Ha! Actually, I'd written off ms trailbreaker, as I've enough ms figures now to know that the short thighs do indeed bug me too much in person, sadly. Definitely looking forward to Hoist though, I think his leg design will work better for me. Plus he's got ball joint as opposed to tilt feet   I'm a curmudgeonly articulation fiend!

I think it's partly because the g1 animation models stylistically have short thighs and long lower legs. But there are ways to work around that and still keep that look - iron factory magnus for example has the knee bend housed in the lower leg (a common solution). But for whatever reason dx9 and ms seem to be keen on designing the knee joint to sit on top of the lower leg. Much to my annoyance  

 

Not at all, i own everything MST has released. Love this company. I'm skipping scourge not a fan movie/post movie. GeeWuner here.

 

Eh, it's fine. He seems pleasant enough, and he has an infectious enthusiasm. Overall he's been very pro-Magic Square. If anything I felt bad for him; he seemed genuinely bummed about Trailblazer.

 

His thighs are short, but he does have double jointed knees... So when accessing his thighs take into account the lower part of red knee because that is where you might say his thigh ends. Also he does have toes which move up down and that combined with tilt of foot is actually plenty articulation to pull off quite a few stances w ith ease.

I said before that I found those waist crunch useless but they are ok tilted a little, they help with posing and balancing out a back heavy figure(most are). Useful on TB but maybe cheesy on swipe.

Actually this figure is interesting because it is a little bit like an accordion. The waist colapses and goes back a little and with the double joint knees it is like you can stretch him out and colapse him. Perhaps why size impression seemed to vary. You can make him taller and shorter.

Measured him which is not easy but he is about 10.3 cm standing correctly.

Yeah i don't mind, he did show the figure enough and give size comparisons. It is very hard to unbox a figure for the first time and give a proper review and accessment of it all in one sitting. You can easily overlook something like he did.

 

I wholly agree with this. The transformation of the lower legs and forearms is so intriguing. I have no idea how they come up with these transformations, but I'm glad that they do. We wouldn't have such excellent figures without then.

 

5 pins in each leg alone. Mst are doing the most detailed transformations in legends scale. It is a different way of thinking to making something the simplest you can....

 

Good point about the double knees, and sometimes ad crunch can actually offset some of the short thigh problems too.

I think the worst offender to date/best illustration of when it doesn’t work well is Dutch. I guess I’m after a lot of things from a tf toy, but pretty high up there is fornit to be expressive and intuitive to pose.

 

OK, just got my Trailblazer in today. Good news! Fixing the loose torso that Deluxe Baldwin's had was very easy; it was the result of the screw underneath needing to be turned a couple of more turns. Once I did that the torso became rock solid. Also be sure that the backpack is tabbed into place via the small tabs on the side, and that the leg-side panels are tabbed in as well. Once everything is in place, the figure should be as solid as their other offerings.

Verdict? Of the MS figs I have, I think this one is the most solid. The transformation has a couple of magical-feeling steps ala Ultra Magnus, but the vehicle mode isn't at all squishy. Posing is top notch (despite having teeeeny hands, he still has wrist swivels!!). The force field generator is a little terrifying to attach because the stalk is so thin and the peg is so tight, but otherwise this is home run. I'm THRILLED to report that THIS is the best Trailbreaker I've handled, and I think my favorite of the MS molds I have (UM, Inferno, Sideswipe).


(Note: I hate Save The Cat. But the writer in me can't bare to get rid of it)

 

You mean when you transform things the way they are designed to be and everything is tabbed in they aren’t floppy messes??

Wow! Take note YouTube reviewers!

 

Awesome news/review. Can't wait to (hopefully) find this guy under the tree!  

 

Stray thoughts. While I like light-piping, it really is wasted on these tiny figures. I'm very happy Trailbreaker doesn't have it.

Trailbreaker, Inferno/Grapple, and Ultra Magnus all have slots cut into their side windows for the shoulder panels to tab into. There must be a structural reason for this I'm missing, because I'm surprised they don't reverse that approach and have tabs on the sides double as side-view mirrors and put the slots on the shoulder panels.

The blue windows and grey facepaint on Trailbreaker all seem darker than the initial pics, and look fine to me. That said, the grey facepaint does highlight the lines in the face and make him look kind of like an old-man bot. Though even that is a testament to the intricate level of sculpting on these figures.

Trailbreaker's truck mode is the most solid vehicle mode of the MS figures I have so far.

The weapons could have used a dab of paint. Even just on one of them. Look at Sideswipe's weapons versus Trailbreaker's; his look so plain.

Double-jointed knees! Unlike the arms, the knees don't need to be double jointed for transformation, so thank you, Magic Square, for going the extra mile there.

I can't explain it, but mine came with the G1 smell; that distinctive smell that the early G1 (and reissue) figs gave off upon opening them that I think was the result of the rubber tire compound. I don't know why he's the only MS figure to have it, but I can't say I didn't love it.

 

Well no, hold on. It's easy not to realize the screw under the cab is just a touch too loose if you're not looking for it. Let's not be unfair. I suspect the machine that assembles them isn't tightening it enough, and that this might be a line wide issue. And that's something we haven't seen on their previous releases.

 

Just received mine in the mail about 15 minutes ago. Merry Christmas.

 

I received mine earlier today. Very nice. I now want an Ironhide and Ratchet from this line to go with him. The HS/Mech Planet versions are good but a bit off scale to these guys (IMO) so I'm hoping MST has plans for those two down the road.

 

Never heard of it, but Vonnegut makes up for any wrong-doings on that shelf.

 

Mine arrived with extra blue paint on his nose. Since he'll have to have some paint touch-up anyway, I'm considering just making his face black. Might lose some of the definition of the features, but I tend to like my Trailbreakers with dark faces.

 

How avant-garde of you, Trailbreaker!

 

If you insist!

Trailbreaker got the yayo....

 

It's like someone tried to give him a Hitler-stache.