CW Computron

[WereDragon EX]

Originally Posted by GotBot

I did Computron in two parts, the set and then the custom, but I think I owe you a big apology. I believe I actually discussed this when I looked at the g1 technobots. If I led you to the wrong video I'm really sorry about that. I think I did the fix after the initial custom video. I use the floor polish fix a lot. Infact I show the label currently being used on the bottle for those not sure what it is. The Canadian label is different than the US. I think I showed that in episode 72, if I am not mistaken, same one where I show how to make Prime's aoe faceplate. I digress, I see your concern but trust me, I am no professional customizer at all. I firmly believe anything I can do, anyone can safely do. Hell, I'm a clutz,lol. I love the polish fix but the other one is more definitive. Actually, the claims of Brawl being loose spurred me to try it. I'll talk about that below in a minute. For the record, I love your Scattershot fanmode, it is DEFINITELY better than mine. Mine was an attempt to incorporate the feet somehow. As for the mod, I would never encourage anyone to try anything that could break a figure. It was just another option.

Yeah, I think I found the video in question, which I think is this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8U8hwimIqA). I take it you mentioned the fix for the feet at 43:49 of the video? But yeah, no worries, mistakes happen. But from personal experience, after doing the Future fix, Lightspeed and Nosecone don't come apart anymore when using them as legs and adjusting the ankle tilts, so I think I more or less achieved the same result as you did. In the case of Lightspeed, applying Future to those tabs in question also made quite it a bit harder to untab his legs from each other when transforming him to robot mode from any of his other modes, which is a bit of a plus, I suppose.

If the Technobots were all sold separately, I think I'd be a lot less reluctant to attempt more radical fixes for Computron's problems, simply because if I mess up and damage 1 figure (or 1 figure's parts), it wouldn't be as big a deal to simply buy a new copy of said figure, rather than a whole boxset. As for the Scattershot cannon fanmode, thanks for the compliments, but I can't say that I was the only one who came up with it (so don't give me whole credit there), and I definitely DID NOT take that picture, just to clear things up. If I recall, a few other people elsewhere also independently discovered it while fiddling around the figure. I think the main complaints regarding other Scattershot cannon fanmodes is that his vehicle mode cockpit is visible in them, which ruins the illusion of a proper cannon form, and also most other attempts were essentially Scattershot in vehicle mode doing a GERWALK by deploying the legs so the figure can stand. I (and the other people who came up with the fanmode) like the fact that the cockpit can't be seen in our version and also, that it closely resembles G1 Scattershot's cannon mode (as you can see from the picture). Additionally, some people were salty about CW Scattershot reusing Silverbolt's gun with its long barrel, but I hope that fanmode will alleviate some of that saltiness, since the long barrel can be used to make the cannon fanmode look like a more convincing artillery battery, as seen in the picture. You can do the same thing with UW Scattershot by connecting his two guns together, but the effect isn't quite as good or aesthetically pleasing.

Originally Posted by GotBot

This was really interesting to see you say. I have never had an issue with Brawl tabbing together quite well. At least, he worked well on Bruticus. As Nosecone, he came apart with the new foot piece. I guess it never with Bruticus because he had the lightweight hand/foot piece. That was what led me to the foot mod. Now he never comes apart. Totally agree about Dead End, Wildrider, Lightspeed. Hell, my Dead End tailpipe doesn't even stay on. My shock comes with the Offroad mold observation you made. I think he is the hands down best leg and a great arm, but, to be fair, the arm issue you mention with that mold DID happen with Ironhide. Might be a case of mileage may vary?

I've seen several of my friends' Brawl figures have issues tabbing together, so I think it may be a problem with the mold as a whole and you got lucky with your Brawl.

