Man, I was worried Grapple would feel a little lacking compared to how excellent all the Siege voyagers are, but I've got to say he's crazy fun. His joints aren't quite as tight as those on the aforementioned figures (save for Apeface maybe), but he can still hold his poses very nicely. The vibrant orange and excellently painted and sculpted face make him incredibly photogenic, and his ankle articulation is on par with that of Springer, only even more solid. While I don't mind gappy ankle tilts on alien robots that much, Grapple does a great job at keeping the space beteen his akle and foot filled, making it look rock solid no matter how much tiltage you're using. Truck mode looks beautiful too thanks to all the paint and molded detail, though it is a little bit undersized compared to other voyager alt modes. Still, it's really neat how much the figure accomplishes with such a relatively simple transformation.







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What really stole the show for me was his crane arm. Oddly enough it's even more fun to use in robot mode than it is in vehicle mode.

 

I was considering him but already have the maketoys one buried somewhere, and the maketoys one is more on par with the deluxe minibots while mft rocke is on par with the legends ones. Both are great  

 

Nice pictures! How did you get him to stand on his own in the last 2 pictures?

 

Mine as well

 

I know it's placeholder, but I think it looks pretty good there.

 

"Nice to see ya lads....I remember my first time on the Cybertronian Fire Brigade..."

 

Very nice! Looking forward to hopefully receiving mine next week.

Question. Does anyone know why Runabout comes with 2 guns, but Runamuck only has 1? The G1 toys had 1 each, but maybe there's a comic or cartoon appearance I'm forgetting that resulted in the extra shooter going in the box??

 

Because the budget allowed it and who's gonna say no to another gun in a war?

 

THIS is going to be a fun weekend  

 

Is Skorp the one saying it’s going to be a fun weekend while holding little Arcee?

 

Haha nice one!

 

Thank you! It did take some finagling till Grapple wasn't constantly falling over, but it's certainly doable. The most important thing is to use the non-moving parts of the toy as stopping points to prevent gravity from working its magic and moving the crane's joints past their sweet spot where the toy is in complete balance.

Let's start with the base of the crane. Flip it over Grapple's head just like you'd do when transforming him into a truck, make sure to push the crane all the way till the base of it sits flush and parallel with the platform it's on:



Next you want to use the ratchet joints in the crane arm to position it straight upwards. Move it to the ratchet position in the middle so the crane runs as parallel to the torso as possible. This is also a good time to extend the crane all the way to make it more impressive, but make sure you pull it all the way out till you hear a satisfying click and it's all secure.



Now it's time to focus on the claw. As per usual, insert the claw into the little peghole on the opposite side of the hook, as we're gonna use it as a tripod (quadropod?) for Grapple to balance on top of. Try and position the hook so it's roughly perpendicular with the rest of the crane and the claw faces the ground:



I also find it easier to balance the figure with the hook facing backwards compared to Grapple. Speaking of which, time to test your equilibrial prowess!

This is our moment of truth. Once you place Grapple on a nice, flat surface with the claw pointing downwards it's all about fine tuning and bending the crane by the hook. Once again, the crane should be as parallel to the torso as possible, with the ratchet joint being right in the middle. If you have the crane bent 90 degrees (it doesn't bend all the way both directions though), moving it 8 clicks upwards should do the trick (7 clicks if it's bent all the way in the other direction). There's enough play between the two teeth of the ratchet position for the figure to wiggle a bit, make sure the figure's weight is on the tooth facing forward compared to Grapple (you're good if your figure tilts forward a little, then stops). The ratchet tooth should be able to hold the figure's weight, just be gentle with it.

Now you should see something like this in front of yourself:



With the figure's weight resting on the ratchet tooth facing forwards (from Grapple's perspective), bend Grapple's crane up and down by the pin joint connecting his hook to it so you can find that sweet spot of balance. In my experience if you have the hook roughtly perpendicular to the crane, you only need to bend it backwards a few millimeters. This will require some fine tuning and caution, but with a few tries you'll have a Grapple up in the sky in no time!



Feel free to ask in case it doesn't work out. English isn't my mother tongue, so if parts of my instructions aren't clear it's most likely on me rather than you. Later I might even upload a video too if I'm not feelig lazy. Till then, have fun balancing your buildy boy!

Oh, and it's most likely a good idea to put Grapple into a pose of your liking before you manage to balance him.

 

ER Runabout comes with 2 guns. 1 is the same as the one with Runamuck. The other one looks very familiar. Like it came with another toy. Anybody have any idea where it might’ve come from?

here’s a pic. I’m talking about the top gun

 

For any Earthrise Megatron owners:

Do the ankle tilts click and secure into place like the Siege ones did?

 

Man I gotta get a new camera again.
Been doing it lazystyle with an iphone 8.

“Look at these cars. Look how they shine for you. And all the things you do....”

 

I’m not having any luck with mine, but I remember them being locked in when I took him out of the box. Unless the tabs are worn/weak already. I just tightened his ankle hinges today with superglue due to the ankles not locking in place

 

I'm beginning to think that they are not.

Siege had a definite CLICK that you could make happen by using 1 finger against the ankle. With ER, no matter what you do, they do not click at all; nor show any sign of a light click.

I'm guessing whatever remolding took place on the legs, or inside them, took that lock away.

Unless someone else can chime in here with their figure?

 

How much work was it? And did removing the faux wheels affect the transformation or balance at all? I'd definitely like to do that to my Battlechargers when I get them.