Why not Retool the ER Arcee? The Bot mode looks more accurate in form than the T30. Just need to rework the backpack more. Also, why the limited budget for an SS86 Arcee?

Also the SS86 hint of grey in her pink is driving me mad.

 

I guess I'm in the minority, I like what I'm seeing here. From the more raspberry pink to the new waist, it looks good to me.

I was never the biggest fan of the T30 mold, and these changes fix those issues, though I wouldn't be surprised if lots of copies have ground clearance issues.

 

Animated Arcee toy still does it the best. I like how do much of animated\'s car creates the shape of the figure

 

Any way you slice it this Arcee still looks like a huge improvement over the Earthrise figure, and I don't even hate that toy as much as some do. There's more of a transformation to this figure, the car mode has a shape to it and doesn't look like a pink shoe and the face is cuter. ER Arcee's face always looked a little creepy being sightly elongated and just being flat pink.

I'm really trying to buy only toys of characters that I don't already have a figure of but SS '86 Arcee is defiantly knocking the ER Arcee off my shelf and taking her place.

 

I plan to do the same, the shade of pink is nice, but it does seem a bit desaturated when compared to the animated images.
There is definitely room for further improvement.

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I want to stress this point.
A lot of opinions seem to forget the context of the Studio Series 86 line.

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The answer is that because to many of us it is more distasteful for a transformers figure to not transform at all.
To many of us it defeats the purpose of transformers in the first place.

I greatly dislike faux parts. But it isn't always that simple. I tolerate faux parts that have a purpose.
As someone else pointed out Hot Rod's hood still transforms.
The faux chest-hood being tolerable to me is no different than your rationale for shellforming being acceptable to you.

ER Arcee the literal definition of a shellformer.
She is one point of contact away from being an Action Master with a transforming vehicle shell.
And there is nothing in the history of transformers that I loathe more than Action Masters.

I hope that provides some insight into where some of us are coming from.

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See above. Also, she doesn't really look good until you install an upgrade kit to convert her completely into an action figure.
Even if you remove half the backpack, the remaining half looks terribly hollow and messy.

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It would have been more expensive to retool the ER version because it would have required re-engineering way more of the figure to reach at least the same place as SS86.
The one thing I would give the ER mold is that her proportions are a bit better to my eye.
Also see above.

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I think Legacy Elita One would be a good starting point for a future attempt at this.

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In general I'd say it does an ok job, but LG Elita One does at least as good a job of it.
The problem with the TFA Arcee is that the transformation is too different and the articulation is pretty wonky in places.

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When I get a SS86 Arcee, I'm definitely going to examine the possibilities.
I already have an ER Arcee disassembled for a custom Elita One project that I have no need to follow through on.
I'm thinking that I can use parts from ER & SS86 to put together a pretty damn near perfect custom.
T30 is going to get some extensive mods and I'll probably rework her into a custom Lifeline with a heavily reshelled alt mode.

PS- Is it just me or do the new legs seem to be based on the MP version?

 

Curious, all this re-engineering and her backpack is the same size or even bigger than the Generations one. Weird. Looks far better in car mode though.
Poseability is nice and the colors being more muted are interesting.

 

You know at this point I Think I'd take a voyager class Arcee that does what 86 Hot Rod did and just give us the parts count and engineering to do the damn thing right. I'd rather pay a voyager price once than a deluxe price over and over again for fail after fail.

 

That would never work.

The problem with Arcee's overall design isn't the budget, it's her waif-ish design. There's no way to fold up everything in a particularly meaningful and compact way, and she's all curves so there's nowhere you can put hinges without totally destroying her aesthetic.

 

This figure is a total disgrace for Arcee, a giant middle finger to the character because SHE COULD HAVE BREN VOYAGER JUST LIKE HOT ROD, done! Enough budget to justify a better figure even if she's not big, but Arcee is doomed to be a deluxe and right now all deluxes from Hasbro have the budget of a core figure and sometimes core classes are better this is a joke.
Going to pick an LG Arcee ASAP because this is pathetic, even more compared with BBM Arcee and how GREAT she looks, this thing looks like a 2010 bootleg of a ROTF figure, hollow with bad proportions and a sad paintjob

 

We're reaching hyperbole.

 

They couldn't do much better with the MP. What makes you think they could get her design working even better with a smaller toy at a lesser price-point?

 

To be fair, there are things that SS86 Arcee does better than the MP (Better look because for some reason Takara wanted to make the MP overly-sexy, better chest, more cohesive, although bigger, backpack, etc.). I do think that they could have done a better job with a Voyager Class like compressing the backpack more, maybe including her visor and give her her set of different guns but aside from that, they did the best they could with a Deluxe budget.

 

SS86 does aesthetic things better, but both are practically identical in terms of kibble management, which is the actual important engineering feat that's just flat-out impossible with her design.

 

In 2022 having the MP toyline as a "quality standard" because they're expensive and not realizing that is just an overpriced scale is so pathetic that I can't take it seriously, because MP44 and Bee 2.0 come to my head, MPM BBM Prime too

 

Well, I may get one of these but I don't think I'll be replacing my LG Arcee too soon. If they just used the same shade of pink as even the ER Arcee I think it would be an improvement. Sadly, nothing makes the new legs look good. The hollow spot on the inside of the thighs makes the legs look skinny and wired and it's not helped by how the hip joints make the legs look disjointed when you move them to any position outside of a static pose. I suppose this is what you get when you try to reuse a much older toy during a problematic supply chain and inflation era of toymaking and can't afford proper re-engineering costs and still TRY to deliver a toy in a price people feel is justifiable to pay. Commendable try Hasbro.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this whole time everyone is talking about T30 Arcee in these comparison pics, isn't that actually the Takara LG Arcee? Just asking because if someone was looking at the pics and made a purchase, they'd be seriously disappointed if they got the T30 mold with all of the black on it.

 

It is - I've owned both and the LG is way nicer.

 

Yup, this is Legends Arcee, not T30 Arcee. Same mold, different colors.

 

Okay, another 10 pages before the acceptance phase. On a side note, TT/Hb could have just painted that grey portion on her front hood and waist in its entirety. And that pink details on her midsection. 

 

I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing. Wish the backpack would be a little more compact, but while it hangs a little lower compared to the T30 one, it also sits more flush against her back, and doesn't have that weird accordeon action that makes it look like Arcee and her car bits are trying to give each other a high five with their butts. The core bodies look good on both on them, but way the thighs connect to the lower torso looks nicer on SS'86. That and it's waaaaay the Hell more posable, it's not even a contest. Only thing that really irks me is how it doesn't look like the car bits line up perfectly, hopefully it either won't be a widespread issue or I'll be able to fix it with some filing away.

I'll say this, it would be interesting to see what HasTak could come up with if they just shrunk Arcee's car so it can be integrated into her robot mode silhouette more seamlessly. I know scaling is important in Generations, but it's usually bot mode scaling that takes priority (just ask Grapple and Inferno!). I for one wouldn't mind if Arcee's car mode wouldn't be exactly as big as your average deluxe sports car. It might result in a bot mode with limbs that don't look quite as clean, at least from the back, but I think it'd be worth experimenting with.