In-Hand Images: Takara Tomy Transformers Encore #23 Fortress Maximus

Fort Max will definitely look so awesome decorated with a mess of Legends and Cyberverse figs fighting for control of this mighty behemoth...'nuff said!!

prototype33 wrote:Are the Eyes stickers uppose to be already applied?

for the Encore release, they aren't stickers this time. The eyes are painted to look like the old eye stickers.

Sabrblade wrote:

prototype33 wrote:Are the Eyes stickers uppose to be already applied?

for the Encore release, they aren't stickers this time. The eyes are painted to look like the old eye stickers.

I think it also comes with the eye stickers, so you can apply them over the painted ones for a more vintage look.

Wait, what's that Black Fort Max repaint in the middle of the top picture?

Gearslide wrote:Wait, what's that Black Fort Max repaint in the middle of the top picture?

Brave Maximus

El Duque wrote:

Gearslide wrote:Wait, what's that Black Fort Max repaint in the middle of the top picture?

Brave Maximus

Oh right. I've never seen Brave in anything but Robot mode, so I was expecting him to be mostly blue.

I'd love a solid BLACK version... or a white Metroplex "Autobot City" style version with nice painted windows.

Oh yeah, or a Grand Max. (ha) Or all of the above.

El Duque wrote:

Gearslide wrote:Wait, what's that Black Fort Max repaint in the middle of the top picture?

Brave Maximus

aka RiD Fortress Maximus. By 2001, US Toy Safety Laws would not allow Fortress Maximus to be released here.

Gearslide wrote:

El Duque wrote:

Gearslide wrote:Wait, what's that Black Fort Max repaint in the middle of the top picture?

Brave Maximus

Oh right. I've never seen Brave in anything but Robot mode, so I was expecting him to be mostly blue.

I haven't launched Brave Maximus' gallery yet because I haven't had a chance to do comparison shots of him with the other RID figures from that series. However, I do have his pics done so hopefully some time in the next few months I'll bust out the RID tub o' figures.

In the meantime, Brave made an appearance in Grand Maximus' gallery which you can view by clicking on the images below.

Isn't that black one the prototype they showed a few months ago?

Desslok2201 wrote:Isn't that black one the prototype they showed a few months ago?

It's Brave Max. Black tower, black feet, dark blue legs, yellow windows.

I'm guessing the lighting makes it look black in this pic? (no black on MY Brave Max.)

gothsaurus wrote:I'm guessing the lighting makes it look black in this pic? (no black on MY Brave Max.)

Aren't the feet, head, Plasma, and side door on the right leg black?

Argh. Had to cancel mine due to unemployment. Can you all do me a solid and love yours like you're five years old and it's the best toy on Christmas Day? That'd be awesome.

datguy86 wrote:Argh. Had to cancel mine due to unemployment. Can you all do me a solid and love yours like you're five years old and it's the best toy on Christmas Day? That'd be awesome.

I'll do something better - After I have it graded and displayed, I'll do that once in a while. I'll even ponder how my inner child would have displayed it and more.

Shame I don't have the money or room for him. I already have an Autobot city set up in my room comprised of Metroplex, Countdown, Greasepit, Ironworks and NINE Optimus Prime trailers. G1, powermaster, Machine Wars, RID, three different Armada trailers with Overlord in place of one tower, Energon and Cybertron. I also have two Hot Spots and Silverbolts connected to Metroplex with Scattorshot in cannon mode hanging out with them.

The city is populated by a few minibots, a handful of cyberverse, a bunch of micromasters, a lot of spychangers and a TON of minicons. I actually ran out of room before I ran out of minicons but when I set up the dismal Decpticon city I can use them. I only have Trypticon, Scorpinok and RID Scourge's trailer for the con city but I have a bunch of Onslaughts and Mega Octanes.

If only I had the money for Fort Max.

Alpha Weltall wrote:Shame I don't have the money or room for him. I already have an Autobot city set up in my room comprised of Metroplex, Countdown, Greasepit, Ironworks and NINE Optimus Prime trailers. G1, powermaster, Machine Wars, RID, three different Armada trailers with Overlord in place of one tower, Energon and Cybertron. I also have two Hot Spots and Silverbolts connected to Metroplex with Scattorshot in cannon mode hanging out with them.

The city is populated by a few minibots, a handful of cyberverse, a bunch of micromasters, a lot of spychangers and a TON of minicons. I actually ran out of room before I ran out of minicons but when I set up the dismal Decpticon city I can use them. I only have Trypticon, Scorpinok and RID Scourge's trailer for the con city but I have a bunch of Onslaughts and Mega Octanes.

If only I had the money for Fort Max.

Apologies for being slightly off topic, but I'd love to see a photo if you've got one, please?

*paws feebly at his monitor, whimpering* WAAAAAANNNNNNNT...

OK, if I get this I.T. job I just interviewed for, I am SO treating myself to this bad boy.

