I installed the DNA Design kit and let me tell you, it's far from perfect. First, the light piping of the head is pointless. You need the light of the GODS to see anything. So I painted the light-piping window on top of the DNA head black, and I painted the eyes a bright red. The results are good.
The shoulderpads are the things that motivate people to buy the kit in the first place, to get rid of the truck's "cat hears". First, the instructions are wrong for the way to knock out the pin. DO IT THE OPPOSITE WAY. Then, main problem is the damn spring in the joint. Of course one of the spring had to jump through a space-bridge and be lost forever. I struggled for a whole hour and a half to make a new spring to replace the original. Nope, it didn't worked. So I gave up, replaced the OG spring by just a normal spring that will coil inside the space to fill it up. The, I put a drop of crazy glue on both sides of the joint, then I wiggled the joint around until it was tight. In the end, I lose the spring loaded action, but the shoulderpad still work as intended. And the repairs are invisible.
Next, the new arms. Those rotating panels do not tab in as solidly as the original, but the work. They give more bot details and hold in place. But be careful with them. I ham-handed the panel and I ended up popping it of the hinge. When I tried popping the hinge back in, I didn't do it the right way and a tiny tab broke off. So I broke the other one, drilled a tiny hole trough the thing, then I screwed two small screws in the holes. Finally, I cut the heads off and sanded new metal pegs to size. The results are a bit ugly, but I was surprised that not only was I able to pop the hinge in place, the panel work flawlessly as if the incident never happened. Damn, I'm GOOD!
To finish, the longer thighs and new knees. And miracle, there were no incidents nor issues.
The transformation work fine, but the truck is a wee bit less stable due to the fact that the new thighs prevent a peg from pegging into the leg panel. Also, NO CAT EARS!
Overall, the looks of the bot are improved by a lot, but the kit was a struggle to install. I'm not sure it was worth the 100$CAN that I paid. I wish the installation process was easier. Unless you are pretty confident in your modding skills, I say avoid the kit entirely. If you know you have a steady hand and can improvise your way through some potential mishaps, go for it. Despite the frustrations, the challenges were fun to do and the final results are worth it.
