So far everything has been quite positive about this guy, but if you remember that far back I did mention a 'no' somewhere... what was that about?

Well... QC on this guy is bad. Not Hasbro bad, but third party bad. This was what was wrong with mine...

i) Arcana's head is held too tightly by Brainstorms torso.
ii) Arcana (and thus Brainstorms) head is very very loose. Bobblehead loose.
iii) Arcana's head appears fractionally too large, so the release mechanism doesn't actually ever release the head.
iv) Arcana's own head is made from 3 pieces, the head (with an odd step moulded in, a metal pin and ball joint. My 'step' bit was mismoulded so it couldn't line up properly with the corresponding grooves in the ball joint, so the pin was never properly inserted.
v) Arcana's own little head got ripped off because of the three previous problems.
vi) His tech spec meter didn't hold as a seat on mine. It looked like the 'hook' that held it in place was mismoulded.

So basically all my problems are centred around the actual Headmaster gimmick. Doh! In the end I had to spend a bit of time with this fella to fix it all.

i) Filed down Arcana's heads ears, a fraction from each side.
ii) Applied glue to tighten Arcana's neck joint.
iii) Filed down a fraction from the back of Arcana's head, so it's easier to release from Brainstorms neck.
iv and v) Filed down the step in Arcana's neck, applied superglue to glue the three pieces together securely.
vi) Filed away a bit of mould flash/mismould from the hook that holds the seat in place. Had to do it in situ, because Brainstorms torso has three pins securing it as well as screws, and I hate pins.

Lastly when you get yours make sure you press down the grey switch at the top of his torso to release the head. Once depressed it's meant to move a hook out from the back of Arcana's head making allowing removal, but in my case that didn't happen.

So essentially this guy turned out to be a Third party experience, needed a bunch of fixes out of the box but once done he's a solid figure.

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Peaugh showed how to remove the head if it is stuck or pushed down to far, you basically pull on it towards you using a curving motion, while remembering where the tab is hooked in.

I never expected that we would get a modernized Brainstorm let alone a new Headmaster. I love the more aggressive space fighter look. The tech spec gimmick thought not implemented as well as it could've been, is a nice touch. The head sculpt is awesome.

 

Well, I did that too. Not just the switch on mine, the moment the head was attached the release switch was completely forced forward, so there was no movement for release. Basically Arcana's head appeared a fraction too wide and long on mine.

How did you manage to do that?

 

Oh, so you had to knock the three pins out, then unscrew? Nah, I'm not gonna do that I don't think. I dislike knocking out pins, even though I've got all the gear to do it. Hrm.

 

If you tighten the screw on the headmaster the neck joint tightens up quite well, at least on mine. Mine has no bobblehead after that.

I want to stress, mine is a tight fit but it does (and out of the package) worked as intended. I think the design is probably more complicated then it needed to be, particularly with the lock system. Friction worked for the G1 toy and I think it would have continued to work well here. This also would have worked better if the head hole wasn't deeper then it needed to be.


As for the peg;

This, I said from the beginning I think the biggest offender is the fact that the neck piece is the same blue as the rest of him and they painted it grey (including the inside where the head fits). I think the added paint makes that fit just too tight for comfort. I may do the same with mine actually and see if that makes it a looser fit.

Honestly the peg is probably unnecessary really. I get the intent, its to secure the head in place but the fact is its so tight already with friction I think its unnecessary. I am fairly confident if folks just shaved the down the back of Arcanas head it would continue to fit essentially the same, more than likely better.

Tighten the screw people. Mine is solid as a rock after that. I truly believe its just a tolerance issue. Might disassemble and put the head back together in case anything is not lining up right for those that it doesnt immediately work for.

You can always take the screw of Arcana out and disassemble the body. That way you can be rougher with it without risking breaking the neck.

 

I decided to use a little pledge instead of tightening the screw. I no longer have the bobbleheaded brainstorm. I also used pledge on the wrist area. It's far tighter than it was out of box.

Oh, I forgot to mention. I took a little rubbing alcohol to the docking neck area of the figure. It really helped with being able to put in and pull out the figure.

 

The headmaster head isn't loose. It is firm and takes some pressure to move the head.

