The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Scyla]

Preview look at Titanika and Kultur:

Sadly no transformation.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Scyla

[mikeszekely]

Add Kultur to the growing list of 3P toys I need to get. Once I finish those pesky combiners.

[Scyla]

I hope Paik also had the chance to look at MMCs Carnifex. This is probably my most anticipated Transformers toy this year besides Kultur (and the Delta Valkyries of course).

[mikeszekely]

I want to like Carnifex, as I dig anything that skews IDW, but he looks too big for my in-head scale.

[ArchieNov]

I'm interested in some Dinobots, but there seem to be so many different companies taking a stab at them. Which is the best set to get in your opinion? I was looking into the GCreations Shuraking, but it's not complete yet and I don't know if I'm too late to the party.

Watched a review on the Toyworld one but it looks floppy.

Tried looking up the Gigatoys (?) and one other brand I can't seem to recall, but was overwhelmed by too much reading.

What are your recommendations?

[slaginpit]

image.jpegimage.jpeg

Don't like it. Too bulky too dream wave like. The tank mode sucks with the head sticking out. And the jet mode is a brick with wings. The pics of the KFC one in tank mode are out and it looks awesome. Plus the bot mode is much leaner and nicer

[mikeszekely]

And now, something like four months after I started, we finally get to review the last of MMC's Feral Cons. Here's Tigris, they're homage to Rampage.

Tigris falls neatly into the Voyager class size, a little shorter than Combiner Wars Hotspot and a little taller than Alberich if you stop measuring at Alberich's bot head and not the shark head. How G1-accurate he is depends on whether you're going for toy or 'toon (or Marvel comic, where he was almost entirely red). Generally speaking, Tigris nails the orange torso, the red tiger head, and the head sculpt. He has a toy-accurate red face plate. I'm told the first release of Tigris had a cartoon-accurate yellow one, and that MMC sent out red replacements. It's kind of a shame that MMC didn't just give you the option, but honestly I prefer the red. It gives him a kind of ninja-esque appearance. Anyway, he continues with the red shoulders and forearms of the toy, but adds black biceps, black on the back of his forearm, and black hands instead of orange. He's got silver-painted faux plating on the sides of his chest, which mimic sticker detail from the toy (but not the cartoon's lightening bolts). He also has the red pelvis, orange shins, and black feet of the toy, with gold-painted detail again mimicking the sticker details. His thighs are red instead of black (or, more accurately, black on the front and red on the sides and back, but whatever). One the whole, I really dig the look. It simultaneously says "Rampage" while the more slender build compared to the other Feral Cons reinforces the ninja vibe.

Tigris' articulation is the same as Talon's, as they're actually extremely similar molds, plus one extra hinge at the shoulder for his arm-mode transformation. Which is to say, Tigris' articulation is great, and you can get some awesome poses out of him. Some ninja poses, I daresay. It's too bad he comes with more stupid daggers instead of katana, eh? The pistols are perfect for him, though.

One thing you can do that you might not be aware of his that the shoulders are on sliders, so you can position them higher or lower based on your preferences.

In addition to his own accessories, Tigris comes with a large cannon-esque weapon that is intended for Leo Dux, but there's no reason that Tigris can't hold it himself. I'm not a fan of it in general, though, but I bought Professor Heisenburg's G1-style guns for the Feral Cons.

Speaking of accessories, Tigris also comes with the "Feral Rex Completion Kit." It's got a little gold-painted piece that fits onto Feral Rex's diaper, although I'm not really sure why it wasn't attached in the first place. It also comes with three sets of forearm fillers for Talon, Bovis, and Fortis, addressing one of my initial complaints. The missiles and mini guns are kind of cool, but I'm not a fan of the big blades. The completion kit also comes with six hexagonal pieces with holes in them. Neither the instruction book for Tigris nor the instruction card in the bag with the completion kit mentions them, and I have no idea what they're for.

I mentioned that Tigris shares a lot of the engineering (mold?) of Talon. If you look at the pack-in comics, you can see pictures of Tigris with the same peg in his abdomen that Talon has for pegging onto Rex's back. At some point the peg was abandoned, which leaves a hollow space that MMC totally could have just ignored. Instead, they still put the little door on him, and they toss in one final accessory as something of an easter egg- a little explosive device that he used on one page in just one of the pack-in comics.

As you'd expect from the name Tigris, if not the fact that he's a homage to Rampage, Tigris turns into a tiger. It's a good-looking tiger mode. By giving Tigris black biceps and making the back of his forearm black they've even managed to retail the black-legged look of the G1 toy.

Of the five main Feral Cons, Tigris has probably the most articulate alt-mode. The tiger head is on a ball joint and can even get a little side-to-side movement, as well as open and close his mouth. His front legs are his bot-arms, so articulation is basically the same down to the paws, which are on swivels with a mushroom peg, so he can title the paw up and down, rotate it at the wrist, and use the wrist rotation for ankle tilt. His rear legs aren't as articulate, but still have hips that can rotate all the way around and get a tiny fraction of lateral movement, a pair of hinges in the leg, and another hinge at the paw. Where he really shines is the joint that's used for Rex's elbow. Because it rotates independently of his upper or lower body you can position it so he can bend his spine up, down, or even a little to the side, so you can get some great prowling tiger poses out of him. You can store his weapons on ports on his shoulders (the ones on his tiger hips are too small), or you can use the four holes around his combiner port. If you want, you can rotate the legs at the biceps, flip them around along with his head, then rotate his body so that the combiner port is on the top.

