Re: New Gallery: Generations Voyager Class Whirl
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:50 pmdurroth wrote:Seibertron wrote: I do think that the upper legs are misassembled. Hasbro and Takara are usually really good about making sure the front and sides of the robot modes don't show hollow plastic. The way the legs are show hollow spots on the sides of the upper legs but the upper legs look much better when turned around 180 degrees. Just the knees are awkward as are the feet when you do this.
What it's looking like to me is they had to compromise for the inverted legs and chose to sacrifice the upper legs of the robot mode for looking better in vehicle mode. Any other side would have been the top/side of the upper leg piece in vehicle mode or the front in robot mode, so they chose to ignore it being on the outside in robot mode rather than redesign the thigh... which would have probably necessitated a game of "Which side do we put the screws on" ... actually I think the whole thing could have been solved if they designed the waist/hips piece to be rotatable 180 degrees in its slider (basically ending up with it "upside down" in one configuration. Really you can't see it in robot mode anyway, but it would reverse which side of the thigh is "outward" in robot mode and all we'd lose is the landing skiff c-clip points being on the outside... If I'm picturing this right in my head)
Solvew the issue once and for all: Waist flaps like Energon Bulkhead had... Its the only strike I have angainst Whirl, the sides of an otherwise amazing NOT Apache helicopter cockpit look like mechanical thighs. Somethi ng that could've folded over or around them, even something like how PRID Magnus' wheel assembly worked around his calf would've made a HUGE difference for me and could've covered or allowed for relocating the screw holes.
durroth wrote:I kinda wish takara/hasbro would consider springing the little extra for dry transfer (rub on) decals. Or some chinese 3rd party would start making water sliders. at least for this whirl where the stickers would all look better as decals to begin with.
No... just no. I've used and printed Wet Transfer/Waterslide for model trains, and it won't work for TFs. the intended market is A) too young and/or too rough on them for the decals to work B)not gonna buy or have the sealcoat needed to protect the decals and C) not gonna have the patience or interest in masking their TFs to apply the decal sealer. And you HAVE to apply the sealer, water wo;t magically not activate the decals just because they're on Whirl and not the paper. "Optional" detail arguments won't work either, just ask the Arms Micron guys how much they love their naked figures.
Dry Transfers would be infintately better than wet, but they still takr more patince than aa 10 yea old is gonna spend on a toy, and even the 4H kids and young modellers who do kits and RC and Pinewood and whatever else won't do this to a toy like Whirl. And yes, kids will be buying Whirl, even if he is an homage to 80s fans, if he were a collector piece Wal-Mart wouldn't be carrying him!
Not everyone is a Customizer, nor should they be. Heck, I paint my own trains, I even have a Beast Hunters Hun Grr in a drying rack halfway to looking like Doublecross, (The lower half, if you were curious, I;m still working on his necks) and I wouldn't bother decalling Whirl if they weren't stickers.
. Thanks guys .
