Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 21, 2010 13:53:03 GMT
Doubleclutch is a blue/grey car. He's pretty non descript save for a silver boxed front grill and some barely visible silver flames on the bonnet. It's not the best colour for a car and doesn't help a not at all exciting piece of sculpting. His vehicle mode Mini-con port is hidden away on a flap that folds forward from the back window of the car.
Transformation: Fold the rear of the car gap, pull the top of the car up & back. Fold the Power Core connector blocks down under the car, pull the sides out and fold the rear wheels under the car. Fold the front of the car forward to becoming the feet. Open the bonnet and fold a second pair of Power Core connector blocks back as heel spurs and replace the bonnet. Stand with the underside of the car facing forward. Turn the robot round 180 degrees at the waist. Fold the back of the car down to form the robot's chest locking in place with a thin tab that slots into the body structure. The back panel should then peg into the robot's waist but folding the connecting struts down at the waist will make it look little better with less backpack towering over the head of the toy.
Doubleclutch's robot mode is very short with the top of his head barely reaching the bottom of the neck on Huffer. Most of the robot is still the blue/grey of the car but there's also some black (head and forearms) and some grey (top of the chest and upper limbs). His elbow is double jointed with a ball at the bottom and a bending joint at the top but the top joint is very stiff and the ball joint is so floppy it might as well be made of plasticene. It doesn't help that when you try to bend the arms the lower arms invariable hit the upper arms on the way. The shoulders are ball jointed but swinging the arms forward means they hit the portion of the chest made from the rear bumper. The head isn't a bad sculpt, reminds me in an odd way of something Don Figueroa might draw. It will turn but it's mounted on a grey panel that hinged behind the head and this refuses to stay in place. We've used a hip joint while transforming the toy, but this is then locked up if you transform the toy properly. The hips are ball jointed but any attempt to move them will result in you hitting the bit of the chest plate that hangs down in front of the waist, probably popping the chest tab out of place. There's thigh swivels and a knee on a very short upper leg and then a stiff knee joint before the ankle joint we saw on the transformation. He does have a 5mm peg hole in his hand but, like Leadfoot, it's in his palm so he's going to have difficulty holding Chopster. His one Mini-con post is on the fold out panel, now on his back, so no chest armour for Doubleclutch.
And if you thought I have issues with the robot mode wait till you read about the torso.....
Start by folding the Power Core connector block heel spurs straight down under the leg. Raise the arms upwards. Turn each lower leg 90 degrees out to the side using the thigh swivel. Bend the knee 90 degrees and fold the hip 90 degrees upwards so the slot on the hip mates with the tab on the underside of the waist. I believe this step has caused many people problems but it seems to work OK on mine. Turn the head precisely straight forward and fold down into the chest. If the backpack isn't folded upward & locked into the waist then do so. Fold the top of the backpack forward which should lock onto the top of the chest via a pair of pegs. It won't on mine, it doesn't bend quite far enough forwards. Fold the back panel back. At this point you need to bend the arm backwards using the stiff upper elbow joint. There's a hole in the back of the forearm which needs to fit over a peg on the back of the body. Unfortunately the peg on mine seems fractionally too close to the body for the arm to fit onto it. The pegs don't fit securely when you do get them in so between that and the plasticene elbows you don't get a strong structure to support the arms of the combined robot: typically the Power Core connector block is mounted between these two weak points. So you get a torso mode that you will struggle together and won't stay together when you build it. Case in point: I pulled the drone arms off now to talk about them and got the smaller robot forearm with it.
Onto the Rallybot drones. All four are car themed:
The Race Car Drone is dark = blue with a broad white stripe stretching right the way back over the vehicle. He has one Mini-con peg, moulded in bright orange, at the rear of the vehicle. The Power Core socket is in the rear of the roof, I'd give it some assistance by pulling down on the pipes under the vehicle before attaching it to a shoulder mounted Power Core connector block to turn this drone into an arm.
The Tuner Car Drone is a short orange car with a black roof emblazoned with a silver Autobot symbol. He's got a silver engine on his bonnet which has another fold up Mini-con port on it. Again the transformation may need some help by pulling down on the claw under the car before attaching it to a shoulder Power Core Block as an arm.
The Street Racer Drone is black with bright yellow detailing and a red fold up Mini-con port on the rear of it's back. Even the instructions recommend helping it by folding the bonnet back and sliding the under carriage down & forward before attaching it as a leg which folds the roof down to form a foot and revealing a fixed Mini-con peg.
Finally to the Drag Racer Drone which is a red racing car. He forms the second leg in this team and he will attach ok, but the problem here is he doesn't transform right when he does attach. On mine the grey strut projecting into the under carriage wasn't slotted in right, but I've heard of another owner where it was plain missing. Even when attached OK the thing still doesn't seem to transform ok. The only thing to do is, after the car is attached, push the grey under carriage upwards and back till it clicks into place.
Overcome all the problems described so far and you end up with a combined robot that can at least stand OK. The arms look odd, angled backwards and that's if they're still in place after the transformation. Turning the arms is a risky business as there's a good chance the small robot's forearm will come off.
