The Energon Pub

Ah, just like G1!

daimchoc wrote:(A bunch of pics of a base mode for Motormaster.)

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Ah, just like G1!

It does look good, but personally I wish it just used the kibble from the rear half of the trailer, rather then using Motormaster himself. Even if, as RK_Striker_JK_5 pointed out, that would be just like G1.

Anyway, I just did some transforming, and thought I'd share another pic. A week ago, I presented the Stunticons, along with my other two Decepticon combiners, all in vehicle mode. Well, here they are as all of the individual robots. (There's plenty of photos, even one or two from me, of these three together all combined. But it is fun to remember sometimes that they have two other modes!)



And, well, what the heck? Just to have them all in one post, here's the vehicle mode pic from a week ago:



And finally, the aforementioned common pic of them all as gestalts:

Looks good. I wish I had the patience to transform giant back. He is such a pain in the ass I only did it once to apply reprolabels. I plan to do the same with menasor. Too fragile and time consuming. But they look great as teams.

Rated X wrote:I wish I had the patience to transform giant back. He is such a
pain in the ass I only did it once to apply reprolabels. I plan to do the
same with menasor. Too fragile and time consuming.

Well, to each their own. Sure, they're a bit less simple then the average off the peg Hasbro figure, but as long as you're not careless and in an insane rush, I've never had any difficulty transforming Giant's individual members back and fourth. Nor with Bruticus's individual members, although they are over all somewhat simpler. (Of course, three of his five members are aforementioned "off the peg" figures...)

I've had less time with the Stunticons, but also have not had much problem with them thus far. Yeah, there are some bits I want to be careful with, but so far I've had fun transforming him back and fourth.

Well, I did have the apparently not uncommon issue, once upon a time, of Drag Strip's windshield cracking, but fortunately the retailer I purchased from was quick to replace it. Anyone who has yet to have this problem themselves, to help avoid it I would recommend slightly loosening the screw that holds the windshield on, so that it moves with less force applied to it. Other then that, though, I've had no trouble transforming these guys into any of their modes.

Yotsuyasan wrote:

Rated X wrote:I wish I had the patience to transform giant back. He is such a
pain in the ass I only did it once to apply reprolabels. I plan to do the
same with menasor. Too fragile and time consuming.

Well, to each their own. Sure, they're a bit less simple then the average off the peg Hasbro figure, but as long as you're not careless and in an insane rush, I've never had any difficulty transforming Giant's individual members back and fourth. Nor with Bruticus's individual members, although they are over all somewhat simpler. (Of course, three of his five members are aforementioned "off the peg" figures...)

I've had less time with the Stunticons, but also have not had much problem with them thus far. Yeah, there are some bits I want to be careful with, but so far I've had fun transforming him back and fourth.

Well, I did have the apparently not uncommon issue, once upon a time, of Drag Strip's windshield cracking, but fortunately the retailer I purchased from was quick to replace it. Anyone who has yet to have this problem themselves, to help avoid it I would recommend slightly loosening the screw that holds the windshield on, so that it moves with less force applied to it. Other then that, though, I've had no trouble transforming these guys into any of their modes.

For me giants mixmaster is all kinds of scary when transforming the cab into feet. Those tabs just scream im gonna break somewhere down the line. While giants scrapper isnt scary, it is overly complex making the transformation no fun whatsoever. And what the heck is that chrome piston for that always gets in the way ? The FP stunticons also take the fun out of transformation with overly complex and sometimes scary sequences. The worst is breakdown and wildriders feet. Getting the hood of the car to open up when split is a nightmare. Dead ends arms are also super complex to close back up in car mode. Surprisingly, drag strip is the easiest to transform. I get motormaster on tuesday and I fear even touching him. A transformer shouldnt give me that creeped out feeling. It should be fun. Not over simplified like legends figures, but not a puzzle either that can snap just from trying to figure it out. If we didnt live in the age of youtube reviews, I wouldnt be collecting. Im more into displaying them then I am into the hands on part of owning them.

