Part 1 of 3: Package contents, Holi, Fire, Victory Leo, Saber, Brain of Courage The second HasLab Transformers set has finally arrived: Victory Saber. The poster board labels this set as part of the Legacy line. This set was crowdfunded and cost $179.99. This set is massive. It's clear there will be more play value from this set than the upcoming Deathsaurus set. The packaging quality is some of the best in recent memory. The outer box sleeve is reversible. The main tray has the figures and some accessories. The rest of the accessories are on another tray. There is plenty of plastic packaging here unlike recent attempts to eliminate plastic entirely. Also includes a large poster board, instruction manual, and disappointingly crappy foil labels for Victory Leo's wings. The foil labels are awful and extremely prone to tearing. Even when put on properly, they don't look like they're a proper fit either. Need replacement labels already... Holi and Fire These are straight redecos of the Siege Rescue Patrol set. Holi is the police car and Fire is the firetruck. Fire is able to stand up better due to the heel supports. Holi in particular suffers from hip disconnects when transforming, which is a flaw carried over from the early Siege Micromaster molds. Articulation is relatively limited and most of the joints are on ball joints. For Holi, the head is on a mushroom peg swivel. Shoulders, hips, and knees are on ball joints. There is no waist or elbow articulation. For Fire, head is on flathead pin; head is able to rotate but very difficult to do due to limited space. Waist is on a swivel. Hips are on ball joints. Knees are on hinges. Has no elbows. Holi is only molded in white plastic with every other color painted on. Fire is molded in red and white with any other color being painted on. The bot mode decos look fine. Alt mode. Transforming Holi in particular is annoying due to the hips popping off. Also, Holi has odd 'gaps' in black paint. Another view. Although not mentioned in the instructions, they still have their 'combined' weapons mode...which unsurprisingly still doesn't look good. However, this is one way to give Victory Leo another dedicated 'blaster'. Overall: If these figures weren't included, I would not have cared or missed them. That being said, they are nice bonuses. The unstable hip joints are a carryover from the Siege mold and still just as annoying to deal with. Victory Leo He somehow looks both skinny and chonky at the same time. The arms, waist, and thighs are on the skinnier side in contrast to the rest of the figure. There is a noticeable gap at the bottom of the crotch. At this price point, one would assume there shouldn't be any glaring gaps...but nope. He has twin V-Lock rifles, and the gaps are just painful to look at. There's also inner thigh gaps. He is molded in 5 different plastic colors: yellow, red, black, white , and gray. Other details are painted on. The gold chrome on the chest looks nice. As stated earlier, the foil labels for the wings are terrible. Why weren't they painted like the wing tips?! Makes no sense, again, at this price point. For articulation, head is on a ball joint but only effectively has horizontal movement. He can't look up without lifting up the neck plate. Shoulders are on swivels. There are bicep swivels. Elbows bend past 90 degrees to about 135. Wrists are on swivels. There is no waist rotation due to his partsforming for Victory Saber mode. The waist cannons don't move. Hips are on ratchets and move 90 degrees forwards and backwards. Hips extend outward by about 45 degrees. There are thigh swivels. Knees bend 90 degrees. The ankle tilt is a bit janky: only the toes 'tilt'. So, for various poses, his feet may only balance on the corners while the toes can be adjusted to look like they're 'flat' on the ground. The twin V-Lock rifles have a built in hinge to allow them to move vertically in alt modes. They may be stored on the back and arm side ports. They may be held by the hands as well. The V-Lock Cannon has a 5mm peg as well as covers and various ports for connections. All the V-Lock weapons are blast effects compatible. He is taller than the average Voyager and is more like the current Leader / Voyager Plus size. Bot Mode would look much better without the awful gaps in the V-Lock rifles. They are so distracting. Posing is not as fluid as contemporary WFC / Legacy figures due to the lack of waist rotation and not having real ankle titls. Only the toes tilt. Rear view. The rifles are configurable in several ways. Lion alt mode. This is the better of the 2 alt mode. There are semi-exposed hands in the 'elbow' area of the front legs. One can reverse the bot hand