The Energon Pub

[xymox]

I don't have a problem with the legs per se (because he'll forever stay in Dino-mode) - but rather the chest panel. Its warped and won't stay closed. Not sure how to go about fixing this - about to resort to tape on the inside. Rather disgusted I spent $149 on this and need to do this...

[Tyrannacon]

Okay, I have to admit. I really like this method a lot better due to the simplicity of it and the not having to cut the springs. I hope I don't have to do this when I go to get Trypticon, but I did save the video for future reference so I can come back to it in case I need it.

[DeathReviews]

I cut my springs before I saw this, but not by much. A pair of needle nose pliers allow you to re-bend the cut end of the spring so it won't gouge the plastic when you re-insert, and you can still insert cardboard or other forms to padding to thicken the resistance if you think the hips rotate too easily afterwards. My figure can still easily support it's own weight on its legs. All is well.

There are also many who seem to be having trouble with the front chest panel feeling warped on the right side and not closing in place. Poster putty or tape can help, but yeah, that's unfortunate. Also, my Trypticon came missing one of the foot spurs. Luckily, only some mild threats to the distributor were necessary before they agreed to send out a replacement part.

[Ravage XK]

Little tip, to save the springs digging into your fingers put them under your heel and use your foot to compress them.

[chuckdawg1999]

Once you're done squeezing those springs you'll be able to crush a cantaloupe with your bare hands.

[Qwan]

Great to hear there's a much safer way to fix Tryp's hips (fun to write, even more fun to say)! Even better if more recent production batches don't have the issue in the first place. I feel a little disappointed that I and others had to go through the whole process of heavily modding the figure originally, but I guess better to fix an issue than leave it unaddressed. (Not quite as good as not having an issue in the first place, but still.)

And yeah, I've had slight chestplate issues on both my Typs, but seemingly the polar opposite to that of others'. The chestplate doesn't seem to sag or warp from what I've noticed, but it is a devil to open - to the point that I'm far more likely to pull Full Tilt and his attachment point off of the green plastic flap, than I am to end up actually getting the flap to open. Who knows.

[Nemesis Destron]

Takara please take notice of the chaos we fans are currently enduring!

Takara only you have THE TOUCH to make things right on a long awaited figure like Trypticon!

[Wolfman Jake]

Well, I finally unboxed, stickered, assembled, transformed, and posed my Trypticon!

The right hip is already busted. It no longer ratchets, but rather "mushes" into place. It only took a few clicks for it to break too. It's not affecting Trypticon's ability to stand up too badly, though it takes more finesse with the right hip. The left hip is fine and ratchets perfectly.

For a quick overview of my evening, I started unboxing Trypticon, soon after getting home from work, right before about 8:00 PM. I finished just after 1:00 AM. At least four of those hours were spent applying stickers. My take on the stickers: overdone and underwhelming. They really don't add a lot of fun or detail to the figure, at all. A few key stickers would have been nice, or just putting some paint apps in a few choice areas to break up the larger swaths of gray and purple plastic. 158 tiny little sticker details were not needed. I will say that the directions for applying the stickers were largely fine and error free, if you pay close attention, have good visual special skills, and don't get too hung up on the numbering. Sometimes, you have to do the other sticker in a pair than what is indicated, but it's not hard to figure out on shape alone, most of the time. The one error I did see in the directions were for some "headlight" stickers that go near the underside tip of Trypticon's tail. The directions seem to point to random areas to place these, while it's quite obvious they're supposed to go in the four perfectly sized little rectangular indents further down than the diagram indicates. The only frustrating stickers were the smaller, squarish ones that just seem to go randomly on large areas of smooth plastic, rather than having a nice little molded area to fit inside.

The transformations were fine. Not too complicated, and largely intuitive, though unlike with smaller figures, I did follow the directions step by step to ensure I didn't break anything on a $150 figure. (HA!) I love the city mode, A.K.A. "Nemesis Command." That name is amazing. Kudos, Hasbro! The "spaceship" mode is fine, but Kaiju mode is where it's at! He looks fantastic, even if he's a little bit shorter than Metroplex and Fortress Maximus. Those teeth are MEAN and ready to rend some metal (or plastic)!

I'm going to try calling up Hasbro (repeatedly if necessary) and get them to send me a replacement right leg, or at least materials to reassemble a functional hip on my own. No way and I returning the figure now, having put FOUR HOURS into stickering him up. I can cope with redoing one leg, maybe two (if it really came to that), but not the entire figure.

By the way, my batch number is "71241." I have a feeling there is no "safe" batch to find. Either every leg is a ticking time bomb, waiting to self-destruct, or there is a random assembly issue, where something doesn't get set just right during production, causing some legs to catastrophically fail, but not others, due to some as yet undetected and stochastic production/assembly error.

