Saturday, May 07, 2005

Attacktix Autopsy: Dissecting the Dial

What do you do when you have a bunch of Grievous Bodyguards, and none of them work very well? You bust 'em open and see what's inside. Welcome to the first (and maybe only) installment of Attacktix Autopsy: Dissecting the Dial.

First thing I did was grab my tools, X-Acto knife and screwdriver, and find a clean place to operate. I used the think razor blade to cut the figure from the base. The base has two pegs in it, so that every figure has the proper orientation on the base.

I cut one of the pegs off, but you can see how they are pegged in place, and held with glue. If you are planning on customizing your Attacktix, you will probably want to remove him from the base. Make sure you do not cut ALL the way through, feel for the resistance and cut AROUND it. You should be able to pull the figure up, off the base, and then re-glue him later.

Next I wanted to see what makes it "Tix" so I got my screwdriver and separated the two pieces of the base.

There were only two spots of glue, but I do not know if these are consistent on all assemblies. Even without this knowledge, prying the two pieces apart is simple, just make an insertion every inch or so and they will come apart. The bottom piece is very simple. It contains an axle, with a small pink gear head on it. The axle holds the wheel in place, and as you move your figure it spins the pink head. The head serves two purposes, it spins the Special Powers disk, and also makes the "Tix" sound.

Also worth noting, the side of the base (hidden but the upper shell) has the number "13" printed on it. It looks like the same font as the Speed value. I do not believe this to be the part number, because there is also a "B2" molded on the inside of the base. I guess the "13" was an old game element, but we may never know.

The upper shell of the base, holds the Special Power disc and a small rubber washer. It looks like a black rubber band, but it is NOT meant to be complete. All the washers I have seen are "C" shaped. If the washer should fall out of your Attacktix you should not experience any loss in gameplay. The washer is in place to guide the disc, as the axle spins it, and also to hold it in proper position to be seen in the base's window. A missing washer will most likely make your disc a little looser, but still fully functional.

That's really all there is to it! It's amazingly simple, just like the game. Simple but genius! As far as what makes the Striker's Strike, that is for another day. I can give you this tip: you can NOT get inside the figure and fix a weak Strike. It took me an X-Acto and a wire cutter to get in, and it left me with about thirty pieces of a Bodyguard and a TINY answer.

Two tiny, plastic cylinders are joined together by a pin. The pin has a spring wrapped around it, with a little arm that sticks out of the center, where the two cylinders meet. The cylinders are then MOLDED directly into the figure, they are NOT pulled out with ease. I had to cut and scrape to get down to the hidden parts. Keeping this in mind, there are NO rubber bands involved in the Striking mechanism, so a "backwards" figure, CAN be spun around to face the proper direction. However, if he still functions after you have spun him, that's another story for another day.

More pictures of this part of the Dissection will follow!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The #13 reflects the character #. Grievous bodyguard is #13 from series 1. The Attacktix bases have the # both on the sticker on top and also hidden on the bottom, probably to help prevent manufacturing defects. -Radar.

Anonymous said...

This explains why my Wookie Commando's effect dial is ALWAYS white! The washer fell off! You said that would only make it loose, I guess there was a manufacturing error. All the better for me though!

Austin said...

This is great! Just starting to play this game again with friends in 2019. What a wonderful blog. Good to know I will not be able to fix a few of the broken strikers from lots of abuse over the years. -Austin