The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[valhary]

this cat is awesome!

[David Hingtgen]

Out of nowhere, new company "Open Play" has an awesome-looking Springer:

[M'Kyuun]

Not bad- I like that they addressed the differences in the size of the canopy for the two alts; it's subtle but adds a nice detail.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

There have definitely been some improvements since the last time it was shown. It's probably gonna boil down between this and Apache for me.

[M'Kyuun]

I have the G1 toy in front of me, and one thing is immediately apparent: serious liberties were taken translating him to his onscreen appearance, for the better. Back in my mid teens, I was fascinated with helicopters, so any Transformer with a heli alt was pure gold to me. His car mode was pretty much an afterthought, in my mind. Anyway, he was in every way improved in his animated appearance, his car mode still the weakest of his 3, IMHO. That said, I'll tip my cap to all these 3P guys tackling the character, and say I'm glad they all seem to be going for screen accuracy rather than toy, as his toy has not aged well. For those who want a nice looking modern G1 Springer, it's good that there are options. Yay capitalism.

Personally, I favor the updated Generations take on the character, as I like his alt modes much better, and though his bot mode isn't exactly like the G1 look, it's close enough for me. It would have been cool had TT figured out a way to get those yellow panels behind his shoulders to rotate forward, closer to the G1 animated look, but, eh, can't have everything.

[Hikuro]

Dunno if anyone gets mail from bbts but I saw that Planet X has a trypticon figure coming out. He'lol be released as a 2 part figure totaling in weight of over 5 pounds with a near 400 price tag.

I guess while this springs my curiosity, my biggest fear is size. Will he match with his official metroplex counterpart or will he be a more smaller size? At the 5 pound weight I wanna say he'll be the biggest third party in existence to match hasbro. Optimistic....

Edited November 14, 2016 by Hikuro

[Scyla]

So the Unrustable Bastards Kickstarter campaign goes into its final week. The lowered some of the stretch goals so if you needed some more incentives there you go:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/882339483/mayhem-mekanics-presents-the-unrustable-batards

If they reach $ 70K till the end the homage to Kanedas bike is unlocked:

They want to do all the logos but they are not sure if they can pull it off. They probably will change them to different names with similar fonts:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/mayhem-mekanics-present-unrustable-bastards.947794/page-25#post-14089720

Edited November 14, 2016 by Scyla

[Silverstreak]

So the Unrustable Bastards Kickstarter campaign goes into its final week. The lowered some of the stretch goals so if you needed some more incentives there you go:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/882339483/mayhem-mekanics-presents-the-unrustable-batards

If they reach $ 70K till the end the homage to Kanedas bike is unlocked:

They want to do all the logos but they are not sure if they can pull it off. They probably will change them to different names with similar fonts:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/mayhem-mekanics-present-unrustable-bastards.947794/page-25#post-14089720

I'm in for one of the bikes+riders. Can't really afford more but if they hit that Keneda stretch goal I'll find the money somehow!

[M'Kyuun]

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVvZuSStYJFcAlcEnnIlQ?p=xtransbots+eligos&fr=yhs-mozilla-004&fr2=piv-web&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004#id=12&vid=2af986439be6354732271c9289ed3c4e&action=view

Looking forward to finally getting this figure, due out next month. Cyclonus is one of very few TFs with a Cybertronian alt mode that I really like, and IMHO, Xtransbots nailed it.

[mikeszekely]

Well, the main reason I'm passing on Eligos is because he's WAAAAAAAAAAY too big to belong in my collection of mostly Voyager-sized Combiner guys (and a smattering of KO MP cars to help fill out the Autobot ranks).

That said, I think XTB really nailed Cyclonus in bot mode... but I'm not sold on his alt mode. Don't get me wrong, I think it's the best take on it I've seen, but from some angles the fuselage looks too long and the wings too short.

[mikeszekely]

Got a package today. To help fill out my Autobots with "core" characters I decided I needed a Hound, so here's Gundog, Maketoys' take on him.