[Cr33per]

Got my Trypticon a few days ago. The batch number was 71331, the hips didn't seem overly tight and i was able to rotate them without any damage to the joint. Still just to be on the safe side I took out the springs and repeatedly compressed them (for about 10-15 minutes each), and then compressed the springs fully for about an hour and a half.Once reassembled the hip ratchets rotate easily and still support the weight with no issues.

[Agamemnon]

I finally got my Tryp out of his box. I'm both compressing the hip springs and putting in some lithium grease.

Holy giant dino excrement, these springs are huge! The pics really do not do them justice!

In other news, I must have gotten one of the early batches. No tabs on my tail ramp, and the chest piece that Full Tilt attaches to is a bit warped. Looks like some clear nail polish and gently heating with a heat gun are in my future...

[Emerje]

By the way, my batch number is "71241."

The batch number was 71331

My Trypticon's code is 71461.

And Seibertron said his didn't have any issues. I wonder if the higher batch numbers have fixed some of the problems?

You other two, did both of yours have the ramp tabs like Seibertron's or were they tab-less like mordhelm's?

Emerje

[Agamemnon]

My batch number looks like 71331. The embossing is really hard to read on mine...

[Cr33per]

You other two, did both of yours have the ramp tabs like Seibertron's or were they tab-less like mordhelm's?

Emerje

Mine doesn't have the tabs.

[Emerje]

You other two, did both of yours have the ramp tabs like Seibertron's or were they tab-less like mordhelm's?

Emerje

Mine doesn't have the tabs.

Interesting. Jake, does yours have tabs? That could be an indication of when the tabs started.

Agamemnon, is yours missing the tabs, too? You have the same batch number as Cr33per.

Emerje

[Agamemnon]

You other two, did both of yours have the ramp tabs like Seibertron's or were they tab-less like mordhelm's?

Emerje

Mine doesn't have the tabs.

Interesting. Jake, does yours have tabs? That could be an indication of when the tabs started.

Agamemnon, is yours missing the tabs, too? You have the same batch number as Cr33per.

Emerje

Yep, no tabs on the tail ramp. Not even a bump to indicate a short shot.

Other issues:

Like someone else mentioned, the door/chest piece that Full Tilt attaches to was warped. Badly. (I wish I had taken pictures.) Some well monitored heating with a hair dryer and some gently flexing/massaging, and the door is much straighter now. It actually clips into its home properly now, and stays there. (If any of you want to try this, just be very careful to not overheat and over flex the plastic. I have had quite a lot of experience with plastics and heat guns.)

Also mentioned was that one leg sits just a bit away from the body in starship mode. Mine had that issue too. I completely disassembled that hip and discovered that one set of gear teeth are assembled 90 degrees off from ideal, resulting in a strange angle to the affected ratchet joint. That was even more of a bugger to deal with than the big hip joint/spring as there are other springs, and many gears to different ratchets... Ack, I cannot believe the work I have put into this brand new toy... And, I haven't even begun stickering...

Here is a bit of advice if anyone wants to disassemble the hip area more than just dealing with the big ratchet issue. Get some lithium grease. It will help hold some of the ratchet gears in place while reassembling. Plus, it will allow the gears to work better, while still holding properly for poses.

I'll know in a couple of days when I finish with the stickers and completely assemble everything whether my fixes were ultimately successful. The minor testing I've done so far is promising...

[firefox91]

I bookmarked this thread while I waited for the arrival of my Trypticon from BBTS. Regretably, I didn't go through and read the entire thread to see the alternative fix of just squeezing the springs. I went ahead and cut 1 spring in half and just left it at that. No cardboard, grease, shaving, etc. It definitely needed something because the joints were practically locked. It would have broken for sure. With the modification it's much more comfortable to work with the legs but they are probably too loose now. Not so much that he won't stay in place, but it could use some more firmness. I might compress the other spring and reinstall it then work with some cardboard or something on the other joint.

That said, I recommend people try compression before cutting.

[TF-fan kev777]

Mine is batch 70981, no ramp tabs, warped chest door.

For the warped chest door, I'm assuming everyone's is warped in the same direction. On mine, when you are in Dino mode and looking at him straight on, the left side tab is the one that doesn't want to stay closed. To fix it, I flexed it gently against the warp without heat for about 5 minutes and then closed the door by only tabbing the left side in with the right side closed but not tabbed, so that the tab on that side held the door sort of stuck in the frame and left it that way in spaceship mode with Full-Tilt attached for about a week without touching it. The warp isn't completely gone, but is greatly reduced, enough that both sides can tab in at the same time without popping out in dino mode with Full-Tilt attached.

For the hips, I bought a new weaker spring from a local hardware store that was long enough to cut in half and use for both hips and kept the original springs in the packaging for future resale value.

[Cobotron]

I got him in the mail from Amazon today. The batch number is 71561.
Not sure that number has been recorded in this thread yet.

I can't open him until tomorrow, but it will be interesting to see which issues he has/doesn't have.

[Emerje]

This is getting good! So let's see:

70981 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door.
71241 - Bad hips.
71331 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door. Hips OK?
71461 - Ramp tabs. Hips OK?
71561 -

Starting to look like 71461 and up might be the batch numbers to look for since there's a clear production shift there with the ramp tabs.

