The Energon Pub

[Stuartmaximus]

or maybe you'll like Emgo's? it's not as bright & washed out

[Qwan]

I also had an hard time placing all the stickers.
Some of them were really hard to place, due the fact they're in place difficult to reach, and I had to use a couple of tools to place them all.
More in specific, a couple of stickers of the side of the ship and the inside of the belly were really troublesome to place.
The frail nature of the sticker sheet didn't help too.
P.S. I also noticed that one of the stickers has the writing D-63, an homage to the g1 toy!

Ah man, the stickers are so tough on this guy. The ones that stand out to me as 'basically impossible' are the long funnily-angled ones just below the circles on his hips; the other long funnily-angled ones next to his faux-'eyes' in ship mode; the tiny and really sunken-in ones on his elbows; and (urgh) the eye stickers. I won't deny I had a bit of fun the first time round, but when I was undergoing the whole chore for the second time, the only satisfaction came from learning from my mistakes and doing it objectively better. My new Tryp still doesn't have his eye stickers in 'cause I think he looks fine with clear orange eyes, and I am not putting myself through the ordeal of those particular stickers again.

(OH yeah and those stickers inside his belly cavity are THE DEFINITIVE WORST. The big one ripped in half when I was taking it off the sheet the first time, and even if they stay in one piece they're basically impossible to place well, let alone well and symmetrically with each other. )

Lessons to learn for anyone about to do this themselves: Use tweezers (preferably more tools than that too, but tweezers are required at minimum); take your time, don't rush any placement no matter how easy it may seem; and for the love of god if a sticker starts to pull up the backing with it when you take it off the sheet, STOP right there and try from a different side of the sticker. I ended up having to superglue a couple stickers to Tryp the first time because I wasn't careful removing them from the sheet, and then I couldn't get the perfectly-shaped paper backing off of the sticker afterward.

But in the end I'm really happy for this purchase, and once fixed the ratchet joint issue (also it's kinda an easy fix, you just need to get a new pair of springs) it's really enjoyable.
Have fune with this new Decepticon monster!

Despite all my moaning, I totally agree with this in the end too. I've said it before and I will again: even with his issues he's definitely the best cityformer mold of the two base molds we have, and while I don't have Metroplex to compare, I can't see any way that he could be more fun than this big lump of dino. Every mode is great, Full Tilt is great, the potentially self-destructive hips are not great but the fact that it's possible to fix them in multiple easy ways is great... I could go on. Bottom line, as long as you're careful and take good care of him, Trypticon will be your best friend forever and you will love him very much. Just like a real pet dinosaur, but considerably less expensive (and dangerous (and impossible)).

[Overcracker]

True, but really, I'd rather see more of the figure than a super bright white spotless background.

You would enjoy Death's reviews then.

I'll check them out. Thanks.

Thanks, moderator-dude.

And welcome to the growing armies - of Death!

Sadly, BBTS has not yet sent me my Trypticon. Once I get him, I'll review him like only I can.... with Death!

Hey Mr. Death, checked out the Baldigus review. Lots of fun. Good work. Will need to subscribe now. And will be waiting for your Trypticon Review.

And yes saw Emgo's review. Really good review of Trypticon with a long detailed look at him. Including the Titan Master integration gimmick on the back of his head, and he does talk about the leg ratchet issue.

and lots of comparisons with other figures. Also a really good and close look at Full Tilt and Necro without the over exposure.

[RiddlerJ]

Instead of putting cardboard in the hips, could one wrap the ends of the cut springs in electrical tape so they don't scratch up the plastic?

[MadProject]

Instead of putting cardboard in the hips, could one wrap the ends of the cut springs in electrical tape so they don't scratch up the plastic?

Yeah, I suppose so.
Consider that with a cardboard disk you can add some strenght to the joint, in case the spring is too weak.

[nycPrime]

So emgo and optibotimus both mention the problematic hips. I'm guessing this is a confirmed widespread issue. What are the chances of this getting an official fix from Hasbro down the line? I really don't want to spend over $100 for a toy that requires surgery.

