Dr. Caelus wrote:What is the purpose of the hinges on Optimus's calves? They very clearly look like hinges, with metal pins, but they don't do anything.
LeAwesome1 wrote:Dr. Caelus wrote:What is the purpose of the hinges on Optimus's calves? They very clearly look like hinges, with metal pins, but they don't do anything.
Because the legs are the same as those from Siege Prime (except some changes with how the wheels work), they carried over from Siege prime. They are used on Earthrise though, if you pop the flaps up all the way it secures the legs a little bit better.
sol magnus wrote:LeAwesome1 wrote:Is Cliffjumper worth the price? I was put off by his size but really tempted to just bite the bullet
He's well worth it. I even got my seven year old one.
Dr. Caelus wrote:LeAwesome1 wrote:Dr. Caelus wrote:What is the purpose of the hinges on Optimus's calves? They very clearly look like hinges, with metal pins, but they don't do anything.
Because the legs are the same as those from Siege Prime (except some changes with how the wheels work), they carried over from Siege prime. They are used on Earthrise though, if you pop the flaps up all the way it secures the legs a little bit better.
The flaps on the knees are used in the instructions, but the hinges on the backs of the legs (the calves) seem to be totally nonfunctional artifacts, which is puzzling, as a metal pinned part would seem like an expensive inclusion...
Lore Keeper wrote:I hope someone who gets him in hand soon can show whether the Rumble and Ratbat mold actually fits in his chest. They don't fit in Soundwave's.
Flashwave wrote:Dr. Caelus wrote:LeAwesome1 wrote:Dr. Caelus wrote:What is the purpose of the hinges on Optimus's calves? They very clearly look like hinges, with metal pins, but they don't do anything.
Because the legs are the same as those from Siege Prime (except some changes with how the wheels work), they carried over from Siege prime. They are used on Earthrise though, if you pop the flaps up all the way it secures the legs a little bit better.
The flaps on the knees are used in the instructions, but the hinges on the backs of the legs (the calves) seem to be totally nonfunctional artifacts, which is puzzling, as a metal pinned part would seem like an expensive inclusion...
For some reason they recycled the blue part of the lower leg (they are flipped from Siege, left leg is right) and like LeAwesome said, bit every other part of that lower leg assembly including the louvres is all new. My only guess is that the hinge is a byproduct of making the wheel assembly fit the original front piece properly, or possibly as a way to make the assembly process smoother in the factory, but I can find no part of mine that is in anyway loose and wants to move. The only other theory is that there is some retool coming down the line that may use either the hinges, the space, or swap out parts in there, explaining why they didnt cast a solid calf piece there.
Emerje wrote:Scotty P. thinks there's a possible Energon Prime built into the mold ER Prime mold.
Emerje
ZeroWolf wrote:It would have to be a hefty retool for Energon Prime to be fair. Also to those saying it doesn't make any sense why to leave expensive things in a mold retool, I give you exhibit A, Titan Fortress Maximus.
Flashwave wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:It would have to be a hefty retool for Energon Prime to be fair. Also to those saying it doesn't make any sense why to leave expensive things in a mold retool, I give you exhibit A, Titan Fortress Maximus.
I guess the more pertinent question then is why when every other part of him from wheels to head is an all new part, did they choose to reuse that one part of his legs instead of designing new?
TF-fan kev777 wrote:Flashwave wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:It would have to be a hefty retool for Energon Prime to be fair. Also to those saying it doesn't make any sense why to leave expensive things in a mold retool, I give you exhibit A, Titan Fortress Maximus.
I guess the more pertinent question then is why when every other part of him from wheels to head is an all new part, did they choose to reuse that one part of his legs instead of designing new?
I agree it does seem weird. Could be that it was cheaper to re-use that on both the mold costs and the assembly standpoint than going new if they had any of leg assembly portion automated. They could have moved production right from the Walmart 35th anniversary deco to the Earthrise leader assembly. But admittedly I'm grasping at straws.
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:TF-fan kev777 wrote:Flashwave wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:It would have to be a hefty retool for Energon Prime to be fair. Also to those saying it doesn't make any sense why to leave expensive things in a mold retool, I give you exhibit A, Titan Fortress Maximus.
I guess the more pertinent question then is why when every other part of him from wheels to head is an all new part, did they choose to reuse that one part of his legs instead of designing new?
I agree it does seem weird. Could be that it was cheaper to re-use that on both the mold costs and the assembly standpoint than going new if they had any of leg assembly portion automated. They could have moved production right from the Walmart 35th anniversary deco to the Earthrise leader assembly. But admittedly I'm grasping at straws.
Retools have a shorter development to production period (at least 1 year shorter from what I've seen), because there's already a base to start from. Alternate heads are a good example of that. Likewise, including bits of engineering of previous figures could potentially shorten development time. It's quite possible the new system of reusing parts (which is separate from retooling) is more of a time-saving measure than anything else, and combined with an economic way to copy (parts of) molds, quite appealing, really.
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Why did they reuse the parts? Because it was a way they could save money, so they did. Corporate beancounters are more addicted to penny-pinching than David Willis is to Hot Shot.
Allow me to emphasize the key word. When I said addicted, I meant it. It's a freaking compulsion for them. If corporate beancounters perceive an avenue for cost-cutting, they will almost always take it - even if the prospective savings are petty (Hence the term penny-pinching) and/or it doesn't really work out to savings in practice. That's a big part of why they're derisively called beancounters in the first place.Flashwave wrote:ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Why did they reuse the parts? Because it was a way they could save money, so they did. Corporate beancounters are more addicted to penny-pinching than David Willis is to Hot Shot.
And again I say, they only recycled the front part of the leg and the feet. I'm no bean counter, but recycling 2% of a figure can't outweigh any savings. We're talking about 1/4 of half his leg and the other 3/4s had to be designed around it instead of a new design that could be simplified down. What you said would make sense if there were any more os Siege Prime in Earthrise Prime, but heck, they even recast the vents in his legs to be more open. It boggles the mind
