It's not a "detachable backpack"

It's an "integral part of the base vehicle mode that NEEDS to be removed during transformation, and then just sort of stuck back on somewhere".

Which is incontrovertibly a bad thing.

If this toy wasn't designed to parts-form, but just happened to BREAK like this in 90% of figures, fans would be screaming for heads on pikes. But now we're making excuses for Hasbro selling it to you pre-broken. Yay?

zmog

 

Were you this mad about legends class Brawn? The top of his vehicle has to be removed and then stuck back on his back.

 

I'm no Hasbro apologist, but there is a big difference between something breaking and being designed to come apart. Parts forming or not, it's still a transformer as it turns from vehicle to robot and back. How is his backpack any different than say titans return brainstorm?

 

SS38 in black.

 

That was actually a shield/gun thing.

 

Not to me. It was part of the car that partsformed to go on his back. Brawn never had a shield...

 

Ironically, it's out before the official release!

 

to me, that is a different case, as brawn's shield in vehicle mode, when you remove it, it doesn't ruin the vehicle's look. it still looks like normal vehicle if you remove that part, so that one is just optional parts in vehicle mode. and also, it is officially designed to becomes a shield weapon in robot mode. wether you refuse to accept this, and just attach it to the backpack because it is not g1, doesn't change that. in cliff's case, when you remove the part, the vehicle's look is ruined. and on robot mode, that hing seems to serve no other purpose other than just...backpack.

that being said, the reviewer we get so far only got a loose sample, no official instruction that they can use as official statement regarding that backpack. there's chance that backpack actually can become shield gun thing too, just that they didn't know this. so i gonna hold off on calling it lazy until there's official statement.

 

$9.99?
(noises of me losing my sanity)

 

I don't mind it, but I agree with Zmog that for the price they should have done better.

 

Bacems has already spoken to this. It's not a good comparison. Brawn still transforms into a reasonable off-road vehicle. The "shield" is not essential - just an add-on piece that makes him look a little more like his traditional silhouette. If you want, you could throw it in the garbage, and the figure would still look okay and transform okay. You can also leave it pegged into his back and never remove it and never use it as a shield. It looks a little top-heavy there in vehicle mode, but it resembles the top-heavy look of caravan-style landrovers with pronounced roof storage. It's clearly meant to be placed there, with the lights facing forward.

But honestly? Yeah. It still bugs me.

Cliffjumper is 1000% worse though. With him it's not optional.

Here's the thing. The way this is designed, it's basically breaking something integral off, and then sticking it back on in another integral place. You can't optionally leave it attached through the transformation. It needs to be removed.

We all know that Brainstorm was a remold of Blurr (for some reason, not a remold of Triggerhappy), and Blurr traditionally had a removeable shield piece (which ALSO always bugged me). But again, like Brawn... you can just leave it attached. Sure, it's kibble, but you can keep a cohesive vehicle-to-robot transformation without removing anything, and without ruining either mode.

Do I like it? No, I have issues with it.

It ALSO bugs me that Hasbro seemingly went out of their way to make it impossible to transform Titans Return deluxes while keeping the heads attached. I appreciate the play value of the head becoming the driver in a functional cockpit, but for so many of the characters who were not traditional Headmasters, it would have been nice to have the option of keeping the heads on during transformation.

zmog

 

Just in case anyone didn't know, there's actually a conversation about CJ here:

- Transformers Earthrise Deluxe Cliffjumper In-Hand Images - Transformers News - TFW2005

 

Agree with all of this. But especially...

THAT! THAT right there. I hated the TR line in general, because EVERYONE was a damned headmaster. And who cared if they made a new version of a character (or the first one since 1980-whenever), if they were forced to be a headmaster, and I couldn't transform around it? Drove me nuts primarily because the toys for the most part were actually pretty solid (though some were too tiny, such as Blurr), but I couldn't get past that gimmick and wanted little or nothing to do with it.

The only thing that's stopping me from modding TR Hot Rod into a non-HM (and I have a plan for it, plus a Shapeways back-head-cap-thing to finish him off) is to see what future lines might do with S3 characters.

 

I think, from the TR figures onwards, there seems to have been a clash between great engineering and sculpting, versus unneeded gimmicks. The lack of key G1 Headmaster characters in TR, the lack of Targetmaster partners for some characters, the forced removal of heads in alt-modes in some TR figures (like Galvatron) the unneeded fluff to justify glorified voyager class leader figures in Seige, the unneeded/poorly applied battle damage paint on some Seige figures, etc. Seige was the first mainstream "CHUG" line I've hardly invested in.

It's like the new Hasbro team had to sign a contract with old-guard "Hasblo" execs, promising to never make a perfect figure....

Before, I used to wait for Takara to hopefully rescue any given figure (as I can't really afford most 3P figures) but these days, KOs have mainly taken that function.

 

And this is why I hate people in general...



Why would anyone try and scam at this high of a price to begin with? This person gets a bigger high by cheating innocent people, instead of helping guide others to where they can purchase for a normal price?

What is wrong with people?

I could understand a super rarity item that is long since sold out a decade ago... but this?

I'm thinking of reporting the listing as a knockoff just to wash away some of the scum feeling I get when I see these things... it's in freakin' california of all places!

Ok, rant over.

 

Wouldn't exactly call it a scam when the listing title clearly says it's a ko.

 

So you would also defend the Pakistanis that call and claim to be geek squad from Microsoft, preying on the elderly to scam them out of money... just because they had an accent that should have tipped them off?

I jest, but clearly... that listing is horse shit at best.

 

You scroll through searched titles and you see something with "KO Kubian Version" and it's their fault you clicked on it? The item description also strongly alludes to the item not being original. The user just has to do a minuscule amount of due diligence and read the words on the screen.

The pricing is ridiculous, but so are scalper prices on anything else.

 

How? I'm dealing with this too on ebay. People don't read the description and then fire off angry emails at me when titan masters aren't 4" tall. Sorry if that buyer is on these boards but if you are, that makes you even more of a simpleton. 15 titans masters assumed to be 4 to 5 inches tall for $50 shipped...maniacs. You're the problem here Mr. TheOne.

 

I tend to agree. When they include the actual size and the words "Kubian version" right there in the description, that's about as up-front as you can be without screaming "I'M SELLING COUNTERFEIT TRANSFORMERS. PLEASE REMOVE MY CONTENT!"

If it weren't for the fact that the price is full-on bonkers, I'd give this seller props for:

• showing the item in its original packaging
• listing the real brand
• listing the actual size
• including an actual size-comparison photo with a CW figure, no photoshop

If KO sellers online did that consistently, the world would be a better place.  

zmog