As long as the combiner looks nice and stable I'm in (which everything so far looks very promising).

 

I think it all comes down to how Kaen transforms. I'm betting his torso is a big sandwich press of panels. The arms look like the box on the roof of his altmode and I'm thinking the panel form body shapes around his legs and he ports into the splayed out combiner hips. So like the Kaen part of his alt mode is like a box where you see the chest only, and the carriage is combiner pants.

I can't wait to see the anti-pants posters when they find out one of the individual bots is parts forming

 

why are ya’ll making this so deep lmao

Kaen is very obviously the whole pants with no partsforming besides maybe the combined head and chest plate

a real complaint I’d bring up is idk about those combined shoulder joints they don’t look anywhere near as sturdy as Zeta Bruticus and Superions

 

Looks promising. Still not decided if I will get this or the Takara. I can buy two of this vs only one of Takara version. Decisions decisions. Anyone would prefer this over Takara because of the price?

 

Since it's a post-S3 bot I'm personally not interested in an MP Raiden, but having to choose between this and the official one, I'd be 100% on board with Moon Studio.

 

I'm not a huge fan of these Headmasters cartoons, but these figures look pretty solid and I like trains, especially Astrotrain.  

 

Still no word on an actual release date?

 

So this will be my first and most likely last and only Zeta/Moon Studios purchase.

This is everything - or almost everything - I don't like about combiners.
None of my other combiners are this big.
Totally not a fan of toon accuracy - can't stand that.
Then there's the question about partsforming, pantsforming, or all Kaen. I don't like pantsforming, won't buy a combiner with that.
Partsforming is acceptable to a certain degree. Just depends.

The original Diaclone toy depends on partsforming, such a huge part of it!

However, I am all in on this guy because he is one thing I do want: a 3rd party Raiden!!
Definitely don't like the TT version.
Outside of the torso debate with Kaen and possibly Shouki, he doesn't seem to partsform like the original toy.
So he's a win for me.

Can't wait to get the first two guys!

 

We are all so different brother…because this thing looks to have everything I want in a combiner. I can’t find a single compromise I will be making by picking this guy up. I don’t have a huge connection to the character, but I expect this to be my favorite MP Combiner.

 

I know this has been brought up before but I am surprised they could do a little more to hide Kaen's chest panel in alt mode. Once painted it's going to look odd. I am guessing his chest must have some structural purpose. If not, couldn't they have put a hinge plus a swivel so that they could flip it over in alt mode and display train panels on the other side?

 

Looking at the prototype pics I think the back of Kaen's chest is Raiden's front hip skirts. At the bottom of Kaen's stomach I believe is the hinge it flips on then the extra panels fold out from it to make it wider. With the the back of the center of his chest would be the groin then the back of the sides of his chest the inner panel of the waist skirt and the outer panel folding out from behind the chest. EDIT: Looking at the alt mode too it looks like the outer panel of the waist skirt does exactly what you suggest. It appears to be folded out with some train side look on the back of that part since it would be inside the chest in bot mode and the back of the waist skirt in combined mode.

 

got it. I see what you are saying now.

 

Not to harsh your mello, dude, but almost every single combiner ever made relies on partsforming to some capacity. Combining in of itself is form of partsforming, as a matter of fact. The only one that I know of the has fully integrated hands and feet is that Ocular Max Bruticus that came out a year or two ago.

Also, I wouldn't worry about scale, you'll end up spending waking nights in bed frothing at the mouth about how a jeep and a space shuttle are the same size.

 

Thanks!

 

Nice, I'm getting Unique Toys Octane vibes from that transformation, which isn't a bad thing. Also, great use of panel-forming, at least it all seems intuitive.

 

That video cemented my excitement for this set. My only wish was that the alt modes were a little longer. They look a little squat/chibi. Oh well. Everything else looks aces, and the transformation had enough interesting bits to not be just "lay robot down, unfold panels".

 

Really looking forward to seeing how this pans out with Kaen. The engineering involved must be bordering on sorcery! Hoping that (aside from just pulling off the incredible 3 mode transformation) the hips and thighs in combined mode will be strong enough with great articulation as well.