Honda Japan tweeted out a pair of photos of the prototype of Masterpiece Skids late Wednesday night – or early Thursday afternoon depending which side of the world you’re looking at.

It’s a somewhat unexpected source for a first look, but Honda seems proud of the figure they’ve licensed a vehicle likeness for. According to the tweet, images of the prototype can be seen in the latest issue of Figure King Magazine. Whether that will mean just these two specific photos, or more as part of a larger shoot, we’re not sure just yet.

When the design lineart for Skids was first shown off around New Years, one of the claims that went with it was a renewed approach to Masterpiece. What some of us took from that and the way the design model looked was that Skids would be of a simpler construction, and not strive so hard for cartoon accuracy. This prototype seems to back those conclusions up.

It’s pretty easy to see the robot’s legs folded up inside the passenger compartment, and the arms are probably hanging along the underbody of the car. The transformation looks like it will be a relatively simple operation, going between a realistic and pretty clean looking compact car, and a robot that fuses the look and feel of the original toy, as well as media reinterpretation of it. For some collectors this is sure to be a breath of fresh air. We can only hope right now that a lower price point goes along with this, as even what should be simple Autobot car MPs have been commanding uncomfortably high prices in recent years.

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