orientation to hide the figures but then that leaves an extra little gap. The jaw is able to open. The large teeth horns are angled in one position. The animal legs are mainly on hinges except for the bot mode shoulders. Another view. The tail looks odd with the hollow opening in the middle of it. The V-Lock Cannon is able to plug into the gray peg on top. The ship mode is the lesser of the alt modes. The rifles have a built in hinge that may be pointed up. The blast effects are Jetfire-type and in clear green this time. The cannon is also blast effects compatible. Does not have a standard 3mm flight stand port, so need a flight stand that can handle 5mm ports. Another view. Really dislike the crappy foil stickers...why not paint those areas like the wing tips?! Overall: Victory Leo is overall 'OK'. Posing feels like it went a step backwards back to Prime Wars Trilogy. The gaps in the V-Lock rifles are painful to look at. The foil labels are awful and of terrible quality. The gap in the crotch area is also glaringly obvious. Saber This part will just go over the Saber core bot. He is smaller than the average deluxe. Taller than Bumblebee mold figures and about the same height as Legacy Velocitron Cosmos. He also reminds me of a Prime Wars Trilogy style character in terms of the transformation, having a microfigure for the head, and storing the figure in the cockpit. He is also molded in 5 plastic colors: red, white, gunmetal, blue, and clear blue. The other details are painted on. Also has gold chrome on him. For articulation, the head assembly reminds me of how some Titans Return Voyagers turned their head. It's limited side to side due to having an inner core that also partially rotates. Shoulders are on combination hinge and ball joints. There are bicep swivels. Elbows bend 90 degrees. Hands are on ball joints, so there is wrist rotation. Unlike Victory Leo, Saber has waist rotation but is rather limited due to the backpack. Hips bend forward and extend outward 90 degrees. Backwards hip rotation is limited due to the backpack. Has thigh swivels. The knees don't bend 90 degrees, more like 70-75 degrees. Saber does have actual ankle rotation but is also rather limited. The nosecone attaches to the left arm in bot mode. He is also shown in the instructions to carry the Saber Laer. In terms of gaps, could've been worse but not too bad. The main offending area is the forearms. Bot Mode. He really feels more like a Prime Wars Trilogy figure when handling and transforming. Rear view. His ankle tilt is rather limited. He has limited head rotation as the inner core (where Brain is stored) cannot rotate completely. Alt mode. Again, this really felt like transforming a PWT figure. Brain stores in the cockpit in this mode. There's also no regular flightstand port, so need a stand that can handle 5mm pegs. Another view. Overall: The Saber core bot is even more reminiscent of Prime Wars Trilogy style figures. At least he does have, albeit limited, actual ankle and waist rotation. Brain of Courage The Brainmaster figure is quite small...even smaller than PWT Titan and Prime Master figures. His backpack is Saber's face. His articulation is very limited: ball joints for shoulders and a pinned hinge for the hips. That is it. The legs are one molded piece. The backpack also moves via a hinged pin. The figure is molded in 3 plastic colors: white, red, and clear blue. The other details are painted on. Yep, he's small. Rear view with the Saber face backpack. Overall: He's there for the novelty. Be careful not to lose him. He's really tiny. There's a definite PWT vibe with the figure design here. Some may like that but others may not.
Part 2 of 3: Star Saber, Victory Saber Star Saber Now we get to the star of the set. Star Saber is Prime Wars Trilogy Leader size. His mobility and posing is definitely better than Victory Leo, however, Star Saber still does not pose as well as most WFC / Legacy figures. Again, to continue the PWT vibe, he really does feel like a Power of the Prime Leader with posing...and having a core bot in the middle. Has 5 base plastic mold colors: red, blue, yellow, white, and gunmetal. All other details are painted on. The Star Saber head simply slides over the Saber head. The Saber Blade is made of Saber's nosecone and a separate blade piece. By pulling the sword handle peg out all the way, the blade may then be plugged in. The shield itself just has ports. There is a separate shield adapter piece that allows it to peg onto the side of the forearm as well as add a peg for the hands to hold. There's various ways to store accessories on the figure. For articulation, Star Saber's head rotation is still limited by Saber's