New Gallery: Superlink SD-05 Mega Zarak (Scorponok)

very nice, can't wait for the official seibertron galery!

Is the Superlink Megazarak really cartoon accurate? I'm not sure about that.

Are there GPS issues with this deco of the mold?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Valandar wrote:Are there GPS issues with this deco of the mold?

None documented. The GPS-type plastic is a darker, more bronze shade

It doesn't have GPS, but it does have the same problem with the piece that connects the upper arm to his torso. If it gets stuck and you apply pressure, the piece immediately snaps. While I've never experienced this problem with the other 4 uses of this mold that I own, when I transformed Mega Zarak into jet mode, that front panel immediately snapped with no warning or anything. I have experienced this with a few Scorponoks that I have obtained from collections I buy to resell in the Seibertron.com store before, so I'm a little familiar with the problem. It just surprises me every time because it breaks so easily once the piece gets stuck.

Fortunately, the piece is the identical color on both the Hasbro and Takara versions so I just went out to my storage, grabbed a different Scorponok that had the other arm broken, and swapped pieces so that Superlink Mega Zarak would be as good as new.

Once I fixed Mega Zarak, I liberally applied Ace Hardware's Lub-E (which is plastic safe) to the areas of concern on all 5 uses of this mold which immediately loosened up the part that gets stuck. While I'm not as concerned with Scorponok or Mega Zarak because I get lots of Scorponoks in the collections I buy (though it still sucks when it breaks because Energon Scorponok is a $50 to $60 toy all day long), I am highly concerned with the BotCon ones and Dark Scorponok due to their scarcity.

Really wish they would have addressed this problem before they started using it for BotCon figures. Seems like it would be a simple design fix with the mold to strengthen the piece that breaks or change how the screws hold the pieces together or something.

Update to my fix with this Scorponok mold ... while the Lub-E seemed to work just fine last night, when I checked on E-Scorponok's arms just now before putting him away, I encountered the joint-lock-of-doom on him which usually signifies that the little piece of plastic will crack in half. I took it apart again, trying to understand what it is that gets caught. I decided that the front pieces need to be swapped from left to right to avoid putting additional pressure on the piece when transforming the arm (if you take it apart and swap the front left and right should pieces you'll see where the pressure is when the arm is transformed). In addition, the peg that the screw goes into needs to be sanded down a little bit and I used a power drill with an appropriate sized drill bit to smooth out the inside of where the long peg slides into both of which I did to help reduce the tight friction. After I put my Scorponok back together, it seems that the problem is resolved and the arm transforms just fine now.

ScottyP wrote:That Superlink deco on this toy is just gorgeous. One of the handful of Superlink toys that's very worth double-dipping on.

It's an awesome redeco. I prefer the Hasbro version of it for some reason. And while I still really like the new Botcon version, I still would like to see just a regular Energon Scorponok slavishly done in G1 Scorponok's colors though the BotCon version is probably about as close to it as we'll ever get.

Thanks for the video Ryan.

I'm gonna have to bust out my Dark Scorponok from storage and fix him. It always seemed a little too tight there.

Samsonator wrote:Man, having never owned any of the Energon Scorponok mold (always wanted one, but the chance has never presented itself) I never knew this problem even existed. At least now if I actually get one I'll know what to watch out for, and how to prevent it.

It's currently on sale MISB at the Seibertron.com eBay Store!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=181186440265&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

Thanks for the video Ryan. Well done. Just like your Doublepunch, mine had the pieces on wrong. My Dark Scorponok has the pieces on right though. I bought it used on e-bay so I cant confirm if it was fixed by it's original owner or if it came that way from the factory. It still seems a bit tight though. I might sand the peg down a bit. Im glad to see they caught it this time with the Botcon Scorponok. Hopefully when it arrives, no fixing will be needed.