Sodan-1 wrote:

Alpha Weltall wrote:Shame I don't have the money or room for him. I already have an Autobot city set up in my room comprised of Metroplex, Countdown, Greasepit, Ironworks and NINE Optimus Prime trailers. G1, powermaster, Machine Wars, RID, three different Armada trailers with Overlord in place of one tower, Energon and Cybertron. I also have two Hot Spots and Silverbolts connected to Metroplex with Scattorshot in cannon mode hanging out with them.

The city is populated by a few minibots, a handful of cyberverse, a bunch of micromasters, a lot of spychangers and a TON of minicons. I actually ran out of room before I ran out of minicons but when I set up the dismal Decpticon city I can use them. I only have Trypticon, Scorpinok and RID Scourge's trailer for the con city but I have a bunch of Onslaughts and Mega Octanes.

If only I had the money for Fort Max.

Apologies for being slightly off topic, but I'd love to see a photo if you've got one, please?

"One"? lol. I have a lot of pictures of it but they didn't come out too well as the best camera in the house is my 3DS' and there's just so much going on in the city that the pictures didn't come out very well. I plan on retaking the pictures though as I face palmed myself after forgetting to put the G1 trailer in using it's "repair bay" mode.

Then I need to turn around and retake pictures of my version of a "classics" display as I had a few out for the original pics and I have since gotten a few more to put into it and dug out more from my collection to cram in as well. But again, the pics won't come out well due to bad lighting and too many figures clumped together. But I will do this soon.

El Duque wrote:TFYUKI continues to tease fans with images of Takara Tomy's soon to be released Transformers Encore #23 Fortress Maximus. Check out his latest tweets mirrored below.

[center]

It's like the 'burbs of Cybertron in that picture. I'm absolutely thrilled I'll have one of these in the next month.

Aaaaw, I have a lot of minicons/cyberverse.

Mine will arrive tuesday or wednesday. CAN'T WAITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Japanese toy blogger Alfes 2010 has received Takara Tomy's Transformers Encore #23 Fortress Maximus, and post images of the figure straight out of the box prior to applying stickers. Special guest appearance by Kabaya Fortress Maximus!

Fort Max looks strange without its stickers. That's all I have to say.

Even without his stickers, I'm getting as giddy as the 10-year old boy who wanted this almost three decades ago. I will probably have to change my shorts several times when he arrives at my house. He may cost three times as much as he did back then, but after waiting this long, I'm cracking that box open the second it gets here. I deserve it after a wait like this!!

P.S. After looking through the pictures again...holy s**t......he's HUGE...that sword alone is big enough to fit into a HUMAN hand???

So he comes with a miniature version of himself?

GuyIncognito wrote:So he comes with a miniature version of himself?

No, that's the Kabaya one. Japanese bloggers like to get a bit silly or mischievous with their omake

OK, random question time. I had the Headmasters mini-series on VHS (probably my most played video) and the box cover featured the same artwork shown on the back of this box. I always wondered then, and am only just now reminded, who is the two-headed dragon in Dinobot colours facing off against Mindwipe?

Sodan-1 wrote:OK, random question time. I had the Headmasters mini-series on VHS (probably my most played video) and the box cover featured the same artwork shown on the back of this box. I always wondered then, and am only just now reminded, who is the two-headed dragon in Dinobot colours facing off against Mindwipe?

Doublecross.

Sabrblade wrote:

Sodan-1 wrote:OK, random question time. I had the Headmasters mini-series on VHS (probably my most played video) and the box cover featured the same artwork shown on the back of this box. I always wondered then, and am only just now reminded, who is the two-headed dragon in Dinobot colours facing off against Mindwipe?

Doublecross.

Cheers. That's that conundrum put to rest. On to the next.

Making me look forward even more to getting mine; even happier that I chose to bite on this early before I saw the Botcon set.

I don't see why they needed to use stickers rather than paint apps for his eyes. Stickers are absolutely horrible. Even water slide transfers would have been preferable...Why, Takara, WHY?!?!?!

In fact, I'd rather they did away with the sticker sheet altogether and just slathered him in paint apps.

Not that I'm buying him, mind you, as he costs a fortune and I don't buy G1 toys on account of them all being terrible.

just wanted to ask if there has been any rumors that the kabaya version of fort max was actually made to "gauge" the collectors' feelings of having an encore fort max prior to its' production start?


there has been some collectors saying it was so. but there was no definite proof that it was. there were collectors with wild imaginations trying to tie-in unrelated toy releases. they were fantasizing so much as to boldly claim that the kabaya version itself was the mini-prototype of the then-to-be-announced encore version and the reissue would also have fort max split into 3 different smaller bases like the kabaya one.


can someone clear it up? thanks


seeing the finished encore fort max, i could not wait to laugh at their faces, but then it would be rubbing too much salt on an open wound.

Arrived in the mail from Amazon this afternoon. It arrived in great shape, but check out how they "padded" the box.



That's not a joke.

Professor Smooth wrote:Arrived in the mail from Amazon this afternoon. It arrived in great shape, but check out how they "padded" the box.



That's not a joke.

Yeah, I'd say that's typical Amazon.com fashion

He has arrived ...

alot of people have been Stating these problems with the new Fortress Maximus reissue

So the current list of known issues with the Fortress Maximus reissue includes:

0. Red guns on left hand are improperly installed so that they face backwards (fixable: unscrew the hand assembly, flip the gun and reassemble).

