Encore Fortress Maximus Part One

Box Scan from www.botchthecrab.com

 Before I start this review, I'd like to point a few things.  First, I'm working on a buffer system, so this post was actually written a couple of weeks before it was posted.  I'm trying to keep up a post per week schedule, so I'm writing everything in advance.  Second, the reason that Encore Fortress Maximus is a two part post is because of pure frustration.  I'll explain more in the second post.

Ah, Encore Fortress Maximus, how you have haunted my dreams.  As I've posted before, I already own my childhood Fortress Maximus and he's complete.  If I already owned a Fortress Maximus, why would I be so happy and excited to get the reissue?  In one word: sword.  Seriously that's the reason I preordered this guy the second the preorder went up.  On May 2nd, he arrived and I couldn't be happier.

Essentially what I'm going to do with this post, and the one after it, is compare and contrast the two releases.  This first post will cover Spike, Cerebros, Gasket, Grommet, and Cog.  With that out there, let's get started!

Thanks to some unknown quality control issues, Encore Fortress Maximus shipped opened and then resealed.  I'm not really sure what they were checking for, but everything seems to be in order.  Everything that is...except for Spike!  Cue mystery movie music!

Yes, there is something wrong with my Spike.  There actually seems to be something wrong with everyone's Spike, judging from what I've seen online.  Not everyone seems to be aware of it, but it's there.  The thighs of my Spike are assembled wrong.  At least both of mine are, so it's not too noticeable.  I've seen instances of just one thigh being placed on incorrectly which is really jarring.  Take a look:

Raise your hands if you're sure!

The original is on the right, Encore is on the left.  As you can see, the thighs on the Encore are facing the wrong way.  It's not a huge deal, but they're still not assembled correctly.  I thought it might affect transformation into Cerebros' head, but it doesn't.

Actually, the incorrectly assembled thighs give a straighter edge to the top of the head.  One could argue that in this mode, it's an improvement.

Again, original on the right, Encore on the left.  Can you spot the difference between the two?  If you said the sword is the difference, you're correct!  The Encore Cerebros is holding the smaller Master Sword.  

There is another tiny difference that isn't visible at this angle.  I'll show you another angle:

The gun on my original Cerebros has extensive chewing on it.  Ah, the joys of having a dog coupled with an eleven year old's desire to not pick up his toys.  There's one reason I'm happy to get the reissue.  Having parts that aren't chewed up is nice.

Up next is Gasket. Everything here seems to check out.  The wheels are all there, so there's that. I was a little worried because I've seen a few accounts online where people had gotten 2 left arms or 2 right arms.  Luckily this was not the case with me. Spike gets the privilege of riding on Cog's face as he drives down the highway.  I"m going to skip Grommet since there literally is nothing about him to say.

Encore Spike is winning!

As a final point, here is Cog, the combined form of Gasket and Grommet.

Encore Cog is on the left and the original is on the left.  As you can see, they're identical.  Well minus the decals.  I actually thought that the decals for Cog, and by extension Gasket and Grommet, would have been tampographed.

Tune in next week for part two, where I dig into any Q/C issues and play spot the differences between Fort Max and his Encore reissue.