head rotation. However, the slip-on head does allow for vertical motion. Lifting the head too high, though, will show Saber's head underneath. The shoulder base is able to unpeg and rotate itself forward. The shoulder otherwise rotates on a swivel. However, outward shoulder rotation is limited to 45 degrees, which does affect arm posing a lot. Has biceps swivels. Has dual elbow joints to allow for total 90 degrees of flex. Wrist is able to rotate on a swivel. Hands are articulated like Commander Class Jetfire: only the 4 long fingers move (as one molded unit). When hands are closed, the 5mm peg holder pops out. When hands are open, the peg holder retracts. Has full 360 degree waist rotation (finally). Has ab crunch as well, BUT there is a problem getting back into normal position. Rather than try to use excessive force, one may need to loosen the ab screws, which is what I did. Hips barely extend at all backwards. The hips flex just shy of 90 degrees. They are able to extend outward a full 90 degrees. There are thigh swivels. Knee flex is also shy of 90 degrees. Ankle tilt is present but is significantly limited. Bot Mode looks great. He is as tall as PWT Leader Class figures. His posing is the best of the figures in the set but still not as good as WFC / Legacy figures. Has no major gap issues outside of the core bot not being fully hidden when viewed from above. Rear view. Various accessories: V-Shield, shield adapter, Saber Laser, Saber Blade Shield itself only has ports. The shield adapter is used to attach to the figure. Has clamps for side arm attachment as well as asymmetric handle to hold by hand. As hand position is asymmetric on the forearms, this helps to center the shield on either arm. For left hand shield holding, turn the adapter upside down to center relative to the forearm. The Saber Blade may be stored with the shield in this configuration. The lower legs also have blade storage. The hands are designed like Siege Jetfire: 5mm peg holder pops out when closed and retracts when hands are open. His posing is limited due to, well, limited outward shoulder movement and ankle tilts. Depending on how he's posed, he may start to look a bit stumpy. This is a bit better. Base Alt Mode. This is not very good and had a difficult time getting the shield to stay pegged in. Weakest mode by far. Ship Alt Mode. Took some time to figure out how to plug Saber in properly and getting the legs and arms to plug in together. It's a big chonky ship. Now, I'm finally able to use the included flight stand, which includes a 'crotch' style adapter for the ship. The flight stand has 2 main configurations depending on how the stand arm is plugged in. Another view of the ship alt mode. The shield helps to cover up the big gap in the rear. Overall: This is the best figure in the set. To continue the PWT motif, yeah, he is also reminiscent of a POTP Leader Class figure: size and having a core bot. His articulation is better than Victory Leo but not as good as WFC / Legacy figures in general. Had an issue with not getting the figure out of ab crunch mode until I loosened up the ab screws. Victory Saber Star Saber + Victory Leo = Victory Saber. The immediate comparison is for Legends God Ginrai. In that set, God Bomber partsformed into additional parts for Ginrai. Victory Leo serves the same function for Star Saber, but only splits into 3 main parts. Victory Saber is also considerably more stable compared to LG God Ginrai. Most of the transformation is just for Victory Leo. The Leo parts do NOT improve articulation at all. He becomes as tall as Siege Jetfire in this mode. Bot Mode. Victory Saber is an absolute beast of a unit. There is no additional ankle tilt with the Victory Leo parts. The new feet are hard molded to tilt outward. The rifles have their own built-in hinge to aim upwards. Rear view. My only gripe in this view is the obvious visible lion head. Holding Saber Laser and Saber Blade. The V-Lock Rifle gaps are still annoying to look at. Rifles are aimed upward and using the included clear green blast effects. The stand has a different arrangement for bot mode. Alt Mode. The combined ship is huge. The stand is holding its own despite all that weight. Another view. Overall: The combined mode is a total beast. He becomes as tall as Siege Jetfire. He's much more stable compared to LG God Ginrai. The combined mode does not add any additional articulation from the Victory Leo parts. He would look very impressive in a display case. The stand is able to handle the weight in both modes. Another observation is that the sword is that Saber Blade and Laser are a bit small for Victory Saber. Oh, the Prime Wars vibes with this set.
