Is there such a thing as a perfect mainline Transformer at this cost point?

 

How dare you start bringing true comparisons and facts to this kerfuffle? Seriously though, any WFC deluxe you look at pretty well is going to have these exact same recurring gaps. These are $20 toys, not 3rd Party MP scaled figures.

 

Not worth trying to argue. He's dead-set on being unhappy. Just let him be.

 

Leader Prime and Starscream seem pretty close to perfect.

 

Well yeah, I would argue that they were acceptable corners to cut for the price. For $20, I'm willing to overlook some flaws. What I'm getting at is that Earthrise really crossed a boundary for me, the cost cutting is getting really bad and that's especially prevalent on Sunstreaker here. Sunstreaker has hollow forearms and legs and the gaps are huge.

See above. Impactor was a pass from Siege because of all the gaps, but at least it was isolated to his lower bits. Gimme some movable flaps for goodness' sake. I don't think it's right that upgrade quits are almost becoming a requirement.

 

I LIKE THIS!!  I like figures that are simply designed with a lot of enthusiasm. Hasbro did good with Sunstreaker. Can't wait to find this one!  

 

You must be joking because they have near identical legs and use the same roof of car to chest piece mechanic. I understand this isn't a simple remold, or a repaint but they 100% share the same skeleton.





The end product is radically different certainly but someone who's blind could see the commonality between the two.

 

SIEGE Jetfire

 

But Jetfire isn't a Deluxe, he's a unique price point, "Commander Class" figure.

 

I dont mind the gaps/hollowness on figures as long as the plastic isnt cheap thin brittle plastic

 

The question was "Is there such a thing as a perfect mainline Transformer at this cost point?", SIEGE Jetfire is a mainline Transformer.

 

Finally! A good CHUG Sunstreaker figure! I’ve been waiting for years.

 

Don't take this the wrong way but does anyone feel Earthrise figures are a bit *TOO* toy-ish compared to SIEGE figures? I get that they are going for a more G1 toy accurate look, but they look a bit too simplistic, hollow and less detailed in sculpt and paint.

 

I understand, but the cost point in question at the time was Deluxes, not WFC as a whole.

 

They are no more or less hollow than siege figures and several siege figures didn’t have as much sculpted detail as others either (sideswipe is fairly smooth for example)

 

At some point it's going to click with people that the Deluxe price point is a balance of height and hollowness. That's why guys like Impactor have more gaps than dudes like Cliffjumper. Likewise, the Weaponizers have fewer gaps because they don't need to stay in one piece while they transform.

He also costs what, $70? And the sample size is exactly two between him and Sky Lynx. Nothing's stopping Hasbro from making a taller Commander who ends up being more hollow.

The thing about doing updated G1 figures is G1 wasn't one for complex transformations or extreme scultping. So you can recreate a G1 toy and transformation without having to do much in the way of engineering. Otherwise it's complexity for the sake of complexity and that's where prices take off.

In terms of detail and paint, these are aimed at the G1 crowd who wanted G1 figures. So they're getting paint and sculpts that are based on G1. And those character models weren't known for their detailed paneling or excessive greebles.

This isn't aimed at you specifically, but it feels like the TFW crowd is slowly coming to realize that the G1 accuracy they wanted was wishing on a monkey's paw. Simpler transformations, less detailed sculpts/paint, wide variance in size/solidity, etc. But it all looks a lot more like G1. Specifically the show.

Kinda like how people wished for fewer repaints after Prime Wars and got a bunch of repacks as if that wasn't entirely foreseeable.

 

Just a side note that in the old times, die-cast was actually cheaper than plastic... then it re-balanced and only the parts that required the additional strength from metal parts were used. Regrettably, a HUGE flaw with die-cast is the alloy used, with some that turned to "dust" and have ended up being fairly weak... I have some figures that the die-cast was shedding white powder (oxidized metal) like cat dander and a few that the part simply crumbled on me.

I'd just repeat what was already stated... I've bitched enough about the gaps in Siege (and the lack of accessories) and how it downgraded almost all the figures to fill a thread. The strongest ones are the Seekers and Optimus as both are as gapless as possible and had proper accessories (seekers with their guns, and OP with his gun and axe). Everything else had 3rd parties kits for a reason.

Not really.. he does look great in robot, but the plane mode is a mess with the underbelly being horribly cheap, and the robot has issues with the hands being as bad as Megatron's neck. There's a few things that they could have done better.

When even the better plastic doesn't save the toy from stressing during moving the parts... the gaps shouldn't be that bad.

Example: I ended up filling up the gaps on Hoist with hot glue, as if you rotated the legs, you can see the "thighs" twist and warp from the pressure. Now, filled, they are 10x better.

I can handle some gaps, I'd prefer not to, but it's not the end of the world for some as it's barely visible and doesn't affect the toy.

But Hoist and Impactor are the two worst example I can think of at this moment, where it does impact the toy a LOT.

 

At some point it's going to click that it's about money and cutting corners.

It's not 5 cents worth of plastic on a 30$CAD toy that's going to bankrup a company that just spent BILLIONS to buy another company for the heck of it.

 

It is true Sideswipe is not as detailed as most, but he makes up for it with a good looking silhouette and better design. Plus no real kibble.

Compare that with his bro Sunstreak who has arms that look like they're dislocated from rest of the body, legs that are hollow from thigh to toes and little connectors poking from each side.

 

It's a shame TBH. I felt the SIEGE line found the exact balance between having a detailed sculpt and paint to make a modern depiction of a sci-fi bot, but while retaining the appearance and familiarity of G1. It's unfortunate that they dropped that formula so quickly and went back for the safe nostalgic designs that have been around for the last 35 years.