I've tried to disassemble the white abdomen, and pink waist parts, with no luck. The waist is very securely glued together as well as screwed, and that seemed to hold the abdomen together as well. The upper ball joint is easily accessible, but is a strange design, where what appears to be the ball is actually a socket, holding a smaller, horizontal ball joint. This means, you can't just pop out the upper ball joint, in hopes of accessing the lower one. I've tried flexing the abs in every direction in hopes of getting some kind of access to that lower one, but I can't see any way without breaking open the waist. Which I do not feel is worth doing. It's definitely supposed to be an ab crunch. And in the grand scheme of things, the backpack really isn't that heavy. The upper ball joint actually has a lot of range backwards, but holds forward totally fine, so it's not a weight issue. If the lower joint was even just a bit more right, it would hold fine. Juts more confused why one is SO tight, and the other so loose.
Incredible posing skills man. This figure is actually quite fun to handle, kind of like MP-29/40. All the others are great, amazing even. But these are just "fun" to me for some reason. Crazy for a character I have no attachment to. It is, however, extremely well done. High hopes for Starscream!
I was trying to figure out how some of you guys could tilt the hips from side to side on her and my figure couldn't. So I decided to open her by just removing one screw in the front underneath the chest plate. Please have a look and please be careful with her as I do see a stress mark. All I had to do was to loosen the tiny screws in the white section and that made the movement much easier. I hope this does not lead to somebody breaking their masterpiece figure. Still a great figure though just look at what natural lighting does.
I'm playing around with her bot mode for the first time, and I'm just a little unclear as to the waist and upper torso articulation. Is all the articulation coming from the ball joint below her waistline? Just a swivel, no ratchets, right? Edit: I should also add ....I have never been THIS blown away by the articulation and posing abilty/ease of a figure. I hope THAT storyline gains more traction and veers away from the chest situation because these TT designers TRULY deserve their kudos for it. Amazing
Well, after DHL almost delivered her to my old address halfway across the country, I finally got my Arcee today! Very excited to join in on the fun you all have been having in this thread.
I mean, come on......really?!?!?! Amazing. She literally just fell into this pose whilst playing around with the various joints.
Another pic. Haven't figured out her balancing game yet so she's being displayed in this pose temporarily, let me make that clear
The trick is the thigh swivel above the knee. Lets you spread her legs slightly more or less than you pose might need, but correct the aesthetic so you can't tell. Counterbalances any tipping
It's also super important that you use the massive rivot in the ankle to rock the foot/ankle forward and/or backwards to help find the zero degree balance. The tippie toes really dont do much in this regard. You can basically get the figure to stand on that section from heel to ball of foot. Easily; but you just need to use that big rivet to rock fwd and/or back. I've been doing so on crappy wood snack table all afternoon with no issue. You'll get it.
@Snaku Few pages back i was talking about a picture i saw about a photoshop for Arcee's face. Found it: I dont know who i can give credits for, but its definitely a good one to try out and create as an alternative face.
Well my MP-51 Arcee came in today, and in classic fashion the default face has a jacked up nose. I can't tell if the paint just bubbled up and ran down over the corners or if the factory worker jammed the face into the underside of the car and crushed/dinged it. Not sure what to do. The rest of the figure is fine. Well the concerned face has a tiny black spot on one of the eyes, but nothing as bad as this. I am worried that a return would result in a worse figure. I wonder if someone could do a custom job and fix it. @BrutiKing Would you be up for tackling it? For a commission of course. To anyone else - Be careful stuffing the head up in car mode/remove the face before transforming like with Megatron.
I'm going to jump back in with some more positive posts about this figure. It's really called for in my opinion. But for me, THIS figure sums up everything that is right about Takara and their team of magicians. Truly. They really "get" what makes a figure feel alive, fluid and natural. From both the transformation to the end results in both modes, they hit each and every note like a finely tuned jazz trio. I can also see why they probably never gave the chest a second thought, because once you get lost in the sea of amazement over what this figure can do in bot mode, you quite literally never look at the chest again. This was the case for me at least. I would never force feed my personal opinions on others, but I would love to see public message forums generate the same amount of positivity towards things as it does negative. I understand that this is nature of how things usually work; but again, a LOT of love went into this figure and it's super important that these things are acknowledged first and foremost before rushing onto the things we do not like. I always felt Skullface was a victim of this. I enjoy his reviews tremendously because I enjoy the command he has over the English language and he is an overall great orator. That said, he will go on endlessly over what is NOT good, and quite literally say "and that's fine" to the things that should be commended more. Anyway, I digress. MP-51 is the real winner today. Go forth and enjoy.
Overall, it looks great. I still think it needs some shadow above the eyes, like a med-dark grey. Not black like the MP-51's official faces.
Yup that's my opinion in a nutshell as well. That's how I feel about Bee V2. Yes his feet suck but once I start posing him I just don't care and he looks exactly like Bee from the toon on my shelf next to Prime V3. TT have incredible sculpts with a lot of character. Can't wait for Starscream! He may be my new favourite!
I think I'm getting pretty close (currently working on the cutouts to make it fit MP51's head). Eyes are a little wider on mine, especially toward the center (referenced the character model for that), nose is shaped differently, lips are more angular/robotic, and chin isn't quite as pointy. I dunno', should I square up the nose a bit more or make the chin pointier? Yeah, they gave her really heavy mascara. I'm fine with how dark it is but the lines should probably be thinner.
