Thanks to member vansch for letting us know that HK-TF member chenkofs has gotten his hand on a prototype for Takara Tomy's version of Transformers: Animated Arcee. It has been widely reported that the Hasbro release of this figure has two issues, the first being that her thumbs are made of weak plastic that show stress marks at the slightest amount of stress, and one of her legs has a slight mis-mold causing it not to fit right in her car form. Whether or not these issues will plague her Takara Tomy release remain to be seen.
Please keep in mind that this figure is a reported prototype, which means that the colourscheme may not be final. Please check out all the images here.
Not so bad, I'll just do a head swap with US Arcee and fixed. But I may leave her MISB, I just hope I'll find her at a reasonable price. Strong thumbs already!! One of Transformers most wanted toys and the one that has some of the worst flaws, It makes Prowl's sticky paint look like a minor problem.
Finally, we have a chance to see the Tomy version that slightly different from the Hasbro. The red face is related to chinese General "Guan Yu" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yu
I can confirm the thumb problem with the Hasbro version, my Arcee's thumb broke off earlier today. Seems QC issues CONTINUE to plague the TFA toys, even after the line is reduced to TRU exclusives.
If that is indeed the final paint scheme then it's definitely different enough that I might get it, but ONLY if they fix the thumbs. If they would just mold it out of a plastic that didn't have all those danged sparkle flakes in it that would help a ton with the current fragility.
Heh, a lot of people knocked the U.S. Arcee for not having painted lips and this version looks like she's put a whole tube of lipstick on her face. Go figure.
I haven't noticed the thumb thing, but then I usually just have mine hold Targetmaster Hot Rod's guns instead jamming those awkward blades into her hands. I mean, she never even used them on the show, did she?
I don't know, the red face looks cool, but I don't want to buy another toy suffering from Arcee Thumbs Syndrome. I hope she is alright when she gets released.
Guys, remember: this is the PROTOTYPE. These aren't the final colors. More likely than not, she'll look like the U.S. version with some seemingly random chrome thrown in for god measure (this IS Takara we're talking about here).
Now, pardon me while I sand off those little tabs on the sword hilts so they don't keep breaking my Arcee's thumbs off...