So, yeah, I definitely recommend Tigris. His worst flaws are the fact that his daggers aren't katanas, and that his bot head doesn't hide well in tiger or arm modes. If you can get past that, though, he's my favorite of the Feral Cons and one of my favorite 3P toys- period. He's incredibly articulate, the pistols are perfect for him, his alt-mode is as good as his bot mode, and his transformation isn't the pain that Bovis and Fortis' were.

[David Hingtgen]

The shoulders are in L (or is it a U?) shaped tracks---the transformation is more complex than most people realize. (the extreme stiffness of the sliding motion doesn't help, plus the shoulder must be rotated properly before it'll slide) They move front/back, not just up/down. Arm, Tiger, and Robot mode should all have differently-positioned shoulders. This is most obvious in tiger mode--he can look much more feline/stalking-esque with the arms in their proper alignment. (Arm mode you have to "do it right" or it won't peg together, and robot mode works in multiple positions)

[mikeszekely]

Might was well wrap this up with a quick look at the combined Feral Rex, MMC's Predaking.

Feral Rex is a big mamma jamma! Although he's a tad shorter than Ordin his chunkier proportions make him seem bigger. Aesthetically, there's no use comparing him to the cartoon, which had some odd color shifts and a truly heinous head, although Leo Dux's folded-up feet do give Rex some red on his thighs. When compared to the G1 toy, though, Feral Rex unmistakably comes together as Predaking. Like the original Predaking, legs can't be arms and arms can't be legs, but an arm can be either arm and a leg can be either leg. I (and probably half the internet) tend to go with this configuration, which has Tantrum and Headstrong in their 'toon placement but Rampage and Divebomb in their toy box art configuration.

All of the guns from the individual Feral Cons combine to form Rex's arm cannon. For a weapon made up of a bunch of other weapons, it's surprisingly close to the G1 cannon. What's even more impressive, only Fortis really suffers for this, as Bovis and Tigris have cool pistols, Talon has a cool sniper rifle, and while I'm not a fan of Leo Dux's weapon it's really not that different than the G1 toy's. The cannon can clip onto either Tigris, or Talon (or Felisaber, more on him in a bit), but for G1 toy and 'toon accuracy I put him on Talon.

All of the Feral Con's melee weapons combine, too, along with Leo Dux's lion tail and chest parts. The result is a huge, wicked-looking sword. There's no question it looks amazing and that Rex looks menacing holding it, I just wish it weren't at the expense of the individual weapons. None of the assorted daggers or cleavers really do it for me, and again Fortis gets shafted with weird upside-down handles. You have to pay attention to how you're positioning it in Rex's hand vs. how you're posing Rex, though, as the handle can bend at the tail joints. It's also not particularly G1-accurate, although there's a fourth-party G1-style sword available for Rex if you prefer it. Me, I'm cool with this one. In fact, I'm thinking about buying the CombToys replica so I can have one that I just leave in combined mode.

If you've got Felisaber, his instructions come with an alternate configuration that yields two smaller swords instead of the big one. They can clip together, even to make a double-bladed weapon. It's a nice touch, although the weapons don't seem to peg together in this configuration as well.

To this day, Feral Rex is often held up as the gold standard for 3P combiners, and it's easy to see why. There are plenty of tabs and slots to make sure that everything is locked into place on all the limbs- no folded-up beast arms hanging awkwardly to the sides here. MMC also put a lot of thoughtful touches in Rex's design. I already mentioned how Talon's tail feather rotates around his body independently, so you can ensure that it's always on the back of Rex's arm and out of the way. The shoulder cannons are on hinges and can be aimed up or down as if he's firing over his shoulder. Then there's his hips. Some people like to leave Leo Dux's legs fully extended to give him height. Other people collapse Dux's legs, because... well, I don't know why you'd do that. The ideal position is actually a sweet-spot in between fully extended and fully collapsed, where Leo Dux has a joint that acts like a backwards knee. What it's actually meant to be is a joint to give Rex's hips their forward bend. I've also seen 4th party hip armor add-ons, but if you set Leo Dux's legs correctly his own hip armor folds down in line with his pelvis armor. Plus, with the right kind of battery, Rex's eyes light up.

