X-Transbots MX-27 Janssen (Masterpiece Perceptor)

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by Grifter Prime, Aug 12, 2021.

  1. BIOMEC

    BIOMEC Terrorcon, aka "Ratchetman"

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  2. voodazzed

    voodazzed Well-Known Member

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    Maybe Mrs Skullface should do the transformations. She is very smart and could probably figure transformations on the first go without the gorilla hands lol
     
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  3. BIOMEC

    BIOMEC Terrorcon, aka "Ratchetman"

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    Most of his hardcore fans are sheep

    I think metal on metal is not a good idea for tabs.
     
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  4. voodazzed

    voodazzed Well-Known Member

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    How the fight would have gone down if Wrecker Perceptor was at Autobot City. lol




    [​IMG]




    [​IMG]
     
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  5. Illiterate Scholar

    Illiterate Scholar Well-Known Member

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    I ranted about this in another thread, but I think a lot of companies are misusing diecast metal in their figures. I much rather have my joints be diecast than a giant slab of metal inserted elsewhere just because they can. I can understand adding it to the feet for stability, but companies should focus on strong joints for figures meant to be manipulated a lot. The funny thing is that all my figures with diecast have a giant piece of diecast metal on an area that doesn't need it. If they made that out of plastic and used the diecast on the main joints, they wouldn't even need to use as much metal. Probably would have lowered the cost and added some extra strength to the figure.
     
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  6. voodazzed

    voodazzed Well-Known Member

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    I get the impression that companies hapharzardly slap diecast on their figures to give the figure "heft" that most collectors attribute to quality.
     
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  7. Jersey_Steel

    Jersey_Steel Realist

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    Pretty much. I bet if it weren't for that stigma, they would me mostly if not all plastic.
     
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  8. ShmoopsMcGoo

    ShmoopsMcGoo Well-Known Member

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    i'm just waiting for someone to make all-metal weapons for no real beneficial reason other than stupid heft...wait *stares at Takara Ironhide drill/weapon sitting in the corner*
     
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  9. MV Steve

    MV Steve Well-Known Member

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    This is common sense as far as I'm concerned but your detailed instructions and pics are great which will help a lot of people, I hope! While not the strongest nor a robust area, its certainly not paper thin so I can't understand the pics with an arm laying loose and the surrounding area in pieces. It makes me envision someone grabbing the arm and swiftly pulling it expecting the assembly to flip right out without having checked anything for clearance.
    20220120_160714.jpg

    As others mentioned, make sure the little panel in his chest is in the correct orientation and it sits pretty flat. I still didn't like that it wasnt sitting totally flat and looking into it (on my copy anyway) the hook shaped hinge piece connecting the abs and chest which rests on that panel in his chest, was pulling down too tight on the panel preventing it from going down and in further letting the chest panel rest flat in place. I shaved down the paint and some plastic to give the parts clearance and it sits flat now.
    20220120_163808.jpg 20220120_164052.jpg

    I posted some pics about this some pages back. Those flip out side panels under the arms have a stopper edge that keeps the torso up and locked in place. They are rather small and can easily be knocked out of place or even work themselves out of place by normal handling even when not touching those panels at all. There's a couple ways you can open a panel to get access inside and push those panels outward so the edges do what they're supposed to.
     
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  10. Illiterate Scholar

    Illiterate Scholar Well-Known Member

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    Oh definitely. Planet X Cacus has a BIG piece of diecast metal for shoulder pauldrons. It's heavy, dense, but serves no real purpose. I'm willing to bet a single piece of the shoulder pauldron has enough metal to be made into the arm joints for the figure. Cacus has QC issues with the right arm breaking out of the box for folks not keeping track of that figure. The diecast could have been spent there to reinforce the figure. It's actually maddening when you see all the strange decisions made in a lot of figures, 3rd party or official.
     
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  11. SteveP1981

    SteveP1981 Well-Known Member

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    Thanks, @MV Steve This is exactly what I suspected. I'll make the same little mod that you did.
     
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  12. Curium

    Curium Well-Known Member

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    Pushing that flap in seems so counter intuitive to me. I assume you are right (don't have mine yet), but I would have never figured that out on my own.

    That drill weapon (along with the Shadow Fisher I think was the company upgrade kit) is what finally got me to buy MP Ironhide. Not because it was diecast, just that the accessory existed. If not for that being added to the reissue the newest cartoon character MP I would have is MP Star Saber.
     