[william-james88]

So emgo and optibotimus both mention the problematic hips. I'm guessing this is a confirmed widespread issue. What are the chances of this getting an official fix from Hasbro down the line? I really don't want to spend over $100 for a toy that requires surgery.

I am waiting at least until the black friday restock. Maybe they were able to halt production on the ones currently being made and fix those.

The later TR sixshots had much tighter hips, so who knows if something more intense like the Trypticon hip issue could be fixed.

[Dr. Caelus]

Has anyone checked a Gamestop? Longshot, I know, but the closest Thinkgeek store to me is over 2.5hrs away.

[Sabrblade]

Has anyone checked a Gamestop? Longshot, I know, but the closest Thinkgeek store to me is over 2.5hrs away.

It just so happens that I did pop into a GameStop two days ago, but the only TF figures they had there were TLK Deluxe Bumblebee (the AOE redeco) and Deluxe Barricade.

[ScottyP]

I got this the other day and can reply to some of the comments in here, but not going to multi-quote out of laziness.

• I did the hip fix exactly as Qwan's guide described, except I left out the cardboard pieces (made them, just didn't use them.) I plan on opening it up again later and putting the cardboard in, it's a bit too weak now with just the half spring.
• The hip fix is absolutely not optional. Already had a small crack in that green "+" piece from just a couple ratchet turns!
• The stickers are not difficult but use tweezers, a toothpick or bbq skewer, patience, and do them before you put the legs on. He's unwieldy once assembled unless you are literally a sasquatch.
• The stickers are very time consuming. 159 of them await you; I have adult responsibilities and a job so they took two nights for me to do. You will need the box to look up the correct orientation/placement for several of them.
• Final word on the stickers - they are very fragile. Don't press hard on the edges with toothpick, they will scratch or tear or worse.
• I am having a lot of trouble with the chest plate that holds Full Tilt in car mode. It doesn't want to stay closed on one side at all. This is very annoying and I'm trying to figure out how to fix it, but the issue seems to be that too much plastic got trimmed off on the non-clear piece where it locks in so might have to do something less than ideal here. Wish it was just a case of too much flash because then it would just need some trimming, but it's not.

Bottom line: if you are not a patient person, wait for a second run of this toy, maybe a third and hope Hasbro does something. Or maybe just wait six weeks for Takara's release of it and hope theirs turn out better somehow? It is a genuinely beautiful toy with great sculpting, and although the entire design suffers a bit of "G1 toy but bigger and with more detail and movement" syndrome (most of you like that, so whatever) it is a lot of fun. It is unfortunately plagued by some very frustrating issues from a play-ability standpoint and someone, somewhere in Quality Assurance or Play-Testing or whatever failed at doing their job during this toy's development.

[william-james88]

It is a genuinely beautiful toy with great sculpting, and although the entire design suffers a bit of "G1 toy but bigger and with more detail and movement" syndrome (most of you like that, so whatever) it is a lot of fun.

THANKS! That was a great post and I will be waiting until a second release of the toy (or at least a restock).

What I quoted was my favourite part though and when you do have some time, please get back to me on where you stand on this more precisely (like what you dislike about that syndrom and what you wish they did instead).

[ScottyP]

It is a genuinely beautiful toy with great sculpting, and although the entire design suffers a bit of "G1 toy but bigger and with more detail and movement" syndrome (most of you like that, so whatever) it is a lot of fun.

THANKS! That was a great post and I will be waiting until a second release of the toy (or at least a restock).

What I quoted was my favourite part though and when you do have some time, please get back to me on where you stand on this more precisely (like what you dislike about that syndrom and what you wish they did instead).

Metroplex is a good example at the same size class. Very G1 inspired without being a more detailed clone of the original.

Another example would be the clones from TR. What do they do that the G1 toys don't apart from move more? Compare that to something like the Insecticons or Cosmos which take their own path while still clearly being the G1 characters.

