I've been looking at all the previous pictures and i have a question. In jet mode can the head tilt forwards giving clearance for the robot hand to be closed? I saw in the original blocky hand they first showed that the head seemed to be at an angle. I just couldn't find any pictures showing it that way with the new hand.

 

The cavity space for the head fits the head precisely. Ergo; the position of the head in jetmode is as it is.

The original solid block hand must have been smaller to fit inbetween the arm and the protruding head.

Either way, as you can see in the transformation video... there is a tab slot at the bottom of the cavity. The inner palm of the hand features a tab/plug on a hinge; it tabs into that slot to fully secure the arm secure beneath the fuselage.

The (rightside) old solid block hands featured this tab as well.... it's just that this hand mold was smaller and of course more abstract looking.

Personally, I am not too disturbed about the current hand the way it is. The stretched out fingers which rest onto the head still look abstract enough to me, while retaining just enough articulation in robot mode to emote nice gestures ( if perceived in context of GHUG / CW line, not MP ).

Think about it .... with Sky Guardian here, we have a toy with a full transformation which goes from Skyfire accurate robot mode to jet mode - if one accepts its literal G1 toon interpretation - whereas the only other alternative, involves considerable partsforming, a gappy profile for its jetmode, a screwhole-riddled and plain obvious backplate on the jet mode, with sideways protruding flaps and a nose cone with a distinct and distracting square-shaped stairstepping effect. I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on this, because you will have both not-Skyfire's when you receive your Sky Guardian.

I think it's clear where my preference is...and thus I choose Sky Guardian, who pretty much nails all my main Skyfire criteria, except for a less than stellar facesculpt and two abstract looking hands sitting underneath, the otherwise accurate Skyfire jet mode.

I am thinking though, about unscrewing the head... and perhaps shapeways designing a new face sculpt. It's always nice to have extra options. Also, I just received some reprolabels ... still pondering about placement.

 

I watched the video provided on youtube but I cannot transform the elbows. The video shows the elbows being bent backwards in order to un-tab them to form jet mode. (3:28 in the video) I can not get them to un-tab and am scared to force the elbow joints backwards because I don’t want to break the figure. Please explain how to do this. I read the part of the review where you suggested using a flat head screwdriver to un-peg the mushroom peg, but I have no idea where to pry and apply pressure. Maybe you can post a couple pics of exactly where you wedged the screwdriver and in which direction you applied leverage. Im stumped on exactly how it opens and which part is keeping it from un-pegging properly. Please help. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi Rated X,

First of all, I discourage you from trying to pry those hinge joints loose.

You paid a considerable amount of money for this toy and you shouldn't
have to deal with a tolerance issue like this. The required force to untab those stuck tabs, is just too risky - despite the good plastic quality.

Please contact BBTS and ask them politely to have your Sky Guardian's arms
replaced.

Here is a pic of mine, properly transformed. As you can see, the hinge joints above the elbow are able to fold out. You may be able to spot where I shaved down the tabs.



The next picture shows where I wedged the screw driver, in order to untab the hinge joints ( red arrow ).



Again... you should not have to deal with this - I simply did it because of this review.

So, please .... simply contact BBTS and request replacement of the arms - they should be able to do this for you at zero charge ; especially because this issue makes
total transformation impossible. Emphasize that fact and ask them to test those hinge joints for you just to make sure they work as intended.

Dismounting and reassembly of the lower arms is done by unscrewing the shoulders. There are ratchet rings in there which need to face a particular orientation, but if you are carefull you should be able to easily reassemble replacement arms.

I will also post again on Mechaform's facebook page to address the issue with more emphasis. This particular issue is also one of the reasons why I subtracted one entire point of its
final review score.

I hope it all works out for you. Please let us know the upcoming progress.

 

It's extremely odd that this figure is getting a pass on so many things that people would rip into other company's designs for. Especially at this price point. The face is extremely bland and undetailed, the hand just being there on the undercarriage, the odd preportions between the chest and hips, the gaps at the hips and how thin they are, the hollow thighs, the gap between the chest area and the legs in jet mode. That's just aesthetics, I have no idea on build quality.

These are things that jump out at me since people keep claiming G1 accuracy and pulling it off. So far no one has pulled it off at any scale and this is strictly another interpretation. Are people just that desperate for a CHUG scaled Skyfire that they have to rationalize all these issues as acceptable? I feel bad for the CHUG community if so. Acceptable on a $50 toy, yes....$170 toy, absolutely positively no.

 

The proportions chest & hips are good imo, as I stated in my review and as shown in comparison pics to the G1 toon. You may state that you don't like the proportions but they're certainly not incorrect.

