The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Convectuoso]

Bee needed his Autobot emblem

[DyNo]

Just got my first Fans Toys and wow this guy is impressive!

[twich]

So, I just got my first and only KO/3P masterpiece transformer, the Robot Formers Oversized Thundercracker Seeker mold MP-11. Man, this thing is huge! The build quality is nice and it fits together well! My Arcadia 1/60 35th Anniversary VF-1J looks like it could be a drone or a ghost booster for thundercracker! These toys are supposed to be around 1/48 scale, right? Anyway, very impressed with it....now only if they made Macross jets that big!

twich

[nightmareB4macross]

14 minutes ago, twich said:

So, I just got my first and only KO/3P masterpiece transformer, the Robot Formers Oversized Thundercracker Seeker mold MP-11. Man, this thing is huge! The build quality is nice and it fits together well! My Arcadia 1/60 35th Anniversary VF-1J looks like it could be a drone or a ghost booster for thundercracker! These toys are supposed to be around 1/48 scale, right? Anyway, very impressed with it....now only if they made Macross jets that big!

twich

Great pick up!

Those are some of my favorite KO oversized figures. 

[derex3592]

11 hours ago, DyNo said:

Just got my first Fans Toys and wow this guy is impressive!

Congrats on that pickup!  I've been watching a LOT of FansToys reviews on YouTube, man, I sooo wish I'd gotten into the game when they were priced at retail and easily found!

[RedLion]

14 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

How does that even break like that, in the tray?  I want to guess cracked at the factory, before or during putting it in its tray. 

Yeah they had nothing securing the body of the robot in place and also the box that the main box was in didn't have proper packing so the inner box slid around during shipping like a pinball in a pinball machine!

[RedLion]

12 hours ago, tekering said:

Nah, I imagine it just got jostled around too violently in the tray; there's nothing securing it in place, after all.  I can't imagine it happens very often, though.

Did it come from ShowZ, @RedLion?

Yes you are correct! Also the packing inside of the box allowed the main box to slide around during transit!! The antenna and parts of the body are made out of a model kit quality plastic instead of more durable ABS. It is an outstanding piece of work however some of the material choices are questionable for that price!

[Scyla]

Got my MMC Probus in and he is... ok. I really wish they found a way to collapse the legs and upper arms. He is just so blocky and angular and that prevents him from being more poseable. I also wished he had a double jointed knee for better. Playing with him feels limited since every time  I try to get him in a more elaborated pose the range of motion is not enough.

He also has cuts in his square thighs. Hate to see it. On the plus side he is a joy to transform and besides the blocky limbs the sculpt is excellent. 

Overall I think I like Volatus the best from the set even with all his shortcomings. Probus, Impetus and Fraudo are right behind him with Incursus being dead last.

Which is a shame since Onslaught ist my favorite Combaticon. His proportions are just too far off. I wished they made the lower part of him bigger and bulkier to counter the elongated torso and collapse them for combined mode, plus a way to give his torso more definition. MMC knows this is an issue since they try to hide where his actual wist is with a paint app.

And while I like the all in one design I can see how a well made waist and upper leg piece could help with a lot of issues this set has. During combination Incursus just flopps about at his many joints needed to make his hips into Assaultus‘. 

Need to find a way to display them in bot mode with Onslaught in the back hiding his lower part of the body. Maybe FT will make the Onslaught of my dreams soon. 

These toys feel like they where lifted from the Reformatted line. Solid chunks of plastic that are fun to play with. Because of that I feel like they have a hard time fitting in with an overall MP collection and MMCs own OX line.

[Chronocidal]

10 hours ago, twich said:

So, I just got my first and only KO/3P masterpiece transformer, the Robot Formers Oversized Thundercracker Seeker mold MP-11. Man, this thing is huge! The build quality is nice and it fits together well! My Arcadia 1/60 35th Anniversary VF-1J looks like it could be a drone or a ghost booster for thundercracker! These toys are supposed to be around 1/48 scale, right? Anyway, very impressed with it....now only if they made Macross jets that big!

twich

I believe that OS Seeker mold is a little bigger than 1/48, something like 1/45-1/43?  The cockpit is big enough to fit some 1/48 model kit pilot figures, and it's a nice all-around improvement to the old MP-11 design.  Fits in pretty nicely next to any 1/48 valks.  

