The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[sh9000]

 

[JB0]

5 hours ago, captain america said:

Problem is, they're already fairly advanced in the development for Prime and Hound that I'd be shocked if they attempted to alter/improve the figures from this point forward.

I know, I just really hate that scorpion-tail armature. It is ugly, and it makes the problem it is trying to solve WORSE instead of better. There better be a REALLY good reason there's not a simple flap in the hood that rotates around.

(Even if there's a good reason, I still think the armature is no different than a loose headpiece that snaps on. Were I buying this one, I'd probably take out a screwdriver and remove the entire armature mechanism, assuming the head snaps into place when done instead of just floating on the end of the scorpion tail. )

 

[obakesan]

I'm wondering, Hound's head connection, seems attached to his missile launcher, so guessing then this folds up somehow into the back of the jeep to position the missile launcher in jeep mode. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by obakesan

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

I know, I just really hate that scorpion-tail armature. It is ugly, and it makes the problem it is trying to solve WORSE instead of better. There better be a REALLY good reason there's not a simple flap in the hood that rotates around.

(Even if there's a good reason, I still think the armature is no different than a loose headpiece that snaps on. Were I buying this one, I'd probably take out a screwdriver and remove the entire armature mechanism, assuming the head snaps into place when done instead of just floating on the end of the scorpion tail. )

 

FansToys Willis had the issue that there is not enough room under the hood to smoothly fold in the front wheels.

If Takaras Hound has the wheels in the same place they might have decided to place the head elsewhere to have more room there.

I could imagine that Takaras designers take a close look at the 3rd party toys to see what they are up to. So they would know what could be a   challenges in MP Hounds design.

[Tking22]

So a little PSA to those getting MP Dinobot. I saw this pic on TFW2005. Not trying to doom and gloom, I am insanely excited for my Dinobot to arrive Thursday, but it appears the shoulders could be a problem area for some people. Not only are the shoulders apparently a bit tricky to properly transform, the way they are designed makes it so you should only attempt to ratchet and bend it in one particular direction.

This was a post I saw that mentioned some good information and tips about the shoulders, plus pictures.

"So I figured I would put some images up of the screwed up shoulder ratchet so you guys can look out for it.
I think we'll see this happening a lot because there is very little room for error between a good and bad ratchet joint on his shoulder.

The bad side has a minuscule amount of rounding on the corners of the peg, which allows it to slip out of that square socket and disables the ratcheting. "

 

 

 

[Mechapilot77]

well the no elbow on V3 prime IS G1 toy accurate!  lol.  the colors (from cheebs of tfw) do make the messiness on teh shoulder/torso less noticeable as i thought but there is a lot i don't like about V3.  with mp-10 my sole complaints beforehand were the slightly longer than needed arms and the very pointy feet (like i know they are supposed to be but its slightly too much), oh and the dead eyes.  V3 has me complaining about the head, the shoulder/chest connection area, the overly thick torso (thanks electronics!) and now the elbow (that i can't unsee now). 

hound, yes that head tail is unsightly but not quite a deal breaker if i didn't have willis...but i do.  lol.

[sh9000]

20 hours ago, jenius said:

I just pre-ordered gold Optimus... I'm weak when it comes to mp10 and I'm sure I'll be weak for the next version also.

Where did you preorder it?

[jenius]

57 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

Where did you preorder it?

Robotkingdom, price is good, shipping, as always with them, is high.

[M'Kyuun]

'Preciate the heads up concerning Dinobot, TKing22. Mine was supposed to be delivered today, but the DHL guy never knocked on my door; he just filled out one of those 'nobody home' slips and slapped it on my door. By the time I realized there was someone on my porch and went to check, he was pulling out of my driveway. I went to go grab my box, and found the slip instead, as the package requires a signature. I was cooking lunch and modding my LEGO Monster in my kitchen, about 20' from the front door, so I know for a fact he never knocked. Anyway, redelivery is set for tomorrow, so I'll be ready for the sneaky bastard. 

As for that joint, that's a pretty shite design. Surely, with 30+ years of experience, they could have come up with a more durable locking mechanism. Thanks again for pointing it out.

