EXACTLY what I was thinking off, mate!Originally Posted by Kyle
I'm tempted to get an extra of this new ROTF BB and put his head on a Premium BB from the first movie... This way I'll have the definitive version of the first movie Bumblebee...
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EXACTLY what I was thinking off, mate!I'm tempted to get an extra of this new ROTF BB and put his head on a Premium BB from the first movie... This way I'll have the definitive version of the first movie Bumblebee...
Current Wants: Shadow Scyther
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Just remember guys - if a better version comes out, I'll be looking to unload my current loose one. No need to pay full price for a MOSC one just for a head swap/custom.
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Some quick thoughts on the scouts I picked up at Chadstone this week:
Dead End (red car): Two good modes although the arms are a little long and it's tricky to line up all the panels in vehicle mode. The colours work very well.
Knock Out (green bike): They're getting better and better with bikes. Excellent bike mode, strong robot mode. The colours work well. I love the way the muffler becomes a hand weapon. The transformation is new. The only shortcoming: the side panels pop off fairly easily.
Dirt Boss (fork lift), Rollbar (delivery van): unopened at this stage. Both feature original vehicle modes. Dirt Boss looks really good in packaging although his colours area little garish. Rollbar looks somewhat panelly but still decent. Full reviews will hit my website (as usual).
Eagerly waiting for Masterpiece Meister
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Got 3 of the scouts and 3 of the legend figures.
The scouts I am quite impressed with. The legends even moreso.
Knock Out - A somewhat newish conversion for a bike mode. I especially like the conversion up front. Still not a fan of the wheel kibble dangling over the shoulders and the panels on the legs, but it's still a well proportioned alt mode and an ok robot mode.
Dead End - Very nice and sleek alt mode with great detail sexy curves. As Dirge mentioned, it can be tough to align the panels and I found that the instructions for those panels aren't sufficient. The bot mode is decent with some pretty cool spindly hands.
Dirt Boss - is my favorite of the new scouts. A great bot mode with good articulation on both arms and legs, although the head is stuck in one spot. Using the forks as a baton like weapon is a stroke of genius and retains a nice solid connection with his alt mode. The conversion is a winner for me. To put it simply it's like turning a sock inside-out. The way the chair and steering wheel folds out and just the sheer small size of it's alt mode compared to a proportionately bigger robot mode is engineering genius. It still has it's faults though but I'm just a lot more forgiving if the conversion is inspired (ala Universe Galvatron). It can be a little tough to align particular pegs together during conversion and can feel a little loose.
All 3 scouts did have a loose ball joint or two. Especially on Dead Ends elbow joints which makes his arms dangle. The forr joint pins are also a little loose. So Hasbro QC strikes again.
Legends Springer - A really excellent robot mode with nice articulation on the forearms and overall a great look. Would have been nice to have knee articulation but I guess cost restrictions prevented that. Conversion is quite graceful and not overly simple. The alt mode is also solid with very minimal robot kibble.
Legends Jetfire - Bot mode has a slightly small torso and the legs may look dispropotionately long in packaging but it has 3 points of articulation to allow you to bend it to it's "proper" position as a "chicken walker." His arms are long withonly a ball joint on the shoulder and his walking stick on his left arm. Conversion is interesting especially for the arms. The alt mode is nice and sleek although there is a lot of visible bot kibble, namely the head sticking out at the back and the arms very visible (not helped by its contrasting silver colour) underneath. But you can't expect too much int his size class.
Legends Optimus Prime - This is perhaps the best Legends class Optimus Prime I've ever laid my hands on. The bot mode is well proportioned with the only real kibble being the large forearms (which resembles the FAB arms actually) but it just makes him look buff more than anything. Conversion is the biggest winner here, with an amazingly engineered transformation that is best left to experiencefor yourself. At this size it's just well engineered. The alt mode itself is also well proportioned and looks highly accurate. With the only real visible kibble being the hand/fists. Otherwise very accurate. I'm well impressed.
There was no official instructions or pictures alluding to having a combined mode for OP and Jetfire. From what I could tell you just peg the two together. Jetfire in alt mode and OP in bot mode. Looks great if just a backpack.
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The transformation of Legends OP is simply amazing. He's like a mini version of the Leader Class toy from the first movie. Brilliant.
