The Energon Pub

I was planning to pick up Nightbird and Slipstream (the Takara Legends Versions) and have decided I will definitely pick up Nightbird. However I'm unsure on Slipstream; I thought the windblade mold was fine, but not great. So, in your opinions, is Slipstream worth the buy?
(also, I'm back! Yay!!!)

Moosey wrote:I was planning to pick up Nightbird and Slipstream (the Takara Legends Versions) and have decided I will definitely pick up Nightbird. However I'm unsure on Slipstream; I thought the windblade mold was fine, but not great. So, in your opinions, is Slipstream worth the buy?
(also, I'm back! Yay!!!)

If you really want/need a nice slipstream, I think she seems to fill that gap rather nicely; I don't own her, but, I love Windblade, and I think the mold works well for a female seeker.

I'd say check out some reviews, or swing by Ryan's galleries to see if she is what you want, I know her face is a little different from what people expected/wanted, and I think that that might be the only reason to not get her - apart from not having that sweet sword


As for Nightbird, got her sitting on my laptop as I type this, she is amazing; better than arcee for a weapons-laden assassin at least

Get her! While secondary scalper prices are still low. Only complaints I've got is the unpainted back of her head. It's like TT planned a light piping gimmick like that of Arcee (one of the best implemented I've seen for some time) but ditched it in the last minute.

Colors are to die for (OK, OT) but like Black Convoy's teal, Slipstream's isn't garish. And the smirk!

Yes, big time! They make the mold far more stable with better material. The ends fit together better and the heels stay down. I feel I can finally appreciate the windblade mold through this iteration. The deco is also perfect and the face give a nice reminder that this is a toy of the animated character. The new nul ray accessories work really well too in robot mode. Could not recommend enough!

Thanks everyone! I will soon be ordering both Slipstream and Nightbird from TFsource or BBTS.

Moosey wrote:Thanks everyone! I will soon be ordering both Slipstream and Nightbird from TFsource or BBTS.

Just as a note, Nightbird does not need the 'arcee palm fix' to hold her sai's, they are engineered with a section cut out already

That being said, if you want her to hold her other weapons, you will need to fix her hands, they are molded in silver plastic, so no need to worry about scraping paint, just of ruining a great figure

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Moosey wrote:Thanks everyone! I will soon be ordering both Slipstream and Nightbird from TFsource or BBTS.

Just as a note, Nightbird does not need the 'arcee palm fix' to hold her sai's, they are engineered with a section cut out already

That being said, if you want her to hold her other weapons, you will need to fix her hands, they are molded in silver plastic, so no need to worry about scraping paint, just of ruining a great figure

Would you mind elaborating on this or posting a link to a thread that further explains this? I remember people complaining about arcee's hands, but I never got arcee (saving up for Mmc's version) so what exactly is the problem?

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Moosey wrote:Thanks everyone! I will soon be ordering both Slipstream and Nightbird from TFsource or BBTS.

Just as a note, Nightbird does not need the 'arcee palm fix' to hold her sai's, they are engineered with a section cut out already

That being said, if you want her to hold her other weapons, you will need to fix her hands, they are molded in silver plastic, so no need to worry about scraping paint, just of ruining a great figure

I never got arcee, so sorry that I'm not up to date on the hand issues (I vaguely remember the ordeal). So basically, to recap what you're saying is that night bird can properly hold her weapons without the handles awkwardly not going into her hand all the way, but she can't hold regular 5mm peg weapons?

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Moosey wrote:Thanks everyone! I will soon be ordering both Slipstream and Nightbird from TFsource or BBTS.

Just as a note, Nightbird does not need the 'arcee palm fix' to hold her sai's, they are engineered with a section cut out already

That being said, if you want her to hold her other weapons, you will need to fix her hands, they are molded in silver plastic, so no need to worry about scraping paint, just of ruining a great figure

Would you mind elaborating on this or posting a link to a thread that further explains this? I remember people complaining about arcee's hands, but I never got arcee (saving up for Mmc's version) so what exactly is the problem?

