FansProject's Crossfire 2: Bruticus Upgrade

[FFN]

Does anybody know how the hell are you supposed to get the cannon "backpack" to stay on securely?

The peg and socket ont he backpack goes into Onslaught/Barricade's 5mm peg hole and Mini-Con port on his shoulders (which ends up on Bruticus' back when combined). However, the shoulder pieces and thus the pegs on Onslaught are space too far apart.

I can't push them inwards (as if it's some sort of Hasbro QC problem), because the panel for Colossus head has specifically-spaced holes to lock the chest into the torso. So the cannon backpack is only secured on one side if I lock the chest in. So I've decided to not bother locking the chest/head panel in so the backpack can fit. (I've noticed the beginnings of white stress marks already, so probably for the best). Fortunately the chest's joint is tight enough to hold the ehtire thing up



This is one of several design issues I have with this set.

[kup]

Here are pics of the hand as requested - Sorry about the amount of pics but the figure is so pose-able that I couldn't help it

[kup]

Does anybody know how the hell are you supposed to get the cannon "backpack" to stay on securely?

The peg and socket ont he backpack goes into Onslaught/Barricade's 5mm peg hole and Mini-Con port on his shoulders (which ends up on Bruticus' back when combined). However, the shoulder pieces and thus the pegs on Onslaught are space too far apart.

You need force to get the backpack peg to fit in both holes - Once you accomplish this, it's very secure. Also make sure the figure is aligned. Mine has no problem at all with this.

I also managed to figure out the waist plate, it fits in securely now. With the upgrade this toy is much more solid than the original set up despite the vastly increased poseability.

[FFN]

I can't do that. I am looking at it now - with the backpack secured properly to Onslaught's shoulders, the tiny pegs that the head panel fit to are now spaced too closely together to fit into the Colossus head panel.

As I am already seeing some whitening marks (the beginning of stress marks) on the silver plastic of the panel, I'm not going to bother securing the head panel to Onslaught's shoulders. As far as I can tell, this is not a QC issue with either toy, but some dodgy design.

Was I unlucky and somehow got a pre-production run toy? (I heard this set was delayed because there were problems getting parts to fit.


I think the waist plate is a piece of crap. The problem is it's ball jointed, not hinged, so it can't move up along with his thigh. Coupled with the fact Onslaught's knees (thus Bruticus' thighs) have Mini-Con ports right at the top, moving the thighs forward will inevitably pop the waist plate off. A better design would have been two hinged panels, like on, I dunno, MP Convoy or a higher-end Gundam.

[kup]

I can't do that. I am looking at it now - with the backpack secured properly to Onslaught's shoulders, the tiny pegs that the head panel fit to are now spaced too closely together to fit into the Colossus head panel.

As you can see, it's aligned. To me this is one of the most secured pieces.

I think the waist plate is a piece of crap. The problem is it's ball jointed, not hinged, so it can't move up along with his thigh. Coupled with the fact Onslaught's knees (thus Bruticus' thighs) have Mini-Con ports right at the top, moving the thighs forward will inevitably pop the waist plate off.

As I wrote in the first post, I originally fell into the same trap. After I read that LiegePrime managed to place the waits plate securely, I tried again and you are actually supposed to shape the ball hinges of the plate so they go over the minicon ports. The result of this was a solid plate so the biggest flaw that I found on the gestalt was just me not positioning the piece properly.

The only real design flaw that I see in the set are Onslaught's missile pods at the individual figure level. They hinder articulation severely and seem to easy to pop off despite looking pretty cool.

[FFN]

The waist plate is fine for relatively static poses, but being ball jointed means they have a limited degree of movement. Which is why I think it's a piece of crap. If the two side pieces were hinged at the top, they would move up as the thigh moved, like on MP Prime and Gundams.

As for the backpack/headplate - I can do what you do with force, but I feel as though I am stressing parts whilst doing so (and in any case, the backpack can still detach if Vortex's arms bump into the stored left shotgun).

Looking cool but I wish that had just gone all out and made the whole team from scratch. Would kill for a new Vortex and Brawl. =/

Not me. I am not enthused with how tightly-fitting the parts are in vehicle mode. While it looks better and less "gappy" than a real Transformer, the trade off is it's more difficult to get the parts to separate so it can transform.

Another problem I have (and this goes back to City Commander) is that the CAD modellers didn't round off the corners on edges and such of, so the finished products end up with unnecessarily sharp and pointy corners.

[kup]

The waist plate is fine for relatively static poses, but being ball jointed means they have a limited degree of movement. Which is why I think it's a piece of crap. If the two side pieces were hinged at the top, they would move up as the thigh moved, like on MP Prime and Gundams.

As for the backpack/headplate - I can do what you do with force, but I feel as though I am stressing parts whilst doing so (and in any case, the backpack can still detach if Vortex's arms bump into the stored left shotgun).

Not me. I am not enthused with how tightly-fitting the parts are in vehicle mode. While it looks better and less "gappy" than a real Transformer, the trade off is it's more difficult to get the parts to separate so it can transform.

Another problem I have (and this goes back to City Commander) is that the CAD modellers didn't round off the corners on edges and such of, so the finished products end up with unnecessarily sharp and pointy corners.

You seem to be trying really hard to hate this set

[gdmetro]

Not me. I am not enthused with how tightly-fitting the parts are in vehicle mode. While it looks better and less "gappy" than a real Transformer, the trade off is it's more difficult to get the parts to separate so it can transform.

Another problem I have (and this goes back to City Commander) is that the CAD modellers didn't round off the corners on edges and such of, so the finished products end up with unnecessarily sharp and pointy corners.

This is a valid point, one I never even thought to complain about. I rarely transform FP pieces, for reason, that Im scared to break, chip something, and the value of them. Their designs allow for transformation, but not with the engineering smoothness of Hasbro/Takaras designs- since those are obviously designed for kids and actual play wear.

I guess just being able to get these upgrades outweighs and masks flaws from my eyes.

Hopefully these flaws will be improved upon as FP continues to release newer designs.

[kup]

This is a valid point, one I never even thought to complain about. I rarely transform FP pieces, for reason, that Im scared to break, chip something, and the value of them. Their designs allow for transformation, but not with the engineering smoothness of Hasbro/Takaras designs- since those are obviously designed for kids and actual play wear.

I guess just being able to get these upgrades outweighs and masks flaws from my eyes.

Hopefully these flaws will be improved upon as FP continues to release newer designs.

I disagree with calling those flaws. They seem more in line with opinions.

[FFN]

You seem to be trying really hard to hate this set

I am far tougher on a specifically fan-designed, collector-focused, high-priced toy than I am with a much cheaper toy that was not made with people my age in mind.

This is a valid point, one I never even thought to complain about. I rarely transform FP pieces, for reason, that Im scared to break, chip something, and the value of them. Their designs allow for transformation, but not with the engineering smoothness of Hasbro/Takaras designs- since those are obviously designed for kids and actual play wear.

I guess just being able to get these upgrades outweighs and masks flaws from my eyes.

Hopefully these flaws will be improved upon as FP continues to release newer designs.

Yeah, that's what I mean - they lack the engineering smoothness of transformation in an actual Transformer. Also, peg are a little *too* tight on this - you shouldn't need to use such force to get the shotguns into the backpack for storage, for example. You can possibly pull the entire backpack off whilst trying to extricate the guns.

But granted. It looks FANTASTIC. Just that they're not quite as playable or as user-friendly as a real Transformer.