I would have waited an eternity for this… Masterpiece style Decepticon Godmasters from Transformers Super-God Masterforce! Fans Hobby is taking to the skies with the first member of this iconic duo; MB-23 Destroyer. Destroyer is their homage to the part-time DJ, full-time humanity hating, telepathic bird conversationalist, Decepticon Godmaster; Buster!

As always, a huge thanks goes out to Fans Hobby, for providing this review sample of MB-23 Destroyer for me to check out and share with you all!

Vehicle Mode

From day one, air superiority has belonged to the Decepticons. The seekers set the bar for every transforming jet robot to follow, and Destroyer lives up to their legacy with aplomb.

Sure, there’s some robot parts on the bottom of the jet. But they are relatively sleek, and compact all things considered, with brilliant tech detail and paint that make them look really damn cool, if not convincing, as the underside of the pseudo F-16 Fighting Falcon that Destroyer uses as his alt mode disguise.

The jet mode has fold out, rolling landing gear, mounting ports on his wings for his laser rifles, and non-removable wing-tip missiles (be careful with these, I somehow snapped one of the fins off of mine and didn’t notice until I was writing this review and analysing him on my desk for final thoughts). His shoulder pylons serve double duty, looking like bombs or laser weapons mounted closer to the fuselage. Destroyer definitely lives up to his name, he is absolutely armed to the teeth in his fighter jet configuration and ready to blow any Autobot out of the land, sea, or sky, at his pleasure.

The wings can fold up in half, or in full, for storage/maintenance. The pin-stripe detailing on the wings is achieved via stickers. I’m not fond of this choice, as it really leaves it up to the user how good it will look. I’ll talk about the stickers a bit later as they are one of my few sticking points on this release.

The cockpit is fully detailed, with painted seats and a console. It’s absolutely stunning to look at, despite not being able to open the gorgeous silver and blue compartment to fit any pilot or accessory inside. In the centre mass of the fuselage, there is an opening hatch that allows you to mount the Power Pilot (Fans Hobby’s variation on the Godmaster/Powermaster). The hatch can then be folded over on a compound hinge to partially cover the newly mounted engine, or you can remove it altogether and fold away the remaining hinge component to allow a more full view of the engine.

Infinitely swooshable, and tons of fun. I can’t wait for his brother to release so that the combined “Darkwings” jet mode can be achieved!

Robot Mode

Conversion is fun and straight forward, with only a couple “let me check the instructions” moments, which were more for my own safety (ie: not breaking my new toys). I always have a ton of fun checking out a new Fans Hobby release and trying to sort out the conversion myself before resorting to the documentation. 9 times out of 10 it’s a solvable puzzle with only a few small details that might need double checking.

After a few folds, twists, and clicks… Voila! Hubba hubba! This is one gorgeous bot! Buster (and his US counterpart, Dreadwind) have some of the coolest G1 designs in my opinion. They take everything that’s cool about the classic seeker jet robot and just obliterate it with style and class.

The headsculpt which can sometimes be a stumbling block, turned out absolutely gorgeous on this release with striking metallic paint applied expertly. From head to toe this is one gorgeous war machine.

Fans Hobby got the perfect mix of purples and reds to really bring Destroyer to life and evoke the character from Masterforce in the flesh (or rather, plastic) on my desk for me to enjoy. I’ve long sought a representation of Buster in his anime colours for my collection and this absolutely checks that off the list.

His proportions are a bit longer and leaner than the original toy design, as they are looking to the on-screen portrayal as an inspiration, while still filtering in toy touches where they can. This can give him a bit of a lanky appearance at first glance. I found this took a little bit of getting used to and I’m well past it at this point and falling in love more and more every time I catch a glance of this handsome lad on my desk. The combination of this character being a long time wish-lister for me, and him turning out so well have me over the moon.

Articulation

Alright… so I’ve been gushing, it’s been mostly sunshine and rainbows (except for the brief stop off in Sticker-Land) but now we come down to the articulation on this release.

Destroyer is… average. It seems strange to say that, as Fans Hobby is usually going the extra mile when it comes to articulation, with double joints, hidden articulation, lock switches, ratchets, and every other trick in the book.