 

For those of you with broken headmasters, there is a very easy fix I found. If the head separates, use something like a pin, sliding it into the small empty spot on the back of the head to lever it out. Once that is done, supper glue the head back on to the body (but only put the glue on the headmaster's head, not the body, so he can still use his ball joint) then very carefully shave down the left and right sides of his head slightly. If you shave down too far, don't worry, just apply clear nail polish to the head, and he'll be fine! It worked perfectly for mine, and I'm certain it will for others! Should I post pictures of the process?

 

Well mine arrived Fri. Of course it had the limp wrists (both actually). That was an easy fix, just poped the pins out, applied future to all related surfaces and voila, good to go. Now the "neck joint" I am not sure about. The head sits in nice and tight but I feel that the catch that is supposed to hold it in place isn't really doing anything and that its being held in by friction. When I push the release the hook barley moves. (any thoughts?)

 

Many have said the issue with Brainstorm is the mechanism. This is wrong. The issues is the neck socket gripping Arcana's ears too tightly.
Check the image below. If you use a razor blade to shave the neck socket at the areas indicated it will pop in and out with no problem. However you have to be careful not to shave too much.

Nope. Just an Xacto knife and you're golden.

 

So I decided to try and scrap out some of the plastic on the side where Arcana's head plugs into Brainstorm's body to reduce the amount of pressure necessary to remove the head and I think I discovered part of the issue.

The "grey" plastic in not actually grey, blue plastic that has been painted. (See the circled area in the attached pic.) I think that the extra thickness from the paint was not accounted for between the prototypes and the final production release and this causes some of the issues with the raised discs on the side of Arcana's head clearing the channels on the connector. After scrapping off this paint, the head slides in and out a lot easier.

The release mechanism is still crap and the ball joint in the neck needs a touch of Future finish. I'm also not sure why they bothered with the ankle tilt since it barely moves 10 degrees in either direction.

That said, he is nice and solid and doesn't feel like he has suffered much from the downsizing of the recent figures.

TL;DR Scrap off the paint from the spot circled in the picture.

 

I removed some of the paint with alcohol after GoLion mentioned it in this thread last month and it does work well.
Rubbing alcohol will do a cleaner job than scraping, but both will get the desired effect.

 

I found this out to last night. What I think it wierd is that the head is pretty much still held in place by friction... The small "clip" that is there really serves no purpose..

 

Got mine in today, and did just that. Actually, I took a small jewelers screwdriver and pried Arcana out before I did anything. Then I shaved down the paint in those spots from your post, and also shaved down a little off the back of Arcana's head. The whole thing fits just right now, and works well.

I would also agree about the paint on Arcana's legs, as soon as I get my bottle of Future out, I'm coating that paint to keep it from chipping further.

As a whole, the bot mode is nice. Thankfully I don't have any loose wrists on mine, and thankfully everyone's reviews were helpful enough to prevent mistakes. But the alt mode is just kind of there. If you're a Starfox fan, you're gonna love the alt mode. But it just seems like he's a wadded up robot with a nose and wings. I think in bot mode he's excellent, but in alt, Smart Robin does it better.

There's nothing truly special about the transformation, hes just a modern take on the G1 figure. He feels underwhelming due to how light he is, but there are at least panels to give bulk to the legs and arms. The flip out tech spec is a nice nostalgia touch.

Is he worth it? If this is the version of this character you want, then that's two yups up. If your wallet is having an Ultra Magnus moment, then that's also a yup. If you got him on HTS discount, then yup! But if you want a more satisfying transformation and alt mode (and a little more articulation with the headmaster), even with the smaller size, then Smart Robin would be a better save for it figure.

 

Just be careful with the head, and you'll be fine. If the head doesnt come right out, which it likely wont, do Peaugh's method of removing it where you tilt the head as if its looking down, and pull that way. If it's still not coming out, youre gonna have to use something to pry it out. But once everything is fixed (and all of the issues with him are in fact easily fixed), he's one hell of an awesome dude.

 

I didn't read the whole tread, didn't realize the neck port was painted grey. Mine was painted so nice I thought it just grey plastic. That's the problem though, the paint was so thick it changed the dimensions of the part causing Arcana's head to get stuck.

So I just took a sanding stick and rounded the edges of the place that grabs Arcana's ears. At the top I sanded down so it slopes in like a ramp. Now it works perfectly, Arcana's head goes in smooth with no play once in, yet it's easy too take out (that's what she said).

Seems like I have to fix/modify every toy I get now days and it's not just Hasbro. I spent like two hours trying to fix the Neca Hong Kong brawl Gipsy Danger. Goddamn what piece of crap QC!