Update : KO Vorath-Spike Headmaster

Decided to assemble the KO Zarak-Spike Headmaster just now... Wanted to just assemble the limbs to the KO Vorath body that comes with KO Mindwipe, but they do not fit, and so have to give up and use the KO HM Spike body... still, will retain the KO Mindwipe robot face... Have to find smaller screws for the knee joints as the given ones are too big and I broke the joint while tightening the given (big) screw... So what is supposed to be a simple assemble and mix-and-match job becomes a complicated one... Also have to trim clean the ugly sprue-cuts and tighten some joints...



The back of the HM Vorath-Spike... the big face is hot-glued onto the HM Spike body...



Here's HM Vorath-Spike with Mindwipe (bat mode)... 最佳拍档... hahahaha...



And confirms that the KO HM can be stored nicely in this KO Mindwipe...



Head on!!!!

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (168) - Cattoys Victory Saber Set, KO Zarak / Spike Headmasters

Haul from Taobao.com arrived a few days ago.. And got a wrong but "upgrade" item... I had ordered an old KO Robotmaster Star Saber, but the seller sends a... Cattoys Victory Saber Set??!! Hmmm.... Anyway, it is a nice "mistake", but frankly, the either the QC is not good, or my set is a rejected version... It comes in a very nice box, with a KO booklet too...




Has these imprints... Star Saber's location is less visible in both modes, but Victory Leo has this printed in the wrong place and looks ugly especially in robot mode...



No Brain of Courage for the Robotmaster version, only Saber and "Star" (??!!!). The material seem to be of a rigid rubbery plastic, is good but can still feel it is slightly slightly inferior... lots of unclean sprue-cuts and many joints are either too tight or too loose...




However, Saber has very loose leg/thigh joints and thus the jet mode's front always "look sad" (droop down)...




Love the combine jet mode... and it reminds me of the G1 Darkwing and Dreadwind combine jet mode... Victory Leo has super tight thigh joints that makes it impossible to push in all the way when transforming the Victory Saber feet part... Need to work on this part... Oh, this set costs approximately $12.05...




Also bought 2 cheap KO Zarak-Spike Headmasters, to be used for the KO Mindwipe... The bi face belongs to Scorponok's, with the face-mask molded to the whole face as 1 single piece; and the Headmaster body is Spike (Headmaster for Cerebros, which in turn becomes Fortress Maximus's head)... $10.70 for 2 pieces...

Update - Bootleg Leader AOE Optimus Prime Fixes

Started fixing the bootleg Leader AOE OP last night... Other than some minor tightening of joints restorations and such (eg. picture below shows the hot-gluing of the feet ball-socket to secure firmly), there are also more serious and complicated restorations/repairs that need to be done...



1 foot cannot be locked after swivel down the lower leg, and upon closer inspection, realized the plastic piece has been bent... so have to force it back and used superglue + tissues to hold it in place...



And also have to repair the stopper (part that will click-lock the swiveled down feet into place)... but effect is not good as the parts keep gotten scratched off after some time... But at least the 2 feet can slightly be locked in place (though a bit loose and easy to un-click open)...



Initially I thought the 2 arms connectors are just fixed wrongly, but then realized the KO manufacturer had gotten lazy and used 2 same connector pieces, which CANNOT be used on both arms...



So have to cut off the clip piece and re-attach it on the "correct" position using superglue + tissues... Luckily it worked... Now I have 2 arms that can push back and clicked into position...



The pin that connect the "backpack" and body slides off easily, not sure why, but in the end decided to try to secure the pin to the body side, so that the "backpack" can have space to wriggle and click into position... while waiting for the superglue to dry and form, took a picture of the OP, which some people say that without the backpack, this becomes a more movie-accurate OP...



All done!! And while it looks not much difference in display, the robot mode is now much more "secure"...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (167) - Bootleg Leader AOE Optimus Prime

This bootleg that costs $32.25 approx. arrived last night... After a good experience with the bootleg Evasion OP, I had high expectations of this Leader Class bootleg... but I think this high expectations actually caused me to have a higher level of disappointment... The box size seemed to be about that of the authentic one... the graphic design is heavily based on the authentic one too...



Back of the box... Looks familiar too right? Hahahahaha....



The robot comes with the 2 feet (ball joint ones) dropped off "unattached" to the ankles... sigh... and also comes with one free extra small screw that drops from the robot from nownere... "nice"... Here's the raw, un-restored OP!!! Many of the important joints (for posing) are quite loose, waist joint is overly tight; broke and glue back the 2 protruding points at the end of the front window shelter (chromed) on my first transformation; and all the 2 pins used in the bootleg tend to slide and drop out when you are not noticing them while transforming... hmmmm... Foresee tedious work to work out this bootleg... The only consolation is that there seems no simplification of parts, and the "head-flying off" gimmick is retained... hahahahaha... Oh, the chrome parts are there too....



