That sucks! I will admit that I was a little worried when Katana finally arrived because of what I had read on the forums regarding the way he was packaged. The tail was folded down for some reason and the foam lid was misplaced. But other than, no issues with the figure.

I do have to say that I do like Katana and got lucky with a great figure. I transformed him into limb mode first, which I will admit is my least favorite mode and the most fiddly of the three. I finally got around to putting him in robot mode over the weekend. Other than the landing rails on his forearms, I think he's great. The landing rails are annoying, but what else can you do when it is a character design trademark? I think I prefer the flexibility of Katana than the rigidness of the original Blades.

 

If Defensor ends up next he'll need some redesigning. I don't know if the project is dead, but I do remember speaking to the MMC rep last year at TFCon and he was saying that their Hotspot design was old so if it is still in the works it'll need some work before we see it show up again

 

Emgo's review

 

He's right about Katana having some problems, namely the shoulders and the landing skids, but I still love the aesthetics of the Robot and Alt modes of this figure.

 

Yeah, If Emgo says that there is a problem, it's very likely that there is, I still like how it looks ... I really hope that the rest of the team are great!

 

Hotspot will probably be great. The rest not so much. I am going to quit while I am ahead. I have Sarge and I like him, but given TFM/GT history, we are probably looking at 2 strong members and 3 so so ones.

 

Well, the TFM Stunticons were a pretty good set in my opinion, the combined mode has his issues, but most of them were fixed by the parts that come with Dead End.

I want to believe that Katana is the weakest of the team.

 

I'm thinking he'll be the weakest due to being a helicopter. Probably difficult to pull off that realistic of an alt mode and have it transform without any issues.

I expect hotspot to be as awesome as Powertrain is. Groove looks like he will be amazing. Still need more info on first aid, but I dont see how they are gunna mess up an ambulance.

 

I want to know more about that tow along that is pictured with First Aid.

 

The tow along is basically Defensor’s legs from what I can see, with groove and streetwise basically clip ons

 

anybody know when they're planning on releasing groove?

 

To quote BSF....”two weeks”

No clue really

 

I ordered both, can’t wait until they arrive.

 

If I were a betting man... post CNY.

 

Got my Katana! I’ve only taken him out of the package so far and tweaked him to be in helicopter mode. Man does he look good. I can tell all ready that he’s going to be a fiddle-former but that’s fine. One of the slides on the struts is insanely tight and I’m gonna have to do something g to loose the it up otherwise it will break.

Figure came looking just about perfect ( in vehicle mode anyway) except for his windshield wipers. Any suggestions on getting those straightened out?

Also noted that based on the instructions the vehicle mode is actually a “truck” so don’t get out your aviators just yet. 

 

I got Katana yesterday! No issues to speak of apart from one of the front antenna being out of shape.

 

Finally got to mess with Blades. No one can argue that how good looking both modes are in comparison to the other options out there. Having said that, if you are ham fisted stay away from these.

I haven’t owned GT stuff before but the thinness of the plastic scares me some times. Also there are some parts (upper arms and thighs) that aren’t held together tight enough and it creates gaps and increased flimsiness.

I’m getting them all because I love Defensor just be mindful. The ones by Maketoys almost feel more robust and they are way smaller in hand.

 

Just bought Blades/Katana from Bababobo00712 on eBay.
15% off Flash Sale!

If they're remove-able, you can re-shape them using the hot water --> cold water technique, seen here (skip to 59 seconds):

EDIT: I've done this many times to great effect, although the water wasn't *boiling*. Just really really hot. And I did a bit of bending of the hot piece before I dipped it into the cold water.
This method can also "heal" stress marks in plastic, too.

 

So Katana just made BSF’s list for top five most disappointing figures. I can see why, but here’s hoping that out of the five, Katana is at the bottom.

 

I have UT's 2 final figures which also made his top 5 worst.