer as another accessory since it converts to a battle station apart from him. It’s not quite wide enough to be a base for the other Stunticons to use as cover, but it’s decent enough.

Worth it?  I got MotorMaster for $70, a pretty decent deal for a figure that’s typically $89. Ordinarily I’d wait for a cheaper price, but he was selling out at other outlets, so I pounced on him when I saw that price tag.

Rating: 9.8 out of 10

MotorMaster is a very impressive figure with the deep blacks playing off the whites and purples and his height compared to his fellow Stunticons. His transformation showcases clever engineering with my lone grip being that wheel set that doesn’t rest flush.

Where to get it?  MotorMaster is long gone from retail, but he is still available at Amazon.