Mastermind Creations Titanika - Strika

Mastermind Creations Titanika - Strika

Strika isn't a character I know anything about, but I do love Mastermind Creations so didn't hesitate to snap up this figure. Now I have another satisfying figure to add to my Reformatted shelf.

She is a decent looking APC, but I'm not too enamored of the design. I won't be keeping her in vehicle mode anyways. Clean blue and metallic gold paint applications break up the purple plastic. She rolls well on three pairs of rubber tires. Her rifles store on ports on either side. There are ports on the vehicle for the handles and slots on the rifles for ridges on the vehicles. Both need to be lined up.

Transformation both ways is pretty easy. I do wish a couple of flaps in the backpack and butt were a little more secure. They are not loose; they just don't peg into anything. The rotating knee covers also needed tabs because they are constantly moving out of place. Overall, the process is satisfying and not at all aggravating. There is sort of a little bit of parts-forming, with the bumpers detaching to reattach on her rifles. If left on the front grill, they become backpack mounted cannons, but her shoulder pylons invariably knock them off. 

As expected from MMC, robot mode reveals more metallic paint applications and great line work. She towers over Eupatorium and the rest of the Fembots. She has a wonderful head sculpt with metallic red eyes. Unfortunately, there is a little divot in the silver paint on my copy. Since I've taken up painting miniatures as yet another hobby, perhaps I can fix that. Her butt flap is reminiscent of Masterpiece Ultra Magnus' butt flap, but there are a couple of different ways of handling it.

Her head is on a balljoint that sits on a hinged panel so she can look up and down a bit. Her shoulders are on hinged balljoints. She can butterfly her arms forward ever so slightly, but pushing them back too much will untab her backpack. Her arms can't quite raise to 90 degrees because her shoulder pylons hit her backpack. Not being careful in manipulating her arms can cause the backpack to untab. She swivels at the biceps, wrists, thighs, and shins. She can also swivel at the waist, but the butt flap may need to be moved out of the way first, depending on how you've folded it. Her thumbs are on balljoints and her fingers are single-pinned but articulate individually. She has double-jointed elbows and knees that can get past 90 degrees. There are ratchets in the lower joints of her knees. Her hips are on universals with ratchets in the transverse axis. She has separate toe and heel tilts and rockers.

Her only accessories are two rifles that are identical. They have metallic silver and gold paint applications with the plenty of line work. They slot in her hands with the typical MMC handles but atypical slotted grooves in the palms. The process is still more fiddly than it needs to be, but is slightly better than with previous MMC hands. Like the kneepads, the rifles are easily knocked out of position.

I'm not sure if she is supposed to be a Decepticon, an Autobot, or a neutral party since I don't know which version of Strika MMC is referencing. She looks great next to either team. Despite the annoyance of the backpack sculpt getting in the way of her shoulders, Titanika is a great addition to the MMC Reformatted line. I simply can't wait for more.