As far as articulation goes, all combined Rex has better articulation than some Hasbro toys that aren't combiners. His head is on a ball joint and has good range for up-down and sideways tilt, and can turn all the way around. His arms rotate on ratchets at the combiner peg. He can get a little lateral movement upward from the peg, and more from the ratcheting combiner ports on Talon and Tigris' backs. He's got Leo Dux's waist swivel and Dux's universal ratcheting hips, plus the extra ratcheting joint I mentioned in the previous paragraph. He's got a two thigh swivels, one at Dux's thigh swivel and one at the combiner joint. The combiner ports on Bovis and Fortis provide ratcheting knees. His feet are actually on big ball joints that give his feet forward and backward tilt, ankle tilt, and ankle rotation, plus the cannon toes can tit upward. Talon and Tigris' waists double as Rex's bicep swivels. He's got dedicated ratcheting elbows built into their torsos, but on their own they don't get much bend. If you orient them so that their robot feet are the back of the forearm, though, you can get a little extra bend from their hips, giving Rex about 90 degrees of bend altogether. His wrists swivel, and each finger is individually articulated. The thumb is on a ball joint at the hand and has one knuckle, and the fingers are hinged on a pin at the hand and have one knuckle (the other knuckle is molded slightly bent).

Just because Rex can pose, though, doesn't mean it's easy. As I said, he's a big boy, and even though most of his joints have some pretty good ratchets the sheer mass he's carrying will make him want to tip, or force him to do the splits if you're not patient.

Rex has one more trick, and that's his "ultimate mode". Basically, if you have Felisaber (MMC's not-Catilla and a Tigris remold), you can use him as an arm instead of Talon. Felisaber's gun can even clip into the bottom of the barrel on Rex's arm cannon. Then, instead of putting just Talon's wings on Rex's back, you use the peg in Talon's chest to plug him entirely onto Rex's back. It's a neat idea on paper to help encourage people to buy Felisaber, but here's the thing; it just adds more mass to a figure that can already be difficult to pose, making him both back heavy and even more likely to do the splits on you. Talon looks pretty stupid just hanging out on Rex's back. And, I'm guessing that a lot of people are going to buy Rex because they want Predaking, of whom Catilla (an Autobot!) isn't part of. Felisaber is a great toy in his own right, better than any of the other Feral Cons except Tigris. Buy him for that reason, but don't buy him for Rex because he subtracts more than he adds.

Now, if I'm being totally honest, I'll say that Ordin is my favorite 3P combiner. And if you don't play with your toys, you just want a Predaking to put on display, I still think that Unique Toys' Warlord has a better combined aesthetic than Rex. Unlike Warlord, Rex isn't just good combined, though. Each member is a solid-to-great toy on its own. So, yep, I'm absolutely going to go ahead and recommend Feral Rex, especially if you get some 4th party add-ons like either Dr. Killenger or Professor Heisenberg's claws (I've got the Heisenberg ones on him in the pictures here). Just make sure that if you're buying Felisaber, you're buying him as an individual character and not using him as a part of Feral Rex.

[slaginpit]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiAa1JVU4AEVxHq.jpg:orig

Now that is a tank!

[Scyla]

I'm interested in some Dinobots, but there seem to be so many different companies taking a stab at them. Which is the best set to get in your opinion? I was looking into the GCreations Shuraking, but it's not complete yet and I don't know if I'm too late to the party.

Watched a review on the Toyworld one but it looks floppy.

Tried looking up the Gigatoys (?) and one other brand I can't seem to recall, but was overwhelmed by too much reading.

What are your recommendations?

That depends on what you are looking for. I would not go for the both combiner sets.

If you like Masterpieces you have two options:

Your preference is the G1 cartoon go with Fanstoys. They have a proven track record and released four of the Dinobots already with Grinder (a Grimlock homage) being released later this ear/early 2017 it seems. Their Scoria (Slag) shows a bit of his age and that he was the second toy Fanstoys released so he is not as polished as the others. Soar (Swoop) has painted gray parts which no other release has and on top of it they added some sparkles to it (I honestly don't know why) Sever (Snarl) is a pretty good toy but has some clearance issues the way the tail and torso transform. He is also missing the gorgeous red paint that Scoria has and is instead sporting a red plastic that doesn't have the same look and feel if you look at it closely. Stomp (Sludge) was released a week ago and I hadn't had a chance to check it out. He and Grinder are sporting translucent necks (like the toys) that isn't show accurate but in general Stomp seems like the best of the bunch which leaves me with high hopes for Grinder.

The toys have a good quality but they are lacking the smooth and clear transformation most of the official Masterpiece toys have but are nowhere near as frustrating and fiddly as the X-Transbot release. They fit right into the other Masterpieces (M-10 to MP-21). They have good bit of diecast built into them and have many small details picked out in color. The main releases also go well with the official MP Grimlock but they are taller and bulkier so they don't fit that well together in bot mode. Fanstoys also have different sub-lines like the X releases that come with silver paint on the main gray plastic parts to mimic the G1 comic release as well as G2 and Diaclone colors.

There is another company that seem to be deeply connected with Fanstoys (the have the same spokesperson on the boards and use the same factory) that showed a more cartoon focused design of snarl that gets rid of some of the design issues with Scoria. For example the bot torso has a better shape since the dino tail isn't just folded up on it (which is also not very secure on Scoria).

Your preference are the G1 toys I would go with Gigapower because they are more in line with that, are bigger and bulkier and have a better finish than the Fanstoys ones. They only released Gutter (Snarl) so far but shown prototypes for the other members with the exception of Grimlock I believe. To me there might be a possibility that they never finish all five Dinobots because they seem rather slow in their development.

