Just got this figure from Amazon, and mine at first was gapping at the doors (not the gap between the bed boxes and the light bar, that is not incorrect, the bed boxes are the right height, it's the weird panels holding the light bar halves on that are wrong, they don't exist on the real truck). After spending about 15 minutes fussing with it, I was about to unscrew the arms to see if they were the cause when I saw what I am pretty sure is the cause of what's going on...

The shoulder spikes are on a rotation joint that can get loose, they fall out of the slot they're supposed to align to the forearm and push up on it ever so slightly.

I'll demonstrate via photos. Alignment at the back of the door should be this or better (honestly, you can get it better with a little panel-massaging, I was just being lazy) :


Inside, the spike to forearm should align thusly:


However, the stupid spikey bit often misaligns during transformation due to the awesome forces of the upper body snapping into place, you can see it misaligned just behind the shoulder :


Note how the gray spike is not aligned to the orange bit ahead of it:


This is how the spike should be aligned:


Because it slides into this slot on the forearm:


ETA: highlighted what I'm talking about, because it's obvious to me but it's just a sea of orange and gray to someone else.

 

That was helpful, thanks!

 

Glad I am not the only one disappointed with this figure. I really thought he looked great until I got it in hand. It's not bad but after seeing all the flaws particularly the alt mode I am really lukewarm on the figure.

 

Alright, I've spent a day with Battletrap to better coalesce my opinions. While I had no attachment to the character from the new movie, the toy looked really cool and promising, so I preordered early. What arrived is imperfect, but not entirely without charm. There's so much going on here that I'm going back to my older format breaking down the pluses and minuses in each mode instead of combining them.





Robot Mode Pluses:
+ some nice sculpted detailing throughout
+ mean pointy head design looks interesting, slit eyes (eye covers?) have very fine red paint in the slits
+ well articulated, ankle tilts work better than they have any right to
+ wrecking ball works well over hands, can store on back, even has 3mm holes for flight stand or inevitable 3rd party chains
+ deco looks pretty good



Robot Mode Minuses:
- Studio Series figure that's quite inaccurate to the final character design in the film - the chest doesn't have the blower, the wheels aren't in the shoulders, no wrist guns
- back is visibly hollow and the panel comes away from the body too easily (later found that the designers intended the transformation to use the lightbar halves to lock this in, panel no longer pops out at all, instructions get this wrong)
- arm kibble is terrible, intended design is it folds into a sloppy cube that dangles off the wrist, at best it can be folded back behind the arm, but will stick out no matter what
- shoulders attach on a thick tab that leaves a big gap, between the kibble and the scrawny arms, the arms in general felt like a major afterthought
- ball-jointed neck can barely look up or down
- hands are sculpted with a big trigger finger style yet he comes with zero guns
- very leggy
- wrecking ball is supposed to be on an extendable chain, yet he comes with no chain
- character box art shows tons of weathering and rust that aren't part of the figure's deco

Transformation Notes:
+ the legs and upper body transformations are interesting and fun
- the cab top half to the lightbar, center of the grille, and front bumper are all one section that has to move past the upper fenders in a miserably tight manner, it's a chore transforming in both directions and feels scary; going to vehicle mode, I recommend putting the bumper in first, then pushing on the grille above the "GMC" logo backwards to help get the cab canopy past that first hurdle on the fenders; going to robot mode, I recommend just lifting from the light bar and wiggling the canopy side to side as you lift
- going to vehicle mode, the shoulder spikes fall out of position easily while getting the forearms down which causes alignment issues with the cab canopy and requires de-transforming partway to re-adjust (I covered this in an earlier post in this review thread)
- occasionally the mushroom peg for the waist will come off during transformation, it's a simple fix shouldn't happen



Vehicle Mode Pluses:
+ working dually, the wheels even spin independently of each other
+ vehicle mode has a good deco, the gunmetal over dull orange feels "right"; painted taillights and blower, translucent orange lightbar looks great
+ some nice sculpted detail in vehicle mode
+ wrecking ball fits snugly over the tow bar and keeps it firmly together
+ the orange plastic doesn't have show-through issues, everything looks pretty "whole" compared to a lot of orange figures




Vehicle Mode Minuses:
- vehicle mode is a challenge to get lined up properly and locked into place so it's not a wiggly, gappy mess (it can be done, but it's not fun)
- vehicle has too much visible bot kibble with the entire forearms sticking out the back of the cab and the robot legs sticking out the undersides of the truck
- tow bar sits too far in, and comes apart super easily when the wrecking ball isn't attached
- rear wheels are super thin
- fat tabs sticking out the side of either door that are purely for robot structure
- added panel holding the light bar creates the sense of an unsightly gap at the bed boxes
- poor ground clearance