[Mechapilot77]

On 9/14/2020 at 2:56 PM, mikeszekely said:

 

Yeah... fans of transforming jets with clean alt modes might not like my next two reviews (over in the official section)...

u weren't kidding!  lol

[RedLion]

Here are more images of the Toy World Optimus scaled nest to other 3rd party TF's!

[mikeszekely]

That looks like Gigapower's Swoop (and that pic right there show's why I passed on ToyWorld's Prime- I don't know why they thought they should scale it with the 3A Prime that already exists instead of MP-10, around which almost every other transforming Prime is scaled).  But what Sideswipe is that?  The Black Mamba one?

[Sildani]

My Nicee just shipped. Woo!

[RedLion]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

That looks like Gigapower's Swoop (and that pic right there show's why I passed on ToyWorld's Prime- I don't know why they thought they should scale it with the 3A Prime that already exists instead of MP-10, around which almost every other transforming Prime is scaled).  But what Sideswipe is that?  The Black Mamba one?

The Side Swipe is the LS-08 Corvette Assassin, I'm assuming this is Black Mamba? And yes it is Gigapower Swoop. The scale matches my MP-01 so I'm fine with it Still waiting on the issue with the head antennas to be resolved!

Edited September 17, 2020 by RedLion

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, RedLion said:

The Side Swipe is the LS-08 Corvette Assassin, I'm assuming this is Black Mamba?

Yeah, that's the Black Mamba one.  If you still have the box that's their BMB logo on the corner.  I personally don't have it, as I'm not super into collecting Bayverse figures, but I got Ben's review (that's Ben's Collectibles, or Ben's KOllectibles) and he seemed to really like it.

[tekering]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I passed on ToyWorld's Prime- I don't know why they thought they should scale it with the 3A Prime that already exists instead of MP-10, around which almost every other transforming Prime is scaled).

The third-party scene in China is incredibly competitive.  I'm sure they wanted to show up 3A with a Prime that was practically identical, actually transformed, and significantly cheaper to boot.  

I'm just amazed the product made it to market, despite the public embarrassment they caused Hasbro...  

[M'Kyuun]

So today was a stellar day for deliveries, as I received my much anticipated Sentinel Legioss accompanied by Perfect Effect's PE-DXIIB Dark Warrior, their take on Nemesis Prime. This is a heavily retooled and modified update to their PC-16 Ginrai toy, which they released to work with Titans Return Powermaster Optimus Prime/ Takara's retooled Ginrai Prime. This updated toy appears, to my eye, to be inspired by an IDW design, as opposed to the more G1 look of PC-16. I dig it.  It's a sharp looking toy. The first thing I noticed taking it out of the box was the gloss black paint job on the entire cab section. The stripe around the cab is painted in a metallic teal that sets off a nice contrast. The grill, headlights, bumper, stacks, fuel tanks, robot abs, shin grills, wheel rims, face mask and crest, and the insides of the toes are all picked out in silver paint. The eyes are painted  in a semi-gloss red- there's a little bit of shine to them, but not much- a metallic red would have served better. There are two circular details and upside down triangle on the waist that are painted teal, as well as the cab stripes on the robot chest and triangle details on the forearms. All apps on mine are crisply applied and look great. The design of the toy is such that the back of the cab will become the robot chest, and the front windshield will fold and collapse upon itself to form a compact backpack. Both windshields are made from translucent red plastic. Truck mode looks a little odd from behind, as you can clearly see the robot chest. Oddly, the legs are molded in a matte black plastic and were left unpainted. Nonetheless, It makes for a nice looking semi cab in warrior/deluxe scale. 

