It was frustrating. I had to fix both legs, and it most certainly did not get easier with the second one. In fact it felt like more of a struggle on the second leg. I'm right-handed and I just don't have the same dexterity in my left hand as I do with my right. So I was constantly fumbling the little white piece when trying to get it into position. Not to mention the damn thigh swivel kept engaging making it much harder than it needed to be. It was a pain, but it was doable.

 

Bear in mind that if the September batch is the same size as the current batch, only 25% of these will need fixing. So anyone who has one of the 75% won't be dealing with the issue at all.

 

According to TFS Express the second 50% of the first batch wouldn't need the leg fix; I received one from that batch and one of the legs was still assembled incorrectly. I suspect YMV with all of this.

Anyhow; finally managed to reattach the leg; had to use quite a thick metal tool to do so (some suggested a pallet knife - I had something not quite so large and used that) and it worked eventually. I've now contacted TFS Express about the missing engine piece so hopefully they will sort that out.

The whole thing is a shame as to the imperfections with the figure though as it all seems to be from an assembly/QC area and that if a little more time and care was taken over each one pieces would be assembled right or wouldn't be missing. I guess if I worked in a Chinese factory on what I assume is a low wage I'd perhaps not have a great eye for detail either though.

 

I got the alternate smiling face, but didn't get the alternate head. First time dealing with this company, do people generally reach out to TE themselves for issues like these, or should I just email ShowZ?

 

Ah... perhaps you got a leftover that TFS-Express got unlucky with? From what I gathered, they realised the issue, stopped shipping, and solved the problem. Your one might have been left over and snuck in... or a random mistake during retraining? It seems like they weren't told about the asymmetrical circles, rather than not bothering to check, but who knows?

Glad you got there eventually. My stanley knife did the trick for me, so glad you managed to find a tool that worked!

 

Fans Boys are welcome to think whatever they like. But for me, I'm happy with Speed Star as my Mirage. I actually managed to sell my Sphinx shortly after I received my Speed Star and I wound up making a fair profit.

Better G1 representation of Mirage for less? That's a win/win in my book.

 

Is it September now? TFS posted this in July which led me to believe the second batch would be August. Still waiting on mine from the second batch.

 

Thank you.

Hopefully you're right and I've just had exceptionally bad luck but I suspect this is an issue that's going to keep coming up for people until it's clear they have a piece for a totally different production run (ie: when alterations are made). Either way it's not a retailer issue so I'm not annoyed with TFS-Express or anything; in fact I've found their customer service to very pleasant to deal with.

TE just need to up their game a bit it seems; from my relatively short time collecting it seems apparent fans want more companies putting out great representations of characters coupled with more competition for FansToys.

All that said if/when FansToys shows more info on their Mirage I could still be tempted. Speed Star looks nice but it's nowhere near perfect enough overall for me.

 

Just received my Transform Element Mirage (TE-03) from ShowZstore.com, apparently part of the 1st batch since I had to do the hip reassembly fix. That went fine.

FYI, be aware that you could find that you're missing the windshield and the steering wheel. I discovered I was missing those parts when I transformed TE-03 into alt mode.

 

My understanding at the time was that as my order was "awaiting shipment" it was part two of batch one which would have had thigh issue resolved. That lined up with my order arriving 2 weeks after their post. But who knows exactly now; there could be some info lost in translation when it comes to batches and shipments.

I'm guessing that it's only when people start getting figures from batch two that we will know if they have really solved the issue. Of course it is still an assembly issue; tough to spot if you aren't paying attention so unless they make changes to their production line set-up we may see many people in the future complaining about the leg being assembled wrong.

 

Seems people could be missing various parts (I have an engine piece missing). Having instructions that include contents are going to be needed in the future. How many people are receiving an item mostly checking for the leg assembly issue and not spotting missing items/parts I wonder?

 

I want to pull the trigger on this guy on Taobao for $50, but with all the issues I see it may be worth the piece of mind paying more from a seller who can provide service much simpler just for insurance.

 

By no means trying to dis anyone who had a hard time fixing the hips, since I know each individual toy has its own tightnesses and issues... just my own experience... I had no problem using only a screwdriver that came with from a fanstoys parts replacement and that’s it. Didn’t need a spudger or anything. I was shocked it was so easy. I’ve had fanstoys figures that required fixes and it was an hour long surgery requiring sedation (my own via alcohol). I remember doing Scoria’s shoulders and that was ridiculous. That took me over an hour for the shoulders. As I said, I timed it for Speedy and it took a mere 4min, 30 seconds to swap both hips. So in comparison, this was a breeze.

Also, if you will go straight to displaying and never transform the toy, you don’t even need to do the fix.

 

Sorry, crossed wires. There's 2 runs. The first run is in two shipments. If you check TFS-Express you'll see it still is up for pre order but due in September or October.

 

Poseability is probably FT's greatest weakness. I definitely don't expect them to improve on that particular area much, if at all.

EDIT: Plus you're just wrong. Now that I have it in hand, it does have an ab crunch (it just locks in upright), its hip skirts swivel out of the way, and thigh swivels and with its deep knee and arm bends I can achieve all kinds of dynamic poses. And on top of that, it's really well balanced and can even hold one-footed poses.

 

Ta I'll check with TFS. Yeah their listing was always an October release originally, so they never updated it when the first batch came out in July. I wouldn't mind but I've paired it with another figure because I thought they would be both hitting in August and not have to wait 1 or 2 months. First World problems for sure.

 

yeah the first run was shipped to tfs-express in 2 parts ,if you look back in this thread i got mine the other day from the second 50% and it don't have the problem the first half of the batch has

 

And I got mine from the first - both legs needed surgery, as expected.

 

I received my Mirage yesterday and it’s so dam frustrating.
Both legs came the correct way but the left leg as a hairline crack near the pin joint about 3 mm long and as a really lose thigh swivel plus left knee is so floppy he barley stands up it’s that lose. I think my copy as been called back to the factory to fix the legs but they have caused these problems and damage.

I find it also bizarre and baffling that TE have gone to all this trouble in making this figure look great but they haven’t done the basic essentials by the making the chest and neck tab in....why are they lose can’t understand that ?
I think they rushed it out and if it wasn’t for these problems it would a great figure.
It wasn’t much Money only $65 dollars with postage but I’m totally pissed off.

 

simple solution is making 2 small tab on the side to hold that neck piece in place.
No . they won't do.