So, anyone else who might be in my shoes, shipping Unicron from the USA to Europe... can you offer some service that does NOT cost twice or three times the cost of Unicron?
It's ridiculous the money DHL or Fedex would want (1200-1800$), I mean I had the Red Dragon wall trophy shipped from the UK for far less and that thing came in a box far bigger than Unicron's.
And I do not understand USPS... their listings say GXG option "Total Length and Girth combined may not exceed 108 inches (274.32 cm)." - but then it does not accept a package 24 inch + 24 inch lenght and girth. Last I checked 24+24=48, not 108... WTF?
Can we maybe get to know how BBTS or TFSource shipped him without such ridiculous costs?

 

There is likely at least one other person: the one operating the camera, unless she was constantly walking back and forth and refocusing the camera herself. They may be a safe distance away, but it makes sense in present climate to promote safety on a public video to have the lady wearing a mask.

That’s a great looking figure and alt-mode. I think dealing with all that floppy plastic shell would drive me a bit nuts! Most of the complexity seemed to be dealing with that stuff, while the figure inside is relatively simple to transform.

 

Economy class seat on an airplane.

 

Well its on the truck for delivery but Fedex wont deliver today because "No Saturday Delivery" Which is BS. Was supposed to be here yesterday.

I'm calling Fedex to see if I can pick it up or get it escalated to delivery due to it being late. Seriously I have nobody to wait for it on Monday.

 

When moving the panels, did anyone else have an issue with them popping out of their hinges? They easily pop back in thankfully, but mild panic set in the first time it happened.

 

For something this size, it'll be ground shipping. Internationally, if you're using DHL or Fedex, it would be by air (in fact that's what Fedex is known for). That's where the cost is.

I'm not sure the specifics of it, but perhaps shipping by sea is possible. It's always the cheaper option, but I'm not sure how accessible it is to individuals except if you're moving.

 

Worlds biggest shell-former

 

Exactly! I had the same question when he arrived and really thought they'd include that here. Pretty big miss on their part.

 

I don't see why Hasbro bothered making a 15 minute video that shows an unclear and complex transformation I've seen done better in a less complicated way in less than 10 minutes via 'PrimeVsPrime' in February or even SharktimusPrime's slightly edited 5 minute transformation in late March.

If you want a slow video exploring the transformation in detail, PrimeVsPrime also did a longer transformation video at around 18 minutes long (out of the video) that actually talks you through all the different steps and warns you about specific tricky segments.

 

Having owned Unicron for almost two weeks, I've been giving this a bit of thought. Yes, Unicron is definitely the world's biggest shell-former. But in my opinion, it's also the best shell-former I've ever handled. Most people, including me, associate the term "shell-former" with negative connotations. However, I think the main reason for that is that most of the time shell-forming Transformers are not well done and don't have the necessary tolerancing to make the shell lock together perfectly. Unicron, on the other hand, has the requisite tolerancing (at least on my copy) to make a perfectly locking shell while not being difficult to do so. It results in a perfectly round sphere that doesn't take very much time to massage into shape, which in my opinion is quite an achievement.

The other negative aspect of "Shell-forming" is the kibble that the figure usually ends up wearing. This is more of a personal taste issue, but we all knew exactly what the kibble looked like on Unicron before we backed it, so I don't really get complaints about that. People shouldn't have backed it if that's an issue for them. Also, in person I just found that the kibble locking is done really well and the appearance bothered me even less than the pictures shown during the crowd funding process.

So, yes, Unicron is indeed the biggest shell-former ever. And I for one am very happy how it turned out.

 

Bugger off

 

Bet that cat freaked out at first... probably something along the lines of..."is my owner going to feed me to that thing"

 

By the way if I’m correct girth is the circumference of one side, so if a square all four sides of that square are added together (24+24+24+24=96), then you add the length (24) and you get a total of 120” - which is over the 108” as you were told.

About why BBTS and Tfsource etc. get much better rates for international shipping with FedEx or other couriers, is because companies like them can get a ‘business account’ with couriers, and so they must pay a monthly fee and stuff, but they get much better rates than if you or me used FedEx without a business account (around 4 times cheaper or so).

Finally, I want to add that I’m in Japan and I think I can ship surface to Europe for much cheaper than twice/3 times the cost of Unicron, using Japan Post surface shipping which has tracking service, and is much more cheaper than courier costs. Also Japan Post international rates are cheaper than USPS international rates, no matter what the country is.

I got my Unicron from backing through the Takaratomy Mall campaign, but I see a lot of them for sale now on the secondary market, sealed boxes. If anyone is interested in getting it shipped for less from Japan, let me know we can discuss it. I’m a serious collector but also sell on eBay regularly.

 

Quick question for those who have Unicron. I’m due to receive mine on Monday, but every picture I see of the planet mode has the head on a separate stand. Is there a way to store the head within the planet mode or is it not possible?

 

The head stays inside planet mode during transformation perfectly fine. People just like to display it out because it came with a stand.

 

Excellent, appreciate it

 

The head just comes in a separate baggie, but you can definitely transform it with the head connected.

 

It's actually at the last page about the stand. You basically have to fold out the bottom shells and tuck that panel inside. I mistakenly let it jut out but that can be dangerous considering how heavy the figure is. If you need further details I think you can check one of PrimevsPrime videos. It's a stupid thing they left out. I actually thought I was being a dumbass because I couldn't figure out what looks so easy in the manual.

 

What part? You can leave the head in and Unicron is still transformable even with the wings attached. It is just easier with it removed.