The Energon Pub

I just got Optimus. I know I'm a little late, but money has been tight. Does anyone know a good way to make the swords removable or how to take the wheels off?? I am so unhappy they made plastic wheels on him that I am making him new ones like the 2007 Prime. Better design crappy wheels..guess it saved em some money..I also have to return this guy. One of his chest plates locked up. I'm done with the new transformers. I will save up and start doing Masterpiece ones after this. Crappy movie, ok toys.

Anyways any help would be great. Thank you in advance.

The swords are easy to remove- just open up the arms (watch out for a spring, I can't remember if it pops out at you or not) and remove the sword. There's a metal rivet on the end of the mounting stud that holds it in place; you can pull out that rivet w/ a pair of pliers so that you can still slide the sword back in. The folding panel on the arm should keep it in place, otherwise you can use your pliers to *very slightly* distort the end of the mouting stud so it stays in its former location. You should be bale to see what I mean, I can't get pics for you right now.

Give him a chance, tho, he's a fantastic toy. The chest tabs are a pain, you canb file them down a little so they aren't so hard to remove. HTH, good luck.

Yeah, ROTF Prime has a couple weak points, mainly IMO the plastic tires. They do look nice, tho, as long as you don't look at the hollow insides. I believe the solid hands are so he can hold the Jetfire weapon in Power Up mode.

I believe the standard procedure for removing wheels and that sort of rivetted part is to heat the rivet with a soldering iron while tugging gently on the wheel. Once the rivet heats up enough, it will soften the plastic it's anchored in and come loose. Somebody around here modded ROTF Prime with movie 1 Prime's rubber tires. While I admire the engineering involved, they're too big, it doesn't look right.

And yes, Leader Jetire is woefully out of scale w/ Leader Prime, that's why I removed Jetfire's combination parts so his alt and robot modes look better. HTH.

Thank you, now just need to figure out how to remove the wheels. I have the same problem with the older prime. I can't airbrush fenderwells. I do like this Prime, but they cheaped it out. Hands are solid, plastic tires...other than that pretty good. Jet fire is way to small though. They should of made jetfire the same class as the Huge bummblebee. Then it would look more scaleish.

Ya I will be using custom wheels. Not from first prime but somewhat my own design. I think I am going to get a scale model of a Blackbird and actually make add on parts for Optimus and scratch having Jetfire actually connect on him. I will be able to make it closer to the real thing and scaled right. It will be one of the best customs around I promise. I just need to finish my "test" custom Starscream. I will be posting picts of him soon enough. Thanks for the help.

While my initial reaction to REAL RUBBER tires used to be positive, it has since changed quite a bit. You might want to reconsider the value of plastic over rubber.
From the cracking, splitting rubber tires of RID figures to the rubber actually becoming caustic and melting any plastic around it in other toys, I am now grateful when TFs come with plastic tires. At least I know they'll still be intact years from now, and it's not like I need the tires to really grip the road.

I'm afraid I can't offer any modding advice as you've gotten great tips to help you out. I will say that the energy blade gimmick is my main criticism of the figure. It's a good idea for movie accuracy but poorly designed as it seriously hinders arm articulation.

The hands, as HHR suggested, are designed that way to accommodate the cannon that OP has to hold when combined with Jetfire. However, I think an alternative would have been to use similar hands as 07 Leader OP but to implement a tab/peg in the palm and handle of the cannon to connect to the hand to the handle. Cybertron Leader OP has a similar set up. Its hands are very tight but in addition, it has a port in the palm, a peg on the figure's gun handle. It makes for a secure grip.

Incidentally, my Cybertron Leader OP has hands tight enough so that it can hold the Ion Blaster that comes with the MP mold of OP. Having a simple articulated hand design for RotF Leader OP would have been great.

The chest tabs can be a problem but if you find the "right" way to move the tabs in/out of the chest, it's really simple. The issue is that it's an unnecessary design, the chest compartment halves don't need to be secured in such a way.

I don't mind that the RotF Leader OP figure uses plastic tires. However, rubber tires are nice, they add variety in materials used for the figure, give a nice sense of the toy being somewhat like a replica(its alt mode is a fantastic representation, especially compared to the 07 OP alt mode), and the feel of rubber tires is just neat.

Now despite the agreements of the flaws of the figure, I think that the RotF Leader OP design is a fantastic design for its high level of likeness to the character model in both alt and robot modes. Aside from the chest compartment tab/groove system, I think the transformation design is well designed. It's an involved and complex(but not complicated in my opinion) transformation process, very satisfying for those who enjoy the transformation aspect of these toys.

