If they made an all grey "prototype" or "naked" version I'd be more tempted. Why is that not a thing?

 

Finally opened him up. Not impressed with MS's alt mode.

What I don't like about Firefox (and even MS's version) are his hands. That single hinge thing where all of the fingers move together is just terribly ugly. I'd MUCH prefer where they include multiple sets of posed hands. So anyway, I swapped them out. I'm not 100% sold on them due to their slight roundedness, but they are superior to the stock hands, so I'm dealing with it.

Also, I don't like that he can't look down. Easy fix. Open the head and remove the screw that holds the head to the neck post. You can then simply pull up on the head to give the chin some clearance to look down.

 

Macross HMR hands?

 

Kitz

If anyone has a better, less rounded alternative, I'm all ears.

 

WOW, thanks!!! Took me alot of effort to achieve the right balance of having the screw still in but with more pull up of the neck piece for some head tilt down (yours is much better if not having a screw in, but i wanted mine still in so i can transform without the head falling off).

I also had to re-figure out which screw was for the neck and which one for the head and i probably mixed those up anyways, but put the longer in the neck to give it more up / down, and shorter one on back of head, cause it seems to work too. It does however mean a looser neck rotation joint, but oh well.

Negatives for me:
- Hands are not ideal
- Single elbow joint is limiting for me personally (MS seems better),
- Loose joins (legs / hips / feet)
- low head tilt down from the manufacturer
- loose small connection to the backpack
- very light coat of white paint on the backpack is a joke, they should have done more coats.
- gun could have used more or better paint, looks unfinished to my eyes
- no jetfire head

Positives
- Looks very pristine from the front side, even without paint. Like a bandai 1/100 Macross toy, but cheaper.
- After transforming it back and forth, much more happy with the figure, in fact, in my top 3 of the year, but that is NOT how i felt when i originally opened him up and only played with the bot mode.
- Very nice Jet mode, where i do alot of woosh woosh in the air with it.
- very pristine front windshield, makes it mini-Pheonix level more than MS version does (i want MS too by the way)

My next NA purchase is NA EX Skyfire, and feel it will be an awesome duo. Hoping i can then also collect some money for MS Meteorite if it comes with Jetfire head.

 

I agree with all of those except the elbow one. I'm pretty sure he has double elbows. Though maybe I'm thinking of his knees...?

Another negative for me are his legs. They seem kinda stumpy to me so I've taken to extending the joint used for transformation to give him another quarter of an inch in height.

This pic shows what I'm talking about. Even though MS's is shorter overall, both figures have the same length legs. One could argue that it makes MS's legs appear too long (I wouldn't) but looking at this pic Firefox's legs def look too short...*to me*. Well, either they make his torso look too long or legs too short.

 

The elbows are single jointed. The bit that juts out of his arm does fold in for articulation, but you still only get slightly past 90.

Btw thanks for the tip about unscrewing the neck. I find that being able to look down is super important for larger bots, so firefox not having that was a huge disappointment.

 

Isn\'t clear plastic like the Kryptonite of Transformers or something?

 

A thousand times, YES. I'd much rather have swappable posed hands instead of those hinged abominations, at any scale/size.

 

Everytime this thread gets bumped, i get excited and come to see if the EX version boxes are ready and shipping is coming soon. Gawd i am soooo eager to get that from Show Z.

 

I'll admit I do like this figure but I wouldn't buy that because of all that clear plastic.

Don't forget about GPS.

 

Firefox's legs look kinda stumpy to me which makes his torso look too long. I've taken to mistransforming his knees to make his legs longer and slightly help with the proportions.

 

Clear plastic definitely isn't going to win any durability contests. Breakage isn't usually an issue with this company, but I remember a couple folks ended up with broken necks on their clear Shockwave (the OG version that shared a mold with Jazz).

 

“Fryer in the Sky”

​

 

No, that would be gold plastic

 

Friend version incoming at Bombusbee with a price of $73 shipped: 【In Coming】Newage H45F Firefox Jetfire Skyfire

 

Is this something like the Optimus Prime Youth version with no diecast or paint at a cheaper price?

ShowZ has there listing as well, but no price as of yet.
[Pre-Order] Newage H45F Firefox Jetfire

 

Diecast pieces swapped out for nylon. The normal h45 release barely had any paint, so I'd imagine paint differences are minimal.

 

Nah, h45 is covered in non-glossy matte white paint. Easy to miss though apparently.

You can tell because the unpainted raw white plastic in nooks and crannies is slightly different in color and appearance.

 

You sure? I thought newage themselves confirmed that the majority of the white was bare plastic.