Now, I should point out right away that Maketoys did two versions of Gundog. One is MTRM-02N, and he's a lighter pea-green with yellow stripes, white thighs, and metallic silver accessories meant to look like the cartoon. The version I have, with the darker green, silver thighs, and vac-chromed bits is version MTRM-02Y, which is supposed to be their toy-style deco. So right off the bat, he's not going to be cartoon accurate. Even if we were talking about the 2N version he's got enough toy details and little Maketoys tweaks that you cans still argue he's more of a stylized Hound than the sort of animation-or-bust aesthetic the post-Hasui Takara MPs are delivering. As a toy-inspired Hound, though, he's just about perfect. The star outlines on the fenders, the red and white stripes on his arms, the red knees, the triple tailights on his big, chunky feet- it's pretty much all there except his hips, which have some molded and painted lights instead of stripes, and the hood, which is lacking the the additional stars and stripes. And, stylized or not, at a glimpse it is unmistakably Hound, less updated than the older Generations version and MUCH better than his Combiner Wars counterpart.

Oh, and as long as we're talking aesthetics, I grew up with the cartoon and I never had a G1 Hound toy. By all rights I should prefer the 2N version, but I don't. The dark metallic green of the 2Y version is so much sexier.

As it's generally accepted that Maketoys' RE:Master line is meant to be their versions of Masterpiece toys, he does fit nicely with other carbots, be they actual Takara MPs or other 3P "MP"s. Gundog is noticeably heftier than pretty much every other toy I have in that size, though, due to he amount of diecast Maketoys used on him.

Gundog comes with a handful of accessories. The most important ones for bot mode are his shoulder launcher and his rifle (which is definitely taking more cues from the G1 toy than the pistol Hound used in the cartoon). He also comes with a gas can, a spare tire, and a mounted gun.

Gundog's articulation is a bit of a mixed bag. His head is on a ball joint and can look up a bit, not so much down, and rotate. No real lateral tilt to speak of. His shoulders can rotate 360 degrees on ball joints, but his fenders and side-view mirrors are in the way a little. The ball joint provides a slight amount of butterfly forward/backward motion. A dedicated hinge gives Gundog his lateral shoulder movement all the way until his shoulder starts hitting his hood. He's got a bicep swivel, and his elbow can bend 90 degrees. The elbow joint is kind of high, and I wish a second joint would have been included lower on his elbow. His wrists can rotate and his fingers are all molded together on a single hinge, similar to the MP carbots. His waist can swivel, and due to his transformation he has a bit of an ab crunch. Technically, he can bend almost 90 degrees at the waist, but the more he bends the more his back looks nonexistent, so use it sparingly. His thighs are universal joints, but his hip armor doesn't move, so he can get just under 90 degrees laterally, maybe 60 degrees forward, and a little under 45 degrees backward. His thigh rotation is built into the universal hips, and while he can't rotate them all the way around the range of movement he does have is about what I'd consider natural anyway. Now, his knees are double jointed, but the seats that cover the backs of his legs hinder how much he can actually bend his knees. If you fold the seat but leave it on the back of his leg he can get about 90 degrees of bend. If you move the seat to the side he can touch his heel to his butt, but then he looks stupid because he's got a seat just hanging off his leg. His feet are great, though. Due to how they transform he's got an adequate amount of forward tilt, more backward tilt than you could ever need, and 90 degrees of inward ankle tilt. Plus, because his feet are so broad and diecast he stands very solidly however you choose to pose him.

It's pretty obvious where his shoulder launcher and gun go in robot mode. The gun can be held in either hand, but the shoulder launcher actually has a part to hug the side and therefore only fits on his right shoulder. It does articulate up and down a bit.

Finding places in robot mode for his other accessories gives you a few more options. The tire can be carried on his back, which is where I prefer it, or on his arm like a shield.

The gas can, too, can be carried on his back or his arm. If you put it on his arm, you can see tiny molded missiles on the bottom, so this is mostly where I prefer it keep it. You can also peg it onto the side of his gun (which might look better if he's carrying his gun in his left hand), or if you don't mind a little asymmetry you can store it on his toe.

