Ok.. finally bit the bullet.. and pre-ordered the 3K Rodimus (normal version) from Taobao... since D4Toys doesn't ship to Australia, and my local suppliers are WAY overpriced (at least by AUD$150 ~ USD$100). Now, just have to pre-order the Star Saber...
Got mine yesterday too, and I concur, it is indeed beautiful! Damn, that box is HUGE. I see why most places are charging over 10k yen for shipping. Its a little overwhelming at first, seven trays of parts between the 3 boxes. Took me over an hour just to get everything opened up, and each member mostly assembled. I was not expecting each member to be fully painted, especially the subtle pearl white. Paint work, all around, on mine was perfect. Nice, bright, and glossy. Lots of really tight joints on all 3 figures, especially the diecast ones. Speaking of, not as much diecast as I was expecting, but it's all used smartly. Went through one full combination, a little posing, then uncombining. I found the large, add on torso filler/reinforcement part completely unnecessary. The instructions, and Sentinel blog even say you don't have to use, only of you feel more structural integrity is needed. I also did not feel the little side clamps between R2 and 3 were needed. There's definitely some mild frustrations, and some fiddliness, but once you have everything combined, SRX is surprisingly solid. And dense. All the joints are very strong, and mostly ratcheted. You need to support the surrounding parts when trying to bend the knee, or rotate the shoulder, for example. As mentioned above, you must hold the thighs together anytime you move the leg, which the instructions point out. And it not because those connections are weak, its just because the ratchets are that sturdy. I did not have the issue with the lower legs coming off. Hip articulation is somewhat limited, mostly because of R3's feet. I suspect if you pop them off, you could get more range, but I haven't tried it yet. Theres some limited waist rotation. The arms have decent, free range, and the wrists even flex up and down and left and right. No problems at all holding that giant sword! Honestly, so far, very impressed. Like most Sentinel stuff, I still think it's slightly overpriced. But, absolutely no QC issues on my set, everything feels great, and works like it should. I was slightly apprehensive about how partsformery it was. But having it in hand, it's easy to see why thet was pretty much the only way it would work. I'm most impressed that, the combined SRX still uses the actual parts from the individual members, instead of dedicated, compeltley add on parts.
Nice review. A little worried since the only review so far on YT shows that it’s a fiddly and wobbly mess. All the pics I’ve seen so far have the combined robot in a stiff A stance. Is it not stable when doing any kind of dynamic poses for the lower body?
I'll take some more pics tomorrow. But, because of the limited hips, "dynamic" might be stretching it, haha. But I did not feel it was wobbly or unstable at all.
From the promo pics these may be as dynamic as it can get. DHL is supposed to deliver mine today. Probably won’t mess with it until I have some time.
As promised. Now, don't get me wrong, you can't just pick this guy up and pose him like an action figure. But he is certainly stable, in my experience. The one spot I can see people have some trouble with is the feet, specifically the "toes". They fold a few degrees up past flat, so it can lead to minor rocking back and forth. But as long as you keep the feet firmly planted, he's fine. I'll probably look into seeing if I can tighten them up a bit.
Nice! I was worried about the ankle tilt but your pics cleared that up for me Mine was shipped EMS by HLJ so its stuck in origin post
That's thanks to Sentinels blog: 『【4.SRX編】RIOBOT変形合体 SRX ＆ R-3パワード 製品レビュー』 You can rotate the ankle joint to get more ankle tilt. Or leave it as is, to allow some forward and back tilt.
Knees bend a full 90, but that's the extent of the hips. R3's shoulders get in the way. Also, just realized I have R2's feet backwards on the shoulders. Oops.
Got mine yesterday, I very much prefer them in their individual forms, but the combined mode ain't too bad either. Surprisingly solid and sturdy despite being insanely parts-formy Let's take a moment to appreciate the insanely good shoulder, elbow and wrist joints he has to be able to hold that sword in position without it drooping due to gravity.
