The Energon Pub

Okay I thought I was lucky when I found the 2 pack yesterday. considering there was only one on the shelf I just grabbed it and went on my way. After I get the damn thing open I notice Hot Rods paint apps are horrible. Has anyone else noticed this problem?

Yep, the paint on my Rodimus isn't exactally full of crsip, clean lines, but it only looks bad close up. I was more after the Cyclonus, aka His Armada, and that was fine.

Yes his paint job is terrible, and cyclonus was messed up and wouldnt transform right when attempted. his right arm was messed up. i made a video check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8lShM3bju4

Sorry to hear of all the problems with this set. My figures are fine, paint apps and all, but the one thing that impressed me the most with the set is the fact that the matrix was actually DIE CAST! I figured some painted-up plastic, but was pleasantly surprised when I got it out. Now, to find a small chain so my FP Protector can wear it around his neck...

TFBuyer wrote:Sorry to hear of all the problems with this set. My figures are fine, paint apps and all, but the one thing that impressed me the most with the set is the fact that the matrix was actually DIE CAST! I figured some painted-up plastic, but was pleasantly surprised when I got it out. Now, to find a small chain so my FP Protector can wear it around his neck...

I got the Matrix on my keychain...

Meanwhile, taking a closer look at both, I see no problems at all with the paint apps on my repainted Cyclonus, and must note that the joints were significantly tighter than on my Uni/CL original version. As for Rodimus, I never was a HUGE fan of the character, and the overall scheme chosen for this release irritates me. However, there are no actual misapplied paint apps on mine. What I notice is that the brown paint used is not opaque, which means it can LOOK like it's misapplied.

The way the paint is applied on my set isn't a problem. However, the durability is. The gray on Rodimus can easily chip off. My biggest concern with the set is the quality of the plastic moreso than the paint (I intend to repaint them anyway). It feels cheap for Hasbro deluxes. The left shoulder joint on my Rodimus is loose while the joints on my Cyclonus are extremely tight. The tightness in joints on Cyclonus sound like a good thing but the truth is I'm afraid to transform it. It feels like parts of it will snap off if I handle it too much. For now, these guys are kept in their packages as display on my shelf.

Mine has no paint blemishes at all and all joints are nice and tight, it even holds better in alt mode than my old Classics Hot Rod.

That being said, I agree with Blitzsword, plastic feels kinda cheap and the actual "cartoon" deco is terrible.

Cyclonus on the other hand is great in every possible respect (I have a Henkei and a Classics as well and still preffer this RTS version over them).

I'm going to have to agree with the complaints about the paint, one of the 3 I saw had some of whatever color is used on Rodimus's crest going directly through his left eye....looked like he had some horrible scar. Sad to hear there are so may problems with this as this could have been a good chance for people to actually get a Rodimus without having to sell their first born child for it.

Sorry to hear about the bad apps on ther BIS pack, i picked mine up about 4 days ago, and the paint apps on both figures are damn near perfect, joints tight and love the metal Matrix.

So the RTS version is made out of the same dodgy plastic as the Battle Over Cybertron set? Good to know, as I was going to replace mine with these!

Starscream GaGa wrote:So the RTS version is made out of the same dodgy plastic as the Battle Over Cybertron set?

As far as I can tell, no it is not. It seems good ol' normal, sturdy plastic (well, as sturdy as TF plastic normally is) to me.

So to sum it up, "Mileage may vary".

This is like buying KOs, only worse because it's from large company where quality plastic is expected.

Vicalliose wrote:So to sum it up, "Mileage may vary".

This is like buying KOs, only worse because it's from large company where quality plastic is expected.

The quality issue is why I'm not picking this up. If Hasbro sees how easy it can get away with something like this (likely targeted at collectors more than kids) then we may get further similar quality issues with other updated releases of previous figures. The more of us who purchase and keep this, the happier Hasbro is. On the other hand, if those of us who purchase a poor quality version do return the set and make a big deal about it, maybe Hasbro will do right by us in the future. Or not, as we've seen how they answer questions.