The mounted gun is a bit trickier, though. The mount isn't shaped right for him to hold, and it lacks the tabs to secure it. You can jam it awkwardly in his palm and the knuckle joint is tight enough that it'll stay if you don't bump it, but it doesn't look right. You can peg it onto his left forearm, which might look okay if not for the post jutting off of it. The instructions suggest pegging it onto the side of his shoulder launcher. You can certainly do that, but it definitely doesn't look any better there. You'll probably just want to leave it off for robot mode.

Before we get to alt mode, Maketoys did include a "classic" mode meant to simulate the shoulders of the original toy. Although it's an official mode I think of it more like an Easter egg; his shoulders just look awkward that low. If you want a more cartoon look, you can lower the fenders but keep the shoulders up. Be advised, though, that the fenders don't hug to his torso as tightly in the lower position and therefore will require a little more finesse to pose his arms around them.

So on to alt mode, Gundog turns into a Mitsubishi J59 (which was a licensed version of the WWII Willys jeep produced by Mitsubishi in the '80s). Again, Maketoys really nailed the G1 toy. He's missing the extra stars and stripes on the hood, as I mentioned before, but he's got the black seats, the triangles on the sides, and the mounted gun and side view mirrors are very reminiscent of the toy. When I think of Hound, Gundog is very much what I have in mind, far more so than the Halo Warthog that is Generations Hound. I don't think we even need to talk about Combiner Wars Hound.

Again, he doesn't look too bad with MP cars, although closer inspection reveals that, like Invisible (and presumably Sphinx), he's actually a bit too large to be accurately-scaled with the carbots in alt mode, which illustrates nicely the futility of trying to scale toys based on G1 transformers in alt mode instead of robot mode.

The spare tire and fuel can clip onto the back.

All five tires are rubber and roll nicely. The mounted gun looks great in alt mode, nice and G1 toy-accurate. And there's even a little molded dashboard and steering wheel.

I like to "play" with my toys, though. And rather than have a G1-accurate mounted gun in jeep mode and a different rifle/shoulder launcher in robot mode, I prefer to sacrifice jeep mode a little by combining the shoulder launcher and rifle and using in in place of the mounted gun.

There are slots on both sides, though, so it's possible to mount all of his weapons in jeep mode.

At the end of the day, Gundog isn't perfect. There's things I'd have done a little differently to get a little more articulation out of him. I've had parts fall off of him; not just the tire on his back, which happens more than I'd like, but the steering wheel came out of the dash, the seats came out of his legs, and I even popped his front bumper off while messing with his shoulders. Speaking of, although I'm hearing this is more of a thing with the 2Y version, but rotating his shoulders for transformation requires a little more force than I'd like. I'd also have really preferred if Maketoys had made the rifle transform into the mounted gun. Sure, it would have been less accurate, but then I wouldn't have an even less accurate configuration for jeep mode while I stick the mounted gun back in the box.

I think we also have to address the elephant in the room, that being Fanstoys' Willis. Now, I don't have Willis, so I can't comment on things like quality or transformation. From what I can see, though, Willis looks to be much more cartoon-accurate than Gundog, and if you want a cartoon-accurate Hound for an MP display I'd suggest on looks alone that Willis is probably the way to go.

That said, Gundog has a lot going for him. He's got a relatively intuitive transformation, like a slightly more advanced take on the Generations toy. The way his wrists unfold is kind of clever, even. If a more stylized G1 appearance is your jam Gundog makes for a beefy, imposing Hound. And if you're into toys that are like better-proportioned, better-articulated versions of the G1 toys then there's no question that the 2Y version of Gundog is far and away more toy-accurate than Willis. Gundog is also, despite minor bits coming off if handled too roughly, ultimately very solid and fun to mess around with. If you want a good Hound figure and you're not sold on Willis, then by all means go for Gundog.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

He's even better with the sticker set Toyhax made for him

[JB0]

The mounted gun is a bit trickier, though. The mount isn't shaped right for him to hold, and it lacks the tabs to secure it. You can jam it awkwardly in his palm and the knuckle joint is tight enough that it'll stay if you don't bump it, but it doesn't look right. You can peg it onto his left forearm, which might look okay if not for the post jutting off of it. The instructions suggest pegging it onto the side of his shoulder launcher. You can certainly do that, but it definitely doesn't look any better there. You'll probably just want to leave it off for robot mode.

