I'm monstrously conflicted

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by zappatton2, Dec 11, 2012.

  1. zappatton2

    zappatton2 Well-Known Member

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    Lately I've been picking up vintage G1's to flesh out my childhood collection (they are more fun to fiddle with than MPs IMO), and I had a bunch of Pretender Monsters, and having always wanted to complete Monstructor, I've been thinking of picking up the guys I never had.

    HOWEVER... they are both notorious GPS sufferers. Despite owning many tfs from that era, I've never owned one that had GPS, I'm wondering if it's worth shelling out the big bucks, trying to assemble Monstructor, and have him crumble before my eyes.

    Of anyone here who owns Monstructor, how gingerly should he be treated? Do you keep him in combined form, or is it too risky? I'm really on the fence as to whether I should buy these guys, are they going to crumble if I look at them funny, or is there a reasonable amount of care I can take before they die painfully? I did a thread search, and I see people do have them combined, are they still in good form? Has anyone had Monstructor turn to dust when combining him?
     
  2. RedAlert Rescue

    RedAlert Rescue Banned

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    Mines still intact can't say the same about my Skyhammer mind you.
     
  3. alldarker

    alldarker M.A.S.K. Crusader

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    I recently bit the bullet and bought a complete Monstructor, for a relatively good price.

    When I recieved it, I found out that Slog already had a crack through his gold plastic legs. Brisleback was undamaged, although he seemed very tight in the legs. It seems the gold plastic legs of both Bristleback and Slog are especially prone to splitting, due to the way they both transform and the forces their gold parts need to endure while transforming (passing over tabs).
    For that reason, I have never yet transformed Bristleback from his alt mode to his robot mode (Slog has split legs, but still looks good), and I have also never yet combined them all to Monstructor.

    What I have done, is actually buy ANOTHER undamaged Slog and Bristleback, which I will most probably never transform at all. Sad, I know. But at least it gives me the option to one day transform my first Bristleback and to combine all of them for one all important photo-session.

    I'd advise anyone who owns Monstructor to treat him VERY gingerly indeed, and only assemble him once, if even that. However, the other four Monster Pretenders are pretty nice, as are all the shells, which are literally (surprisingly heavy!) solid bricks. If you like their look, they ARE worth it.
     
  4. Strife

    Strife Well-Known Member

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    If you go slow and be careful, it should be okay. The Monstructor pieces are pretty simple, even for G1 and the only two that suffer from GPS (as far as I know) are Slog and Bristleback.

    With Slog (the core of Monstructor), just make sure he doesn't fall on his chest and don't fiddle with the shoulder joint much. Be very deliberative when moving his arms. The weakest part of Slog is his robot mode legs which are stowed behind his body's "back" in combiner mode. Consequently non-GPS suffering parts become load bearing. She should generally be okay.

    The bad one is Bristleback, mostly due to his rear legs. These things break and split all the time. I'd very carefully transform them into position for him to be the arm and then VERY CAREFULLY attach the hand. The parts that break with him typically are the "ring" along the rear legs and the very middle of the solid "food" (almost down the middle). I've never seen front legs / robot mode arms be weak.

    He won't break while just looking at it, but i'd inspect it very carefully before transforming it for any stress marks. And hell, it might even be worth getting a junk one in an ebay lot. I know he's expensive due to his GPS, but boy, is he a crappy TF.
     
  5. zephon

    zephon Well-Known Member

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    Oh, and don't try to peg weapons in the fists/hands of those with GPS. That's a sure way of making their fist crack....
     
  6. zappatton2

    zappatton2 Well-Known Member

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    All very good advice, thank you! I'm still mulling it over, I should probably save my money, as I'll need it for Christmas shopping and such, but I'm still going to think about this. Has anyone ever tried some kind of epoxy to apply to GPS figures to harden them a bit? Even like glue painted onto gold plastic in a thin layer with a paintbrush or something, surely some sort of hardening agent might help?
     
  7. Tripredacus

    Tripredacus K-Mart-ian Legend

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    I've had Slog for almost ten years now. His leg exploded on me while moving some things around about a month ago. It really sucks!
     
  8. Aernaroth

    Aernaroth <b><font color=blue>I voted for Super_Megatron and Veteran

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    There's a monstructor knockoff, but he's oversized. Gussy him up with some new paint, maybe that'll be enough to scratch the itch?