I respect that. I however disagree. There are products such as "303" that will keep the rubber in the same shape till the end of time. Plus I would make it so it could be replaced need be.Biggest thing for me about the rubber ones is, the realistic part of it. Not to mention just rolling it across the tables is so much nicer on the ears. I actually read somewhere, and I feel like an idiot for not saving the link. I'll look for it again. Anyways, Hasbro supposedly did it to save money because they are loosing money. Getting close to being broke for these reasons.

1. They paid a lot of money to make all the movie toylines, but really are not selling much. Not breaking even.
2. Wal-mart and other companies alike are sending toys back by the truckload that people are just not buying. They made to many of the unwanted toys.
3. They spent quite a bit money on the new animation Transformers series, that really is a flop. No offense to anyone that likes that show, but it is garbage to the majority of people.
4. They have to many different lines. Gravity bots, figures, n all that other stuff and it is all overstocked for the most part. Jetfire and Starscream are the only ones that are hard to get right now that I know of. I can get the rest no problem at all.
5. They spent a lot of money on the new Devastator the no one is buying. Some have I know..but not enough for them to even break even or the R and D.

These are just some reasons. I mean I got my Optimus and my Jetfire for 34 bucks each. Optimus Prime is overstocked.

Sorry I went on for so long, but after reading some stuff I see now why they did that. All I know is that a lot of collectors and people that know more about this stuff than I do are telling me to buy as many Masterpiece molds I can. This makes sense to me though. Transformers made a lot of money, but that money got wasted for the most part.They paid a lot of money to have Shia and Fox to come back. To much if you ask me. Their parts where to big.

So I think it is safe to say that we may just see toys getting a lot cheaper.

To Convotron:

I can agree with that. I love the figure. It's a lot more movie accurate and plain out looks more like a Peterbuilt. I will however make new hands. I will make them from scratch. Not being able to move the fingers takes a lot away from him. As with the to small of tires/wheels. I am at the point where I would trade my custom prime for a Masterpiece Prime. We shall see. I like the movie figure because it is a good figure. It really is. I just am not a huge fan of the movies so the movie toys I get to customize to sell to people that will enjoy them. I mainly want G1 and Masterpeice ones. I am actually designing some "Masterpiece" toys myself. Only problem with that is the gimmicks. Making lights n sounds not always that easy. We'll see. The current one I am working on is Shockwave

The blades are easily removed by taking the forearms apart but as I wanted to be able to reattach them easily I sawed them off near the pivot and embedded magnets. I can remove/add them in a second!

Metal Monkey wrote:1. They paid a lot of money to make all the movie toylines, but really are not selling much. Not breaking even.

I haven't heard this before. Link?

2. Wal-mart and other companies alike are sending toys back by the truckload that people are just not buying. They made to many of the unwanted toys.

I haven't heard this either. Link? Actually, the first movie's toyline was extended and reordered because the stores were selling them like crazy.

I've yet to hear anything concrete on the stores shipping these figures back for credit. It can be done, but I've yet to hear about it.

3. They spent quite a bit money on the new animation Transformers series, that really is a flop. No offense to anyone that likes that show, but it is garbage to the majority of people.

*BUZZ* Incorrect. That's your opinion, it is not fact. This entire thread has had a bias overtone to it. Quite a bit of complaining, really. This just added more weight to the idea that you were biased.

There are quite a few fans that didn't like TransFormers Animated, but to say the majority found it to be garbage? Bull. I'd be willing to give you 50/50, to be fair, but even then...BotCon attendees and the constant questions pertaining to Animated should prove that it was accepted by a large number of fans. I won't say the majority liked/loved Animated, but the majority didn't find it to be garbage either.

4. They have to many different lines. Gravity bots, figures, n all that other stuff and it is all overstocked for the most part. Jetfire and Starscream are the only ones that are hard to get right now that I know of. I can get the rest no problem at all.

Hasbro's made a few boneheaded moves in the past (no one's perfect) but they wouldn't continue producing a line of figures if they weren't turning a profit. No one would, that's financial suicide. The economy is the biggest problem.

As for Jetfire, yeah, a tad hard to come by (though he is trickling out more and more), but Starscream is easy peasy to find. I've seen The Fallen about 2, maybe 3 times in the stores. I've yet to see him since then. So no, they're not as easy to find as you claim.

No offense, but it does seem as though some of this is being pulled firmly out of your tailpipe, so far.

5. They spent a lot of money on the new Devastator the no one is buying. Some have I know..but not enough for them to even break even or the R and D.