Edited July 31, 2018 by M'Kyuun

[kaiotheforsaken]

12 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

'Preciate the heads up concerning Dinobot, TKing22. Mine was supposed to be delivered today, but the DHL guy never knocked on my door; he just filled out one of those 'nobody home' slips and slapped it on my door. By the time I realized there was someone on my porch and went to check, he was pulling out of my driveway. I went to go grab my box, and found the slip instead, as the package requires a signature. I was cooking lunch and modding my LEGO Monster in my kitchen, about 20' from the front door, so I know for a fact he never knocked. Anyway, redelivery is set for tomorrow, so I'll be ready for the sneaky bastard. 

As for that joint, that's a pretty shite design. Surely, with 30+ years of experience, they could have come up with a more durable locking mechanism. Thanks again for pointing it out.

I think if you sign up for an account with DHL, which doesn't cost anything, you can release packages that need a signature by going online. It's what I do since I'm never home when they deliver. You can also leave specific instructions (I've asked them to leave it in the shade on a hot day, for example) and I've always had a good experience with them.

UPS and USPS or more likely to leave the slip without knocking and Amazon's delivery guys will just throw crap at my front door.

[Tking22]

24 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

'Preciate the heads up concerning Dinobot, TKing22. Mine was supposed to be delivered today, but the DHL guy never knocked on my door; he just filled out one of those 'nobody home' slips and slapped it on my door. By the time I realized there was someone on my porch and went to check, he was pulling out of my driveway. I went to go grab my box, and found the slip instead, as the package requires a signature. I was cooking lunch and modding my LEGO Monster in my kitchen, about 20' from the front door, so I know for a fact he never knocked. Anyway, redelivery is set for tomorrow, so I'll be ready for the sneaky bastard. 

As for that joint, that's a pretty shite design. Surely, with 30+ years of experience, they could have come up with a more durable locking mechanism. Thanks again for pointing it out.

It's been really slow at work today so I've been sifting through the MP Dinobot thread on TFW2005 for relevant information, a difficult task among the bitching and nonsense, and I've found a few more things out.

The joint in question isn't the shoulder joint, it is a transformation joint. That joint folds and accordions in on itself, it is the Dino mode leg, and arm for bot mode. To transform to bot you have to accordion several sections in, bringing the whole mechanism closer, and flush, with the bot mode torso. The joint ratchets mostly so you can more easily manipulate it into place, it's really not meant for articulation, but looking where it is and it's orientation, I'd guess a healthy number of folks are going to use it for more arm articulation anyway. I would, it breaks the mold, but it does provide more articulation.

The problem is the little square stopper you see in the photos is very shallow, it doesn't quite sit into the groove between the ratchets like it is supposed to. When ratcheted too much and too far, the square stopper gets right out of its track and that's it, no more ratchets. Some have reported it shearing clean off, others have mentioned it just sort of gets nubbed back by the walls of the plastic ratchets and then is just sitting in there.

This is a transformation joint, it will catch stress, Takara absolutely should have been up on this, and caught this before release. From what I've read you can cut down on the chance of it slipping out of its track by cutting down on overall friction with some shock oil or even dish soap. A janky fix, but a fix nonetheless.

The silver lining is that apparently even if you get the square stopper off track and lose the ratchets, you still apparently have a solid, sturdy friction joint. Not the best case scenario, but several members noted they didn't even notice the break, or the lack of ratchets, until they actually inspected their figures, just a bit too much ratcheting and that stopper goes off track easy. I guess a friction joint is better then a broken one, but this is a pricey figure, this kind of thing shouldn't be a concern, nobody should have to "live with" a compromise on their VERY pricey MP figure.

My concern would be the stopper sitting in there rubbing against other plastic, namely the two plastic ratchet halves, over a long period of time. The stopper square peg is short, too short, but it still isn't designed and was designed and molded longer then where it is getting jammed in to. I worry about it over time, after several transformation. I am absolutely not one to hold back on transforming my MPs unless I just don't like the transformation like MP-36. I transform MPs back and forth all the time when I'm bored at home, we're in the early days of release, I'm hoping my figure lasts. I am also going to actually attempt to baby it a little, I don't have oil of any kind to use, but a tooth pick with some dish soap works just the same.

[kaiotheforsaken]

It's a weird situation with Dinobot. Without looking at mine (still at work), I couldn't come up with a reason why Takara would chose that plastic on that particular part. The softer, more flexible plastics throughout the figure make sense though. There's a lot of twisting and accordion...ing that needs to happen on this guy. I imagine we'd have people shearing their arms off and whatnot if something more rigid was used.

