How to fix your Transformers Prime Wars Trilogy Punch / Counterpunch

thnx for this! quite an unfortunate QC issue

I did that I shaved down the pegs that are on his shoulders that his wheel cowling clips onto in punch mode so they don't stress the plastic around it and I popped out the mushroom pegs and shaved down the flat part. That's what keeps them from turning.

Exastiken wrote:The stock photo on Amazon has the round side up, pretty sure the fix is superficial.

All I can say is, transform him before the fix and feel how the arms fit in and seem to be just slightly off.

Then do the fix and feel how they snap into place.

It's a minor thing, but it does make it better.

Just got mine and changed him a few times. Seems fine. I don’t have issues

Okay but... why is this acceptable? If I got any other product from Amazon that required me to take it apart and reassemble it for it to work correctly, I would get a refund or replacement.

Is this still a bonafide assembly error at this point? There's lots of conflicting information about it's necessity, and this thread has now been moved to the "customization" forum. Is this really more of a preference than a needed fix?

Wolfman Jake wrote:Is this still a bonafide assembly error at this point? There's lots of conflicting information about it's necessity, and this thread has now been moved to the "customization" forum. Is this really more of a preference than a needed fix?

Hey Guys,

IronMagnus here. I posted about this on the tfw2005 forum origionally.

Nothing short of an official tweet from Hasbro acknowledging the issue will convince some people I think.

If your figure transforms great without doing anything, then congrats! Many have had trouble and this change has fixed it for every single one.

As far as it being a "bonafide assembly error", I believe that it is.

The very fact that every in-hand photo and stock photos all show it one way, with the round side up, just points to the fact that it's a mistake in the assembly procedure from the beginning, not a case of one worker getting things wrong sometimes.

What I WOULD point people at are the RENDERS on the package and in the instructions.

These renders would be from the original CAD files and how the actual designer of the toy created it, not how someone in a factory told their workers how to put it together.

On these renders, you can see that the flat edge of the piece in question is on the top.

Edit: Here is a close up picture of the instructions from fellow tfw2005 forum poster Jtprime17:



Here you can see that the flat edge is on the top.

I hope this helps anyone who is having trouble with their figure.

fenrir72 wrote:Thanks!

1. Please sticky this.
2. Do I cancel my still pending Amazon order and wait for the "corrected" Takara version?

Takara and Hasbro put out the same figures now. I doubt that the Takara one will be any different.

The fix is so quick and easy that there is no point in cancelling your order. Let it go through and take 30 seconds to fix it on your own

I would like to add that removing the arms from the ball joints isn't necessary, but I think it gives you more room to work with. I did it originally as I was investigating the issue and didn't know what all would be required, were they asymmetrical? Would the connectors need to swap sides or something? (they don't)

If you're worried about damaging the figure on that step (you shouldn't be), then you can try leaving the arms on and removing the entire assembly from the body before twisting around the connector piece and placing it back in.

Exastiken wrote:Hello, PCP owner here. I have the same exact assembly as the top post, but it's not an issue, I'm pretty sure the fix is overhyped. The part that he seems to think causes an issue is that there's two conflicting bits that seem to be spaced too closely, but in fact there's a little more clearance in shoulder you can compress into. I just transformed my figure into car mode just fine.

Hi there. Thanks for your honest criticism of the issue. I welcome it as it's the best way to find out when something is truly wrong or not.

"The part that he seems to think causes an issue is that there's two conflicting bits that seem to be spaced too closely"

This fix has nothing to do with those parts. It affects how closely the arm sits to the robot body.

You CAN manage to get it into car mode without the fix, but in doing so the door panels are pressing the arms into place when they shouldn't be under that kind of stress. All they should have to do is tab into those connector bits to stay in place.

TheForgottenTaxi wrote:Okay but... why is this acceptable? If I got any other product from Amazon that required me to take it apart and reassemble it for it to work correctly, I would get a refund or replacement.

It’s not required. you don’t have to do it and go ahead and demand a replacement for a figure that’s out of stock and is being reported as all of them are like this.

Again you don’t have to. I’m not going to do mine because I don’t feel it’s necessary. I’ve changed mine several times since I got it and it’s also got full range.

Exastiken wrote:It's not an assembly issue. .

