Is there a comprehensive list of things to "inspect" for?

 

StrifeZ, check the red joint in the shoulders for cracks and the foot joints too. Try to look at all the places with pins.

FakeEyes22, I see you also had trouble with this release. Its too late for me , I did not investigate enough before buying it and getting it mailed.

 

Just to be a ray of sunshine in here for those thinking of picking him up. I grabbed a second one ( to add paint apps to make him closer to the Japanese version ) and it so far appears to be problem free. So I got two good ones in a row. The only issue is a gap in the chest in bot mode between the hood and his upper chest. Seems to have something to do with the way it seats after spinning it around. It all lines up perfect in car mode though which my first one didn't. I think it's an engineering thing and it's a case of either/or.

 

PLaces for issues.

Major:
1) Center ankle pin - need to open Roddy to see this but only undo the legs ties.
2) Shoulder pin - this is possible to be seen from the top of the clear box. Could be mold flash or it could be a break.

Minor:
Basically anywhere there is a pin, but I've seen boot pins that place the boot out of position. And I've had a stripped screw at the wrist forearm.

Aside from the usual, paint and mold flash the worst offenders for this toy are the ankle and shoulder joints. If those are OK, you're probably going to be ok outside the usual TF paint/pin issues IMHO.

 

Stress marks, particularly on the red plastic in the ankle and shoulder joints, would be a big indicator. If you're in a position where a replacement would be easily available, I recommend turning and tugging at the ankles and shoulders the way you would feel comfortable while transforming a regular Voyager figure. I pulled the remaining arm on my broken Rodimus with the intent of ripping it off and it wouldn't budge. My new Rodimus seems solid all over.

From what I can tell, if these things are going to break, it's going to happen right away within a Transformation or 2.

 

I was able to find one at my closest TRU, and exchanged it.
EDIT: I jsut opened him, and thankfully, his arm didn't snap off what taking him out of the box. I've switched his face to the Hot Rod one, and that's the extent of the transforming I'm doing. Part of me is afraid that trying to transform him will upset me.

 

I'm glad it seems okay. If you decide to transform him, or even if you don't, I'll once again recommend posts 338 and 425 in this thread for avoiding frustration and enjoying Rodimus to the fullest extent.

 

Same here, no gap on hood in car mode but got gap in the robot mode. I have already tried to loose the 2 screws at the yellow part as suggsted by LATETFFAN on Page 29 but it does not work at all.

Can anyone suggest how to open the hood part right below the head where the spring sits in? I can only open the low part of hood (near stomach) but not the upper parts as there are no screws at al.

I am thinking there is something wrong with the spring?

 

I think the spring is fine. It seems like there is an alignment issue. At most, you can fix the bot mode gap, but then you'll have the car mode gap. If you wiggle the lower chest forward, the gap closes. It just won't stay that way.

 

All this while, I was thinking it is the spring alignment causing problem.

Just check the counterpart Takara version and in robot mode, the hood are fully closed at both the front hood and the behind yellow piece.

Seem like loosen the screw at the yellow part (behind the hood) is not working for me.

 

Okay I was considering getting this guy, but it sounds like he'll break if I just put him on my desk....

Is the Rodimus Prime Takara rerelease later this month supposed to fix this? Because I'm not really interested in an ongoing drama with the TRU exclusive, or his arm breaking off 3 years from now.

 

Well, like Fake eyes was saying, it seems like "if he's going to break, he's gonna do it right out of the box."

Honestly, I don't know how the Takara version doesn't have these problems. But really, there is a lot to like here, the gun seems to have more/better paint apps and Offshoot is awesome.

IMHO, the mold is already getting old and I can't see how later Takara releases don't suffer from this. And top off the fact that I would in no way advise mail ordering this MP, Takara or not.

 

The red plastic used in the shoulder and feet of the US release feels hard and fragile. The japanese one has those pieces cast in the same black plastic of the other half of the joint, and is more durable, having myself kinda manhandled those joints for a while. Hasbrois so cheap, Im never buying a masterpiece released by them.

