Oh my, no quite the opposite.

In this particular case, there are so many parts in the legs/ankle assembly that could get bogged down in Future, that you need to be reaaaaaal careful applying it to JUST to ankle joints. (that sliding shin plate for example, you DON'T want any Future to seep in there)

 

Yeah but would that work with a hole as tiny as the one at the back of the head?

 

Good to know, thank you!

 

Rubber bands are stretchy and cuttable. You can figure a way to get it in there  

 

Well, there's always the tool route... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JCT3W0

 

That's great to know, thanks dude.

 

Is there a trick to get the backpac to tab in vehicle mode? I don't seem to get it...

 

I dunno, it was a bitch to undo, but getting back into car is kind of a struggle

 

It appears as if the hippieces don't fit in their cavities in the backpack

 

Oh yeah for the heads, I just removed the screws from all the heads and simply use the heads as snap together. They're already sturdy and tight so changing out the screws is annoying and a waste.

Also got the backpack to fit on truck mode again. It's just a mater of wiggling the leg extensions and making sure the white sections are straight and extended all the way, plus flipping down his crotch armor.

 

After struggling with and finally mastering Terraegis, I was hoping that Artifex would be, if not good, at least made tolerable knowing most of the pain points going in.

My first impressions are: out of the box, my sample has a couple bits that are better than Terraegis, but almost all the mold changes are for the worse.

I've been meaning to put up a long, detailed explanation of all the crap I went through to figure out Terraegis, but I haven't had time to finish it. (Spoiler: the big problems with Terraegis/Artifex aren't manufacturing issues, they're design failures.) So the best I can offer right now is a quick list of differences between the figures:

- One of the big problems with Terraegis is the presence of a super loose pin joint in the spine, which makes it very difficult to get the thighs into truck mode (as the hip ratchets are always tighter than the pin joint). The pin joint is no longer loose on my Artifex ... in fact, it doesn't move at all, and there appears to be plastic flashing wedged under it, which puts Artifex in a permanently crouched forward position.

I always thought the pin joint was terrible design and should've never been there, so I'll take this defect as a positive.

- The arm kibble appears to have been designed as an afterthought. In robot mode, the pegs that hold the shoulders together in truck mode interfere with the ribs on the kibble, forcing it to bow out back. I don't understand why there isn't a hole for those pegs to go into; it's such an obvious thing. In truck mode, you have to line the panels up *exactly* with the arms (and probably other parts) for them to collapse in completely; mine shipped with the panels having a giant gap between the bottom of the grill and the top edge of the kibble panels, because they weren't transformed properly before packing.

On the plus side: when done properly, they hide the fists way better than Terraegis.

- The runners don't tuck and secure firmly into the rear leg panels on mine. I'm not sure why, and I'm assuming that this is a matter of bad QC and tolerances. Given the reports of runner breakage, I'm not going to force them until the panels get loose enough that I need to.

- The new backpack is a whole new ball of misery. Where the rear cab on Terraegis had to be secured on the sides and then tabbed down in the back, this guy has to come all the way down and tab in the back first before securing the sides. As others have reported, there appear to be clearance issues even when the legs are transformed properly, because getting it down all the way down is difficult, and there's no easy way to tell why because I can't see through plastic. On the up side: having a tow truck back makes the presence of a gap between the front cab and rear a lot less noticeable (vs. being a real eye sore on Terraegis).

- The collapsible thighs ... don't, at least not all the way. This might partly be an optical illusion, as the yellow molding makes the resulting gap stand out a lot more vs. the black molding on Terraegis. Nevertheless, close inspection shows that they're not molded to collapse all the way, leaving a pretty wide gap.

- On the other hand, the legs seem to be easier to deal with vs Terraegis. The joints are less stiff, and the kneecaps seem to clear the windows a little easier (though they still touch, which means eventual paint loss). The ankles and feet are thankfully not loose out of box (though they'll probably quickly go loose like with Terraegis).