I think your preference is moreso towards the chiseled modern comic book proportions, hence you don't like this literal G1 interpretation.

The hands are totally OK. It's a CHUG/CW scaled figure afteral. CHUG 2014 jetfire has NO articulated hands nor a wrist swivel. Sky Guardian is not MP, and thus gets a total pass from me, for not having MP style articulated hands. And as.... I explained in my review. The positioning of the hands in jetmode is for a good reason ; which enables the spot on fuselage proportions of the jet, which is a major priority imo.
The face... yeah... it's not great. The overal helmet/head sculpt is good though.

So.... the ONLY real technical issue here is the tolerance problem on those hinge joints just above the elbows. Backstop's ( and Eriku Rewind's replacement ) Sky Guardian apparently has no issues at all, so it kind of varies in the production run.

The price. Yeah, I can understand those complaints entirely. Then again, I like most things about Sky Guardian enough to warrant the purchase. If my review doesn't change your mind, then it is clearly not for you.

 

I don't read the comics and haven't read a Transformers comic since The Marvel G2 run so I have no clue what Skyfire currently looks like. I'm basing my thoughts strictly on the Sunbow animation and heavily reference what I see in your own side by side image of the toy's upper body and the cartoon's image. The toy's torso is too long and the hips are too wide apart (or too sparse and need to be filled in) and the chest's angles are wrong. You make excuses that it's needed for the transformation and accept it. Again, fine for a $50 3rd party piece but not one almost 4 times that cost. This just doesn't nail it in my eyes and I'm not blinded by my love of the character or my absolute desperation for a CHUG representation that I'm willing to see past it's huge faults expounded by the outrageous price.

 

No they are not wrong.

The cartoon features shots with a shitload of animation inconsistencies.

However, in a lot of key shots, the black vents on his chest should be alligned in a straight-horizontal orientation : Sky Guardian nails this.

The upper part of Skyfire's chest slants downwards to his rounded shoulders ; again, Sky Guardian nails this correctly.

The cartoon also cheats with a lot of perspective warping and filling out gaps with simple white color.

The width of the hips is a matter of taste. It's like the proportional difference between MP-01 and MP-10. The hips on MP-01 seem narrow compared to MP-10's hips. And Sky Guardian is more alike MP-10 in that regard. I like it you hate it. Simple.

Now... I am done with you and need no further justification for my purchase.

 

Can the hand fit as a closed fist, if you turn his head around?
Looking at the below picture from your review, it looks like there could be more clearance if it were spun around.

 

The space is simply too small. The fingers are modeled as individual fingers, but fused together in a slight offset stance per finger. Ergo, they rotate together and since they follow the position of each other they can not angle inward enough to fit into that really tiny gap.

 

I will be in thailand next week when my one arrives so i will have to be patient for a bit longer. Looking at that gap in front of the head in jet mode it just looks like the head has clearance to tilt on an angle while inside the cavity. Sorry for pestering you   that squared off hole looks like it is cut away to accommodate the square section on the back of the head.

I guess i will be able to experiment when i get it. I suppose it could just be a reminant from the previous head design but i want that hand to be able to close in jet mode.

Reading the review is making me want to buy another one but i am stopping myself ( too poor now ). I see that bbts only has 2 in stock. Where else is this thing on sale?

 

The rectangular slot hole in front of the head cavity is only there to tab in the protruding tab mechanism of the right hand. In other words, it's a dedicated slot to really secure the front arm under the jet fuselage - hence I rightfully stated in my review that you can really swoosh this Sky Guardian jet around without having to worry about parts coming loose and such.

Every tab/slot is well thought out by Mechaform.

The only real complaints are; the face sculpt which compares poor to the overal figure (but still tolerable), the price and the risk of tolerance problems on those hinge joints just above the elbows.

Everything else about Sky Guardian is really nice imo.

 

if anyone wants a Sky guardian for much less the BBTS price PM me and I can fill you in.

 

Thanks for the tip. It's very tempting to get anothee one for altmode display, although i really need to watch my budget.

Will think about it......

 

Hooooooooly crap, that was terrifying. Did a small pry with the screwdriver and used a lot of force on the arms to get that hinge to open. Guess I'll be sanding down those tabs before I transform him back to robot mode. Great video, wouldn't have figured out the transformation otherwise. I still agree this is will be a good figure with a few minor mods. The fact that I haven't broken anything yet despite not being exactly gentle tells me the plastic is at least decent. And for some reason, I am impressed with the design and transformation.

 

It looks like he's scratching his head in jet mode.