I don't think it's a big detriment to this Trypticon, it just doesn't have a great deal of surprises is you're familiar with the G1 toy. There are a couple different new and fun things at least, it just doesn't deliver a remarkably different feeling.

[MadProject]

I had some spare time and decided to make some pics about Trypticon!
You can see them in my collection thread!
madproject-s-collection-p1896836.php#p1896836

[Decepti_Tom]

Tryps arrived today, and MAN is that joint tight.
Fearing he'll break, I disassembled his joint and pulled out a spring to use in finding a replacement.

After a few nogoes, I found the perfect replacement spring at Menards(Save big money at Menards). I've included photos of what I ended up doing.



The Spring I used was weaker but much longer so you only need to buy 1 but I got 2. Its also thinner, as you can see in the picture above(Which includes the original, an altered spring, and the spring in package)
Because its thinner, it wont fit into the plastic piece unless you stretch out the end using pliers (Which works) but it will fit onto the blue/green + that is breaking our hearts.

I cut the spring into 3 pieces, stretching both ends to fit into the 2 plastic pieces. The size was 3/4 shorter than the original. the middle piece is garbage or a fun keyring memory if you are savvy enough.



I added a Cardboard layer like Qwan suggests because seriously, who wants to scratch up the insides of their 150+ dollar tryps? I did not need to knife the blue/green + because the size of the spring+cardboard kept it the same size of spring but with less strength.

What I got was a Trypticon who is very sturdy. His hip joints are almost as loose as my Fortress Maximus, with just enough strength to keep his lard ass off the ground and hold. I also didnt destroy his old springs and avoided scratching his insides, keeping him as mint as any figure fresh out of the box.



It was a successful hip replacement surgery, and now I can sit back and drink my martini while I enjoy my wallet eating dinosaur

[MadProject]

Tryps arrived today, and MAN is that joint tight.
Fearing he'll break, I disassembled his joint and pulled out a spring to use in finding a replacement.

After a few nogoes, I found the perfect replacement spring at Menards(Save big money at Menards). I've included photos of what I ended up doing.



The Spring I used was weaker but much longer so you only need to buy 1 but I got 2. Its also thinner, as you can see in the picture above(Which includes the original, an altered spring, and the spring in package)
Because its thinner, it wont fit into the plastic piece unless you stretch out the end using pliers (Which works) but it will fit onto the blue/green + that is breaking our hearts.

I cut the spring into 3 pieces, stretching both ends to fit into the 2 plastic pieces. The size was 3/4 shorter than the original. the middle piece is garbage or a fun keyring memory if you are savvy enough.



I added a Cardboard layer like Qwan suggests because seriously, who wants to scratch up the insides of their 150+ dollar tryps? I did not need to knife the blue/green + because the size of the spring+cardboard kept it the same size of spring but with less strength.

What I got was a Trypticon who is very sturdy. His hip joints are almost as loose as my Fortress Maximus, with just enough strength to keep his lard ass off the ground and hold. I also didnt destroy his old springs and avoided scratching his insides, keeping him as mint as any figure fresh out of the box.



It was a successful hip replacement surgery, and now I can sit back and drink my martini while I enjoy my wallet eating dinosaur

good job!
Have fun with your new buddy!

[Cr33per]

Probably a stupid question but here goes. Is there a chance that Takara might use a stronger plastic in their production of Trypticon?

[chuckdawg1999]

Probably a stupid question but here goes. Is there a chance that Takara might use a stronger plastic in their production of Trypticon?

Doubtful. They'll give new heads, retool limbs, add paint apps and accessories, all cosmetic improvements. Changing the quality of plastic is a whole other bag and is very expensive.

[Cr33per]

Doubtful. They'll give new heads, retool limbs, add paint apps and accessories, all cosmetic improvements. Changing the quality of plastic is a whole other bag and is very expensive.

Thats what I figured but thought it was worth asking.