That said, Dark Warrior has a 5mm hole on his hitch deck, and he can pull ER Prime's trailer. Since the hole is placed just above the ankle guards, the trailer is able to assume a slightly greater than 90 degree angle to the cab while connected, which is better than the radius with ER Prime. I neglected to take a pic of the cab at a 90 degree angle, but trust me, it can do it.Moving on to accessories, Dark Warrior comes with Ion Blaster, what I assume is an energon ax, and a ludicrously huge energy bladed weapon that looks like Cloud's sword from Final Fantasy. I'm usually not a big fan of bladed weapons with my bots, but this thing is so ridiculously big compared to the wielder that I can't help but like it in spite of myself. It's an anime/ Japanese video game trope that's so over-the-top, and it amuses me to arm him up with it. the blade can also fold over 90 degrees taking the form of an energon ax. I forgot to take a pic of the big blade in ax mode. Anyway, the Ion Blaster is molded in matte black plastic with the vent detail in the stock painted silver. The small energon ax is also molded in black, with the blade painted in metallic teal. The teal paint they used is rather muted, and while it does have a shine to it in the light, it's not as reflective as the gloss black on the cab. The big blade's handle is black plastic, with some silver applied to the vents halfway up the blade, and on three little rectangular details on the blade itself. There's an attachment point on the big blade that looks like it slides onto something, but I'm not sure what that would be. It doesn't fit on the forearms. I haven't opened the instructions, but I may have to to figure that out.  Perhaps it's just my copy, but snapping the blade back to its straight form met with a lot of resistance at the snap point. The hinge is set in the translucent blade, and I was afraid I was going to break it trying to get it to snap back together. I don't think I'll be putting it in ax form again.Articulation-wise, the head is on a ball joint allowing for a good up and down tilt as well as full 360 around and as much attitude as you want to give him. The shoulders swivel up and down laterally at the body on very stiff ratchets, and rotate fore and aft on slightly less stiff ratchets. They seem toleranced a bit too stiff relative to the size of this figure; they feel comparable to the combiner joints on the CW figures, only with more detents. There's a bicep swivel that gives you 360, a single jointed elbow on a barely there soft ratchet that gives you just shy of 90, a transformation joint on a well toleranced ratchet (same tolerance would have worked perfectly for the shoulders, IMHO) that allows the wrists to rotate from straight out to 90 degrees perpendicular to the forearm, wrists that rotate 360, and single piece piano fingers pinned at the base knuckle. They don't open very far, but the option is there. When they're closed, they form a nice 5mm hole for holding the weapons. I didn't mention it earlier, but none of the weapons have palm tabs- they just slot in with friction like the Hasbro figs. The waist can rotate 360, and there's an ab crunch that gets you about 10-15 degrees or so.The hips rotate forward well over 90 degrees and about 90 back on tight friction joints. Likewise laterally. Thigh swivel is accomplished via cuts in the thighs. Double jointed knees give you the full range. The feet, or to be fair, the toes with a small heel tab, can swivel about 10 degrees up, a little past 90 down, and the ankles can tilt about 10 degrees or so. There are also ankle guards that pivot up a few degrees. I forgot to position them up in these photos. The exhaust pipes attach to the shoulders via joints that allow for both lateral and longitudinal rotation for transformation. The pipes themselves are hinged at the center and the top half collapses into the lower for bot mode. The pipes attach awkwardly high on the shoulder, but that placement offers more options for repositioning them if need be. 

The transformation is clever, although it does make use of a faux chest. I'm generally not a big fan of that approach, but I give it a pass. The faux bot chest is actually a rotation point for the rest of the upper body, which rotates 180 deg for truck mode. the upper arms form the front wheel fairings, and the lower forearms form the bumper. The backpack unfolds to form the truck's windshield and grill area. The legs collapse CW style, and the fuel tanks flip out of the lower leg during that transition, and peg into a slot on the exhaust pipe joint. The final result is a nice looking cabover that scales well with ER prime.  I forgot to take a comparison pic of them in their truck modes, but here they are in bot mode.