Have him wrap his hand around the barrel and use it as a club!

Or a "cybertronic ax"

[technoblue]

I love how Gundog (2Y) tips its hat to the old G1 toy iteration of Hound while still being a sturdy, stylized Maketoys product.

Also, I remember seeing a fix for 2Y's stiff shoulder out there, but I'm having difficulty finding it now with my Google-fu. I'll have to search around more later.

Anyway, today I have Hound from both Maketoys and Fanstoys, and I find myself happy with the aesthetics of both. But I agree that Gundog is definitely easier to pick up and play with. Thanks for the review, Mike.

[Tking22]

So I got a message from BBTS saying they are expecting FT Scoria re-issue to be in stock within 10 days, I've got Cesium on order too though, I didn't expect Scoria to drop this soon though so it's crap or get off the pot on one of them, there's zero chance I'd get both. I have no experience with Scoria, always looked great, heard about the issues, and yes the dino mode looks a bit odd, but I'm really not seeing any giant improvements on Cesium except the dino mode, everything else is kind of meh, plus they've been mum about whether or not Cesium would come with a red toon mouth and face for the red head or not, I mean it should but you never know. I'm sticking with Scoria, still looks great, plus Grinder is coming with a new head and face sculpt for him specifically, and I really want to collect all of the FT Dinobots, not four of them plus Cesium. Cesium is cheaper, but there's still a number of uncertainties about him, plus his robot mode doesn't look better then Scoria's, I like his bot mode more for sure.

Also on the MP Hound thing, Willis>Gundog, but I also hate G1 toy aesthetics, and I've never owned an actual G1 toy, so I have no affliction for G1 toys at all, just the cartoon.

[kanedaestes]

FT MP Galvatron Preview

FT MP WeirdWolf Preview

[kanedaestes]

Peaugh also has a review of FT Grinder. There are no big surprises with the transformation. Really a more upscale Grimlock but I'm looking forward to completing my Dinobots in scale (though FT Swoop is actually too tall and I still need to get Stomp)

[mikeszekely]

Thanks for the review, Mike.

Happy to do it! I wish I'd get a little more feedback from you guys, but MW is a smaller community, so I'll take whatever I can get.

[Tking22]

Yeah peaugh's review is up for FT Grinder, kind of a crap review though in my opinion, zero enthusiasm, no 360 view of dino or robot mode. The whole review just felt very phoned in, it's another defining reason why I never bother with his reviews anymore, he just really doesn't seem to like it anymore, if he didn't want to review the figure and it give it his all then he shouldn't have bothered. I can't wait, he looks great, I can't wait to finish up my FT Dinobots.

[mikeszekely]

The whole review just felt very phoned in, it's another defining reason why I never bother with his reviews anymore, he just really doesn't seem to like it anymore

Y'know, I've noticed that too, like since spring or early summer or so. Maybe not like he doesn't like it, but like he's in a hurry? I don't know. He used to be one of my favorites, but lately I find myself watching mostly Skullface and Emgo. Skullface is usually a little hard on figures, Emgo a little soft, so they balance out, and I like that they both aren't afraid to say what they don't like about a figure (even if they like a figure).

Switching gears for a minute... so yeah, I've got my combiners, but like I mentioned I'm filling out Autobot ranks with "core" characters, and may want to do the same with Decepticons. So the "core" characters I have would be

Optimus (MP-10v)

Prowl (KO MP)

Sideswipe (KO MP)

Wheeljack (KO MP)

Jazz (GT J4ZZ)

Hound (MT Gundog)

Mirage (DX9 Sphinx)

Bumblebee (ToyWorld Bii)

Megatron (ToyWorld Mania King)

Galvatron (UT Mania King)

All six Seekers (iGear Raptor Squadron)

I also just binged and bought iGear's Patrol Specialist (Ironhide) and Medical Specialist (Ratchet).

