San Diego Comic Con 2022 Saturday Morning – HasLab Victory Saber Packaging & Samples

Uniswipe1984

Is this thing worth it at 220?

You have a loaded question there….

Financially, it was $200 during the Haslab backing window, so a $20 markup (if it's complete & undamaged or in unopened box) is not bad at all.

If you love the character, it's a fantastic deal. If you hate the character, it's nothing to interest you.

TFXProtector

I think we've been mistransforming him all along.

I noticed that people ended up with damaged stickers (DNA kit covering the chrome) and mine have a couple of dip spots and I wondered what the heck was causing it.

So, there are two small tabs that grab onto the slots on Saber's legs on their backs, when you push him into the chest chamber, and the lock at the bottom helps push him onto those. I think that combo is what's causing the problem. So many of us just slide him in and out of there once we press the button and think nothing of it.

So, I started pushing the button with my thumb, then using the rest of that hand as well as the other hand, to gently pull back on the Star Saber shoulders and he comes out without anymore damage. I don't think we were meant to slide him in and out, I think we were meant to carefully do it something akin to what I've been doing since I bought the DNA kit. So far, so good.

The instructions don't help, just an arrow and "DONE!" and there's a bit of finesse to it.

Coming back to this today, decided to try this out with my new copy since I haven't done the combined vehicle mode all that much with it considering the aforementioned chrome chipping.

I cannot believe this actually works, even when inserting Saber into the V-Star too, holy fuck. This makes a heap of difference. As to whether or not unstickered copies will survive this more gentler method only time will tell, but I am glad there's a better way of combining it that brings substantially less risk to the foil chrome potentially on the long-term.

Fafnir72

Having all the CAD data and workstations and still that little detail fell through the cracks? 
Not dissing the fig but normal reaction to a Da Ef?!

This is more common than you think it is.

I doubt it's actually a huge issue, but there's probably enough play in the mechanism that it wouldn't consistently unlatch in practice.

Remember that steel molds work in the negative. To remove plastic, you have to add more steel. To add more steel to the tooling after the fact is very, VERY expensive. In the advent of these sorts of design modifications, it's way simpler to do it manually on the assembly room floor.

Another example of this ad-hoc adjustment was Studio Series Blitzwing. They had to fix how the wingtips connected compared to the render to remove a structural weakness. The wingtips had to be carved down by hand to fit the modified peg holes. That's why the area around the swivel peg is often asymmetrical.

TargetmasterJoe

Okay, I was going to say that I could live with this copy even if the pin joints in Victory Leo's toes and Saber's Core Robot mode were loose.

But then I found a stress mark in the piece that flips Saber's helmet up.

View attachment 30060100
And here's that triangular cut I brought up earlier:

View attachment 30060102
I paid like more than $170 for this. For that kind of money, this second copy should've been perfect. GRRRRR.

Thanks for this. I think this may have convinced me to keep mine.

TargetmasterJoe

Oh snap!

My new one came today! I didn't even get an email or anything!  

I'm still opening it, but right off the bat, Victory Leo's halves look better aligned, but Star Saber doesn't have a plastic cover for his chest and there's some gold chrome on his chest but not where it's supposed to be.

I'll have to dig deeper later because of real life circumstances. Stand by.

I'm hoping for something similar. Still haven't gotten an email for my replacement request.

Okay, I was going to say that I could live with this copy even if the pin joints in Victory Leo's toes and Saber's Core Robot mode were loose.

But then I found a stress mark in the piece that flips Saber's helmet up.

View attachment 30060100
And here's that triangular cut I brought up earlier:

View attachment 30060102
I paid like more than $170 for this. For that kind of money, this second copy should've been perfect. GRRRRR.

TargetmasterJoe

Okay, I've been poking around with my new copy today.

Here are my observations so far (Only attempted Victory Saber transformation, haven't removed the Micromasters, shield, Brainmaster or display stand):

• Star Saber:
  • Star Saber's toes both click in like they're supposed to.  
  • There's specks in his eyes that weren't in the first copy.
  • The cavity in the V-Star where Saber slots into to become Star Saber still has a triangular chunk of blue plastic missing. (I was worried that getting Saber out was what caused it, but I haven't seen anything resembling snapped off blue plastic, so maybe it was like that already?)
  • The sword only slots in with the flat side of the blade (so anime-styled?). Maybe I'm not slotting it in properly for toy-styled?
  • The upper-elbow joint wasn't strong enough to hold the V-Lock Cannon initially, but a screwdriver actually made the joint stronger.
• Saber:
  • Saber's left arm popped off, but it was easy enough to put back in. That didn't happen in the first copy.
  • Feels wobblier than the original copy, but the joints seem fine-ish?
• Victory Leo:
  • Leo's toe joints (aka the red part) seem looser than they were in the first copy.
  • Leo's knee joints itself seem strong enough, but it seems wobbly because it feels like the tabs that go into the slots for robot mode should go in deeper, but they really don't want to go in further.
  • The hip joints seem stronger this time, including the piece that makes the lower body become the boots for Victory Saber mode.
• Victory Saber:
  • Actually came together well.

So TJ, overall, you good on this replacement? That's the important part 

TFXProtector

I think we've been mistransforming him all along.

I noticed that people ended up with damaged stickers (DNA kit covering the chrome) and mine have a couple of dip spots and I wondered what the heck was causing it.

So, there are two small tabs that grab onto the slots on Saber's legs on their backs, when you push him into the chest chamber, and the lock at the bottom helps push him onto those. I think that combo is what's causing the problem. So many of us just slide him in and out of there once we press the button and think nothing of it.

So, I started pushing the button with my thumb, then using the rest of that hand as well as the other hand, to gently pull back on the Star Saber shoulders and he comes out without anymore damage. I don't think we were meant to slide him in and out, I think we were meant to carefully do it something akin to what I've been doing since I bought the DNA kit. So far, so good.

The instructions don't help, just an arrow and "DONE!" and there's a bit of finesse to it.

I think I might have a bit of trouble following what's supposed to be happening with the shoulders. If I'm guessing correctly, pulling the shoulders back also bends the blue part they're connected to, flexing it enough to untab Saber from the V-Star?

WishfulThinking

Or, at least give us LARGE picture-only instructions so I can decipher WTH I'm supposed to be doing sometimes. Tiny is fine for the $10 bots. But let's up the game a bit for the $25+ merch.

With an aging demographic, you'd think they'd key in on this a bit.

Point well taken. I need reading glasses just to transform my figures (even if I'm NOT reading the instructions) these days.

I've been saying for years that picture-only instructions are wholly insufficient. Yeah, it's a cheaper option for Hasbro, but we lose out.