Alright, well, I got my little bitty screwdriver set, and have completed the installation, and I must say, my 20th Anniversary Prime looks A LOT better... somehow, he seems more confident, I don't know... ;)

 

Alright, the review... well, these rock. I had started to grow used to the short stacks (the battle damage never bothered me - in fact, I liked it), but now, seeing Prime 'uncut' as he should have been, I'm impressed.

 

The stacks themselves seem to be of good quality. No chips off the chrome or anything like that. I think a TAD more protection in shipping would have been a good idea (a bit of bubble wrap goes a long way), but mine were undamaged, and the shipping was FAST FAST FAST.

 

Installing them was easy. The instructions provided are clear. The only tricky part is the little spring inside. I could see it popping out if you're not careful, but they warn you about that in the instructions. It really wasn't hard to figure out. They're a bit tight, though, compared to the originals, so the whole point of having the spring in there is kind of moot. The stacks don't spring the way the old ones do - they're very tight when it's all completed. I don't really see this as a bad thing, though. It doesn't really matter.

 

One small detail to note. The original stacks are not the same mold - they're mirror images of each other. The replacements are the same. The only part where it makes a difference is the part that connects the stack to the shoulder. It's BARELY noticable when it's complete. You have to look very closely.

 

This may just have been a mistake with mine, I don't know. (If it is, could you send me the 'other' stack, A3&Up?) But like I said, it's hard to tell.

 

All in all, I'm impressed, and would definitely recommend these to anyone who bought the 20th Anniversary Prime rather than the Takara version. I wish I had pics to show, but unfortunately I have no digital camera... maybe after Christmas, who knows?

Yup, 2 identical ones here too. Also what I note is that the stacks don't align straight with his arms.

 

As for the springs, little pliers work wonders on keeping them under control and get them back into those tiny holes.

Yeah, that would help. However, considering how tight they were, you don't need the springs in there at all.

all you have to do is take some really fine snad paper and file the plastic down. I did that with the stack I got from Insaine Galvatron and that worked great.

Yup, that's what I did, essentially - I had a little file set I got from a dollar store (has several small files of different shapes) and just gave the inside of the hole a very quick and light filing, and voila, you get the little springy effect happening. The size of the hole is actually correct, a bit of the chrome is just in the way because A3U used a much thicker layer chrome (and nicer, I might add) than the stock short stacks. And even if you don't file them, they sit straight so they're just fine for display purposes.

I got mine today. I installed them and I think they look great. Optimus Prime is now complete. There is a minor problem, they didn't make right and left smokestacks. Although they are just from one mold, it's negligable since only the smoketack itself is all that shows.

Yeah, the quality surpassed my expectations and they look great!

Crappy camera-phone resolution, but one more! :roll

comparing my MP Convoy and 20th OP it does feel that the larger stacks make MP more confident... i wasn't going to order these for my 20th cause i liked the difference, but your guys' comments changed my mind :thumb

for those of you in the us, did they tack on $2 for shipping or not? the description says shipping is included in the price and then three lines down says there is a $2 shipping fee for each order sent out.

thanks in advance