Just finished with reprolabels. It's funny how much I like the doors out in robot mode now that they have the Martini logo there. I couldn't live with the full coverage door sticker so I removed the factory 4 and cut the elements for the doors separately. I really wish reprolabels had done the rear fender stripes, too, but I'm otherwise happy with the end result. I put most of the front end livery on the top of the wheels so it would not show in robot mode. After noticing that the front bumper livery wasn't lined up in the photos, I have re-adjusted. I used raised faction symbols, which I like for their "chrome" background, which makes them look like auto badges, to me. Sure wish I had squeezed the back end together a little better for the photos.

 

I still love that this guy can replicate the half-transformation from Desertion of the Dinobots.  

 

This guy.

 

So cool.

 

Finally finished up my paint job on Jazz!

 

That looks great! Did you remove the thighs before painting them?

 

Yes please explain the whole process.

You had my hopes up for a minute there. I thought you were showing off an anime color accurate parts kit that you were planning to sell.

 

This guy just put a big smile on my face the first time I transformed him. He is so Jazz

 

Yes, removed the thighs. The roll pin needs to be removed. I used a drill blank and tapped it out with a hammer. Then removed the one screw holding them together. The shin flap had a knurled pin that needs to be tapped out from the inside of the knee tapping it towards the outside of the knee. I popped the feet off the mushroom peg. Then pushed tapped that small pin out of the feet. That one is also knurled. It needs to be tapped from the outside of the foot to the inside.

Then I airbrushed the silver parts and used krylon flat white for the thighs.

 

That's the look it should have from the factory. Very nice.

 

Your pictures are so good, but they only solidify that I wish Grump and Boost were slightly larger in vehicle mode. They look so off.

 

Thanks! Yeah, I can understand that may be a factor for some. Personally, I prefer them to be in scale in robot mode, rather than vehicle mode, but I guess it's the same problem as with MP Bumblebee.

 

Just slightly bigger! haha, like Brawny sized. I get that people want robot modes to be accurate. But man, they are just so jarring to look at in alt modes. Boost is almost good, just a little longer and wider and I could have accepted it, and Grump would be a nice classic small truck if just slightly resized. Plus the lack of paint and the colors on his plastic make him look like a toy. I guess I'm going for more "realistic" vehicles in my alt modes. I hope someone will make a large powerglide (like wardog) and Seaspray (like the HfTD Seaspray)

But yeah, your pictures are gorgeous.

 

Damn, those white thighs really make him pop. Looks fantastic great work. Are you not going to paint the squares on the knees and the insets on the feet grey?

After a month of owning Downbeat, my opinion is that he is the best 3P MP so far. I have FansToys, BadCube, XTB and other figures, many of which are brilliant, but none of them capture a character so well as Downbeat captures Jazz for me. The face sculpt, the alt mode, the proportions, the poseability - he's the first 3P figure to give me as much joy as MP Bumblebee and MP Sideswipe, hitting all the nostalgia buttons at the same time as being a fun figure to handle. (By comparison, Inferno and Grapple got transformed once and put to one side; Grinder was impressive but just put on my shelf after couple of transforms.) I'm sure a huge part of my love for Downbeat is down to my fondness as a kid for Jazz for the character, but this is the first time I've felt an MP is not a stand-in until Takara gets around to the character, but everything I could have hoped for from an MP of the character.

I'm not saying he's perfect. I had to put the ToyHax stripes on to *really* love alt mode, and I painted the shins and weapons silver which made a huge difference, and there's really not much excuse for the swirly grey plastic they used out of the box. And, as I banged on about before the release, I still think the thighs should have been white and that MT shouldn't have changed the thigh details on from the prototype (which were toon-accurate). But he's damn close to perfect, and up there in the top five figures in my collection.

 

Thanks, dude. I can see what you mean about the lack of paint etc.  

@ambitron - agreed on Downbeat.

 

So grinder in a stand in until takara gets around to making an MP Grimlock?  

 

Ha, you know what I mean.   Actually I was a lot more excited about Takara Grimlock than FT's, but that, I think, is just because Takara's came first - Grinder is an impressive beast and a great figure, no doubt. But I could still see someone doing a better Grimlock that excites me a little more, whereas Downbeat has hit all the right notes for me. It's a hugely subjective thing, of course - my love of certain characters often comes from a real mix of the original toy, the cartoon, and the comics. I *loved* the original Jazz toy, and the Man of Iron Marvel UK story, in which he was drawn like the toy, which is probably why I like Downbeat to have the toy-like deco. But I also loved his design in the cartoon, and in other Marvel comics (and his representation in All Hail Megatron, mainly for his attitude and the capturing of his personality in his face in the artwork of those comics), so I love the cartoon robot mode (and the G1 toy already provided me with the Man of Iron robot mode). Downbeat - with ToyHax stickers, and aside from those pesky thighs!   - somehow hits all the right notes for my childhood impressions of the character. The face sculpt is probably a large part of that - so few 3Ps get face sculpts right.

 

Finally got around to painting the shins/feet/gun/missile launcher on my Downbeat, have some KFC hands & reprolabel/stickers on the way but wondering if I can somehow get/use decals instead.