I just don’t understand how it’s “settling” when it was the only option. It’s not like the fandom could email Joe Hasbro and say “Nah mate don’t like it. Have another crack why don’t ya!”  

 

Do you have one of the pexus variants? Are the fingers more fragile than that?

(And if you have D-Zef or Stellaris Prominon it's clear that MMC knows how to do good fingers, it's just hard when you get down closer to CHUG scale)

 

I am so ready for this. Judging from previous conversations I guess I got into the Transformers game quite early. My first transformer was on my 4th birthday, and on my fifth I got Leader Cybertron Optimus, which I still have in my display. Transformers Cybertron was the first transformers show I ever watched. I had my father wake me up extra early before school as it came on at like 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning so I could watch it before going to school. I even had the ROTF Leader Optimus at age 9 and could transform him and Jetfire quite easily. Those two were my favorite toys for a long time, but the only ones I still have from my childhood is my Cybertron Prime and a couple other Cybertron straglers.

 

I have original and Nemesis Pexus, and for some reason I find that Eris' fingers are a lot more finnicky. I've posed both Pexus figures plenty of times (it's almost impossible to walk by the mold and put it into a new pose as it's so fun to articulate) and never once had a problem with his hands. Eris on the other hand has had her fingers pop off on more than one occasion, though thankfully nothing has broken. I have the original version though so perhaps the new Alternate version is improved?

Also completely agree that Gen Grant has the worst fingers. I've never had issues with breakage since they're big, but his fingers are probably 30-50% longer than they should be, and they look absolutely ridiculous. They are also the more annoying part of transformation - everything else is intuitive but the one part that is usually an afterthought for other Transformers is a frustration point (folding in the fingers and folding in the hands into the forearm and vice versa). Otherwise I absolutely love the figure though.

 

I just find fully articulated hands, in general, an unnecessary and unappealing gimmick. They never look natural, often pockmarked with tiny holes or pins, and are usually fragile or limited. Especially when for the most part you’re still just going to have the figure either holding an accessory or making a fist. Plus, depending on the design, they can sometimes not even do that properly.

Partially articulated hands are the way to go. Though I would also take swappable hands.

 

If you don't have SG Pexus flipping you off, you're doing it wrong

(Honestly, I think articulated fingers look good on big, chunky bots. Your power basers, double evils, bigger MMC bots, STC Tyrant, that sort of thing. Once you get down to like, Pexus or Eris they're too small)

 

I’m in the same boat. The nemesis pexus feels like its hands are super durable despite the size, but I’ve had multiple of Eris’s fingers break. I got replacements that I’ve misplaced, so she’s just stuck with 9 fingers for now.

 

Precisely this. Articulated hands are unnecessary, imo. I've been spoiled by Iron Factory's swappable expressive hand options. I personally prefer a set of static hands in different poses over articulated hands. Articulated hands are nice, but as SPLIT LIP said, how often are you really going to be posing his hands? Static hands make it easier for the figure to hold weapons, too.

 

This sounds quite similar to me. I remember hitting thrift stores with my mom and getting half broken Beast machines and loose minicons... then going to walmart to get more minicons lol

I got Cybertron Prime for Christmas and played with it until it was a floppy mess.

 

Maybe not

 

I kind of prefer articulated hands because they just inherently give more options. Yes, they can be a bit more finicky and be a bit more difficult to get into a fist for transformation, but I have to say I prefer it to taking the hands off and replacing them with separate fists for the sake of transformation. I feel Iron Factory’s hand method, while very cool, is more out of necessity due to size.

Generally I’d say I’m perfectly satisfied with the standard MP strategy of the thumb and index finger being separately articulated while the middle, ring, and pinkie fingers are molded together, but individually articulated fingers like on Pexus and now TR-02 just provide so many options and add some extra fun to the posing.

It may be a gimmick that I only use once in a blue moon, but having Optimus on my shelf doing the peace sign, bunny ears behind Megatron, the “ok” sign, the force choke, the Vulcan salute, or the Family Guy death pose are all either enhanced or only possible with individually articulated fingers, and that’s enough for me to prefer them over static hands or the standard two finger articulation. It’s just nice having options.

 

Something I love about newer CCS Toy figures (which admittedly are not transformers) is that they offer best of both worlds. Fully articulate hands along with plenty of posed hands for holding weapons and such. I think MM-01 Prime did something similar by coming with pre-posed hands and then upselling us with articulated hands in an upgrade pack. Problem is that you can't make everyone happy unless you provide both options, but then you still can't make everyone happy because they'll just charge more :/

 

Yeah I'd take fully articulated any day. My fav thing to do is throw up gang signs on my brother's bs02

 

Another day, another review:

 

I will always prefer well made articulated fingers to static hands or the typewriting fingers. They are important in posing as well as expressiveness when a figure doesn’t have swappable faces or a face.

 

I'm perfectly aware I've used this clip already. But it bears repeating.

Now that we're finally getting solid reviews in I can easily say it's perfect! Absolutely perfect! Zero flaws, zero issues. I Absolutely cannot wait for this thing to ship out and reach my door. It is nothing short of absolutely beautiful.

 

Same. This is something that baffles me about official MP. They are so inconsistent with the hands. I can understand simplified fingers for smaller characters, but their recent TrailerBreaker has simple typewriter hands again after Starscream has individual fingers.

 

Only thing I wish was different is the Matrix. The more G1 design to it just doesn't do anything for me

 

If I had to be nitpicky, I still hate that there's no way to not flex the shoulder straps when combining. I also really do dislike that Leobreaker/Savage Claw is off the table since that mode in the show deserves to be done justice. I also don't know if it's just the reviewers being inattentive (it's hard to notice) but the cab seems to bow a bit from the weight, lifting the front wheels off the ground. I also wish the cab windows had the white trim.

Other than that this toy is perfect. There's so much intelligent design here, from the placement of diecast to move the center of balance and offset the backpack, to the backpack itself being much slimmer and less unbalanced, to the overall solid chunk and "wasn't broke, didn't fix" attitude of this redesign. Much like how Legacy Override is my example of what I want in a Hasbro update, TFR's Cybertron Prime is now my example of what I want in a 3P update. All we need is someone to do updates of Scourge and Evac and Cybertron fans be eatin' good.

I hope this guy is a top seller so TFR does either Megs or Starscream next. I feel like Megs would be perfect, since obviously then we can have the two leaders and they get a wicked Galvatron redeco out of it.

It is annoying though that, regardless of my personal opinion, these are 'fully articulated' hands with fully jointed fingers but single-piece thumbs. Means dynamic pointing or thumbs up poses are off the table. He'll always have a bent thumb, further limiting the effectiveness of the fully jointed fingers.

Yeah, it's the only truly odd design choice of this figure. Everything else is so faithful and then it's just an extremely off-model (and honestly rudimentary) Matrix design that feels entirely out of place.

 

Idk the thumb looks fine to me. It’s not curved enough to not work as a thumbs up, and it’s not straight enough to not work as a fist. Idk looking at my hands I don’t really need a figures thumb to fully straighten out in un-natural manner.