Awww sh*t fire!!! Assembly issue or not there's no excuse...you hear this ???

But I guess we're past due on having some crap like this happen since the huge problems Trypticon had.



there's too much damn money involved for us to have to deal with this...'nuff said!

Nemesis Destron wrote:

Exastiken wrote:It's not an assembly issue. .

Awww sh*t fire!!! Assembly issue or not there's no excuse...you hear this ???

But I guess we're past due on having some crap like this happen since the huge problems Trypticon had.



there's too much damn money involved for us to have to deal with this...'nuff said!

Put your torches and pitchforks away and calm down. It’s not like the toy is broken out of the box. You can either do a fix or you not. That’s it.

What’s with you people acting like it’s the end of times. Jeez, kids screaming in toy aisles calm down faster than grown adults.

I got my P/CP today. Without the fix, his arms would not peg properly to the sides of the torso properly. They would pop out of place. So I did the fix. The arms now pop into place properly. No reduction in mobility for any of the joints.

In short, for me, the fix was necessary for the figure. Like Counterpunch's demonstration said, it is easy enough to do and I only just barely felt like I was stressing any of the parts.

Crosscheck wrote:I got my P/CP today. Without the fix, his arms would not peg properly to the sides of the torso properly. They would pop out of place. So I did the fix. The arms now pop into place properly. No reduction in mobility for any of the joints.

In short, for me, the fix was necessary for the figure. Like Counterpunch's demonstration said, it is easy enough to do and I only just barely felt like I was stressing any of the parts.

Excellent. Happy to hear it.

Randomhero wrote:

TheForgottenTaxi wrote:Okay but... why is this acceptable? If I got any other product from Amazon that required me to take it apart and reassemble it for it to work correctly, I would get a refund or replacement.

It’s not required. you don’t have to do it and go ahead and demand a replacement for a figure that’s out of stock and is being reported as all of them are like this.

I'm well aware that demanding a replacement is not feasible. I'm saying that this should be viewed as unacceptable by the community and by Hasbro, and it's galling that there's nothing we can do to really hold Hasbro accountable unless we want to give up on the figure entirely.

(Assuming it's as bad as reported; mine has for some reason not shipped yet, so I can't comment on that.)

My figures were delivered this afternoon. When I get home tonight, I'll give them a thourough going over myself and give you my thoughts. I remember not too long ago that people were convinced that Studio Series Jazz was messed up and nothing lined up correctly in vehicle mode until people started to figure out that they were missing a step in the transformation. That one little step made all the difference. Granted, it wasn't clearly shown in the instructions, but it proves that sometimes it's just user error and not a manufacturing problem. Like I said, though, I'll post my findings later when I've had time to open and inspect my own copies.

I’ve been playing with mine all day and I don’t have this problem. I haven’t taken him apart at all and I can transform him just fine. Sadly the people throwing the fits are people who don’t even have one yet.

Honestly before you start demanding crap, wait till you get it. Transform him, if everything lines and is secure like mine don’t do anything. If you feel you need to take it apart, be careful and do it. That’s all it takes.

Like I’ve said. It’s not broken, just has a slight problem. Maybe. Mine has the “assembly issue” if that’s what we’re calling it or “QC” issue but I can’t use him just fine.

There are no screws and I’m not willing to just a small screwdriver and start prying mine and chance damaging mine. I bought one because that’s all I needed and I wanted other people to be able to get him.

But for gods sake, before you start demanding anything and throwing a fit and pointing fingers. Just. Wait.

I pre-ordered mine back on July 15th, still hasn't shown as shipped and I haven't been charged. What's determining who gets their order firsts? Are AmazonPrime users and those that paid for faster shipping getting priority? I think that's a bit unfair to those who didn't want to pay the extra and ordered him way in advance like myself if that is the case. I'm going to be angry with Amazon if I don't get mine soon..... or if I have to wait for the next batch. Grr!

Got my Punch/Counterpunch. Definitely needed the shoulder fix, which went pleasantly quickly and with no issues.

QC check aside, this is a fantastically engineered Toy. Although different, the leg transformation reminds me of the Prime Deluxe Vehicons that hid so much of the car in their thighs. Popped the Thumbs off the Prime Master Armor. I love it as a jetpack and it looks better without them TBH, although I d miss the weapon storage. Looking for a gun for CP now. Might use one of the Null Rays from the Legends class Acid Storm mold that came with Venin, if I can find one.

