The Energon Pub

News Credits: 4 · by **Bumblethumper** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:31 pm

For a present to myself this christmas, I opened up my Voyager Optimus/ Concept Camaro Bumblebee 2-pack.

Anyway after much fiddling around, I've come to the conclusion that Bumblebee was misassembled. You can't get him back into car mode. I already have this figure and was going to give one of them away. Having a good one, I'm quite confident that this one is misassembled. It's the cog-wheels in the automorph.

It's sold out, so I can't easily replace it. I'd like to fix it, and I'm sure I could, but the screws just don't seem to want to come out. What's the point of screws if you can't take them out?

Anyone have any tips?

by **thedistinctroom** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:50 pm

Can you force it back into alignment? I've had to do that with Blackout and deluxe class Brawl a couple of times. Once I got it in correctly the automorph worked again. Obviously, I'm not suggesting you harm your Bumblebee. Good luck m8.

News Credits: 4 · by **Bumblethumper** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:08 pm

I already tried that, but it only led to a white stress mark on the plastic. So I figured I'd better go easy on it.

If anyone knows a good way of loosening the screws, it'd really help. They're in so tight that if I force the screwdriver, it will just rip up the cross on the screw's head.

News Credits: 668 · by **Autobot032** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:00 am

Bumblethumper wrote:I already tried that, but it only led to a white stress mark on the plastic. So I figured I'd better go easy on it.

If anyone knows a good way of loosening the screws, it'd really help. They're in so tight that if I force the screwdriver, it will just rip up the cross on the screw's head.

I don't know how to fix Bumblebee (sorry...) but I do think you're right about them gluing the screws in. I've been noticing on some of the figures, made recently, that you can't remove the screws without destroying a panel of plastic in front of it.

by **Grahf** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:18 am

I noticed something like that when I took my Wreckage apart to repaint it. The screws came out easy enough, but parts of the arms and legs seemed glued together. Out of all the figures I've taken apart, this was the first time it happened to me.

News Credits: 668 · by **Autobot032** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:28 am

Grahf wrote:I noticed something like that when I took my Wreckage apart to repaint it. The screws came out easy enough, but parts of the arms and legs seemed glued together. Out of all the figures I've taken apart, this was the first time it happened to me.

It's being done for one of these two reasons:

1.) Looks (screw holes look goofy depending on their placement)

2.) If you can't repair it, you'll have to buy a new one.

I'm gonna say it's a mix of the two.

by **thedistinctroom** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:10 pm

I would also think that they may glue the screws in so that KO manufacturers can't reverse engineer new molds.

by **Jazz Reborn** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:29 pm

i took the screws of ratchet and his arm split in half.

by **Tangent** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:35 pm

Hmm, that's strange. I took my Wreckage apart and he wasnt at all gluey. I hope they wont start using glue on everyone, that would really mess up the kitbashers...

News Credits: 4 · by **Bumblethumper** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:35 pm

Woohoo! I fixed it!

I gave up on getting the screws out. By prying a small flat-head screwdriver into the automorph, I was able to slip the gears.

Even though it's disappointing to be the victim of poor quality-control, I'm just glad I could fix it, and some kid didn't get stuck with it.

News Credits: 4 · by **Bumblethumper** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:39 pm

jazz reborn wrote:i took the screws of ratchet and his arm split in half.

Ouch. I guess you could always glue it back together.

I have a movie Ironhide that I took a screw half way out, but it was in so tight that in the process, the screw head was destroyed and now I can neither get it back in nor out.

This sort of thing must drive the kit-bashers nuts. I dunno how they do it.

News Credits: 3 · by **DISCHARGE** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:57 pm

This is gonna sound stupid, but make sure you are using the right
size screw bit for the screw head. It really does make all the difference in removing screws without stripping them.

News Credits: 4 · by **Bumblethumper** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 7:06 pm

DISCHARGE wrote:This is gonna sound stupid, but make sure you are using the right
size screw bit for the screw head. It really does make all the difference in removing screws without stripping them.

Well before that happened, I tried about 4 different screwdrivers, and it didn't make the slightest difference.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 8:20 pm

My very first (and only) attempt to modift a TF was to take the guts out of Laser Prime to put into Black Convoy. They didn't glue the arm peices together or the screw into the hole, but there was a rivet in there, locking the arm in place even after I got the screw out. I had to pry it apart.