This figure just doesn't appeal to me at all.

Good thing too. There seems to be so much wrong with it.  

 

I need give him plastic surgery and make up too.

 

Dont tease us like that @ibot  

Please make it happen a V2 Eligos premium edition, if so my wallet is ready.

 

Improve the other flaws too please (shoulders, and knees ratchets, the knee's locking mechanism and the tabbing issue of the cockpit!) Thanks you!

 

Received my Savant today, unpacked and transformed.
He's...okay I guess? Skids is a ho-hum character so there's not a lot of buzz for him with me. The design itself is nice enough but it's not exactly "2018 carbot". It's sleeker and smoother than the original Lambo's and Datsuns but it doesnt have the same slick pizazz of Sunstreaker. He feels like he comes from the same era as Tracks or maybe Hot Rod.
The blue paint is gorgeous and I've avoided any paint chipping on thighs or feet so far. That Windscreen is a freaking terrifying nightmare. Even knowing what to do and watching several video's it was awful and not something I really want to repeat.
The mouth is completely bleaurgh... I knew it was gonna be bad but it looks like it has 6 or 7 too many coats of paint. The cat-eye headlights are an eyesore and will need paint.
The hands are frankly an abomination. Given that KFX/XTB were the masters of articulated hands, to see them devolve to the point of a solid, fixed thumb, and fingers that are glued together, permanently bent is just pathetic. Worst of all, they had a simple and easy opportunity to make the wrists compatible with their own Ratchet hands and decied not too.
Thehips, waist and abs - that whole lower torso area- just feel skind of simplistic and ugly, but it's functional I guess. The lack of hip skirts is galringly noticeable though.
I don't really care either way for the turbo on teh bonnett but it obviously bugs alot of people.
He cleans up real well and has minimal back or side kibble which is nice. I do wish they'd done something a little more clever with the calves - that much of the car hanging off makes for a very strange side profile. Some folding or origami to ompress away some of the rear of the car might have been nice.
Joints are all nice and solid and aritculation seems great.
He stands really well and is remarkably heavy and dense. There's a lot of diecast packed into this little guy.

All up I guess he's about a 6 or 6.5 out of 10. Good enough for a character as low tier as Skids. I'm 100% positive Takara could do a much better take on the character, but he's so insignificant to the toon, that I can't imagine them (or anyone else for that matter) ever actually bothering to.
I'll wait and see if the price drops abit more before deciding whether I get another for alt mode. He does look very nice in his car form I'll grant.
I'll see if I feel different once I fix the mouth, headlights and give him some proper hands.

 

Mine arrived yesterday as well. Actually like the alt mode, but haven't transformed yet to check out bot mode. That said, like you, I'm not overly excited about Skids anyway- the "completionist" in me picked him up simply to fill that character's spot. I'm not going to be overly bothered by some shortcomings with him I guess. I'll see how I feel once I get him into bot mode though. Maybe Skids will be left in alt mode for display...

 

Eligos (v2) would be a definite win for sure over FT's chicken-leg boy! Give him some more vibrant colors, more defined facial features, and some detailing, (maybe some more alternat heads) and I'll gladly grab three!

Savant was overall fine for me, although those rubber mirrors are so flimsy, I keep worrying I'm going to break them off by accident! Face-wise, mine has soft lips, but luckily no globs of excess paint as seen on others...

 

Please do so . I much prefer Eligos' presence and aesthetic over Quietus. In fact, I've been having my eyes on Eligos' for quiet a while now but hestiate to purchase because of various QC & tolerance issues with the figure. If XTB would release a V2 of Eligos with some nice and proper paints, improved QC and fixed some of the joins (like the knees) and tolerance issues, they would have a definite version of Cyclonus in my book. Please make V2 Eligos happen .

 

Totally agree 100% with everything you said, I also prefer Eligos over Quietus and "if" a V2 happens I will buy that with no hesitation.

 

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Finally received my ShowZ order today. Far from perfect but I like him for the most part.

 

Received mine today with some minor paint defect. It's hard for me to capture it with my phone but it seems mine got put in the box too soon. A little bit of smudging on the roof along with one of the rear door barely having any paint and one of the arm is painted as well. Luckily, It doesn't really bother me. The figure is decent enough to stand-in for Skids for now

 

I saw the same kind of blue smudging on the polystyrene packaging of mine, though fortunately the paint on the roof seems to be fine. Either they packaged these before the paint was fully cured, or the paint itself is prone to rubbing. I always loved the way FansToys place thoe little sheets of clear plastic over their Dino's to prevent paint and chrome wearing.
It's also why I prefer companies that use that softer (i think it's expanded polypropeline or polyetheline or something like that?) style of foam packaging like Generation toys, and ToyWorld. It seems a lot more gentle on painted surfaces.

 

I agree, this is a very certain type of ugly lol, I can’t tell if it’s the character or this translation of him but gotdamn there must be some nostalgia stored up for this guy.
With that said, I understand this is my one and only to express my overt opines, so I shall exit, lest you not enjoy your toy and equally valid positive opinions to the fullest whilst respecting mine.
Good day!

 

I feel like I'm the only one here who genuinely liked Skids as a character and got this guy as more than a checkbox on a list. I loved his issue of the comic with Charlene and he kind of continued to be the main character for a few issues afterward. Then he just sort of disappeared. I was in the US so no, he didn't get transported to some dimension or whatever it was... actually, come to think of it, I was in Germany but on a US army base so I still got the US comics.

 

Let see what I can fix when I receive mine:

Month
Face color
Headlamp
Window frame

Currently I am a little regret that I have pre-order it before I saw the final product (test shot was great  ).

and somehow the shipment has been delayed so long.

 

I think it's a mix of ugly character and ugly execution?
The lower legs on Savant are undoutedly massive and awkward looking.
The character model does show the rear of the car on that part of the leg, but it's done with the usual Toon trickery of reduced/vaguely defined parts. Savant just literally has the back of the car hanging there.
The face is also just poorly executed all around. The mouth is part of it of course but it's also really narrow and drawn looking face, with wonky eyes and a bland feel - it's the MP Ironhide effect.
And things like the totally whacked out cat's eyes headlights and the oh-so basic plastic mitten hands. These are just disapointing to me, especially knowing XTB can and should do better.

What I will say is that, aside from the occasional reports of paint chipping, this guy is super solid and well put together. Lest we forget, two years ago, a thread about an XTB figure like this would be riddled with complaints about loose joints, flawed paint and fragile parts. As bad as things like the windshield tabs are, this guy continues the trend of XTB's super solid QC.

I'll be drawing in the mouth, (maybe stripping the face entirely and starting again) painting the headlights, installing articulated hands

 

Well you should at least be able to remove the overspray of paint on the forearm, with a bit of surgical spirit or something.

I liked him as well, but largely because of the toy and original tech specs (I had the toy for a long time before he cropped up in the comic). It was nice to see him get some attention (as well as that strange limbo thing in the UK which gave him a faceplate) but I never saw his toon appearances until DVD decades later.

I don't mind that personally, as I tend to prefer a bit of bulk below the knee on my figures, and again it reflects the G1 toy very nicely. For me the feet are what spoil his lower legs, sticking out too far, at a comically flat angle. I was disappointed to discover they were diecast, as I would have gladly chopped 1/3 off the length if they were plastic!

 

It honestly looks like the photo is blurred around the lip, but that's his actual lip.

 

I'm still waiting to find out whether there's an easy mod were an existing Takara face will fit on Skids. I don't care who's face.

Also wondering whether some silver paint on the back of the line that's the plug on the headlights would make the cats eyes less obvious.

Without those issues I'd have ordered this months ago.