Part 3 of 3: Comparisons, more Box Art, Issues, and Conclusion Comparison Shots Left to right: Earthrise / Netflix Optimus Prime, Victory Saber, LG EX God Ginrai. Victory Saber is slightly taller than God Ginrai but still matches his scale overall. Victory Saber is also much, much more stable than handling God Ginrai. Left to right: GS King Poseidon, Victory Saber, Legacy Menasor. He matches the scale of more recent combiners although Legacy Menasor is a bit taller. Left to right: Victory Saber, SG Jetfire. He matches Jetfire's size. Left to right: Big Powered, Victory Saber. Length-wise, they're about the same if you exclude Sonic Bomber's weapon. Of course, Victory Saber has a lot more thiccness. Left to right: LG EX Super Ginrai, Star Saber, LG EX Godbomber. Star Saber matches up with the old Leader scale from the Prime Wars Trilogy. Left to right: Legacy Transmetal II Megatron, Star Saber, Power of the Prime Optimus Prime. As he scales with the old Leader class, he is significantly taller than the current WFC / Legacy Leader scale figures. Megatron is a taller modern Leader. Left to right: Legacy Velocitron Scourge, Star Saber, LG EX Dai Atlas. Of course, Star Saber will tower over Voyager sized Leaders. Left to right: Legacy Velocitron Cosmos, LG EX Sonic Bomber, Saber, SS86 Hot Rod, Netflix Bumblebee. Most Deluxe figures will be taller than Saber. He is about the size of Cosmos. Left to right: Legacy Beast Megatron, Victory Leo, SG Starscream. Victory Leo is taller than most Voyager class figures although would be slightly small compared to the 'Voyager Plus' sized Leader figures. He is about the size of Beast Megatron. Left to right: Brain of Courage, Prime Wars Trilogy Megatronus. Yeah, Brain makes the Titan / Prime Masters look big. Left to right: Victory Saber transparent green blast effects, SG Jetfire transparent ice blue blast effects, Legacy Tricranius fluorescent blue blast effects, and Siege Jetfire semi-opaque orange blast effects (original version of this type). Favorite is still the ice blue effects from SG Jetfire. Left to right: Holi, Road-Police, Fire, Wheel Blaze. We don't have the Siege Rescue Patrol set but do have the redecos from the Autobots vs Decepticons Micromaster 10-pack. Fire has significant mold degradation / warping issues compared to Wheel Blaze, which is most apparent in alt mode with his knees / cab parts not wanting to stay together. Alt modes of the Micromasters. Partially fixed the warps in Fire, which is why his cab front looks fine here. Shield storage for Star Saber / Victory Saber This was tricky to figure out from the instructions. The shield adapter plugs into the back panel as shown by the arrow: Additional Box Art Pictures As a warning, if one wants to keep their box in mint condition, DO NOT BEND THE BOX FOR THE JAPANESE ART. This will cause tears on the Japanese side...wish I knew that earlier. The American side will still be OK. American side box art: Rear view. Japanese side box art. Rear view. Issues There are various QC issues reported, which have unfortunately marred the expensive experience of Victory Saber. Scuffed gold chrome finish. Our copy was fine but others have not been so lucky. Scuffed paint in general. These are noted right out the box and not from figure use. Varies from copy to copy. Only had a few tiny scuffs here or there for us. Poor quality metallic foil labels for the nylon wing parts. The labels are extremely prone to tearing and don't even properly fit the space they're applied to (ends up being short). Label gaps and tears are made even more obvious with the shiny foil used. Missing nosecone tab port on Saber. Our copy was also fine, but some people have posted pictures of one port hole being completely missing. It's just solid plastic where there should be a port. As a result, the nosecone cannot tab in properly. Unfortunately, there is no easy fix outside of drilling a small hole and using a precision file to fix. Inability to reset the ab crunch I don't personally care for the ab crunch, however, the ab assembly is noticeably warped. This leaves a gap. When the ab crunch is done, the gap closes, and the 'teeth' from the rear part of the ab crunch can't go back in without using a tremendous (and scary) amount of force. Loosening the screws will help. This will leave a bigger gap but Saber's arms will cover them anyways. The ab assembly is warped. There's a gap present in normal position. When ab crunch is done, the gap closes (bottom arrow), and then the rear 'teeth' (top arrow) can't plug back in without using a lot of force. I loosened the screws 3/4 of a rotation, which then let me more comfortably reset the ab crunch. This will leave a slightly larger gap. This won't matter anyways since Saber's arms will be covering the gaps. Offset Hip Ratchets causing offset leg positions Star / Victory Saber's legs appeared to be a 'half click' off from each other, which made basic standing poses rather annoying to do. The problem is the hip ratchets. They're supposed to be mirrored from each other, NOT clones. Unfortunately, one can't just take apart the hip joints and flip one of the ratchets. Flipping the ratchet by itself will not allow the spring inside to set, let alone being able to put the hip joint back together. Since getting ahold of a mirrored hip ratchet piece will be impossible, the fix is to reverse the hip joint on one side. This is possible without taking apart the whole waist assembly. Pull off the front skirt on one side. Note the position of the hinge opening of the skirt piece. Now there's barely enough room to maneuver and reverse the hip joint. This will place the screw hole to the front on one side. The hip ratchets and leg positions are finally aligned on both sides. Since the front skirt will just