1. Cerebros has very tight leg joints (fixable: loosen the screw and/or shave off some plastic).

2. Cog has 2 left arms.

3. The holes to plug in Gasket's guns are susceptible to stress marks.

4. Fort Max's left hand doesn't have the extra circular holder in the fist to hold his weapons.

5. Bottom of Spike's feet has mould flash, making him unstable (fixable: shave off the excess flash).

6. Fort Max has a defective left hip ratchet.

7. Cannon on left leg is loose and is prone to popping out easily.

8. Spike is missing his arms.

9. Missing one or more weapons.

10. Smudged blue paint on the central die-cast panel.

11. Loose knee joints on Spike.

also 11. Loose knee joints on Spike.

prototype33 wrote:Are the Eyes stickers uppose to be already applied?

was told that there not stickers that there panted on not sure if thats true or not.

Johndoe4880 wrote:

prototype33 wrote:Are the Eyes stickers uppose to be already applied?

was told that there not stickers that there panted on not sure if thats true or not.

His eyes are painted, but he also comes with his original eye stickers on the decal sheet.

Thankfully the only QA issue I noticed with mine was the missing styrofoam insert, which I wouldn't have even known about without the Japanese twitter images. Made me happy to go through that list and check each one, the only ones I haven't are the stress marks, because I haven't put weapons in any fists yet.

Edit:
Spoke too soon. Add number 12, red plastic insert in the tower half without the green window protrudes by a couple of mm, making it difficult to keep the tower halves together. Fix: Tighten the screws holding the red plastic in until it no longer protrudes.

The Cerebros faceplate on Spike is loose/askew (fixable: use a flathead screwdriver, rather than a Phillips head, to loosen/tighten the hard-to-access restraining screw).

also some one said that some of there Cerebros stickers tech spec are crooked and looks terrible.

like pictured below.

Sadly, I am also in this thread to give a heads up on a QC problem. I particularly have two glaring ones, and another minor one:

- Cog's gun is missing. Checked every little compartment, no dice. Got two Cerebros swords instead. Trying to work it out with the retailer - but if you wanna trade, hit me up!

- Right eye tampo wasn't put on correctly and bubbled a bit, making it look like someone took a key to his eye. The stickers will correct it, but still. I like the look of the tampos more, it's a shame.

- Minor one: middle red ramp in base mode doesn't stay put while transforming. You can peg it back in easily, but it really doesn't swing back to either position, just kind of have to reattach it.

Me = ;_;

Burn wrote:He has arrived ...

How is yours? Any QC issues to note?

Also, all you guys who have reported QC issues, from which retailers did you all get your Fort Maxes?

And this is a prime example of why you should never mess with an early release.
QC issues out the yen yang!
I will gladly wait for the 4 I ordered from TF Source to arrive.
Hopefully the issues reported are rare though, this fi costs to much to be
dishing out stuff that's not not even as good as the Repro's, like the Scorponok everyones buzzing about, lol.
Regardless, we finally got another shot at Fort Max, thanks Takara!
David

Sabrblade wrote:

Burn wrote:He has arrived ...

How is yours? Any QC issues to note?

Should have read this thread first.

Nothing noticeable like what others have reported. Got mine from RobotKingdom.

here is a updated list.

0. Red guns on left hand are improperly installed so that they face backwards (fixable: unscrew the hand assembly, flip the gun and reassemble).

1. Cerebros has very tight leg joints (fixable: loosen the screw and/or shave off some plastic).

2. Cog has 2 left arms.

3. The holes to plug in Gasket's guns are susceptible to stress marks.

4. Fort Max's left fist is missing the plug insert to hold his weapons.

5. Bottom of Spike's feet has mold-flash, making him unstable (fixable: shave off the excess flash).

6. Fort Max has a defective left hip ratchet.

7. Cannon on left leg is loose and is prone to popping out easily.

8. Spike is missing his arms.

9. Missing one or more weapons.

10. Smudged blue paint on the central die-cast panel.

11. Loose knee joints on Spike and/or a difficult (tight) insertion into Cerebros' body.

12. The Cerebros faceplate on Spike is loose/askew (fixable: use a flathead screwdriver, rather than a Phillips head, to loosen/tighten the hard-to-access restraining screw).

13. Eye tampographs on Fort Max's face appear "bubbly" and/or Cerebros' chest tech spec sticker is askew.

14. Right-side chest door has slightly warped hinge tabs, though it functions correctly.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... ax-63.html

From which online retailer did you get yours from?

A bit sad. On closer examination, my Cerebros had a very tight knee joint, and I had to remove his knee sticker to get to the screw. I had to shave off some plastic to fix it, but I can see major plastic stress inside his lower leg under the knee from where it bends in going over each lump on the knee. It's even visible on the outside in a couple of places. I can also the the 'catch' that stops Fort Max's visor in head mode from flopping down is showing a lot of plastic stress.

I don't think I can afford to keep transforming him if I want him to last

To those who are reporting these QC issues, where did you guys get you Fort Maxes? Which retailer did you buy them from?