{"id":9887,"date":"2010-10-22T01:03:45","date_gmt":"2010-10-22T06:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9887"},"modified":"2010-10-22T12:54:28","modified_gmt":"2010-10-22T17:54:28","slug":"motuclassics-com-roboto-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9887","title":{"rendered":"MOTUClassics.Com:
Roboto Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Roboto is one of my favorite vintage MOTU toys, but when he was announced for MOTU Classics I wasn’t feeling very intrigued. I didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t as excited as I should’ve been. Now, he’s arrived and it’s his chance to win me over. Also, I promise not to make any “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto” jokes. <\/p>\n

Roboto is all-new from the waist up, sharing his lower body with Optikk (who got most of his parts from Trap Jaw). Pretty much everything is a faithful recreation of the original \u2013 he\u2019s mostly a straight update. Everything is slightly improved of course. The head looks great \u2013 I wasn\u2019t thrilled about the \u2018duckbill\u2019 jaw, but it\u2019s tilted (instead of horizontal like the vintage figure) and it looks much better. The circuitry pattern on the arms is more clearly defined, and the gears in the chest have been resized to accommodate the addition of his heart-shaped emotion chip from the mini-comics. And let me tell ya, that piece really looks awesome in there.<\/p>\n

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You know, looking at this “Usual Suspects” shot, I just realized that vintage Roboto and Classics Roboto are the same basic size from the hips up (vintage Roboto had a chest a little bigger than the others while Classics Roboto has a chest a little smaller than average). It makes the old figure’s legs look really weird. And, if you were keeping track, MO2K Roboto in the middle there did not come with an axe. Apparently, I rectified that by cutting up some random He-Man variant’s axe and adding it to Roboto. Ironically, I don’t remember where his actual attachments are anymore. Ha.<\/p>\n

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The gears work great, spinning with the turn of the waist, though they are no longer attached to the head to make the mouth guard move up and down. One thing that really fascinated me about the gears was that some of the folks over at He-Man.Org who took steps to crack the chest and swap the shoulder pieces found that his gears are basically self-contained on a chest-insert (similar to the bubbles in Chemo’s torso from last year\u2019s DCUC9).<\/p>\n

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Then, there are the shoulders. What do I want to say about the shoulders? I’ve held off on making too many comments because I wanted to get the figure in-hand and decide for myself. When we were opening up the shipping case at IAT, I popped Roboto out of the package, looked him over, and played with his bicep joint. There was no obstruction, no scuffing, none of the issues I had with my original reversed shoulders He-Man back in early 2009. There was a gouge in the shoulder, but it wasn’t from the shoulder being reversed – just more bad QC. Anyway, I looked around and wondered if my IAT cohorts would feel the same.<\/p>\n

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And they did. Even our favorite curmudgeon, Mr. Rant. We all agreed that Mattel should be less cavalier should a future error arise, but the mismatched circuitry and the slight gaps ended up not really being a problem in our eyes. And besides there was other “fun” bad quality control to address anyway.<\/p>\n

While the sculpt was wonderful, the paint wasn’t. We all had different amounts of slop on each of our figures. Most of the figure is molded appropriately and just requires highlights while other parts are molded completely different colors and painted. That’s where some problems come in. Roboto’s boots and head are molded in red and painted silver. The one I\u2019m reviewing here had some areas where the silver was letting some red show though, but nothing too terrible. The hands (molded blue, painted red) were a different story, particularly the left one. <\/p>\n

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Yep, my Roboto is melting. Vault ended up with a melting one as well. We haven’t decided if we’re going to bother with Mattel’s replacement policy yet. We both also ended up with a Roboto that doesn’t feature the “2nd degree burn” hands (that’s one of the reasons we buy doubles). In addition to this hand being gnarly, I’m also slightly annoyed that this arm is different from the rest of the entire line.<\/p>\n

While Toy Guru & Co. worked quick to make sure that Trap Jaw and Roboto had compatible right arms, they weren’t able to get to the left arm switched around in time. What I don’t understand is why the arms were sculpted opposite in the first place? Why was the left arm sculpted to have the peg instead of the left hand? If the figures had been done like the rest of the line, we could surely customize a quick fix for the attachments to fit on both hands. As it is, we’re out of luck minus some serious surgery. Continue to Page 2 for the Attachments…<\/a><\/p>\n

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This is going to sound silly, but my favorite arm attachment is the regular hand. I’m very appreciative that Roboto has his three classic attachments (and even more excited about the possibility of TJ attachments coming in Roboto colors), but I’ve been displaying Roboto with his two hands for most of the time he’s been at my house. I’m glad Mattel included it.<\/p>\n

