FansProject CA-10 T-Bone, aka Wildrider. Let’s get the elephant in the room over with, yes T-Bone is a small deluxe, barely scraping over scout size and for a guy his size yes $60 seems like a lot. On his own perhaps his price is a bit much but when you consider his cost is meant to shoulder a portion of the lowered price of the eventual largest and most complex member of his gestalt team it makes a little more sense. T-Bone is a very faithful recreation of Stunticon Wildrider and while he has a more G1-toy head sculpt and less a G1-cartoon, as someone who doesn’t need every minute detail of a character accurate to warrant owning them it doesn’t bother me. The head nubs he had in the show would get in the way of transformation anyway. In robot mode he is impressively posable despite his size with all the good swivel and ball joints we come to expect from the best of the best TF’s. He has some fantastic detailing, excellent paint work and an overall look that I just really like a lot. I’ve always had a soft spot for angular characters with plenty of (literally) sharp design and I feel this aesthetic fits Wildrider like a glove. Many have said they find his car mode unappealing, I’m not sure why personally as I think it’s by far the best looking of the four FP Stunticons we’ve seen but there you go, subjective opinions at their best. He does indeed remind me of Nolan Batman’s Tumbler though. Now with all those positives out the way let’s get on with the negatives. He can’t roll, there is indeed a clearance issue regarding his torso in car mode. The most centre point of his chest scrapes the ground just enough that it stops the wheels from being able to turn freely due to them not being the sole point of traction. Apparently if you keep his various panels slightly angled and slightly separated at just the right points this can be overcome but I neither want to do that nor have my attempts resulted in this actually working. I am strangely enough willing to overlook this completely. I understand that transformers are always about compromise and if a vehicle mode that can’t roll was the cost of getting a figure that otherwise looks, poses, stands and feels this good despite its size then I am content. I tend to not “play” with my TFs much so much as just enjoy the simple act of transforming them and posing them so I value these elements over things like functioning wheels. More to the point when I have all five members I will be keeping them combined most of the time anyway. This doesn’t change the fact this is indeed a flaw and one that certainly leads to this figures price and individual purchase feeling a little dissatisfying for some but like I said, I’m personally fine with it. The only other key thing to point out that could be viewed as an issue of sorts (which is shared by his mold-brother Car Crash) is the very dangerous feeling knee joints you must move for transformation. You have to apply enough pressure on the panels above and below his knee that they are stretched apart to allow the knee mechanisms tab to release so the knee joint can rotate and lock elsewhere for either mode. Luckily the plastic feels as if it were designed to both endure this and not get weaker from the process but only time will tell if this holds true. Going from car to robot is less stressful but tabbing the legs together between the swivelling inner shin panels, the knee mechanism, the hood flaps and the swivelling wheels. It all feels a little over engineered to the point perhaps some other simpler yet more effective design would have been better. Presumably the only reason the legs were done like this is to allow these shin bots to also function as arms in combined mode. Some simple care and patience is all that is required ultimately to deal with this aspect but even so it remains discomforting for anyone use to having less worry with Transformations. In the end T-bone is another fine example of FansProjects talented and hard-working staff (but they sure do need better communication) and as he is the first member of the five I am to own he has me that much more excited to complete this set. Highly recommended.
I just got him today as well as "Breakdown" and really like them both! The small size and excellent articulation makes me think of them as little ninjas
I really, really hate the feet on that one. The interference with the lower legs is incredibly annoying.
the more I fiddle with them the less I mind the $60.... How many figures this size can do this? Brothers on the run - YouTube
well. for a car transformer i really think he needs to roll.. so its no really a excuse for him not to roll.. but that is my opinion
Yes it's incredibly common so I suspect its a base engineering flaw. Not a matter of QC so much as design.
sure they can fly. just throw them xD about the boats.. well thats something tricky i will check t-bone this week when i have him
Is the tab thats on T-bone's left leg is what hindering his car mode from rolling? I'm debating on shaving it down to see.
That ridge also ruins the best (only) spot to put an insignia sticker! They could have solved several problems by just making that spot flat.
it helps his legs combine, i would imagine. for arm mode. There's a slot in his right leg. Don't shave it. EDIT: Yup, arm mode. you have to flip the wheels out of the way, and turn the legs to each other. the shins and the feet tab into each other. How about you don't cripple the arm mode just so you can go "vroom vroom"...just my 2¢
Has anyone tried a hood insignia on this guy? I've been considering many options, none of which seem right. I'm thinking I'm going to have to cut one in half, and have it straddle a transformation joint, just to be able to fit one large enough to "look right". His "accent color part of the hood" seems quite a bit narrower than Car Crash's. I'll have to have the insignia over both the silver and dark grey part of the hood---like the Takara Henkei Prime Wildrider. I might even angle it that way too (but probably not). Leaning towards a silver background sticker, maybe white. (clear is just not going to work over multiple dark colors) I had considered going with chrome-backed stickers for all the Stunticons (cars=chrome!) but IMHO every chrome-backed sticker is just TOO reflective--you can only really see the insignia in like indirect light at low angles. Chrome outline symbols---I am DEFINITELY going to use them for Motormaster. Wildrider might be good too, as he's also very dark. But I do kind of want to "limit" them to MM, to indicate his leader status, etc.
In case anyone cares, after trying just about every type and size of insignia in every location to see how they looked, I ended up going with a fairly large clear-backed one, right down the front-center of the hood. Sliced in half. The front-center halves of the hood peg together tightly and pefectly flush---placing a cut-apart insignia off-center like G1 doesn't work as the front-center and front-outer halves are at slightly different heights, and don't peg together as tightly either. Also went with a clear-backed insignia on his chest, high/center. We'll see how well it adheres over time, while bent across the ridge.
does anyone have an issue getting the barrel part of the gun to store in car mode? The handle stores fine for me but the barrel constantly seems to hit the chest piece and will not secure underneath. Everything *seems* transformed correctly and tabbed in but maybe I'm doing something wrong. Just curious if anyone else has encountered this .. thanks!
Maybe I'll be able to help... I'm going to order this guy soon, and maybe I'll look for a way to get around the whole "rolling" thing. Unfortunately, I don't have the same excuse for the high price: he will NEVER be combined. Why? Because I probably won't get them all, one reason being the production run is over and every single copy of "Dragstrip" is sold out. I wonder, why him... ? but by the time I save up for "Motormaster", I'm sure he'll be gone. It would be pointless anyway because of the previous issue (no Dragstrip), and there's only nine left for "Dead End". I'm mostly just trying these guys out because I found "Wildrider" on sale for $40, but if anyone hears about a second run let me know. Wow, I typed WAY too much... Ah well, what's the point of life if you can't complain? XD
