TE-01 still looks really rad and like a lot of people I'm softening on the head sculpt I once hated. I already have the Magic Square Prime on the way and Takara's 3.0 on pre-order but Transform Elements looks good enough that I may just have to buy it to fiddle around with even if I don't have a good place to display it.

 

^ It’s well worth owning both MS and TE. The head sculpt, which I hated in pics and which almost made me pass on the figure, is actually pretty decent. The white face just makes it look worse.

 

Lets keep it on topic guys and not derail the whole thing  

 

Yes. Along with every other Prime head I could get my hands on:

Tigerblade's Lab

Edit -




I like it personally but others seem mortally offended. I think iGear Faith Leader would ultimately be the best though, sadly I don't own it anymore (yes it looks big enough)

 

did you do the hip joint mod on yours...he does seem to be able to do just the right amount of thrust.

 

Nope. Hips are stock.

 

I'm waiting to get him with the new head sculpt, as my actual display Prime. As for MP44, I just can't justify 450.00 for him. I'll take a KO or a retooled version, which will be 3/4 cheaper, and without a trailer. There will also be trailer KOs no doubt for 100 bucks or less, which again would be still less then half or right half or a bit over, it's more likely the way I'd go. Because if I get MP44. I would feel awfully silly taking him out of the box. Paying 450.00. Most Hot Toys action figures are still under that price. God forbid you drop MP44..could you imagine the anguish!? Not for me. I buy him. He's staying mint in box. I'll still get TE01, TE01 Metallic if they do him, TE01 G1 toy version with that head sculpt and yellow eyes, or a Nemesis Prime ver, or even a Magnus color scheme, or Diaclone. I'd buy all those and open every single one. But if I'm gonna get the official, I'd be terrified of putting him on display. I'd get him just to get him.

But if I wanted him as my display piece, I would go KO. However, with this TE aesthetic, I get more of the Sunbow, Animation, and 86 movie vibe given his new head sculpt, and even with the original I'm softer on it by seeing it as the 3rd season rebirth and so on. Because he did look like that during that era. But the movie ver Iron Star is doing is great.

Just wish we had some new pics already...seriously the wait is killing me.

 

Is there a tutorial on the "hip joint mod?" I've seen it mentioned more than once yet I've not seen anything about how it's been done...

 

There is... But it's many pages back... Not sure howh many. It's also fairly intensive and it involves making permanent changes that are irreversable.

 

I preordered MP44 and I begin to start thinking that way. In my eyes, TE is an perfect G1 Optimus Prime. Especially now that I hav a trailer. I might actually cancel my preorder now as I may feel weird once I got him and think of how much money I have put into him.

 

Well I genuinely hope my statements didn't make an impact. I am perfectly fine with anyone who does get him, I just don't see wanting to take him out of the box at 450.00. And the point of this collection I think TT lost perspective on is that these are to be masterpiece but at a reasonable price, so the collection can be completed at some point. 40-250.00 with an average range of 60-125.00, respectfully is good enough, which is why 3rd party is so popular. they get that that factor somehow has been lost in all this fervor of figures. at 450.00, it's not a display figure and something you could handle, pose and thats really the point of collecting and the fun. It's cost is enough to make you feel like it's worth it, and it's play-ability is tied to the fact that it wasn't too expensive to enjoy. At this point MP44 is just a glorified status symbol when you think about it. I didn't get into collecting these MP's for status, I got into it for one basic reason. I want a complete season 1 crew, with some of my favs from season 2, and the movie cast of new autobots on my shelf. beyond that, pick and choose. I also want a definitive Movie MPM style collection on another shelf. That's my goal, and looking for a replacement that will stand the test of time, even when TT releases yet another OP down the road, thereby stretching out it's MP line because they know sometime in the future they will run out of characters. So redo prime every now and then and Megatron is a good strategy to re-invigorate it's sales to new fans. They know we originals won't be around for ever.
But they forget half of us are in our mid 30s the other half early to mid forties, so the demigraphic isn't as old as they probably believe, in this genre, the upper hand and understanding of the market is definitely in the 3P court. But TT sets the standard, there's no doubt.
BUT....

TE comes along and this right here gives me hope that they could be a good alternative to getting sunbow esque and original cartoon looking MPs that are just as fantastic and if not better then the official line product. I feel this TE is the best of the best, and with some minor differences in their prime from the animation, mostly the figure is dead on.


Now, for a test for those who say TE isn't as poseable.. Can anyone show if this pose is possible with TE?? If so, I rest my case about how he is poseable to the cartoon. I don't remember prime with ab crunch in the show, just drawn hunching down unnaturally for metal parts to move.. silly comparison, but for the most part, I contend that the Optimus in the TV cartoon show, moved like TE is built. even missing the thigh swivel. Let's see...
Can TE01 pull this pose off?

 

I was curious about the mod as well, so I found the post, which then lead to a facebook post detailing the mod.

Basically they sanded the teeth down on the ratchets, then machined a custom nylon washer and inserted it into the joint to make up for the gap created when removing the teeth. Leaving you with a spring assisted friction joint.

Here is a link to the Facebook Hip Joint Mod Tutorial.

 

Thanks!!!

 

Thank you good sir, that does look pretty good. I only have one of the two Daca heads and it probably won’t matter since I’ve got the second batch preorder but it’s good to have options.

 

Methinks someone needs to browse through the last 50 pages. Plenty of examples of dynamic posing.

 

Are you are unfamiliar with buying from import shops and just buy domestically or something? Nobody ever pays full price for imports. Notably HobbylinkJapan and AmiAmi always have a good discount on ALL import items and Amazon Japan (my choice in this instance) had an even heavier discount. I'm paying a little over $300 for it (including shipping) which while high is within the range I expect for high end stuff these days. A lot of high end figures either hit or go over $300 at this point anyway like TheeA, Bandai's Chogokin line. Heck, any Hot Toys figure that has a unique body is $300 minimum (moreso if theres DieCast). Its a whole lot o' money but thats the reality of collecting these days. High end collecting has never been a hobby for people without significant expendable income.

 

I very quickly decided that is not worth my time and effort  

 

Makes sense and all but doesn't that force the joint to sit further out than it's meant to? In any resting position, the teeth will be closed but if you're inserting a washer in there, you're creating a gap.

I wonder how hard it would be to add "teeth." Like do the first part - sand down the teeth halfway - but then use a dremel to put a notch into each of the now flattened teeth for the teeth on the other part to bite into. Now you've got a ratchet with twice as many points. Wouldn't fit together as neatly as stock and wouldn't have the same joint strength since the teeth are half the length but I bet it would work.

 

If you sand the teeth on both sides down, it will create space for a washer. Without teeth the sides would press together closer.

 

Your statements did make an impact. But don’t worry it is in a good way, otherwise I wouldn’t spend time on that forum. I know I can make some bad decisions, and 450 is something I can spend on other figures if I want to. Now that I don’t want to get that Toyworld Knight Orion because the alt-mode is not accurate for me, I am left with getting that Wei Jiang OS MPM Optimus Prime to guess if I should get it or not. Once that decision is made, I can finally decide whether I should get MP44 or not as there no other figures I will be looking for for some time now.