What's Odd:
? only weathering is mud paint on the bumper that looks like doody-flames, this doesn't look bad per se, just odd that it's only on the front bumper and the robot mode facade bumper, they went out of their way and it's bare visible to the naked eye

Overall: "gray area between B- and C+" if you're willing to work with some challenges; "D+" if you aren't
I like this figure, but can't really recommend it as there are too many issues going on that shouldn't be seen in a $35 figure; what's good works fairly well, but what's bad is a lot of different bad choices that end up potentially making for a ruinous experience. Robot mode looks pretty cool and has good articulation, but even leaving out the inaccurate design, there's annoying kibble on the forearms, unattractive design where the shoulders meet the body, the back is hollow and comes off easily, the hand design makes no sense for a character with no grasping weapons. Transformation has some fun stuff going on, but is wildly hampered by a difficult and uncomfortable upper cab that doesn't go into position without significant challenges, and detail parts that fall out of position easily causing vehicle mode alignment problems. Vehicle mode looks good from the front, but the back half is a mess of terrible kibble choices and poor stability.

 

Got mine yesterday and he tabbed together pretty well in alt mode.
The only issue on mine is the waist untabbing when spinning around during transformation. Don‘t know what the problem is there. I tried sanding it down a bit but didn‘t work.
Does anyone elsa have that issue?

 

I updated my review to improve the score and add photos, I do like the robot mode and even the truck mode after all; and I added a drawback to transformation when I was fiddling with the figure last night after the review and the waist mushroom peg once again popped out during transformation. It's not a frail figure by any means, and the part pops right back in, but it shouldn't be happening at all, especially on a $35 figure.

 

Sorry for the back-to-back posts, but this is different from the previous comment and probably should be separate. After updating my review and adding those pics, I was fiddling with the figure and noticed the lightbars click into place behind the head in a way that aligns with the character art on the front of the box, but differs from the line art from the the instructions. Notice how the lightbar halves are angled inward in the character art instead of parallel:

(not my pic, just the first one I could find of the box art)

I think the lightbar halves were designed to click in behind the shoulders, there's a tiny notch in the shoulder that doesn't seem to do anything else in robot or vehicle mode:


When the lightbar is pushed into it, it clicks. Once clicked in, the backpack stays in place a lot better as the lower half can't be accidentally lifted out of position anymore. It also fills in the gaps behind the head a bit better.

 

That's how I have been transforming him, Guess I thought that was the proper way lol

 

If only the people who made the instructions thought the way you do.

 

Right, this fella. He's all about that robot mode visual, and that's valid. There's some finickyness in the transformation in how things line up, but now everything is figured out by the comminity, it's not too hard to figure out how to do it all correctly reliably.

I just wish that the truck had more effort put in. The back is a complete mess. It's 'covered' by a lot of visual clutter, but was tehre really nothing better that could be done about 2/3 of the forearms? No panelling for the truck bed or to complete the tailgate. And the tabs for the arm plates on the hood are an extremely clunky solution for how to secure the arms. That feels more like a solution a less experienced company would settle for, not something from a company that has been making transforming robots with generally realistic alternate modes for close to 40 years now.

And thing is, that messy truck bed still leads to problems in robot mode- there's no good way to arrange the tow arm kibble on the arms. I dunno, it seems like there could have been a way to connect that to the backpack instead, and possibly fill in some of the back in the process.

He's fine, good even, but he's not the great figure that his style and first impression promises.

 

While I agree with most of your points, a tow truck wouldn't have a proper tailgate, the back just tapers down. Doesn't justify a massive set of arms sticking out the back, though - I don't get why they couldn't at least have the hands go INTO the cab and the elbows stick out, accomplishes the same thing with less ugliness.

 

There's no way to save that alt mode, even with after market add-ons. There's a 3d printed nylon option (very strong but the surface finish is awful) by Sharkwo that covers up the arms in alt mode. However, the arm cover can't sit flush in alt mode and requires stock arm disassembly to use. The tow hitch parts are separated from the forearms and attached to the arm cover.

 

To be fair, tow trucks have a lot more shit going on in the back than most vehicles you'd see on the road, and there's a fair amount of visual clutter there, at least to me. I'm not saying it's a great truck mode, but to me at least it looks the part decently enough.

 

Can this thing actually tow vehicles?

 

Kinda, you can pose it like that but theres no tab or any type of connection for other vehicles

 

Interesting, I look forward to this one arriving tomorrow. Amazon gave me a pretty nice coupon so I decided to bite on this one. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

 

Battletrap.... ho boy... where do I begin with you....

