More Images of Takara Tomy Transformers Adventure TAV26 Runabout

Wolfman Jake wrote:Well, I just got my TAV-21 Optimus Prime this morning, and...he's all right. I'm surprised that much of the plastic is of the rather soft and thin variety. To those who say Hasbro has been the driving force behind these changes in Transformer plastic quality over the past several years, I submit to you this product completely of Takara's own design, not solicited by Hasbro. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I got this figure. He's massive, Warrior class cars fit inside him like a glove, and his Transformation does some neat things, but at the same time, a lot of the steps are fiddly, some things don't want to tab in securely, and there are some odd engineering choices that leave some unfortunate gapping in parts of the figure (and I'm not even talking about the hollow legs). Overall, it's a nice, BIG figure, but for something that surpasses the size of recent Leader class toys, it doesn't quite surpass them in Leader class quality.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:
Just receive TAV-21 just a few minutes ago. Do you mean the soft plastic parts as the weapon accessories? 'cause the figure's plastics itself feels harder than the TF Prime Optimus Maximus.

And he's just biggyliciious awesome. Jazz too is great with all the new paint apps. Can't wait for Runaboutto arrive.

What he probably meant was that he's not ROCK SOLID as what TFs used to be like. For example, in ROTF or Cybertron. Most TFs nowadays are made out of this kinda soft, semi transparent plastic. I don't know if it's because it's cheaper to make and/or they are less likely to snap and break.

CW titant Devastator is made out of that, along the RID Prime and FOC figures.

I personally think they feel cheap, but it dosent mean they actually are.

Wolfman Jake wrote:Yes, the panels that hold TAV-21's wheels, both for the cab and the trailer, are VERY soft, pliable plastic pieces. But the bigger bummer is simply that the figure could have been a little bit better overall. For instance, I don't like how the truck cab just kind of softly sets into place in vehicle mode. It feels like it should pop and "click" in just a bit more when fully extended, but it doesn't, and you can see hollow gaps where the panels swivel past one another. The wheels on the trailer don't like to stay locked in place either, and even when they are, they're not in perfectly parallel lines, but angled ever so slightly.

ScottyP wrote:I just opened up my TAV-21 this morning and messed with it. I love it. Takes a little work getting things set straight but everything does set into place just fine in both modes for me. The rear wheels were weird until I figured out exactly how that clip works, and haven't had any problem getting the cab to stick.

You know what I really like about it? It's an Optimus that does more than "front of the cab is torso and arms, back and/or trailer are the legs". The feet are the top of the cab! My mind was blown by that touch, really unique among all the gillions of Optimus molds for that, I think.

ScottyP wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ScottyP wrote:I just opened up my TAV-21 this morning and messed with it. I love it. Takes a little work getting things set straight but everything does set into place just fine in both modes for me. The rear wheels were weird until I figured out exactly how that clip works, and haven't had any problem getting the cab to stick.

You know what I really like about it? It's an Optimus that does more than "front of the cab is torso and arms, back and/or trailer are the legs". The feet are the top of the cab! My mind was blown by that touch, really unique among all the gillions of Optimus molds for that, I think.

Prime First Edition Optimus Prime did it too. Both the deluxe and voyager!

Ah, that's right! Makes it even better that this one does in that case since they're technically the same character.