Masterpiece MP-42 Cordon (Diaclone Police Sunstreaker)

Ok, I need to preface this with a personal statement: that white Police Sunstreaker is one of my all-time favorite figures, a former grail piece that I finally scored, and I just think it’s so purty… So you might say I’m biased.

This has been the Masterpiece that I always wanted to see produced, even more than any other release.

I think it’s kind of crazy to think that mega licensing deals between the world’s best car manufacturers and a toy company with a hit cartoon started in the 80’s could become such a big thing. But it makes sense, because cars and robots are just fucking cool. Happy that Lambo Countach was finally revived with this Diaclone tribute. It’s just one of the all-time best car designs ever. Plus, the black and white police paint scheme matches the car’s super futuristic lines. All in all, just a perfectly executed design, starting with the original Diaclone release to this Masterpiece.

It’s not the worst transformation scheme, but definitely not my favorite or inviting to play. Same with many of the Masterpiece figures, they’re such an intricate jigsaw puzzle with easily breakable pieces that make you fear damage every time you transform it. Still an amazing feat nonetheless and I’m glad they usually focus on making the robot mode really the centerpiece, which is absolutely the case here.
This is one of the most proportional figures to date. Transformers are still humanoid, so I really appreciate it when the robot form has good proportions resembling an athletic human: broad shoulders, arms and legs in relative proportions to the rest of the body. I think it’s important and what makes certain figures favored over others in the long run. (See G1 Soundwave, Bluestreak, Sunstreaker, Hotrod for some examples.)
They even got the classic dour saltyface from the original G1. I love this head sculpt. It looks very different from different angles, leading to a few looks.
It’s not the size of the ocean, it’s the motion of the waves… But it really is dinky.
Dude can look real serious sometimes.
It’s always a pleasure when the articulation and proportions allow you to do poses like these, with the hands in realistic positions.
I’m all for gimmicks, it’s just that Sunstreaker’s other weapon looks super doofy to me. Not sure if it’s a drill, a laser, a missile, or all of the above, but the design touches like the details and the chrome make this weapon look ultra Diaclone and retro, so I’m happy with it.

I think one of the hallmarks of a classic figure is a unique head sculpt. A lot of Diaclone-cum-TF’s have super unique head designs, in line with the other Diaclone futuristic human space military vs alien military aesthetic, and often with some references to Egyptian gods and pharoahs (Look at Shogun Warriors’ Raideen for example). Cordon here is straight up King Tutankhamen here with his head dress and glowing red eyes.

And here’s probably the most important part of the photo shoot. The good ol’ side by side. Every once in a while you gotta pull him out of the vault, right? (I’ll be honest, it’s such an old figure and yet it hasn’t yellowed (yet) and so I’m always a bit nervous to pull him out in case he’s exposed to any UV rays… TF’s bring out the paranoid OCD in me.)

Poor lighting and these guys’ heads are hard to capture. But I think they did an amazing sculpt for MP Cordon. It’s a more detailed and proportionate (there’s that word again) face:ear ratio. Still love the OG.
If they only somehow included some reference to a Diaclone driver or at least a highly detailed cockpit in Cordon’s car mode, that would have covered all bases. But even if they did, nothing beats how friggin’ cool the little Diaclone dude looks in the original. So cute.
So… much… chrome. So shiny but so easy to smudge. Gotta slap on the latex gloves…

The driver is in the details. Really though, there’s nothing better than a Diaclone car with its driver inside. It’s really sad that American and European kids are so bad at choking on toy missiles and small weapons that they “had to be” omitted, but Japanese kids are more careful with their belongings and probably less sadistic during play. Shooting toy parts into your friend’s eye is just an American game by default whenever there are any spring-loaded toys that shoot things. These toys were treated as precious treasure to most Japanese kids compared to kids in other countries. After all, they got them first, with all their parts and accessories. What we got was the TV show first. No complaints there.

In fact, no complaints about the whole history of the Transformers franchise. I love every bit – maybe not every generation (pass on Beast Wars), but I appreciate that all of the content was made. I’m glad to have witnessed how this concept got fleshed out over time through each and every type of media possibly imaginable. This figure represents an artifact, a missing link of sorts between the older franchise of Diaclone and its newer, sexier successor, the Transformers. Super happy to see the Dicalone homage in the Masterpiece collection, especially the rarer and more iconic pieces like Police Sunstreaker. I’m sure there will be plenty more to come. I’m just not sure which ones are a must have. We’ll have to wait and see.

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