[chuckdawg1999]

Doubtful. They'll give new heads, retool limbs, add paint apps and accessories, all cosmetic improvements. Changing the quality of plastic is a whole other bag and is very expensive.

Thats what I figured but thought it was worth asking.

I wish someone would do something but that looks more and more like a pipe dream.

[Cr33per]

Doubtful. They'll give new heads, retool limbs, add paint apps and accessories, all cosmetic improvements. Changing the quality of plastic is a whole other bag and is very expensive.

Thats what I figured but thought it was worth asking.

I wish someone would do something but that looks more and more like a pipe dream.

I'm just trying to decide if I should cancel my preorder for the Legends Trypticon and buy the Hasbro one or not,

[chuckdawg1999]

Doubtful. They'll give new heads, retool limbs, add paint apps and accessories, all cosmetic improvements. Changing the quality of plastic is a whole other bag and is very expensive.

Thats what I figured but thought it was worth asking.

I wish someone would do something but that looks more and more like a pipe dream.

I'm just trying to decide if I should cancel my preorder for the Legends Trypticon and buy the Hasbro one or not,

I'd try to wait for a few reviews before purchasing

[nycPrime]

I thought the Takara offering had minimal differences compared to Hasbro, unlike previous Titans. I would wait for a review to confirm so you can make an informed decision. Personally, I'm going with Hasbro (and preferably closer to $100) unless there's something amazing with the Takara version that no one knows about yet.

[Kurona]

So far, the only difference between the Trypticons that we know about is the colour of two small, minor circles on his back missile assembly.

[RAR]

Anyone get the dimensions of the springs so I can get some springs from Hong Kong for pennies on Ebay ?

-------

One thing that is a trifle strange about Trypticon is how plain he looks in "spaceship" mode & base mode. the stickers that are visible are all so small and there is large areas with no paint or detail.

I wish they'd tampographed or painted some detail on him - or at least provided more obvious places to apply your own paint.

Example would be the long ramp arrow on the original.

As much of his body is clear green plastic - and I'd not want to cover that up I'd say perhaps some additional detail sticker that he might need could do with being clear back ones.

[Qwan]

Anyone get the dimensions of the springs so I can get some springs from Hong Kong for pennies on Ebay ?

I put these measurements up a while back, but if someone else wants to double-check the dimensions on their own copy that'd be great! (These measurements are for the cut spring - i.e. half-height and half as many coils. I'd encourage getting a slightly larger height than I've put down here, so that the ratchets are just a little bit sturdier; maybe about 20mm-ish?)

Height: 16.5-17mm; this encompasses exactly two full coils including one coil for the flat 'base' (original spring height just over 33mm inc. 2 full 'base' coils, 1 on each end)
Spring diameter (from one side of the coil to the other): 25mm
Thickness: just over 1mm (maybe 1.25-ish?)

One thing that is a trifle strange about Trypticon is how plain he looks in "spaceship" mode & base mode. the stickers that are visible are all so small and there is large areas with no paint or detail.

I wish they'd tampographed or painted some detail on him - or at least provided more obvious places to apply your own paint.

Example would be the long ramp arrow on the original.

As much of his body is clear green plastic - and I'd not want to cover that up I'd say perhaps some additional detail sticker that he might need could do with being clear back ones.

Honestly, I don't think his ship mode is too sparse on detail. There are all the details on the 'platforms' on the sides of the ship, all the little reactor details, the honestly insane number of stickers on the front section... I'll totally agree with you on the city mode needing more sticker detail (could they really not have put a bunch of the stickers on spaceship mode so that they didn't disappear for city mode? ), but I think ship mode is honestly pretty fine overall.

(Just a tiny tip for anyone who hasn't put all their stickers on yet - there's a pair of stickers that are "meant" to go on each side of Trypticon's lower torso, but they're just a tiny bit too large for that and end up having little flappy edges. I'd recommend leaving those off the torso if you can stand to, and instead finding somewhere to put them on the city mode to add just a bit more detail to that mode. I might take a picture or two to illustrate later on.)