Perfect Effect has just revealed their upcoming Leonidas repaint on their Facebook page. Named “Xerxes”, it has the teal and black commonly associated with RID Scourge but with a whole lot more red. Read on to check it out!
by Shin Densetsu under 3rd Party Unlicensed
Perfect Effect has just revealed their upcoming Leonidas repaint on their Facebook page. Named “Xerxes”, it has the teal and black commonly associated with RID Scourge but with a whole lot more red. Read on to check it out!
mtl79
Ouch that sucks man
redrum2581
mine fell off a shelf and the lion head broke of the arm FML
mtl79
Just got mine and to be honest, I'm a little underwhelmed. Bot mode is nice, alt mode is really limited I find. Plus the shoulders are a little loose. Not super thrilled with it unfortunately…
Razor24
Thanks guys. I'm happy with how it turned out. Helps distinguish Xerxes from Leonidas more so that he's not just a repaint with new weapons.
daimchoc
Nice work!
StrangePlanet
That is super-cool, Razor24. Very nice work.
Razor24
So it took me a while but I finally got around to creating wings for Xerxes!
Still needs to have some more paint applied to add highlights but they are essentially done.
This was inspired by the awesome custom Daimchoc showed us a couple of pages back. I used the Gundam MG Deathscythe Hell for the wings and the Scythe (modified to thicken the handle and painted the bright green laser blade red). And then some lego bionicles for the backpack system as I couldn't source the building block stuff the original custom used (for a decent price).
redrum2581
he's def slightly bigger than i'd like but such an awesome figure that it didn't matter to me, hopefully they still do the BWNeo Mammoth OP, nemesis ver. is all I want
Razor24
Nail polish is generally too thick to coat a joint without pulling it apart. Use Future. I did a similar fix to my Unique Toys Hagen figure. The knees are pin joints and the hips are very hard to access.
Future is great as a single drop will run down the crevices (in between two pieces) via capillary action and coat any joint you need. In this instance the swivel joint for Xerxes.
Like I said previously. It will need to set overnight but once set you should have a much tighter swivel joint. And if it still isn't tight enough just repeat the process again.
Fatbot3
Those look fantastic. Did you notice any differences between them QC wise? I'd consider getting Leonidas at the same price in the future (not the 220 Tfsource is asking) but have seen some mixed reviews in the original's quality.
That's extremely helpful. Upon further inspection it actually looks like the swivel joint inside the crotch area that's connected the ball joint in the thigh. The leg is so heavy that it pulls the whole swivel down. Is there a fix for that? Could apply nail polish in a similar fashion for additional friction?
Kuma Style
Perfect Effect PE-DX-07 Xerxes review and Leonidas comparison is up and live on KumaStyle.com:
Toy Review: Perfect Effect PE-DX07 Xerxes – Kuma Style
Click the pic to head over:
Here are a few pics from it:
Razor24
Warden is a phenomenal figure in itself and definitely worth a place in your collection (especially if you have any fondness of the IDW MTMTE Fortress Maximus character). If you get him I would recommend the add-on kit as well. Adds height and gives him a great cannon. His alt mode (tank thing) is probably the worst vehicle mode I have ever seen but the head mode and robot mode are works of art.
I'm glad you liked Xerxes. In regards to his loose thigh ball joints, you have several ways to tighten them. You can apply Future floor polish to the ball joint to add an extra layer to the ball. If you cant get a hold of Future, clear nail polish is also perfect for the job. Lastly you could also try the superglue method. The most risky out of the three options but works great.
Just drip a bit of superglue between the ball and socket and work that sucker in all directions. Make sure you keep working the joint and do not stop (stopping before the glue dries will result in a fused joint!). You will start to feel the joint get tighter and tighter as you work it as the glue dries. After a few minutes it should be perfectly tight but still fully functional.
Aside from the nail polish method, both the superglue and Future method can be done without taking the ball and socket apart. The difference is once you apply Future to the joint and work it a little it will still feel loose for some time. Future takes a lot longer to dry. So what I do is drip a bit of future into the joint, work it a bit to coat the joint and then leave it overnight to dry. In the morning it will be nice and tight. Benefit of using Future over superglue is no risk of fused joints as it is essentially just clear Acrylic rather than glue.
Hope that helps.
Nemesis251
I personally believe the size of Leo/Xerxes was a turn off to many. If it was smaller I think more would have taken a chance. MP size without G1/MP styling eliminated many collectors.
