a day too late @KayODave

 

That's a nice case. Where did you get it?

 

Thanks! It's a modified Hastings case that I got for $200 when they went out of business. When it's finished I'm going to do a radicons thread on it.

 

Aw crud. Oh well, not getting that then.

 

Darn, should have tried that.

 

Experimenting on swapping selected parts for variation

 

From reddit:
WNW: MPM Optimus arrived about 20 minutes ago. It's beautiful.

 

Okay, so I've transformed MPM-4 a few times now and I have to say, at least for my specimen from TT, everything tabs in splendidly except for the right side cab window. However, that may be something I can improve as I continue to learn the intricate details of the transformation process.

The spacing tolerances for many of the parts are so minute that I can see how some specimens, Hasbro or TT, are plagued with tabbing problems. I would love to get my hands on a Hasbro MPM-4 just to see how it differs from my TT MPM-4 with respect to parts tabbing in alt mode.

As I play around with MPM-4 more, my appreciation for it has only increased. I do wish that there was more paint apps to pick out more of the nicely sculpted detail such as the back of the forearms, which are a boring plain grey.

 

Crossposting this from lukelb's thread as a heads up, since I tried modding mine a few hours ago.

Alright the right ear on mine was at an angle, more inwards from the top. This was annoying so I tried popping it off. It ended up snapping at a peg that inserts into the cheek. I can glue it back on but I think either the port it plugged into caused it to sit farther than intended due to being a tad too wide from the front(hard to explain).

Basically once I removed the ear, I dry fitted it to the head and it still sat out a few millimeters too far. This is why I believe some samples have the right ear tilted inwards at the top. The left ear was straighter on mine since it's molded as part of the helmet. The right ear is a separate piece.

The right ear has a thin peg on the bottom(plugs into the port on the right side of the helmet) and a hollow peg on top. The hollow peg is supposed to fit into the screw hole, but since the port that the bottom peg plugs into is a bit wide from the front, the top hollow peg will NOT go into the screw hole unless it is angled. On mine it seemed like the factory worker tried doing that before they glued the ear on but failed to ensure the hollow peg was within the screwhole.

Now what happened with mine is fixable but do proceed with caution if you try to remove the right ear.

 

I regret nothing!

Any tips on the careful removal of the ear? Should I be using a specific tool?

 

One more difference to the Hasbro/Takara versions I guess. When I disassembled MPM-4's head assembly on my Hasbro version, the ear came off cleanly with no resistance.

Boy it was not fun fishing this post out:
First look at MPM Optimus Prime?

 

It's an amateur gerwalk mode, but it checks out sir

 

While I'm liking the lighter shade of gray on the Takara MPM-4 a lot more than before, I still prefer the darker gray on the Hasbro version more (especially when you factor in the gun).

 

wow. it took me a year of constant emails to get my refund for stuff they never shipped me.

 

Huh, so...I noticed this looking through the instructions of the TT.

I wonder if the color scheme really was meant to be a reference to the original leader toy at some point

 

I also noticed how the face is more like the mods done instead of the finished product.
Also, the windshield panels aren't around his cheeks.

 

There's so many layers to MPM-4's development process that Sherlock himself couldn't even solve this mystery

 

..and Prime's eyebrows are so near/close to the helmet's front edge.

every discovery of flaws to this figure always waking up my angst to the factory workers that handled this figure.
including Has-Tak's factory managers as well. Darn it.

 

I've found holding the fifth wheel sections down where it tabs in to the diecast while you connect the two halves of the truck makes a huge difference to those who have issues with the hood popping when they try to finish off the truck.

It helps keep the truck properly elongated and helps prevent you from pulling on things by mistake.

You absolutely have to push down on those panels to connect them properly. They tab in underneath and it's next to impossible to get everything else pegged in or lined up with them if you do not do that step.

Without doing either of those steps on either of my hasbro primes I will inevitably knock something out of whack when I start to bring the bottom and top sections together and the tension between the two halves tries to fight with one another.