Rated X wrote:For me giants mixmaster is all kinds of scary when transforming the cab
into feet.

I find that interesting, because for me Mixmaster is actually probably the easiest of this bunch to transform. (Perhaps because he is, in a lot of ways, most similar to the original G1 figure? I dunno...)

Rated X wrote:While giants scrapper isnt scary, it is overly complex making the transformation no fun whatsoever. And what the heck is that chrome piston for that always gets in the way ?

While I will admit that sometimes over complexity can be annoying, the right amount of complexity can be fun. Of course, the line between the two is subjective, so I guess I'm just lucky that for me Scrapper is still in the "fun" zone.

As for the piston... Well, yes, functionally it serves no purpose. But design-wise, it is there as detail for the gestalt mode, to look like a piston in the gestalt's ankle. I bit incongruous, I suppose, since it is the only such added detail on the figure. (It isn't like they covered Devestator in superfluous pistons.) But perhaps they had some empty space to fill on Scrapper's leg mode, and someone said, "I know! Let's put a giant piston there!" I don't think it looks bad, and it doesn't really take away from either of the other modes, so it doesn't bug me.

Getting your Motormaster on Tuesday? That should be a fun day for both of us, then, as I'm expecting my replacement Metroplex the same day. (Hopefully this one shall arrive in one piece!)

Anyway, if yours is like mine was, there are some joints that are quite tight on him, including some on either side of a thinish piece of plastic between the upper and lower halves of his body. Sounds like the kind of thing that may frustrate you, alas. But having transformed him at least half a dozen times so far myself, I've not broken it or even noticed any stress marks in the plastic. So I'm relatively confident that as long as I'm not stupid with it, it should be fine.

Messing with Motormaster for the first time tonight. Way too complex to ever be fun. Anyways, how do you remove the connectors from the ratchet joints on Menasor's shoulders ? theyre stuck and I cant yank em off !!!

Rated X wrote:Messing with Motormaster for the first time tonight. Way too complex to ever be fun. Anyways, how do you remove the connectors from the ratchet joints on Menasor's shoulders ? theyre stuck and I cant yank em off !!!

No, no, no! Don't yank, they will break!

To take them off, you literally have to go in reverse of how they were put on. Like the leg pegs, the shoulder pegs have a notch on them, like a key in a keyhole.

Rotate them forward so the waist stabilizers (what attaches to Last Chance and Down Force) are facing backward. You'll notice it's become a bit looser on the connection. Once that happens, gently wiggle it back and forth ever so slightly while pulling them away from the torso, but gently.

They should give.

Honestly, the transformation is smooth as butter after you do it a couple of times. I've transformed mine probably 15 times, no joke.

Here, check out Breaux Man's videos, starting with this one.

Invaluable.

Autobot032 wrote:

Rated X wrote:Messing with Motormaster for the first time tonight. Way too complex to ever be fun. Anyways, how do you remove the connectors from the ratchet joints on Menasor's shoulders ? theyre stuck and I cant yank em off !!!

No, no, no! Don't yank, they will break!

To take them off, you literally have to go in reverse of how they were put on. Like the leg pegs, the shoulder pegs have a notch on them, like a key in a keyhole.

Rotate them forward so the waist stabilizers (what attaches to Last Chance and Down Force) are facing backward. You'll notice it's become a bit looser on the connection. Once that happens, gently wiggle it back and forth ever so slightly while pulling them away from the torso, but gently.

They should give.

Honestly, the transformation is smooth as butter after you do it a couple of times. I've transformed mine probably 15 times, no joke.

Here, check out Breaux Man's videos, starting with this one.

Invaluable.

Thanks...i had just popped em in so i wasnt aware there was a motion to it. Im gonna try it out when i get home from work tonight. It sucks that the directions dont mention these things. I transformed him from reviews. It was hard to find a review that was really imformative. Theyre usually too busy trying to sell people on the figure rather than help out those who are stumped with it. Thanks for the heads up. I was this close to putting on garden gloves and yanking em out...