No, I'm sorry, this toy is a whole world of issues in every mode. About the only thing it's suitable for is as a limb donor for one of the Scout Commander & Mini-con torsos.
AVOID!
Transformation: Fold the rear of the car gap, pull the top of the car up & back. Fold the Power Core connector blocks down under the car, pull the sides out and fold the rear wheels under the car. Fold the front of the car forward to becoming the feet. Open the bonnet and fold a second pair of Power Core connector blocks back as heel spurs and replace the bonnet. Stand with the underside of the car facing forward. Turn the robot round 180 degrees at the waist. Fold the back of the car down to form the robot's chest locking in place with a thin tab that slots into the body structure. The back panel should then peg into the robot's waist but folding the connecting struts down at the waist will make it look little better with less backpack towering over the head of the toy.
Doubleclutch's robot mode is very short with the top of his head barely reaching the bottom of the neck on Huffer. Most of the robot is still the blue/grey of the car but there's also some black (head and forearms) and some grey (top of the chest and upper limbs). His elbow is double jointed with a ball at the bottom and a bending joint at the top but the top joint is very stiff and the ball joint is so floppy it might as well be made of plasticene. It doesn't help that when you try to bend the arms the lower arms invariable hit the upper arms on the way. The shoulders are ball jointed but swinging the arms forward means they hit the portion of the chest made from the rear bumper. The head isn't a bad sculpt, reminds me in an odd way of something Don Figueroa might draw. It will turn but it's mounted on a grey panel that hinged behind the head and this refuses to stay in place. We've used a hip joint while transforming the toy, but this is then locked up if you transform the toy properly. The hips are ball jointed but any attempt to move them will result in you hitting the bit of the chest plate that hangs down in front of the waist, probably popping the chest tab out of place. There's thigh swivels and a knee on a very short upper leg and then a stiff knee joint before the ankle joint we saw on the transformation. He does have a 5mm peg hole in his hand but, like Leadfoot, it's in his palm so he's going to have difficulty holding Chopster. His one Mini-con post is on the fold out panel, now on his back, so no chest armour for Doubleclutch.
And if you thought I have issues with the robot mode wait till you read about the torso.....
Start by folding the Power Core connector block heel spurs straight down under the leg. Raise the arms upwards. Turn each lower leg 90 degrees out to the side using the thigh swivel. Bend the knee 90 degrees and fold the hip 90 degrees upwards so the slot on the hip mates with the tab on the underside of the waist. I believe this step has caused many people problems but it seems to work OK on mine. Turn the head precisely straight forward and fold down into the chest. If the backpack isn't folded upward & locked into the waist then do so. Fold the top of the backpack forward which should lock onto the top of the chest via a pair of pegs. It won't on mine, it doesn't bend quite far enough forwards. Fold the back panel back. At this point you need to bend the arm backwards using the stiff upper elbow joint. There's a hole in the back of the forearm which needs to fit over a peg on the back of the body. Unfortunately the peg on mine seems fractionally too close to the body for the arm to fit onto it. The pegs don't fit securely when you do get them in so between that and the plasticene elbows you don't get a strong structure to support the arms of the combined robot: typically the Power Core connector block is mounted between these two weak points. So you get a torso mode that you will struggle together and won't stay together when you build it. Case in point: I pulled the drone arms off now to talk about them and got the smaller robot forearm with it.
Onto the Rallybot drones. All four are car themed:
The Race Car Drone is dark = blue with a broad white stripe stretching right the way back over the vehicle. He has one Mini-con peg, moulded in bright orange, at the rear of the vehicle. The Power Core socket is in the rear of the roof, I'd give it some assistance by pulling down on the pipes under the vehicle before attaching it to a shoulder mounted Power Core connector block to turn this drone into an arm.
The Tuner Car Drone is a short orange car with a black roof emblazoned with a silver Autobot symbol. He's got a silver engine on his bonnet which has another fold up Mini-con port on it. Again the transformation may need some help by pulling down on the claw under the car before attaching it to a shoulder Power Core Block as an arm.
The Street Racer Drone is black with bright yellow detailing and a red fold up Mini-con port on the rear of it's back. Even the instructions recommend helping it by folding the bonnet back and sliding the under carriage down & forward before attaching it as a leg which folds the roof down to form a foot and revealing a fixed Mini-con peg.
Finally to the Drag Racer Drone which is a red racing car. He forms the second leg in this team and he will attach ok, but the problem here is he doesn't transform right when he does attach. On mine the grey strut projecting into the under carriage wasn't slotted in right, but I've heard of another owner where it was plain missing. Even when attached OK the thing still doesn't seem to transform ok. The only thing to do is, after the car is attached, push the grey under carriage upwards and back till it clicks into place.
Overcome all the problems described so far and you end up with a combined robot that can at least stand OK. The arms look odd, angled backwards and that's if they're still in place after the transformation. Turning the arms is a risky business as there's a good chance the small robot's forearm will come off.
No, I'm sorry, this toy is a whole world of issues in every mode. About the only thing it's suitable for is as a limb donor for one of the Scout Commander & Mini-con torsos.
AVOID!