Devastator isn't a big seller right now, this is true, but we haven't hit the Christmas season yet. If history repeats itself (which it already has) then he'll sell out, just like Ultimate Bumblebee did back in '07. Heck, the remolded Ultimate BB is sold out everywhere I go. I haven't seen him on shelves for a while now. If he can still sell, Devastator stands a chance then. Patience is required here.

These are just some reasons. I mean I got my Optimus and my Jetfire for 34 bucks each. Optimus Prime is overstocked.

Sorry I went on for so long, but after reading some stuff I see now why they did that. All I know is that a lot of collectors and people that know more about this stuff than I do are telling me to buy as many Masterpiece molds I can. This makes sense to me though. Transformers made a lot of money, but that money got wasted for the most part.They paid a lot of money to have Shia and Fox to come back. To much if you ask me. Their parts where to big.

So I think it is safe to say that we may just see toys getting a lot cheaper.

Again, I (and I'm sure many others reading this) require more proof than "HE TELL ME!" otherwise this is turning into a whiny and overly long "Cool story, bro." kinda thing.

I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong, so if I'm wrong and you can prove it, I'll state it right in this thread. Until you offer up that proof, I ain't believin' jack.

In fact, Hasbro said ROTF helped them with some of their biggest profits this year.

As seen here:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32014097

So...yeah. Proof?

Well said, Autobot032. I thought he was just more informed than me but you have brought up some salient points. I forgot about the profit report.

I won't argue this further for the simple fact I am not completely intune with it entirely. Most of what I read is hearsay from here and their. I am not being biased.

As far as the wal-mart thing goes, that could just be in my area (Washington). They have at the stores up hear have had to return a good amount and get ones that people wanted, such as Optimus, bumble bee, and so forth. My mother works at the biggest one here and I am going by what she has said about them. The ones they also get are a lot of the ones on here that people are not very impressed by also. I also talked to a manager at toys r us and another I forget atm, with about the same statements.

Also I am not saying they are not making a profit. Again with some hearsay in different things I have read that may just be opinion...as with a lot of things on the net that they are having difficulties. Loosing money from some of the toy lines, but are getting a lot from movies merch. I wish I could find the link, but I was getting married and rushed my previous statement...some where on here or tf..something.com stated that Takara is having serious money issues. Who's not at this point though.

I'm not trying to argue or state what I don't know, only what I have read and heard. If you really want me to go back and get ALL the links that I can about my general statements...give me a little time and I will try to put it all together and make a new thread about it.

Also this statement, "No offense to anyone that likes that show, but it is garbage to the majority of people.". This is my opinion that I have come up with by reading many statements all over the net. Now a lot of these people that I speak of are from an older crowd that are more into Transformers that most. I'm sure kids love it, but I don't talk with kids much. Kinda creepy.

I definitely recommend removing the swords; they just get in the way of posing him. But I don't understand the problem with the wheels. I think they're fine.

GuyIncognito wrote:I definitely recommend removing the swords; they just get in the way of posing him. But I don't understand the problem with the wheels. I think they're fine.

Biggest problem for me with the wheels is the realism. When I customize them, I like them to look as real as the real thing. Making plastic look like rubber or worn rubber for that matter is rather difficult. Not impossible, but more work than I'd like.

Metal Monkey wrote:I'm not trying to argue or state what I don't know, only what I have read and heard. If you really want me to go back and get ALL the links that I can about my general statements...give me a little time and I will try to put it all together and make a new thread about it.

Also this statement, "No offense to anyone that likes that show, but it is garbage to the majority of people.". This is my opinion that I have come up with by reading many statements all over the net. Now a lot of these people that I speak of are from an older crowd that are more into Transformers that most. I'm sure kids love it, but I don't talk with kids much. Kinda creepy.

And I have to call the BS flag on that one, by the way. I, TOO, have been to various websites, and the "MAJORITY" of people bit is nonsense. I actually see a faint titlt to liking the Animated line, and a DEFINITE tilt to liking the cartoon.

Valandar wrote:

Metal Monkey wrote:I'm not trying to argue or state what I don't know, only what I have read and heard. If you really want me to go back and get ALL the links that I can about my general statements...give me a little time and I will try to put it all together and make a new thread about it.

Also this statement, "No offense to anyone that likes that show, but it is garbage to the majority of people.". This is my opinion that I have come up with by reading many statements all over the net. Now a lot of these people that I speak of are from an older crowd that are more into Transformers that most. I'm sure kids love it, but I don't talk with kids much. Kinda creepy.

And I have to call the BS flag on that one, by the way. I, TOO, have been to various websites, and the "MAJORITY" of people bit is nonsense. I actually see a faint titlt to liking the Animated line, and a DEFINITE tilt to liking the cartoon.