If you are more into updated looks I think your best option are the Fall of Cybertron Dinobots from Planet-X. They released all five members so no need to worry if they will be ever complete and they are high quality toys. The aesthetic might not be up your ally though since they sport the glowing Energon bits from the games.

[ArchieNov]

Thanks for the excellent tips, Scyla! Very comprehensive and gives me a great idea on what to look for. I may go with Gigapower or will look into those Planet-X bots. Thanks again!

[Tking22]

Thanks for the excellent tips, Scyla! Very comprehensive and gives me a great idea on what to look for. I may go with Gigapower or will look into those Planet-X bots. Thanks again!

Like Scyla said, it depends on your preference in aesthetics, I personally have already grabbed two of the FansToys Dinobots. I wasn't going to get any Dinobots at first, but then I grabbed a Soar and then needed the rest, they're damn impressive, if you're just looking for G1 style Masterpiece Dinobots, I don't think you can do any better. I don't think any other company even has Dinobots as big as what FansToys has put out, they're pretty damn amazing, I think everything else is chug/classics-ish scale.

Also, BadCube officially put not Swerve and not Gears up for pre-order, I'm grabbing both, at first I told myself I'd never double dip on third party molds like I did official, but I really like both Gears and Swerve, so there you go.

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=BAD10011&mode=retail

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=BAD10012&mode=retail

Edited May 10, 2016 by Tking22

[Scyla]

Like Scyla said, it depends on your preference in aesthetics, I personally have already grabbed two of the FansToys Dinobots. I wasn't going to get any Dinobots at first, but then I grabbed a Soar and then needed the rest, they're damn impressive, if you're just looking for G1 style Masterpiece Dinobots, I don't think you can do any better. I don't think any other company even has Dinobots as big as what FansToys has put out, they're pretty damn amazing, I think everything else is chug/classics-ish scale.

Also, BadCube officially put not Swerve and not Gears up for pre-order, I'm grabbing both, at first I told myself I'd never double dip on third party molds like I did official, but I really like both Gears and Swerve, so there you go.

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=BAD10011&mode=retail

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=BAD10012&mode=retail

Gigapowers Guttur is actually bigger than Fanstoys Sever. I think they are too big compared to MP-10 but I also don't get the appeal of toys being big for the sake of being big.

[technoblue]

Gigapowers Guttur is actually bigger than Fanstoys Sever. I think they are too big compared to MP-10 but I also don't get the appeal of toys being big for the sake of being big.

Having Guttur, I can agree with this. He does take up a lot of space, and he is a tad unwieldy in bot mode. I think he could have been improved if Gigapower added in better ratchets to his joints---ones with more teeth, for example. I have the chrome version which includes a couple of fixes, but even this version is lacking in what it could do if the joints were improved for enhanced posability.

He can pull off the MP-22 Ultra Magnus A-stance very well, though.

I've been really happy with the Planet X dinos, more so than I thought I would be. They are different, especially since I had no reference for them. I didn't start playing the video games until after I bought Planet X's version of Sludge (Neptune).

[mikeszekely]

I'm going for the ToyWorld Dinobots, but I seem to be a member of an extremely tiny group who want a Dinobot combiner and think GCreations' is too big.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I just might get this to have a triple changing Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

[mikeszekely]

Ok.. I've done Bruticus, Abominus, Predaking, Superion, and Menasor. I'm going to keep the 3P combiner train going today with a look at Sonic Drill, Maketoy's version of Nosecone.

Ok, so the designer that did M3 supposedly designed this set too. I can see that; Sonic Drill's a little fellow, just a shade taller than T-Bone from the M3 set. Now, I thought that the not-Stunticons were great modern takes on the characters, but I'm not really sure where they were going with this one. He's not really cartoon colored (white torso, reddish-brown arms, brownish-orange legs). But, he's not toy-colored, either (gray arms and thighs, white torso, yellow shins). There are hints, sure... the yellow head and the yellow detailing on his shins, the yellow in the middle of his chest. And I have to admit, I kind of like the DBZ scouter on his right eye.

As with M3, the designer really seems to like using ball joints here. His shoulders are on ball joints for rotation and hinges for lateral movement, his head is on a ball joint, and his wrists are on ball joints. His upper elbow is a hinge, but his lower elbow is a ball joint that doubles as his bicep swivel. His feet and hips are on ball joints. His waist is a swivel, and he's got thigh swivels that are actually below his soft-ratcheting knees. Due to his transformation, he can even do a little ab crunching. On the whole, I'd say his articulation is pretty good, but I'll note that on my copy the thigh swivels are pretty loose.

I'm not sure you'd call them accessories, but the lights on his shoulders are on c-clips. He doesn't have a weapon; the guns on his arms do peg into his hands, but they're attached.

The drill can be removed and put on his fist. Can't really say I'm a fan, though.

One other gimmick that Sonic Drill has is that the treads on the back of his shoulders can open up to reveal these little helper arms. Combined with the scouter on his eye, I guess it gives him a sort of scientist vibe, but they don't really do anything. And the thing is, in alt-mode Sonic Drill doesn't have any wheels. I kind of wonder if these little arms aren't part of the reason.