  13. zark225

    zark225 Talon Productions on YouTube

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    Got mine in today! I haven't messed with him too much or transformed, but aside from some joints being a bit more loose than I would like he is fantastic.
     
  14. Decepticon13

    Decepticon13 Well-Known Member

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    Mine arrived today. The satinish red paint is a little "blah" but he looks good despite that. No problems with mine out of the box either. I like him enough that I don't need the Fanstoys version.

    20220120_201626.jpg 20220120_201617.jpg
    received_633349584653784.jpeg
     
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  15. Optimus Prime23

    Optimus Prime23 Lighting our Darkest Hour

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    D9720FAF-0EC8-4816-8426-803464DF3C22.gif
     
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  16. OptimusTimelord

    OptimusTimelord Masterpiece Reanimator

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    [​IMG]

    I'm probably a little late to the party, but FWIW this is my first X-TB figure in a while (it was a tough call between this and FT, but Janssen won me over with the accessories and details like the little red wheel parts on the forearms in alt mode). I got FT Rig in the same delivery and to be honest he was more of an afterthought, it was Perceptor I was more excited for.

    My observations are more for those who haven't bought/opened him yet, as I'm sure everyone else in this thread has said most of this already... First impression was that he felt extremely solid and pretty much FT-level as I took him out the box. Design-wise he looks spot on. Finish is very premium. Accessories, as expected, very nice. I'd gladly take more of those mini figures. And price of course is a bargain!

    The negatives come with transformation, and for me are all engineering issues which could easily have been avoided. Loads of fiddly flaps in the chest for example, which aren't actually a problem themselves but some are tricky to get into the correct position because there's no natural stopping points to keep them flush in place. More an annoyance than anything. Where it all goes wrong is the legs of microscope mode, which are expected to stay in position via just a flap of plastic slotting (not securely tabbing or clicking) into a gap in the thigh. Using a break in the thigh to bend the lower leg forward, rather than the knee joint, creates another similar issue where the two parts just don't tab together anything like as securely as needed to support all that metal. And in bot mode the thighs like to ease apart at the break when handling him, again as the weight of the lower legs pulls at them. Microscope mode itself looks great, it's just a shame those legs don't hold together if you try to move it!

    So all in all I love how he looks, but he isn't going to be any fun to handle or transform. I honestly can't say whether he's better or worse than FT's new version, but having already had Tesla v.1 years ago I have no intention of buying a third MP Perceptor (short of an official TT) to find out.

    (incidentally, Rig by comparison has been an unexpectedly fun little figure who I like much more than I thought I would!)
     
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  17. Optimus Prime23

    Optimus Prime23 Lighting our Darkest Hour

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    Are you chassis shaming, bro?
     
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  18. Darthmarto

    Darthmarto Well-Known Member

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    So I got mine yesterday. I love him. As for the transformation. No issues. Now I’ve no doubt there’s some qc issues kicking around. And I’m one of those weirdos who transforms all my figures constantly. In this case I was aware of certain things and over the years have learned not to force shit
    Now I’m no apologist. I had two xtb stunticons break the same bloody day. And there’s a couple of design choices I wonder about, and hence I’ll be interested to see fanstoys transformation. But it’s still a pretty epic figure I reckon that really pushes fanstoys. I still like fanstoys above all, but xtb lifting their game is good for everyone.
    As for BSF, that dude is a stress tester. I value his opinions for what they are: opinions. I don’t think he is dishonest about that. No doubt he was shitty he had a bad qc one, but I think he has to admit that the effort xtb are bringing is really great. And whilst qc still needs improvement, I think we are seeing that improvement, slowly but surely, over the figures being released. After Jocund I was sold on Janssen and I am not disappointed, especially for the price and a character who is a microscope
     
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  19. Jim1981

    Jim1981 Well-Known Member

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    So for the first time in 3 years, DHL lost my package at the sorting center... Hopefully they'll find it soon!
     
  20. franpincho

    franpincho NOT a FT Only collector

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    Received mine last night. Zero problems out of the box, this thing looks amazing. I will transform it (maybe, I think the alt mode for preceptor sucks) this weekend. Looks great, and it fits my need for this completely irrelevant and pathetic character.

    lol at spending $100 more for a representation of this irrelevant son of a bitch.
     
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