Flame Toys Furai Model G1 Soundwave Official Images

Yeah. After watching that video and reading some of the comments here, I can't see myself dropping $300+ on Jazz. I was shocked at how hollow Jazz's legs are in the video. I can definitely see a drop in engineering quality compared to previous releases. I'll be waiting for a sale or a good deal on the secondhand market before I consider picking him up. I hope Flame Toys don't drop the ball on Starscream.

I hope shattered glass Megatron isn’t laden with issues like Jazz seems to be…that’d be incredibly disappointing considering I’ve looked forward to them repainting that mold for a while. Hopefully Jazz is the exception to their standard, not the new norm

Thermal

Does Flame toys ever do re-releases of their furai model kits? I'm new to the fandom and have a burning need to own their Rodimus

That is the only reason I follow this thread. Bbts had him for po, no release date in sight

Ended up cancelling my jazz preorder. This feels like a $150 at best figure. Three zero and flame toys have fully chased me away this past year.

Scyla

I'm torn on the K3 Jazz. Directly out of the box he feels super lackluster. One reason for that is the lack of accessories (I won’t ever not be upset with the decision not to include a second gun); especially weapons and hand options (besides holding hands and fists he comes with two sets of pretty similar posing hands).

Then there is the figure itself.

First his lower legs are hollow with two long stems as Jazz's ankles. It is done for articulation because it allows the ankles to have an extreme range of motion without breaking the sculpt since there is so much empty space.
I feel like on a past release the design would have an elaborate, filled out armature and spring loaded flaps that offers the same functionality but doesn’t leave me, the buyer, feel like Flame Toys cheap out with this release. Sure, $300 doesn’t get you as far as 5 years ago, when Drift was released but still these toys ought to be the top of the line.

Same goes for the pieces jutting out from his shoulders. I feel in the past they would have been movable flaps.
Also the wiring for the LEDs is visible from the top view since they used black and red wires, which also contributes to the cheap feeling.

Lastly I'm baffled by some of the design decisions. For example the backpack has a plate that extends to the underside which clashes with the butt flap. Sure these pieces are optional but I enjoy the lush paint applications on the flap and I want to display Jazz with the door wings so I am at a loss here and have to deal with articulation issues for no apparent reason.

Lastly this is another release were my copy has QC issues: some pieces are seemingly not glued in (not a big issue) and I have some scratches in the finish on Jazz's left shoulder.
This wouldn’t be that much of an issue if Flame Toys would provide easily available replacement parts like they did in the past. However, nowadays the require you to send pieces back before getting a replacement and not reimbursing the shipping costs to Hong Kong which would result in an additional $50 expense on my side for even small letters to get the pice to them which is unreasonable to me.

TLDR: I'm paying top Dollar but I neither get a premium product experience nor premium customer experience. And while 5 years ago with Drift I thought this is the best toy line on the market (pricey yes but you got a lot and stellar customer support), nowadays I'm falling out of favor of this line.

Now on to the good parts. It is a fun and well articulated figure that will look good besides other Kuro Kara Kuri robots on display but it is far from the greatness that Drift, Star Saber, Megatron and Optimus are.

I already knew that accessory wise Jazz was a barebone release but it's sad to hear that apparently they cheaped out a bit with the engineering. To be completely honest, I'm finding harder to justify the price for these figures after seeing other companies' products, so anything short of excellence from Flame Toys is going to feel a letdown.

I'm torn on the K3 Jazz. Directly out of the box he feels super lackluster. One reason for that is the lack of accessories (I won’t ever not be upset with the decision not to include a second gun); especially weapons and hand options (besides holding hands and fists he comes with two sets of pretty similar posing hands).

Then there is the figure itself.

First his lower legs are hollow with two long stems as Jazz's ankles. It is done for articulation because it allows the ankles to have an extreme range of motion without breaking the sculpt since there is so much empty space.
I feel like on a past release the design would have an elaborate, filled out armature and spring loaded flaps that offers the same functionality but doesn’t leave me, the buyer, feel like Flame Toys cheap out with this release. Sure, $300 doesn’t get you as far as 5 years ago, when Drift was released but still these toys ought to be the top of the line.

Same goes for the pieces jutting out from his shoulders. I feel in the past they would have been movable flaps.
Also the wiring for the LEDs is visible from the top view since they used black and red wires, which also contributes to the cheap feeling.

Lastly I'm baffled by some of the design decisions. For example the backpack has a plate that extends to the underside which clashes with the butt flap. Sure these pieces are optional but I enjoy the lush paint applications on the flap and I want to display Jazz with the door wings so I am at a loss here and have to deal with articulation issues for no apparent reason.

Lastly this is another release were my copy has QC issues: some pieces are seemingly not glued in (not a big issue) and I have some scratches in the finish on Jazz's left shoulder.
This wouldn’t be that much of an issue if Flame Toys would provide easily available replacement parts like they did in the past. However, nowadays the require you to send pieces back before getting a replacement and not reimbursing the shipping costs to Hong Kong which would result in an additional $50 expense on my side for even small letters to get the pice to them which is unreasonable to me.

TLDR: I'm paying top Dollar but I neither get a premium product experience nor premium customer experience. And while 5 years ago with Drift I thought this is the best toy line on the market (pricey yes but you got a lot and stellar customer support), nowadays I'm falling out of favor of this line.

Now on to the good parts. It is a fun and well articulated figure that will look good besides other Kuro Kara Kuri robots on display but it is far from the greatness that Drift, Star Saber, Megatron and Optimus are.

Electro Rush

Put together the Arcee model kit this morning, was easier to assemble than Windblade was. I do have the same minor complaints that I had with Windblade, namely the hands and the sticker sheet suck. I lost two of the stickers trying to take them off the sheet. And like Windblade, Arcee lacks any port in the back to directly attach a stand (even mainline figures regularly have ports that you can use Bandai stands with).

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Putting mine together right now, and their Arcee has the exact same problem their Windblade did: poorly designed waist joint. On Windblade, the ball joint was too tight and snapped off when I tried to move it (I repaired it). On Arcee, just looking at the pieces does not give me any confidence. The Ball joint part is divided into two pieces on the runner, with the entire ball joint moved to just one of those pieces. There is not nearly enough level ground for the ball to rest on to give it enough structural support and keep it from not snapping off. It's relying solely on the partner piece it gets sandwiched with to do most of the heavy lifting. Never mind that the bar joints are super tight when you plug them in. I was hoping they would have improved the design, but at least I know better the second time around and can avoid certain disaster.

Ichibaru

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Here’s mine lit up. Looks about the same as yours… although I did notice that if you push the backpack in too far, it does somehow affect the brightness of the LEDs. You didn’t have it plugged in in yours though.

Ah okay! Glad it's not an issue with my figure  . I remember Tarn/Megs/OP being a bit brighter but maybe they've just changed what batteries they use or used dimmer LEDs for Jazz. Thanks!  

Put together the Arcee model kit this morning, was easier to assemble than Windblade was. I do have the same minor complaints that I had with Windblade, namely the hands and the sticker sheet suck. I lost two of the stickers trying to take them off the sheet. And like Windblade, Arcee lacks any port in the back to directly attach a stand (even mainline figures regularly have ports that you can use Bandai stands with).

View attachment 30162118

Unboxed my Japan haul. Combination of favourable exchange and no sales tax meant that I was able to get Rodimus and Jazz with bonus parts for the same price as Rodimus alone if I ordered from D4 and shipped to Canada.

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Almost didn’t find the bonus face… it was in a little baggy taped to the bottom of the stand base.
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