I flipped mine back and forth a couple of times before reading the meltdown on TFW, but my ratchets are okay. I was gentle with it, but mostly because I went into the transformation blind (it's surprisingly intuitive believe it or not).

I don't want to dismiss people's issues as this obviously is one to some degree, but it also isn't universal. I feel like the more expensive the figure, the more likely you'll have these kinds of issues. I shouldn't have to future hips or shoulders or worry about backpack tabs breaking or hips disintegrating or breaking the "neck" of my 19. But, iirc, all those issues have hit Macross releases in the past. High end, complex pieces can break, you're paying more for finish and engineering I'd imagine than durability.

A problem, sure, but at least it's not a catastrophic one. He still can transform and can basically pose without issue from what I've seen of the broken ones.

 

 

[Tking22]

Yeah I don't like how this looks, that is DEFINITELY some old school friction! That stopper just looks like it wasn't molded long enough, and apparently it is soft plastic, not hard :(.

[Tking22]

1 minute ago, kaiotheforsaken said:

A problem, sure, but at least it's not a catastrophic one. He still can transform and can basically pose without issue from what I've seen of the broken ones.

This is probably the highlight for me, while not ideal, if nothing is actually broken or working incorrectly, and I can transform him, it works for me. It's a dumb design choice to be sure, but what can you do, a lot of odd things had to happen to get a raptor to turn into a blue and gold robot with a VERY distinct shape and silhouette.

Hasbro Asia isn't even carrying Dinobot, they announced that long ago, and while the other Beast Wars MPs have gotten re-releases, something about Dinobot told me to get him now, or it may never happen again. Same with Beast Wars MP Megatron, I'm on that beast guaranteed.

[kaiotheforsaken]

1 minute ago, Tking22 said:

This is probably the highlight for me, while not ideal, if nothing is actually broken or working incorrectly, and I can transform him, it works for me. It's a dumb design choice to be sure, but what can you do, a lot of odd things had to happen to get a raptor to turn into a blue and gold robot with a VERY distinct shape and silhouette.

Hasbro Asia isn't even carrying Dinobot, they announced that long ago, and while the other Beast Wars MPs have gotten re-releases, something about Dinobot told me to get him now, or it may never happen again. Same with Beast Wars MP Megatron, I'm on that beast guaranteed.

For what it's worth he's a pretty tremendous piece. I actually found him fun to transform and he has some really interesting/crazy engineering. I said on TFW that I'd recommend him despite the risk. Though mine isn't broken, so take that for what you will.

If you like Beast Wars and are a fan of Dinobot, this is still the way to go. I doubt we'll see anything better, at least not anytime soon.

[captain america]

2 hours ago, Tking22 said:

Yeah I don't like how this looks, that is DEFINITELY some old school friction! That stopper just looks like it wasn't molded long enough, and apparently it is soft plastic, not hard :(.

Seeing things like that give me pause. I think the figure looks fantastic, and I was seriously considering getting it, but part of me wants to wait and see if, like with some other Masterpiece figures, a 3P will step-up and produce a more "massaged" version with sturdier joints and more durable paint apps. 

For what it's worth, great review here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc8svt4k4tk

[mikeszekely]

Don't know why I'm putting so much effort into it, since I've also got Warbotron, Iron Factory's War Giant, Unique Toys Ragnaros, and I'm just waiting on Zeta's Onslaught to complete their version, but I took Combiner Wars Onslaught apart.  I masked off the eyes and painted the whole head silver.  What's nice there is that paint is thin enough that the silver over the dark helmet came out slightly darker than the silver over the already silver mouth plate.  But I thought a silver head would look out of place with silvery-gray plastic everywhere else, so I took the chest and hip assembly, masked off Bruticus' collar and the back part where the guns attach as best I could, and I painted all that silver as well, before finishing it off with a purple-on-silver Reprolabel Decepticon emblem to replace the tampoed one I painted over.

Still need to paint the combiner hand/foot/guns that came with Vortex, Swindle, and Brawl, and maybe the guns on his back, too.  Alternatively, I guess I could look for an upgrade kit with new hands, feet, and back guns.

