Mastermind Creations Ocular Max REmix01 Jaguar

        It's a bit of a familiar story by now.  In October of 2015, I believe, pictures of an astonishingly 80's Transformers cartoon-accurate Ravage began wandering the internet.  A third-party, unofficial Transformer.  After I felt a bit of disappointment in the latest official incarnation of Ravage, I saw what looked like an awesome, reasonably-sized representation of a favorite character of mine.  Surely it was inevitable.
        And then WAITING!  There was.  So much waiting.  Waiting for more pictures, then for a potential release date, then a pre-order.  It was within hours of the first pre-order opening that I decided yeah, I had to, put in my order... and waited.  Somewhat unfortunately, the release date was right before Chinese New Year, which meant delays everywhere.  Delays in leaving the retailer to get to the post office, delays in leaving the country, massive delays in getting through customs in the US and then finally being delivered.  This guy left China on February 11 and arrived at my door on March 19.  Worth the wait?

        Yes.  Was it still annoying?  Of course it was.  But that's because waiting.  The packing itself has been criticized by some, but... it's a reasonably sturdy cardboard box wrapped in an envelope, with a sturdy styrofoam insert protecting the figure's case itself.  If there's any complaint to have, it's with customs and mail carriers.

        The box was not completely unscathed, but a lot better than some.  Or so they have said.  I threw the box away shortly after, so whatever.

        I felt so old.  It's a real cassette case.  Properly sized and everything; though the special feature is the raised ridges of the "target", part of the plastic itself.  Also, of course the word "diecast" is in silver foil.

        Just a lovely sight, really.  Along with super fun bio text.  I could not wait.

        And inside the case?  The instructions.  Yes, beautiful, perfect.  And the character card.  I'm so glad these came back into being.

        It's the same text as on the back of the case, but it's a lovely card so I will not fault anyone for that.

        Finally free.  And while there aren't any stickers or "tape decorations", he looks really good in this mode.  Well-designed, decently put together.
        Something else of note: how heavy he is.  My postal scale said he's about 4.2 ounces.  That may seem like absolutely nothing, but for a figure this size it's pretty hefty.  Honestly, I like it; diecast has been missed in the all-plastic figures, and the sense of heft is just sort of a nice thing to have.  I mean, diecast.  It's a lost art.

        Now to compare to my darling G1 Ravage, on the left.  Scaled up a fair bit, yes, though technically Ravage was supposed to be a mini cassette as everyone on a Transformers forum will yell at you if you forget that fact, but still.  Comparison.

        THERE HE IS.  Oh.  Just.  Oh.  And while it's really very hard to get a picture of, those eyes are slightly metallic red.  That was a nice surprise.
        As for transformation itself, the instructions are pretty good, but I think this video helped me more personally.  The way he's put together is a little different than standard Transformers are, and a demonstration was helpful.  There are a lot of ball joints and turning pieces which are extremely easy once you've done the transformation back and forth a couple of times, but might be a little tricky until then.

        That moment when you have to re-angle one of the missiles because it keeps reflecting too much light into the camera.  No complaints.  Nor do I have complaints about the poseability.  Some joints are still super stiff, but those will work themselves out over time.  (I mean, he did pretty much come straight from the factory.)  The right front leg was really hell to get "unclipped" from a folded position, but that too will wear a bit over time.  While I don't seem to be having as many complaints about the hip joints as some, they have popped off for me... but since popping them back on is barely an effort, I'm not really complaining.  More, it's that I need to take more time in swinging the missiles out.

        "What."  He's taking a well-earned break, geez.

        I have seen some complaints about the way his "middle portion" doesn't snap together/isn't completely solid.  And yes, maybe visually that would take some getting used to for some, but it's also all part of his ability to move and pose fluidly.  It's rather ingenious design when it comes to subtle motion poses.  And it's kind of fun to play with, besides.

        You can see some of the more "open" areas here.  They still look good to me, so I'll assume it's just "angry internet man syndrome" and move on.
        I... guess this counts as an ass shot.  So wrong, guys.

        Kitty tummy!  ...This one really might kill you if you try, though.

        As of the time of this writing, this is still how he's posed on my desk.  I just... love it, okay.

        For all the "cuteness", he's still capable of some truly terrifying poses too.  I mean, you read his bio, right?  ...Getting such a weird Five Nights at Freddy's vibe from this...

        I'm sure they'll get along, actually.  But wow has toy engineering come a long way.
        Overall, I'm really, really pleased with this figure.  Especially coming from a third-party designer and manufacturer, it's top-notch in terms of design.  Apparently I was punished a little bit in terms of my timing, since I just had to get in on the first release, but considering how happy I am with him, the wait was a minor annoyance.  The movement is good, the quality (at least for me, and for this particular figure) is amazing, and for those of us who truly do live on nostalgia, this was a very reasonably-priced must-get no matter what.
        ...And yes, I may have already ordered some Decepticon stickers.  Because that left shoulder just looks too bare.