Got mine today as well (UK)

Quality is very much as good as the first 3 seekers for me. I've displayed mine with the top fins lowered. They just hang there but they're not loose or flapping around - they seem to holding in the position I've put them. One thing to note is - if you do do this - you lose the waist swivel because the armatures, when lowered, block the point of rotation (don't try to force it). Ankles have a good range and the "toe" is ratcheted at 2 points which offers up some more flexibility for posing. The actual ankle rocker on mine is not loose as such (it's actually fairly well tolerated I think) but does have a tendency to want to "pop" back into either the original position, or 2 "sort of" locking points throughout the range of rocking degree (if that makes sense) Let's say the ankle has a range of 90 degrees for instance - It wants to lock in at 0, 45 or 90 and won't stay "fixed" at say 30 degrees. Having said that I'm still happy with the range and am getting some good stances with what I have here. Not transformed him yet tonight so I don't know about the cockpit sitting flush until I get round to it. I'm extremely happy with him. The arms are tight. The legs are nice and tight. Good range on the head-sculpt. AND!........ Wing fillers for Starscream  

 

they are included in the box pal

 

Thanks for the input sir, he looks quite nice. Too bad I'll be too broke to get him.  

 

couple more poses...

referring back to my previous point about the waist swivel being hindered by lowering the side fins... at this angle I can still get waist articulation but anything lower and it just won't turn (bear in mind this in not how it's designed so when they're in the designed position the waist swivel works perfectly... fyi...

He looks absolutely at home on my shelf with the other 3 from MT! Bring on Thrust and Ramjet! Can't wait!

 

That looks superb. Appreciate the quick fire feedback, my good sir.

I have to say, the downward wing position, looks pretty damn good, for a makeshift setup.

 

Emailed Kapow a couple of days ago and not had a reply. Was seeing when to expect my invoice for the balancing payment, and when to expect shipping etc.  

 

For anyone who cares (and the even smaller group who subscribe to my YouTube ramblings), I got mine today and have just uploaded my slightly drunken thoughts. Tolerances are shit. The hip/side skirts on mine pop off at the slightest provocation and it doesn't tab together well elsewhere. The chest pieces don't align at all, which is not in the slightest bit proper. It does looks nice though. Love the deco and the alt mode. I just wish it had more in common with the first three Seekers QC wise than it does Sunstorm...

Also - and I feel it important to say this now more than ever - while I appreciate robust debate, I'm 100% done with wankers on this board. I just took over a week off because some total arsehole jumped on me in the official MP-45 thread because I made a completely unrelated comment about the backpack on a 3P figure, and the circling jackals tore me to shreds. I don't come here to deal with keyboard warriors who would shrivel up in person (or the apparent lack of action when dealing with said), so I'm going to stick with the 3P forums from now on where everyone is (by and large) far more reasonable and friendly.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. Kisses!  

 

Looks like it's going to be a QC lottery again.

 

Can't wait until he's outnumbered!

 

how about the wing filler for meteor? is it the same with the one maketoys sell ?

 

Just got mine this morning so I haven't had a chance to transform him, and really get hands on time yet. Happy to report though that tolerances feel great on him! Mine is far more like my original Starscream or Skywarp, and not a floppy mess like my Thundercracker. Hopefully some in-depth thoughts later today!

 

They appear to be the same wing fillers that are sold separately, although I've never handled them out of package. They do come with what looks like adhesive tape to help secure them into place.

Sorry for the double post.

 

Alright so I've had some hands on time with this guy and it's overall a pretty positive impression, but definitely are some causes for concern.

My baseline comparison, I have all three original seekers in this mold. Starscream and Skywarp are pretty much perfect with tolerances, tabbing, etc etc. Thundercracker for me was a little loose around the ab crunch and other joints, and felt a touch more floppy. From a tolerance perspective, Dirge is sitting pretty with the best examples. Everything feels tight, the back wings tab securely, no floppiness, nor does anything feel excessively tough to maneuver. The ab crunch is a touch looser than I would like, but still more firm than my Thundercracker. From a shelf perspective, he stands and holds a pose with the best of them.

On to the rough stuff.. Right off the bat one of the heel thrusters fell off during my first transformation. This is the dark plastic piece that rotates 180° as sort of the heel spur. Luckily it tabs back on via two small pegs, and it's clear that either enough glue wasn't used or it didn't set properly, easy fix. The next issue, the perpendicular wing tips on the larger wings, these ship unattached. They should pop on easily enough, in fact one did quite readily. The other though tends to pop off when I look at it funny. I haven't glue it in place yet but these are supposed to hold on via friction. The third and last issue, the left hip-skirt flat out fell or broke off. I noticed it was a little looser when handling it, and it fell out into my lap going back into bot mode the first time. It looked like there was white stressed plastic inside the waist area. Either way, I was able to glue that back into place and it feels secure for now. The wiggle or looseness that was apparent at first handling, leads me to believe that hip skirt connection was already stressed out of the box.

So bottom line, Dirge is toleranced well, feels akin to the first Makestoys seeker releases, but some of the QC is suspect. Luckily a little glue has resolved these issues. While they've all been fairly minor, it's certainly disappointing to have stuff popping off and needing to resolve them on my own.

 

There's plenty of room on both sides of the wings to apply Deception emblems... this is a large-ish sticker 20mm x 20mm approximately... it sits nicely and the line detail on the underside of the wing is good for helping to align it properly... does anyone have any ideas as to when to expect the next? As far as I can see, or work out, they're identical apart from the wings and even then Ramjet looks to be the same connection.. Thrust may be slightly different? Hope we get some coloured shots this side of the new year

 

My seller told me Easter for the next two, possibly earlier, so hopefully not too long to wait. I hope they spread them out a little rather than releasing them together as they did with Lightning and Skycrow, as it's easier on the wallet...

Anyway, I figured out that it was mistransformed out of the box so I've now got the cockpit sitting flush. The was the only major issue I had with the figure, so I'm even happier with it now!

 

How was it miss-transformed? My Dirge's chesty cockpit seems to be too far forward so doesn't line up with the crotch panel. I haven't put him in plane mode yet. What do i need to do to sort the chesty bit out?

 

The ab pieces at the sides of the torso have tabs that fit into notches in the cockpit section that forms the chest. They're not tabbed in out of the box, so the chest hits the tabs and doesn't sit far enough back. If you pull the ab sections out, push the cockpit all the way in and then tab the ab pieces into the notches it all lines up.

 

I’ve been hovering on buying this guy but I think I need to see finalized versions of the next 2. I realize that if everyone does this it puts them at risk, but a) I want to see that the QC holds up and b) I really hope they keep the dark gray consistent among all three. This was a big beef of mine with the official trio and given that MT did something similar with Skywarp and Thundercracker, I don’t trust them not to add some unnecessary color variation with the coneheads.

 

That absolutely killed any chance of me grabbing TT's.

Given that they didnt do Skywarp and Thundercracker the same, my hope is that all three Coneheada are slightly different. That way it wont stand out so much that the og 2 are different. I'd still be happy if all three match, but if they pull a TT and have 2 one colour and the other a different colour I'll be fuming and genuinely upset.

 

My advice is get these guys when they come out or you will be seeing crazy prices like Skycrow and Lightning.