Since you mentioned the combiner feet, I think I also figured out the issue with CW Computron leaning forward. I suspect it may be with the unique feet pieces that Computron has. Since those are hollow at the bottom, I believe that they are lighter on average than the standard HFGs and thus don't counterbalance Computron well enough, leading to him leaning forward. I tested that theory with a few friends' leaning Computrons by replacing the foot pieces with standard HFGs and they don't lean while using those pieces. Since the HFGs are solid pieces in foot mode, I think that they work better as weights to balance the figure. I tested the theory by replacing UW Computron's HFG feet with CW Computron's unique feet, and sure enough, he leans forward where he didn't before (while using the HFGs as feet). Therefore, I think the unique feet pieces are more to blame than Computron's hip ratchets (Scattershot's shoulder ratchets). Just something to consider. That being said, the fix of using nail polish/Future on the ratchets is perfectly legit if you want to display Computron with those unique feet.

Since UW Baldigus (Ruination) will have the same unique feet pieces as CW Computron, this leaning issue may also affect that release, as an advance advisory for anyone who wants to buy it, but I can't really tell at the moment, since I don't have easy access to a CW or UW Bruticus to test the theory. If anyone is willing to test this by putting CW Computron's feet on Bruticus and let us know the results, that would be great.

Something lolzy I found was that my Computron is capable of standing with only one arm and one leg, but they must be on the same side.

[GotBot]

Yeah, you got it.As long as you got the same result, all is well. I just figure with any repeated use you might need to reapply eventually, which is also no big deal if you don't mind doing that.As for Scattershot, maybe others did come up with it, but I have seen the images from you first. It is also a great way, as you said, to justify that Superion gun reuse.
Huh, maybe I did luck out with brtawl. In his review he makes a liar out of me when his waist displays the flopping issue. However, in use and hand he isn't bad there either, maybe not quite as good as Nosecone but not as bad as some I have seen. In tank and leg he is super tight.
Interesting theory about the feet. I'll have to try those feet on Bruticus to see if it makes a difference, as you wondered. Mind you, I find all of the combiners lean a little, everyone of them, so, I don't much expect anything different. the only way I rectify it is by adjusting the arms for balance. I'll let ya' know what I discover,lol.
Really? He can? Dang it, now I need to try doing that too,lol.

[WereDragon EX]

Originally Posted by GotBot

Yeah, you got it.As long as you got the same result, all is well. I just figure with any repeated use you might need to reapply eventually, which is also no big deal if you don't mind doing that.As for Scattershot, maybe others did come up with it, but I have seen the images from you first. It is also a great way, as you said, to justify that Superion gun reuse.
Huh, maybe I did luck out with brtawl. In his review he makes a liar out of me when his waist displays the flopping issue. However, in use and hand he isn't bad there either, maybe not quite as good as Nosecone but not as bad as some I have seen. In tank and leg he is super tight.
Interesting theory about the feet. I'll have to try those feet on Bruticus to see if it makes a difference, as you wondered. Mind you, I find all of the combiners lean a little, everyone of them, so, I don't much expect anything different. the only way I rectify it is by adjusting the arms for balance. I'll let ya' know what I discover,lol.
Really? He can? Dang it, now I need to try doing that too,lol.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the longevity of the Future fix is, but it seems to be lasting for quite a while. I'll just play it by ear and see how things go as time goes on before deciding if I want to pursue other options. It's no big deal to me to reapply Future if I have to, provided it doesn't happen too often. Although, you're right, a more permanent fix would also be nice.

The Silverbolt gun does look a lot like a long cannon barrel, which helps to fill out the cannon fanmode. Without it, the cannon's armament as a whole looks rather short with just the barrel from Scattershot's nosecone. Combining the UW Scattershot's guns doesn't look as good, since it looks like two guns stuck together from end to end (the same issue with Defensor and Bruticus). Takara tried to fix that by adding UW Lightspeed and UW Nosecone's guns to Scattershot's combined guns to give the illusion of one big gun. To some extent it works well as a weapon for Computron (no Decepticon wants to be on the business end of a combiner-scaled quadruple barrel shotgun, lol), but on the Scattershot cannon fanmode, such a combined weapon isn't as aesthetically pleasing.

