steals_your_goats wrote:I have major mixed feelings about the studio Series as a whole. I'm no fan of the movies and most of the designs to me look like they threw a can into a shredder and called it a robot. But I decided to give the line a try because I don't like slagging things off without at least trying them and I've been met with mostly disappoinment. Stinger's shoulder pad snapped off, ratchet is a loose mess with panels that won't stay tabbed, you literally can't transform the first bumblebee or crowbar without half of it's bits falling off, blackout is a clumsy mess with an alt mode that doesn't hold together, Jazz's alt mold can't peg together properly, I can't transform the Volkswagen bumblebee because the headlights are fused in place, and Dropkick is just overall dreadful. I haven't been collecting seriously long (I mainly started in combiner Wars) but I've collected nearly every single figure to come out of the prime wars trilogy and I haven't had this many problems with any of those lines.
So now here's where the mixed feelings come in, I WANT this line to be good. While I don't like the movies or the designs really, the movies are pretty important to me. I'm 24 so I didn't grow up with G1 and no one in my family or even my friends like Transformers so the live action movies was the first experience I had with this fandom. It got me interested in the mythos of the whole brand which eventually lead to my discovery, and love, of the G1 continuity. So I
want to have a representation of this introduction on my shelves and the fact that I've just been met with disappointment so far is really disheartening. I think the new WW2 Bumblebee looks good but the fact that it's a total shell former kind of ruins it. I think sideswipe and barricade look great but seeing as all but 2 of the figures I've collected from this line have alt mode issues it makes me majorly question whether or not I want to keep up with the line.
This new Optimus might be the make or break for me. I really like the new design but if it turns out to have another bad alt mode then I think I'll have to call it quits on the Studio Series.
All of my studio series figures have turned out just fine. The worst experience I've ever had with one was that my Ironhide was missing his silver Autobot Symbol. That and I guess ratchets legs being a but loose. I can transform my 01 Bumblebee without stuff falling off. The back of the helicopter is the only reports we've had of Blackout not staying together, and the arms not tabbing in, which isn't a huge deal. Stinger breaking is most likely your fault, or you may have just gotten a bad copy.
I do have a fix for your Jazz though. The car mode can stick together just fine. The instructions neglect to mention that you're supposed to use the plug on the roof and plug it into the port on his bottom torso. It's where a figure stand is supposed to go. Just do this easy step, and you should be good to go.
, though I do admit that Blackout is a bit tricky, but after a while he seems to get easier, Stinger is also fine, but Crowbar is a hot mess with all his dreads, it is pretty much impossible for him to line up correctly without some fiddling, he’s even worse than Berserker! 