Fatbot3
Thanks alot for your opinion. I generally dislike figurines, fantasy models, etc. and avoided Xerxes/Leonidas for the same reason. I think it only got a pass due to the optimus connection and the fact that it transforms. I just find it interesting as all the reasons you listed seem like the sort of thing most would say and would have led PE to make something more western friendly. Maybe they still consider the US an afterthought or maybe I underestimate figure collector's willing to branch out and buy something like Leonidas.
Curium
For PE sticking with eccentric figures, they produce what they want to produce.
On why it isn't more popular it is a variety of factors. Some people don't want it like you said since it is a "more fantasy figure", others simply don't like "Beast Wars" based characters, and still others can't get over the feeling that the mold looks like a Zoid to them.
For me personally it is simply a low priority. I'm not necessarily against Beasts, but they aren't my first choice. I have way too much on my plate as it is for 3P considering the prices.
Fatbot3
Finally picked him up; first PE figure though this quickly convinced me to order Warden as well.
I know this may be a weird question to ask in this thread but how has PE gone this long just making these more eccentric figures when it seems apparent they are the best 3P in the industry.
Xerxes is such a phenomenal figure despite a few issues that I can help but wonder why he isn't more popular. Is it because he's outside any real TF pantheon and is more a fantasy figure? Any idea how and why PE is picking the figures it goes after?
Back onto Xerxes, while I do think it may be the best individual figure I've picked up it does have one thing I thought was weak and it's that the thigh ball joints aren't stiff enough to keep the legs for pulling down. Any way to fix that?
Fatbot3
Thanks for pointing that out! I think I'm going to have to jump in because I've never got a figure like this and like the design so much and really love the die-cast aspect as well. Thanks so much for your opinion.
Razor24
Thanks for the translation xueyue2. I have started working on the wings. Bought a Deathsythe Hell for the wings and am working on the backpack. I couldn't find the Bowei building block stuff in Australia and wasn't keen on importing so I ended up using Lego Bionicle parts.
No luck finding a cheap KO Myth Cloth Ares for the horns so I might have to go without it.
I'll post pics of my custom once it's completed. I am not going the full snake head route. Just giving Xerxes wings.
As far as I can tell the repaint is essentially that. A repaint/added horn of Leonidas. There has not been any noticeable changes between the two figures in terms of joints and fixes. Xerxes seems less tight in the arms which was a point of contention (and breakages in Leonidas for some people here) but its hard to say if it is figure specific (meaning YMMV) or a production wide "fix".
EDIT: I stand corrected. It turns out PE did do a fair bit of fixes to Xerxes. It's posted a few pages back (post #132).
That said, it's a really amazing figure (Leonidas or Xerxes) to say the least. It's highly articulated and feels more like playing with a high end action figure like Playarts Kai than a Transformer. My brother only collects Playarts figures and even he was blown away by Leonidas!
My only concern with your 7yo handling the figure is that it has a lot of heft (diecast parts etc). If your 7yo poses it wrong it could topple off the shelf/table/bench and potentially break. Both versions are fairly durable (for me so far) but a lot of pegs on them are like 1-1.5mm pegs so I'm not sure how strong they are when you do a table top dive test?
I also collect Warbo and MMC figures and IMO this figure tops them all. Don't get me wrong they are all great figures in their own right but Leonidas/Xerxes feels like a collector action figure. Even if you don't collect BW figures (I don't) and they don't really fit into your current collections, once you get these guys you will make a spot for them
Fatbot3
Really been interested in this but wanted to know if it was definitively decided that the repaint also fixed join and breakage issues. I've almost exclusively bought Warbo and MMC though I did get into to FT insecticons. I keep hearing the guy is a bit fragile and considering that as a rule I let me 7 year old at least hold my figures I wondered if this guy is just out of me league. Anyone have any opinions on the repaint in respect to the original?
xueyue2
Let me try to do the translation for you (use Google translation first then modify).
1. In order to achieve non-destructive modification, need to make an additional backpack. It servers 2 purposes: 1st use the backpack to connect the wings and black lion back, 2nd purpose is to make the Black Lion in beast form body more strong looking.
I chose to use "博伟积木" — Bowei building block (probably something similar to Lego, you can do a google search on "博伟积木" and see the image). I chose it since it has a wide choice of different shapes. The backpack style is a bit Reference to "Alien" back, some parts I can build it directly, others I just glued them together.