[JB0]

11 hours ago, Mechapilot77 said:

well the no elbow on V3 prime IS G1 toy accurate!  lol. 

What? No it isn't. The original didn't have GREAT elbows, but it HAD elbows. With two axes of motion, even.

A hinge on the edge of the arm is just all kinds of sad, ESPECIALLY on a premium toy.

[obakesan]

9 hours ago, captain america said:

Seeing things like that give me pause. I think the figure looks fantastic, and I was seriously considering getting it, but part of me wants to wait and see if, like with some other Masterpiece figures, a 3P will step-up and produce a more "massaged" version with sturdier joints and more durable paint apps. 

For what it's worth, great review here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc8svt4k4tk

I was just watching that review last night and saw how the arm ratchet broke, ouch, mind he might have been bit rough  I skipped this figure as didn't appeal for me, not much a BW fan, but quite worrying for such an expensive MP. I did PO Megatron (to go with Primal and have the leaders) and this makes me a bit concerned now, I hope the Meg figure is ok.

[Tking22]

I found this video and explanation pretty to the point. As I said before, this shouldn't be happening on a toy of this price, Takara did drop the ball. But it does indeed break the mold if you use that joint, it's definitely not meant for posing. I won't care very much if one or I guess both shoulders do this, but my worry is how long the plastic will last over time with that bit of extra friction from the little stopper peg being stuck in between the ratchet sections.
 

 

[ArchieNov]

I honestly think that you just need to handle Dinobot with awareness and a gentle hand to avoid that shoulder issue. I don’t see the need to use oil, grease, or dish soap. This is assuming there was no factory defect or misassembly. 

I’ve transformed mine back and forth several times even before the first reported breakage and my ratchets are just fine.

And though the reviewer from TFW2005 who captured the breakage live in his review doesn’t admit it, he was pretty rough with his handling from my point of view. You can clearly see his hands trembling at times from the amount of force he uses. He might not have been using that much force when the actual breakage occurred, but in general I think he handles Dinobot in the same way as a cheap Transformer. I am scared to think how Macross toys would hold up under him.

EDIT: I found a flaw with my Dinobot. He totally discharged the 2 fresh LR44 batteries I placed in him 5 days ago. I don’t even light him up that often. Not sure if my batteries were faulty, but if not, it is concerning.

Edited August 1, 2018 by ArchieNov

[M'Kyuun]

Got my Dinobot today, and was extremely mindful and attentive of the shoulder ratchets. Both of mine are fine, although the gap is very slightly wider on one of them (don't recall which side, now). Anyway, while handling the parts in question, I would grip the armature holding the raptor leg panels and push in towards the center while rotating it, thus ensuring the tab stays interlocked with the slot. It seems to me the gold shoulder mount is just a little too wide, or the tab too short, for what Takara intended. It makes me wonder if a small thin o-ring couldn't be inserted in there to keep the parts closer together as a more permanent, non-damaging fix. Alas, I've made no mods, but am mindful of that joint when transforming him.

Got through his transformation sans instructions on my first try- it seems a bit daunting at first, as he is chock full of moving parts, many of which are necessary to break up his bot legs and body in order to contort into position for his raptor mode, but once you just look at everything, it makes sense. The only parts I wasn't sure about for bot mode were those very same dino leg parts attached to the ratchets of concern. However, a glance at the box showed me where they go, and I successfully got him into bot mode without any casualties. Tomorrow, I'll probably put him back in dino mode, as that actually seems the more challenging side of his transformation. I'll say this, his head ends up in a most unflattering position in dino mode- maybe that's why he was always in a mood on the show.

He's a chunky bot, rather top heavy, and the ankles on my copy are a bit weak. Same for his raptor ankles. I have to very carefully tweak this and that to get him to stand unattended in both modes, a situation that I find dismaying on a new and expensive figure. Engineering-wise, just looking at the transformation, Takara did some really nice work. Dinobot's on-screen incarnations benefitted heavily from CG magic which does in no way lend itself to a three dimensional representation. I'm sure the designers spent a few sleepless nights wondering how they were going to get him from bot to beast and maintain the toon looks of both. The solution is a clever bit of plastic origami that comes together well. It's not perfect; both modes have seams showing bits of each other, but it's all forgivable when you consider how much they got right. I think his tail is one of the most impressive bits- rather than just contenting themselves with an inflexible tail for the sake of its becoming his weapon, the tail features several joints along the latter half in two axes of motion for some nice expressive poseability, while still maintaining the ability to fold and split into his iconic spinning weapon. Very cool. Kudos, too, to Takara for the spot-on sculpting of both bot and dino heads (love that tongue), and for the rich scaly texturing throughout and the lovely paintwork. It's a beautiful figure.

