Lack of ankle tilt in studio series deluxes No ratchet joints in Kingdom Leader Beast Megatron. Especially in the legs.
Megatron turning into a small gun; it was before my time, but I imagine that it pissed off a lot of people, that the toy wasn't available because of that, if it's the case that the toy wasn't available
I've never really liked the "Head Flaps" or that square piece of plastic that normally folds over the head to conceal it. Siege Netflix Hound and Talk Barricade come to mind. Also this one is fairly uncommon, but when the back kibble does down past below their butt. It looks so bad, but luckily it's not something I see much. Like the old Leader Class Ironhide that has the sillouete breaking back skirt. The big gaps in the thighs or inner forearm also annoy me, even if they are necessary for transformation, I think it looks unsightly. Luckily, they can be hidden to where it's not super obvious, but most poses will have it shown. In the same manner that they have plastic kibble covering up the hands going past the wrist also bugs me: ER Wheeljack, Slammer, and Ironworks. These are all just little things and for the most part, don't affect but a handful of figures.
Failure to properly store a weapon. If you can't figure out how to at lest peg a weapon so its hidden then you better fit it a way to peg on the top of a vehicle. But lazily having it hang off the butt or the side? Ugh
Gunrobo Megs was available back in the day. I own a couple of them. If it hadn't been, he wouldn't have been a gun on the show.
Not all, but especially in the older SS deluxes this was a problem. Most Bayverse SS Deluxes feel frail, and they don't have wrist joints. Inexcusable.
Fake vehicle kibble in robot mode. For something more stylish like animated or impossibly complex like live action I can cut some slack but earthrise tracks has no excuse.
Anytime part of the robot mode (often the chest) is made to look like part of the alt mode but is not actually that part from the alt mode. They are just there to conform to a standard appearance for that character.
My current biggest design pet peeves are: - clear plastic - parts cast in the wrong color plastic and then entire painted over in a different color - using pins for articulation points (knees, elbows, etc.)
Even worse is when they over-engineer (or badly do the mechanisms) them with extra parts and they break. Trypticon is a terrible one that I returned within an hour of buying it as it broke right out of the box, and I love the Titanium design of Jetfire, but the tiny ratchet in the groin for the legs is tiny and broke very easily, and now he can't stand up and I'm not sure I can fix it (but I did manage to buy another one).
Bad faces. This is something that the designers often have 100% control over. This doesn't conflict with the engineering, parts count or transformation. Something so easily fixed. Yet we end up with these:
This one wasn't a design-related pet peeve per se (and TBF, it wasn't that common with TFs), but I freaking hate it when a figure doesn't include all of the necessary accessories, and the missing accessory was instead only included with another figure, forcing you to buy other figures you don't need just to complete the accessory loadout for one figure. Some ridiculous cases of this that I could think of includes: SS BB Soundwave - His shoulder cannon was incomplete just straight OOB, and the only way to have the complete shoulder cannon is to get the cannon tip packed with SS BB Ravage. Most versions of the Siege Sideswipe/Red Alert mold - Most retail releases of the mold only come with either the rifle or shoulder cannon only, meaning you need to get another version of the mold that had the other missing weapon to have 1 complete loadout for only 1 figure. Earthrise Optimus Prime - His trailer didn't include a Roller, and the only way to got Roller officially is to get the exclusive Centurion Drone Battle-pack.
I LOVE Legacy Hauler, but I'm just waiting on a kit with an alternate head or being able to find an Earthrise Grapple on the cheap. I'm all for having an emoting face included, but not as the only option. Stoic is my 0,0/baseline starting point. At the very worst, I'm left with my imagination for a figure to emote.
No Sunbow Optimus in Chug scale SPruse counts Kingdom Rodimus has a painted spoiler WTF I paid 90$ bucks I want Yellow plastic on the one piece that rubs every time you transform him…
This is more a issue stemming from the source material but I dislike how most fembots end up looking like super model hikers with huge backpacks since no attempt was made (mainly with the female characters born from the G1 cartoon) to integrate the vehicle parts into the robot modes. Part of me wishes they'd just say screw it and redesign them than try to adhere to designs that weren't intended to turn into real life functional transforming figures.
I love the legacy laser prime mold but god damn I hate how his hips can get in the way of his waist rotation I love ss galvatron but god damn I hate how his hips can get in the way of his waist rotation I’m noticing a pattern
1. Unsightly forearm kibbles from Siege Prime and blur. 2. Large unfilled gaps in forearms and legs in general which most times im thinking why it cant be filled with a little bit more material.
gaps in the forearms the types of shoulders used by SS hot rod, TR triggerhappy and legacy Jhiaxus figures lacking basic articulation (wrist swivels, bicep swivels, waist swivels) legacy cosmos
Exposed mushroom pegs on wheels. Exposed mushroom pegs on some wheels but not all. I can understand (but not like) other cost cutting measures, but seeing the mushroom pegs just seems so needless.
