Trans Craft TC-02 Bumblebee Movie Bumblebee

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by BLNadal, Nov 27, 2019.

  1. OCProwl

    OCProwl Autobot Dad

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  2. Illiterate Scholar

    Illiterate Scholar Well-Known Member

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  3. @l3x

    @l3x Well-Known Member

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    Took me three separate attempts but I finally got it into vehicle mode. I feel like the front wheels/feet should fold into the wheel wells slightly further though?
     
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  4. ghostyurei

    ghostyurei Oops! My bad…

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    You think getting into vehicle mode is hard, try untabbing the rear brake lights to go back to robot mode!
     
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  5. TheGame2K5

    TheGame2K5 Well-Known Member

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    Mine were like spring loaded popping them out as getting them in was a tight fit. lol Probably should have been more gentle but nothing broke.
     
  6. OstOgBajer

    OstOgBajer Well-Known Member

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    If a transformation ever need a spudger, that bit is it!
     
  7. @l3x

    @l3x Well-Known Member

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    Ok I figured out the front wheels, turns out the toes snap into place if you rotate them further. I was afraid to force it earlier.

    For the tail lights, I recommend disengaging the back wheels first and scrunching the “fake chest” bits inward, then swinging the wheels down/inward as well. This will give you the space to reach beneath the fenders and push up with your thumb, rather than trying to pry them apart from above.
     
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  8. Xcandescent

    Xcandescent TRUKKS are the new MUNKYS

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    So one of the silver knee pieces on mine now has a hairline crack from the tab hole down to the joint that holds the foot cover, causing that piece to fall off. As far as I can tell, all I did was just peg it in. I'm guessing that because the entire knee assembly is attached to a stiff ball joint at the top, that there might've been lateral stress applied which caused the break.

    And that's kind of the problem with this toy in a nutshell. You have a lot of tight friction joints fighting against each other, with only a few tabs as a guide. The complex nature of the toy means that you can't predict when a cascading failure like this is going to happen. (I would not have guessed that tab hole was fragile, given that it's meant to take the stress of the hinging knee assembly during posing.) Trying to line up joints to do the right thing is difficult when it's not even obvious what the right thing looks like, and that means troubleshooting things like why the alt mode won't tab together becomes extremely difficult.

    Also, the alt mode is a giant question mark, in terms of the amount of stress it's inflicting on certain components. There's two issues: the rear fenders/tail lights are used to hold the back together, and are actually under tension whenever you use them. I wouldn't be surprised if the ball joints eventually cracked or broke. If you (somehow) have everything aligned correctly, it's theoretically possible for the side windows to peg in without the joint being stressed -- but often it falls just short, and you end up having to massage various joints in the hope that everything will line up correctly. As the side windows are clear plastic and pinned, you definitely don't want to stress those.

    I'm also not crazy about the scary pin slider in the spine. Like ... they're bad enough when used normally, but this toy has you apply force through a 2nd pin, attached perpendicularly to the slider, instead of directly. That can't be good for any part of that assembly.

    It's great and all that this thing transforms, but it's pretty clear to me that not enough work was put into making it transform well. And by that , I mean designing it in a way that transformations are actually reproducible without having to tweak dozens of friction joints into the correct alignment, and without putting parts of the toy under undue stress. It's a nice try, but I need my expensive figures to last more than a handful of transformations without random breakages.

    -XCN-
     
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  9. Shmoptimus Prime

    Shmoptimus Prime Za Warudo!

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    Showz finally, FINALLY shipped mine! I'm so happy!
     
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  10. 0ptimus__Prime

    0ptimus__Prime Autobot Commander

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    Thanks, I went ahead and pre-ordered him. Thanks for the heads up!
     
  11. rushhourdude8

    rushhourdude8 Well-Known Member

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    Your comment and looking at your profile picture made me laugh!
     
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  12. mantisfists

    mantisfists Well-Known Member

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    More traditionally formatted review from Ben KOllectables YouTube channel.
     
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  13. Atomic Tofu

    Atomic Tofu Well-Known Member

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    Mine! I don't have my old formats, my editing software installed on another pc has different files, no more "zen" title :p . And I have to do a proper thumbnail later.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
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  14. Stigcrafter

    Stigcrafter Flailhand McHunchback

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  15. Kevin Adams

    Kevin Adams Well-Known Member

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    I've been buying from them on eBay over the last year, is there any discernable difference in using their website? Price, speed of service, etc.?
     
  16. LeoJ

    LeoJ Well-Known Member

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    Just opened this guy up and they really should’ve left the paint job as it was. Very poorly done. My chest keeps untabbing, straight out the box, do I need to make sure everything is transformed correctly or anyone have any advice
     
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  17. OCProwl

    OCProwl Autobot Dad

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    No difference, prices sometimes a bit lower than eBay and they do have coupons/discounts from time to time. Biggest "savings" for me though is no tax (eBay charges me tax now).
     
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  18. Atomic Tofu

    Atomic Tofu Well-Known Member

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    Untabbed like from robot mode? Untabbed from the waist area? I'm reupping my vid, you can wait a bit ;)  but I try to be as thorough as I could in the transform to and fro so you can see what's what though, if that helps. (intro was a little borked)
     
  19. LeoJ

    LeoJ Well-Known Member

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    So the only yellow part of the abdomen that has the two tabs behind it that go into the two ports on his stomach area
     
  20. Xcandescent

    Xcandescent TRUKKS are the new MUNKYS

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    So the back on this guy does not actually tab to anything at all, which means the entire chest/back assembly more or less floats around a set of interconnected hinges (including the scary sliding pin hinge in the spine). What I've found is that you have to kind of work all the hinges into a position that lets the chest tab in fully, which leaves a small gap between the back and the waist. I've attached a pic for quick reference.

    Once you have the chest tabbed in securely, everything does lock into place. It's just another instance of not enough tabs, and too many hinges at cross purposes.
     

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