 

Yup. Had to take mine back today. Left shoulder was broken out of the package. TRU traded me another. No hassles at all. This one is pretty much perfect. But like dog said, the plastic of the shoulder and feet joints seem kinda brittle. Still this thing is worth every dime. Definite must have
-rain-

 

I had mine for two weeks and rodimus + offshoot is holding on with no breakages so far. Hell I've looked hard enough and I don't even see stress marks anywhere(unlike the takara one - inside the matrix compartment is a mess of stress marks and thats only the chest area) and it has been through quite a couple of breaking-in transformations.

Interesting to note is that the instructions for offshoot shows his upper arms assembled in an inverse way if thats what its called. Any thoughts on that?

edit - Mine also doesn't have the chest gap issue or any other plastic quality related ones. My gripes are weak paint apps at the windscreen hinge, loose left hand that always pop off when spun around, loose spolier that wobbles up and down and a few loose panels here and there.

Extra improvenments over the takara one:
Tighter sliding rear wheel joints.
Tighter tabs for the bottom leg panels in alt mode.

 

Masterpiece Rodimus review

Hello, this this my first review, blah blah blah... I got MP Rodimus, dropping a whopping 64$ on him. its a lot, but its rare i get a high end, mp figure. Onto the figure. I'll start with vehicle mode.

Vehicle
Rodimus takes the vehicle mode of hot rod's futuristic car. no winnebago here. thats ok, because the car is excellent. chrome pipes, rubber tires ,opening cockpit, nice interior detail, beautiful paintjob, amazing screen accuracy, its perfect. Getting the sides to fit is a pain, but ive gotten it down, and now its easy. This is one NICE car.
TRANSFORMATION
I wont run through it, but the basics are: its very complicated and genius.
ROBOT
Rodimus's robot mode is amazing. The articulation, paint, screen acuraccy, features, all perfect. Features include flip out connecters on hands to connect buzzsaw and welding tool, two guns, a targetmaster, and two matrixes. The small matrix is TINY, it looks better with the targetmaster than with roddy. the big one is awesome, it even slides open!. buzz saw and welding are cool too. the targetmaster is really fun. hes relly articulate more than the average scout, maybe. great job on him.
Rodimus has two very similar robot modes. for rodimus prime mode, you flip him face adjust his hips, and change the spoiler angle by like 2 millimeters. its insignificant, but the faces get the job done and thats good enough. the guns actually combine to form rodimus prime's rifle btw, very cool idea. all in all, this is one tf you should not miss out on. it might hurt dropping 64, but youll forget when youve opened him up. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

Just got mine today, and all I can say is what a freakin' useless instruction manual. I'm trying to transform him into his car mode and I can't because I have no clue what to do. Already snapped off his leg panels by accident doing this; fortunately, they ended up snapping back on.

Anyways, besides what may be some looseness in the back, he seems to be fine. (It's hard to tell right now because he's all mistransformed.)

Edit: After trying to transform him and failing, I have concluded that the problem is that some of his joints are very stiff. For example, I believe that I'm supposed to able to bend the legs but can't due to the stiffness of his joints.

Edit2: After many painful hours of trying (and watching a video on how it's done), I managed to transform him. Well, errrr, ummm, sort of. He looks hideous, due to the fact I didn't know what I was doing. I'm going to keep him in robot mode from now on.

 

Do you have this issue with many figures?

 

^ The only other transforming figures I have are Music Label Soundwave, Music Label Frenzy & Rumble, and Encore Sky Lynx. If I can recall correctly, I didn't have much trouble transforming them. The rest of my collection are just Mighty Muggs.

My problems with Roddy are that he's amazingly complex, the manual is freaking useless, and the joints on my Roddy are pretty stiff, thus trying to transform him is a pain in the rear. Heck, it was a pain in the rear trying to transform Offshoot too, but I managed to do it. His little legs must have popped off who knows how many times when I was trying to do it. He has some of the same problems as Roddy, freaking useless manual and some stiffness in his joints.

In the end, I guess it doesn't matter since I plan to display them in robot mode.

Edit: Due to a massive screw up on my part, I can't transform him anymore. Oh well, I was planning just to display him in robot mode anyways.

 

The biggest problems on this figure are the feet. The ankle ratchets where it's metal on plastic have completely been stripped now on one of the feet on mine.

>.<;;