Never owner Challenger but Orion's articulation is rather limited due to all that crazy engineering (especially the lower parts) but he looks sensational in any pose imo.

I can give you some quick shots with UT Dragoon and the downsized KO. Take your pick  

Different accessories

 

I'm not a huge stickler for CRAZY articulation, but if a Prime can still pull off some nice movie poses them I'm set. Knight Orion looks like he has both the accuracy and the appropriate amount of articulation.

The Deluxe base and the 2nd hand blade though I can probably make do without but the rest of the accessories look wonderful

 

Owning both, I'd say it's a toss up with Challenger and Knight Orion. Toy World's figure balances a bit better and gets decent range on his basic joints. Challenger can swing his arms forward to do the "grasping his sword hilt in both hands" look, which TW's cannot do, and has more motion in the waist, in particular with rotation. Challenger is absolutely hobbled by terrible feet, though - while his ankle rockers have a ton of side to side range, there's no rotation and his toe joint is relatively unsupported which can easily result in a figure that faceplants unless you put in some serious work toughening up the pinned rotation joint. Knight Orion doesn't have quite as much range as challenger, but I feel like he looks so much more natural in any pose than Challenger does, who always looks a bit stiff and awkward no matter how you arrange him.

Knight Orion is just slightly taller than Challenger. You can sort of make Challenger taller by swinging his extending hip joints out, but then he looks frankly terrible so I could never in good conscience recommend it.

 

I think as articulation and accuracy goes, Knight Orion has me sold imo despite ogling UT's Challenger years ago. I thought about getting the weathered Challenger too, but at this point it may seem excessive. I don't mind Dragoon's size, but the downsized KO for that price is just *chef's kiss* perfect to go with Orion moreso than Challenger.

 

Is the blue hinge that connects the roof to the truck's back panel (with the smokestacks) supposed to tab in in truck mode? I looks like there is a slot on the inside of it and there's a metal tab in that area.

 

I

It's supposed to, yes, but the paint thickness and the angle of pressure means it's practically impossible to tab in. You can snip off that tab (it's plastic) with some nail clippers and the back piece will be able to sit more flush without negatively impacting the figure.

 

I managed to get it pegged in by doing it while the hips are in their robot mode position and then swinging the hinge down with the hips when moving them down under the top of the cab for truck mode. I've also noticed a few more places that tab that I hadn't seen before. The panels on the sides of the upper legs have two spots that they tab into for robot mode. There's also a small circle hole on a leg panel that tabs into a short grey cylinder from the folded back chest/head piece. I followed emgo's video and I think for putting the hands in truck mode he swings down a panel that forms the side of the truck hood and then moves the hands back. I did the hands first and then the panel last time and that gives both pieces the clearance they need. ShowZ also said they're working on getting me the replacement smokestacks.

 

Got him today

Transformation was super easy, barely an inconvenience! It just took 2 and a half hours  

Nothing broke, but 2 pins fell (glued them back in place)

I'm going to sleep now

 

Transforming some of these things can be more exhausting than a day of heavy physical labor.

 

This man is being paid by TW don't listen to his lies!

But seriously, I'm glad you liked it   I found it very hard and challenging but there are also some absolute experts of this mold here like Savio Prime or Temenos  

 

Haha it was kinda sarcastic. It was fun but also painful at the same time. Ill transform it a couple more times for videos and after that im leaving it in a cool pose and never touching it again  

 

And that's how you handle TW figures  

 

I've been rotating my Optimus figures every few days as my deskbot and about two weeks ago it was this lad's turn. He's still there. I have to say, I have a newfound appreciation of the figure. Once you figure out just how the articulation works and how to work around the limits, it's quite good. It definitely has presence. Still haven't worked up the courage to transform him and likely never will.

 

did you ever figure the side popping out problem? i cant get it either.

 

Nope, I gave up. I'm just gonna keep him in robot mode.

 

One of my sides kept popping out, but I got it to stay this time. I'm not sure how. I was thinking it might have something to do with the front wheel rotation as it looked like that section was causing stuff to flex outward.

 

Last thing I wanted to ask pertaining to Knight Orion, but where is the movie model and toy accuracy comparison with the 3rd party and takara figures? I think it was in another thread but I lost track of it.

I swear because Challenger looks way different than he did in the promos.

 

tried messing with all that and i just can't get it. has no one else here but us few had the same problem? i just can't find what is pushing it. everyting is even.

 

So frustrated with mine I just threw him in a box and don’t care about him anymore; big 2 year hype just to receive trash

 

that's weird i didn't have a problem with the transformation on mine, sure it was complex but surely not as much as UT Galvatron? my copy has been flawless so far :/