Now, let me be clear, average doesn’t mean bad. In fact, Fans Hobby’s “average” is still a lot higher than most imo. But it did strike me as a little bit odd compared to so many of their previous releases when I discovered how simple /some/ of the joint design was on this release.

From the top down we have:

- Ball jointed neck. Decent range. No extending peg or other tricks. The head also slides back/forward at the base of the neck for transformation, and you can utilise this in bot mode.

- Compound universal shoulder hinges w/ raising armor flap, outward ratchets, and front/back butterfly motion. Phenomenal.

- Bicep swivel, Single jointed elbow that does not exceed 90º, Wrist swivel and individually articulated fingers and thumb.

- Limited waist swivel, about 45º left or right, with a slight side to side “hula” range as well.

- With the hip skirts raised, he can kick forward just under 90º, backwards to about 45º, and outwards just under 90º as well.

- Thigh swivel, 90º at the knee on a ratcheted joint.

- Ball jointed ankle, on a base hinge, with extending ankle stalk. Extending heel spur.

I would have liked to see double elbows and knees integrated if possible, and I always love a good ab crunch. Given his design limitations I can see why the waist/abdomen is a bit locked up. I am quite pleased they still managed to include some waist swivel in there. It does puzzle me that the elbows and knees are as limited as they are.

It’s nothing that ruins the experience in any way, he’s still a very competent figure to pose and play with, it’s just a bit strange considering how agile and articulate some of their other releases have been in recent memory. The ankles are incredibly versatile especially if you extend the foot out all the way. The only thing that might cause some frustration is that you will almost certainly collapse the lower legs extending armour while playing and posing. It’s no biggie, don’t let it bug ya. It really doesn’t affect the look or feel of the toy in the end.

Accessories

1x Power Pilot

The tried and true Fans Hobby Power Pilot is back. This time in a red and grey number with silver and chrome accents, and a new helmet! If you’ve handled any of the previous pilots for Power Baser, Double Evil, Double Agent, or other Fans Hobby releases, you’ll know what to expect. The paint work is gorgeous for such a small piece. After all this time, and multiple releases, I’m still surprised by how posable these little guys are.

2x Laser Rifles

A couple of honkin’ blasters. Poured in a dark grey plastic, with gunmetal paint detailing on the middle section, and flip out handles. There are rectangular pegs on the side that allow them to tab under the wings as weaponry in alt mode, or as storage in robot mode. The front of the barrels are hollow and look like they may accommodate 3mm effects parts.

1x Sticker Sheet

2 rectangular “tech detail” stickers for his chest, a silver chrome decal for either side of the vertical stabiliser, and twin pinstripes for either wing. The wing stripes are an iconic look of both Buster and Dreadwing, and getting these things applied correctly was a real pain. I would have preferred a larger sticker that covers the entire white portion of the wing, or, even better, a paint application, additionally if you want to apply Decepticon badges to the wings, now you are putting stickers on top of stickers.

1x Instructions and Collectors Card

Final Thoughts

Ever since the first prototype was shown I’ve been anxiously looking forward to MB-23 Destroyer’s release. It’s an incredible feeling, finally having a modern rendition of this character for my Masterforce shelf. Fans Hobby absolutely did not disappoint. The build quality and deco are phenomenal, and the articulation, while not earth shattering, is still incredibly competent. The only element of the experience that I ultimately didn’t care for were the wing stickers, and all things considered that’s a pretty minor concern. (I did also break a fin off of one of the missiles, but that was my fault, as long as you are careful I don’t think this will be a concern for most)

MB-23 comes highly recommended from me, and I look forward to checking out his other G1 inspired colorway, in MB-23A Fright Storm. Keep an eye out for that photo gallery coming soon as he’s already arrived on my doorstep at the time of writing this review! You can get your own MB-23 Destroyer directly from Fans Hobby or through your preferred retailer of third party transforming robot toys. I highly recommend Ages Three and Up, especially if you are in Canada like me!

Again a huge thanks to Fans Hobby for letting me check out this latest release and share my photos and thoughts with you all!