Yeah....Takara didn't bother adding any reinforcement to the leg mode. Holds together as well as the other fembots do.
Although, my Tentakil is fine in leg mode.

 

Had some time to fiddle around with Neptune some more. Basically, combiner instability is unchanged, as expected. I was OK with the pure white / semi-translucent plastic at first but now bugging me a little more. I'm still mostly OK with it on the Seacons (as opposed to Apeface) but looks cheap. I hope Hastak never uses this white plastic again.

Yeah...it's not some odd pink plastic; it's the red paint from the other side showing through (even in poor lighting). I just looked at my ER Prowl figure, and the black paint doesn't show like that on the other side through his thin white plastic.


Neptune will at least photograph better if not subjected to lighting that enhances the semi-translucency. This base setup has light diffusing panels on top. The combined blaster tip is barely above the floor.

Tentakil was the worst limb as leg for King Poseidon. Scylla is no different. That being said, that's a precarious place to be placing (inherently unstable) combiners. We're running out of room in our Detolfs and have 3 combiners on 1 shelf.

You could just use Scylla as arm, even though squidbots have the worst arm mode kibble.

On a side note, mantaray bots can pseudo-lock their hips in place, which makes them better as arms carrying (somewhat) heavier loads.

 

I’ve not had a problem with King Poseidon collapsing. God Neptune was on top of the Detolf until I could figure out where to put him with the other combiners. It’s getting crazy  . I’m up to 22 not counting Devastator or Predaking because they’re out of scale with the other 22... (Superion, Menasor, Defensor, Bruticus, Computron, Abominus, Grand Convoy, Grand Galvatron, Sky Reign, Liokaiser, Victorion, Megatronia, Predacus, Magnaboss, Wreckage, Thunder Mayhem, Orthia, Volcanicus, King Poseidon, God Neptune, “Unnamed Starscream combiner”, “Unnamed Inferno combiner”)

 

Just out of curiosity, what limbs you got on these?

 

I’ll have to look  

I think Starscream has Darkwing, Dreadwind, Off-Road, and... can’t remember.

Inferno I think has Jazz, Stepper, Alpha Bravo, and Rook.

If I’m correct, I still have Smokescreen and SG Starscream as homeless and Starscream is missing a limb. I don’t duplicate characters, for the most part... (Starscream is the exception since the ghost is from another universe, and so is SG). Am I missing any leftovers?

 

The wait is finally over this behemoth was shipped from tfexpress this morning. I’m so excited  

 

So I was a bit hesitant after some of the recent pictures but I still went and got it. And I am glad I did.

King Poseidon didn’t do it for me. There was something 'synthetic' about the colors/paintwork (like a superficial make-up layer) that just completely fell flat for me. And when I compared Gulf to my vintage G1 one - with it’s rich colors - I was like 'yeah not for me'. Sold them off immediately, didn’t even combine the set (luckily my set was delayed by three months so my hype for the set had already cooled off so I had no regrets, plus I had a nice extra to spend on vacation).

But the King Poseidon Project had been such a ride, from the Turtler silhouette to the full reveal with the grey prototypes all the way to the final color images. I think it’s safe to say that it’s the cornerstone of Takara’s Generations Selects line. So I am just super happy to own this set. And the pearl colored plastic (not sure how much exactly was painted on KP, but it seemed like more surface area) brings out the quality of the figures for me.

Ofcourse there are issues: combined mode stability obviously, but also QC, some mold degradation (mostly pegging issues) and plastic quality. I feel Takara should get a quality wake-up call on these fronts.

But honestly? I am just too impressed to be bothered really. I like them in all modes. And the combined mode is unique; I might even go and say that aesthetically this may be the nicest combiner I own/have owned. The highpoint of the Selects line for me.

 

Grand Scourge and Ruination/Baldigus are the only other ones that I can think of, based on your extensive list. Jet Blastoff was the only other odd-ball release, unless you went UW Bruticus. Oh, and Wreck-gar.

 

I totally forgot about them. I do have Baldigus, Grand Scourge, and Wreck Gar as well. I have UW Bruticus, so no need for jet Blast Off as he’s not a different character.