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If I had to pick a favorite among the actual attachments, it would surely be the gun hand. That was my favorite as a kid too. All three of the attachments are faithful recreations of the original – right down to the fact that most of them look like slightly larger carbon copies.<\/p>\n

There are extra paint applications. These are appreciated, the blue really helps bring out the little details, but these apps were some of the sloppiest on all of our figures, particularly on the gun hand.<\/p>\n

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Like I said, I’m hopeful that we won’t have to wait too long to see Trap Jaw’s attachments show up in Roboto’s colors (Roboto’s pieces for TJ will be in the Weapons Pak next month). I’m also annoyed that I forgot to order Spymonkey Creations’ Tools of the Master Strategist<\/a> in time for this review. I’ll be placing that order soon and I’ll have some more pics to show you.<\/p>\n

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Articulation is mostly what you’ve come to expect. Ball head, shoulders, and hips. Swivels at the biceps, mid-forearms, waist (activates gears), thighs, and calves. Hinges at the elbows knees, and ankles. The ankles feel different this time around. They seem tighter, but I think that’s an illusion. I think the internal part of the joint is softer and the tightness is just the piece ‘giving’ instead of turning the ankle. It seems fine now, but that could be a problem with too much play.<\/p>\n

The ab crunch is missing for obvious reasons, but the count is the same as normal due to the articulated jaw. <\/p>\n

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So, did Roboto win me over? Mostly. I probably should’ve expected that I’d be much happier with the figure once I got him in hand (that tends to be the case with MOTUC) and maybe I’m a little more discouraged because he’s one of my favorites and he’s not perfect.<\/p>\n

I would’ve like to see a better blend of the different eras with him (but I will take a more modern Roboto as a different\/upgraded character later, Toy Guru) and I would’ve liked it if the QC issues were better handled. I may not be that concerned about the shoulders, but there are still reports of cracks in the clear plastic chest (remember the Goddess issues? Uh oh), various paint issues, and, on mine, the melted\/marred left hand. <\/p>\n

The truth of it is, with the action feature and planning that went into Roboto, he could’ve been one of the best MOTUC’s of the year, if he’d just been executed properly.<\/p>\n

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For more MOTU reviews, check out our MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roboto is one of my favorite vintage MOTU toys, but when he was announced for MOTU Classics I wasn’t feeling very intrigued. I didn’t know it was, but I wasn’t as excited as I should’ve been. Now, he’s arrived and it’s his change to win me over. Also, I promise not to make any “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto” jokes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":9889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[7,34,10],"tags":[20,2558,706,656],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/robTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-2zt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9787,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9787","url_meta":{"origin":9887,"position":0},"title":"Happy Roboto Day!","date":"October 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The 15th is here & while shiny, probably reversed shouldered, Robotos are already making their way to the IAT offices, there's still that little matter of the actual sale today. It's just Roboto & some Zodac leftovers not cool enough for Cyber Monday. What will you try & get? Join\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9827,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=9827","url_meta":{"origin":9887,"position":1},"title":"Mattel Comments on Roboto + MOTU Schedule thru April","date":"October 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Toy Guru chimed in on Facebook with the official word on Robotogate - they're all misassembled. Toy Guru offers up his mea culpa, mentions a few others successes and some hope, and, to tide things over, gives collects an update on the MOTU Classics schedule through April.","rel":"","context":"In "Matty on Facebook"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11740,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11740","url_meta":{"origin":9887,"position":2},"title":"MOTUClassics.Com Review: Great Wars Weapons Pak","date":"February 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, this review is a little late. The Great Wars Weapons Pak was released back in November, but the holidays kept me a little too busy to haul out the store and the review fell back on the schedule. I had some time last week during Dorkey's Japan coverage and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16958,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16958","url_meta":{"origin":9887,"position":3},"title":"Ask Matty February 15th Link Roundup","date":"February 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ask Matty - February 15th Edition DCClassics.Com Asks: If redecos are going to be part of the All-Stars lineup, has Mattel given any thought to directly polling the collectorbase for repaint ideas? Allowing collectors to provide some direct feedback or participate in a poll with limited scope (like no changes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10167,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=10167","url_meta":{"origin":9887,"position":4},"title":"Ask Matty November 15th Edition","date":"November 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"With DCUC16 being scheduled for early 2011, will it be considered one of the five 2011 waves or will Mattel now plan for six waves of DC Classics on the 2011 schedule","rel":"","context":"In "Ask Matty"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25485,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25485","url_meta":{"origin":9887,"position":5},"title":"MOTU Classics End of Wars Weapons Pak Review","date":"October 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9887"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9887"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9903,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9887\/revisions\/9903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}