Now, I don't need toys of every Transformer to ever appear in the cartoon, but who else should I consider "core"? Having like one or two episodes where a character was the focus doesn't really make them a "core" character for me. I'm thinking maybe:

Brawn

Perceptor

Cliffjumper

Blaster

Jetfire

Reflector

The Insecticons

Soundwave

Rumble

Laserbeak

Ravage

Shockwave

Astrotrain

Blitzwing

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime

Arcee

Springer

Blurr

Kup

Ultra Magnus

Cyclonus

Scourge

Any I'm missing? (Don't count the Dinobots, in my head-canon they're a combiner team and will be handled as such).

The tricky part will be finding toys that are the right size, what with everybody seemingly either making Legends or MP-sized figures. For my collection, some bigger characters might be just short of Leader-sized, and some smaller characters Deluxes, but mostly they should be in the Voyager-ish range.

[Scyla]

I'm in for one of the bikes+riders. Can't really afford more but if they hit that Keneda stretch goal I'll find the money somehow!

Yay the Bastards are funded. I'm curious what we are gonna get. Looking at past Kickstarter toys the Truforce Mega Man X is probably the best action figure in my collection and I want more of that.

[CoryHolmes]

My brother prefers Emgo, but I cannot stand listening to him. His inflection and presentation style are just so grating that I see a red haze whenever he comes on and starts blabbering. His ending stop-motions are great, though.

I prefer Vangelus, at least his older reviews. I think he strikes the best balance between shooting footage live, and having a script and editing to trim away the excesses. Plus his snarky subtitles are just hilarious!

[mikeszekely]

My brother prefers Emgo, but I cannot stand listening to him. His inflection and presentation style are just so grating that I see a red haze whenever he comes on and starts blabbering. His ending stop-motions are great, though.

I prefer Vangelus, at least his older reviews. I think he strikes the best balance between shooting footage live, and having a script and editing to trim away the excesses. Plus his snarky subtitles are just hilarious!

Vangelus would be my favorite if he weren't so sporadic and did more 3P. (Not saying he doesn't do 3P, just send like he does way more HasTak.)

[David Hingtgen]

That said, I think XTB really nailed Cyclonus in bot mode... but I'm not sold on his alt mode. Don't get me wrong, I think it's the best take on it I've seen, but from some angles the fuselage looks too long and the wings too short.

More like from most angles, the alt-mode looks like that. Same problem every YF-19 ever has had, only worse.

[CoryHolmes]

Think you could post a few pictures? I'm curious to see what you mean by "stretched with short wings".

[mikeszekely]

Think you could post a few pictures? I'm curious to see what you mean by "stretched with short wings".

Here's a real quick one I made up with a photo of Eligos, a photo of the G1 toy, and a screen cap of Cyclonus in jet mode from a similar angle.

There's no question that XTB really nailed little details like the panel lines and what not, and I think that Eligos nails Cyclonus' bot mode. But the proportions in jet mode are just off. He's too chunky in the back between the arm thrusters (which looks really bad from behind), maybe too chunky from between the landing gear and tail fins, with wings that look too short.

It's kind of moot for me, though. He's way too tall for my collection.

[RD Blade]

In Figure Knights Theatre - Episode 4 , we talk TFCon Chicago 3rd party reveals and have a deep discussion about toys. This was a fun one!

[M'Kyuun]

Thanks for that side-by-side, Mike. I have this preordered, and overall, I think XTB did a great job, esp with bot mode. However, the criticisms regarding his chunkiness, esp toward the rear of the plane and the short wings are valid. I can live with both, but I do really wish they'd made the wings a tad longer- it would have been more accurate to toy and animation, as well as mitigating the thickness of the aft fuselage.