Speaking of alt modes, Sonic Drill still turns into a drill tank. As with bot mode, there's not a ton of similarity between him and G1 Nosecone, but they do at least both have red cockpits. You can see that the lights that were on his shoulders have to be unclipped, then pegged behind the cockpit to fill in some empty space. These lights are essential for combined mode; they use the same c-clips to lock onto the combiner foot and becomes part of the ankle. Although they seem fine, they grip tight and I'd be worried about stressing the clips in the long run. For that reason, I'm just going to leave them attached to the ankle.

I do like that the combiner hands hide away in doors on the toe of the combiner feet.

And there's Sonic Drill in leg mode. It works. The drill is pointing up instead of down, but I actually kind of dig that, since it'd make getting kneed by Computron all kinds of painful.

I'm just going to come out and say it. I do not recommend Sonic Drill. I'm willing to give him a pass on his lack of G1-accuracy, since that's kind of Maketoys thing, but Sonic Drill is a case of being over-engineered to the detriment of the figure. He'd have less kibble on his back, wouldn't need c-clipped lights moving around, wouldn't have guns permanently attached to the bottoms of his arms, and wouldn't have an awkward cockpit transformation if they'd have kept it simple and hewed closer to the G1 transformation, if not the G1 style.

[Scyla]

I love Sonic Drill he is just an awesome little transforming toy. He is the best part of Quantron. I can understand why you are not liking him but I think the transformation is not nearly as hard as some of the people making it out to be especially if you gave him a few rounds of play. Of course many collectors who own him transform him once and then combine him and on the shelf he goes so I can see where the frustration comes from.

As I stated earlier I'm not a Transformers super fan so I could care less about how much he resembles Nosecone I just find his colors striking.

Did you get the replacement parts with Quantron Mike?

[mikeszekely]

I love Sonic Drill he is just an awesome little transforming toy. He is the best part of Quantron. I can understand why you are not liking him but I think the transformation is not nearly as hard as some of the people making it out to be especially if you gave him a few rounds of play. Of course many collectors who own him transform him once and then combine him and on the shelf he goes so I can see where the frustration comes from.

As I stated earlier I'm not a Transformers super fan so I could care less about how much he resembles Nosecone I just find his colors striking.

Did you get the replacement parts with Quantron Mike?

I didn't say his transformation was difficult, I said it was awkward. I had him figured out after two transformations. But the whole split cockpit and all the extra back kibble it creates could have been avoided if the cockpit was always on his back, and if he weren't upside down in leg mode. Between that and the little arms stored in his shoulders instead of some rolling wheels I just really think the designer went way overboard on the engineering. So, we're going to have to agree to disagree here; I think he's the worst part of this set by a wide margin.

Yep, I got the replacement parts and installed them. Sonic Drill and Celeritas were easy, but it was a pain keeping Metalstorm's spring in place while putting him back together.

[Scyla]

I didn't say his transformation was difficult, I said it was awkward. I had him figured out after two transformations. But the whole split cockpit and all the extra back kibble it creates could have been avoided if the cockpit was always on his back, and if he weren't upside down in leg mode. Between that and the little arms stored in his shoulders instead of some rolling wheels I just really think the designer went way overboard on the engineering. So, we're going to have to agree to disagree here; I think he's the worst part of this set by a wide margin.

Yep, I got the replacement parts and installed them. Sonic Drill and Celeritas were easy, but it was a pain keeping Metalstorm's spring in place while putting him back together.

Sorry I misunderstood your description because normally people complain that Sonic Drill is difficult to transform. I can understand the issues. This is what I meant when I talked about designer toys. The canopy transformation is something you would not find on a retail transformer. Especially when it takes that many steps and the end-result is not convincing. The same goes for other parts of Quantron for example the combiner head that just hangs there on the back of Metal Storm. What I appreciate is that it feels different compared to retail transformers. The dense plastic with the matte finish and the unfamiliar movements combined with articulation that you normally don't get from transforming robots that big is a great treat for me. Combine that with the drill (who can split appart) and the under-slung probes/guns I'm really satisfied when handling Sonic Drill.

I think there is a fine line between unfamiliar movements and finicky transformation when it goes into the not-fun direction. Many of the X-Transbots toys have this where the way the parts slide besides each but don't to this is a smooth movement. You can see this for example in the arms and legs of X-Transbots Tailgate. Even companies like Fanstoys haven't perfected the precise engineering that is necessary to make a transformation fun. The torso transformation on their Willis (Hound) is a good example where it is just not quite right.

I feel this is something that Takara gets mostly right on their Masterpiece Transformers and 3rd party companies struggle with more often than not. It takes time and experience to get it right. This is one thing that I like about MMC where in the past they had those finicky parts like on their Cyclopse or the feet transformation on the Feral Rex limbs but now got better with their latest releases (for example Commotus).

It is hard to describe what makes or breaks great transformation/handling on a toy but at least I tried.

[mikeszekely]

I get what you mean, about a feel that you won't get from a retail toy. It's one of the things I really love about Mania King, that feeling that there's no way in a million years Hasbro would have come up with that transformation. I think when a design is really clever you end up with something like Smart Robin, where the transformation alone can sell you on a figure. I guess I just don't feel like Sonic Drill is clever so much as over-engineered for the same of being different.