Last note, referring to ArchieNov's post; I haven't tried putting batteries in mine yet, so I'm not sure if it suffers the same issue. The weak ankles in both modes are thus far the only issues I have.

[ArchieNov]

Oh wow. I check the TFW2005 forums today and guess what, other people are starting to report that their batteries have drained out too. Guess there’s something wrong with how they rigged the electronics that it drains the battery even when not in use.

[M'Kyuun]

Recall. Yeah, right. Not a big deal for me personally, as I don't like keeping batteries in toys too much- there's always the fear of leakage ruining the toy.  However, in a toy costing in excess of $200, it's not acceptable, either.

[Tking22]

1 hour ago, ArchieNov said:

Oh wow. I check the TFW2005 forums today and guess what, other people are starting to report that their batteries have drained out too. Guess there’s something wrong with how they rigged the electronics that it drains the battery even when not in use.

Yeah I've been reading a lot of these reports this morning, a huge bummer considering the price of the figure had to factor in the stupid electronics, which apparently don't work very well. I would have preferred no electronics, keep the cost down, but if you are going to add them in, they damn well better work.

A lot of folks are guessing the electronics were assembled incorrectly, and the current stays running through the electronics even when in the "off" mode, so the batteries will just keep draining as long as they are inserted. New batteries light it right back up, but one or two members on TFW2005 were going to test different intervals of time to see how long new batteries last, and if they are in fact draining while off.

It'd be a huge pain for those that like the electronics to have to pull the batteries in and out every time you wanted to mess with the function. I can live with the shoulders and electronics, but that's two issues too many for such an expensive toy, Takara really needs to get a handle on any future re-issues of this guy.

[Scyla]

So is Dinobot better or worse than MP-09?

I'm really envious about you Dinobot owners. I'm contemplating if I should sell my G1 MP collection and buy into the Beast Wars line. I really like how much engineering and paint finish Takara puts into these.

I just wished Star Saber, Ultra Magnus, Tracks and Shockwave where done to this level. I think Cheetors beast head has more paint than all of MP Shockwave. 

[M'Kyuun]

I don't own MP-09, but I concur with your observations about the paint and engineering on these BW figs, not to mention sculpting-  the face sculpts for Primal, Cheetor, and Dinobot are all spot-on, with beautiful paint. At least two of Dinobot's faces have moving jaws so you can change his expression just by how much his mouth is open-brilliant. I just transformed Dinobot back to raptor mode going by memory from transforming him to bot mode yesterday, and from a few glances at the box to figure out what goes where.  It's not a super difficult transformation to understand, but there are a lot of moving parts, the legs need to break up and be positioned, and there are any number of tabs that need to be snapped into place to arrive at the finished product. I noticed that most of the tabs have a slight flange which gives a satisfactory 'snap' that keeps the connections solid.  In essence, he turns inside out from one mode to the other, with a bit of extreme yoga thrown in to cram everything within the body cavity.  It's a good solution to realize the very different looks of both modes. 

I also discovered that I had his ankles turned the wrong way; once remedied, he now has ankle rockers and the joint feels stronger than it did before- holds him up just fine with both of his weapons equipped. No issues with the shoulder ratchets, either. 

[Tking22]

I got my Dinobot in and he is indeed incredible. Once again, Takara's engineering is on point. I got through my first transformation just fine, I put some dish soap in the ratchets and they seemed smooth enough, no breaks or misalignments. Both modes look fantastic. 

The debate of aesthetics seems to only happen with G1, there were so many representations of those characters that everyone is bound to have an idea of what an ideal version of an MP G1 character would look like. G1 toy, G1 toon, the G1 comics, all these things released within a relatively close time frame, all with slight differences in characters aesthetics. With Beast Wars, I feel there is far less wiggle room. The original show was the first introduction to these characters, so that look is bound to be the majority of fan's base for how an MP Beast Wars character should look, and Takara is nailing it.