Toy of the year? I dunno yet, we’ll see what makes it out for Siege, but for my money he’s at least in the Running.

EDIT: I just gave Counterpunch the rifle from TR in Convoy, its the same mold as TR Astrotrain. Blue is wrong, but the shape looks sooo right.

Flashwave wrote:Got my Punch/Counterpunch. Definitely needed the shoulder fix, which went pleasantly quickly and with no issues.

QC check aside, this is a fantastically engineered Toy. Although different, the leg transformation reminds me of the Prime Deluxe Vehicons that hid so much of the car in their thighs. Popped the Thumbs off the Prime Master Armor. I love it as a jetpack and it looks better without them TBH, although I d miss the weapon storage. Looking for a gun for CP now. Might use one of the Null Rays from the Legends class Acid Storm mold that came with Venin, if I can find one.

Toy of the year? I dunno yet, we’ll see what makes it out for Siege, but for my money he’s at least in the Running.

EDIT: I just gave Counterpunch the rifle from TR in Convoy, its the same mold as TR Astrotrain. Blue is wrong, but the shape looks sooo right.

Forgive me if you already knew this, but you can store the weapon he comes with on the bottom of the front of the car. You don't need the holes on the fist/jetpack to store the weapon.

Okay, I did get to open up my Punch-Counterpunch figures this evening, and I'll give my thoughts on "the fix." First, it isn't necessary to do this fix to transform the figure successfully. However, doing so does make transforming it "easier." The biggest reason is that turning the shoulder ball joints upside down makes for a nice natural "stop" when you move the shoulders upward and together for vehicle mode. This happens to let the arms line up exactly where they should be to peg into the robot torso. You can still peg the arms in with the shoulder joints in the "factory" position, but you have to use a bit more fineness to line them up just right. If the shoulders aren't lined up correctly, you'll have a hard time tabbing the arms in. If you tab the front end together first, it makes it easier getting the arms to tab into the torso.

As an aside: definitely flip down the Decepticon sigil when converting into vehicle mode. It makes snapping everything together MUCH easier up top.

I've transformed the figures back and forth a few times, with and without the fix, and it doesn't impact how well the panels all line up in vehicle mode at all. It's really all about ease of transformation. For me, reducing the "fiddliness" is worth it. It's an easy fix if you're careful. I would recommend that, if you stick something in between the torso halves to pry them apart, unfurl the car front end from inside the torso first to reduce the risk of scratching the plastic inside, as it will show up in car mode otherwise.

Is this a real factory error? It's hard to tell, and we may never really know. The way it comes assembled looks better. The whole shoulder area is rounded, so having the round parts of the shoulder joints pointing up makes aesthetic sense. Turning them around does look a little funny. You get this angular protrusion in the middle of two rounded pieces. It's not terrible, though, and most people probably wouldn't notice it as a problem if they didn't know to look for it specifically.

Again, I recommend giving this modification a go, because it is easy, not likely to damage your figure, and completely reversible if need be. It makes life a little easier and the drawbacks are minimal if not completely negligible.

IronMagnus wrote:

Flashwave wrote:Got my Punch/Counterpunch. Definitely needed the shoulder fix, which went pleasantly quickly and with no issues.

QC check aside, this is a fantastically engineered Toy. Although different, the leg transformation reminds me of the Prime Deluxe Vehicons that hid so much of the car in their thighs. Popped the Thumbs off the Prime Master Armor. I love it as a jetpack and it looks better without them TBH, although I d miss the weapon storage. Looking for a gun for CP now. Might use one of the Null Rays from the Legends class Acid Storm mold that came with Venin, if I can find one.

Toy of the year? I dunno yet, we’ll see what makes it out for Siege, but for my money he’s at least in the Running.

EDIT: I just gave Counterpunch the rifle from TR in Convoy, its the same mold as TR Astrotrain. Blue is wrong, but the shape looks sooo right.

Forgive me if you already knew this, but you can store the weapon he comes with on the bottom of the front of the car. You don't need the holes on the fist/jetpack to store the weapon.

Actually, I had not found that little nugget yet, so thank you for sharing. I was referring however more to stoage in Robot mode.

