World's Best Robots - MARS, ROMULUS and REMUS!

Well I can tell you that they finaly send me the tracking number, And I can say they are really really overwhelmed back there.

they are shipping today from china ... s0 a other 5 weeks to wait.

Ok, so fuck me. Credit where credit is due.
The doorbell just rang, and in the postman's arms was a big ass box. I already got my 3aa kit so...

Romulus arrived! No tracking number and totally unannounced (just like my 3Aa pack), but goddamn if 3A didn't eat the cost of to sending him to me via EMS. I can only assume they are all going out this way.

So I was giddy as a kid at Christmas. I was bragging to Sarah about how utterly unbelievable that was. The cost of shipping direct via air must have been a fortune. Keep in mind that this big ass bot was less than $200 via the 3AA discount. ahMAzing! I totally bow to 3a for this.

So as Sarah is listening to me excitedly go on about what a magnificent bargain he was, her eyebrows shot up as I stood up and said "fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" And I am sure a number of other things.

The WBR box is like a giant old school 1/6 Human fig shipping box. It is pretty much a box with a piece of cardboard in the back and twisty ties holding the giant robot down. They put a clear shrink wrap over parts of it to help secure it further to the board, and a few bits of foam blocks supporting some of the floating parts.

My Rommy's left arm was not attached at all, and had been flopping around in the box beating up against him. Based on the right arm, which was attached at the shoulder and strapped to the backing board, the left was strapped by a twisty tie at the same point along the arm, but the shoulder joint was no longer on the body at all, and the arm had slid down about 6 inches in the box.

At first I thought it had totally sheared/shattered the joint at the body. As it turned out, the shoulder pin was not in the socket on the body. The body and shoulder both being vinyl. The joint being ABS or an equivalent. After about a half hour with the hair dryer and a lot of cursing I was able to get the shoulder joint back into the body without completely caving it in. It took a lot of trial and error slowly heating and working it into and out of the joint to get it back into form and keep it from warping or crushing the big body ward.

Keep in mind that I have assembled and disassembled at least a dozen big three a bots over the years for customizing, so this wasn't my first rodeo. But the size and shape of the parts made it trickier than I'd anticipated.

Still, it is together for the most part. I don't think the vinyl on my left shoulder area of his body is molded deep enough or completely correctly. The socket feels just a hair too shallow for the ball to feel completely snug in the shoulder without the solder pin comic back out with reposing and positioning it.

In other words if I was to do a lot of posing and moving of the arm, moving it forward and backward at the shoulder more than 3 or 4 times, the ball would work its self free of the shoulder socket and the arm will fall back off. So that isn't so cool.  

On the upside... He is gigantic. Really imposing. I'll get a photo of him hanging with Raideen and Bertie Mk3. Standing straight up and down, which is about the only thing he can manage, He towers over them.

And the paint job is really pretty spectacular. Subtle enough to not be in your face aging, but there enough to not look cheesey or lost.

Back on the flip side, I was asking others about the joints early on. I am happy for everyone that has really tight joints. The hands on mine are fantastic. Super snug and infinitely poseable. I wish he was all like that. He would have been impeccable.

But his ankles... If I don't balance him just right with his weight directly over the ankle joint, I'm certain he will topple under his own weight. And with a figure this big, and feeling somewhat fragile, I do fear for his pointy bits eventually snapping off in the long run. He is going to go down eventually if I don't lay him down.

But as complicated as it looks down by his feet, I'm not sure of a good way to try and snug them up yet. He has click joints in his hips and knees, and thank god for those, because other than the clicks holding those joints in place, they feel like they have a little twist/play in them that means they kind of twist back and forth a little and he feels a bit like a rag doll on splints. If I pick up WWR mk3 Bertie and wiggle him he is more or less rigid, even without the click joints ( he also cost a bit more, but not THAT much more). My Rommy kind of twists and sways and feels like if those clicks weren't in there he would totally collapse on himself. I think the word I am looking for is rickety. Not such a good thing on a 2 foot tall bot. I am beside myself. I was so soooooooooo looking forward to this.

So standing perfectly straight stiff legged with his feet squarely under him, he stands ok so far. If I try to bend a knee even a little, it shifts the weight from being squarely of his ankles, and if I don't keep a hand on him for support, he is going to go down like a domino. So as much as it pains me beyond belief, he's fairly disappointing from a stability standpoint. I fear for my ankle joint's long term lasting power even straight legged.

