Title:
Stunticon Motormaster
Description:
Motormaster (Voyager Class, 2015)
3 of 5: Menasor
Accessories: Sword, gun
Known designers: John Warden (Hasbro)
Part of the second wave of Combiner Wars Voyager Class toys, Motormaster is a retool of Combiner Wars Optimus Prime, now in gray and black and featuring almost a complete re-shelling, making his truck mode in particular very distinct from the figure on which he’s based. As a Combiner Wars Voyager torso, he can combine with any Deluxe Class toys released as part of the same subline–but, of course, he’s intended to be combined with Blackjack, Dragstrip, Breakdown, Dead End, and Offroad (or Brake-Neck) to create Menasor.
Motormaster comes with a sword and a gun that can combine to form Menasor’s big sword. Tabs on the weapons allow them to lock together in order to be stored on the trailer hitch in vehicle mode, and in theory to a dedicated slot on the underside of the Menasor ”skirt” when the skirt is folded up onto Motormaster’s ”backpack”; unfortunately, the connection is rarely tight enough for this to work properly. In torso mode, his chest is designed after the original Motormaster’s Roller car, and can be opened to reveal a second chest detailed similarly to Age of Extinction Galvatron’s.
”Battle Core Optimus Prime”) that featured the improved hip joints, but also a re-release of Motormaster himself that incorporated the update. The two versions of Motormaster can be told apart with relative ease by a five digit manufacturing date code embossed on the rear of the figure’s packaging and etched into the toy’s left foot: the flawed wave 2 version features a date code starting with a ”4”, indicating that the figure was manufactured in 2014, whereas the improved wave 4 version features a date code starting with a ”5”, indicating a 2015 year of manufacture. The re-release also had the unfortunate effect of turning Motormaster into a recurring shelfwarmer.
Despite the ratchet fix however, Motormaster is also the weakest link of the Stunticons’ gestalt combination, due to a number of design failures attributed to his torso mode. The square holes-and-tabs used to secure the arms together when in torso mode are too weak to remain locked in place (though a very small number of copies can secure the arm well), and are prone to falling out of position should an attached arm be moved. The torso mode’s skirt plate is also attached to the stomach rather than the pelvis, rendering the waist swivel nearly worthless due to the skirt obstructing articulation. The pegs used to secure Blackjack to Menasor’s chest are also molded incorrectly, leaving the connection unsecure.
He and the last three waves of Combiner Wars Deluxe and Voyager figures later showed up in the USA at TJ Maxx at reduced prices.
As a part of the first and second wave promotion in Hasbro’s Asian markets, a free sticker sheet for the Aerialbots and Stunticons was given out when purchasing any four Deluxe Class toys from those waves. As such, Motormaster was given Generation 1 toy-esque stickers for the owner to apply if they wanted.
• CMBW11
• Motormaster (Voyager Class, 2015)
• 3 of 5: Menasor
• Accessories: Sword, gun
• Known designers: John Warden (Hasbro)
Part of the second wave of Combiner Wars Voyager Class toys, Motormaster is a retool of Combiner Wars Optimus Prime, now in gray and black and featuring almost a complete re-shelling, making his truck mode in particular very distinct from the figure on which he’s based. As a Combiner Wars Voyager torso, he can combine with any Deluxe Class toys released as part of the same subline–but, of course, he’s intended to be combined with Blackjack, Dragstrip, Breakdown, Dead End, and Offroad (or Brake-Neck) to create Menasor.
Motormaster comes with a sword and a gun that can combine to form Menasor’s big sword. Tabs on the weapons allow them to lock together in order to be stored on the trailer hitch in vehicle mode, and in theory to a dedicated slot on the underside of the Menasor ”skirt” when the skirt is folded up onto Motormaster’s ”backpack”; unfortunately, the connection is rarely tight enough for this to work properly. In torso mode, his chest is designed after the original Motormaster’s Roller car, and can be opened to reveal a second chest detailed similarly to Age of Extinction Galvatron’s.
Motormaster also includes a collector’s card featuring art from the ”Eagle Eyes” episode of Transformers Legends.
As a retool of Prime, the initial wave 2 release of Motormaster unfortunately suffers from the same design flaw as his predecessor: his hips have very heavy ratchet joints with too few stopping points controlling their outward motion, which makes it very difficult for the figure to strike a natural pose below the belt. In addition, the feet are designed to rest flat on the ground when the legs are spread, but the only stable positions possible with the hip joints are with the legs straight down or spread at a much wider angle than intended. This also afflicts Menasor, as the gestalt shares Motormaster’s hips. The gestalt feet are designed to rest flat on the ground when the lower legs are straight down, but in this mode, the only stable position possible with the hip joints is with the legs spread.