The back still retains the sword holding gimmick... The plastic quality is somewhat similar to that of the bootleg Evasion OP's (they are of different KO companies, which is quite better than the KO undersize 1st Edition OP...



A closer look at the head... Yes, there is light piping...



The inner shoulder joints (blue parts) are assembled wrongly (left-right mixed up), hence the whole arms can't stay at shoulder position properly...



The thumb is still movable... but the red part of the arms seem to have gaps...



The inner thighs still retains the cavity-covering flap gimmick! Nice... Was worried the KO company might sacrifice this to cut cost... However, one MAJOR problem: The knee-to-thigh rotation joints are molded improperly and can't fit properly, causing the lower leg to pop out when rotating... And stress marks are already forming at the peg piece... Need to analyze and trim accordingly... sigh...



An here is the truck mode... Nice... No visible additional gaps other than those that belong to the original design's... Though it takes a lot of fiddling and observational analysis to see which parts need to tweak and place properly... Needs to trim eventually...



Looking at the bottom of the truck...



Sadly, the wheels are fastened using screws, not the flat head rivets... I thought I can just loosen the screws but the wheel shafts are too short, and so are the screws, so they tend to wobble and get stuck if forced to roll... Need to work on this...



And here's a comparison picture of this and the KO undersize 1st Edition OP in truck mode... The 1st Edition is slightly smaller, or rather, shorter at the back...



And the comparison in robot mode...



Overall, still a good piece especially if you intend to use it more for display than play...

DOTM Meg Reunites with His Weapon...

Finally got the "feel" to paint the KO Evasion OP's weapon... Ok ok Meg, YOUR weapon... DOTM Megatron finally can carry his favourite shotgun on his back, hahahaha....



Looking from the back... Whoever designed this DOTM Meg must have a future vision of this when he/she is designing the back part of DOTM Meg... hahahaha.....



"What are you looking at, punk?!"....



I am seriously struggling to decide on cutting the 2nd handle (for the OP etc to hold) and 2nd trigger guard at the middle of the shotgun... Hmm... Should I? Or should I not?... Hmmm.... Nevermind, next time then think...

Bootleg AOE Evasion Optimus Prime - Minor Paint Touch-Up

Cannot help but take up my silver paint-pens and start to paint my newly acquired bootleg AOE Evasion OP, so that it looks closer to the Takara-Tomy version... the only trade-off is likely to be I will be less tempted to transform it due to the fear of paint chip off... hahahahaha.... Thought of taking the below picture as I wanted to convince myself more that the silver biceps will look better in picture... hahahahaha.... Sorry for all the grainy picture background as I thought I want the KO OP's colours in the pictures to be closer to what I see by eye - dark blue, dark red... Anyway, also realised that the KO has 2 left shoulder-bicep parts... Damn... no choice... sigh...



Robot mode done!!!!! Very nice, hahaha.... though not 100% same as Takara-Tomy's version, I think it is good enough...



In addition to the silver biceps, I also followed TT's silver fake smokestacks... Opps, painted too much for the smokestacks... nevermind, will just leave it...  The head still retains that of Hasbro's...



For the feet part, I struggle to decide to paint the whole feet silver or not... In the end, I decided to only highlight the "mechanisms" details on the inner of the feet and a minor touch on the front of the feet... Looks clean enough...



Another pose... Still no gun!!! Hahahaha.... Will find one for you some day, don't worry, ok? Hahahaha....



Comparison with the raw bootleg...



Once done, I proceed to touch up painting in truck mode... Really, I hate the wheels unpainted... looks very very very unpleasant...



Done!!!!! I have to repaint majority of the silver paint already on the truck body as my silver paint-pen's silver don't match with the bootleg's silver.... And the cover up for the ugly upside-down AOE logo roughens up the paint and leaves scar there... sigh... And this is also when I realised that the paint does not stick to the plastic well...



Closer look at the front of the truck...



... and back of the truck looking from the top... I painted the circular piece (cab connector???) silver too, just to break up the blue...



Side of the truck... The scar left by the logo is ugly but sigh... too lazy to remedy already... hahahaha....



Comparison of the trucks before and after paint touch up... simply love the painted wheels...



Waiting for my bootleg/KO AOE Leader OP to come, though the reviews for it is bad, according to some Baidu forum-ers......