A regret of mine was never owning a custom class figure from Botcon.

A custom class figure essentially comes as all the parts complete with screws and pins, unassembled, for easier painting and assembly. Typically in 1-2 colors.

Hasbro Pulse has tried some novel things lately for other lines such as discounted army builder figures in a plain brown box at a discount.

Would you like to see Hasbro offer this? If so, what figures?

My top picks would be:

Siege Optimus.
Earthrise Megatron with the various heads tooled for it.
Siege Seeker.
Earthrise Seeker.
Ironhide and/or Ratchet.
Sideswipe.

Any number of Titans Return molds (particularly with unreleased toolings like Star Convoy). Honestly, a heads pack would be fun for miniature work.
Heads and bodies sold separately. Like a bag of heads and an assortment of bodies (deluxe and voyager) sold separately.

They might pick up extra revenue sponsoring and reselling a specific brand of paint like Tamiya.

 

It's not like model kits where the tools are fairly minimal. I dunno. My biggest obstacle is getting a nother set of tools that will only really do this stuff. Not super appealing to me.

 

Most figures are doable without taking them apart.. just steady hand and proper tools.

I would just prefer if they only used screws and pins, and not use glue at all.

Examples, I did a Starscream into a Redwing, and a Rumble into a Frenzy. Not a single part was removed, just some patience, some reading glasses to magnify the details, some fine brushes and good paint.

 

I sure would. I've been lucky enough to do a few custom classes and they are a highlight of whatever show I'm at. What an opportunity to use some of the alternate heads Hasbro puts on various molds and then doesn't use.

The biggest hurdle would be instructing people in assembling the figure. Pin insertion can be tricky, and often requires pliers. But surely a video could be filmed and put up on the Pulse website.



*Although, thinking about it further, I recall it being said at those classes I've attended that Hasbro is not really in favor of selling unassembled figures, and only does it on special occasions (like Botcon classes) that are in-person and at highly limited quantities. So while I'd be all for it, I suspect Hasbro would not be.

 

Hasbro's not just letting loose sprues out for anyone to mold and reproduce.

I don't think I'd buy them anyway. I gave up collecting Gundam because I didn't have the time to put together and paint models anymore. That and I think any character they would consider using as a Custom Class type figure, is what we have the Generations Selects line for now.

 

Yeah, releasing unassembled figures at mass retail is a surefire way to have someone steal and reproduce the molds. I don't see it ever happening.

But if it did, I'd jump on it. That'd be neat to have.

 

With the increasing amount of riveted/glued parts modern figures have? Hell yeah. Disassembly is becoming a pain in the ass. Especially one-way pins. There's a special place in hell for those.

 

Eh I would rather that stay to to People like Furai.

 

I would. I'd take a bunch more siege seekers unpainted and unassembled. I'd make custom character colors and ones we havent gotten. Would take Sideswipe too to make Armada Wheeljack, and a few others.

 

It just seems like worse model kits. I hate pins.

 

An infinity of Junkions. 

 

I'm in the same boat. I used to customize every night but now am unable to. I don't have the time...

 

I still have an assembled Animated Minerva that I've been neglecting to put together because I currently suck at painting. Plus I also have the defective MP Ramjet that I still haven't fixed the swapped shoulders issue. So to answer the original question, probably not. I'd honestly prefer to buy a model kit than any customization class thing. It's still a cool idea, just not for me.

By the way, how would one go about reproducing a mold using the toy on sprues? From my understanding, plastic shrinks as it cools by some percentage (I think it was 5% but not sure) so you'd have to make the mold accommodate that. Plus, aren't molds expensive to make? Wouldn't it be easier to just steal the mold? I basically know nothing else about this so anyone feel free to chime in or correct me.

 

I love those Star Wars 1/12 model kits.

I would love something that came on sprues.

 

There are items like this on Shapeways.

My main issue with Shapeways is having to paint the parts yourself especially heads.

 

A business with the means to duplicate molds would surely be able to disassemble a figure they intend to knock off. How would marketing an unassembled figure make it more likely to be KO'd?

 

Yeah I think the bigger issue would actually having Hasbro green light the project. BotCon customizing classes were very upfront in saying Hasbro did not like providing the unassembled kits, but they did it for the fans. I think the best hope would be for a convention to get in the good graces of Hasbro and provide this class again.

 

Molding parts on sprues literally needs industrial machines with clamp force upwards of 5 tons per square inch. The two part molds themselves are often steel and/or composite that costs upwards of 20,000 USD per die, and weight a few hundred pounds.

Suffice to say that knocking off sprues requires a factory, or at least factory equipment to be able to accomplish.