Fans Hobby MasterBuilder MB-03B The Red Dragon

This tremendous looking beast is Fans Hobby's "Red Dragon". Designated MB-03B in the MasterBuilder series (basically Masterpiece-alike), it is their repaint of Feilong/Doublecross into a Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Megatron. There was already a show exclusive MB-03A, but this has a slightly different deco and is mass release. You can read my review of the base mould for Feilong separately, as I'll be focusing on this toy's looks and features for this review as opposed to an in-depth rundown of the mould itself.

The Red Dragon comes with a few alterations to the mould compared to Feilong, although it's not quite as extensive a retool as Flypro. For a start, the wings come packaged separately, and they need to be slid onto the torso. The wings are probably the most gloriously impressive feature on this beautiful figure; just the right side of translucent, lovely gradiented colours that give the appearance of flames, and three separate articulated wing segments. They can be folded forwards or backwards, and angled high up too. Definitely my favourite element of the design. He has an astonishing wingspan.

Red Dragon here comes with the regular humanoid fist accessories too, the ones that can be inserted into the dragon head mouths. He comes with two purple swords with a very cool hilt/grip that connect together to make a much longer weapon. There are no extra faces on this version, but the headsculpt he does have is glorious, yessss? He also has the flame accessories, and they are the nicest yet with proper gradiented translucent colours.

There are so many gorgeous design elements to this deco. The vibrant red tones and the gold tampos really stand out. I am still a firm supporter of Fans Hobby putting Cybertronian/tech-style tampos on the figures they produce, it's such a cool signature. The weapon grip was solid on Dragon but I did think there was a touch more looseness in the legs than Feilong, however that could be down to those massive wings messing up the weight distribution a little. I found the whole chest/neck transformation a bit harder to get going on this one compared to previous versions of the mould.

For Feilong, the transformation was interesting, Flypro shared much of the same stuff but with different upper body details. Red Dragon is pretty much identical to Feilong, and I must say I'll be happy if Fans Hobby curtail the repaints of this mould now, as I have grown quite weary of that leg transformation with its insufficient clearance. You are rewarded with a seriously killer and striking beast mode, though.

I adore those flame accessories, especially the ones that come with this Dragon. The more photos I posted of this figure online, the more people started to notice how impressive it was. I must say, pre photography, I did not sense much interest at all in this one. I know buyers of the show exclusive MB-03A were a bit miffed that after paying what they did, a very similar version would be made available at retail for everyone else. The wings are different though, less translucent than the A version, plus there are the lovely extra faces that the limited show exclusive owners can enjoy. It's not so bad! I should also mention that the individual purple swords can be mounted on his wings to give an excellent attack look....which I failed to photograph!

Before reviewing Red Dragon, I would have said there's no need for any Feilong owners who aren't into Beast Wars to invest. It's not cheap and there's not enough that is different about him. Now, however, I am stunned at how comprehensively he outshines Feilong visually. From the wings, to the delicious purple and gold detailing, better-looking flame accessories and a wonderful BW Megatron headsculpt, I think this is a stunner. It's so red, so aflame that it actually lets you believe that it radiates heat. Just one more success for this wicked 3P outfit.

An enchanting creature.

All the best

Maz