- The rear wheel die cast flaps are still hanging on a plastic garbage assembly, and will definitely go loose over time. (One of mine is already semi-loose out of box.) Meaning: the flaps will bow out in truck mode, taking the rear tires with them. This has already happened on my Terraegis. They can't be fixed because they aren't on pin joints; they're using snap-in plastic tabs which don't generate enough friction to hold them in place, and the tab that goes into them is tiny and useless (not to mention soft plastic tabbing into hard metal is always a recipe for wear and tear).

To be clear: no part of that assembly should have been die cast, because the extra weight makes the whole thing more fragile and prone to excessive wear. But even if the whole thing was plastic, the basic design makes for loose rear wheels.

- I've thought for a while that the base figures seem to have been designed first ... and then someone remembered they needed accessories, and panicked. The way the accessories mount, the way they (don't) store in alt mode ... it all feels like a last minute thing. The arms on this guy don't do anything to dispel that impression . The fist/accessory mechanism is ridiculous, and that plastic notch panel is probably going to fall out and get lost. The arms are floppy, difficult to expand, and (too) easy to collapse. At least you don't have to pull the fists out by their fingers.

- You can try to not have the chest narrowed at the waist ... but you'll probably fail, as those panels are loose, and will tend to collapse inward whenever you mess with the arms.

- Overall construction and QC feels sloppy, like with Terraegis. The screw on the default head was in so tight that I stripped the head getting it out.

The one thing Terraegis had going for him was his looks, and I'm not convinced that applies to Artifex. As others have said, this mold is more Trailbreaker than Hoist, and most of the mold changes make him harder to transform (and Terraegis was already a pain). If you haven't gone all in on this or BC yet, you're probably better off waiting for the next attempt.

-XCN-

EDIT: Yellow, damnit. The inner molding is yellow.

 

Regarding the backpack: I made an assumption that, since the figure was new, and the spine pin wasn't moving, that I could get away with simply rotating the legs into place in alt mode. As it turns out, that's not the case: even if you get the legs in, the hips are (almost) always one click off.

So you have to do the same trick on this guy that I do with Terraegis: use your thumb and forefinger, and pull the crotch upwards until it's perfectly straight with the spine, and the hips rotate and click into place. Once the hips are fixed, the backpack shouldn't be an issue.

-XCN-

 

After seeing reviews for both the BC and OX versions of both Trailbreaker and Hoist, I was sure that I'd prefer the OX versions of each. I preferred the legs on the OX versions (the BC knees are a little weird...actually, a LOT weird), and the flipper like hands on the BC versions was kind of a strange choice for finger articulation. Turns out that even with those issues and the complex transformation, I actually prefer the BC versions of both more than the OX ones, especially Hoist. The way BC made their two figures extremely different was done so much better (the lower hood placement on Hoist, as well as shorter thighs and shins). I also prefer the choice of metallic paint over chrome, which surprised me, since I like chrome. Maybe in this instance it's too much of a contrast with Trailbreaker's unpainted gray arms and legs?
So, now that these guys have been released, where is their entry in the Jazz wars? As much as I'm liking the Maketoys version, I wouldn't mind a reveal from MMC/OX.

 

Love both Artifex and Terraegis. Oddly I have no QC issues that I can see. However, I got my order from thechosenprime.com and in the box was missing the two hammers. Put aside the fact that without receiving all the accessories you aren't getting what you pay for, the hammers have a connector to let other things connect to the arm so I am out on that too. Sent chosen prime a message to see if and how they will help. Should be simply mailing two small hammers out which, even though it is to Australia, should not cost much for them. Anyone else missing accessories from these packages?

 

If he can't help you, I can mail you one of the hammers. Don't know why one would need two.

 

I suppose making 2 hammers and missiles was easier for production somehow. I would've preferred one set being chrome and the other set being non chromed though, since the chrome looks like shit on MPs.

 

Love both of mine as well. Had Badcube's Lorry briefly and couldn't get rid of it fast enough to buy Artifex. That said, my Artifex IS missing the little adapter that allows you to make one hand into the "gun." Waiting to see if Hany at Agabyss can get me one...

 

And today I learned of the existence of the Robertson screw.

 

was the adapter missing oe the whole hammer?

 

does not compute...