Pics and comparisons of the combined mode:
http://www.hk-tf.com/discuz/upload/v...ge=4#pid178926
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Sideswipe First Thoughts
He has a puzzle-former look in alt mode, although no where near as obvious as Universe Ironhide. His paint job is very similar to Premium Jazz, so he looks nice and shiny, but there's plenty of room for smudges, chips, blobs and other blemishes. I think it's a pretty impressive alt mode. Very nice.
It's been so long since I played with new Movie toys, I've forgotten how fiddly they are. Nothing popped off, but both of the toys I've played with require the plastic's flexibility to get certain parts around other parts, and it does have a light and thin feel to it.
The transformation reminded me a bit of Animated Blurr as I pulled this shard out this way, and another out that way. There's a lot of kibble in robot mode (basically all the planks of the Corvette minus the boot where his head pops out), but it's folded up as a backpack and I don't think it hinders his aesthetic too bad.
His bot mode has great proportions. The flip out blades are automorphed so that if you move one half, the other half flips around perfectly in sync. There are three hydraulic looking connectors from his thigh to his shin, one in the back and two in front. The two in front are soft rubber plastic and give the bot mode and his movements a very realistic feel, but you have to be considerate of them as you move his thighs around as they can get caught in a crack and get snapped. Unfortunately, his face seems to just be the light, plain gray they covered up so well nearly everywhere else with metallic paint.
Lastly, I've only transformed him to bot and back once, but while he was in bot, I simply could not stand him up. Not due to balancing issues, but this is another bot with wheels for feet, a la Bonecrusher. The only difference being he doesn't seem to have that stabilizing peg that Bonecrusher did.
Leader Prime First Thoughts
Leader Prime is pretty amazing. The first transformation was painful. I used the instructions and it still took me around least 20-30 minutes. By the I returned it back to robot mode, I was much more comfortable and already in awe of some of the subtleties. There is a peg and a slot for everything (w/one slight exception).
The robot is considerably more posable than 2007. However, there's a slight annoyance in that you can't have his arms straight at his side (or even close) with the blades retracted. They really conflict with the back of his shoulders. His neck is not on a ball joint, but the plank it sits on has its own articulation therefore giving you pretty much any position that a ball joint would.
Fear of Premium Series: The red and the blue are more reminiscent of the 2007 Premium Series than the regular series. Unfortunately, there's still an abundance of "Hasbro Gray". The two shoulder points are painted metal, but that's about it. I hope there is a Premium Series, or even better a Takara Premium Series, because some painted metal and a touch of chrome would give this thing utter perfection.
Interestingly enough, it's approximately the same height as MP Grimlock and Starscream and looks surprisingly well next to them. I recently re-boxed up my MP-4 because it didn't blend well with MP-3/8. This new Prime will hang with them in the meantime.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I concur witht he impressive engineering feat that is RotF Leader Optimus Prime. When I finally got the bot in my hands I just couldn't fathom how that thin lanky bot would convert into a truck.
The robot mode is relatively kibble free except for the biggest downfall of the figure... the damn shoulder kibble and forearm kibble plus the blades completely bash against each other overlapping and just cannot sit right. It affects arm movement and I was severely dissapointed with that. The legs were great with hip joints, knee joints and a ball jointed feet. The mech alive gimmick is not all that good and the effect makes it look like OP is about to combust.
However the real winner here is the conversion. Like jay said. Initial transformation took me a good 30 minutes as Hasbro's instructions were of no help and there was even a few errors. Just be careful at:
- step 4 (requires precise alignment and pegging them properly in the right spots)
- step 7 (the chest piece that looks attached inside his chest grille is meant to be popped out of it's groove)
- step 10 (requires a fold down of the shoulder pin joint while swivelling the shoulder joint back wards)
- step 16 (the diagram is actually helpful here, just pay attention as you need to wedge it into the wedges in the arms)
- step 18 (requires the canisters to be up and not in the spot shown in the diagram, as you will never get the panels to fold over the canisters).
Of note in the conversion is the amazing way the full smokestack converts together and how the chest turns into the actual truck cab and still retain the mech alive gears gimmick.
The truck mode is beautiful with nary any seams or any obvious visible bot kibble on the underside. Absolutely seamless and you feel rewarded for such a puzzling conversion at just how it all fits together. If I was to point out something - the gap near the utility box and gas tanks are a little annoying but nothing major. You may wonder where the button for the truck mode sound effects is, it's just on the back of the cab on the grey panel, the small square on the left with the little triangle. Thanks to jay for pointing that out to me as there was nothing hinting it in the instructions and only a vague useless pointer in the back of box.
Quite simply an engineering marvel. This is why I love Transformers.
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