Thank you for this feedback. This is all I'm looking for is to see what issues are since general feedback has seemingly glossed over anything at all. Here's thar conversation btw.

 

If you decide to drop your preorder...link me the site you PO'd 'cause, ya know... 

 

I had a misassembled shoulder ratchet on the blue copter. Took it apart, turns out something wasn't seated correctly, reassembled and it was fine. Haven't had any problems with the shoulders disconnecting from the torso, either, they lock in fairly securely and require intentional force to remove. Some of the joints and combination connectors are scary tight/fragile/pokey. I did keep popping one of the front skirts off because it kept getting caught on something on the thigh. The sideways motion of the hip ratchets are kinda soft and there's not much friction on the bottom of the feet to keep his legs from sliding apart as a result. A couple of the issues I saw discussed in your caps seem to be either bad QC or just connectors not being engaged completely. There are a lot of small nuances not mentioned (or not brought to your attention effectively) in the manual because a lot of the combination and articulation joints are over-engineered. The small copter blades are pretty bad for falling off, I ended up gluing magnets in them. I do wish his head had some up/down movement and his hands held the weapons (which are kinda light and flimsy) more securely. I wouldn't buy multiples, but I've had a lot of fun playing with him this past week and still think this is an amazing figure. I do feel like the pricetag was really inflated by all of the complicated engineering for the combination and the tiny vehicles don't even do much.

 

Thanks for posting about the blue copter shoulder ratchet. Was yours super loose before you disassembled and fixed it?? I had a feeling an assembly error may be the culprit. Not saying that everyone’s floppy ratchet is being caused by misassembly necessarily, but at least there’s precedent now for fixable assembly errors on that part.

Those posts read like there are some legit issues out there that people are experiencing...but some of it sounds like lackluster instructions, tight joints in some cases and general new-figure familiarization woes (there seems to be some complex engineering in some of those parts that will take some time to get to know). Either way, I’m not deterred. I’ll just have to take my time with him like I would any other SOC. Hopefully the real QC issues are few and far between. Watching some of the review videos, it never ceases to surprise me how ham-fisted some people are with these figures. They aren’t toys and they require a greater level of patience and attention to detail to avoid breakage. Expensive doesn’t necessarily equate to perfect and bulletproof!

 

This, exactly, reflects how I felt when I used to watch review videos. I don't anymore, because I basically feel that I do not gain any new knowledge after watching 25 minutes of yammering and flipping through a transformation that I would much rather do myself, or experience for myself. I could spend the same amount of time skimming through a forum, and reviewing photos.

 

The opposite. The shoulder pylon wouldn't move at all. I'm not sure what exactly was the problem since the assembly was disturbed when I finally got it apart, just that whoever put it together didn't do it right. I exercised the pinned joint a little to check if there were any problems there and it was quite tight. Once I put everything back together to do a test fit, everything seemed to work fine -- pinned joint was still real tight, but I could actually move the shoulder in-and-out and up-and-down.

Side note: I totally forgot there was a Voltron-specific thread and people have talked about Dairugger in there lol.

 

Thanks for clarifying! I’m hoping the floppy shoulder issue is assembly-related as well. And yeah...having two legitimate SOC Voltron-related threads makes it tough to keep up sometimes. You gotta check both to stay up to speed!

 

Appreciate the feedback and honestly it's cool to know that at least the toy is accessible enough to get to areas and fix if need be. All in all it seems like there are things about this piece like bnot holding the weapons firmly that I'm not going to love but once I get a bit used to it it feels like a piece I can definitely at least like. Thanks for actually posting what you did to resolve because stuff like the magnets for the propellers is great.

I do have multiples on order and at most I think I'll stick with one extra and just keep it boxed.

 

The hands on my copy so far hold the weapons pretty well. It's a little tricky to get the blue effect parts to tab into the hands, but once they're in there it's good.

 

With the confirmation that Toei Spider-Man will be in Spiderverse 2, and looking it up, I’m curious to know how SOC Leopardon scales with the SOC Megazord/Daizyujin

 

I think Leopardon is around 6.7 in (around the same size as GX-01 Mazinger Z) while Megazord is 10 in

 

I was kinda disappointed.

 

It’s a great SOC a little dated but a fun release and well constructed.

 

Finally got chance to mess with my GX-88, combine him a few times, the tightest parts for me was one of the lander gear on the blue helicopter (I need tools to pop it down), and the tower on the communications module is hard to pop out.

the Falcon Jet Fighter also clip on pretty tight, it worries me that I might break the clip with the amount of force I apply, and you can’t disconnect the head and mid chest piece until you remove that (the release button is the red rectangle on the chest)

Here is my first time assembling it:



Opps, let’s start again from step 6

 

My small collection :



I have to admit that I stopped after Danguar Ace, but at some point I'd love to get a Great Mazinga to complete the set. It just got too expensive for them, and also:

What annoys me the most is that while yes, it did take years to happen, but that they redid a few in such a way that the V1 I have feel second rate by comparison of the improvements done, but the new ones are also so much more expensive that after spending what I have on these, I'm not finding a reason to spend even more for the new versions... them doing this kinda killed it for me.

 

That’s the fairly recent Mazingkaiser release right? The good thing is old and new all look good together. There are a few Great Manzinger options that you should be able to get at a decent price, including the newest one.

I still need to get an Aphrodite and a couple Getters to feel somewhat satisfied with my Super Robots but there are always a few more I wouldn’t mind having.

 

Stressing the clips when removing the red fighter from the chest is the biggest worry

Anyone figure out the beat way to do it?

 

I find myself warming up to more of these all the time. I’ve known of the existence of SOCs, in general, for a long time, but I never really looked into them as I didn’t think I would ever actually own any. Prior to this year, the only characters represented in SOC that I was really very familiar with were the Voltrons. I wouldn’t have known a Getter from a Danguard if they both bit me in the ass at the same time. And I still pretty much wouldn’t. It’s a lot of fun discovering neat designs and impressive toys that have existed literally for decades completely unbeknownst to me. It’s an expensive rabbit hole to fall down, though.

 

Yeah, Super Robots are a great thing and really satisfying toys to collect. I’ve watched many of the cartoons growing up and been collecting since I was a kid with the Shogun Warrior jumbo vinyl figures and old gokin figures so it is pretty much ingrained in me. Only thing I keep saying I like more about the old toys is built in gimmicks instead of a bunch of parts to simulate the look of working gimmicks.

 

Actually it's an old plastic version of Mazinkaiser, I can't even remember what name/brand/model it was under. I have the metal Chogokin one, but find him too small compared, as he should tower over Mazinger, which this plastic version does.

For me the SOC appealed for Grandizer... to finally have have a great Grendizer that has all the Spazers was a dream come true. Then Combattra, as I was a huge fan of the Marvel Shogun Warriors comics and he was my favourite. Then got a Raideen, similar to Mazinkaiser he's not a SOC but a darn great version. Then the others, and finally Darguard Ace... I'd finally have the 3 Shoguns... regretably he turned out a bit small, but still, he's absolutely beautiful. The colours just stand out so well.

The Volton is the "new" version (non SOC) that I got last year in stores, which I was amazed at it's quality and that he had enough metal to be a SOC in my eyes.

I've been looking at the Great Mazinga that are out there, and I'm probably get one at some point, but the big items this year were Omega and Jetfire. I've really spent so much on robots this year already, it's crazy.