This flaw was eventually fixed by a change to the ratcheting joints, with the gears having their cogs shifted half a position, finally enabling both Motormaster and Menasor’s legs to be in stable positions while the feet rest flat on the ground, as originally intended. The improved hips were first found on the TakaraTomy Unite Warriors release of Motormaster/Menasor (see below). However, soon afterwards, wave 4 of the Combiner Wars Voyager Class assortment not only featured a redeco/retool of Optimus Prime (named ”Battle Core Optimus Prime”) that featured the improved hip joints, but also a re-release of Motormaster himself that incorporated the update. The two versions of Motormaster can be told apart with relative ease by a five digit manufacturing date code embossed on the rear of the figure’s packaging and etched into the toy’s left foot: the flawed wave 2 version features a date code starting with a ”4”, indicating that the figure was manufactured in 2014, whereas the improved wave 4 version features a date code starting with a ”5”, indicating a 2015 year of manufacture. The re-release also had the unfortunate effect of turning Motormaster into a recurring shelfwarmer.
Despite the ratchet fix however, Motormaster is also the weakest link of the Stunticons’ gestalt combination, due to a number of design failures attributed to his torso mode. The square holes-and-tabs used to secure the arms together when in torso mode are too weak to remain locked in place (though a very small number of copies can secure the arm well), and are prone to falling out of position should an attached arm be moved. The torso mode’s skirt plate is also attached to the stomach rather than the pelvis, rendering the waist swivel nearly worthless due to the skirt obstructing articulation. The pegs used to secure Blackjack to Menasor’s chest are also molded incorrectly, leaving the connection unsecure.
He and the last three waves of Combiner Wars Deluxe and Voyager figures later showed up in the USA at TJ Maxx at reduced prices.
As a part of the first and second wave promotion in Hasbro’s Asian markets, a free sticker sheet for the Aerialbots and Stunticons was given out when purchasing any four Deluxe Class toys from those waves. As such, Motormaster was given Generation 1 toy-esque stickers for the owner to apply if they wanted.[2]
3 of 5: Menasor
Accessories: Sword, gun
Known designers: John Warden (Hasbro)
Part of the second wave of Combiner Wars Voyager Class toys, Motormaster is a retool of Combiner Wars Optimus Prime, now in gray and black and featuring almost a complete re-shelling, making his truck mode in particular very distinct from the figure on which he’s based. As a Combiner Wars Voyager torso, he can combine with any Deluxe Class toys released as part of the same subline–but, of course, he’s intended to be combined with Blackjack, Dragstrip, Breakdown, Dead End, and Offroad (or Brake-Neck) to create Menasor.
Motormaster comes with a sword and a gun that can combine to form Menasor’s big sword. Tabs on the weapons allow them to lock together in order to be stored on the trailer hitch in vehicle mode, and in theory to a dedicated slot on the underside of the Menasor ”skirt” when the skirt is folded up onto Motormaster’s ”backpack”; unfortunately, the connection is rarely tight enough for this to work properly. In torso mode, his chest is designed after the original Motormaster’s Roller car, and can be opened to reveal a second chest detailed similarly to Age of Extinction Galvatron’s.
”Battle Core Optimus Prime”) that featured the improved hip joints, but also a re-release of Motormaster himself that incorporated the update. The two versions of Motormaster can be told apart with relative ease by a five digit manufacturing date code embossed on the rear of the figure’s packaging and etched into the toy’s left foot: the flawed wave 2 version features a date code starting with a ”4”, indicating that the figure was manufactured in 2014, whereas the improved wave 4 version features a date code starting with a ”5”, indicating a 2015 year of manufacture. The re-release also had the unfortunate effect of turning Motormaster into a recurring shelfwarmer.
Despite the ratchet fix however, Motormaster is also the weakest link of the Stunticons’ gestalt combination, due to a number of design failures attributed to his torso mode. The square holes-and-tabs used to secure the arms together when in torso mode are too weak to remain locked in place (though a very small number of copies can secure the arm well), and are prone to falling out of position should an attached arm be moved. The torso mode’s skirt plate is also attached to the stomach rather than the pelvis, rendering the waist swivel nearly worthless due to the skirt obstructing articulation. The pegs used to secure Blackjack to Menasor’s chest are also molded incorrectly, leaving the connection unsecure.
He and the last three waves of Combiner Wars Deluxe and Voyager figures later showed up in the USA at TJ Maxx at reduced prices.