[Scyla]

I agree wholeheartedly that he is over-engineered!

..but in a nice way

[mikeszekely]

Pics going around of TFC's not-Skalor in bot, beast, arm, leg, and gun modes. Scramble City and Targetmaster confirmed.

[David Hingtgen]

Yup, that team's looking awesome again. Too many pics to post them all, go here: http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/05/11/tfc-toys-bigbite-skalor-final-product-images-315351

Teaser:

(yes, clear plastic sucks, structurally, and I just had my MP Wheeljack's clear wing hinge snap---but darn if it doesn't seem appropriate for sea-life)

This also pretty much cements my decision to pass on Guardia, for now. 6 bots this size will be my most expensive combiner ever by far. (plus I gotta budget for a VF-31, Super Parts, and maybe even an Sv-262). One big combiner is about my yearly limit. (and I am a *huge* Piranacon fan, so he is the #1 priority)

Also---you know, their Skalor has a really good headsculpt. TFC has definitely upped their game a lot recently, with Liokaiser and Piranacon. They look like 2 generations better than Uranos and NotPredaking...

[mikeszekely]

Well, I own four Guardia members already, and I've got Vulcan on preorder. I guess it's lucky that I don't limit the number of combiners I buy in a year (Guardia will already be 7), or collect expensive Macross toys.

*sigh*

After ToyWorld revealed their last two Constructicons I was pretty set to work on Devastator* next, at a less-insane on figure a month, then start thinking about Liokaiser, Piranacon, the ToyWorld Throttlebot combiner, etc next year. Now I'm kind of super-tempted to preorder not-Skalor and work on both him and a Devastator for the rest of the year.

*I am still waiting to see how GT's Constructicons turn out, although the fact they seem to be Warbotron has me a little leery and I hate their not-Bonecrusher. He's a more appropriate size for my collection than the ToyWorld one, though, and the combined mode is looking a shade better than ToyWorld's super-skinny Devastator. Then again, I'm digging the super articulate hands on ToyWorld, and pretty much every individual bot looks better than GTs.

[mikeszekely]

Alright, getting back to combiners I've already bought, tonight we're looking at Celeritas, Maketoys' answer to Lightspeed.

He's shorter than Sonic Drill and you can see here that he's about the same size as T-Bone. Aesthetically, I think he hits the right notes for Lightspeed. He's got the cockpit torso, a nice head sculpt that says "I'm Lightspeed" without being a box, and he's dominated by red. Maketoys smartly used a brighter red for all the car parts and Celery Toes' head, and pelvis, but a darker red for his forearms and thighs to break up the color, with a little gray on his feet, biceps, and hips. While his feet aren't formed from the front of the car his shins are, and as with Fansproject's Diesel I think that's close enough.

Closer inspection is where trouble starts creeping up. Like the fact that his back is pretty much hollow, that chunks of spoiler are attached to the backs of his hands, that the front of the cockpit is hanging off his butt, or that he's got the middle section of the car's front end running from the sides of his knees all the way to his hips. While the sculpt of his guns is fine, I'm not a fan of the translucent orange plastic, nor the fact that chunks of the tires on his legs come off and peg onto the guns.

As far as articulation goes, he's got the same ball-jointed head, same hinged ball-jointed shoulders, and same ball-jointed elbows doing double duty as bicep swivels as Sonic Drill. His wrists are ball joints, but the aforementioned chunks of spoiler on his hands interferes with them. Due to his transformation, the wrist is cut to have plenty of inward wrist bend. He's got a waist swivel that's blocked if the cockpit is pegged in, but if it's just hanging off his butt it's fine. He's got ball joints for his hips and ankles, thigh swivels just below his hips, and soft ratchets for his knees. Amazingly, the car kibble coming up off the sides of his knees don't seem to be a problem for posing. Generally speaking, his articulation is good and he's got more of that Fansproject/Maketoys action figure feel than Sonic Drill.

Celeritas turns into a futuristic/Cybertronian race car. Again, he hits the right notes with the silver cockpit surrounded by red car, but the front end is very different from G1 Lightspeed. Again, I'm ok with it... compared to the other Technobots, G1 Lightspeed's car mode was pretty mundane. Looking at Celeritas from above, he's definitely got a more exotic look to him.

From the side, though, I think he sits too high off the ground, more like a dune buggy than a race car. I do like the G1-esque splash of gray on the sides, though.

I have mixed feelings about his leg mode. One one hand, it's actually pretty G1 the way the car nose is at the ankle and (most of) the spoiler at his knee. And I do kind of like the way the front of the car is folded in to give him a sweet curve. I wish the cockpit were on the front of the leg, though. I also like that he's got storage for his guns in leg mode, I just wish they were less visible. I also wish that remove the parts of his tires and locking the tires together wasn't necessary. I also don't like that, again, c-clips are involved in attaching the foot, as that seems like something that could wear over time.

Anyway, do I recommend Celeritas? I'm going to say no. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad figure, and he's certainly better than Sonic Drill (IMHO, sorry, Scyla). He's just not good enough, either.