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Moosey wrote:Thanks everyone! I will soon be ordering both Slipstream and Nightbird from TFsource or BBTS.

Just as a note, Nightbird does not need the 'arcee palm fix' to hold her sai's, they are engineered with a section cut out already

That being said, if you want her to hold her other weapons, you will need to fix her hands, they are molded in silver plastic, so no need to worry about scraping paint, just of ruining a great figure

I never got arcee, so sorry that I'm not up to date on the hand issues (I vaguely remember the ordeal). So basically, to recap what you're saying is that night bird can properly hold her weapons without the handles awkwardly not going into her hand all the way, but she can't hold regular 5mm peg weapons?

Moosey wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Moosey wrote:Thanks everyone! I will soon be ordering both Slipstream and Nightbird from TFsource or BBTS.

Just as a note, Nightbird does not need the 'arcee palm fix' to hold her sai's, they are engineered with a section cut out already

That being said, if you want her to hold her other weapons, you will need to fix her hands, they are molded in silver plastic, so no need to worry about scraping paint, just of ruining a great figure

Would you mind elaborating on this or posting a link to a thread that further explains this? I remember people complaining about arcee's hands, but I never got arcee (saving up for Mmc's version) so what exactly is the problem?

Arcee's fists doesn't allow full clearance for her gun handles (open fist version) due to an extra piece of mold that was not cut off. Though I suspect the decision was to reinforce her "pinkie"due to the thin plastic if removed.

Basically, there is a thin strip of plastic running from her wrist along the bottom of her palm to her pinkie to reinforce the hand. Due to this, her weapons (the guns and the swords) cannot be held 'properly'; however, the sai's were molded with a notch cut out so that she can wield them 'normally' without having to cut the strip of plastic off.

I simply keep the sai's on her, and packed away her other weapon's because the sai's are all I need her to wield. But if you wanted to, you could take a thin knife blade and gently remove the strip of plastic (I did for my Arcee) but it makes her hands more prone to fracturing, so constant care is a necessity.

As seen here:





Hope this helps, sorry 'bout the late reply

Sorry for the double post earlier. I wasn't sure that my first message had posted so I rewrote it.

How can you possibly say no to the sweetest smile ever on a fembot (with an added hint of mischief)?





But to answer the question, I think it's an improvement over Windblade; the new chest and brighter colors do wonders on the mold, and her headsculpt makes her looks like she could've been part of TF:Prime.

Sure she has flaws, but she's still a great figure.

I agree with Will; she's a great figure and repaint, definitely worth getting for a collection.

On a side note; since we are talking about the Arcee hand issue.
Anyone know of a scale set of nunchaku that would fit inside of those palms for NightBird?
I have been keeping an eye on ShapeWays but haven't been successful.
Thanks in advance; sorry about the thread detour.

That is a bummer about Nightbird's hands. Like you said, I probably will only have her wielding her sais, but I might consider cutting out the hand notches at some point, but I'm nervous due to inexperience.

Moosey wrote:That is a bummer about Nightbird's hands. Like you said, I probably will only have her wielding her sais, but I might consider cutting out the hand notches at some point, but I'm nervous due to inexperience.

Just use a *sharpened* knife with a thin enough blade to maneuver in her hands and then dig it into the area near the palm and pull the knife towards her fingers slowly. Also have her half-transformed so you have something to hold onto, and support her arm and hand with your fingers while you're doing it, the plastic does thin out a bit in her arms.


Honestly though, I like this compromise more for her than I did for arcee. As Nightbird only ever used the sai's - most famously - I don't feel the need to have her loaded up with weapons, or indeed have her using anything but the sai's. as they can store on all 8 ports on her person she has the ability to pull off numerous cool poses holding the sai's or leaving them sheathed.