larcee should've been the minerva pretool instead of elita. arcee at least has the back bits in every depiction, while minerva's are supposed to be on her shoulders. meanwhile elita's not even cartoon accurate because of her mold-sharing, and now we have another pinup girl arcee when we could've gotten a slightly more normal-TF-styled one using rhe minerva mold.

 

I have just seen the review. I confirm the bad impression on the holes in the thighs and arms (!) and it made me want to see if in the t30 you could remove a part of the backpack and actually you can.

interesting if a similar thing could also be done on the ss86. Anyway, if I have to take it, I will spend on her € 25 so there is plenty of time to wait. As long as amazon.it will have her in the catalog

 

It is possible to do Arcee justice at the deluxe price point, all it would take is making her backpack detachable and transformable into a large accessory of some kind. Earthrise would have been the perfect time to do it, with a design that is in homage to G1 Arcee without actually technically being G1 Arcee. They had the freedom to make most of her backpack into whatever accessory they wanted, but they went the "hover board" approach that not only looks stupid, but still failed to give her a good G1 look even when detached because of how they molded it.

 

Color scheme looks like the platinum edition except without its metallic shine.

 

Not bad. Why are her colors so dull though?

 

it’s not perfect, but I’ve never had a problem with the robot being fiddly - tight joints and good balance on both of mine.



As for the transformation, it still beats FT by a country mile  

Anyway, back on topic I ditched the backpack and added some paint, I’m sticking with what I have.

 

Few further thoughts:

I'm actually impressed at how much the back part of the car folds to create the backpack, and it doesn't go for the uber lazy way that Earthrise Arcee's "hoverboard" folds since there's actual thought put into SS86 Arcee's backpack to the point that it creates an even more cohesive look than the original T30 mould (and dare I say, the MP) despite that the backpack itself is bigger. Sure, they could have made it fold even further with a Voyager Class budget but unfortunately that didn't happen and for now this is the best G1 Arcee we have at Deluxe price.

Speaking of the devil, my God, I own three versions of that cursed mould but Earthrise Arcee looks even worse on camera. That worthless backpack/"hoverboard" lacks any sense of elegance and is even more noticeable because it goes over the damn head of the toy.

Ah, you were talking about MP Azalea. Well, she also doesn't have the accurate G1 vehicle mode either so that lets her cheat a little.

 

Seeing the girls lined up next to each other like this I feel a little more certain that my theory it was the material budget that made ER Arcee the more impractical conversion to the SS86 Arcee is possibly correct, there looks to be way more car shell to her, as well as a tad more height and bulk to my eyes.

 

The T30 Arcee mold still wins!

The Netflix Arcee mold is in 2nd place strictly because of the Elita 1 retool. The other 2 are a pass.

 

Is probably more the fact that Earthrise Arcee is f*cking terrible and they wanted to stay away from her as far as possible.

 

I\'d rather have this in the original T30 color scheme with the new molding but I\'ll still get it.

 

Sure she's a shellformer but "f*cking terrible", nope, ER/Kingdom Arcee just trades having vehicle parts as components of the robot mode to gain articulation and better handle the Turbo Teen level of mass-&-shapeshifting a purely Floro Dery design demands, and tried something ambitious in it's rather clever detachment mechanism.

Why the ER in particular gets such a bashing when the likes of SS86 Hot Rod faux hood chests it I really can't fathom.
And I was originally a naysayer myself but having to also get a Lifeline to snag an Earth mode Ratchet put the figure in my hands, and I experienced a Damascene moment. It's a good figure, Bront. It's full of ambition, even if not everything lands, and a really great figure despite not the cleanest car mode but it's still closer to her On-Screen TFTM car mode than T30.

 

Definitive proof that G1 Arcee will always look like shit lmao

 

It is "f*cking terrible" not only because she's a shellformer but because she's also a TERRIBLE shellformer that doesn't even bother to transform the core robot itself and even despite of how lazy such proccess is, is still frikking obnoxious because both the worthless backpack and figure need to connect perfectly to actually work, if they don't you end-up with a half-assed robot and vehicle.

Because the chest still transforms and is part of the best representation of Hot Rod we got? Not hard to figure out.

"Ambition"? What ambition? Is one of the laziest transformations ever and barely counts as a Transformer. Hell, even frikking Thunderblast at least had her feet be a part of the vehicle.

 

Man, people have really passionate takes on these Arcee figures don't they? I really don't see the issue about shellforming if the figure looks good.

Frikking fricks.

 

This is why we need an Arcee with super thick thighs, hips and bottom, so we can more easily hide all the car kibble and panels inside of.

 

I mean, you joke but that'd definitely give her more space to put things!

 

The worst toy of the decade gets the worst from me.

 

Who says I'm joking?

 

... Well played.