Just got him!

As others have mentioned, I had a hell of a time getting the red face on. I immediately tried unscrewing it like had been suggested here but it looked like there was also glue holding the plate to the face, so I didn't want to mess with it.

I ended up using an xacto knife to shave the tiniest hair off the top of the slot (on the body, not the face) and then it fit perfectly.

The alt mode is a complete waste but this is otherwise a great figure.

 

It was likely tight but not glued. Maybe some paint acted like glue.

 

Forgive an ignorant question, but am I missing a way to lock in the top of his "egg" head in robot mode? That it just rattles around loosely up there drives me crazy.

 

You’re not missing it. It does not lock in, unfortunately.

 

Nuts. Thanks for the response!

 

Never found any in the wild due to them being 1 per case and people buying them all up for needing to own 3-5 for some reason. They are way too damned expensive online. Guess I'm SOL for these things. Oh well...

 

Finally got around to fiddling with this guy. Super happy we have a Quintesson! Please excuse my shoddy blurry photos!

I know people have expressed frustration with attaching the masks, but after I realized that you hook it from the extended top flap first, it was super easy. I like the nice touch of the random moving mouths. A detail that wasn't necessary, but neat just the same. Transforming gimmick aside, I think he's a good representation of the season 3 baddies. Pairs real well with the Alicon as intended. Even my son, blurred in the background, is fixing to snatch them both up!

During the transformation process, I thought this looked like a neat Quintesson rocket. Secret 3rd mode revealed!

I've always have been a fan of cage/jail/prisons for my action figures (I swear it's not a fetish!). Loved the G.I. Joe Headquarters jail when I was a kid, as did I love the Death Star Trash Compactor (even though it's more of a trap). It fits in theme with the Quintessons 'justice system'.


The 'base mode' is...well...I guess it's OK? Maybe from an adult collector perspective, it's not as clever as it probably sounded on the drawing board. However, I can imagine my 8-10 year old self using the hell out of it just for the (I SWEAR its not a thing!) prison. I decided to utilize my Slitherfangs to expand on this 'playset', and it helps a bit.

I'm glad to have picked this guy up. As much as I tried to stay disciplined to just Season 1 cast, I really do love elements of Season 3/The Movie that made this an easy purchase. One is enough for me!

 

One of my quints fell from my computer desk and the top of his crown broke. I think it’s the judgement face. I guess for head canon I’ll say it’s a assassination attempt. Still got two retail judges and the puke exclusive coming in so I’m not too bothered by it. Never transformed these things...

 

oh, word. The puke exclusive.

 

Just got mine and the red face won't connect. What a thoroughly badly designed toy. I suspect many people have returned this QC nightmare.

Here's how I fixed mine:

1/ Unscrew the backplate of the red face with a screwdriver.


2/ Separate the red face from the backplate, by using (for example) a flat-headed screwdriver to pry them apart. You might encounter some resistance, due to several "pegs" and peg-holes (also acting as support beams) helping to keep the face and backplate connected. I snapped one of these but it was no problem at the end.


3/ While both the grey connector (on the main body) is flat against the body, insert "Peg 1" (at the top of the backplate), at an angle and push/angle it in and down (in a kind of "L" motion). You'll know it when it works. Then push down on "Peg 2" and it'll attach.


4/ Now, simply screw it back up tightly and it's good to go.

 

Anybody still happen to have Energon Alpha Quintesson and could post a side by side with the Earthrise Judge?

 

like a couple of others I just got round to opening up my judge, hadn’t paid attention when it was released and struggled with the faces for about 10 minutes before deciding I must be doing something wrong or might break it.
Started at the beginning of the thread and boy was I not disappointed by the “friendly” interactions of fellow passionate collectors, listening to each other and working through the issue with positive collaboration

however by page 3 I looked at the tab and hinge you have to click the face onto closer in a different way and ....
BAM BAM
both faces clipped on in a few seconds with little effort or force.

came to the end of the thread and primalxconvoy s post with the “L” diagram is exactly how I’d figured it out, the instructions are useless on this and where the top of the face clips into the hinge is not how standard clips like this fit on toys hence people using force or just giving up and removing the tab and glue instead.
No-one did anything wrong except Hasbro with their instructions
The instructions telling you to line up the tabs and then just push down flat out isn’t possible with the tolerance and flexibility/give on the plastic chosen for mass production. Maybe the initial prototypes had a softer plastic that would allow the face to be pushed on, but they messed up on this one - bit like hiding at the very end of the instructions how to attach the stand correctly to haslab unicron.
Now back to my judge... thanks fellow collectors for all the tips though I would never have got there on my own and would have resorted to modification and glue I am sure!

 

Yeah I got one of these cheap a week or two back and had no issue getting the faces on. Took about two minutes maybe? Just hooked the upper clip under the latch and then applied pressure and it popped right in.

Still a pretty crap toy though. Mine also has super warped tentacles so they’re all pointing off to the left of the centered face.

Definitely not worth $30 though. The Quintesson and Megatron never got released in this state, so online was the only option. Thank heavens for the crushed box discount. $18 is much better.

 

Can the faces be changed around at all? I.e. the order.

This does look good, they're on offer at my local Smyths. Been thinking, the prison cell is a missed opportunity, they should have filled it in and coloured it to look like the Journal.

 

They can. It’s not a feature of the toy, but you can slide the pin out, swap faces, and put the pin back in. It’s discussed somewhere back in this thread. I put them in post-movie order because they spent a lot more screen time that way.

 

Yes, you can push the pin out with a screwdriver and exchange the faces EXCEPT for Death since he alone uses a different design. I arranged the faces according to the cartoon series.

 

That’s is, assuming he made it to shelves.......I got mine from Amazon, we it never appeared on shelves here

 

I got mine......anyone else have a hard time getting Suspicion and Wrath on? I had to unscrew the back of Wrath’s face, attach the back, then put the face back together and re screw the back......

That being said......I may grab another down the road, as I know the Judges worded in tandem.......now we just need the Prosecutor released in mass retail, as well as the executer and scientist.......

 

I did that with my Wrath face

 

Finally found one of these at a not too horrible price. I really like it, I got lucky and my faces snapped on really quick, thanks to the advice in this thread. I love that this design is finally an official release.

One thing that bothers me though, is the package art head order not matching the final release order. I fully understand that I can easily change the order myself, but I shouldn't have to. I feel like the art and production departments didn't communicate properly with each other. This is akin to Hasbro wanting to release "Rumble" as a red and black cassette, but the artist saying "Rumble is the purple cassette in the cartoon, so that's how I'll colour him", and no one along the way noticed the contradiction, and the item releases with a purple Rumble on the box, but a black and red toy inside.

They should have reached *consensus* before production started, is all I'm saying. I don't care which order they are in, movie or TV show, but it should have been the same on the box art.