The Energon Pub

I have to admit that even though this FOC line is getting a bit funny in how small the figures are and how hollow they are, I am still buying them. I have Ops, Jazz, Shockwave, and even (SDCC Bruticus I scored on the HTS.com mayhem).

I am hoping that the voyagers that are planned make up for the disappointment I have in the deluxes so far. i will jut have to wait and see.

All of this line so far is a bit laughable in scale and girth, but I love my TF's, and I love the style of the FOC line so far. If things get much worse though, I may just stick to Masterpiece figures only.

Size issues aside, this is one of the more poorly engineered Transformers I've picked up. I'm willing to forgive the spindly legs and gorilla arms. I'm even willing to forgive the cavity in front of Jazz's head in robot mode and the generally unfinished rear end of his vehicle mode. But…

• The way the forearms tab into the upper arms in vehicle mode is just ridiculous. Getting them in there requires flexing the plastic. Transforming a Transformer should never require flexing plastic.
• The way the rear of the car tabs into the forearms is a source of stress marks. You won't notice them as much because of the pearl-white color of the plastic; but you'll get them.
• The legs tab together (poorly); but tension in the hip joints is all the holds the legs in place in vehicle mode. Predictably, this doesn't work especially well; and sometimes they don't stay in place.

WFC Bumblebee is less frustrating than this guy. At least if you line everything up correctly with WFC Bumblebee, the transformation works. With FOC Jazz, you can nail it and it still feels half-assed.

funklizard wrote:Size issues aside, this is one of the more poorly engineered Transformers I've picked up. I'm willing to forgive the spindly legs and gorilla arms. I'm even willing to forgive the cavity in front of Jazz's head in robot mode and the generally unfinished rear end of his vehicle mode. But…

• The way the forearms tab into the upper arms in vehicle mode is just ridiculous. Getting them in there requires flexing the plastic. Transforming a Transformer should never require flexing plastic.
• The way the rear of the car tabs into the forearms is a source of stress marks. You won't notice them as much because of the pearl-white color of the plastic; but you'll get them.
• The legs tab together (poorly); but tension in the hip joints is all the holds the legs in place in vehicle mode. Predictably, this doesn't work especially well; and sometimes they don't stay in place.

WFC Bumblebee is less frustrating than this guy. At least if you line everything up correctly with WFC Bumblebee, the transformation works. With FOC Jazz, you can nail it and it still feels half-assed.

That pretty much sums up my feelings about most of the movie and later toys which have vehicle modes, particularly those which use the car bits as the shell for things like the arms and the legs. They all soft-tab into place and you have to stress the plastic to put them together or pull them apart. The Prime line is the same, and so is WfC.

The plastic keeps getting softer, which means over time, with play (assuming you actually transform your Transformers), things won't quite line up the way the used to.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the brilliant engineering, it really impresses me, but the materials used and the way panels tab together just makes me nervous. It would be fine if the plastics weren't so pliable, but since they are, it only means alignment issues over time.