The Energon Pub

Now that more people have Optimal Optimus in hand, how are the joints? Are they better or the same as Throne of the Primes OpOp? TotP version's joints are total garbage and can barely stand without his hips, knees, and ankles all giving out and his elbows can't support the scepter. I can probably fix them with some floor polish and a screwdriver, but I really don't want to have to do it twice.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Now that more people have Optimal Optimus in hand, how are the joints? Are they better or the same as Throne of the Primes OpOp? TotP version's joints are total garbage and can barely stand without his hips, knees, and ankles all giving out and his elbows can't support the scepter. I can probably fix them with some floor polish and a screwdriver, but I really don't want to have to do it twice.

Emerje

I don't have the retail version of Optimal Optimus yet, but my Throne of the Primes exclusive version has great joints. They are tight and my figure can stand just fine on his own, even wielding the Scepter of the Primes with no problem. The only issue I have is that the tabs on the shaft of the scepter don't fit into the holes inside the palms of the hands. I'm pretty sure this is a big "your mileage may vary" situation, as others have reported both good and bad joints from their copies over the past several months.

Wolfman Jake wrote:my Throne of the Primes exclusive version has great joints. They are tight and my figure can stand just fine on his own, even wielding the Scepter of the Primes with no problem.

Same here. In fact, it's even tighter than the regular retail version (at least with mine).

Anyone has slightly weak feet on their retail Primal? Mine is solid enough to stand in most poses but whenever he's improperly balanced/misaligned there is a good chance he'll lean backward and fall over.

Autobot N wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:my Throne of the Primes exclusive version has great joints. They are tight and my figure can stand just fine on his own, even wielding the Scepter of the Primes with no problem.

Same here. In fact, it's even tighter than the regular retail version (at least with mine).

I only have ToP version, but the joints are all nice on mine as well.

RiddlerJ wrote:There's Legends Blackarachnia. Though she's probably expensive as all heck now.

I've been watching her, but I've been thinking I may find and use Animated Blackarachnia, as she is a better price and my Beast shelf is a very mixed lot

Optimal Optimus is optimally fun!! The munky mode has some fun posability in terms of MUNKY RAGE.

Also, he looks great in the Beast Wars shelf

I assume this Superion is actually Magnaboss?

Skritz wrote:I assume this Superion is actually Magnaboss?

Yes. With some liberties taken considering I don't have Unit-3 or Tigatron. I will get the OG someday

I finally got Blackwing today.
And this lead me to discover another attack of Instruction Incompetence Syndrome.
Dreadwind's instructions do not contain his half of the Dreadwing transformation. Yet Blackwing's instructions only contain Blackwing's half. I realize Dreadwind's half is simpler but it still leaves me feeling like I'm missing some steps.

Speaking of Dreadwind, he feels like the retooling done to him for the combination was half-assed. I'm sure people have said this before I did, but still. They modified his wing mounts so that his wings could move to the back... but did nothing to make them really join to Blackwing's own wings.

My solution to the problem with the combination has been to mount both Prime Armor hands to Dreadwind, and have them basically grasp the wings on Blackwing

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:I finally got Blackwing today.
And this lead me to discover another attack of Instruction Incompetence Syndrome.
Dreadwind's instructions do not contain his half of the Dreadwing transformation. Yet Blackwing's instructions only contain Blackwing's half. I realize Dreadwind's half is simpler but it still leaves me feeling like I'm missing some steps.

Speaking of Dreadwind, he feels like the retooling done to him for the combination was half-assed. I'm sure people have said this before I did, but still. They modified his wing mounts so that his wings could move to the back... but did nothing to make them really join to Blackwing's own wings.

My solution to the problem with the combination has been to mount both Prime Armor hands to Dreadwind, and have them basically grasp the wings on Blackwing

it's nice to have the 'option' but the execution leaves you thinking why did they bother

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Autobot N wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:my Throne of the Primes exclusive version has great joints. They are tight and my figure can stand just fine on his own, even wielding the Scepter of the Primes with no problem.

Same here. In fact, it's even tighter than the regular retail version (at least with mine).

I only have ToP version, but the joints are all nice on mine as well.

Must be nice, mine is currently in a squatting pose because I can't get him to stand with his legs straight. I can't remember the last figure I got with joints this loose, he's practically a rag doll, I'm not exaggerating. If it was just one joint I'd say it was a fluke, but it's both hips, both knees, and both ankles (and both elbows).

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Autobot N wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:my Throne of the Primes exclusive version has great joints. They are tight and my figure can stand just fine on his own, even wielding the Scepter of the Primes with no problem.

Same here. In fact, it's even tighter than the regular retail version (at least with mine).

I only have ToP version, but the joints are all nice on mine as well.

