BadCube OTS-13 Piper

I was so impressed with BadCube’s Huff that I didn’t hesitate to order Piper, their Masterpiece Pipes.

The Box

Continuing their two tone style, the box is blue and white to match the figure inside.

No gun for Piper, just his pipes. He does however, include two options to customize his face and, in the TOE category, a Metro Gear (aka Metroplex’s transformation cog).

The Figure

The robot mode certainly looks like it stepped out of the original cartoon. One nice touch is how the side mirrors tuck away inside the cab when in robot mode.

One odd thing about the back of the figure is the support bar that stretches from his back to the bumper of the cab. I wish that they had designed something a little more elegant

The Truck

This mold really looks good in blue and the silver front bumper really stands out and is a nice nod to the G1 toy.

The biggest flaw of the vehicle mode is that the robot waist does not lock into place so it is far too easy to twist the tow bed out of alignment while handling it. Another compromise in the new leg transformation is that the hip joints are visible in vehicle mode.

Not Just a Repaint

One of the best things about BadCube is that they put a lot of work into secondary releases like this one to make sure that they are distinct from their mold-mate. As you can see, there have been some extensive changes to the robot mode to match the original including different positioning of the cab, visible wheels and his namesake arm-mounted exhaust pipes.

One drawback to the new cab positioning is that you loose out on one of the better features of Huff’s robot mode, the collapsing cab which shrinks his profile considerably.

Vehicle mode is much closer to Huff with only the new smoke stacks and lack of weapon storage to differentiate the two.

As you can see, Piper does a much better job hiding the robot parts in this view.

As you can also see, Huff does a better job hiding the robot parts in the side view than Piper.

The Masterpiece

(Autobot symbols sold separately)

Due to the design of the back side of the cab there isn’t a really good spot for a huge Autobot badge like you see on the G1 figure. The hinges for the smoke stack mounts and inset rear “window” only leave space for a very small symbol.

(Autobot symbols sold separately)

The Conclusion

(Autobot symbols sold separately)

I have to admit that I’ve become something of a BadCube mini-bot fan-boy. This mold, like Huff, is just fun. A very intuitive transformation and playability that you don’t usually get with third-party Masterpieces.

* “That One Episode” – the obligatory Masterpiece accessory that the character used once in the cartoon.