A couple additional pics:Final thoughts: I was intrigued by Perfect Effect's original Ginrai figure, but I sat on the fence too long and missed the opportunity to get him at original retailer prices. I hoped for a rerelease of the original, but was pleasantly surprised when PE rolled out this retooled and improved version. I love the new stylish sculpt of this toy, and the addition of ratchets to the arms is a plus, even if they are just a tad bit too stiff for for a figure this size. Fit and finish are very well done, the joints are tight across the board, paint is crisp and well applied. The teal looks nice against the glossy black on the upper body. Articulation is above par for a deluxe scaled fig; honestly the only improvement here would be increasing the range of the elbows. However, the ability of the wrists to move up helps ameliorate the elbow's deficit. It comes with a more G1 accurate gun than ER Prime, can connect to his trailer (with greater turning radius, no less), and with the big and small energon blades at hand, is ready to fight the Autobots.  On its own or as part of your CHUG collection, Dark Warrior is a fine addition.  If you prefer traditional OP coloration, it's also available. Recommended.

One thing of note, there's no discernable weapon storage in truck mode, save for the 5mm trailer hitch hole. The gun can sit in it loosely, but it's not ideal. Considering the long standing tradition of parts-forming weapons in Transformers, it's not a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it. 

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[RedLion]

11 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Yeah, that's the Black Mamba one.  If you still have the box that's their BMB logo on the corner.  I personally don't have it, as I'm not super into collecting Bayverse figures, but I got Ben's review (that's Ben's Collectibles, or Ben's KOllectibles) and he seemed to really like it.

Yeah I hear you on Bayverse Transformers! I hated the designs they looked like Bionicle to me. However I did like Sidesipe's design but hated the movie Revenge of the Fallen!

[mikeszekely]

19 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

So today was a stellar day for deliveries

For me, too.  Nice review, BTW.

15 hours ago, RedLion said:

Yeah I hear you on Bayverse Transformers! I hated the designs they looked like Bionicle to me. However I did like Sidesipe's design but hated the movie Revenge of the Fallen!

Age of Extinction was even worse!  But I did enjoy the part where Prime "tames" Grimlock.  And with that in mind, let's look at what I got today (besides Gens Selects Hubcap).  It's GCreation's M. Wrath, their take on AoE Grimlock.

I thought Studio Series Grimlock was flawed but much better than the previous AoE versions, and I even gave him a recommend.  He was even better after I added DNA's upgrade kit, giving him a proper right hand and his club in robot mode plus a better tail, tongue, and some neck filler in dino mode.  But I couldn't shake the "this could be better" feeling.  And, while I'm no expert on scale in the Bayverse, I re-watched Grimlock's scenes and looked at some materials available on the internet.  And, while Hasbro has stated that the goal of the Studio Series line is to accurately represent scale, I'm positive that Grimlock should be bigger relative to Prime than the Studio Series version, actually closer in size to Devastator.  So, despite my better judgment, I bought M. Wrath.  Now, I think it the expectation when this project was announced three years ago was that this would be more like an MPM figure, but on scale alone I'd argue that M. Wrath belongs with the Studio Series.

In terms of sculpt and paint, though, well, I think you can see for yourself.  The sculpt on the Studio Series toy was actually pretty good, but GCreation took it a little further by losing the dino jaw and forearms on the left arm, loosing the dino toes on his feels, and giving him more accurate knee spikes.  There's details picked out in copper, and the bulk of his body has been given a wash to try to replicate the movie's tarnished, slightly rusty look (without giving him a greenish hue).  I'd argue that the dino-head shoulder pads sit a little high, resting on top of but not really covering over his actual shoulders, but the only thing I'm really not loving aesthetically is his face.  It's mostly accurate to the movie's almost-beaked face, but I don't know if the angles just aren't sharp enough or what but he kind of looks like Yoda.

A quick look at the backside.  You can see how his dino tail forms his coattails instead of the rubber flap the Studio Series version gave us, how much more detail GCreation included, and how his feet are more accurate.  You can also see that the backs of his shoulder pads don't align perfectly with the fronts.  That's because while the movie seemed to have both shoulder pads disappear into Grimlock's dino butt while a third sprouted from his abdomen, and while the Studio Series figure tried to recreate the look by actually folding the second head into his dino butt, GCreation's solution was to split the dino head in half, then hinge the lower jaws around behind the head for the back of the shoulder pads.  It's not screen-accurate, but considering how very little you see the backs of his shoulders in the film and the fact that you're probably not going to display M. Wrath with his back facing you I feel it's an acceptable compromise.

