The Energon Pub

So, I picked up Nightbeat today. My first experience with this mold. Frankly, while I don't find myself completely hating it, nor am I that impressed... The way his door wings are attached to his shoulders rather than his back really looks bad if you pose him in any pose that involves moving those shoulders! That's not really the issue I am here to inquire about, though.

To get to my question for anyone else owning Nightbeat or another version of this mold: When I transform him, his robot mode chest protrudes far enough down on his undercarriage that it actually interferes slightly with his clearance, and on a hard, flat surface all four of his wheels won't touch the ground:



This, of course, leads to him being slightly wobbly:



It isn't terrible to the point that it looks bad if you leave it alone and walk away... but still, it feels wrong. I can't have that correct, because I'd like to give Hasbro the benefit of the doubt that, when designing a Transformer that turns into a car, making him so that all four of his wheels touch the ground would be a no brainer!

Yet a careful read on the instructions, something I rarely even would need to do, gave no insight as to what I might have potentially missed. And a watch of a few video reviews also gave no further insights as to if I may have mistransformed him. Yet the reviews I watched also didn't say, "Hey, his chest kind of sticks out underneath in vehicle mode. Bloody Hasbro!"

So... is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Or is the mold actually that badly designed?

This particular model was not designed to be used on the type of surface you're trying to use it on. Sorry.
Give it a squeeze, that can help things feel better.

If all else fails, roll it in nail varnish - carefully - to thicken up the 'tyres'.

Mr O wrote:This particular model was not designed to be used on the type of surface you're trying to use it on. Sorry.

You are saying that it was not designed to be used on... hard, flat surfaces? Like the kind of surfaces that almost all of us display our Transformers on?



So, how are your thickly carpeted display shelves working for you?

Sorry, but any toy that sits on four wheels that is not designed to be able to lie flat on them is a badly mis-designed toy. So I cannot believe that was an intentional design.

As for your suggested options, I tried squeezing it every which way I could before I resorted to posting my inquiry. As for coating the tires in a quarter centimeter or so of nail varnish to raise the figure a bit... That seems an extreme option for this that I would not wish to resort to.

If the figure does indeed have a genuine design flaw... Well, it will knock my already slightly unfavorable opinion of the mold down further. But I was hoping that someone might tell me, "Oh, you just transformed this bit wrong! Make this minor adjustment, you'll be fine." I find myself less then hopeful of that happening, though, I fear.

I've got some bad news for you... it's a known issue with the mould. The only reason I'm not bothered by it is the fact that I'm 37. I certainly think they could have made the wheels a bit thicker, to help it roll, but I never really cared beyond display value.

Mr O wrote:I've got some bad news for you... it's a known issue with the mould. The only reason I'm not bothered by it is the fact that I'm 37. I certainly think they could have made the wheels a bit thicker, to help it roll, but I never really cared beyond display value.

I had been unaware of that issue, not having paid that much attention to the mold. I didn't need it as a Bumblebee, and only picked it up as Nightbeat as I saw it shelfworming at the local TRU for a surprisingly not bad price. (It was on a peg with a tag that shocked me, saying, "Generations Deluxe $19.99." Refusing to believe that, I scanned it at a price checker and it came up $12.99. So I figured, what the hell?)

If it is a known issue, shame on the few reviews I watched for not mentioning it. I definitely feel that it may be time for my website to have its first non-favorable review.

Still, a design flaw is not an intentional design. It isn't as if, for example, certain car companies design their cars saying, "Let's make 'em blow up! That'll win customers!" Hence my incredulity when you said, "This particular model was not designed to be used on the type of surface you're trying to use it on." The wording implied intent on the part of the designer of the mold, where as this would instead just be negligence... which is almost just as bad! (And shame on Hasbro for that!)

