I'm going to do a tutorial tomorrow on it, there are more than 4 screws in the tail, but at TFNation over the weekend I found it easier to fix by taking the body apart too! Sounds daunting but relatively simple
Mine was warped so I used a hair dryer. Don't keep the hair dryer on it or it will melt it. Just lightly heat it up by waving the hair dryer side to side on it and when u have it heated up a bit just straighten it with your hands by bending it in the opposite direction that it is warped. When it cools down it should harden back up in the position u want it. Took me a couple of try's but it worked. I also put some nail polish on the tabs to thicken them a little more. Mine stays shut now with full tilt on. I've never had to do so much work on a figure. I've had to fix his tail, hips, those hip pivots that were installed wrong, and the chest door. Shit i thought metroplex was a lot with the hips and knee fixes. But it was fun.
Thanks for that, question two, when I got him out of the box, the tail had a secondary locking point all the way back, now, no such luck...anyone else had this problem? Advice would be appreciated as I greatly prefer that look.
As in now it only 'clicks' into place one way, but not the other? Probably the plastic inside the tail that holds onto the toothed ratchet disc has given way.
Is the tail supposed to be lifted up for "proper" dino mode? A lot of the pictures I've seen tend to emulate the G1 design and leaving the tail as is (unchanged from base mode). What's the general consensus?
Yes with my tail it was making a really bad noise in the ratchet because the cross piece that holds the ratchet was getting chewed and stopped holding position. I opened my tail up and glued the cross piece to the ratchet and added lubricant between the ratchets. Now the tail holds position and moves smoothly. That tooth ratchet has to be glued to the bottom cylinder. You'll see what I mean when u open the tail up.
Thanks a ton!!! Unfortunately I've been fighting with the stickers on this guy for 3 hours so that's a tomorrow kinda job (or at least in an hour when my head stops hurting). I miss reprolabels... Will post when I have my result.
I was about to do the labels after all the fixes but decided to wait for reprolabels. I have no doubt they will make a set.
So mine ended up having the loose tail and warped door for sure. Haven't dealt with the door, but tightening the screw on the tail seems to have worked. Haven't messed with it a lot so I could be wrong. The hips ... well I couldn't even turn them. So I've unscrewed one, taken the spring out and tried doing the compression therapy fix, where you compress it repeatedly for ten minutes or so to loosen the tension. Well I did it for ten, tested it, then did it for another five. Nothing. Still can't turn the hip. I'd really prefer not having to cut the spring, but I'm guessing that's what I'm going to end up having to do.
I know if feels like it'll break, but I've heard multiple reports that you just need to grab the leg by the joint itself and twist with force. The first click is scary but it should be fine after that. Keep in mind though, it's your figure, don't do anything you aren't comfortable with.
I finally got it to turn one click each direction, then opened it back up to check for damage. As far as I can tell the teal cross piece is fine, so maybe it worked after all.
Got Trypticon this morning but had to exchange it because of a defective in/out hip joint. 2nd one still has the problem, but at least it'll stay in when you force it to reach the next click, unlike the first one which would always stay 1 click out like in the 2nd picture. Fully closed Popped out 1 click
Thank you for the visual image. I didn't realize that's an issue which mine has ugh. Although I just keep it standing in bot mode and will eventually give it to my son. I'll wait to get another one when this issue is fixed.
You can actually fix this yourself. There is a double geared ratchet between the teal and black pieces and one of the geared wheels is in the wrong orientation. You can disassemble the whole thing, rotate the geared wheel 90 degrees (it's connected via a cross piece that is not keyed, and it should be to avoid misassemble), and put it back together. The mechanism is complicated but if you start to take it apart you should see what I mean. There's nothing defective, it's just misassembled at the factory. If anyone wants more detail say so and I can try to describe it.
This thing is so shoddily assembled you would think it was a convention or collectors club exclusive.
Super scary ratchet joint, that quit clicking after I messed with it. It's a similar problem to the legs. See @Blackdragon27's post above for instructions on fixing it.