Must be nice, mine is currently in a squatting pose because I can't get him to stand with his legs straight. I can't remember the last figure I got with joints this loose, he's practically a rag doll, I'm not exaggerating. If it was just one joint I'd say it was a fluke, but it's both hips, both knees, and both ankles (and both elbows).

Emerje

Man, that sucks. It would be one thing on a regular release where you have a decent chance of exchanging it, but for an exclusive, especially one that was through HTS, major suckage.

One could say that looseness makes him fit in perfectly with used vintage Beast Wars figures

And on that note, you could probably use the very same method used to tighten their joints back up.

Emerje wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Autobot N wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:my Throne of the Primes exclusive version has great joints. They are tight and my figure can stand just fine on his own, even wielding the Scepter of the Primes with no problem.

Same here. In fact, it's even tighter than the regular retail version (at least with mine).

I only have ToP version, but the joints are all nice on mine as well.

Must be nice, mine is currently in a squatting pose because I can't get him to stand with his legs straight. I can't remember the last figure I got with joints this loose, he's practically a rag doll, I'm not exaggerating. If it was just one joint I'd say it was a fluke, but it's both hips, both knees, and both ankles (and both elbows).

Emerje

I'm going to guess...Titans Return/Legends Skullcruncher?

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Emerje wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Autobot N wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:my Throne of the Primes exclusive version has great joints. They are tight and my figure can stand just fine on his own, even wielding the Scepter of the Primes with no problem.

Same here. In fact, it's even tighter than the regular retail version (at least with mine).

I only have ToP version, but the joints are all nice on mine as well.

Must be nice, mine is currently in a squatting pose because I can't get him to stand with his legs straight. I can't remember the last figure I got with joints this loose, he's practically a rag doll, I'm not exaggerating. If it was just one joint I'd say it was a fluke, but it's both hips, both knees, and both ankles (and both elbows).

Emerje

I'm going to guess...Titans Return/Legends Skullcruncher?

You might be right, it's a lot like that, but with with ankles. If I find time I might make a quick video.

Emerje

Amusingly, I hate putting my Optimal Optimus in a more straight stance because it's a bit show-inaccurate, due to the cartoon depicting him moving slightly hunched as he swung his big arms and legs around due to the design being a bit top heavy.

Thanks to a message from Seibertronian Sabrblade, we have news that Allspark member Nevermore has discovered that the Amazon exclusive Power of the Primes Nemesis Prime and the lone wave 4 deluxe Novastar are both available for purchase on non-US Amazon sites! This news is big for those members of the Transformers fandom that are struggling to find Novastar in the wild and who have not had a reasonably priced Nemesis Prime option to date.

You can find a list below of the various Amazon sites and countries, which include the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. If you live in one of these countries, go get your Power of the Primes figures, and let us know what you think of those figures in our comments section below!

UK:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CM6H3G7

Germany:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07CM6H3G7

Spain:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07CM6H3G7

France:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07CM6H3G7

Italy:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07CM6H3G7

Skritz wrote:Amusingly, I hate putting my Optimal Optimus in a more straight stance because it's a bit show-inaccurate, due to the cartoon depicting him moving slightly hunched as he swung his big arms and legs around due to the design being a bit top heavy.

That and he was so honking big compared to the others that it helped keep his face in-frame,

Debating whether to kitbash Dreadwind into a better Dreadwind or just turn him into Skydive (heck, his transformation is more like G1 Skydive's than the baseline CW Skydive's was). and hope they make a better one that's still compatible with Blackwing (and if they don't, somehow kitbash one out of a Cybertron Thundercracker or something... I don't know..).

Combiner Wars Skydive would probably have worked at least somewhat better as a base mold for Dreadwind if the CW Aerialbots had their plane tails end up on their backs like the G1 figures did. Because then his tail would be in the perfect position to link with Blackwing's cockpit section just like the original toys did. Setting that aside, a smaller thing they could have done that would have helped would've been a couple of tabs on Blackwing's shoulder area with matching holes in the soles of Dreadwind's feet.

Photo of my Dreadwing setup:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Thanks to a message from Seibertronian Sabrblade, we have news that Allspark member Nevermore has discovered that the Amazon exclusive Power of the Primes Nemesis Prime and the lone wave 4 deluxe Novastar are both available for purchase on non-US Amazon sites! This news is big for those members of the Transformers fandom that are struggling to find Novastar in the wild and who have not had a reasonably priced Nemesis Prime option to date.

You can find a list below of the various Amazon sites and countries, which include the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. If you live in one of these countries, go get your Power of the Primes figures, and let us know what you think of those figures in our comments section below!

UK:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CM6H3G7

Germany:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07CM6H3G7

Spain:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07CM6H3G7

France:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07CM6H3G7

Italy:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B079RH1D18
Novastar: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07CM6H3G7

One quick update to this. Amazon Australia has joined the party with having Nemesis Prime in stock too! No Novastar, though.

