Generations Titan Trypticon

[Llama God]

He's definitely got girth...

Despite not being one of the dodgy batches of Trypticons, I was still slightly terrified by the hip ratchets. So per this guide www.bigangrytrev.com/titans-return-trypticon-the-simple-fix/ I took the hip ratchets apart and gave the springs a bit of a squeeze. They're still tight, but not terrifyingly so, and I feel much better about manipulating him as a consequence.

[Pinwig]

Before I bust mine out and start terrorizing Autobot Deluxes with him, what do I need to know about this hip ratchet business? is something at risk of breaking? what's the problem?

[Philip Ayres]

There's two known problems, one with the hip, the other with the tail.

Hips is that on some the springs are too tight, causing the legs to refuse to move and moving the legs damages the plastic. Various fixes abound, see www.bigangrytrev.com/titans-return-trypticon-the-simple-fix/ for one.

Tail is best explained here where it describes a fix www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/tr-trypticon-tail-fix-guide-pic-heavy.1119376/

[Philip Ayres]

F***ed Hip picture:

www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/titan-returns-trypticon.1110672/page-11#post-14751460

[Pinwig]

Good lord. Right. Surgery even before putting the legs on! On a 150 quid toy!

[Philip Ayres]

The legs slide on and off really easily. I'd put them on and test first to see what's what

[Pinwig]

Oh that's good to know. I wish Metroplex's arm came back off easily so he'd fit back in his box. But then he's coming out again now. Oh yes clash of the titans!

[The Doctor]

Aug 31, 2017 20:54:59 GMT Pinwig said:

Good lord. Right. Surgery even before putting the legs on! On a 150 quid toy!

This is why I have decided to pass on Trypticon. I was considering saving up for one but I'm not going to take the chance on what is such an expensive toy which would take some effort to get the pennies together for. The tales of them breaking has put me completely off the toy.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

Pictures of clash of the titans required!

[Benn]

What the hell? You really have to take it apart before you can do anything with it? Jeez.

[Llama God]

Not all of them - there just appears to be a couple of production runs that are affected. Mine was okay, but... I was paranoid so I thought I'd give the springs a squish anyway. (I didn't need to do any of the more complicated things.)

[reilly2040]

Got mine today from Tesco and happy to report the hips seem fine. I do have the issue with the chest door not staying closed, but I was more worried about having one of the dodgy batch (and the chest door issue seems pretty common). I've read its pretty easily solved by tightening the screws in the chest section a bit more so I'll give that a shot tonight.

Regardless I'm really happy with him. Now I just need to settle in tonight for the marathon sticker session ;-)

[Baron B of Triple B]

Re: chest door. I had the same issue and found if I closed the top left edge first then the right side it stayed in.

Hips on mine are all good.

[reilly2040]

Oo ta. I'll definitely give that a shot first.

I did forget to mention, if you're a collector that likes keeping the boxes, think twice about Tesco. I was surprised that they hadn't actually boxed up the order, so the toy's box was pretty wrecked from the transit.

[Pinwig]

Unboxed mine. Chest door problem - that is such a fail. BigB's trick works most of the time but it's like Unicron's chest missile, breathe and it pops out. The plastic seems warped.

The hips are giving me the fear. I'm not going to rest easy unless I open them up for a look. I've had a few clicks back and forth but my god that's one heck of a crunch each time. I do not want snapped plastic for the sake of a bit of screwdriver action.

On the plus side, Full Tilt's a bit of a dude!

[blueshift]

Does the door just flop open then?

[Pinwig]

Yes. The door itself is slightly warped so it pops out at the top left corner. I'm wondering if a bit of heat might relax the plastic back into shape, but it's the more brittle transparent stuff so it might not work.

[The Doctor]

Utterly ridiculous on a £150 toy. Even happier to pass on it now!

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Yes, it is a bit shit, but it's not like Hasbro don't have a history of messing up the bigguns in some way.

[The Doctor]

Indeed, which I why I always wait and see regarding QC for Big Ticket items before deciding whether to save up for them!

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Sept 2, 2017 21:51:05 GMT The Doctor said:

Indeed, which I why I always wait and see regarding QC for Big Ticket items before deciding whether to save up for them!

-Ralph

I am still bitter and twisted over Armada Unicron

[Pinwig]

Jesus, these springs are something else! Getting the hips open is simple enough but it's going to take a fair big of flexing to reduce the tension in these suckers. Pleased to find no damaged plastic.

[Pinwig]

My hands hurt.

[reilly2040]

I haven't opened up the hips yet. The ratchets seem ok on mine though, but I wonder if I should just in case.

I was looking at the chest door last night and mine's the same. It's definitely warped and sadly putting in the left corner first doesn't work for me. For now I've taken off Full Tilt's connector as even its weight (never mind Full Tilt himself) is enough for it to swing open.

Looking at the tabs they're pretty puny, especially given it's supposed to hold a whole other toy in place so I'm surprised there's not a better locking mechanism. I'll dig out the screwdrivers today to try that trick, otherwise I'll have to try something else.

Last night was largely taken up by the stickers. Spent a good while on them but ended up admitting defeat and I'll do the rest tonight.

Still not as bad as Unicron shooting me in the face though 😉

[Pinwig]

My next thought on the hips was to apply a bit of lube to the ratchet teeth. I remember sorting out Generation Toy's Scraper. When they provided new hip ratchets to fix his wobbly legs, they included lubricant for the teeth to help them slide a bit better. That would do the same job as all these fixes online that say cut a plastic disc from a felt pen packet and put it between them.

[Pinwig]

Supposed to be mowing the lawn but the rain has put paid to that...

Okay, so having flexed the spring in one hip for a good fifteen minutes and not the other, I can't actually tell any difference when they're on the toy. But I did apply lube to the ratchets and the clicking feels smoother now. No evidence of damaged plastic so I guess I'm in the clear.

Tightening the screw to the left side of the top of the floppy chest panel has made a difference - it must have clamped the two halves of the body together more tightly, so the door stays shut now which is something. It isn't a perfect fix, I'm sure it'll fall open, but it's working at the moment. I think the little tabs on the edge of the door needed to be a mm longer to sit in the hole they go in properly.




Question now is whether to go with the Hasbro labels or wait for Toyhax. Their Metroplex set looks better than the Hasbro ones.

[Llama God]

Sept 2, 2017 22:38:20 GMT Pinwig said:

My hands hurt.

You can stop squeezing now - I think that should do it.

I didn't bother with modifying the ratchet. Yes, those bastard springs are as tough as hell, but ten minutes of squeezing each seems to have relaxed them just enough that they're no longer worrying once I put everything back together.

And yes, I have the issue with the chest door also. I'll try the screw trick - but yeah, it needs much better tabs to keep the thing in place.

[blueshift]

I am terrified at how this thread has turned into a detailed description of how Pinwig is lubing up Trypticon.

I am even more terrified at every update D:

[Pinwig]

Be thankful I didn't take pictures.

[Philip Ayres]