Would you recommend silicone spray or heat for the legs?

 

Hearing a lot about tightness, and already heard of someone breaking one of her legs.

Think I'm gonna wait for a second batch

 

ShowZ has a video for what to do with the legs the first time

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2kjJRFQU3EI

 

Mine arrived today and I agree with the previous posts. The spider legs are incredibly tight and you need to work the joint a few times before attaching them (which is also nerve wracking). I managed to get mine on without any breaks thankfully.

The magnet on the chest is very weak and the slightest bump sends it flying off. The joints on the legs are a little loose on my copy making the stand a necessity, while the arms are somehow too tight?

The paint is gorgeous and once you get it standing up it’s a great display piece, but it’s definitely missing the playability factor of their prior releases.

 

What kind of silicon do you use? got a link?

 

Do you think the playability lacking is because of choices made by TransArt? Or do you think it's because of the Transmetal 2 design philosophy?

The Transmetal 2's are very interesting to look at with all their asymmetrical detailing, and are a big departure from the first year of Transmetal designs. But they are needlessly complicated and fiddly compared to the more robust and elegant Transmetals.

The lack of any official third mode also takes away from the playability offered by all previous TransArt toys (non-transforming Strange Friend being an obvious exception.)


Sorry, I think I've asked a question I've already made up my mind on the answer to.


It will be very interesting to see how TM2 Cheetor and TM2 Dinobot compare with TM2 Blackarachnia.

I suspect the other Transmetal 2 characters are going to feel very similar in hand to Blackarachnia due to those characters all sharing a design philosophy so different to the Transmetals.

~L~

 

Yeah, after the color changes to their RatTrap and now these issues, I'm going to wait for another batch.

 

I think it’s just the the fact that she has so many fiddle parts, not necessarily the design of the character. If she easily stood on her own (which is hard due to the weight of the spider legs) and tabbed together a little better (the joint at the neck/chest comes open every time I move her head), I don’t think I’d say she wasn’t playable.

I feel the same way about most masterpiece figures though, which is why I’m mainly collecting legends these days.

 

I use this stuff. I sprayed it into a paper towel and rubbed it on the ball joints. It took off a little paint but didn't penetrate through to the plastic. First time I've seen that but definitely something to be aware of. Most people I believe use silicone shock oil or grease.

 

Lol, the Amazon questions say that it has "NOT FOR USE ON PLASTIC" in bold on the container.

But ya - most people go for a 100% silicone lubricant like shock oil that's specifically designed for plastics.

 

I forgot who was asking for the Kingdom comparison pic but here you go.
I haven’t broken her in yet or attached the legs, but I did a quick inspection out of the box. I need to unpack some stuff and my shock oil is still packed away so I’m going to hold off on fully unpacking her until then. The paint apps look great! But the head doesn’t look as good in person as the renders did. It might be fixable with some paint but the first impression is that the eye pieces bug out a little too much and catch the light funny. She needs upper eyelids or lashes or something wrong shade her eyes better.

 

Huh. Whoops.

[Edit] just looked at the can. "Warning: contains acetone." Yeah, nobody use that stuff. Sorry for recommending it. Guess that explains the paint coming off but it's never caused me any problems before so I didn't think much of it. Time to get some shock oil.

 

Live and learn, no big deal. At least this isn't a super expensive figure.

 

Funny thing is I originally got this stuff at someone's recommendation for 3D printed plastic so I just assumed it was plastic safe. What didn't cross my mind is the 3D printed stuff was PLA which doesn't react to acetone. Luckily acetone evaporates so it's not doing continuing damage to everything I've ever put it on.

 

At agaybyss right now for $98.95. I don't do beasts, but for those who do...

TransArt Toys Beast Wars BWM-08 Metal Spider

 

Are you heating the ball or the socket?
And would people recommend some joint oil too?

 

Packaging & Accessories
There's no deny that TA is having one of the best packaging of all 3rd party out there. I'm not a box collector and throwing away TA boxes makes me feel bad.


We can also appreciate how well TA manage the packaging of it figures to avoid the gorgeous paint to be scratched


The spider shell / body is painted super nice with an asymmetrical design. There's less chrome in this figure (only found on the finger of bot mode) compare to the older TA releases but I will say this is the best painted figure by TA.


The spider head / cannon is nicely painted too. The teeth can be opened or closed and the side claw is on a spring mechanism


There are 2 kinds of spider leg given. Out of the box, the joint of the spider leg is very tight. TA is advising user to hold the spider leg near the joint and move it around before installing. On your first time bending the spider leg, it is super tight and you may fear of breaking it. So long as you apply pressure near the joint part, it will be fine.

The mechanical leg


And another one is resembling the beast


While many complain about the broken socket, TA did given a clear instruction on how to install the spider leg to the ball joint. So long as you follow exactly, there's no broken part. Is not about the quality of TA has dropped, is just that the parts are tiny and TA wants to ensure the ball joint won't be loose. So far, everything is good at my end.

Beast Mode
The transformation is very simple here. What ruins the experience here is that the shoulder, biceps n heel spurs are very tight and the parts are tiny and make us to be extra careful

Here you can see the reason why the ball socket fitment is tight. It's because it can helps to stand the spider on its legs without the body touching the floor


You can also have the body touching the floor if you prefer so


This is how the underside of the spider looks


Bot Mode
In fact, you can leave the spider shell intact during both transformation. It can transform without the needs of parts forming

This is how it looks without the spider shell which is show accurate


This is how it looks with the spider shell attached as a cape. In facts, it doesn't looks that bad.


Due to the tight joints, it's not so fun in posing Blackarachnia. Furthermore, the surface area of the foot is small, so you will takes more time to angle the high heels to pose her

 

For tight joints, I can recommend this stuff. It's quite thick, but you don't need much. Squeeze a little onto a toothpick, and use that to apply. It wicks into spaces well, just takes a moment.
Wicked hard to remove if you overdo it though! FYI, Naptha (white camping fuel) seems the best to remove it.

 

This figure's boxart seems similar in style to the APC figure boxes. I wonder if it's the same artist that does them.

 

it's unbelievable to me that the robobra doesn't store in spider mode