The Energon Pub

I wound up making a custom Ratchet using a shapeways head and a first aid body. 90% isopropyl alcohol literally melts the paint off of first aid, and surprise surprise, he's white underneath! I nabbed a sticker set from ebay and used a clear blue acryllic on the hfg to mimic the translucent look.

^ You creative types are awesome . I wouldn't mind ravaging 4 First Aids to accomplish that....The stickers for G1 Ratchet are pretty easy to find on eBay (they don't specify comic or cartoon though...) but finding any of the other sticker sheets (Medix, G2, or SG) I have not seen.

I wouldn't say I'm all that creative, just not afraid to mess something up and try again. The shapeways head was about $20 plus a $15 first aid (not sure what they go for now).

o.supreme wrote:The more I think about Modulus (the actual suggested assembly per the instructions), the more I think it would be almost impossible to do....

Unless you're David Willis:




He deliberately avoided getting/making the G1 cartoon-colored BotCon Ratchet as he prefers G1 Ratchet's Marvel Comics colors, but did pick up Lynxmaster and its cartoon-colored Ratchet when that came out:

delete

I want Medix on his own, to be honest. I love mold repurposes into more obscure characters, and an updated rescue bot is right up my ally - especially when this franchise reaaally doesn't have that many healers. When MTMTE took Ratchet and First Aid, ex-RiD had to resort to Micromaster Fixit

Is there a way on toxitron to fit the combiner head in vehicle mode so it isn't pushing the doors open? would shaving the backstop on the neck hinge let him lift enough or would that put the back of the head too high?

durroth wrote:Is there a way on toxitron to fit the combiner head in vehicle mode so it isn't pushing the doors open? would shaving the backstop on the neck hinge let him lift enough or would that put the back of the head too high?

Make sure the combiner head and the piece it's attached to are folded all the way down. Mine weren't at first, which forced the doors slightly ajar. By making sure the head and its connected piece were completely tucked away, I was able to get the doors closed.

Sabrblade wrote:

durroth wrote:Is there a way on toxitron to fit the combiner head in vehicle mode so it isn't pushing the doors open? would shaving the backstop on the neck hinge let him lift enough or would that put the back of the head too high?

Make sure the combiner head and the piece it's attached to are folded all the way down. Mine weren't at first, which forced the doors slightly ajar. By making sure the head and its connected piece were completely tucked away, I was able to get the doors closed.

Don't the antennae on the head fold down as well?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

durroth wrote:Is there a way on toxitron to fit the combiner head in vehicle mode so it isn't pushing the doors open? would shaving the backstop on the neck hinge let him lift enough or would that put the back of the head too high?

Make sure the combiner head and the piece it's attached to are folded all the way down. Mine weren't at first, which forced the doors slightly ajar. By making sure the head and its connected piece were completely tucked away, I was able to get the doors closed.

Don't the antennae on the head fold down as well?

Well, yeah, but, I kinda figured that went without saying. On mine, I tried folding down the antennae but that didn't work because they were already as folded in as they could go. That's when I realized that the problem wasn't the antennae but that the whole head itself, and the piece it's attached to, weren't folded in all the way, which caused the top of the helmet (rather than the antennae) to prevent the doors from closing.

my problem is the hinge for the waist piece. when it's folded up properly it blocks the bottom of the crest from coming down far enough, which keeps the left door from closing and causes it to push the right door open

durroth wrote:my problem is the hinge for the waist piece. when it's folded up properly it blocks the bottom of the crest from coming down far enough, which keeps the left door from closing and causes it to push the right door open

The combiner waist piece has to be folded out all the way straight for both vehicle and robot modes. The piece itself rests against the back, and unique to the Motormaster version, locks it in place, while providing more clearance for the combiner head to swing down. You may have to fold the hinges in slightly to make a tight fit.

After seeing all these pics of Wreckage I wish I would have went all in on SS 5.0. Only one I subbed for was SS 2.0 and loved it all. Just didnt have the cash for 5.0 but every figure is awesome. Thought I may buy Bluestreak with the club sale. He is going at $100 so waaay to much for a deluxe repaint.

I didn't subscribe to 4.0, so I just bought Bludgeon as a standalone from the club (and put my random odds and ends on him) and Impactor from ebay. Smokescreen is filling in for Bluestreak on my wreckage crew.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

durroth wrote:my problem is the hinge for the waist piece. when it's folded up properly it blocks the bottom of the crest from coming down far enough, which keeps the left door from closing and causes it to push the right door open

The combiner waist piece has to be folded out all the way straight for both vehicle and robot modes. The piece itself rests against the back, and unique to the Motormaster version, locks it in place, while providing more clearance for the combiner head to swing down. You may have to fold the hinges in slightly to make a tight fit.

I have motormaster, I know how it goes. The piece doesn't go all the way straight because it rests on the figure's butt, which is pushed up when everything is folded properly.

Sabrblade wrote:Jesse:

Yeah, it's not like there wasn't an attempt to change tools... *Sniff* SG Rodimus Prime will never be... but everything was too late in the process for it to be anything other than the Seeker mold.

Didn't a similar thing happen with Unit-3 from Botcon 2016? He was supposed to be Razorbeast, but the head wasn't close enough.

Heck, you can almost make a full combiner out of guys who were originally supposed to be someone else. Offroad started the design process as Ruckus, Toxitron was going to be Nemesis Prime until Grand Scourge got released, so them plus Unit-3 and SG Starscream, all we need is one more limb.

