For those that have transformed this, would you say the 2 blue tabs on the inside of the right chest window are "needed" to keep the cab windows together in truck mode? Or can they be cut off without ruining the alt mode?

I think the DotM parts are okay...



Looks decent enough from the front.



And I reshaped the sides of the abs and added some paints so it doesn't look so much like a rectangle. anymore



From any other view of his side he looks like he really enjoys his food.     So...



I think I'll be sticking with his look from the first 2 movies.

 

Man, every time I look at pictures of this guy, I love him...until I see that fucking ab section. Argh.

 

Believe me, it looks much better in person and you can angle the chest pieces however you wish. Proportions are spot on.

 

As much as I prefer the homemade abs over the printed version, the printed version is right in that the abs are added on top of his existing radiator abs. So the gut in DOTM is accurate.


You can see the original radiator abs peeking through the pistons in this screengrab...

I still haven't transformed mine. He's so impressive in hand even unmodified.

 

What's interesting to me in the photos you shared, his stomach seems to be nearly flush with the doors.

 

It really depends on the picture and how the person has transformed him but even the bad ab configurations look great in person! I definitely recommend getting him.

Which is my main problem with the 3D printed abs, they aren't flush with the doors, oh and I think I know which blue tabs you were talking about earlier, I cut the ones on mine and he transforms just fine

 

Yeah I went ahead and cut those 2 tabs off as well.

 

See, they just don't look right to me in any of those pics. I dunno.

 

I understand. Tho I've also had a big issue with his abs (or a sunken head) until I actually got the figure in hand.

 

The de-retangularizing you've done there looks great! I think I'll give that a go too!

 

Thanks for the tip! I'm wondering if I had the cannons on the right sides. They seemed to plug into the smokestacks only one way. Next time I play with him I'll try lining them up again. If I can't get it I might transform him back to robot and try again some other time.
I'll also have to watch emgo's review again...

Now that I have him, I like him alright and am glad I do. But if I had to choose between him and LT2, only being able to keep one, I'd pick LT2. His transformation is smoother and both his modes feel more solid. I don't mind his back too much when i use a fan configuration. Also, he scales better with my OSKO movie Decepticons and he's got the Jetfire kit available.
I would say LT2 is safer and does less wrong. Thunder Leader takes more risks, has some errors, but is flashier. LT2 is low risk, low reward and Thunder Leader is high risk, high reward. LT2 has lower ceilings and higher floors, Thunder Leader has higher ceilings and lower floors
Fortunately I can keep both. I'll be using LT2 with me Deceptions more and Thunder Leader with my car bots more.

 

Question is this- that particular image was released in a magazine at least 3-4 months before the movie came out. Sentinel is next to him and I believe that was Sentinel's first reveal. Was that Prime's final configuration or was it changed slightly before release? Suspicious it was changed.

 

I took some screenshots from YouTube, and it appears that his ab covers aren't really in a fixed position. Rather, they seem to move fairly organically based on his posture and movement.






One thing seems pretty consistent, and while the red covers may protrude differently at various times, his abs are more retracted into the body.

The 3D printed part can be modified to seat closer in to his body by removing material from the backside. As it is, it sticks out too far forward in my opinion.

*** One major downside to using the DotM abs is that it doesn't offer much of a friendly alternative for the placement of the headlights - not that I've figured out at least. @Lukelbs fan mode doesn't seem to work the well with the front panels folded in.

 

I also received the DOTM kit last week and only had time to put the ROTF chest piece on (that looks really great).
I saw a lot of pictures anyway and it´s ok. Not the most beautiful thing I ever saw, but ok. At least I have the chance to choose which Prime I want to display, without buying 2 of them...
What I really need now are more DOTM figures, cause at the moment my DOTM Prime would be completely alone! Come on!

 

If you skip this figure only for the AB section... man... you are doing a mistake.

I finally cancelled my PO of this kit precisely for that reason. My collection is based on Movie 2007 and I want to keep the aesthetics and characters of that movie. Also because many people is saying that the kit is very breakable and I like to mess around with my figures for taking a lot of pictures.

I also have Tank Megatron and Tattoed Starscream but I don't know how to display them next to the rest of figures.

 

So can prime transform without removing the sternum upgrade? Or is there a shorter version that is technically his rotf sternum?

 

The kit it's only for display, if you want to transform it, you have to remove the kit.

 

Eh, if I regret it, it's my own fault.

 

Especially since the ab section is technically the most accurate we've had since the ROTF Leader's. It's not perfect, but it's far from being bad.

 

And I still have several copies of the leader, so I'm sure I'll live. It's honestly not that far from being bad. If it still looked like it did in the original gray model, he'd be on my shelf already. But as is, meh.