The paint is insane, Takara went as far as possible replicating the look from the show, and they fit in just about as much as articulation as possible. The dino ankles are disappointingly weak, but there's a base, but then I can't feel but the base is implied, Takara was well aware he wouldn't stand on his own two dino feet too well, which is kind of a bummer. I got a bit turned around going back to dino when it came to the robot legs, there was a lot of rotating going on, and lots of small panels and extra bits to move, but I figured it all out.

An impressive figure no doubt, if you're a fan, buy it, simple as that. I tested my electronics and they work, my ratchets are fine for now, hopefully they last, I feel as long as I'm careful I should be fine, I hope that applies to everyone and their copy/copies. The issues don't out weigh the many, many positives, if you're on the fence regarding QC I'd say you're fine. It's an outstanding figure and easily one of Takara's best efforts yet. There's a healthy amount of accessories, and he's just a well built, very solid figure in both modes.

[ArchieNov]

On 8/3/2018 at 6:42 AM, M'Kyuun said:

I also discovered that I had his ankles turned the wrong way; once remedied, he now has ankle rockers and the joint feels stronger than it did before- holds him up just fine with both of his weapons equipped. No issues with the shoulder ratchets, either. 

How’d you end up turning them the wrong way? Were the feet backwards?

[M'Kyuun]

Dumbassery on my part- simply wasn't paying attention when I transformed him to bot mode the first time, so the detentes which allow for ankle tilt were facing out instead of in. After a healthy dose of facepalm, I rotated them to the correct orientation, and all was right with the world. His dino ankles are still weak though, and I see no way to artificially strengthen them. Still, with patience and tweaking, I can get him to stand unassisted with his tail in the air, so they are strong enough to hold him up, but a gentle breeze will knock him over on his nose. I think those joints could have benefitted from some medium strength ratchets.

I don't think dish soap in the ratchets is a good or necessary fix to the shoulder ratchet issue, as it's messy and by it's very nature of breaking down grease and oil, primary constituents of plastic, probably not a good substance to have in contact with plastic over a long-term. Rather, it's an issue of space between the two sets of ratchets. A better solution would be to make a small gasket (folded paper would do) or find a small thin o-ring and sandwich it between the gold shoulder armature and the ratchet that holds the dino leg panel. Whatever choice of spacer used, it needn't be very thick, no more than 1 mm thick. If an o-ring is employed, simply cut it so that it can be placed over the pin. The leg panel ratchet can be easily slid along the pin by grasping the plastic bit that runs from the ratchet up to the panel and moving it inward so the tongue and groove mesh together , after which said spacer can be placed into the opening created next to the gold armature. I've not had to do it to my copy (yet), but that's the method I intend to use should my copy develop the prevailing issue. It should prove to be a simple, inexpensive, non-destructive, and completely reversible method for fixing the issue.

[RD Blade]

https://youtu.be/TGEWfWoPHi0

This is Swagwave's impressive conclusion to the Combiner Wars stop motion series. I lend my voice to a few of the characters.

[captain america]

I like Dinobot because funny.

[mikeszekely]

Stopped at Target today.  They have a ton of those new Cyberverse toys, which my daughter is a bit too young for and I'm a bit too old for.  C'est la vie.  On the plus side, they finally stocked the second wave of Studio Series Deluxes, which I eagerly snatched up.  Here's Studio Series Jazz.

Like a lot of movie figures this size Jazz has a lot of roof and trunk kibble on his back, but ignoring that he's got much, much better proportions than the original movie Deluxe.  He's reasonably movie accurate, too.  The most obvious differences are the shoulders, where his alt mode headlights don't actually belong and only vaguely mimic the actual indents on the CGI model's shoulders, and his feet, which despite having a lot of the CGI details are really just nubs on the base of his shins rather than proper feet.  More paint to highlight the details would have been nice, but at least the details are present.  Even his forearms have molded fake headlights at his wrists.

He's less massive but similar in height to Studio Series Bumblebee, which I think checks out.  I can't get over how much tinier he is than the movie 1 Deluxe, though.

Looked at another way, he's roughly halfway between a Generations Scout-class and Deluxe class.  For some that will make his $20 price tag a little hard to swallow, but I prefer to think that he traded some plastic budget for more paint.

