I think this is the best version so far!

 

So I just got these 2 guys today and while messing with them, I was pondering whether I should drill an unsightly hole in Ratchet/Ryu's shoulder to mount the missile launcher/ medical tool so it could be aimed like the other Autobots with shoulder mounted weapons.

Then, I found a better way to get a similar result...use the rocket pack! It kinda fit without drilling out the holes in the top of the pack, but the weapon would just pop out after a second.

I had to take a 3/32" drill bit to deepen the holes in the rocket pack. Now it fits snugly and Ratchet/Ryu can aim it better than before...


[/IMG]

 

They didn't do it because the rocket isn't intended to mount on the shoulder.

 

I know that, but Ry-Ratchet...didn't use the rocket pack, did he?

I would love this figure more if they had (somehow) omitted the Rocket Pack on Ryu in favor of more tools.

I just wanted to make the missile launcher/med tool able to be used in a more natural way. (In my "head-canon/mind) Ironhide has the missile launcher, & Ratchet has a medical tool - on his back? How is Ratchet supposed to use the damn thing as a medical tool if the armature is too short to reach anything in front of him?

Also...the missile launcher was shown one whole time (?) on Ironhide. And he's flying without the aid of the rocket pack in that pic you posted?

Damn, it's been a while since I saw G1...Anyway this is a minor alteration, and it doesn't harm the look of the figure at all. Anyone want some MS Ryu wrenches? I have no use for them...

 

I love the look on this mold, just needed some tweeking to be more idw-ish :3

 

I know this was talked about before, but I recently got NA's IH because I think the van mode looks far more like both the toon and real van than the MS van mode does. The MS one is too stretched and looks more reminiscent of a delivery van *to me*. I edited out the back window on NA and the grey piece on the MS roof to be less distracting for the comparison.

MS by far has the better bot mode, so now I have the best of both worlds. Win/win!

 

I do agree that NA Van mode is far better, even looks like the alt mode from the MP, went with MS for the robot mode and tried to edit it based on the real vehicle but yet, it is still long and wheels are too tiny. For Ratchet I may keep the NA, I like Ironhide big and beefy.

 

But Prime!

You gonna wait for me to show up!

Ordered from Baba

 

I agree that the MS alt mode looks much more like a delivery van than a Nissan Cherry Vanette. Which is why I propose that the next deco be MSB-44P Kenneth Prime:

 

Sometimes Ironhide's van mode looked like that in the cartoon.

 

An unfortunate comparison, and certainly not a complimentary one.

 

Looks someone would've been a friend/,follower of Delta Magnus

 

I think MS’ alt mode is quite accurate to the cartoon, and I don’t think it looks like a delivery van. Those vans have a flat, totally vertical back end 9/10 times. Ironhide still has that rounded, angled back end like the original toy and the cartoon.

 

It honestly bothers me more that it just doesn’t look like the vehicle on which it is originally based. The Nissan Cherry Vanette has this quirky front-rear symmetry that gives it a distinctive look, and which the NA version (1.0 at least) nails perfectly. The MS version adopts the slanting nose of many modern commercial vans, and I just don’t find it as charming.

I also don’t think “accurate to the cartoon” is a desirable description for any figure. I typically use that phrase as a negative criticism. However, I recognize that the cartoon look is what MS and many collectors are shooting for. Although they are getting better, I feel that MS has always struggled to make appealing vehicle modes. The proportions are often odd, and the wheels/tires are usually too small. I think that in particular is what makes Ken’s van look more like a large commercial van than the personal-use vehicle on which the character is based.

 

Yes, you’ve mentioned this numerous, numerous, numerous times in many threads. I’m not sure how it’s applicable to the discussion when we’re comparing accuracy. It’s not about our opinions on whether the accuracy is good. It’s about if it’s accurate or not. And MS’ alt mode is, for better or worse, more accurate to the cartoon model than any other figure out there. The slant you mentioned on the front is present on the cartoon model as well.

 

And I’ll continue to mention it every time someone says it’s inherently good “because it’s cartoon-accurate”. That happens far more often that I state my view. How is my perspective any less relevant?

 

I don’t believe I said it was inherently good?

 

Nor did I single you out as a particular “someone”.

I don’t take issue with people liking the toon aesthetic. I can respect that. But “cartoon accuracy” is an oxymoron. The cartoon wasn’t even consistent with itself, so it can’t very well serve as a standard. It was an often-skewed representation by artists that were trying to churn out a kids’ TV show. Saying “it’s cartoon-accurate” basically means you can find a screen capture that resembles it— but you might capture another image from 5 minutes later that looks very different.

I made my comment about preferred aesthetic because an earlier post was comparing the alt modes of the NA and MS designs to an image of an actual Nissan Vanette. That’s a real thing that was made to real specifications, and which can serve as a legitimate standard of comparison. For me, that’s a more desirable target for accuracy than a hand-drawn cartoon from the 80s that regularly depicted inconsistent colors, scales, and proportions.

 

Me as well. I like that NA says "Here's a version that is a good middle ground between the real thing and the cartoon aesthetics." MS says "Here's something that looks like a one second screengrab from the toon. What? There's a real life version it's based on?? Pffft!"

Funnily enough NA didn't even try and represent the toon bot mode while MS nailed it *near* 100%. Unfortunately for me that's the mode nearly 100% of the fandom prefer to be perfected, so if a compromise is going to made, it's going to be the alt mode...most of the time. Thanks, NA Ironhide for being the exception.  

 

Got the SG version from TFSource today:




I do think the MS mold is better than the NA mold: