Here’s the issue on mine...

 

Thanks for crediting me man! And you're correct lol. I do have slightly different advice for @Phamduc and @OMEGAPRIME1983.
When airbrushing paints, you usually would change the ratio of thinner to paint depending on the finish you desire. In the case of MP-44, you want a gloss finish. Using a "wetter" paint would allow the finish to be shinier due to the extra drying time allowing the paint to level. So, I would agree with the website that lists the paint, except I believe the ratio is actually a bit too much thinner compared to paint, which may cause the spray to be extremely "watery" and spreading lacquer thinner everywhere, damaging the surrounding paint even if masked with masking tape. The ratio I recommend is either 1:1 thinner-to-paint or 3:2 thinner-to-paint. Sometimes, looking at the ratio doesn't really help. What most modelers describe the consistency of the paint for a gloss finish is similar to the consistency of milk. Basically, slightly thicker than water. Always test the spray on something like a plastic spoon before final application on the piece. As for handbrushing, Mr. Hobby releases a line on paints called acrysion, which are acrylic paints with the same colours as the lacquers. Their colour codes are the same, so they should be the same as the ones listed with my posts, but acrylic for handbrushing. Make sure to topcoat, since acrylic is a weaker paint than lacquer and can easily be scratched. Feel free to DM me if you have any problems. Once again, thanks and I hope this helps!

The antennas on all heads are not glued, so you can loosen the screw on the S2 head and rotate it, then tighten it again. The S1 head has a square port, so that cannot be adjusted, and I have never checked the battle damaged head, so I have no info on that.

 

Dont worry , i do custom paint a lot , just curious about the paint code. Happen to have Aqueous Red 3 , so i apply it right away. Bummed that the scratch us too uneven since it damages right into the plastic ...

 

You can try watering down 25000 grit buffing compound for model kits paint jobs and polish it off.

 

Thanks! My issue was with the square head. I loosened all three screws on the back of the head and was able to move the antennas. Also, thanks for all your work on the knee issue!

 

No problem man! Glad I could help!

Btw, did you manage to fix the left knee ratchet with my fix?

 

I posted this before in the standard MP-44 thread, but want to repost it here with some updates.

So I got mine today, and on my Birthday no less. I wanna go over some of the ups and downs of the figure. Lets start with the not so good and just get them out of the way.

(-) I have 3 noticeable paint blemishes on mine. Both of the greyish parts on the foot/toe area have like a weird paint bubble. Area looks easy enough to paint, and the area is still smooth. I believe not much prep would be needed. The other is on the grey parts below the chest window. Its like a small white scuff (pencil stroke width). EDIT The small white scuff looks like white over spray. It would be red or dark gray if it was a real scuff.

Other than that I have no other paint issues. My gripes are when faces and actual chest (like the windows or the red around them) are messed up. Another would be areas of main focus (grill abs or Autobrand). So I feel I made out well on the paint. May have a customiser do a touch up if it starts to bother me.

(-) The transformation wasn't fun, and by that I mean it wasn't horrible, and it wasn't great. It just feels like something that is a means to an end. I wanted there to be a Masterpiece moment, but I couldn't really think of one. The leg transformation was cooler on Megatron, and the chest rotation for animation accuracy was already done on Sunstreaker. The one moment I really thought was cool was right here at the 7min 53 sec mark:

I don't think Badcube is an accurate comparison. Those are way too frustrating, but I feel this is more of a FT mixed with TT.

(-) The voice box on mine has an issue. Sometimes the audio gets cut and it just goes back to option 1 of 6 in the voice options. I say sometimes, but it is quite frequent. EDIT Will try some other LR44 brand batteries. The Energizer 357's are not working.

(-) The left arm panel doesn't always want to close properly, and sometimes pops open. I think the tolerance is a little off, and some floor polish on the tab could help. Some parts on the legs I noticed a couple of stress marks before even doing anything with the parts. Still less of them than MP-43.

I would say those are the more "major" issues, and even then I feel those are not that bad. It is still better than my MP-9 and MP-10 I got way way back in the day.

(-) Just some tiny gripes: The rifle is not completely straight, I am more bothered by the bend on the antennas on the S1 (round) head than I thought I would be, and there isn't as much thigh rotation as I thought there would be. I was wrong. There is more thigh rotation, and mine was just stuck.

Now for the pluses, and there are a lot of them.

(+) I love the package as a whole. Prime by himself is only so cool, and I feel people who wanted a cheaper release without all the accessories and trailer would find it disappointing. I would say the MP Moment on this figure is all the cool stuff you can do. The trailer has SOOOOO much you can do: Roller and battle platform combos. I must have played with roller and the trailer for an hour and a half before even transforming Prime.

(+) Prime feels way more alive than my TE-01. I read some people say TE-01 looks overly blocky, robotic, or even carved of 1930's wood. I thought it was a little harsh, but I can see it a bit now. The chamfered edges make MP-44 look very dynamic as mentioned by others. The finish really really helps sell MP-44 as well.

(+) MP-44 is totally covered in paint. The issues with paint suck, but it is kinda shocking how little issues there are for how much paint is used. The paint is better than MP-36's too, and I would say the order of paint durability is:

Strong A) Red, and Blue

B) White

C) Greyish silver (face and feet)

Weak D) Grey on wheel wells/chest, and the yellow on the crotch

(+) Someone said the plastic isn't good, and I can't help but disagree. It is a little worse than say MP-41, 29, 27, 22. A little better than MP-43, 39, 31. MUCH better than MP-36. MP-36 still has the weakest plastic imo.

(+) Prime's truck mode fits together very nicely. At least as good as my original MP-10, and better than my reissue MP-10. Fits together better than MP-36.

(+) The effect part interchangeability: I love that you can swap the parts on the blaster, the jetpack, or even the battle platform.

(+) Roller doesn't RATTLE! Finally he can slot into the battle platform, and won't get tossed around in the trailer.

(+) The antenna bend doesn't bother me on the Season 2/Movie head. It is much less of an issue compared to the S1 head.

(+) I am loving the rifle storage on his back. It helps give him that commander look and feel.

EDIT (+) My favorite plus of them all is that MP-44 comes with a REAL instruction booklet. I don't care for the weird fold out instructions, and I am glad there is a booklet for this one.

All in all I gotta say this is a winner in my book. Not quite Sunstreaker levels, but better than MP-36 by a mile. MP-36 can carry the package by himself though. I feel MP-44 is more than just the lovable Autobot commander. The trailer and accessories really give this an extra boost that is needed.

Mine has issues, but not as bad as my first MP-20+ or Prowl + I have to send back. This is a solid 8.8/10! Get it for the preorder prices if you can though.

 

If you could DM me images of the paint blemishes, I might be able to help you out with disassembly, preparation, and painting. Thanks!

 

Thanks, my dude! I work a lot with painted, so I'll certainly figure that out.  

 

Soon, very soon. I’m running out of daylight here.

 

If you have any issues when you do fix it, DM me and I'll be glad to help!

 

Imagine if bandai had a shot at making a Masterpiece Prime. Diecast ratchet joints, PERFECT chrome job, different pairs of hands (like the Valkyries), light up eyes, metal cabin doors, a BEAUTIFUL gun for once, pristine paint job (GX-71 Voltron), hardcore matrix chamber details, wheels with suspension and such.

Basically taking the awesome gimmicks the MP-01 had and mixing it up with MP-44 with Bandai's magical touch.

 

That would be really cool. I enjoy most of Bandai's products. (especially their RG Nu Gundam and Endgame Thanos possibly even more than MP-44)

 

The DX VF-1J is so far the toy of the year for me even though it came out very late DEC. 2018. Basically around the 29th I think? I'm likely going to rank Prime #3 after of course the VF-1J and #2 Metal Build's EVA unit 01.

Problem is that MP-44 will be pushed to #4 once the GX-88 Dairugger comes out.

And yes, Nu Gundam will blow every collector's brains out. And wallets too  

As much as I love MP-44 incredible engineering, the VF-1J is just ASTONISHING in Fighter mode. Everything is just so damn crisp with ZERO paint flaws.

I strongly recommend this figure to EVERY single person from this board.

 

Not the metal build lol. That thing is the wallet destroyer. The Real Grade Nu Gundam Kit is actually extremely impressive! I don't know anymore lol. MP-44 is just in my top 3 this year alongside the Nu and Thanos

 

Isn't diecast on diecast joints not a good thing? I thought metal on metal needed a lot of maintenance to keep working well.

 

Speaking as someone who has quite a few Bandai stuff...

LOL, NOPE!

I can already imagine lots of parts-forming, highly questionable engineering decisions worse than the current TT knees-issue, joints getting loose quickly, important accessories being expensive separate add-ons, and of course, extremely limited stocks-availability shenanigans.

So, a Bandai TF-MP44 is a BIG NOPE for me!

 

I dunno. I think Bandai would take a different approach to transformers, since the point of them is to transform preferably without partsforming.

 

Figuarts right? Just making sure because the Ragnorok's Gladiator Hulk and Infinity War Hulk are basically my favorite figures from the Figuarts line. I would defenity put Figuarts Evil Majin Buu to a close third.


I should be getting MP-44 soon. I will be wearing gloves when I handle it because it will go back in its cardboard prison once I inspect it LOL. I am very happy I bit the bullet on this one. Can't have a robot collection without a definitive Optimus Prime.

 

Says who? I’m with @treatment , Bandai would focus more on a “perfect” looking robot mode, sacrificing transformation complexity with partsforming and other non-preferable shortcuts. Takara puts a lot of love into their transformations and I think that gets overlooked quite often because most people aren’t into the fandom for the conversion (unlike me).