My pointblank set is due saturday too! I also got the crankcase and skids/dragstrip sets.

 

Same here, ordered a bunch of kits all at once including the Pointblank one.

 

Just waiting for G-Works UK to get a preorder up for the Pointblank kit.

 

Got the Pointblank set today. Haven't had a chance to build it, but I bought an extra set of blue elbows. Colors between the blue of the wing piece and the elbows are completely different. I know he said they would vary, but it would have been nice if at least those two matched. Blue for the wing is much darker of the two

 

Makes me glad I stuck with the black version. I figured I would never be happy with different shades of the other options.

 

I'm glad I bought the kit, then. Looks good when completed. Bought the leg panels off of eBay, he's now "complete".

 

The blue he has in the install video is much closer to the elbows I have. The rest of the parts are a much darker blue.

 

Those elbows are really going to elevate that figure. I'm looking forward to getting my set in.

 

My set arrived! Dear god does this kit make a difference.

 

Got mine in today. Took maybe 10-15 minutes to install. (That includes the opening, cutting from the sprue, disassembly of Pointblank, and assembly/reassembly of everything.)

It does indeed help a great deal with his range of motion and looks a heckuva lot better in robot mode.

The only criticisms I have for it are as follows:
1.) The blue is way off. (It's much darker than the video/pics would have you believe, as mentioned above.)
2.) The "solution" for the 3rd panel for the wing is well, an afterthought. (It's more or less shoved in there to make 5mm adaptation possible.)
3.) The joints are super tight and I'm not sure the plastic is strong enough to handle the torque required to manipulate the parts. (So far, so good, though.)

Is it worth the money and the time? Seems to be. Is it a perfect kit that fixes everything? No. You still need the leg panels and a much better Targetmaster, plus a wrist swivel would be nice, but this set coupled with the 3D printed leg panel kit on eBay and he's about as close to "perfect" as you can get for right now. Shame the budget hindered him so badly, he's now the figure he could've been...for a lot more money.

 

My Pointblank set is due to arrive today, very excited to put it together, though I may forgo the spoiler if the blue-match isn’t that great.

Question about an older Nonnef piece: does anyone have the grey Brainstorm guns with SDCC Brainstorm? Curious about the color match.

 

My Pointblank kit came today, too. I added the blue elbows to my order. As others have noted, Nonnef's blue is noticeably darker than the original.

Installing the arm parts is pretty easy. You need to remove two screws from the backs of his shoulders, and one from each forearm. Then the new biceps are held together by the new elbows, which are held together by the forearms.



A bicep swivel... that was my single biggest complaint about Pointblank, and Nonnef's kit gives that to him. Mission accomplished, send the troops home. But seriously, Nonnef's kit doesn't just give him a bicep swivel. It lowers the elbow to a more natural position. Couple that with the fact that he's no longer got a lump of grill and the single hinge below the swivel already has more range than the original elbow. But if you want even more range, there's still a hinge in the bicep area that you can use as a double elbow- just be warned that hinge is above the bicep swivel and won't be useful for more extreme poses.

Articulation alone would be enough to sell me on this kit, but I also have to say that I find the smoother, all-blue arms more aesthetically appealing that blue broken up with a black hinge in the bicep and a protruding chunk of red in the forearm. Bonus points!



Nonnef did mold some lines onto the new elbow parts so it still kind of looks like a grill. Be warned, by sitting more flush on the forearms the new elbow pieces mean the grill is more recessed than the original. You have to pick your poison, I guess... personally, I don't think Pointblank's front end looked all that great with the original parts, so the minor downgrade isn't a huge price to pay for the much better robot mode.

Nonnef's kit also addresses my third biggest complaint with Pointblank, and that's the lack of the G1 spoiler/engine/shield thingy. It's a bit of a mixed bag, though.



So, by default, the wing is made from two pieces, and it plugs into a screw hole on Pointblank's butt. It looks OK... the details are a little soft, and the wings are maybe a tad small, but it's fairly G1 accurate. But, if you want to store Peacemaker, there's room enough for the clips on him to plug into the kneepads, but not enough to leave the barrel extended, reducing him to the world's least-aerodynamic engine block, or at best you can fold the barrel part of the way out, leaving it pointing upward 45 degrees like some kind of AA gun. To solve this problem, Nonnef added another part, but it seems like an afterthought. You have to sandwich it between the other two parts, in a way that looks a bit ill-fitting and moves the wings up a little to high and back a little too far, but it adds a 5mm port to the front. On the plus side, the 5mm port means that you can plug in other weapons or Battlemasters, not just Peacemaker. I think it looks a lot worse with the adapter, though- I don't know why Nonnef didn't just make the rear of the bottom part slightly longer and add a 5mm port behind the 5mm post.



In robot mode, you can plug the part with the wings into his butt. The bottom part, though, doesn't really have a solid spot to put it. You can plug the post on it into his back, but the fit isn't secure. It'll rely on that window flap to kind of pinch it in place. And all that requires you to pull it apart every time you want to stow it. And there's no place at all for the 5mm port adapter. The alternative is to keep it together. Then you can use a 5mm post to have him hold it in his hand. I kind of wish there was a way to attach it to his arm, but to be totally fair, I think sticking it into his fist is how the G1 toy worked.

Finally, and this is just me being petty, but the kit doesn't address my second-biggest complaint with Pointblank- the awful Sunbow head. I can't stress enough how badly I really, really want a good toy/Headmasters head for him.

Bottom line, if your primary interest in this kit was the spoiler shield thingy, you might be a tad disappointed with this kit. Nonnef's design isn't the best, as it creates a new problem then attempts to solve the problem it created in a fairly half-assed manner, plus the blue plastic definitely isn't a match. And I'm bummed we didn't get a new head. But if you own Pointblank, and you live in the US, I still strongly recommend this kit. While the new arm parts do make the car slightly worse, the added articulation in robot mode is such a huge improvement that it more than makes up for every fault I have with the kit.

 

Very comprehensive review. I've ordered all 3 colours of elbows because I couldn't decide- but your photos prove that blue elbows are better than black I feel.

 

Great review, can't wait for mine to get here tomorrow or Monday. (Supposed to be here today, but USPS comes through for me 90% of the time so I don't begrudge them.
I actually really prefer the Nonnef front end now that I'm seeing it. Looks aggressive. I'm with you on the head, but I'm not sure I hate the Sunbow head enough to swap it with the Shapeways head I bought when I thought I was going to have to custom him.
I still wish we'd have gotten a Peacemaker with the kit, even if it'd doubled the price. I guess I'll just continue to use Trenchfoot as a stand in.

 

he is making one though

 

Really? I missed that somehow. That's great!

 

Bit of a darker blue, but.. eh, I don't mind it so much. I also went with the blue elbows because I have a nostalgic connection with the G1 dude.
As such, I dug him out of storage.

 

Gong to make a few I believe with or without packaging too

 

Installed mine tonight (went with the blue elbows too) and the reviews above are all spot on.

But despite other aspects not being perfect, the arms make SUCH A DIFFERENCE. Nonnef basically saved this figure for me.

EDIT: Oh, and I don’t mind the gap in the front of the car at all. That grille on Pointblank never looked great to begin with, and not having it still looks perfectly plausible on a sci-fi vehicle.

I’d definitely be up for a better-designed shield-wing piece, though, if one comes along. Sandwiching that one piece awkwardly in there to get a Targetmaster port is not ideal.