As a part of the first and second wave promotion in Hasbro’s Asian markets, a free sticker sheet for the Aerialbots and Stunticons was given out when purchasing any four Deluxe Class toys from those waves. As such, Motormaster was given Generation 1 toy-esque stickers for the owner to apply if they wanted.
• CMBW11
• Motormaster (Voyager Class, 2015)
• 3 of 5: Menasor
• Accessories: Sword, gun
• Known designers: John Warden (Hasbro)
Part of the second wave of Combiner Wars Voyager Class toys, Motormaster is a retool of Combiner Wars Optimus Prime, now in gray and black and featuring almost a complete re-shelling, making his truck mode in particular very distinct from the figure on which he’s based. As a Combiner Wars Voyager torso, he can combine with any Deluxe Class toys released as part of the same subline–but, of course, he’s intended to be combined with Blackjack, Dragstrip, Breakdown, Dead End, and Offroad (or Brake-Neck) to create Menasor.
Motormaster comes with a sword and a gun that can combine to form Menasor’s big sword. Tabs on the weapons allow them to lock together in order to be stored on the trailer hitch in vehicle mode, and in theory to a dedicated slot on the underside of the Menasor ”skirt” when the skirt is folded up onto Motormaster’s ”backpack”; unfortunately, the connection is rarely tight enough for this to work properly. In torso mode, his chest is designed after the original Motormaster’s Roller car, and can be opened to reveal a second chest detailed similarly to Age of Extinction Galvatron’s.
Motormaster also includes a collector’s card featuring art from the ”Eagle Eyes” episode of Transformers Legends.
As a retool of Prime, the initial wave 2 release of Motormaster unfortunately suffers from the same design flaw as his predecessor: his hips have very heavy ratchet joints with too few stopping points controlling their outward motion, which makes it very difficult for the figure to strike a natural pose below the belt. In addition, the feet are designed to rest flat on the ground when the legs are spread, but the only stable positions possible with the hip joints are with the legs straight down or spread at a much wider angle than intended. This also afflicts Menasor, as the gestalt shares Motormaster’s hips. The gestalt feet are designed to rest flat on the ground when the lower legs are straight down, but in this mode, the only stable position possible with the hip joints is with the legs spread.
This flaw was eventually fixed by a change to the ratcheting joints, with the gears having their cogs shifted half a position, finally enabling both Motormaster and Menasor’s legs to be in stable positions while the feet rest flat on the ground, as originally intended. The improved hips were first found on the TakaraTomy Unite Warriors release of Motormaster/Menasor (see below). However, soon afterwards, wave 4 of the Combiner Wars Voyager Class assortment not only featured a redeco/retool of Optimus Prime (named ”Battle Core Optimus Prime”) that featured the improved hip joints, but also a re-release of Motormaster himself that incorporated the update. The two versions of Motormaster can be told apart with relative ease by a five digit manufacturing date code embossed on the rear of the figure’s packaging and etched into the toy’s left foot: the flawed wave 2 version features a date code starting with a ”4”, indicating that the figure was manufactured in 2014, whereas the improved wave 4 version features a date code starting with a ”5”, indicating a 2015 year of manufacture. The re-release also had the unfortunate effect of turning Motormaster into a recurring shelfwarmer.
Despite the ratchet fix however, Motormaster is also the weakest link of the Stunticons’ gestalt combination, due to a number of design failures attributed to his torso mode. The square holes-and-tabs used to secure the arms together when in torso mode are too weak to remain locked in place (though a very small number of copies can secure the arm well), and are prone to falling out of position should an attached arm be moved. The torso mode’s skirt plate is also attached to the stomach rather than the pelvis, rendering the waist swivel nearly worthless due to the skirt obstructing articulation. The pegs used to secure Blackjack to Menasor’s chest are also molded incorrectly, leaving the connection unsecure.
He and the last three waves of Combiner Wars Deluxe and Voyager figures later showed up in the USA at TJ Maxx at reduced prices.
As a part of the first and second wave promotion in Hasbro’s Asian markets, a free sticker sheet for the Aerialbots and Stunticons was given out when purchasing any four Deluxe Class toys from those waves. As such, Motormaster was given Generation 1 toy-esque stickers for the owner to apply if they wanted.[2]
Theme:
Voyager Class
Manufacturer:
Hasbro
Year:
2015
Series:
Combiner Wars
Asst. Number:
CMBW11
Date Added:
2023-07-09 21:27:09
Automatic Estimated Value:
~$32.99
Automatic Estimated Date:
2025-05-01
Date Added:
2023-07-09 21:27:09