Zeedust wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Jesse:

Yeah, it's not like there wasn't an attempt to change tools... *Sniff* SG Rodimus Prime will never be... but everything was too late in the process for it to be anything other than the Seeker mold.

Didn't a similar thing happen with Unit-3 from Botcon 2016? He was supposed to be Razorbeast, but the head wasn't close enough.

Heck, you can almost make a full combiner out of guys who were originally supposed to be someone else. Offroad started the design process as Ruckus, Toxitron was going to be Nemesis Prime until Grand Scourge got released, so them plus Unit-3 and SG Starscream, all we need is one more limb.

Weeeell, if we count the whole shebang that went down with UW Roller...

Kurona wrote:Weeeell, if we count the whole shebang that went down with UW Roller...

I have no idea what that is, so I dunno if it counts.

Zeedust wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Jesse:

Yeah, it's not like there wasn't an attempt to change tools... *Sniff* SG Rodimus Prime will never be... but everything was too late in the process for it to be anything other than the Seeker mold.

Didn't a similar thing happen with Unit-3 from Botcon 2016? He was supposed to be Razorbeast, but the head wasn't close enough.

Heck, you can almost make a full combiner out of guys who were originally supposed to be someone else. Offroad started the design process as Ruckus, Toxitron was going to be Nemesis Prime until Grand Scourge got released, so them plus Unit-3 and SG Starscream, all we need is one more limb.

Just whipped out my TCC magazine #69 to see what was said in its article about how BotCon 2016 Unit-3 came to be.

Basically, Razorbeast was indeed Fun Pub's first pick for the third Maximal souvenir exclusive (which explains why Razorbeast was among the BW characters who was featured in one of the Axiom Nexus News Facebook posts that led up to the convention) based on the very first images of the Streetwise toy that were shown online way back before the finalized toy was released at retail. However, once the Streetwise toy did come out at retail, things changed. The finalized headsculpt wasn't as close a match to resembling Razorbeast's noggin as was originally believed at the time.

But since Fun Pub had already committed to the specific new headsculpts they had set for production by Four Horsemen, there was no chance of getting yet another new headsculpt made by the time this change of mind occurred. Thus, Fun Pub made eleven digital mock ups of the Streetwise head to see which other Maximals it could be made into. The first of these choices was Under-3, as he had been a considered candidate for other molds in the past. The other ten were Armordillo, Stinkbomb, Optimus Minor, Polar Claw, Stampy, BW Grimlock, Lio Junior, Ramulus, B'Boom, and Wolfang. Ultimate, Under-3/Unit-3 won out as it "allowed us the opportunity to introduce a little known character into the larger Transformers mythos."

A couple autobot symbol stickers and a shapeways head, you could turn starscream into a minimal effort maximum reward CW Jetfire (circa VF-1 with autobot stickers). His gun can mount backwards on top of his vehicle mode as his thruster backpack.

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

durroth wrote:Is there a way on toxitron to fit the combiner head in vehicle mode so it isn't pushing the doors open? would shaving the backstop on the neck hinge let him lift enough or would that put the back of the head too high?

Make sure the combiner head and the piece it's attached to are folded all the way down. Mine weren't at first, which forced the doors slightly ajar. By making sure the head and its connected piece were completely tucked away, I was able to get the doors closed.

Don't the antennae on the head fold down as well?

Well, yeah, but, I kinda figured that went without saying. On mine, I tried folding down the antennae but that didn't work because they were already as folded in as they could go. That's when I realized that the problem wasn't the antennae but that the whole head itself, and the piece it's attached to, weren't folded in all the way, which caused the top of the helmet (rather than the antennae) to prevent the doors from closing.

I still can't get it. Any more pointers?

Zeedust wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

durroth wrote:Is there a way on toxitron to fit the combiner head in vehicle mode so it isn't pushing the doors open? would shaving the backstop on the neck hinge let him lift enough or would that put the back of the head too high?

Make sure the combiner head and the piece it's attached to are folded all the way down. Mine weren't at first, which forced the doors slightly ajar. By making sure the head and its connected piece were completely tucked away, I was able to get the doors closed.

Don't the antennae on the head fold down as well?

Well, yeah, but, I kinda figured that went without saying. On mine, I tried folding down the antennae but that didn't work because they were already as folded in as they could go. That's when I realized that the problem wasn't the antennae but that the whole head itself, and the piece it's attached to, weren't folded in all the way, which caused the top of the helmet (rather than the antennae) to prevent the doors from closing.

I still can't get it. Any more pointers?

Do Optimus' and Motormaster's chest doors have the same profile? I mean, do the edges of both align exactly? I think the latter's is a bit deeper, hitting the combiner head.

theres gotta be something on one of them that fits differently. It could be the combiner neck/chest piece sticks out more, it could be the hinge/abs fold differently. I wish I had them side by side to figure it out

i think this link to Counterpunch's tweet will explain it

https://twitter.com/ME_Counterpunch/sta ... 6546308096

grimdragon2001 wrote:i think this link to Counterpunch's tweet will explain it

https://twitter.com/ME_Counterpunch/sta ... 6546308096

Meaning there's no way after all? (other than using the pegs and tabs on the chest and waist pieces to keep it squeezed shut by brute force, I've managed that)

Ah well, not like my Toxitron's gonna be in truck mode that often anyway. Still love the figure despite this little flaw.