Back on a positive note, his missile shoots farther than I thought.
And he looks awesome standing straight up and down.

So I dunno how I feel right now. Kinda pissed off, heartbroken, and kinda not surprised given his relative cheapness. I don't want to keep messing with the ankles right now, because in my saddened state, I fear I'll damage something trying to make it better. I need some distance from it. Come back to it tomorrow or something. I suspect there is fuck all CS would be able or willing to do about it, as the legs are only part of the problem. Between those and the arm that pops off, I'd need a whole replacement, and I'll be damned if I'm eating shipping to send this big bastard back. I can't even fathom the cost of that from me to China. Yeesh.

So I'll chill for a bit and go back to it. Hopefully mine is a freak occurance as I have heard nothing else to indicate otherwise. From all other reports he is sturdy and tight. I just got the shit end of the stick this time. A first for me from 3A. Disappointing as I have ordered only this and the 2 Dirty Deeds Berties in the last while. I only hope to god those come in ok.

I really really wanted to love him. I still adore the design. The execution is not up TO the 3A standards I've always experienced in the past. Off to do something else for a bit...

-e.

I was quite shock by how MARS was packed as well.
Haven't got the time to break him out of the packaging yet but he seems to be intact.
Will find out for sure later on....

I did love the outer box design and the giant warning card, and bag and header card designs, by the way. Really pretty work.

there are times in which i think Ash bites off more than a toy design can chew. like the heavy bram with RPG or the mk3 Berties, like ya they look great but its hard to believe that someone on the manufacturing end wasnt like ... ugh yeah this is cool but way to problematic as a toy at this scale.lets try pvc cannons or pvc rpg. the cannons on my mk3 are collapsing due to their own weight. i barely touch that figure out of fear its gonna break. i have never displayed my heavy bram with rpg for over few mins cuz its obvious its not gonna hold.

when i first saw these i thought the same, i guess thats why i was on fence at time of sale and ended up mars-less.

sad to hear this broken on arrival story.

toys = happy!...simple...

maybe time to l3.Ave.....?

Illy, I want to be clear, as far as I've read mine is the only that has shown these issues, and that is all I am commenting on. I wouldn't assume they are all this way or jump straight to blaming the design, based on what I've read from others. If only mine is this way I would be relieved for everyone else, to tell the truth.

I im kinda surprised anyone thought that twisty ties and cardboard would hold something like this down. Why not the molded tray?

Pure novelty?
Black foam like the ones used in the Blind Cowboy set would've been better for a figure this size and heft, but then 3A would need to increase the box size.

and spend a little more for extra protection during transit?!... gotta cut the cost somewhere i guess...

Honestly this fear is the reason I couldn't risk buying. I'm just too scared of high priced 3a items. It's more and more of a dice roll. Happy if you win.. So sad if you lose.

The main reason I stayed from grabbing one of these guys was loose joints. I was worried they come all floppy and unposable especially the Blue GID one. Still kinda regretting not buying one.
I'm sure there will be more from this line.

from a facebook legion !:

behold

LOVE ^ ^ ^ (cant wait to get mine!)

And this is how it glows

source: WO3A IG

Damn ghost turned out great!

I really didn't get him for the glow, I despite Glow in the dark stuff :p

But I like the white and blue pattern tone of Skyblast

Skyblast looks great. Congrats to all who took the gamble and ordered one!

He definitely came out cool. I was on the fence about buying him as well. Had the chance and even in my cart once, but decided to stick with my general and personal 1 per colorway rule. At this point, kinda glad I did.

Excited for everyone else who is excited for theirs!

I got my Ghost on Saturday and he arrived with an arm out of his socket!! I applied some force and re-set his arm properly.

The figure is HUGE, awesome, and even my wife appreciates it. The joints could be a bit tighter, but it's still a great figure.

Where are you located MR Rictus? Trying to get an idea where these are hitting.

Oneluckyboy wrote:Where are you located MR Rictus? Trying to get an idea where these are hitting.

The place doesnt matter, they are having delay in the warehouse. they sending stuff in batch, and not by country. You friend next door can receive is and you 5 weeks later.

2 canadian bodys got them a week ago, and mine have been ship from china june 19th so still 5 weeks to wait for me

I don't know why they didn't do country batch.

That makes sense. I guess I just wait.

I'm in New York, near NYC.