Unexpected Challenges

Back in March, my girlfriend took the opportunity to go travelling around Europe. She'd had two complicated bereavements within the space of a year or so, a toxic situation developed at work at much the same time and, all the while, she was working on her Masters degree in Space Science and Technology. When she received her results (pass with distinction) she handed in her notice and started planning in earnest a trip she'd fully expected to have to put off till she retired.

This presented a useful opportunity for me to get some work done on our flat, since I'd only have to worry about my own (in)convenience. I've needed to get the ceilings redone ever since the roof got fixed about two years ago, so that was the main job I wanted to get done. Courtney and I had also discussed redecorating the bedroom, so I was even able to tag the redecoration onto the end of the ceilings refit, once I had her preference for paint colour.

But what has this to do with TransFormers, you ask? Why is this momentous enough to warrant a blog post?

Well, because I ended up transforming a bunch of my figures into vehicle mode for the sake of portability (also to pass the time while work was going on in another room), and completely empty an Ikea 'Detolf' cabinet so it could be moved without the contents falling over (or out).

And the figures in this cabinet were largely Masterpiece and 3P MP-analogues, with a couple of exclusives.

So, while work progressed in the lounge, I had the cabinet temporarity in the bedroom, with its contents spread out on the bed and, in every case, the instructions stashed away in the boxes which were, naturally, inaccessible... Some of the figures were notoriously breakable, or had complicated or fussy transformations, while others were simplicity itself... Here's a quick breakdown:

Armada Unicron: mostly very easy, on account of it being a proper large format toy. However, the way I'd arranged his shell pieces, while fine for his robot mode appearance, was the wrong way round for his planet mode. On top of that, it took a while to remember how the rings were supposed to work, and one half of his rings popped off twice: once at the point where it connects behind the shoulder, and once at that part's rotation joint. Also, I found that one of his knee ratchets has broken... so I'll have to take that apart to assess the damage once all the decorating is done.

Cybertron Primus: much the same as Unicron, only complicated by the transformation steps that require the Omega Lock. For once, the arm cannons didn't deploy themselves during the process, so that was a bonus.

Galaxy Force/TDP Soundblaster: Didn't feel like transforming this one as it's a bit too fussy, and I'm not convinced that his jet mode would be significantly less easily damaged than his robot mode... but I did transform his weapons and Hell Buzzsaw, for ease of storage.

MP03 Starscream/MP Skywarp: still my favourite Masterpiece mold, because the jet mode is essentially flawless. One of these days, I hope to be able to substitute my Hasbro MP Thundercracker, based on the MP11 mold, with the Takara MP07 version, and acquire the original Hasbro MP Starscream, in the G1 toy's colours. Simple transformation with just a couple of points that are difficult to line up properly. Managed to transform Starscream without any further stress on a couple of points where the plastic got stressed years ago, and Skywarp without issues of any kind.

MP Thundercracker: as mentioned above, this is the MP11 mold, with the arm-mounted guns on their little ball-jointed stalks but, otherwise, not hugely different from MP03. Comes together in jet mode slightly more easily, but doesn't look as good on the underside.

MP05 Megatron: this is the only official figure I was concerned about, as a couple of tabs broke off soon after I bought him, back in 2007. Working without instructions seemed unwise, but he turned out to be surprisingly intuitive and largely quite similar to the G1 toy, just with a few small differences and extra steps to allow for the improved articulation - overall, I remembered it quite easily. The main problems were where the die-cast framework parts had tarnished, causing them to stick to the surrounding plastic.

MP Soundwave: super-easy, barely an inconvenience. Same with his Cassetticons.

MP Optimus Prime v2: the rearrangement of the torso confused me for a while, but I got there in the end. Not too much difficulty, though the back end didn't want to tab together fully.

MP Grimlock: didn't bother transforming him as he was already in dino mode!

MP26 Road Rage: pretty simple, but the dinky missile launchers were a pest and I was surprised by how flimsy she feels.

FansToys Rouge: not half as bad as I remember, but it's certainly not an intuitive transformation, with several points where one part has to be forced past another, and others were parts have to be arranged just so to fit properly. The flaps on her thighs, which open to accommodate hinges inside her backpack, feels like a lazy solution, as does the opening helmet. Even so, I think this is still better than Takara Tomy's Masterpiece Arcee... though I'm tempted by the MPG repaint, 'Secret Agent Arcee', which is a homage to the cancelled G1 toy's prototype colourscheme.

Big FireBird Nicee: by contrast with the above, this Arcee-analogue was pretty easy to transform, the only hitches being ensuring everything was properly tabbed in.

DotM Leader class Sentinel Prime: still one of my favourite Leader class toys, from the era of more intricate and impressive toys that nevertheless had electronic features, and not too bad to transform. Getting the windscreen lined up, to allow the bumper to tab in, to allow the collar to peg on underneath, was the main issue... but the tabs along the sides of the vehicle were a bit of a pest as well.

TFCC/Timelines Nexus Prime: based on molds that originated in the Energon toyline, these were also super-easy... But the extensive use of translucent plastic led to the one breakage of this exercise - One of the gun/pegs on the front of Landquake's vehicle mode had snapped off in his combiner foot. Didn't look like impact damage from falling over or being hit by another figure, not least because the other peg was fine, and just as firmly plugged into the foot. The upside is that nothing else was broken... the downside is that this will leave Nexus Prime with a weaker ankle connection that's more prone to further breakage.

Given how long most of these figures have been on display in the Detolf cabinet, I'm more than a little surprised at how easy it was to transform all of them - particularly Masterpiece Megatron... but it goes to show that an intricate figure need not be difficult to transform if it's well enough engineered.