What's blowing my mind at the moment though is that it appears to have not moved yet. It was supposedly done Monday, I paid for everything last week, so I thought it would be shipping out on Monday to find out its still sitting there. I never thought it would be this bad.

I had only done it from stressing out that I had just managed to get the previous four or five figures in the span of a month or two, and thought it was wise to save a bit, as I was trying to make sure I could save some cash for the Oculus Rift. Well, I screwed up in a major way, because now I hear that the Oculus is so far behind that I may not be getting mine for another few months.

I just finished an article that claims that of the 1,399 backers that filed some website that is tracking who has their Oculus and when they got it, and from what I saw, apparently only 130+/- a few have actually shipped to backers. If backers are waiting till now, we may be waiting months for mine to show up, as I had originally been given a June estimate after missing out on the pre order by half an hour or more.

Basically, I had just paid for Hotrod, Ironhide, Shockwave, and Ramjet, so to get the pay request on this guy was a bit of a shock. Everything was swirling around in my head and I was sure that there was no way I'd have enough for the Oculus when they tried to charge me for it. Of course, I panicked and paid for SAL thinking that since it was still air mail, it would only add a couple of days on the shipping. I had no clue that it was going to go into some pool that would wait to ship until full.

Now, there is no way I'd do this again. I feel like a dumb***.lol Never again! I didn't save that much. Using the points I had stored up at AmiAmi, I saved a few dollars there, so combined with the couple I saved in shipping, I may have saved ten dollars, and I'm not sure that's making a dent into the Oculus cash lol

I should have taken a deep breath and used a bit more mind power at that moment.

 

The delay in overseas shipping and the customs issues are why I go domestic. Sure, it costs a bit more in the end, but the SAL headaches simply aren't worth it to me.

 

I go domestic as well. But not so much for delay issues but it's easier to deal with a domestic dealer if I receive a defective product.

I have been reading over all the shoulder issues and mods but since mine is going to be in bot mode most of the time anyway, I think I will leave him as is. Besides, I have not had the best of luck modding in the past so its probably just as well.  

 

Stop kicking yourself dude. You made the best choice with the info you had at the time, period. Having enough money to spread around when orders are so tight is smart, even if the timing is off this time. We are all seriously spoiled by the awesomeness of EMS, paying early Friday morning and having it in our hands that Monday fuk'n ROCKS! You'll drive yourself nuts if you check tracking every hour, limit the stress and check next Wednesday instead. And yes, do take a deep breath. All of us SAL "fools" are waiting together with you.

 

I thought the same. I have shaky hands due to nerve issues, but it still was super easy, and I really like the clean look versus having the Ratchets visible. If your worried, there isn't much to fret. It was three screws per side, and watching the video, there's nothing to it. But if you chose to keep them as is, I don't blame you. I had to do it for my OCD. I thought I'd mess it up, but thankfully the only thing I could have done is stripped the screw as it was really simple to do with such small screws, but with tight grips on the screwdriver, It all went well.

I am very glad to have learned everything about the shipping though, a lesson learned to be sure. It's hard to believe it's still sitting there. Is it really stuck there until the shipping container fills? I'm curious what the higher end of the wait can be like. At this point, it's really making me wonder if it will ship out next week either.lol

 

**** i'm sick of taking this toy apart! Now i agree with Jarrod again too lol

But i do think i stumbled upon a solution ... remember i was going on about the rear wheel wells? Well, pull those down in car mode and you'll see it pretty much aligns perfectly (Shoulders in Ratchet configuration). And then if you push and click them into place... that's when the gaps appear for me. They hit that tab on the arms which knocks the arm out of the flush position in Jarrod's photos (but you can't see since it's on the inside).

You don't want to trim the tab on the arm that hits the rear wheel wells, cause it's used in robot mode. But the rear wheel well has an indent for the tab that i think scraping a few mm off could fix it altogether.

 

That's not true, I own about 12 of their sets and they are all pre-cut dry rub decals.

 

Thanks bro, definitely what I'm going to do.

 

Ah, yeah, I get what your saying now. I checked, and it doesn't seem affect mine in anyway. However I can definitely see how it could on some peoples. I might go ahead and trim off a bit anyway, just to check.

 

I can do EMS but never SAL.

 

I trimmed mine... a little off the wheel well and a little off the tab... it's still got a gap, maybe slightly less but could be nothing. Without the wheel well in place there's no gaps... but that might just be because the arm can be put out of alignment with the back side window slightly, when it's not being held in place by the wheel well.

I've had enough at this point, i might just leave Ironhide and Ratchet's shoulders different (just like they came!) cause i can't decide which i prefer!

 

I did the (Ratchet shoulder configuration) fix on my Ironhide a few days ago but only had the time to transform him in van mode now. I think it looks pretty good.

 

Ready the shuttle for launch  



Some more Ratchet:





Riding his M.A.R.B.!





In action!!









Not a transformation sequence per se, I was just looking for the perfect mid-transformation shot:








Vehicular!







And with his buds:








Editing these pics to the Vince DiCOla track "Moon Base 2 - Shuttle Launch" from TF:TM was a spine tingling experience  

Anyway, more here:
https://www.facebook.com/TFsquareone/posts/995017227250351

All the best
Maz

 

wow, awesome pics as usual Maz (sorry I'm usually browsing / lurking). Waiting for this figure, looks great.

 

Nice photos Maz. What stickers did you put on Ratchet? Did you cut up the stickers that Ratchet came with or buy other stickers?

 

I am assuming he used the stickers that came with. I cut mine out also, and they look fantastic. Pretty smart of Takara how they got around that  

 

Just bought some Ocean Design labels.... I think the dry rubs will blend in nice.

I transformed him a couple time, mine has a gap.... I've been trying to gauge exactly what is going on, but I think it comes down to Ratchet being caked in white paint, maybe more so than Ironhide is messing with clearances.

I also noticed his head clearance when transforming him is pretty narrow, I hope his black head crest doesn't get scuffed up over time.

Also I like the smile face more, the other one doesn't look right to me for some reason?

Over all I like both van bros.... It's a fun transformation compared to some others in the mp line.

 

Just purchased Ratchet and Bumblebee,can't wait til they arrive.

 

I finally got around to messing around with Rachet, and tried to sticker up his shoulders. And my x-acto knives destroyed them.   The first one came out ok, but not perfect. A little chunk of white came out and because the stickers are so thick, it was really noticeable. So for the second one I tried going right up to the red. And the knife just pulled a huge chunk off. I don't know if the knife was too dull or what. I use them to cut waterslides, but those are much thinner and less stretchy. So now I've gotta wait for reprolabels or see about these ocean's. Argh, damn you trademarks!