On Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 8:06:28 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

> While he's almost approaching Titans Return Quake/Breakaway territory in terms of being an inadequate redeco, at least the Ironhide robot design is generic enough that it works on some level as Crosshairs.

So, every once in a while, I see the upgrade kits on eBay for Crosshairs. At least a few people have produced a kit with oversized wheels that you can use to replace the stock wheels, resulting in a more Crosshairs-like toy. I lowballed the seller, and there probably aren't many people buying upgrade kits for toys from 2019 at this point, so he (wisely) took my offer.

I just don't like the look of 3D-printed parts. Nonnef Productions has totally spoiled me with their Hasbro-quality, injection-molded parts. Also, I guess they couldn't get the right shade of blue, so the blue parts are a sky blue instead of the dark blue used for Crosshairs. 'Tis a shame.

So, on the kit I got, it came with two wheels to go on the robot legs, an assembly with two more wheels that fit into the robot's back, and also a little red piece that's supposed to sit on his blast effect peg and make his windshield asymmetrical, like the G1 toy. It's a cool idea, but I can't get it to fit on the peg, so I'm just going to leave it off. The rear wheels also required me to shave down the pegs before I was able to plug them in.

There are also two new little blue boxes, which replace the opening panels on either side of the leg after you pop them off. The folding panels won't fit in vehicle mode with the larger wheels in place, so this is why they need to be removed.

I'm not super happy with the design of the hinges for the front wheels. They're kind of floppy, and probably needed some kind of soft ratcheting nubs to lock them in place when you fold them up for robot mode. But, I do like how the larger wheels substantially improve his vehicle styling. They don't roll very well, though, and I don't know how to dismantle them to try to make the rolling function a bit smoother. But, overall I like Crosshairs about twelve percent more than before, so if they never end up doing another update for him, this will still be sufficient.

I've done so much to Crosshairs to try to improve him. He's wearing the white Siege Ratchet fists, he's using Trenchfoot as a more-or-less approximation of Pinpointer, and now he's got new wheels. He's better, certainly, than he was. Also, now that I've got Studio Series Ironhide (and I'm sure Ratchet is coming as well), this body design can "belong" to Crosshairs in a way that it didn't before, and he doesn't necessarily have to look like Ironhide/Ratchet any longer. So, that's nice.

Zob (the Rotorstorm missile launchers on eBay look pretty cool, too, but I never bought that toy so I would have no use for them)

On Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 7:28:44 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> On Thursday, December 19, 2019 at 8:06:28 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
>
> > While he's almost approaching Titans Return Quake/Breakaway territory in terms of being an inadequate redeco, at least the Ironhide robot design is generic enough that it works on some level as Crosshairs.
> So, every once in a while, I see the upgrade kits on eBay for Crosshairs. At least a few people have produced a kit with oversized wheels that you can use to replace the stock wheels, resulting in a more Crosshairs-like toy.. I lowballed the seller, and there probably aren't many people buying upgrade kits for toys from 2019 at this point, so he (wisely) took my offer.
>
> I just don't like the look of 3D-printed parts. Nonnef Productions has totally spoiled me with their Hasbro-quality, injection-molded parts. Also, I guess they couldn't get the right shade of blue, so the blue parts are a sky blue instead of the dark blue used for Crosshairs. 'Tis a shame.
>
> So, on the kit I got, it came with two wheels to go on the robot legs, an assembly with two more wheels that fit into the robot's back, and also a little red piece that's supposed to sit on his blast effect peg and make his windshield asymmetrical, like the G1 toy. It's a cool idea, but I can't get it to fit on the peg, so I'm just going to leave it off. The rear wheels also required me to shave down the pegs before I was able to plug them in.
>
> There are also two new little blue boxes, which replace the opening panels on either side of the leg after you pop them off. The folding panels won't fit in vehicle mode with the larger wheels in place, so this is why they need to be removed.
>
> I'm not super happy with the design of the hinges for the front wheels. They're kind of floppy, and probably needed some kind of soft ratcheting nubs to lock them in place when you fold them up for robot mode. But, I do like how the larger wheels substantially improve his vehicle styling. They don't roll very well, though, and I don't know how to dismantle them to try to make the rolling function a bit smoother. But, overall I like Crosshairs about twelve percent more than before, so if they never end up doing another update for him, this will still be sufficient.
>
> I've done so much to Crosshairs to try to improve him. He's wearing the white Siege Ratchet fists, he's using Trenchfoot as a more-or-less approximation of Pinpointer, and now he's got new wheels. He's better, certainly, than he was. Also, now that I've got Studio Series Ironhide (and I'm sure Ratchet is coming as well), this body design can "belong" to Crosshairs in a way that it didn't before, and he doesn't necessarily have to look like Ironhide/Ratchet any longer. So, that's nice.
>
>
> Zob (the Rotorstorm missile launchers on eBay look pretty cool, too, but I never bought that toy so I would have no use for them)

IIRC, there was some controversy over the Crosshairs upgrade kit - some company poached an Etsy creator's designs and mass produced them for sale on eBay. I looked into getting the kit, but I held off in hopes that we'd get a more accurate Crosshairs soon.

I have the Rotorstorm missile launchers from eBay and I have to say, they complete him. Generally not a fan of 3D printing, but in this case, the quality is perfectly fine, and the figure looks immensely better for the upgrade.

One trend I'd like to see more of is the 3P/4P versions of molds + upgrades, especially with many of these releases outdoing the Hasbro versions in terms of QC and handfeel. BPF released a $30 Siege Magnus minus greebling, plus gap fillers, and fixed the issue with the ankle tilts. Baiwei has released their version of Studio Series Sentinel Prime, with all the added upgrade kits (gun, shield, swords) and even a new cape that wasn't in any previous upgrade. All for the low price of $14-$18. Kinda regret buying the original plus the upgrades; but have half a mind to spring for this one as an extra.