yours have resistance to the point of flexing? um...wow. my copy was smooth all the way. that piece holds in any position but dose not take effort to pivot. and after transforming back and fourth a few times every thing is still snug but the super tight joints hav calmed down...lol the only part of the whole figure i find concerning is the plastic rod that holds the die-cast hip joint and leg to the crotch. even after applying lube i can still see it twisting slightly when ever i move the legs/transform. no cracks or stress marks its just wiggily? like ls13 inner calf/lower leg. must be all the new extra weight from all the new diecast. damn i love this thing

 

The ends of those arches have a pin joint that lets you fold the red light inward. That joint should be able to fold flush. Then it's a matter of getting the arches to tuck inside the legs ... which, to be fair, is a pain in the ass. You have to pre-rotate the arches so that they'll fit inside the inner leg piece, before you start tabbing all of it together.

The other thing to note is that the arch pieces are supposed to be on working ball joints. I say supposed to, because one of mine is so tight that it doesn't move. If the ball joints don't work, then the yellow piece will eventually strip out from the pin holding it inside the ball, and you may not be able to tell the difference until it's too late. Definitely lube the ball joint if it isn't moving; the test for this is if you can wiggle the ball joint side to side in addition to rotating the arch piece.

Order of operations is: rotate knee joint down and away from the yellow knee cap. Tab in inner leg panel to knee. Pre-position the knee cap and silver shin panel, then slowly rotate knee joint up until the matching yellow tab is correctly aligned with the shin panel dangling from the knee cap. (You may need to rotate the knee cap a bit to make sure that it's 100% aligned.) Carefully tab them together (this was the most common source of breakage on the smaller mold). If you've done it right, the fender arch on the outer leg panel should already be half-tucked inside the inner leg panel, then it's just a matter of closing it up and tabbing the whole thing together securely (there are multiple tabs connecting the outer leg panel to the inner leg panel, the silver shin piece, and the knee joint).

 

Thank you so much!!
I greatly appreciate the in depth breakdown. From what you described it’s possibly one of the ball joints might be stuck so I’ll definitely have to look into that and oil it. Much appreciated!

 

Got mine sorted, thanks for the tips!

 

You’re a life saver! Worked like a charm.
Put some shock oil in there and they moved ALOT more freely, you’re absolutely right that they were just rotating on the pin.

 

So basically you want the ball joint to also rotate when rotating the arch piece, right? I can't seem to get mine that way. I can get it to wiggle with the arch piece but not rotate.

 

The oil / silicone are black magic.  

 

So at this point, what is the consensus on quality? We had a lot of people reporting QC issues initially, but that seems to have tapered off some. Are we ready to call this guy, one way or the other? Is he generally defective, or generally fine?

 

I didn't saw issues, I think the quality in overall is pretty good.

 

Yes; it's a pinned piece inside of a ball, so if the ball doesn't move, the pin strips the yellow plastic. This appears to be a new issue with the upscale, as both of the TC-02 copies I have didn't have this problem.

I think it's too soon to call. Remember that the breakages on TC-02 happened both immediately, and over time.

I think the biggest issue on CE-01 are the stiff ball joints. If you don't lube them, they can seize and cause pieces to break. For me, the ball joints on the window wings, and the rear wheel arches/fenders are the biggest issues, but you should probably lube any ball joint that feels stiff. I don't recall any of those joints being an issue on the original figure, though there were other ball joints that had problems (the thumbs in particular).

Other than that, I've been transforming it pretty regularly, and all the other joints seem fine so far. Even the silver shin pieces, which were the most fragile part of the original figure, aren't showing stress marks yet. I think it's too soon to say that there won't be stress marks in the future, but so far anything that isn't a ball joint seems fine.

 

Say, any recommended decals for the autobot symbol on his head? I was thinking of trying to find a movie-accurate black autobot logo or somethin' rather

 

I will tell you when I receive the black logos! I have lots of different colours but the black ones is the first time that a buy them. Very cheap and good quality.

1.58US $ 20% OFF|45pcs Mini Transformation Decepticons Autobots G1 Transfer sticker Symbol Decal for Custom DIY Toys Accessories Decoration|Transformer/Robot| - AliExpress

 

got mine today, no experience with the TC one, so thought id share some thoughts. first thing that struck me was the weight, wasnt expecting as much metal as there is, the LEDs were a pain to sort (you really need to make sure the batteries are touching eachother) and the head is a pain to reassemble. also went through the forum and lubed everything people have had issues and concerns with (inc some overly tight joints) and now hes great   just finished transforming him and its prob the most nerve-racking transformations ive done XD robot basically turns inside out. looks amazing in both modes though, no breakages so far either, though i did have difficulty folding the tail light in for bot mode. def worth £60

 

I tap in front, where the logo is placed. Works the same.

 

Just got mine in the mail.
Transformed it once into VW mode without trouble.
Read all the stuff on here and I checked every ball joint, they all moved perfectly fine, no resistance at all.

Went to go transform him back into robot mode......the back fender piece pops clean off the ball joint.
I was starting to enjoy the figure too. A shame, now I've just got a sour taste in my mouth.

 

Popped off or broke off? If popped of a ball joint it's no big deal right? Just pop it back on?

 

lol I wish it was just the ball joint but no it came off the pin. Ball's still hanging out in the socket.

 

yeah, that was one for the first things i lubricated. might be able to glue it back in, but lubricate the ball before gluing it and let it cure for 24 hours after gluing. hope you can get it fixed up.

 

Got mine too and probably won't transform him for awhile. First impression is he is beautiful, in feel and weight. Gonna need their BB Prime.

 

Do you have any recommendations for a glue to use?