cover up the screw hole anyways with posing, it should not affect aesthetics. Fire's mold degradation / warping issues There's molding issues that cause his ladder to keep popping off and cause the front cab parts to not stay together in alt mode. This side is fine and the inner leg part is aligned to the midline. This side is warped and not aligned to the midline. The tab port is also not tight enough. Used a heat gun (250-260F) to fix the warp on the bot's left lower leg. Pushed the inner leg side flat, which also tightened the tab port. The ladder peg has a major twist warp and easily pops off. Left is from Wheel Blaze. Right shows the twist warp from Fire. I do not recommend trying to twist it back. Instead, try to expand the peg opening slightly, which will then force it to stay in place better. If one has a set of precision screwdriver bits, try to find a hexagon bit that will just slightly expand the port (or a metal rod). Leave it inside the port and then use a heat gun on the peg. Let it cool down and remove the driver bit. Now the peg will stay in the ladder port much better. It's not perfect but significantly looks better in alt mode without the ladder popping off. Warping of the sword blade and blast effects. Used a heat gun to fix these. This is why they look straight in our pictures. Conclusion: Victory Saber is the 2nd crowdfunded HasLab Transformers set. Overall, this is a mixed bag, but we did like the set. TF fans in general (not just Victory fans) will be able to enjoy the figures. Victory Saber is an absolute beast of a unit and much more stable compared to LG EX God Ginrai. As there are multiple figures in this set, the play value is notably increased. However, there are significant QC issues that have marred the experience for various collectors. This is unfortunate as Hasbro doesn't have a ready supply of replacement sets and purchasing new sets elsewhere will cost at least twice as much. The QC issues also seem rather inexcusable regardless for the price point. The posing limitations are also unfortunate as WFC / Legacy Deluxe class figures have better posing than the various bots in the Victory Saber set. The micromasters are easily the weakest and worst parts of the set.
Here we go! The day has arrived and Victory Saber has shipped (Or is in the process of shipping) for all Haslab backers. Disclaimer: I am 100% bias because I love these characters so I'll try to be honest. Are the figures good? I think so, good but not great. Complaints: Sword: Maybe I am just old but Star Saber without a Chrome Sword doesn't look right. Frankly, the MP version really nailed it with two swords and hilts for each configuration. Gold Chest Decal: This is going to bug everyone, unless you backed a bunch of them, you are going to probably end up with a copy that has imperfections. Hopefully your copy isn't too bad in hand. On my copy, Star Saber has a minor scratch and Victory Leo has a few black spots Figure Size: We know the size but Victory Leo is just so small.... In the show, Victory Leo is every bit as formittable as Star Saber; in this release, Leo was treated as LG God Bomber. Just a power-up if that makes sense. Kuddos: Star Saber: This figure is phenomal! They borrowed a bunch from the MP and improved some aspects like the Transformation. The leg bend is a good touch! Transformation: It is simple but fun! After transforming Fans Toys figures for the last three months, you can't beat a Hasbro/Takara engineered product. It is refreshing to transform a figure in 3-4 minutes and not have to scramble for a butterknife because you can't flip open a heel (Looking at you MMC). Joints: Where the MP required an upgrade kit, this version doesn't need it. The head antennas are a little loose on my copy but the legs, arms, etc on both figures can easily hold a pose. Upgrade Kit? Oh Yeah, this is what I would like to see: Upgraded Sword with Hilt for both modes (Let me slice rather than bludgeon those Destrons!) Chest / Gold Foil Upgrades: I dunno if it's a plug in or a chest replacement but it needs to happen. Gap Fillers: I have this on order Can we get the remaining two Rescue Team members? I'll take more photos this weekend. Still, all things considered, I am excited to own this figure and I think it is worth the money. (Haslab left and MP right)
I suppose since Victory Saber is so fast that even Deathsaurus couldn't predict it, most of the shipping info was the same. I'm in Michigan and got a text Wednesday night from FedEx when I was grocery shopping that there was a delivery today that would require a signature. This afternoon I got a notice from Hasbro that it has "left the building", then with a knock on the door, it was here this evening. (About 6-ish). Love it! I have no major QC issues at all. The only minor issues were I had to shave the tiniest bit of what I'm guessing is some flash from one of the grey parts of Star Sabers foot to get the red full foot to click into it. Victory Leo's crotch emblem doesn't line up perfectly (I'm not just talking the gap, even flush against each other there's a gap in the faction emblem placement), and I've got some minor yellow paint slop/bleed on the pelvis, nothing bad. I do have a minor blemish on the stand's yellow V, but you'd have to look pretty close to see it. No chrome scratches, no unpunched holes in sabers jet, extremely tight joints. (I had to really work to get Victory Leo's hand/paw swivel to go.) Though Leo's back beast legs are a bit loose, so if I were to pose him in beast mode, I'd have to be careful about him not flopping down as the beast legs are soft on the friction holding. Went through all the modes (well, not the V-stars base mode, that thing is awful), very satisfied. It's in Victory Saber (robot) mode on the stand for now.
