Quick mini-review, as I opened mine up tonight:



Vehicle mode:

- All the weapons peg together neatly and then pop into that same slot on the roof (even the sword, which I didn't expect)
- Stickers go on perfectly fine; you get two normal Autobot and two G2 Autobot logos (one smaller and one larger for each) to place on the hood
- Stickers are clear though, so you'll want to smooth them out a bit to avoid the "air bubble" look, which is easier to notice regarding the edge of some of the stickers on the glossy black paint
- Only paint imperfection I can find, for anyone curious, is a little bump on the roof, but it's not terribly noticeable



Robot mode:

- When he's not holding the sword, it just slips in between his back and roof backpack; the hilt is enough to avoid it from falling straight down, but there is no friction keeping it in place so if you hold him upside down it will fall out
- The boxier looking gun (the one with the wires molded on the side) is a little easier to knock loose from his hand than the uzi-looking gun; his hands are also able to close a bit more over the handle of the uzi-looking gun than the boxier gun, which presumably contributes to it being a bit easier to dislodge from his hand
- The abdomen 'bot mode sticker is the only questionable one, in terms of placement - it's placed on top of molded detail on that white piece directly beneath where the car hood chest pegs in
- His left slot for the spiked wheel shoulder pads is a slightly looser fit than the right one; they stay in pretty decently, but if I held Sideswipe by his shoulder pads, I feel more secure that he won't fall while holding the wheel in the right slot than I do the left one
- Unless I'm doing it wrong (possible), the shoulder pads stay in via friction; there is no "click" you wait for to signify that it's securely in
- The only other paint ap issue is that there's a small bit of paint that's worn off of the spike on the hubcap of one of the wheels; it doesn't appear that it happened due to how it was packaged, so I'm guessing just a QC thing, however it's not an unsightly blemish at all either (you only notice it when looking dead-on at that spike)

Overall:

- No looseness or fragility issues compared to his moldmates (Sideswipe, Red Alert, Tigertrack); everything works just as well as his predecessors
- I love the face, but considering they went the Figuartish/action figure route and threw in a bunch of accessories, I wish they'd thrown in an additional face or head to give you the option of switching things up
- If you love G2 (especially, well...the G2ishness of G2 regarding toy decos), you'll really want to own this; if G2 isn't your thing, it's still a much more exciting reuse of the MP-12 mold compared to Red Alert and Tigertrack, given all the extra goodies thrown in, and the option of stickering him up or leaving him plain is appreciated

EDIT:

Added a few extra pics for comparison.





Back view w/guns attached:

 

it's... beautiful. so much want.

any chance you can put a pic of him next to a foc grimlock for size comparison?

 

Can you try storing the guns upside-down on his back? I want to see if they approximate the look of a jetpack.

 

Looking good, thanks for the review!

I'm probably not going to get this, I got other MPs to buy and I have 3 MPs of this mold. Still looks cool though.

 

I would only get one for the new weapons!

 

I have a KO sideswipe...guess I'll put that face on him if I don't like his face when I get it.

 

Sure, additional pics added to the first post.

(On the guns attached to the back, if you want to try for the jetpack look, I imagine slotting them in upside down rather than the "correct" direction pointing up/forward would work better; I'd retake the pic but I'm doing this during breaks from work.)

 

Awesome, should get mine next week. Just shipped from BBTS

 

Thanks, I actually like how that works.

 

I want to put the sticker on the hood but I've got shaky hands which is why I hate stickers. How easy is it to align the sticker?

 

Not hard; I did it without thinking. I always use tweezers though when I place stickers on figures. I've found it helps a lot. If you mess up though, the stickers aren't that hard to take off and don't lose adhesive or start creasing. I accidentally placed one of the headlight stickers in the wrong spot (had a brainfart and forgot to place it over the actual headlight) but removed it and placed it where it's supposed to with no issues.

 

oh wow he looks good with foc grim. now to get off my lazy ass and get to making the other 2 g2 foc grims...

 

Got mine today. It's such a sweet looking figure.

Paint apps for the black of the car look fantastic. So shiny and nice.

My box was a bit bent in and the figure itself has two issues I would consider enough to be annoying.

1) In car mode on the right side there was that gap issue. It seems to be with the shoulder not being pushed close enough to the part it's riveted into. So not sure if I can really fix this because it's a rivet/pin and not a screw. (This also affects robot mode as when trying to move the shoulder up it move the whole panel the shoulder is attached to. It doesn't stay clicked very well. But the other side is just fine.)

2) in Robot mode on the knees those silver parts. On one side one is badly painted. With the silver coming off to the red all around it and the knee part itself looking like a really shiny part got stuck on it or something.

Other then that (if I can learn to get over it) the paint apps and figure look superb. Just so kick ass seeing this figure in person.

 

The face is so stylized, i'm not sure i'll ever really take to it....but then i put the equally stylized guns in his hands, and all of a sudden it all just fits together.

 

the shoulder wheels not actually being retooled really kills it for me.

 

There is no way that would work though.

 

Looks good. Not sure I'll ever buy it though

 

I like it, its so awesome and G2 and the accessories are awesome, but there's just something that doesn't sit right about the face. I get what they were going for, but there's just some sort of visual disconnection from the bottom half and the top half of the head.

I'd have preferred it if the Autobot logo wasn't a sticker, too, but oh well.

 

This review is giving me an itchy trigger finger to ship my BBTS PoL with this figure in it, but must hold out until at least MP Soundblaster drops next month.

 

Got him in my POL, and it's hard to resist shipping. Can't decide if I want the stickers applied, though. I think he looks great either way...