Hes lying to you. Use good old fashion elbow grease on them puppies!

GiveMeSkyfire wrote:Hes lying to you. Use good old fashion elbow grease on them puppies!

Normally I'd laugh, but these guys are a bit expensive. So, I'll just give a nervous chuckle.

:NERVOUSCHUCKLE:

Thats alright, moneys not an issue for X. Just ask he will tell you. Actually he will just tell you...

GiveMeSkyfire wrote:Thats alright, moneys not an issue for X. Just ask he will tell you. Actually he will just tell you...

Money is not an issue but time is. BBTS doesnt give you 6 months to check all your figures for QC issues. When your average POL is $1800, you gotta cram alot of learning into a period of 2 weeks. Its alot of work and I dont have time for issues that can be avoided...dont hate buddy

Right on que! You should drop how much your car payment is in there somewhere...Maybe a celebrity that you know? Why do I picture you in a way too tight Izod?

Rated X wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:

Rated X wrote:Messing with Motormaster for the first time tonight. Way too complex to ever be fun. Anyways, how do you remove the connectors from the ratchet joints on Menasor's shoulders ? theyre stuck and I cant yank em off !!!

No, no, no! Don't yank, they will break!

To take them off, you literally have to go in reverse of how they were put on. Like the leg pegs, the shoulder pegs have a notch on them, like a key in a keyhole.

Rotate them forward so the waist stabilizers (what attaches to Last Chance and Down Force) are facing backward. You'll notice it's become a bit looser on the connection. Once that happens, gently wiggle it back and forth ever so slightly while pulling them away from the torso, but gently.

They should give.

Honestly, the transformation is smooth as butter after you do it a couple of times. I've transformed mine probably 15 times, no joke.

Here, check out Breaux Man's videos, starting with this one.

Invaluable.

Thanks...i had just popped em in so i wasnt aware there was a motion to it. Im gonna try it out when i get home from work tonight. It sucks that the directions dont mention these things. I transformed him from reviews. It was hard to find a review that was really imformative. Theyre usually too busy trying to sell people on the figure rather than help out those who are stumped with it. Thanks for the heads up. I was this close to putting on garden gloves and yanking em out...

Glad to be of help. Whatever you do, never yank. They will break in an instant.

GiveMeSkyfire wrote:Right on que! You should drop how much your car payment is in there somewhere...Maybe a celebrity that you know? Why do I picture you in a way too tight Izod?

KNOCK IT OFF!

GiveMeSkyfire wrote:Right on que! You should drop how much your car payment is in there somewhere...Maybe a celebrity that you know? Why do I picture you in a way too tight Izod?

Sorry, no Izod. Im from the dirty south so I dress hip hop. But I enjoy this hobby, so Im not ashamed to admit how much I spend on it. Theres plenty of people on here who post comments about how they CANT afford certain figures. I post comments about how I CAN afford certain figures. Same concept, different budgets.

Success !!!! I twisted and wiggled it and it came out with ease in seconds !!!

Special thanks to Autobot032 for looking out with the advice. Now Im gonna crack open a beer and fight getting the other four stunticons back into car mode. Ill continue the tradition of posting Menasor pics on this thread soon...

Mines still sitting in my POL. As much as I wanted menasor in my hands A few more months won't hurt right? RIGHT?Must resist hitting SML!!!

Rated X wrote:Success !!!! I twisted and wiggled it and it came out with ease in seconds !!!

Special thanks to Autobot032 for looking out with the advice. Now Im gonna crack open a beer and fight getting the other four stunticons back into car mode. Ill continue the tradition of posting Menasor pics on this thread soon...

No problem, glad to be of help. He's worth it, transforming, I mean. Do it back and forth a couple of times and he's smooth as butter. I just pick 'em up and transform them while watching TV. lol

The first time, though? Scary. And painful. Bleh, I hacked up my fingertips on this dude.