It would really help to have batch numbers for more confirmed breaks.

Emerje

[Qwan]

Whoops, I just realised I never shared my findings either! My current Trypticon's batch number is 71071 (while I'm not certain about the batch number of my first one, I feel pretty safe in assuming it'd have been the same batch), and he has:

- Breaky hips
- Badly-assembled right hip leading to awkward outward angle
- Slightly warped chest door (not as bad as it sounds like some people's are, but definitely enough to notice)
- No ramp tabs of any description (though it stays in place perfectly just via friction against its resting point).

First Trypticon had the same issues (with the possible exception of the ramp tabs since I didn't check for them back when I had him, but if they were there I didn't notice them tabbing in at all). Looks like they may have been fixing issues progressively as they got further through the run/s. If the wider-spread releases of Tryp turn out to be flawless (or nearly so) that'll make me very happy; he's such a great figure in concept and design, it sucks to see him being dragged down by the numerous flaws in execution.

[Emerje]

Whoops, I just realised I never shared my findings either! My current Trypticon's batch number is 71071 (while I'm not certain about the batch number of my first one, I feel pretty safe in assuming it'd have been the same batch), and he has:

- Breaky hips
- Badly-assembled right hip leading to awkward outward angle
- Slightly warped chest door (not as bad as it sounds like some people's are, but definitely enough to notice)
- No ramp tabs of any description (though it stays in place perfectly just via friction against its resting point).

Thanks! That fills in a gap in the numbering. I imagine there's a 711 out there as well. I'll add that to the list (forgot to add the other hip issues to one of the other numbers to.

70981 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door.
71071 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door. Easily broken hips. Poor hip assembly.
71241 - Easily broken hips.
71331 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door. Poor hip assembly.
71461 - Ramp tabs. Chest door OK. Hips OK?
71561 -

Really curious about Cobotron's now.

Emerje

[Wolfman Jake]

Whoops, I just realised I never shared my findings either! My current Trypticon's batch number is 71071 (while I'm not certain about the batch number of my first one, I feel pretty safe in assuming it'd have been the same batch), and he has:

- Breaky hips
- Badly-assembled right hip leading to awkward outward angle
- Slightly warped chest door (not as bad as it sounds like some people's are, but definitely enough to notice)
- No ramp tabs of any description (though it stays in place perfectly just via friction against its resting point).

Thanks! That fills in a gap in the numbering. I imagine there's a 711 out there as well. I'll add that to the list (forgot to add the other hip issues to one of the other numbers to.

70981 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door.
71071 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door. Easily broken hips. Poor hip assembly.
71241 - Easily broken hips.
71331 - No ramp tabs. Warped chest door. Poor hip assembly.
71461 - Ramp tabs. Chest door OK. Hips OK?
71561 -

Really curious about Cobotron's now.

Emerje

I'll add to the description of my batch (71241):

The chest door is probably warped, but it's not apparent visually. If you close the door, the left top corner pops out, but the right corner holds tight enough that the whole thing doesn't fall open, even with Full-Tilt attached. I've found that, if instead you close the door by pressing at the top left corner, it latches and sits much more flush on the right side that visa versa.

As for the ramp tabs, I didn't see any, but I'll double check once I'm back home tonight. If they're there, I'll let you know, but you can consider them absent for now until proven otherwise.

Hope that all helps!

P.S.

I still need to get around to contacting Hasbro about my broken Trypticon. Work has just been so busy these past couple of weeks.

[TF-fan kev777]

Emerje, I should have added that my hips were locked pretty tight right out of the box, so I preemptively changed out the springs.

I've also noticed that the batch numbers all start with 7 and end with 1 so far. Assuming they go in chronological order, the middle 3 numbers should give an indication of how early it was made.

At first this confused me a bit because people that got theirs first like Quan had higher batch numbers. And I didn't even pre-order mine, I just got it from TFSource once they had him in stock. But I supposed mine could have been made first, and then spend a few weeks crossing the Pacific while later batches were delivered to other closer locations, or even some small air shipments to the US

[Kurona]

Awesome as he is, there's one little thing I wish Hasbro did to make Trypticon all the more better.


I wish they would have made a Titan Master class Trypticon out of Crashbash/Clobber. Please imagine that. We get a Trypticon at the biggest size class and a tiny baby one at the smallest size class. It would have been amazing.

[firefox91]

Mine is batch number 71241.

The chest door does hang out a bit on the left side when looking at the front of Trypticon.

As far as the hips go, I mentioned before I cut the springs in half and did nothing else. They seem loose. So I just did the compression on the other spring and installed it. While it moves better than it did before, it's still uncomfortably hard to move. I'm going to put the half spring back in and try finding all new springs at a hardware store. If anyone has any recommendations some national chains (Home Depot, Lowes, Ace) I'm all ears. Thanks.