Since I planned to give CP a seperate gun and use the "thumbless" Prime Armor as a straight backpack, I was hoping for a convienently placed 5mm peg hole. In Counterpunch mode, its possible to shove the Punch Gun handle through the Car Mode's roof peghole from the inside of the leg, effectively giving Counterpunch an inside-leg ankle Holster while he holds whatever spare gun I give him (currently the rifle from TR Lio Convoy, eventually the same gun but from Sentinel Prime) but in Punch Mode, the only handy 5mm peg hole is the one occupied by the jetpack. And again, this is only an "issue" because I am adding to the toy, not because of some inherent design flaw, its just the compromise I must reach: Have a "clean" looking jetpack, or leave one or both thumbs attached to the Prime Armore so I can hang the unused gun off the Prime Armor.

TheForgottenTaxi wrote:I'm well aware that demanding a replacement is not feasible. I'm saying that this should be viewed as unacceptable by the community and by Hasbro, and it's galling that there's nothing we can do to really hold Hasbro accountable unless we want to give up on the figure entirely.

(Assuming it's as bad as reported; mine has for some reason not shipped yet, so I can't comment on that.)

You do you, but my life is way too short to be mad at a toy company because the modern update of one of my favorite 30-year-old hunks of plastic might have a minor factory error.

If you have an automatic center punch its super easy to just disassemble PCP and do this without the risk of stressing any plastic.

obviously pop out the pin that holds on the windsheild chest. Then take off the legs and the second pin is hiding in the side of the balljoints.

Then its as simple as popping the crotch in half, then popping the torso in half, switch the shoulder joints around, and then do everything in reverse order. Took me about 5 minutes total.

You can also take this opportunity to put clear nail polish on the leg balljoints since they seem to be a little loose on this figure.

reluttr wrote:If you have an automatic center punch its super easy to just disassemble PCP and do this without the risk of stressing any plastic.

obviously pop out the pin that holds on the windsheild chest. Then take off the legs and the second pin is hiding in the side of the balljoints.

Then its as simple as popping the crotch in half, then popping the torso in half, switch the shoulder joints around, and then do everything in reverse order. Took me about 5 minutes total.

You can also take this opportunity to put clear nail polish on the leg balljoints since they seem to be a little loose on this figure.

You really dont neex to go to the hassle of popping the pin put and putting it back in. The Back half of the torso will tilt back on that pin just as easily and you srent stressimg on anything, unless you are really cranking on it I got it aprt just with my (young, stable) fingers.

So there is definitely at least 1 assembly error in the run of these figures. Mine came with one shoulder the "wrong" way that almost everyone else has and the other one the "right" way. Does that make it half wrong, or half right?

I ended up fixing the other shoulder to match, which was super simple. Happy with it, espeically that mine having 2 different shoulders was a definite error and I was able to fix it with ease.

well i just got mine today and checked it out changed him to car with no problems with panels lining up

I got mine yesterday. I had problems transforming him (or would it be them in this case) into car mode, so I did the modification and it worked better for me. Sounds like the problem varies a bit. It was a bit of a pain to do, but I felt it was worth it.

I had a lot of trouble getting the arms to line up during the transformation, so I applied the mod. It's definitely a lot easier now. I did warp the front panel a little -- I un-modded and re-modded on one side -- but it's barely noticeable.

I am calling this a mod rather than a fix because I don't think we'll ever know the designer's intention. I also think it's worth noting a posing consequence of the mod. As originally assembled, the flat side of the pin allows the robot mode shoulders to rest at a firm 90 degree angle. With the mod, the shoulders can dip lower, especially in Counterpunch mode. It's not a big deal, but it does suggest to me that the factory build is intentional.

My personal recommendation: if you like regularly fiddling with your figures, apply the mod. If you primarily use them for display in robot mode, don't.

So I just got my Punch, and I had real trouble transforming to car mode. The arms just wouldn't fit properly. Figured I'd have to take apart the shoulders and reassemble.

Then I noticed something: the instructions show Punch to car steps...I was going from Counterpunch to car...it couldn't be that simple, could it?

Lo and behold, switching from Counterpunch's closed Decepticon fists to Punch's open Autobot fists allowed me to get the arms to fit properly for a smooth car mode.

I'm sure that can't really be the solution to everyone's issues, but it worked for me!