LOL? Who doesn't love the cartoons...were speaking of the "new" animated series. You only backed what I just said pretty much. Before telling someone they are full of it, maybe you should know what you are talking about...gotta love trolls...

Flame on!

Metal Monkey wrote:

Valandar wrote:

Metal Monkey wrote:I'm not trying to argue or state what I don't know, only what I have read and heard. If you really want me to go back and get ALL the links that I can about my general statements...give me a little time and I will try to put it all together and make a new thread about it.

Also this statement, "No offense to anyone that likes that show, but it is garbage to the majority of people.". This is my opinion that I have come up with by reading many statements all over the net. Now a lot of these people that I speak of are from an older crowd that are more into Transformers that most. I'm sure kids love it, but I don't talk with kids much. Kinda creepy.

And I have to call the BS flag on that one, by the way. I, TOO, have been to various websites, and the "MAJORITY" of people bit is nonsense. I actually see a faint titlt to liking the Animated line, and a DEFINITE tilt to liking the cartoon.

LOL? Who doesn't love the cartoons...were speaking of the "new" animated series. You only backed what I just said pretty much. Before telling someone they are full of it, maybe you should know what you are talking about...gotta love trolls...

Erm, who's trolling here, exactly? Because most posts I've seen in this thread seem pretty well-reasoned to me.

I must admit to being a little biased with regards to Transformers: Animated. I don't like the look of the show, I don't like the look of the figures.

But despite my dislike of that particular line (and there are many other vocal Animated-haters out there as well), I have been around enough Transformers forums to realise that - in general - the Animated line (cartoon and toys) have been well-received by the majority of fans.

It would appear that Metal Monkey must be either reading the wrong forums or letting his bias rule his forum habits (as evidenced above, he certainly seems to have misread Valandar's post).

I think that even the staunchest haters of TFA are usually quite willing to admit that the line has been a roaring success with the fans - I guess Metal Monkey is just a little stauncher than most!

I agree^.

I don't like the aesthetic of TFA but I have four of the toys and think the cartoon is quite good. In fact that's why I bought some of the toys - cos I liked the cartoon!

Metal Monkey... you deliberately misread me, didn't you?

My post was referring to the MOST RECENT animated line, and the TFA cartoon itself. I'm beginning to wonder how much longer you're going to be here before you attack the wrong person like that.

Apparently you missed read what I put. Calling out "BS" and not really having anything to add that is worth adding.

Anyways I'm done having people flame this topic. As far as "trolling" goes here Starfish...think about it...real hard. Who made the post, what was it about, and who is flaming it? Thought so.

P.S. I did misread the end of what you said. When I read it, it looked like you where talking about the original and the new cartoon, not the toyline and the new cartoon as you did. For that I apologize. My mistake. Still out of line to say what I said was BS, because it isn't. It is what I read and have seen. I have not stated it is "fact", only what I have seen. Ill admit I'm not a huge fan of the new stuff, so no I do not spend all my free time researching a series that has been butchered so much over time. I don't do the whole comic-con nerd thing. Sorry.

Someone close this topic. It's way past due.

Metal Monkey wrote:Someone close this topic. It's way past due.

Oh no you don't. You don't get off that easy.

-You posted flamebait.

-You lied out of your ass.

-You put words in the mouth of most of the fandom, don't you EVER speak for us.

Let's go over some of your other responses:

Metal Monkey wrote:I won't argue this further for the simple fact I am not completely intune with it entirely. Most of what I read is hearsay from here and their. I am not being biased.

You ARE being biased. And "HE TELL ME" is always a terrible excuse.

Metal Monkey wrote:As far as the wal-mart thing goes, that could just be in my area (Washington). They have at the stores up hear have had to return a good amount and get ones that people wanted, such as Optimus, bumble bee, and so forth. My mother works at the biggest one here and I am going by what she has said about them. The ones they also get are a lot of the ones on here that people are not very impressed by also. I also talked to a manager at toys r us and another I forget atm, with about the same statements.

Did it ever occur to you that your mother could be mistaken? (NOTE: I am NOT calling your mother a liar, before you try and pull that one off, I'm saying she is most likely MISTAKEN. BIG difference.)

But the rest of this quote from you is more "HE TELL ME" with no proof, and a whole lot of "pulled out of ass" syndrome.