Mine was fine. but I did chip some paint off of the spoiler, and it was my fault not the paint app's

ive seen the set at walmart and target and while the paint quality does seem to very from box to box, it looks pretty decent. only thing keeping me from buying it is that i have the challange at cybertron set and while i might want to get another hot rod for my protector armor (using sons of cybertron rodimus now) i really dont need a third cyclonus

I don't own the set, so I can't comment on it from my point of view, but I did hear that some of the Rodimus figures were put together poorly to the point of his wings/backpack swinging freely.

I think it's Optibotimus who has a video showing off this flaw.

After seeing the clip and hearing about all of the paint problems, I'm not sure I'll be going anywhere near this set.

I wanted it for the following:

-Comic showing off upcoming figures.
-Cyclonus.
-The Matrix.

I was planning on selling off the Rodimus figure or using it as trade fodder, something.

Now, I'm not too sure about the set as a whole. =( Where is Hasbro's QC these days? I mean, I seriously doubt the molds have degraded that much. It sounds more like cheap plastic and assembly problems to me. Along with the aforementioned paint apps.

Can anyone truly recommend it for $20.00?

Autobot032 wrote:I don't own the set, so I can't comment on it from my point of view, but I did hear that some of the Rodimus figures were put together poorly to the point of his wings/backpack swinging freely.

I think it's Optibotimus who has a video showing off this flaw.

After seeing the clip and hearing about all of the paint problems, I'm not sure I'll be going anywhere near this set.

I wanted it for the following:

-Comic showing off upcoming figures.
-Cyclonus.
-The Matrix.

I was planning on selling off the Rodimus figure or using it as trade fodder, something.

Now, I'm not too sure about the set as a whole. =( Where is Hasbro's QC these days? I mean, I seriously doubt the molds have degraded that much. It sounds more like cheap plastic and assembly problems to me. Along with the aforementioned paint apps.

Can anyone truly recommend it for $20.00?

I can.

I've been thinking..Could this be hasbro trying to cash in on Fansproject recent protector release? They know classics rodimus fetches 3-4x's what this release does..Could they be trying to cater to those who dont want the ebay gouged classic roddy's?

Then again who will pay $90+ for a upgrade set but $50+ for a figure to go with it..Just my thoughts...


So this 2 pack comes with the matrix? Hell I'll get it for that and for another classics cyclonus..

LiKwid wrote:I've been thinking..Could this be hasbro trying to cash in on Fansproject recent protector release? They know classics rodimus fetches 3-4x's what this release does..Could they be trying to cater to those who dont want the ebay gouged classic roddy's?

Then again who will pay $90+ for a upgrade set but $50+ for a figure to go with it..Just my thoughts...


So this 2 pack comes with the matrix? Hell I'll get it for that and for another classics cyclonus..

I mentioned this before and was pretty much shot down, so ymmv, but I agree.

Autobot032 wrote:

LiKwid wrote:I've been thinking..Could this be hasbro trying to cash in on Fansproject recent protector release? They know classics rodimus fetches 3-4x's what this release does..Could they be trying to cater to those who dont want the ebay gouged classic roddy's?

Then again who will pay $90+ for a upgrade set but $50+ for a figure to go with it..Just my thoughts...


So this 2 pack comes with the matrix? Hell I'll get it for that and for another classics cyclonus..

I mentioned this before and was pretty much shot down, so ymmv, but I agree.

And I'll explain it again: Hasbro does not care about Third Party Companies as long as they operate within a certain threshold (read: they're keeping an eye shut), but they do know the significance of Season 3, which has Rodimus in it. That is it, nothing more.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:

LiKwid wrote:I've been thinking..Could this be hasbro trying to cash in on Fansproject recent protector release? They know classics rodimus fetches 3-4x's what this release does..Could they be trying to cater to those who dont want the ebay gouged classic roddy's?