But, after watching the review, the pros far outweigh the cons, IMHO, and he's immediately recognizable as Cyclonus. All the additional touches, like retractable gear, the full cockpit, mini-Galvatron, and the very poseable Targetmaster figure, along with what so far looks to be a well designed core figure make him a desirable toy. I can't wait to get him in my grubbies.

[Silverstreak]

Yay the Bastards are funded. I'm curious what we are gonna get. Looking at past Kickstarter toys the Truforce Mega Man X is probably the best action figure in my collection and I want more of that.

I wish I'd gone in on that Megaman and got the Kickstarter exclusive colour.

But yeah, hopefully we get something up around high MMC quality. If so I'll be very happy.

[mikeszekely]

Tonight, as I fill out my core Autobots, we've got a blast from the past- iGear's PP05M Medical Specialist, their take on Ratchet.

Before we really start digging into the aesthetics of Medical Specialist, let's take a moment to frame him in the time period of his release. If I recall correctly, the PP05 mold was shown off and iGear started taking preorders in the summer of 2011, and after a number of delays finally hit the market in the summer of 2012, a few months before MP-12 Lambor/Sideswipe. Back then, Takara wasn't cranking out the MP figures at the pace they were today and they were still thought of as something special. That is, there wasn't the expectation that your favorite character would get made sooner or later, and 3P MPs weren't really a thing (FansToys' own Quakewave was still a year out). No, back in 2012 the 3P market was largely focused on making toys to go with the Classics/Henkei/Universe/Generations toys, and iGear's PP05 mold was mostly meant as an alternative to HasTak's Universe/Henkei Ironhide and Ratchet mold.

On that note, I think iGear largely succeeded with Medical Specialist. No, he's not a perfectly animation-accurate, scaled-to-MP-10 toy, and if that's what you want you have options for that. As a CHUG figure, he works as a Voyager figure, and just as MP Ratchet is taller than MP Wheeljack Medical Specialist is taller than Generations Wheeljack. He is arguably too big compared to Classics Optimus Prime, but on the other hand iGear had already released a "voyager"-sized version of MP-01 who was a bit taller than Classics Prime if scale was your big concern (which, with Transformers, it really shouldn't be).

Now if you're like me and you've somehow got an impression that most Transformers are fairly similar in height (seriously, check out IDW's Infiltration series; Ironhide, Ratchet, Sunstreaker, Jazz, and Prowl are all shown to be roughly the same height), and your "average" size is roughly Voyager, then Medical Specialist is actually about the same height as an MP car, and a little shorter than KBB's MP10-V. Sunbow scale chart purists might cringe, but this is exactly the size I want.

Of course, it's not just about size, it's about the looks. And while he's not a perfectly animation-accurate figure, he's much closer than the Universe Ratchet released by Hasbro. His forearms are correctly white instead of black, he's got the animation-style white head and dark grey crest, he's correctly got white thighs instead of red, and he doesn't have Universe Ratchet's oddly out-of-place black hips. While my first instinct is to suggest maybe he has too much red in his torso that's actually fairly cartoon accurate. The biggest departures are his black feet and biceps, plus the shins that are noticeably made up of the rear of the vehicle. While I do wish or white feet and biceps, I'm actually cool with his shins (and the flaps on his shoulders). I do wish they hadn't opted to paint the rear window black when he's got a clear chest window, though. Also, as you'll probably see better in other pictures, the insides of his lower legs are black, and I'd prefer them to be white.

If you're more into comic book Ratchet (either the old Marvel comics or IDW), iGear has you covered with a comic-style red head with silver crest. I'm honestly having a really hard time deciding myself whether to go for the 'toon or comic book head; they both look great. There's also a third head that's basically cartoon Ratchet's with an older-looking face to please fans of Transformers Animated's cantankerous medic.

