Yeah the having to unscrew to switch the eyes and heads is standard on this guy I think. Besides that minor annoyance, think he's a very solid figure as well as their Hoist.

Like this little log diorama stuff too:

 

Well, I got my Aegis from TCP. Even though I asked them for a VLE Aegis, and they were like “Sure, no problem,” I still got a regular Toon Version with the white weapons. Lame. Even my MP-19+ that I ordered before Hasbro got their US stock, was a stupid Hasbro MP-19+ With the near blank box. I guess their Rollers Stash doesn’t care what version you get, if they can make a sell, they’ll sell someone else your special version if you leave it there.

God I hate these white weapons.

 

I think this is a great mold for Hoist, but the paint on the feet bothers me. Memory suggests this is animation-accurate, but it bugged me on the cartoon, too. It looked like a coloring error (much like with Blastoff's visor/forehead). I was thinking the chrome versions of Paean had more logically-colored feet.

EDIT: This is what I was thinking of:

Be it white or silver, this paint scheme for the feet looks better to my eye. I'm more in favor of silver (because the cartoon animators literally used white as a lazy way to represent silver), but either way, I don't like the "white" version's paint application. I'd have to remedy that with some green paint if it were mine!

 

Did anyone ever try to swap the improved shoulders into the original Aegis?

 

Look what came in today!




Really happy with them  

 

Finally replaced BC Lorry with new Paean. The pin holding one of the backpack latches was out in the packaging and was a pain to get back in. The updated white paint and better hands are what this should have had on it’s initial release.

 

So do the legs just expand more on trailbreaker? I quite like that there is that difference with the mold mates

 

The legs and leg transformation is different on both actually, its not just expanding them. BTW, as much as XTBs transformations can be irritating, these were really cool.

 

Really like the dude, he’s really solid and looks great with Trailbreaker and Grapple

 

Do those long pieces on the back of Paean's feet serve a purpose? It's literally the one thing stopping me from considering buying it. IDK what it is about those pieces on his feet but they drive me nuts. Could they be cut off without any major issues?

Oh, and i don't care if it affects stability at all, that's how much i hate them. Yes i'm being irrational about them but they look dumb.

 

I think they will also affect transformation. If you cut them off they will affect stability, though you may prop him up against something, I guess.

 

I honestly don't care about any stability concerns with removing them. I've watched at least one person transform him and unless there's a small tab on those pieces that has to be tabbed in i don't think those extra pieces do much. They should've made it so they can swing over to the back of the foot if anything.

Am I crazy or did you trim down those long pieces that are on the back of his foot? This is exactly what i was wondering if they are. Those long pieces are hideous (to me) and it's been preventing me from wanting to buy Paean lol.

 

Nah, that's just how he came unless I forgot to fold something out, they definitely don't stand out to me in person

 

I know everyone's got their nitpicks for any figure for one reason or another. I don't think another Hoist alternative is coming any time soon (as in the next year or two). FT has a Trailbreaker coming (again in the next year or two) but who knows about Hoist.

In the meantime, you can get your enjoyment of Hoist for about $130USD (for the next year or two).

 

Yeah if i decide i want a Hoist i'll go with this one despite my complete hatred of those pieces on his feet. I'd likely just trim them down and live with the consequences.

 

Those long pieces aren't visible in alt mode... so yeah, if you aren't worried about stability, it looks like you can trim those down. Can always ask XTB if they're willing to sell you an extra set of those pieces just in case.

I just noticed that it seems you forgot to fold up the back of the feet. There will be a long piece on the inner part of the feet, but most of it does fold up so it doesn't look like there's a long heel when looking from the outside of the legs.

 

I just watched the TMReviews video on Paean, and he showed that although the figure comes with the double-barrel hand-replacement gun and the hammer hand-replacement tool, the new hands that X-Transbots made for this re-release don't actually have attachment points for those hand-replacement accessories. That seems incredibly dumb. Did he just overlook something, or did X-Transbots really give you two accessories that you can't even use?

Also, the two review videos I've watched both showed that the white paint is flaking off in many places; is this a common issue? I was strongly considering getting this Paean, but if the paint is flaking right out of the box, then I'm out.

 

The hammer is fine, but yeah, just looked at the other parts and the double blaster and adapters for Ratchet's accessories don't seem to be have a slot to peg into.

Paint flaking doesn't seem that big of an issue on my copy. It's on the white parts and is around the tabs and slots which you can't see.

 

That is IN. CREDIBLE. I wonder how much money it cost X-Transbots to make parts that customers can't even use.

That's good to hear. On TM's copy, the flaking was in lots of places on the legs, and even some of the green paint on the feet. Around tabs/slots is unfortunate but seems manageable; when it's right in the middle of the thigh or something, that's much harder to hide.

 

Saw someone on Facebook who wound up snapping the mushroom peg off of one of Paeans wrists while attempting to swap out the hand for the cannon. It seems worth repeating that my copy of Paean has stress marks around the entire base of both mushroom pegs.