Australia:
Nemesis Prime: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07DHX3LX1

Long-time listener, first time caller.

I've been following along with TF toys for a little bit now, mainly watching Emgo and Thew's stuff, and seeing how cool CW and TR was, but not buying much. I got some deluxe TR's for my desk at work. Anyway, my son is up to being able to transform these figures now, and so we are almost done completing most of the Power of the Primes sets he will want. I am trying to fill in some gaps with the more readily available CW stuff that can combine with the POTP guys, and I really appreciate the tips about Wreck-Gar in this thread, I guess Walgreens is good for more than filling prescriptions.

Does anyone have any tips on easily-available deluxes to grab? We've got Jazz, Novastar, the Terrorcons, and Dinobots, but he is getting some voyagers for Christmas and I would like to be able to get him as far along as he can so he can battle three or four big combiner guys.

Also, is there anything else out there like Amazon Warehouse? They sold me a Novastar for like five bucks off as "used" just because her packaging was bent - otherwise the figure is intact.

Thanks! Lots of great content here!

Jazzicus Maximus wrote:Long-time listener, first time caller.

I've been following along with TF toys for a little bit now, mainly watching Emgo and Thew's stuff, and seeing how cool CW and TR was, but not buying much. I got some deluxe TR's for my desk at work. Anyway, my son is up to being able to transform these figures now, and so we are almost done completing most of the Power of the Primes sets he will want. I am trying to fill in some gaps with the more readily available CW stuff that can combine with the POTP guys, and I really appreciate the tips about Wreck-Gar in this thread, I guess Walgreens is good for more than filling prescriptions.

Does anyone have any tips on easily-available deluxes to grab? We've got Jazz, Novastar, the Terrorcons, and Dinobots, but he is getting some voyagers for Christmas and I would like to be able to get him as far along as he can so he can battle three or four big combiner guys.

Also, is there anything else out there like Amazon Warehouse? They sold me a Novastar for like five bucks off as "used" just because her packaging was bent - otherwise the figure is intact.

Thanks! Lots of great content here!

Welcome about the good ship plastic crack.

Combiner Wars limbs/torsos are getting kinda pricey. How do you feel about KOs? If you're cool with KOs the KO threads are a good place to start to start. 1:1 Superion parts just popped up (gotta watch out for the OS stuff, unless that's what you're into).

Jazzicus Maximus wrote:Long-time listener, first time caller.

I've been following along with TF toys for a little bit now, mainly watching Emgo and Thew's stuff, and seeing how cool CW and TR was, but not buying much. I got some deluxe TR's for my desk at work. Anyway, my son is up to being able to transform these figures now, and so we are almost done completing most of the Power of the Primes sets he will want. I am trying to fill in some gaps with the more readily available CW stuff that can combine with the POTP guys, and I really appreciate the tips about Wreck-Gar in this thread, I guess Walgreens is good for more than filling prescriptions.

Does anyone have any tips on easily-available deluxes to grab? We've got Jazz, Novastar, the Terrorcons, and Dinobots, but he is getting some voyagers for Christmas and I would like to be able to get him as far along as he can so he can battle three or four big combiner guys.

Also, is there anything else out there like Amazon Warehouse? They sold me a Novastar for like five bucks off as "used" just because her packaging was bent - otherwise the figure is intact.

Thanks! Lots of great content here!

Welcome to the forum . As for PotP, it depends on where you live. In wave 1 there was also Dreadwind, and his partner Blacking was in waves 2 & 4 (should be pretty easy to get). It sounds like you pretty much got all the others. As for easy-to-obtain deluxes from CW... if you dont mind getting them loose/complete you can probably look over eBay for some good lots. Otherwise, individually some of them can be kind of pricey.

Here's what BBTS has in stock. Their one *sale* item is pretty much now just normal retail price

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Search?H ... Brand=1971

Thanks! I did not know about BBTS much - mainly been shopping at Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Appreciate the link! I have heard about KOs and will click around over there as well.

I really dig Dreadwind even though his leg tabs are kind of loosey-goosey on ours, and will definitely keep an eye out for Blackpurplewing.

Jazzicus Maximus wrote:Thanks! I did not know about BBTS much - mainly been shopping at Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Appreciate the link! I have heard about KOs and will click around over there as well.

I really dig Dreadwind even though his leg tabs are kind of loosey-goosey on ours, and will definitely keep an eye out for Blackpurplewing.

TFSource can sometimes have some good prices and used figures, transformerland has fair pricing, there's all the various Japanese import sites and when you're ready for a walk on the dark side, check AliExpress and Sir Toys.

Happy hunting!