Honestly, I was expecting Bumblebee movie Arcee, since I had just chanced
at the shipping notifications. Not sure whether I experienced any
disappointment.

This is fine.

Almost no ground clearance, but still rolls. Maybe a millimeter, seems like
less. Vehicle mode is overall good, but has a few gaps where you can peer
through and see shoulders.

Robot mode loses the thunder thighs. The plastic is a bit soft, and some of
the connectors in the waist don’t snap firmly into place, but gravity holds
her together — totally stable for posing, less so for an action figure.

Hands are remolded the allow her to hold round handled weapons, and the
hands themselves are thick, but the thumbs seem too thin, and may become a
problem down the line.

The entire car is on her back, other than the front bumper. She pulls off
what Earthrise Arcee failed to do there — it folds up very compactly. Still
a little bit of a giant backpack, but totally serviceable.

Transformation to car mode is unexpected. Parts go into slightly different
spots, and they made use of the stress slots on the shoulders to peg in car
parts. There’s a little bit of panel massage, as there are a lot of panels,
but having the problematic side panels attach to the shoulders means you
can massage them into place using the elbows and close up any gaps.

I wish she came with two guns. Sadly, just one small pistol. Swords might
be nice for more of an IDW look.

Overall, good, but not great. Probably our definitive Arcee for a while.
I’m a little surprised this works as well as it does, and when I began
unfolding the backpack I was pretty sure it wouldn’t — there’s a lot of
very thin panels that need to create the shell, just like Earthrise, but
they work here, unlike Earthrise.

Anyway, definitive Arcee for the foreseeable future, unless she is
afflicted with early yellowing, as so many toys are these days.

I would buy a Lifeline figure from this, but since this is the default
Arcee, it really makes me want to hunt down the Lifeline done from
Thrilling 30 so they can be a little different.

On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 2:20:17 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> The entire car is on her back, other than the front bumper. She pulls off
> what Earthrise Arcee failed to do there — it folds up very compactly. Still
> a little bit of a giant backpack, but totally serviceable.

I dislike that they keep coming back to this approach. But, I guess if it works, it works.

> I would buy a Lifeline figure from this, but since this is the default
> Arcee, it really makes me want to hunt down the Lifeline done from
> Thrilling 30 so they can be a little different.

Normally, I would say that we could probably expect them to reuse the toy in some capacity. But, this toy is already the result of recycling, so I wonder if it will be as big of a priority for them. If they sell her to us again, it will either be as Nightbird or as Lifeline, or both.

Zob (wouldn't hate an orange prototype version, just for funsies)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 2:20:17 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> The entire car is on her back, other than the front bumper. She pulls off
>> what Earthrise Arcee failed to do there — it folds up very compactly. Still
>> a little bit of a giant backpack, but totally serviceable.
>
> I dislike that they keep coming back to this approach. But, I guess if it works, it works.

It’s barely more backpack than Thrilling 30, now that I have one of those
out — not the original, the Serial Killer Arcee or whatever it was.
Combiner Hunter? She’s sparkly dark gray/brown with fluorescent pink paint
apps.

>> I would buy a Lifeline figure from this, but since this is the default
>> Arcee, it really makes me want to hunt down the Lifeline done from
>> Thrilling 30 so they can be a little different.
>
> Normally, I would say that we could probably expect them to reuse the toy
> in some capacity. But, this toy is already the result of recycling, so I
> wonder if it will be as big of a priority for them. If they sell her to
> us again, it will either be as Nightbird or as Lifeline, or both.
>

It’s not a minor remold, and a lot of the parts that Takara remolded for
Nightbird are completely replaced.

I could go through all the changed parts, but that seems to be something
you will enjoy doing more than me. I’m kind of delighted by how much the
transformation has changed and how much effort went into turning a
perfectly fine Arcee into a at-first-glance identical Arcee.

I think they will do a Selects of someone just to get another use out of
it.

I expect Lifeline here, and I’m going to go out on a crazy limb and say
Bumblebee Movie Cybertronian Arcee might get a Nightbird. (I don’t have
that toy yet, and don’t know how plausible this is, but… it would make a
different toy form)

>
> Zob (wouldn't hate an orange prototype version, just for funsies)
>

On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 9:34:47 PM UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> > On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 2:20:17 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> > Seattle Wombats wrote:
> >
> >> The entire car is on her back, other than the front bumper. She pulls off
> >> what Earthrise Arcee failed to do there — it folds up very compactly. Still
> >> a little bit of a giant backpack, but totally serviceable.
> >
> > I dislike that they keep coming back to this approach. But, I guess if it works, it works.
> It’s barely more backpack than Thrilling 30, now that I have one of those
> out — not the original, the Serial Killer Arcee or whatever it was.
> Combiner Hunter? She’s sparkly dark gray/brown with fluorescent pink paint
> apps.

I was so happy to get T30 Arcee and now I need to find serial killer Arcee? but her price is so high

> >> I would buy a Lifeline figure from this, but since this is the default
> >> Arcee, it really makes me want to hunt down the Lifeline done from
> >> Thrilling 30 so they can be a little different.
> >
> > Normally, I would say that we could probably expect them to reuse the toy
> > in some capacity. But, this toy is already the result of recycling, so I
> > wonder if it will be as big of a priority for them. If they sell her to
> > us again, it will either be as Nightbird or as Lifeline, or both.
> >
> It’s not a minor remold, and a lot of the parts that Takara remolded for
> Nightbird are completely replaced.
>
> I could go through all the changed parts, but that seems to be something
> you will enjoy doing more than me. I’m kind of delighted by how much the
> transformation has changed and how much effort went into turning a
> perfectly fine Arcee into a at-first-glance identical Arcee.
>
> I think they will do a Selects of someone just to get another use out of
> it.
>
> I expect Lifeline here, and I’m going to go out on a crazy limb and say
> Bumblebee Movie Cybertronian Arcee might get a Nightbird. (I don’t have
> that toy yet, and don’t know how plausible this is, but… it would make a
> different toy form)
> >
> > Zob (wouldn't hate an orange prototype version, just for funsies)
> >

I think I'd get this new mold in anything but Arcee, I do need a Lifeline since all of them so far haven' been the most accessible.