[anime52k8]

speaking of ToyWorld, Scrapper and Mixmaster showed up today. they're very big, and very scrapper-y/mixmaster-y. They're pretty cool but kind of crazy to transform. I'll post pics tomorrow.

[mikeszekely]

speaking of ToyWorld, Scrapper and Mixmaster showed up today. they're very big, and very scrapper-y/mixmaster-y. They're pretty cool but kind of crazy to transform. I'll post pics tomorrow.

I saw Skullface's review of not-Scrapper, then I went back and watched his review of the GT one. That alone has pretty much sold me on the ToyWorld one, although GT's funky not-Bonecrusher didn't do them any favors. The only thing keeping me on the fence is that GT's combined Devastator is more in-scale with my other 3P combiners, and looks better than ToyWorld's, but ToyWorld has definitely nailed the individual bots.

[Scyla]

For the individual bots the ToyWorld construction combiner is clearly the winner. Especially with the way the threads work on the legs of the arm bots. He has also a better shade of purple than the GT one. However I'm not sold on the lanky torso of the ToyWorld combiner.

I'm still waiting on getting a deal on Green Giant. Maybe TFSource will have him up on this years Black Friday sale like they did for Quantron last year.

[anime52k8]

mother of god...

Edited May 12, 2016 by anime52k8

[mikeszekely]

Working our way up from the legs we have Metalstorm, Maketoys' version of Scattershot.

He's obviously a lot bigger than the other not-Technobots in this set, coming in around the size of a tall Voyager. The first thing you're likely to notice is that he's a beefy dude, almost as if his torso were too small for the rest of him. And... actually kind of dig it. He's got a very anime-esque figure that sort of reminds me of the Gundam AGE-1 Titus. Looking beyond his unusual proportions, though, and the second thing you'll notice is how close he actual is to G1 Scattershot. He's got a white head with blue eyes, and splits the difference between the 'toon's white face and the toy's blue face by going silver. His torso his mostly white, with a red chest piece that'd be pretty much identical to G1 if the orange translucent bits where white. His pelvis is mostly white, with a splash of maroon on his crotch and even some red on the sides like G1; the only real devitation is some gray details that reinforce his mecha-bruiser look. His thighs are white and his feet maroon, and although is lower legs are white the way the wings folds over gives them the illusion of red. Also like G1 Scattershot, he's got maroon shoulders and biceps and red forearms, again the only real deviation is gray on his hands and the elbow joint, and some of the gold and silver details on the outside of his forearms. Like the G1 toy he's even got guns on his shoulders and raised pentagonal sections on the front.

Articulation is excellent. He's got a hinged swivel for a neck so he can look down and to the sides, although not too far down. His shoulders are on a hinge at the chest that can get 90 degrees of lateral movement, but if that wasn't enough there's another hinge at the top of the shoulder that could also get 90 degrees of lateral movement. Combined, you actually get lateral movement until his shoulders collide with his head, nearly 180 degrees. His shoulder rotates before the second hinge, so he can lift his arm and move it laterally into a bicep-flex position. Speaking of biceps, he has swivels there, and double-jointed elbows that almost allow his hands to touch his shoulders. His wrists swivel, but you need to take care that the plates on the backs of his palms don't collide with the kibble on his forearms. His waist is a ratcheted swivel, his his are universal joints with tight, clicky ratchets in both the forward/backward and lateral directions. His thigh swivels are ratcheted. His knees are ratcheted and get about 90 degrees of bend. And his feet are on huge ball joints, with the ball joint being connected to a ratcheting armature. Metalstorm is armed with a pair of rifles.

There's a lot of nice engineering here. Although it's more for his combined mode, the ratchets in his legs mean he's super stable. I also like how the pentagonal details on his shoulders are actually flaps that cover up what would otherwise be a cut-out spot for a transformation joint. Finally, I really like how the G1-accurate red on the sides of his hips are actually arms that have red panels on them. In bot mode, it allows for his hips to show white, but to color-change to red for combined mode.

It's not all good, though. Let's talk about a few bad things.

G1 Scattershot carried his nosecone/cannon on his back, and so can Metalstorm. Difference is, Metalstorm's is almost comically huge- nearly as tall as Metalstorm himself. If you can get over the size, it's still a damned if you do, damned if you don't affair. Leaving it off means having Computron's head and a large, inverted L-shaped bit hanging visibly off of his back. The nosecone/cannon covers it up by clipping onto the L-shaped bit and nestling the Computron head in a hollow spot, but the problem is that the L-shaped bit is fixed below his waist swivel and the Computron head above it, severely hampering his waist articulation.

There's also an additional white part that's necessary for forming the combined-mode gun. It looks goofy, but it can clip to the underside of one of Metalstorm's rifles. While you're at it, you can use clips on the bottom of the combiner feet to add them as "leg armor" to the outside of Metalstorm's lower legs. Don't do that, though. It looks awful. I get that the designer, as he did with Fansproject's M3, wants you to be able to use everything in every mode, but sometimes a foot should just be a foot.

Given the removable nature of the nosecone-cannon backpack, you probably guessed by now that Metalstorm is a partsformer.

