Post by Bogatan on Feb 5, 2011 16:42:52 GMT
I picked it up today from the post office. It's a bloomin big box. So it was somewhat disappointing to open it and see a very small Rodimus and VERY VERY Large trailer. It's massive, huge and it was then I realised I had just paid an extra an extra £70 on the future MP Hot Rodimus price in order to own an oversized G1 Rodimus Prime trailer.
Its not even an update, its the same toy with just two significant changes beyond the size. Firstly the shield panels are on hinges so they unfold rather than having to be added when transforming to battle station mode. Secondly and in my mind at least this is almost cool, the trailer has been made in to an ultra Pretender. As it now contains an even greater percentage of Rodimus car mode than the original, "Ultra Pretender shell" is the only accurate classification I can come up with. Hot Rod only adds front wheels and a few panels to it.
Getting back to Rodimus first impressions out of the box are worrying. It looks very small compared to the rest of the Masterpiece figures, but actually stood next to Grimlock its a little taller but much thinner and seems to have less mass. After that it was quite positive until I took it out of the plastic tray and saw the back kibble. It's not terrible but is by some distance the messiest part of the design. As has been mentioned by others, there is a grey clip designed to hold it all together in the most compact way possible, unfortunately the clip barely works. All three panels have to be pushed together under too much tension for the clip to hold. After some experiments its held when the toy was left alone, but try moving anything else and the weight of the spoiler springs it free. In fairness it only the last panel that falls away and only a short distance from the front it makes little to no visual difference. That is probably for the best because even if the clip did hold I fear the tension on various panels of the back would suffer some stress damage over time.
The rest of the robot mode looks much better. Very cartoon accurate for Rodimus and Hot Rod. The only differences seem to be swapping the figures face and adjusting the feet to make Rodimus a little taller.
Personally I've not liked the Rodimus face much since the first photos surfaced. In the plastic its better than I expected, but I still prefer the Hot Rod face which also has a slide down blue visor for more cartoon accuracy. It does leave me wondering again why I bothered buying the Rodimus release instead of waiting for the Hot Rod one.
The only negative I really have about the overall look is that it is so cartoon influenced, I much prefer the MP line to find some middle ground between toy and animation model.
Rodimus comes with a collection of accessories. A very small Matrix can be fitted in to a chest compartment, but is much to small to be held properly. It probably will make a very good classic sized matrix. Both hands can be flipped into the wrists to reveal a prong, to the prong you can attach Hot Rods circular saw or Kup repairing welder both seen in the movie. One more problem occurs when you attempt this, the hands don't seem to fit into the wrist properly so the fore arm doesn't close up fully. Its only a matter of millimetres, but it's another small issue that really shouldn't be left on the final product.
The final add on is the pair of guns. Which can't be held in Rodimus' hands. As separate guns they just about sit in position if balanced well but once the two guns are combined the length makes such balancing far harder. It's not impossible, but as with the back pack clip it has to remain perfectly still to do it.
Thankfully the hand pegs on the gun of the battle station do fit the hands and the robot stood on battle station does finally give the toy the impressive stature you want from a MP line. As mentioned the trailer is pretty much identical to the original one nice feature is a button release on top that causes the sides to split open. The gun has two joysticks that can be position above or below and its on these that the pegs are to plug into the holes on the palms of the hands. Rodimus' hands aren't the best design but here they and the joysticks are designed to fit which just leaves me wondering why the guns were given angled handles when the fist shape only allows for a vertical fit.
I wont try to explain the transformation to Hot Rods car mode. Initially it looks like it will be quite simple. It isn't. Fitting the hands in drove me nearly mad, but once done the car looks really good, its far more curvy than the original (and the car the original was based on) and the cartoon model, but I like it. The roof opens in the same way as the movie but (sadly or thankfully depending on your own views) there's no Daniel to jump out with his hoverboard.
Transforming to Rodimus truck mode. Basically the spoiler, back end and roof is folded over to the front of the car (as it is in robot mode) then the whole lot slides backwards along a length of plastic that really seems like it should have been made of metal. Thats about it besides a few panels spinning around. The rest is down to the trailer pretender shell.
From underneath unfold the trucks cab (front end and cab windows and roof). Already it looks complete, but one side of the cab unclips from the rest and then fold aside allowing a clear route for Hot Rod to drive in backwards. Once the car is in the cab folds back in and that's it.
The truck is big. That is all.
I don't know if I like it or not. If I could sell it for what I paid would I sell it and wait for the MP Hot Rod? I don't know, my first reaction was the trailer was a total waste of a lot of money, but after playing with it I wonder if the trailer is what really makes the toy. I suspect MP Hot Rod could be a bit bland for £60, especially if the guns aren't fixed. On the other hand in no way is the trailer worth the extra £70 or more it that the Takara version costs.
