 A while back, there were a lot of [META] issues on the table, and I asked whether anyone was interested in my posting the mold changes made to the Spychangers when they were released for RiD. Naturally, since no one answered in the affirmative...here they are anyway. :) Crosswise: They reinforced the plastic bar that connects his vehicle hood to his body. On High Beam/Bumblebee/Nightracer, you can see a lot more of the surface of the metal pins (their visibility matches the width of High Beam's head), because the plastic drops off more sharply. On Crosswise, the plastic tapers off at an angle toward the center. Also, this is incredibly minor, but on the back of High Beam, the bottom of his pelvis doesn't connect, so there's just one big gap in the back of the legs and pelvis. On Crosswise, there are plastic bits that separate the pelvis from the legs, so he's got three gaps instead of one. If that makes any sense. W.A.R.S.: The change was also in the pins holding the car roof in place. You can see where the pins are on W.A.R.S., but you can't see the pins themselves. It appears they used thinner pins to accomplish this, and just wrapped plastic around them. The pins are exposed on Gearhead/Soundwave. Also, the reinforcing plastic bars on the inside of his pelvis appear to be missing on W.A.R.S. Ironhide: There are thinner pins, so technically that's a mold change. Other'n that, no difference. Mirage: Same as above. Hotshot: The same change that they made to the connector bar on Crosswise that holds his hood to his body also applies here. The gap in which the metal bars are visible isn't as long, and the plastic tapers in at an angle. The connector points on his body itself (the translucent parts, on Crosswise) were also widened. Finally, the sculpting that used to denote his headlights is almost non-existent now. The rest of his detailing is still sharp, so I don't think it's just a case of mold degradation. They probably smoothed out the top of his hood so the headlights didn't interfere with the flame pattern. R.E.V.: Again, the same change was made to the plastic bar that connects his vehicle hood to his body. The difference becomes obvious when you hold R.E.V.and Firecracker/Optimus Prime/Sideswipe up side-to-side; if you look at them straight on, you can't see R.E.V.'s entire helmet. Also, the plastic bars that define the backs of his legs go all the way up, instead of stopping at his pelvis, so once again there are three separate gaps instead of one big one. Also, when I got Grimlock at TRU, I picked up yet another set of Spychangers that I already owned (Hotshot and R.E.V.) I opened them up with the intent of repainting them into show-accurate versions, and noticed a running production change within RiD. (Hey, this must mean that they repackaged unsold Car Robots stock! Heh heh.) This new set was in the Wave 2 packaging, by the way, with both characters in car mode. Anyway, both toys got new tabs that hold them together in vehicle mode. The first Hotshot I got had a head identical to Blowout/Megatron/Frenzy, but the new one has a bar running along the back of his head, designed to hold the lip on the car hood in place. R.E.V. already had a large tab behind his head, but the new version has a smaller wedge-shaped tab sticking up behind the large one, so that it grabs the lip of the vehicle hood much more securely. The second, newer R.E.V. I got is also missing the paint operation on the tops of the face guards on his helmet, but I don't know if that's a production switch or just a factory oversight. I'm assuming that similar changes were made to Ironhide/Mirage and Crosswise/W.A.R.S., but I can't verify this until I pick up Hightower and Heavy Load and hopefully get s'more Spychangers to go along with 'em. I don't remember seeing Ironhide/Mirage at TRU, and I know they've been taken out of the case ratio in some cases, so...we'll see, I guess. [Addendum: I've gotten the Wave 2 versions of Crosswise/W.A.R.S. and there are no running production changes in evidence. The jury's still out on Ironhide/Mirage.--Zob]
Out of curiosity, is there anybody out there who has the extra tabs on their Hotshot/R.E.V. toys who got them while they were still in Wave 1 packaging? I'd be interested in knowing whether this change coincided with the packaging swap. |