 

I'm past the "the white plastic is ok because I paid $$$ for it" phase now. The white plastic is awful. Looks cheap and feels cheap. God Neptune would be 10x better with the same white plastic as, um, any other figure not named Apeface.

Scylla, in particular, is a huge downgrade from Tentakil. All the paint budget for her went towards alt mode face and legs apparently. Bot mode is very bland. New face sculpt is disappointing. Scylla also has this odd lighter gray plastic that's not on any of the other bots, which doesn't help. The retooled thighs make her combiner arm mode worse. Still has difficulty staying together properly in combiner leg mode. Her newly tooled parts also feel rough / matte instead of smooth like everything else. Makes it feel even more cheap. It does remind me of sanded down 3d printed material...it's like they forgot to smooth it out completely for the factory mold.

 

So I had experienced this set today in proper daylight; and man is the color of this plastic light sensitive (the only other bot I ever noticed such a day/night color discrepancy with before was Siege Shockwave). It saddens me to admit it, but yeah that’s not the best look. I still don’t dislike it like I did with some of the recent pictures, but I sure as hell wish it wasn’t such a white. Maybe I’m gonna have to experience with a light deflecting coating/wash, if such a thing exists. And yeah some of parts feel rather cheap (the alt heads of Coelagon and Sea Phantom in particular). I’m not sure if it’s the type of plastic mix they went for here to get the white-pearly effect or what.

For the rest I don’t feel the same. If these got say the WFC Prowl white treatment, it would have a very lame set. And I like every member here better than KP; well except for Overbit maybe - ironically since I never liked him in the G1 set - I liked Overbite’s robot mode quite a bit. But I think most folks will prefer King Poseidon anyway. For me, this is just a nicer looking and more cohesive set.

 

I’m gonna have to dig out my original God Neptune. I’m almost positive the plastic was pearlescent like the GS one....

 

I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this set once Hasbro Pulse decides to ship them out  

 

The plastic is translucent white. There's no great way to prevent light from shining through...unless you paint over it with a solid color (and in multiple layers). There is absolutely ZERO pearlescent or iridescent effect to this plastic (no extra 'rainbow' or mix of colors present)...just a poor man's white.

I do some casting work. If I skimp on the white dye, I get the exact same effect. In thicker sections, it would definitely look more solid, but with all the thin plastic being used, the light is gonna shine through.

 

Light...shining...through...on these plastic pieces??

You mean I get these Sea Pirates/God Neptune that glows in light??

Sounds awesome!    

 

Yes, the original BW God Neptune's plastic was pearlescent as well..

 

I think someone a long time ago incorrectly used the word "pearlescent" to describe Neptune's plastic, and it just stuck. There's zero actual pearlescent quality to the plastics. Have not seen any evidence of such in any photos.

 

Its has a pearl-like shimmer when it hits the light, no?

 

If it did, that would have looked rather nice!

Depending on lighting and angles, there should be an iridescent quality to it and see color shifting, even a rainbow of metallic-like colors. There's obviously none of that going on.

It IS possible to do this effect proper in plastics, but I would imagine it would get rather pricy for the factory. There are pigment powders out there that do the effect when mixed in with plastic, sorta similar to how they make silver / gold plastic.

 

Ok, I hate to ask this, but why the heck does the Manta Ray mold still have the Terrorcon beast legs attached? Is it a gang mold situation where the parts are molded on, because they just look stupid there. Then again I didn't manage to nab the original Gen Selects of this mold, but I'm fairly certain what's his name, Seawing that's it, didn't have beast legs on his original G1 mold.

Oh well, it's still a very nice figure. Really need King Posiedon to come back into stock though, the original Seacons need to stand next to God Neptune for that sweet, sweet legacy display. I managed to get Turtler and Gulf on Pre-Order at BBTS, are they able to get all six or was that just a fluke? Either way, at least I have some new Predacons after 25 years. Or Destrongers if you prefer.

Uh, aren't these supposed to come with some kind of manga/comic though or is it only digital and not actually packaged in with the boxed figures??? I was kind of hoping to get a nice Takara style pamphlet with Manga again similar to the old days of BW II/BW Neo collecting.