So a really good toy (really however negative the above sounds the transformation alone makes it a MP product) with some tolerance issues but I'm not sure its worth £130 as Rodimus or £60 as Hot Rod.
Andy
Its not even an update, its the same toy with just two significant changes beyond the size. Firstly the shield panels are on hinges so they unfold rather than having to be added when transforming to battle station mode. Secondly and in my mind at least this is almost cool, the trailer has been made in to an ultra Pretender. As it now contains an even greater percentage of Rodimus car mode than the original, "Ultra Pretender shell" is the only accurate classification I can come up with. Hot Rod only adds front wheels and a few panels to it.
Getting back to Rodimus first impressions out of the box are worrying. It looks very small compared to the rest of the Masterpiece figures, but actually stood next to Grimlock its a little taller but much thinner and seems to have less mass. After that it was quite positive until I took it out of the plastic tray and saw the back kibble. It's not terrible but is by some distance the messiest part of the design. As has been mentioned by others, there is a grey clip designed to hold it all together in the most compact way possible, unfortunately the clip barely works. All three panels have to be pushed together under too much tension for the clip to hold. After some experiments its held when the toy was left alone, but try moving anything else and the weight of the spoiler springs it free. In fairness it only the last panel that falls away and only a short distance from the front it makes little to no visual difference. That is probably for the best because even if the clip did hold I fear the tension on various panels of the back would suffer some stress damage over time.
The rest of the robot mode looks much better. Very cartoon accurate for Rodimus and Hot Rod. The only differences seem to be swapping the figures face and adjusting the feet to make Rodimus a little taller.
Personally I've not liked the Rodimus face much since the first photos surfaced. In the plastic its better than I expected, but I still prefer the Hot Rod face which also has a slide down blue visor for more cartoon accuracy. It does leave me wondering again why I bothered buying the Rodimus release instead of waiting for the Hot Rod one.
The only negative I really have about the overall look is that it is so cartoon influenced, I much prefer the MP line to find some middle ground between toy and animation model.
Rodimus comes with a collection of accessories. A very small Matrix can be fitted in to a chest compartment, but is much to small to be held properly. It probably will make a very good classic sized matrix. Both hands can be flipped into the wrists to reveal a prong, to the prong you can attach Hot Rods circular saw or Kup repairing welder both seen in the movie. One more problem occurs when you attempt this, the hands don't seem to fit into the wrist properly so the fore arm doesn't close up fully. Its only a matter of millimetres, but it's another small issue that really shouldn't be left on the final product.
The final add on is the pair of guns. Which can't be held in Rodimus' hands. As separate guns they just about sit in position if balanced well but once the two guns are combined the length makes such balancing far harder. It's not impossible, but as with the back pack clip it has to remain perfectly still to do it.
Thankfully the hand pegs on the gun of the battle station do fit the hands and the robot stood on battle station does finally give the toy the impressive stature you want from a MP line. As mentioned the trailer is pretty much identical to the original one nice feature is a button release on top that causes the sides to split open. The gun has two joysticks that can be position above or below and its on these that the pegs are to plug into the holes on the palms of the hands. Rodimus' hands aren't the best design but here they and the joysticks are designed to fit which just leaves me wondering why the guns were given angled handles when the fist shape only allows for a vertical fit.
I wont try to explain the transformation to Hot Rods car mode. Initially it looks like it will be quite simple. It isn't. Fitting the hands in drove me nearly mad, but once done the car looks really good, its far more curvy than the original (and the car the original was based on) and the cartoon model, but I like it. The roof opens in the same way as the movie but (sadly or thankfully depending on your own views) there's no Daniel to jump out with his hoverboard.
Transforming to Rodimus truck mode. Basically the spoiler, back end and roof is folded over to the front of the car (as it is in robot mode) then the whole lot slides backwards along a length of plastic that really seems like it should have been made of metal. Thats about it besides a few panels spinning around. The rest is down to the trailer pretender shell.
From underneath unfold the trucks cab (front end and cab windows and roof). Already it looks complete, but one side of the cab unclips from the rest and then fold aside allowing a clear route for Hot Rod to drive in backwards. Once the car is in the cab folds back in and that's it.
The truck is big. That is all.
I don't know if I like it or not. If I could sell it for what I paid would I sell it and wait for the MP Hot Rod? I don't know, my first reaction was the trailer was a total waste of a lot of money, but after playing with it I wonder if the trailer is what really makes the toy. I suspect MP Hot Rod could be a bit bland for £60, especially if the guns aren't fixed. On the other hand in no way is the trailer worth the extra £70 or more it that the Takara version costs.
So a really good toy (really however negative the above sounds the transformation alone makes it a MP product) with some tolerance issues but I'm not sure its worth £130 as Rodimus or £60 as Hot Rod.
Andy