Then again who will pay $90+ for a upgrade set but $50+ for a figure to go with it..Just my thoughts...


So this 2 pack comes with the matrix? Hell I'll get it for that and for another classics cyclonus..

I mentioned this before and was pretty much shot down, so ymmv, but I agree.

And I'll explain it again: Hasbro does not care about Third Party Companies as long as they operate within a certain threshold (read: they're keeping an eye shut), but they do know the significance of Season 3, which has Rodimus in it. That is it, nothing more.

You made your point long ago. No need to be condescending. Just shelve it and BACK OFF.

Valandar wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:I don't own the set, so I can't comment on it from my point of view, but I did hear that some of the Rodimus figures were put together poorly to the point of his wings/backpack swinging freely.

I think it's Optibotimus who has a video showing off this flaw.

After seeing the clip and hearing about all of the paint problems, I'm not sure I'll be going anywhere near this set.

I wanted it for the following:

-Comic showing off upcoming figures.
-Cyclonus.
-The Matrix.

I was planning on selling off the Rodimus figure or using it as trade fodder, something.

Now, I'm not too sure about the set as a whole. =( Where is Hasbro's QC these days? I mean, I seriously doubt the molds have degraded that much. It sounds more like cheap plastic and assembly problems to me. Along with the aforementioned paint apps.

Can anyone truly recommend it for $20.00?

I can.

I can too, and I wanted it for even less reasons than you do/did.

I was disinterested in this set from the word go, and unlike all the more 'enlightened and discerning' collectors 'round here, I wanted the three pack release because all I wanted was the Galvatron repaint, because I actually like Classics Galvatron. That alone may be enough to make you stop reading this, but that's not really on me.
Anyhow, I never got the three pack. Hot Rod and Cyclonus are two of my least favorite of the Classics figures. I've got a Matrix, one came with the eHobby G1 Galvatron reissue and I got one with a KO G1 Megatron years ago. Both of them were better than the Matrix that comes with this set.
I wasn''t interested in the comic or the more accurate paintjobs. I had gotten a pdf of the comic, and it's not even a good or interesting comic to me.

When I saw the set in the store though, I couldn't pass it up. Don't get me wrong, from the first report of it's pending release I could not have been more disinterested in this set, and I would have rather bought ROTF figures than bought one of these. But when I saw it, the figures were so nice looking that I just couldn't pass it up. And I walked around Target telling my girlfriend how much I wanted to dislike this, and how I felt like a sell out for suddenly being greatly interested in it now that I had seen it. But I bought it, and they are really beautiful figures. I have no QC issues at all, but maybe I'm just easy to please because I like the PCCs and Double Clutch and Mudslinger are two of my favorites from that line.
As far as the QC issues, there have been movie and Animated toys that were leagues below the problems reported on this two pack. It is still a matter of looking at the toys you find and buying one that looks like it's going to meet your standard. But I seem immune to that too, because people search and search and search and still end up with terribly QC'd figures, and I just sort of pick up ones that I want and always seem to end up fine.

tl;dr? I didn't even kind of want this set, and I ended up being unable to put it down at the store, and have zero regrets for having purchased it. I don't even want the Protector set or any of that, and I have Hot Rod and Cyclonus, and all the previously listed stuff, but I love this set.

I visited my local Targets recently and oddly, for my city, they were in stock already. I checked their paint apps and as far as I could see they all looked perfect. Although I opted for the Fallen, WFC Bumblebee, and legends Ravage instead. I'm sure the alleged problems can be corrected in later shipments. I'm going to be patient on this one anyway, since I'm sure it'll be around for the entire toyline.

OptiMagnus10 wrote: I'm going to be patient on this one anyway, since I'm sure it'll be around for the entire toyline.

Dude, the MINUTE you say that, that guarantees you'll never see it in the store again!