In the initial vehicle mode reveal pictures from the set of the movie, Battletrap's Orange and Black tow truck vehicle mode caught my eyes fast. The orange and black colour scheme looked really nice to me.
SO. when pictures for Battletrap first leaked online, I was super excited for him. the toy looked super cool with it's spiky Bumblebee movie-esque design. The unique head design. the wrecking ball. I couldn't wait to get him.
He was the RotB figure I was most excited about getting. And the one I wanted to get first. though that ended up being Cheetor instead

I finally got him in hand yesterday, and opened him up to see what the figure was like. And things quickly went downhill from there.

In hand his proportions looked a lot lankier and less bulky than initial pictures had me believe. Not the worst thing in the world, but still his arms and legs felt skinnier than i was expecting. and he was very leggy.
But Oh well his deign itself still looked great, even if the proportions felt weird in hand.
Then I tried to move the arms. And immediately had kibble bumping into things. Those crane arm/ hooks on his forearms and some of the most inelegant things I've seen on a Transformers figure since SS86 Ironhide's clear plastic hooks. Sadly this was only the tip of the iceberg with this thing.
Moving the kibble out of the way I again tried to move the arms. and they moved VERY easily. too easily. The arms on my copy are incredibly loose at the shoulder. as A result, it's rare they can hold a pose without just flopping back down to a neutral position. And if you attach the wrecking ball, then there's no hope of him holding a pose.
Speaking of the wrecking ball. I'm assuming it's meant to fully clamshell around the hand like Legacy Bulkhead's can. but mine just refuses to close shut, leaving a large unsightly gap along it.

So, he has useless noodle arms that he can't lift. and a wrecking ball that is permanently split open. Let's continue.

Beyond this everything about his robot mode was decently tight and poseable. you can't do much to make his poses look dynamic when the arms are encumbered by kibble AND can't support their own weight. So posing this guy is out.

On to transformation! Honestly this falls into a similar category as Legacy Skullgrin, where initially I feel like the transformation isn't so bad and then it just... ends. and I'm left thinking "that's it? it doesn't look finished!" The forearms and fists stick out the back of the cab. there's no truck bed. the crane/hook is stuck at one angle and can't move due to the arms being in the way. and also refuses to stay pegged together.
nothing along the sides seems to line up in a way that makes it feel like a coherent vehicle and not just random chunks assembled into a vaguely vehicle like shape.
I initially had trouble getting the cab to stay pegged down onto the "doors" and sit over the forearms properly, but looking through this thread I learned how to line things up properly, so that issue if gone now. but it only helps marginally in making the vehicle mode look more complete and coherent. the giant clips on the side of the doors that the arms peg onto for robot mode don't help. they could have at least made them look like spikes or something to play into the Terrorcon look similar to Scourge's truck mode.

It's a shame since there was some decent stuff happening with the transformation, and if there was just a few tweaks made, and maybe a couple of extra parts, this probably could have been an amazing transformation and vehicle mode. but as it is... it's definitely the weaker of the two modes. Noodle arms wins

I have 2 other QC issues with my figure, beyond the arms not being able to support their own weight and the wrecking ball not clamping shut. first, any time I try to rotate the waist, it just slips right out of the socket the mushroom peg sits in. I can't tell it there's a defect on the peg, or the socket or if this is just a bad design.
on top of that, I also noticed while transforming him the first time, that one of the pins that attach the lightbar to the hinges was not inserted all the way, meaning that half of the lightbar needs to be handled carefully to ensure it doesn't fall off. and there's a nub of metal pin sticking out the bottom of it, into the vehicle mode cab. fortunately it doesn't stick out enough to get in the way of the (already frustrating) forearms. but still just another disappointing QC issue with my Battletrap.

I paid $39 AUD for my copy. getting him at a sale price. and I'm really glad I didn't pay full price for him.

Oddly though.
For some reason.
Despite all the QC issues
and problems with the toy design in general
I don't hate this figure.
I don't love it. not at all.
But I'm not as sour about my purchase as I thought I would have been.
I am considering taking him back to the store I bought him from to seek a replacement with better QC. but I'm not even sure if I want to do that or just keep this copy as is.
I guess I'm in a forgiving mood today ha.

I'll rate this figure "Disappointing" overall and say only get it if you love the design, but even then. wait for a discount price. and be prepared for a fairly flawed figure. and I hope you have better luck on the QC lottery than I have.

It seems that so far only Airazor out of my RotB Studio Series figures is free of any overly loose parts.
Battletrap has loose shoulders
Cheetor has loose elbows
and Bumblebee has loose thigh swivels.
I'm hoping this is not a trend that will continue....

Current ranking of RotB Studio Series figures so far from best to worst
Bumblebee
Cheetor
Airazor
Battletrap

 

So im thinking of getting this guy, is it true he has some shitty plastic or is chefatron acting like a little bitch again?

 

I’ve not really noticed any problems with the plastic. Seems to be standard Studio Series quality.