Medical Specialist comes with a ton of other accessories. Some are exactly what you'd expect for Ratchet: a Philips head screwdriver, a flat head screwdriver, a hammer, calipers, two different crescent wrenches a socket wrench, and a pair of arc welder hands. Some arguably fit Ratchet: a blue visor, a little satellite dish, saw blade hands, that weird-looking thing that's modeled after a G1 toy accessory that might be a gun, or a might be a tool of some sort, and a small rifle (even a medic has to protect himself). Some aren't really Ratchet at all: a sniper rifle with a bipod, a large knife, and a huge gun.

You can remove the sniper rifle's bipod by popping the tip off the barrel and then working the bipod up the barrel. The rifle has a second handle on a ball peg so that it can be moved sideways, and a rail under the barrel for a c-clipped accessory like the dish or the knife.

Medical Specialist also has small rails for the c-clip accessories on each forearm. The dish looks like it makes more sense there, like he's scanning an injured Autobot, than it does under the barrel of a sniper rifle. The visor splits in half, and you wrap the halves around his head to put a little screen in front of his eye.

If you lift up on the clip rail on his left arm you can see a little computer inside. It's a shame they didn't paint a screen or something in there.

His other arm opens, too, but there's no computer inside. Instead, there's a peg hole. You can plug an accessory into the hole, but they don't really look like they belong there.

The saw and arc welder hands work by splitting them open, fitting one end over a hand so he's gripping the post, then fitting the other end on the bottom. Be careful, though, because the welding tips aren't secure and will fall out when the hand his open. They work fine, as far as they go, but I think they would have looked better in white. For that matter, I think most of the accessories (except maybe the guns) might have looked better in silver.

At the end of the day, most of the accessories are just going to sit in a bag (unfortunately the seller I bought from didn't have the original box), and I'll pose him with the accessories that I think work best; the tool thingy (that might be a gun) and his little rifle.

And on the subject of posing, he's not too bad at all. His head is on a ball joint that can turn, tilt a up a bit, and tilt laterally a bit. Looking straight ahead is as far down as he gets, though. His entire shoulder can rotate 360 degrees, then the black part of his bicep is on a hinge inside to get about 90 degrees of lateral motion. The flaps on his shoulders are on a hinge that rotates at the base so you can keep the flaps out of the way. He's got bicep swivels, and double-jointed elbows that get a bit over 90 degrees. His wrists can swivel, but he's got no finger articulation. He's got a waist swivel... technically, he's got two of them. There's a hinge for transformation that I have on the front of his body in most of my pictures, but I realized that since he swivels both above and below that part you can spin the hinge around to his back. His hip skirts are on hinges to keep them out of the way, so his ball jointed hips can swing about 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally, and he's got thigh swivels just below his hips. He can only bend his knees about 60 degrees or so before the back of his leg collides with his thigh- to get the most range make sure the knee is all the way forward against his shin. His foot can tilt up a little, and due to transformation he can point his toes downward 180 degrees. He's got a small, natural amount of ankle rotation, and enough ankle tilt to get you a wide A-stance. His diecast heel spurs don't tilt, though, and while there are natural stop points for their forward-backward range the joint is a little looser than I'd like.

Moving all to alt mode, Medical Specialist beats out Universe Ratchet by actually turning into a van instead of an SUV. In fact, while the fine details are different, the overall shape is very evocative of the Datsun Vanette. He's got the red and silver light bar on top and the red stripes down the side that G1 Ratchet did, plus iGear tried to spruce him up with some extra details like the Star of Life on the back and the backwards "Ambulance". I wouldn't mind a few more ambulance markings, though.

Kind of pointless to talk about alt mode scale. He's far too big for MP10v, too small against MP Wheeljack. I forgot to compare him to Classics Prime and Generations Wheeljack in alt mode... I assume he works better there, but to my tastes bot scale is more important. I mean, if alt mode scale mattered Bruticus would have a right arm that's bigger than his entire body with a tiny stump of a right leg. But I digress.