Yeah, the way I phrased it was how I imagined Hasbro would 'explain' it, sorry if I was too subtle, I've been mind-fried for longer than is ideal. By 'a known issue', I meant that I knew about it from feedback I'd received. It's definitely reasonable to expect a toy car to have rolling wheels, I bought it cheap because I liked the character when I was a kid. If the (superfluous to alt-mode) chest panel had to stick out so much, they could at least have made it yellow and the wheels a tiny bit bigger.

Mr O wrote:The only reason I'm not bothered by it is the fact that I'm 37.

What does age have to do with it? I'm 39 and I'm bothered by it. Is there a certain age after which you're not supposed to care about your hobbies anymore?

GuyIncognito wrote:

Mr O wrote:The only reason I'm not bothered by it is the fact that I'm 37.

What does age have to do with it? I'm 39 and I'm bothered by it. Is there a certain age after which you're not supposed to care about your hobbies anymore?

That is an excellent point, GuyIncognito. Heck, I'm 37 myself, and obviously I am bothered by this, or else I wouldn't have started this thread. Heck, I suspect I probably would have cared a lot less about this when I was a child then I do as an adult.

GuyIncognito wrote:

Mr O wrote:The only reason I'm not bothered by it is the fact that I'm 37.

What does age have to do with it? I'm 39 and I'm bothered by it. Is there a certain age after which you're not supposed to care about your hobbies anymore?

No, I'm only speaking for myself. If I was in the habit of rolling them around on a table I'd care a lot more, that's all.

Quite a few molds suffer from clearance issues. As much as I like Generations Dead End and Drag Strip, they both juuuuusst barely clear the ground. There's also Blitzwing in tank mode. It does bug me. I don't roll them around but I also don't want to worry about scratching the paint just by setting them down.

I suppose I'm less bothered because I display robot modes. The fact remains that these things cost enough that these problems shouldn't exist. If I'd paid for it for my kid and he was disappointed that his toy car couldn't roll I'd be very upset.

Well, for anyone curious for my full thoughts on the figure, I now have a review available. (Care to guess if it is favorable or not? )

I don't have that problem with it. If the chest panel touches the floor, try to play with it without rolling it

LegendaryAntiHero wrote:I don't have that problem with it. If the chest panel touches the floor, try to play with it without rolling it

Ridiculous that you should have to say something like that about a toy car.

Optimum Supreme wrote:Ridiculous that you should have to say something like that about a toy car.

Quoted, as the vernacular goes, for truth.

I know Transformers are not only toy cars, but any (two-mode) Transformer with a car as its alternate mode is 50% toy car. And I expect toy cars to be able to roll properly.

Would someone say, "The odd numbered channels on my cable box aren't working, but I am fine with that, I can just watch the even numbered channels."

This is probably the most entertaining conversation I've ever read in these forums.
Bravo fellas.

I noticed this problem too, and after I also picked up Gold Bug, or Goldfire, or Goldschlager, etc. I realized it was indeed the mold and could stop trying to figure out what I did wrong.

...and now I can't remember why I stopped caring. I think I'm no longer surprised or put off by negligent designs, as it is becoming more common place. Guess I'm just a sucker for ro-bi-ots. Good or bad.

Cobotron, I'm tempted to recreate that sig image of yours. Just because.

Back on topic, I think, for some reason, that I have all the widely available versions of this mould (Hasbro Bumblebee, Goldfire, Nightbeat & Takara Gold Bumblebee) and it's a noticeable issue on all of them - not so much the design I don't think, but the plastics in play. That chest piece just doesn't like to clip into place and stay there...

Another very complicated mold by this point of view is ROTF Sideways/Dead End. Rear wheels cannot really touch the floor, while front wheel can hardly do it.

Bolth the robot and the alt mode are great, though.

Barricade.it wrote:Another very complicated mold by this point of view is ROTF Sideways/Dead End. Rear wheels cannot really touch the floor, while front wheel can hardly do it.

Bolth the robot and the alt mode are great, though.

That's amazing!