Meister's vehicle mode is a Mazda RX-8. (By the way, in case you're wondering why Meister wasn't just called Autobot Jazz, the head designer, Aaron Archer, said he wanted to try something a bit different for this guy, since "Autobot ____" sounded kinda silly.) Anyways, as you'd expect from an Alternator, Meister has a pretty much flawless vehicle mode. The proportions are perfect, the headlights and tailights look perfect, the colors go together well, the doors open, the interior seats, adjust, and the like. One slight downside is that the bottom of Meister's arms tend to stick out a bit below the front bumper. Again, it's not TOO obvious, but it does retract from the vehicle mode's real-ness just a tad. Given Meister's design similarity to Alternator Smokescreen & Silverstreak-- even though he is a completely different mold-- I suppose it's also only appropriate to draw an important comparison when we're talking about detailing-- the back seats in the interior of the car now look like actual seats, whereas in the Subaru Alternators, they were more obviously the upper robot legs. So that's a definite plus. Also, if you lift up the hood, you'll notice that there's now mechanical detailing on the inside, not an engine-weapon-- this is because Meister's robot mode weapon is made out of his muffler instead.
    Again, because of the design similarity, Meister has a very similar transformation to Smokescreen & Silverstreak, and a very similar look in robot mode. He also has pretty much the exact same articulation as his predecessors, as well. A couple of important details are different, however. For one, I like the design of the legs on Meister MUCH better. They're nice, fairly stiff ratcheting joints that bend more like real legs, whereas with the legs on Smokescreen and Silverstreak, you almost had to bend them backwards at the knees to get them to stand fairly straight. So that's a pretty sizable plus, there. The transformation back to car mode is also noticeably easier, as the leg pieces have a more obvious position they're supposed to be in when transforming him back-- this wasn't the case with Smokescreen/Silverstreak. The car roof on Meister's back also folds up some so it doesn't hang quite so low-- in contrast, Smokescreen and Silverstreak's roof didn't fold up, but part of the roof was connected to their robot legs instead of back, so it didn't need to. The face, of course, is also completely different, and a spot-on representation of G1 Jazz. In fact, if you look closely, behind his visor, you can see two normal optics-- a really cool detail. There are a few flaws apparent on Meister that aren't there on Smokescreen and Silverstreak, however. For one, the gun looks rather weak-- it's completely hollow on one side, for one, which makes it unpleasantly asymmetrical, and it doesn't fit into Meister's hand very well, and this can be a little annoying. Also, the arms are held to the chest by pegs this time, and although the pegs aren't so shallow that they'll come out if you just move the arms, sometimes the arms will pop off during transformation. The front parts of his feet also fold down instead of down and out like on Smokescreen/Silverstreak, and I think this doesn't look quite as good. Still, this mode is really top-notch in nearly all respects, so these minor downsides are easily overlooked.
    Meister is one of the best Alternators around, and about on par with Silverstreak. His color scheme, while not the most original, is a good one, and certainly fitting for the character. He has a few very minor flaws, but they are nothing compared to the excellent details, articulation, proportions, and design on this toy. Very highly recommended.

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Review by Beastbot

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