it's odd that all the YT reviewers have good copies...not a single breakage. Not sure what to make of that.

 

Well, it’d be kinda awkward having your favorite YouTube star just sitting there fiddling around with a broken pos the whole time on camera, dont you think? Lol

 

Pretty sure Peaugh's broken a toy on cam on more than one occasion. Skullface for sure, because he's a ham-handed brute.

 

BSF is more of a rapper who happens to do toy reviews ... haha

 

It tells me that the only people posting about Hound, especially on here, are the ones with breaks or damages of some sort. And that there are many more Hounds out there without any issues than we’re aware of.


In other news, my replacement Hound has arrived. 2 day shipping? Thanks for the upgrade, Bezos. 3 transformations in and no cracks or breaks. I also did some preventative maintenance on the legs, some shaving on the panels to prevent stress during transforms. So far so good!

 

it's happened...Ben for one will still make a review even after breaking a figure. There is value in that as it may indicate whether a figure is worth buying or not.

 

What I make of it is that the defective plastic may not be as widespread as it seems.

 

I take it there would be more than one batch of plastic for as many as they make.....hopefully.

 

I can't wait for Skullface's review. If anyone is gonna break it on camera it will be Bobby. Especially a Hound figure!  

 

Sharing a couple of minor mods I made for those trying to fit the spare tire, jerry can, and gun in the feet.

The spare tire was fairly easy. I noticed that when it was folded up, the "middle" part of the hubcap which faces out protruded further than the tires, so I sanded that portion off until it was level with the tires:


One thing to note: this will cause the tire to have a wider seam along this joint in alt mode (see gap on the right below), but this was by far the less of two evils for me:


The jerry can was tricker. As others in the thread already pointed out, the circular lip in the can which fits on Hound's tailgate post has the semicircular cut in the wrong quadrant, not allowing you to push the can all the way flush to the tailgate. So just like @lord ginrai did (his post here) I carefully cut away the interfering lip with a sharp exacto knife. This was risky as it would be very easy to damage the surrounding plastic or the post in the middle so be very careful if you do this:


Finally, here are his feet with all parts packed in them after the mods. The left foot with the spare tire still has a tiny bit more of a gap than the right foot but it's almost unnoticeable.

 

YESSSSSS! Thank you! Gonna do that to the tire.

Um... How did you sand down the middle part without damaging the rest of the tire?

 

Very carefully!  

But in all seriousness, I have a nail file which is slightly less with than the middle part, and I also used an exacto knife to first roughly shave the bulk of the material I removed before sanding it smooth. I actually did scuff some of the surrounding parts anyway, so I sanded and buffed those scuffs out.

I made an edit to my previous post to point out the effect of shaving the tire in alt mode.

 

Cool! Did the jerry can mod last week. Gonna try trimming the spare tire as well.

 

Here's my take after owning him for a bit. I agree with most that have him. If you want your transformation experience to be relaxing, this one probably isn't for you.   Transforming him is pretty involved because you're working out where to apply just enough force on a part to move or flex it without breaking it or the part it's connected to. The stakes are even higher because some joints may not move easily due to dried paint in the joints and tight fasteners. It's a better experience after you apply shock oil in the pinned joints and loosen a few screws but you still have to be deliberate and controlled with your moves. Are these QC issues we've been seeing lately due to them trying to rush out 3 G1 MPs for the anniversary, trying to stop factory leaks or maybe they're getting spread too thin expanding the line outside of G1 while also increasing product features? Who knows, maybe all or none of the above.

So 47 will get a lot of hate for the dicy materials but IMO it's their best looking G1 Sunbow bot they've made so far. He's got a real bonafide neck instead of our familiar trapezoid block with a trach hole in it or a tiny ball joint peg neck. Compared to my FT Willis, he beats him in every category I care about except materials and paint application. WIllis does have a lot more backward leg range but that point gets taken away since it's actually more than his forward leg range!

Starting with MP44, 45 and 47, I get the sense that the intricate mechanics involved with today's TT MP transformations are being done to give you a much different experience than you get from the mainline toys. Whether that's good or bad is up to you. We can kind of see what their vision is now for high end transforming products. They obviously haven't executed well on all of their ideas but you do have a better sense of what they're shooting for. TO me, handling Hound's bot mode feels a bit closer to handling an SH FIguarts figure. Definitely not in materials used or build quality, but it's similar in how it feels when you manipulate and pose them.

 

I forgot who originally inspired me to do this - I added a comment to my post that it was you as I don't like stealing credit.  

 

Thanks for that! I was inspired by another member that pointed out the cutout was on the wrong side. Don't remember who it was though.
Hopefully more people will attempt this and get to enjoy their Hound better because of it  

 

Years later and folks are still on this Trailbreaker talk?

 

I keep running into a problem where the front wheels don't spin freely in alt-mode: they're rubbing up against the wheel well pieces just above them.

Anyone else have this problem? Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Thanks for your help!

EDIT: Seems to be connected to the fender pieces (with the star & autobot symbol on them) angling down slightly. Can't seem to get them to sit straight. Am I missing something?

 

interesting - i’m surprised you didn’t have to modify the rocket launcher. i noticed that on mine, the folded up launcher butted up against the car seat no matter how i angled the folded launcher so it would leave a vertical gap. i confirmed that removing the launcher fixed the gap.

that was me, i just didn’t have the cajones to mod my figures