Despite looking a tad plain overall, up close we see that iGear actually put a bit of effort into the little details. You can see a pair of seats inside Medical Specialist's cab, molded windshield wipers on the window, chrome grill, chrome grill guard, headlights and tail lights that are translucent red/clear/yellow plastic over chrome, chrome rims, rubber tires, silver paint on the mirror-side of the side view mirrors, black paint on the door handles, and painted gas cap. I'm not a fan of the grill guard; it kind of worked on an SUV, but it looks silly on a vanette. At least it's not red, like the one on Universe Ratchet. But the biggest problem I have with the alt mode is that the black painted windows, which I've already stated are a horrible mismatch for the clear chest window. (It'd be nice if the front door windows didn't have that big gap, too, but I think it's necessary for them to have the clearance for transformation, so we'll just pretend they're partly rolled down).

Even the underside cleans up nicely; you can't really tell there's a robot in there, and there's storage for his little rifle under the front. Sadly, that's the only accessory that has alt mode storage.

I have a few gripes. He's got a lot of molded details that might have popped more with a little paint. The panels that were on the sides of the van do peg in an secure the back of his lower leg, but parts from the roof just lay on top of them. The plastic quality, while not necessarily bad, doesn't really feel as good in hand as most other 3P toys in my collection. And, curiously, there's the case of the joints I've pointed out with arrows. Out of the box, this panel just tucks along his side, and that's fine. It's not in the way or anything. But there's a seem, and if you look at the other side there's a hinge on a pin, marked with the blue arrow. The panel could fold inward, behind the tire, but there's not enough clearance. Now, where I've marked with the green arrow, there's another pin that holds the front bumper on. If the bumper could hinge upward there then you'd have the clearance to fold the side panels in, but there's too much plastic and no room for the bumper to move.

There are certainly some reasons for me to not recommend this figure. I've already talked about how he's not up to being an MP figure; most collectors are into the more G1-eriffic MP figures scaled around MP-10 now, and will be quite content with the Takara MP Ratchet. There's also the fact that this guy originally retailed for over $100, and I don't care how many accessories iGear jammed in the box this was never a $100 figure. On the other hand, though, there are still CHUG collectors, who collectors like me who do mostly 3P but have a different scale in mind than MP-10, and if you're patient you can find the iGear Specialists relatively cheaply on the secondhand market. I got this copy of Medical Specialist for $50 shipped, and that price feels fair for a CHUG Ratchet that is leaps and bounds better than Universe Ratchet. As long as you know what you're getting into, what his flaws are, and your comfortable with a CHUG and not an MP Ratchet, then by all means get him if you can find a deal.

Side note... there have been times when I've been tempted to paint or otherwise modify a figure to get more of the look I'd want, but aside from the odd Reprolabel I've always avoided it for fear of trashing an expensive figure. This time, though, I think I'm going to do it. Once I've done everything I care to do to this Ratchet, I'll post back here, success or failure.

[David Hingtgen]

I much preferred "Voodoo" for an MP Ratchet. Heck, I still may prefer it to Takara's.

[mikeszekely]

I much preferred "Voodoo" for an MP Ratchet. Heck, I still may prefer it to Takara's.

Personally, I agree. Even when going for more G1-accuracy that's often demanded of MP figures, I like them to look like robots/vehicles whose details were simplified for animation models, not carbon copies of the animation models. From the waist down, especially, Salus looks so much better than the Takara version. But I don't own either, and there may be some in-hand qualities that I don't know about that might make me hate Salus.

All I do know is iGear makes a fun CHUG Ratchet, but it's a far cry from being an MP Ratchet. And I'm going to fix the problems I have with it myself.

[Tking22]

Optibotimus has reviewed FT Grinder/Grimlock. Looking good, much better review then Peaugh, he actually covered the correct forearm transformation! Amazing what a little effort will do for a review.

[David Hingtgen]

Most 3P samples for reviewers don't include instructions, and are often not 100% tweaked tolerance/fit-wise yet, so it's easy to miss a step and not want to risk breaking something by experimenting. Especially when you have to pass it on to the next reviewer. Better to miss a step and post a follow up, then break it in half on-camera.

[mikeszekely]

I'm still not feeling Grinder. Maybe there only so much you can do with Gridlock, but he still reminds me to much of MP-08.