Transformers Comparison Thread

[sepster]

I also cut the front hip skirt for better leg movement on Ironhide:







I popped the pin out and then was able to cut the seams with an exacto blade.

[TENIME_art]

Welp, I'll be doing that later tonight!

[NORM]

How do you pop the pin out?

[TENIME_art]

You either need a pin-punch, or a tiny jeweler's screwdriver & a hammer.

If you can tell which end is knurled, and then push from the OTHER end. The knurling won't travel through the plastic easily, so you want as little traveling as possible.

Of course, a lot of these recent figures have pins with BOTH ends knurled (I tried taking apart the ER Sideswipe mold, and couldn't get them all out because some had both ends knurled, some had smooth ends with a fully knurled middle *SIGH*).

Once the knurled end is exposed, grab it with needlenose pliers, and the rest should slide out easy peasy (again...SHOULD lol).

Reinsert the same way you removed (smooth end in first), pliers wide enough to hit both ends to push it back in flush.

[sepster]

I have a jeweler's watch repair kit that I've tried getting Transformers pins out with and even the tools in there sometimes bend before the pin is out. I've found that a small nail has more strength and i just use that along with a tack hammer to push the pins out. Really, the more difficult part can be trying to position the Transformer into a spot where it's flat/stable enough to hammer at the pin straight on. It can be a little fidgety finding that sweet spot but once there it usually isn't too hard to get the pin out. Also, you want to make sure the backside of wherever you're hammering on won't be damaged/dented against the surface its resting against.

I use to be hesitant about pushing pins but now that I've figured out a method that works for me, I take out pins to paint or customize TFs quite a bit now.

[NORM]

OK, that's what I thought, and pretty much something i'll continue to avoid. I tried it once or twice and mangled it, so I'll leave Transformers be. Customizing PVC plastics is one thing, but ABS I haven't figured out yet.

[TENIME_art]

Aaaaaaaaand I completely forgot all about doing this last night, lol. Sorry, Norm, I was gonna report in how easy/difficult it was.

[TENIME_art]

Okay, it's SUPER easy, Norm!

I slid the legs out to make sturdying him easier:


Thankfully it is the PERFECT kind of pin:


The plastic's soft enough that if your blade is nice & sharp, it slides through like butter!

I wasn't prepared for how easily it would slide through with the right amount of pressure (and I have arthritis, so most people will be able to apply way more pressure than I was), so one side definitely went faster than it should have & the piece went flying, lol.

So amazing!


I gave mine the IDW-style head & Bay-style cannons from the iGear figure:


Thanks for sharing that, Sepster!

[Night Wolf]

Sepster is the most knowledgeable when it comes to Transformers, ive noticed.

[sepster]

Eeehhhhh.... in a certain, very G1-focused lane. But, thank you for the compliment, I do appreciate it.

[sepster]

Warning! FRAT! :

Okay, it's SUPER easy, Norm!

I slid the legs out to make sturdying him easier:


Thankfully it is the PERFECT kind of pin:


The plastic's soft enough that if your blade is nice & sharp, it slides through like butter!

I wasn't prepared for how easily it would slide through with the right amount of pressure (and I have arthritis, so most people will be able to apply way more pressure than I was), so one side definitely went faster than it should have & the piece went flying, lol.

So amazing!


I gave mine the IDW-style head & Bay-style cannons from the iGear figure:


Thanks for sharing that, Sepster!

Hasbro had to have intended the piece to be 3 separate pieces and then scrapped the idea due to cost because it's just engineered too perfectly and too easy to mod this way. It really helps the figure a lot.

[sepster]

When Kingdom Sideswipe and Red Alert were revealed I really tried to convince myself that I didn't need to upgrade my Siege releases of the two, especially since I had added the Reprolabel sets and some other 3P kits. But I am a weak man, especially for Transformer Lambos. So, here is Red Alert Comparison v2.0. When I received Kingdom Red Alert, I swapped the chromed feet and arms that I had painted on the Siege version over to Kingdom and painted his shins black before adding the new Reprolabel set and a 3P spoiler kit to get him as close as I could to an accurate G1 update.

Red Alert v2.0 (MP, G1, WFC Kingdom, WFC Siege)

[NORM]

What do you use as reference for the G1s? Is there a website or book? Or do you just have the deets memorized? Or is the answer as obvious as “duh, I look at the actual G1 figure I have right in front of me from my collection”? I feel like I’ve asked this before, but I’m just impressed by your commitment to recreating the G1 aesthetic on these modern figures and the knowledge that backs it up. Also tremendously jealous of your actual G1 collection. Are they all originals from childhood? If so, that’s some inhuman upkeep.

[sepster]

What do you use as reference for the G1s? Is there a website or book? Or do you just have the deets memorized? Or is the answer as obvious as “duh, I look at the actual G1 figure I have right in front of me from my collection”? I feel like I’ve asked this before, but I’m just impressed by your commitment to recreating the G1 aesthetic on these modern figures and the knowledge that backs it up. Also tremendously jealous of your actual G1 collection. Are they all originals from childhood? If so, that’s some inhuman upkeep.

I spend more time than I'd like to admit on TFWiki.net That's my first go-to when trying to figure out what specific details or differences there may be between the original G1 and a newer version of a character.

Most of the G1 toys are the originals my brother and I had. Some are re-issues (we never had the Seekers other than Starscream as kids), and most have been repaired to some degree or another.

[NORM]

What do you use as reference for the G1s? Is there a website or book? Or do you just have the deets memorized? Or is the answer as obvious as “duh, I look at the actual G1 figure I have right in front of me from my collection”? I feel like I’ve asked this before, but I’m just impressed by your commitment to recreating the G1 aesthetic on these modern figures and the knowledge that backs it up. Also tremendously jealous of your actual G1 collection. Are they all originals from childhood? If so, that’s some inhuman upkeep.

I spend more time than I'd like to admit on TFWiki.net That's my first go-to when trying to figure out what specific details or differences there may be between the original G1 and a newer version of a character.

Most of the G1 toys are the originals my brother and I had. Some are re-issues (we never had the Seekers other than Starscream as kids), and most have been repaired to some degree or another.

I don't deliberately go to TFWiki, but any time (every time) I google a TF I want to know more about, they're always the first result to come up. I might need to look more closely at how to navigate that, because I'll see an entry for a character, and sometimes the figures show up as part of the entry, other times, the entry only describes the character in media, or just the figure(s), and not always both. I always found it strange that some of the captions under the photos are so snarky and sarcastic.

Back to Red Alert - does it ever bug you that the G1 has a black helmet/head, and all the other representations of him have a red helmet/head? My memory of Red Alert always was with a black head. Similarly with Ratchet, I never picture him with a red head/helmet, always white.