Thanks both explanations helped. It doesn't help that it has a curved and hard corner on the tail sides and then the same but on opposite sides on that circular hinge. I've done it now but I remain unimpressed with the engineering of that particular joint, it's another example of those unpleasant "if I'm not careful I'm gonna break this!!" moments which I've started ironically referring to as 'Masterpiece moments'  

Well I clear-coated much of the gold on his legs and spine/ribs including the parts you mention, so those look mostly fine. However I'm now noticing chipping on the orange/copper paint on his upper thighs/hips, the gold on his flaks/ribs (must have missed some when I coated it), on the band around his head that connects to his 'brow' I can see some transfer of paint from blue areas and some chipping and finally at the top corners of his backpack (the parts that form the two halves of his beast chest) the metallic blue paint has rubbed away. It's irritating, I plan to touch it up but it puts me off transforming him much.

Thanks man. I really enjoy these discussions to.

 

I'd bought two sets for MP-43, thinking that his t-rex head had a light inside, so I used the spare set for Dinobot. Love the light-up eyes so much! It's possibility one of my favourite features of these BW toys - really makes them look that bit more alive.

 

My Dinobot has zero flaking or chipping but he has drained a set of batteries in 24 hours on 4 separate occasions now.

 

Interesting. I wonder if the paints apps will be stronger on the reissue like the other BW MP. Fingers crossed! Only about 30 more days and TCP should have their PO in stock.

 

Is that actually true that the reissues have “stronger” paint apps?

 

People have complained about the paint from Cheetor and Primal. I have reissues of both and they have some of the best paint and seems quite durable as I have yet to mark it scratch it at all. I don't know if it is a fact. Maybe I got lucky at the factory maybe it's a reissue thing. Dont want any paint chipping on this bad boy.

 

True, I do like them and I really love that Dinobot has two colour option...very cool. I just wish Dinobot's battery compartment was big enough to accommodate the batteries! It's so tight and once the batteries are in there pliers are needed to get them out! All of this is of course moot for me as mine drains the batteries in a matter of hours..and I'm not the only one....  

It's another one of those small things that gets in the way of me fully appreciating this figure. I want to, and do, love it for it's positives but there's a substantial list of niggling issues that make it hard to fully recommend the figure to anyone who might be on the fence.

 

Great photos, cannot wait to display mine with the rest. MP 38 arrives this week. So I have that to hold me over for a few weeks. The lights look great, I have batteries waiting. The eye lights on Megs and Dinobot really do help bring even more of the "show" or "characters" to life. Very excited to capture 41 with the rest of the cast.

 

How are the lights on Primal? Does he have the battery drain and small compartment issues as well? Don’t normally care for electronic features (also the risk of battery leak on an expensive figure) but have been fiddling with Primal lately and am considered putting them in to try out for him

 

Perfect, very easy. I have hobby tweezers as well to help if needed, but for this MP its not needed. But otherwise as intimidating and vibrant as Megs and Dinobot. No battery draining so far. I actually tap his head once a day just because I like see it again, I really do love the light up on the heads of these BW MP. No draining at all but I have only owned this figure since January.

I will add that after seeing the differences in the box by the removal of the long life design and the shoulders on 32, I do in fact have a reissue Primal. The interesting thing is it came locally from TCP labeled as a (reissue). So the rumor that the quality of reissues from HA and TT being different seems to be false, they seem to have the exact same fixes and tweaks.

 

Truly sucks to have battery draining issues. Kinda relieved for my sake to hear that they happen so quickly, as that means my copy is fine. It really would be as simple as a retailer requesting a replacement head from TT, if only TT had customer service outside of Japan. In this day and age that really is unforgivable, especially since from what I've heard their customer service in Japan is very good. Makes me want to order all future MPs from Amazon Japan and just pay the import taxes, since at least their customer service covers everyone, but with these price increases it's harder to justify that.

Primal's compartment is big enough because the light/circuit is stored in his beast mode head and robot head, and the circuit is simpler than Dinobot's, with just the one colour option.

 

Primal's fine. I've had the same batteries in him since he was released and they still work. No corrosion either.

 

Yeah I may have to start giving Amazon Japan a go, even though I have no love for Amazon. I still don't understand why the compartment is undersized though, there's enough space in the head to them to fit it all just fine. I'm hoping they fix this on a reissue and/or the KO.

I don't buy that, Megatron's compartment is perfectly fine and thus far I've heard of no draining issues, if anything his head is smaller than Dinobots and all the electronic are definitely in there. I cant imaging changing the colour takes up THAT much more space. Primal's compartment is big enough because they designed it better, no other reason.

 

Was researching this thread and for those who purchased it, is the shockwave labs weapon kit worth it or happy with the kit?

 

Yeah I’m just throwing theories out, I expect the circuit board might need to be a little larger, though it is true that Primal’s design, where the bulb is in the robot head, is probably the most spacious. Dinobot’s compartment doesn’t seem undersized to me but then I haven’t had to change batteries yet, so don’t yet know that struggle.

 

Hopefully you'll never have to! My batteries in my original Primal are still going strong since I got him in Nov 2016. If there wasnt the draining issue I might not have noticed, i did though, it seemed inconveniently tight, I remember thinking...I hope i never need to take those out! Maybe those people that have the issue have defective compartments...hummm... does yours look like this?



it goes withuot saying that after putting those batteries in I had to leaver the top one out using a small screwdriver placed between them and then pull the bottom one out with needle nose pliers(cant leave them in there or they'll go dead!)....not something you expect to have to do with toy batteries. There is no way to bet any purchase on them otherwise.

 

Seems I'm lucky. I finally got around to putting batteries in Dinobot's head recently. Still going strong after two weeks, so doesn't seem like I'm having that battery drain/short-circuit issue.

As for the paint discussion, mine's largely fine after quite a large number of transformations. No super-obvious chipping at least. I've been mindful about how I'm manipulating the thighs, to avoid the biggest problem area with them rubbing on the pelvis. It does seem like I've rubbed a bit of paint off the top outside "ribs" on his legs, though.

 

After having him since he was released my batteries are still going strong!

I did unfortunately scrape off a bunch of paint from the top of his thigh the last time I transformed him though.