Pretty comfortable with my choice not to back this... while it's objectively pretty cool, all I really like is Star Saber, who really should've gotten a PotP Evolution figure but I don't want to shell out for the Victory Leo that won't really enhance my enjoyment of the figure. But more power to everyone who's happy with it, it's just not for me.
Good observation. That being said, there's no reason for those wing pieces to be made of nylon in the first place since they don't have to handle major stresses or weight bearing.
I got mine yesterday and barring some disappointing chrome imperfections on Leo, my set is perfect. This is a really cool toy and a lot of fun to transform and combine. The sculpt is sharp and the proportions for SS and VS are spot-on. I love how chunky everything is and the numerous clips make the combination feel sold. Few things are connected via simple pegs, it's all nice and sturdy clicks and snaps. I found that getting the sword into the hilt perpendicular to the wings is easier if you use the little window to line the notched end of the blade with the little raised bit of red inside. I had troubles getting mine in at first but once I realized this it goes in snugly and stays in place. The only downside IMO is the ugly gaps on the cannons. They simply look terrible no matter the angel unless it's from directly above, exacerbated by the fact that they're black plastic painted white. They have separate plastic red tips and I would've vastly preferred if each cannon was two sandwiched pieces of white plastic with red paint on the end instead. The stand is also great as well as the shield and I'm so glad the handle has a clip so he can hold all his stuff at once. (the cannon also can mount on his rear waist Gundam-style) Oh, and the effect parts and Micromasters are hot garbage, but what else is new there? They wouldn't just throw them on there for shits and giggles. It's more likely the wings themselves weren't sturdy enough under break tests. The wing tips pop off, but the wings themselves are pinned on.
Nah, it just feels like they wanted to reduce the number of sprue assignments as much as possible. Have plenty of other figures in the collection with (larger) pinned hinges made of their regular plastic and have to handle a lot more stress and weight loads. If it was for 'break' reasons alone, we wouldn't have any pinned clear plastic hinges on various figures.
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory! Hopefully we'll get an updated Road Ceasar, Landcross and the rest of the Rescue Patrol Team soon! Comparison with the Robotmasters version, lost Star Saber's little sword tip
I don't have much to add in terms of review, this toy is amazing, and I love it. The gold on one of Victory Leo's chest parts is bad on my copy, but thankfully he will mostly be boots, and my Star Saber's chest gold is perfect. I will point out something that I'm not really seeing in many folks' pictures. Star Saber has butterfly joints in his shoulders. I am undecided as to whether or not they look any good, but I figured people should know that they're there, so they can decide for themselves.
I have an issue. I can’t plug the sword hilt into the front of the jet. It looks like one of the slots is partially filled in. I’d hate to perform surgery on a brand new (and not cheap) figure, but should I take it apart and X-acto that piece out? Does everyone else’s have two full slots?
It's actually a very common build technique they use for plastic-on-plastic joints. Pretty much every TF limb nowadays are built of alternating ABS and nylon segments, plus nylon at most major hinge junctions. Seems to be a semi-common issue. Probably forgot to remove a gate or something when they made that batch. Just carve it out.
I have the problem too, and went into a solution over in the VS News thread. It might need more than just carving.
I'm adding comparison pics and trying to finish post #3. I don't have the massive collection that some of us here do, but if there's a comparison one wants to see, then can try asking. I don't have any previous version of Victory Saber. Yeah, that sucks. You would need to drill a tiny hole first and then use a (square tipped) hobby precision file. If you have a local hobby shop, they can probably show you which hobby file to use and should have 1mm size drill bits (and a pin vise to hold them as using a power drill would be too risky)