Autobot032 wrote: He's worth it, transforming, I mean. Do it back and forth a couple of times and he's smooth as butter. I just pick 'em up and transform them while watching TV. lol

The first time, though? Scary. And painful. Bleh, I hacked up my fingertips on this dude.

I agree. It took me almost an hour and a half to go through vehicle to robot to combined mode the first time. Though I was watching Ghostbusters at the time. And those instructions are bloody useless. But now he's not a problem at all.

spongedude93 wrote:

Autobot032 wrote: He's worth it, transforming, I mean. Do it back and forth a couple of times and he's smooth as butter. I just pick 'em up and transform them while watching TV. lol

The first time, though? Scary. And painful. Bleh, I hacked up my fingertips on this dude.

I agree. It took me almost an hour and a half to go through vehicle to robot to combined mode the first time. Though I was watching Ghostbusters at the time. And those instructions are bloody useless. But now he's not a problem at all.

Useless is a good word for those instructions. They tend to tell you exactly what NOT to do. Seeing some of those steps with some of the more...questionable design choices, just made my eyes bug out. Fortunately, those video reviews came to the rescue.

FP's usually pretty good when it comes to instructions. Not this time.

Autobot032 wrote:

spongedude93 wrote:

Autobot032 wrote: He's worth it, transforming, I mean. Do it back and forth a couple of times and he's smooth as butter. I just pick 'em up and transform them while watching TV. lol

The first time, though? Scary. And painful. Bleh, I hacked up my fingertips on this dude.

I agree. It took me almost an hour and a half to go through vehicle to robot to combined mode the first time. Though I was watching Ghostbusters at the time. And those instructions are bloody useless. But now he's not a problem at all.

Useless is a good word for those instructions. They tend to tell you exactly what NOT to do. Seeing some of those steps with some of the more...questionable design choices, just made my eyes bug out. Fortunately, those video reviews came to the rescue.

FP's usually pretty good when it comes to instructions. Not this time.

Im like 99% sure I got the trailer parts misassembled from the factory. It appears that I can only put Menasors legs on backwards. Look at the connector holes on this pic. To make matters worse taking it apart reveals that a pin holds it together so I cant reverse the connectors. Can you confirm this is an assembly error ? Anyone else have this issue ? I hope BBTS can swap out the parts. I dread transforming this thing again only to find the same issue from a certain run.

Rated X wrote:
Im like 99% sure I got the trailer parts misassembled from the factory. It appears that I can only put Menasors legs on backwards. Look at the connector holes on this pic. To make matters worse taking it apart reveals that a pin holds it together so I cant reverse the connectors. Can you confirm this is an assembly error ? Anyone else have this issue ? I hope BBTS can swap out the parts. I dread transforming this thing again only to find the same issue from a certain run.

No, those are right. You put the naked legs on backwards then spin them around. The only minor problem I see here. is that you don't have the panel on the back collapsed properly but that whatever

spongedude93 wrote:

Rated X wrote:
Im like 99% sure I got the trailer parts misassembled from the factory. It appears that I can only put Menasors legs on backwards. Look at the connector holes on this pic. To make matters worse taking it apart reveals that a pin holds it together so I cant reverse the connectors. Can you confirm this is an assembly error ? Anyone else have this issue ? I hope BBTS can swap out the parts. I dread transforming this thing again only to find the same issue from a certain run.

No, those are right. You put the naked legs on backwards then spin them around. The only minor problem I see here. is that you don't have the panel on the back collapsed properly but that whatever

I just realized that right before I read your post...they twist !!! Dasmn you Fansproject !!!! (I only had one beer, I swear)

How do you collapse the legs properly ?

Rated X wrote:
I just realized that right before I read your post...they twist !!! Dasmn you Fansproject !!!! (I only had one beer, I swear)

How do you collapse the legs properly ?

Just like if you were putting them in Weapon mode. I'm not so good with the words an such, so here a picture!