General consensus on Brawl is that he's a very good looking figure in robot and vehicle modes and a great display piece, but not fun to play with because of his floppy waist and not tabbing together well in combiner arm or leg modes. Several people did find that as Nosecone, the figure has an improved waist joint that stays together better, but not much else in the way of improvement beyond that. It's good though that you got a Brawl that is more or less fully cooperative towards you, lol.

I don't think any combiner stands totally straight, but CW Computron tends to lean excessively forward with little provocation, which is the complaint the original poster of this thread put forward. My UW Computron using the HFGs as feet, stands quite straight, and won't lean forward unless you deliberately pull or push him forward, and even then, he bounces back into a straight position once you let go, which I attribute to the HFGs keeping him balanced. As I said, swapping the feet between UW and CW Computron has resulted in UW Computron with the CW Computron feet having the leaning problems CW Computron had, while CW Computorn stands quite straight on HFGs. So, therefore, I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude the CW Computron feet are more to blame. But yeah, if you could test the CW Computron feet on Bruticus, that'll be great. At least it might allow people to predict a potential issue with UW Baldigus (Ruination).

Well, I was disassembling my CW Computron into the Technobots and already removed Strafe, when I accidentally knocked Nosecone off. I reached out to catch Computron in case he fell, since only Afterburner and Lightspeed were still attached on the right side, but Computron remained standing perfectly fine with just those two limbs, and still holding the big gun too. So I did some tests and found that CW Computron (at least my copy of the combiner) can stand perfectly fine with just an arm and a leg on the same side.

[GotBot]

I switched the feet of Computron with Bruticus. There was no change. My Computron doesn't lean forward really with either set of feet and Bruticus does with both. Only way I can get him straight in any scenario is to adjust his hips back one extra click.

[WereDragon EX]

Originally Posted by GotBot

I switched the feet of Computron with Bruticus. There was no change. My Computron doesn't lean forward really with either set of feet and Bruticus does with both. Only way I can get him straight in any scenario is to adjust his hips back one extra click.

Ah, I see. Then again, Onslaught and his remolds are know to have an issue in that he can't really stand straight because his hips are misaligned. Perhaps that might explain the issue with your Bruticus, so he'll lean regardless of what feet he uses. I suppose that's still a valid issue that Baldigus might have when he is released though. As for Computron, I think his hips are fine, it's mainly the unique feet that are causing issues.

[GotBot]

Agreed. There seems to be a lot of variation between people's gestalts though. Makes sense with so many bots in one. Heck, we see variances sometimes in one figure or one mold, let alone 5!

[Sun Swipe Prime]

Yeah, the variation stinks. BTW, my Bruticus stands straight as a arrow. Go figure.

[WereDragon EX]

Well, I can attest to the variation. While a lot of my friends' CW Computron have the leaning issue, I've noticed that the attachment between Strafe and Scrounge also seems to vary between sets. On some Scrounge connects rather tightly to Strafe. On others, he falls off if you shake Strafe just a little bit. The concerns about paint scraping on Strafe's peg due to Scrounge attaching to it is more or less why I made this thread (http://www.cybertron.ca/boards/showthread.php?t=66255) to address it.

[Yonoid]

https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-...ollection+pack

$70 USD, decent price for those with a mailbox near the border

[WereDragon EX]

So BWTF's review of Computron just came out (http://www.bwtf.com/toyreviews/gener...wars/computron), and he suggests slightly bending the joints in Computron's upper legs (Scattershot's elbow joints) until Computron stands straight in order to fix the leaning problem. I guess that could work, to some extent.

On a sidenote, I found some humor in the review, especially the bit where Scrounge now functions as Computron's shield. Taking attacks for a gestalt is not a fun position to be in. Seems all the more tragic given that Scrounge was seen as a loser and a suck-up to Blaster, with becoming a part of Computron being meant to give him more respect and recognition.