Thank you for the response. I think you’re correct in your assumption. That’s too bad because I really liked the idea of the trailer but the lack of paint and the really cheap looking jet pack and weapons is making me want the SS-32 release instead because it’s less expensive and I mostly want the figure to combine with Jetfire anyway.

 

I’m trying to like this figure too, but it looks like they are going cheaper closer to its release. The clear windows are now a bland silver and the bot mode looks more like it’s in the prototype stage.

 

I know the silver windows are a very odd choice. If that’s actually how it turns out. I’m not convinced that’s the final deco. I’m sure the window parts are still clear so if they did that deco they would be painting over the clear parts. The other weird thing is that the renders show the full row of the running lights over the windshield but in the pics of the actual figure the running lights are still missing from the middle section like SS-32.

 

This is how he wielded his blade in Dotm. He held it like an actual sword.

 

Yup I said that in my original post but thank you for confirming. And after seeing those clips I can confirm that I really hate that design choice. Swords popping out of his wrist area are much better in my opinion.

FYI for anyone that cares: I just picked up SS-32 Prime which is the same mould the leader will use and it’s REALLY bad. I thought I could get over the lack of paint and lack of overall bot accuracy. But the floppy joints, fiddly transformation due to parts popping off and the ridiculously small alt mode just ruin the figure in my opinion. I already had the SS-38 version of Prime and the alt modes aren’t even remotely in scale with each other. I get that they turn into different sizes of trucks and sacrifices had to be made but just look at the difference in tire sizes. It’s crazy.

SS-38 is a really great design but it also suffers from ridiculously floppy joints and tabs that don’t work. These figures desperately needed some tolerance tweaking before full production. I think it’s a side effect of way too many figures per year coming out. I believe there are only around 12 designers at Takara and I have no idea how they are pumping out so many figures per year. I wish they would slow down and focus on quality. But that ain’t going to happen.

I decided to collect the SS Devastator bots because I like combiners and I respect HasTak for taking on that project. I have Rampage and Scrapmetal and I was very impressed with both so I decided to get a few more SS figures. Starscream is good but the two voyager Prime figures are pretty terrible.

Sorry for the epic rant! That kind of got out of hand! I’m just frustrated because I think the SS line is great in concept with good designs overall but the quality is ruining it for me and it could have been avoided.