Aside from the nosecone/cannon being too huge, Metalstorm's alt mode comes across pretty well. The wings are pretty spot on, and he's got some orange translucent parts in place of the G1 toy's sticker details. Plus, the guns that were on Metalstorm's shoulders are now on top of the space cruiser, and can flip up or forward. Since they cover a 180 degree arc above the space cruiser, I think of them as something like anti-missile weapons.

To attach the nosecone/cannon, you have to first remove a part from the nosecone/cannon (another part necessary for the combined mode gun), which further aggravates the partsforming nature of Metalstorm. It has a place, though.

You attach the white part to it, and wedge it up into the hollow space that would hide the combiner head in bot mode. I guess it doubles as the front landing skid? There are smaller landing skids on his legs at the back of the space cruiser. You can also clip the rifles to the underside of the wings. My gripe here, though, is that the part of the rifle with the tabs is a separate piece from the bulk of the rifle, and the bulk of the rifle is held in by friction. So even though the tabs lock tightly into the slots on the wings, the rifles themselves don't feel particularly secure.

As with bot mode, you can add the combiner feet by folding the wing tips up and clipping the feet onto the ends of of the wings and use them as "boosters." Again, don't do this. They're not particularly convincing boosters. Just let the feet be feet.

So, forget partsforming (even if Metalstorm himself only transforms into the back half of the cruiser), overly-large nosecone/cannons, and loose rifles. My real gripe with Metalstorm's alt mode is that, instead of having the raised bridge section in the aft middle of the cruiser what you have is a very obvious combiner torso.

Well, here's the thing. Metalstorm has some flaws- some serious flaws. At least one flaw that, frankly, could have been avoided if if the nosecone/cannon were about half the size and clipped onto Metalstorm's back above the waist. However, if you can get past those flaws you have what looks like a very articulated G1 Scattershot on steroids, and I honestly dig that. Ignore the head and L-shaped bit on his back, leave the nosecone/cannon off, and he's a fun robot toy, who turns into a decent space cruiser even if the aft section is clearly a robot chest. So with that in mind, Metalstorm is the first of Maketoys not-Technobots I recommend.

[Silverstreak]

I really like Metalstorm. He invokes the same feelings I had for G1 Scattershot.

Yup, that team's looking awesome again. Too many pics to post them all, go here: http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/05/11/tfc-toys-bigbite-skalor-final-product-images-315351

Teaser:


(yes, clear plastic sucks, structurally, and I just had my MP Wheeljack's clear wing hinge snap---but darn if it doesn't seem appropriate for sea-life)

This also pretty much cements my decision to pass on Guardia, for now. 6 bots this size will be my most expensive combiner ever by far. (plus I gotta budget for a VF-31, Super Parts, and maybe even an Sv-262). One big combiner is about my yearly limit. (and I am a *huge* Piranacon fan, so he is the #1 priority)

Also---you know, their Skalor has a really good headsculpt. TFC has definitely upped their game a lot recently, with Liokaiser and Piranacon. They look like 2 generations better than Uranos and NotPredaking...

My biggest issues with TFC have always been their colour choices/paint apps and their plastic finish. Paint apps/colours seems to have improved but I'm not sure about the plastic finish. I had Perseus and Uranos and the way they finsih their plastic was, to me, very cheap. It always reminded me of those cheap dollar store toys.

I haven't bought a 3rd party combiner since Feral Rex. But I am watching their Piranacon closely.

[mikeszekely]

mother of god...

Yeah, I watched Skullface's review. Didn't have the energy to sit through peaugh's today, too.

As someone who had Scorponok as a kid, I do want Pandinus, but he takes up so much space that's already being consumed by combiners in my display area. Besides, it's going to be challenging enough to budget $100 a figure for twelve figures over the next few months if I try to do a Devastator and Poseidon at the same time, so I'm going to have to pass.

I really like Metalstorm. He invokes the same feelings I had for G1 Scattershot.

He's my favorite of the set, but more on that over the next two or three days.

[Scyla]

Yeah, I watched Skullface's review. Didn't have the energy to sit through peaugh's today, too.

As someone who had Scorponok as a kid, I do want Pandinus, but he takes up so much space that's already being consumed by combiners in my display area. Besides, it's going to be challenging enough to budget $100 a figure for twelve figures over the next few months if I try to do a Devastator and Poseidon at the same time, so I'm going to have to pass.

He's my favorite of the set, but more on that over the next two or three days.

I really love the full armored up mode on Metal Storm. I actually think the feet/boosters give him a great heft. He reminds me vaguely of the Teran Cruisers from Starcraft. It also gives the rifles a more secure connection. What I don't understand is the fact that there is no storage for the handle of the combined gun. I think it would be relatively easy to give the main gun a small compartment where it could store.

Regarding Pandinus. Skullface transformed the cockpit incorrectly it seems. The head sits much further down on the scorpion and the Headmaster can see through the translucent cockpit window. If I had more funds I would be totally on board with everything Maketoys does (except for their masterpiece style figures). Also while he and Utopia look good they are way to big for my likings even if they seem to be pretty solid and not a hollow mess. Plus I have no room to display them.