Metal Monkey wrote:Also I am not saying they are not making a profit. Again with some hearsay in different things I have read that may just be opinion...as with a lot of things on the net that they are having difficulties. Loosing money from some of the toy lines, but are getting a lot from movies merch. I wish I could find the link, but I was getting married and rushed my previous statement...some where on here or tf..something.com stated that Takara is having serious money issues. Who's not at this point though.

Takara has NOTHING to do with Hasbro's sales. NOTHING. Takara focuses ONLY on Japan and their interests. The only thing they do with Hasbro is co-design. That's it. They share the multimedia when possible, and the task of designing. They do not affect our sales here in the US, UK, or anywhere else for that matter. Hasbro had a bad 4th quarter in '08, and a bad 1st quarter of '09, but the second quarter of '09 has been a success, thanks to what? ROTF toys. That's right, sales are UP. Not down, UP.

If Hasbro reported the same problems as Takara, THEN and only then, would your points have any validity. As it currently stands, they do not.

Metal Monkey wrote:I'm not trying to argue or state what I don't know, only what I have read and heard. If you really want me to go back and get ALL the links that I can about my general statements...give me a little time and I will try to put it all together and make a new thread about it.

No, you're not trying to argue. You're trying to offensively troll. And yes, go ahead and get all of those links. That's called PROOF. I provided proof of Hasbro's success.

See, when other posters pull facts out of their asses, or don't have the facts just right, they're called on the carpet for it. This is why you see "PICS or GTFO" or something like that, because we've been bamboozled too many times.

Metal Monkey wrote:Also this statement, "No offense to anyone that likes that show, but it is garbage to the majority of people.". This is my opinion that I have come up with by reading many statements all over the net.

Oh, now we see it as it is. It's your OPINION. It is NOT a fact. Not. A. Fact. You are so biased that it's caused your reasoning to fly out the window. There ARE quite a few who HATE Animated. No one's denied that. There ARE quite a few who LOVE (or at least like) Animated. You definitely denied that.

Metal Monkey wrote:

Valandar wrote:And I have to call the BS flag on that one, by the way. I, TOO, have been to various websites, and the "MAJORITY" of people bit is nonsense. I actually see a faint titlt to liking the Animated line, and a DEFINITE tilt to liking the cartoon.

LOL? Who doesn't love the cartoons...were speaking of the "new" animated series. You only backed what I just said pretty much. Before telling someone they are full of it, maybe you should know what you are talking about...gotta love trolls...

Flame on!

...you have the nerve to call HIM a troll? Wow. Guess comprehension AND reasoning went out the window for you.

You are FULL of fail.

EDIT: I missed one, somehow.

Metal Monkey wrote:P.S. I did misread the end of what you said. When I read it, it looked like you where talking about the original and the new cartoon, not the toyline and the new cartoon as you did. For that I apologize. My mistake. Still out of line to say what I said was BS, because it isn't. It is what I read and have seen. I have not stated it is "fact", only what I have seen. Ill admit I'm not a huge fan of the new stuff, so no I do not spend all my free time researching a series that has been butchered so much over time. I don't do the whole comic-con nerd thing. Sorry.

No, it's not out of line. It's still a bunch of BS. The kind that smells so bad you can smell it from the highway, with the windows up. You read, but only saw what you WANTED to see. Since you're not a fan of the new stuff and haven't researched it, how in the hell would you know what's good and bad about it? You wouldn't. And what are you talking about when you say it's butchered? Clarification is definitely needed on that one.

Oh and the comic-con nerd line? That's a flame. There are plenty of people who attend the conventions and you just called them nerds. In a negative manner. Perhaps you didn't get the memo that geek and nerd is chic right now, but it is. However, some people might be offended by that label and using it as you have IS offensive.

I don't attend the conventions, but that's because of the cost. I see no reason to spend that kind of money on something like that. That doesn't diminish it's importance and credibility. Just because I'm not willing to spend on it, doesn't mean it's a worthless endeavor. See, that's the difference...just because I don't care for something doesn't mean it doesn't matter to others. You obviously missed the whole "Hey, my OPINION isn't the only thing that matters" memo. We all got it, and now that you have it, NO excuse.

You are nothing but a troll, and to ask us for help while slapping us across the face is incredible. You have brass, sir. Big brass that would make ROTF Devastator feel insignificant.

Here's one for you: Stop trolling and apologize or GTFO.

Autobot032 wrote:

Metal Monkey wrote:Someone close this topic. It's way past due.

Oh no you don't. You don't get off that easy.

Indeed. Today's moral lesson: don't open a can of worms if you can't stand worms.

You wanna fight about a pointless topic I am always ready for a good debate, but that is not what the topic at hand is.....call me out in the proper place if you really wanna fight about indeed something I don't really care about.