His sole accessory is this crescent gun thing.  I think it's movie accurate.

His articulation isn't bad for a Hasbro Deluxe.  His head is on a ball joint that serves as a swivel with decent sideways tilt.  There's some up and down tilt, too, but it's kind of limited due to the cut of the joint and his long, pointy chin. His shoulders have hinges that provide 130 degrees of lateral tilt, with a separate swivel for 360 of rotation.  Transformation hinges even give him some butterfly motion.  He doesn't have a proper bicep swivel, but a ball joint at the elbow allows for swivel as well as 90 degrees of bend.  A transformation joint can be used increase his elbow bend to 160 degrees.  His wrists don't swivel, but they do bend up and down.  No waist swivel.  His hips are ball joints that can do 90 degrees forward, laterally, and backward (once you move the back kibble out of the way).  His thighs can swivel.  His knees can bend 90 degrees.  And in a real treat for a Deluxe, a hinge provides him with about 45 degrees of ankle pivot, although the shin armor goes along with the foot. 

You'll notice that his right hand is molded like the CGI model's weird 4-finger hand.  His left hand does have the shape of two fingers on one side and two on the other, but they're molded into a 5mm port.  His gun does have a 5mm peg on it, and you can attach it that way.  There is a slot on the back of the gun, though, and flipping around either hand will reveal a matching tab, allowing him to use the gun with either wrist.

I think Jazz's alt mode is pretty great.  He's tiny.  Smaller than Bee, way smaller than the movie 1 version or a modern Hasbro Deluxe, and not much bigger than a Scout.  Despite his small size, pretty much every detail you see except the wheels and the translucent plastic for the windows and headlights is paint.  The vents are black paint, the Pontiac emblem and the tail lights are red paint, the fog lights are metallic blue paint, and the body of the car is silver paint.  Gives him a fairly premium look.

Tiny though it is, it's pretty accurate.  It's really just missing some paint for the round tail light/reverse lights, the rear Pontiac emblem, and the brake light.  The crecent part of the gun can fold over to lie flat, and the whole thing clips onto his spoiler.

Now, you're probably looking at those big gaps on the sides and thinking, "Mike, that looks terrible!"  And you're not wrong.  But...

Turns out that's my bad.  Strictly speaking, those seams are probably a bit gappier than I'd like, but not nearly as bad the other photos I took in vehicle mode.  And I was set to really rip into Jazz because no matter how I fiddled with him I couldn't seem to keep everything tabbed together properly, but I decided to do some research first.  Turns out, although the instructions aren't at all clear on this, that there's a translucent plastic peg on the inside of the roof.  It takes some effort to line it up and push it in, but it's meant to sit in a hole on Jazz's butt that I thought was just a screw hole (despite the fact that, on closer inspection, there is no screw in the hole).  If that peg isn't in the hole before you put the legs and arms in place things aren't going to line up right and they're going to pop back out and make your life miserable.  But if you do have it in place you'll be able to at least get things looking like my final picture.

(Also on the topic of instructions, they don't mention it but I'd recommend turning his head 180 degrees before folding it in.  That'll let you get under his ears and use them for leverage when pulling his head back out.)

And there you have it, folks.  Jazz is a Deluxe so tiny you'd almost mistake him for a Scout.  Despite that he's got a good sculpt, good articulation, and great paint, and the end result stands out as not just the best Deluxe-class figure in the Studio Series line but one of the highlights of the entire line, regardless of size class.  If you're into movie toys I'd definitely recommend him, unless you're set on holding out for an MPM.

Bonus: once Studio Series Ironhide hits (and he's due in the next wave of Voyagers) we'll have a complete cast of movie 1 Autobots.  Crossing my fingers for Bonecrusher (rumored) and Barricade (mysteriously absent) to complete the movie 1 Decepticons, too (I'm content to count SS Megatron, even though it's the Revenge of the Fallen version).

[captain america]

In so much as Masterpiece Dinobot seems to be an overall success, who's excited for Masterpiece Barney?

[JB0]

35 minutes ago, captain america said:

In so much as Masterpiece Dinobot seems to be an overall success, who's excited for Masterpiece Barney?

 

I love you, you love me, let's conquer the galaxy.

Edited August 22, 2018 by JB0