I got this guy a few days ago, and after messing with him a bit, he's not really difficult to transform, per se. It's just that 1) there's a lot of little things to do, 2) many of the joints were very stiff out of the box, and 3) the video instructions are too fast and skip over several important details.

 

Got mine today...kinda wish I hadn't bothered transforming him, but I wanted the experience. It's not that it wasn't enjoyable (though the sliding mechanisms were a bit annoying), but I already have some paint rubs on areas - including some scuffing on the wings of his helmet. I also had the gold and silver bits fall off of one of the legs...guess I'll be putting some super glue on those...

He looks incredible in either mode - an absolute slam-dunk in aesthetics, and for that I think the price was fair.

A bit disappointed in the articulation - mainly the arms, for me. Really wish they'd found a better way to do those.

The plan is for him to go on the shelf right next to Planet X IDW Grimlock (which I've never transformed).

 

Finally got around to attempting transformation of this thing. I say attempted, because this is now officially my most despised transformation after DNA Susanoo and I never got it into car mode. I don't know if I got a duffer, but several of the tabs just wouldn't fit their corresponding holes, like they were a smidge too big, and as a result it just wouldn't hold together. The further I got down the process the more subsequent tabs refused to line up. I came so close to smashing this thing. I even used multiple vids and it didn't help with my copy.

It's now sat in an origami pile on the table, and when I've calmed down, I'll try to get it back into 'bot mode. If that doesn't happen, it's getting thrown against the garden wall.

 

Well, it's foot snapped off.

Fuck you Wonderful-Trans. Worst POS I've ever owned.

 

Does anyone have a picture of the bot mode with all the waterslide decals on? He looks a bit dull in alt mode so I'm thinking of applying them but I'm worried it'll make the bot mode look too busy.

 

Go about 2 pages back . Most of the obvious blue ones are on his shoulders and feet.

 

It sounds like something was misaligned earlier on in the transformation. There are some very specific tolerances on it around the legs and waist. See bobbys Cell unicron video for a perfect example of not getting the first steps correct and seeing a horrific end result

 

Thanks for the tip! I like how he looks with the decals on so I'm looking forward to doing them this weekend.

 

Well mine cracked across the clear plastic where the upper body and lower body are connected, despite being super careful with him. Hooray. Besides that and the horrible experience trying to get everything aligned just right (everything else would typically work except the thighs tabbing in toward the end of the transformation to car mode, only had that work a single time), this is one of my least favorite figures I've purchased.

A shame too, both modes look amazing.

 

So I picked up this guy after watching emgo's review, and thinking "that doesn't seem so bad, and even if it is, I like complicated transformations anyway."

Well, that review only told half the story. Ronin isn't a nightmare because he's complicated, he's a nightmare because:

• The designer thought connecting the upper and lower bodies via a series of small, fragile joints and sliders on either end of the cockpit was a good idea,
• Said cockpit is made of translucent plastic,
• The tolerances are ridiculously tight, and being even slightly off at one step means everything after that doesn't work,
• Nothing pegs, slides, or basically works properly without fighting.

In isolation, the individual steps are not that difficult. But you have to do those steps -- often involving exerting significant amounts of force due to sticky joints and sliders -- while simultaneously trying not to stress any of the cockpit parts. That's often difficult or impossible, especially when rotating the legs into car mode.

It feels like every time the designer made a choice on this figure, s/he decided to choose the option that's the most finicky and fragile. It's hard not to look at the sum of all these choices, and conclude that the figure is designed to break.

Oh, and apparently there's no QC at the factory. I had to disassemble both shoulders out of the box, because the black circle bits that go on the back of the car were installed extended into the shoulders, making them impossible to get out without disassembly. That made a great first impression.

Anyway, don't get him unless you're prepared for the worst. (Definitely don't pay U.S. domestic prices for him.) I can't imagine this figure lasting more than a few transformations, even if I'm careful. The amount of stress the parts exert on each other in car mode is ridiculous, and makes me think it's better just to keep it in bot mode.

-XCN-

 

After going through a few transformations, the only thing I have to add is this:

You'll notice that you have to exert a bit of stress to tab the rear shoulder sections into the cockpit for car mode. By default, the tabs fall well short of the holes they're supposed to go into, even when the rear end is all tabbed together correctly; you have to force them forward in order for the tabs to catch.

I think this is on purpose. The reason I think this, is because untabbing those shoulder sections gives you enough room to untab the heels from the giant T-tabs on the shoulders. There's no other practical way I can see to do it. I think the intention was to have that slack in the design to work the heel spurs in/out, then lock the whole thing down with the small shoulder tabs to the cockpit.

I also skimmed Paik's video, where he mentions there's a retractable tab in the feet to peg them together. Obviously, it's not needed, unless you're a total masochist and have to have every tab in its place.

 

Finally got my replacement parts from ShowZ a lil bit back.

He came with two right shoulder vents before, had to remove it to transform it.

Ended up replacing the entire neck and head assembly.

Shame the QC was fuckled, but thank goodness for after-sales. So much more enjoyable flipping between modes now that he's complete.  

 

Oooh, how was the disassembly? I was trying to remove my Chest piece to see if i could lubricate the sliding area, but I couldn't pry it apart after removing the 3 screws. Is it just tabs after that? Or was there a hidden screw?

 

Disassembly was a process. After removing the two screws, I also had to disassemble the engine assembly because the screws that let the engine slide up and down go through to the other side of the chestplate, also serving as structure screws. The sliding intake halves are on tracks, and if you get the parts as far out as they'll go and wiggle, you may be able to eventually work them out like I did. Once I did that I was able to pry up the side panels under those engine intakes and unscrew those parts, which gave me the room to start prying stuff up. The two halves of the chestplate are held by both screws and pegs, so the pegs may have to be pried.
Hardest part was easily firguring out where to start, but once the engine parts were wiggled out of their tracks and the screws were removed, it was pretty smooth.

 

That sounds daunting! Kudos that you were able to do it! I have a replacement upper torso for magic square's mirage, but I and for the life of me, I cannot remove the pins to perform the replacement.

 

Just got this figure and absolutely love it. It's the first Transformer in a while that I've been really impressed with straight out of the box.
Have not transformed it yet though.
The only negatives so far is the lack of ab crunch, toe articulation and the hands are terrible

 

After almost six months BBB finally have the replacement parts I requested. Except they don't; I asked for a replacement right arm as the wrist peg was glued solid and snapped off on arrival, and they have requested....a replacement hand.

What good is that going to do when the forearm is seemingly glued shut!

 

Well worth the wait

 

Nice, what size is it?

 

First post...