M. Wrath comes with a few accessories... and he's a bit of a partsformer.  See, you get the mace hand, and a stick with some points on one end.  You also get part of the dinosaur mode's back.  This piece folds up into a sort of box, and that box tabs onto the less-pointy end to become Grimlock's club.

You also get a little Knight Prime figure, complete with sword and shield.  This figure doesn't transform, and he's much smaller than Studio Series Prime.  He's actually just a little taller than Magic Square's Legends-class Prime.  You can pose him with M. Wrath while he's in robot mode, but while I'll concede that the Studio Series figure could be slightly smaller vs M. Wrath to correctly be in scale I do think that this Prime is a bit too small.

For a little pack-in he does have some decent articulation.  His head's on a ball joint in the torso that can look up, down, tilt sideways, and swivel.  His shoulders rotate, and the armor on them is hinged plus there's a double-joint that lets him get nearly 90 degrees of lateral movement.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His waist swivels, and there's a hinge mid-torso that gives him a little back bend and a little ab crunch..  His hips can go 90 degrees forward and backward, and nearly 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel, and his knees bend 90 degrees.  His ankles appear to be ball joints, so they can swivel, his feet can tilt up and down a little, and he's got ankle pivots in both directions (although they're a little shallower than I'd like).  Both of his forearms have peg holes so you can plug in his shield, and the sword handle slides into his fists.

There's a peg hole on his back, too.  A peg on his sword allows you to attach it to his back, or you can attach the shield using the same peg that goes into his forearms.  However, there's no way to store both at the same time, which is a bummer.

As for M. Wrath himself, his head can swivel and he can look down, but he can't really look up and he can't tilt his head sideways.  His shoulders can rotate, and a flap moves to allow almost 90 degrees of lateral shoulder movement.  His biceps swivel just above his elbows, which bend 90 degrees on ratchets.  His wrists swivel as well as bend in and out.  His three fingers are hinged and the base and move individually, but lack any additional knuckles.  His thumb has a ball joint in the palm plus it has a hinge.  His waist can swivel.  His hips are super tight and you'll have to work a bit to get his armor out of the way, but you can get almost 90 degrees forward, about 60 degrees backward, and a ratchet will get you nearly 90 degrees laterally.  His thighs swivel.  His knees bend over 90 degrees on a mushy ratchet.  His feet can tilt up and down a good amount.  His ankles pivot, but like the little Prime it's a bit more shallow than I'd like.

Attaching the mace hand is easy, and works a lot like DNA's kit did.  You split the mace in half, then fit each half over his hand and push it back together.  His club has a tab on it that fits into M. Wrath's palm.  The fit is fairly secure, so he's got going to drop it, but the club is far too heavy for the joints in his wrist so you're going to have the most luck posing him in positions that have the butt of the club on the ground.

Transforming M. Wrath from dinosaur to robot is pretty easy, especially given GCreation's reputation.  Transforming him back to a dinosaur, though, is a bit more frustrating.  It's not exactly difficult; there aren't a ton of steps, and if you did it once chances are good you'll mostly remember how everything goes.  The difference is mostly that going from dino to robot involves un-tabbing and unfolding more, while going back to dino means lining everything up just right so the tabs all line up and secure.  And the resulting T-Rex has better proportions pretty much across the board than any other version of AoE Grimlock.

In dino-mode M. Wrath’s head can extend a bit from his body, giving him room to look straight up but not really down, plus second hinge allows him to turn his head to either side a bit. His jaws can open and close, and his tongue has a hinge at the base. His shoulders can rotate and move out laterally a bit. His elbows are double hinged so they can curl up 180 degrees (although they can’t straighten all the way), and his wrists are hinged so his hands can bend up and down. His hips are a little awkward. The entire joint rotates on a disc, with a hinge for lateral movement, and another joint for rotation on the outside of that hinge. Thing is, due to his weight distribution, you’re going to be tempted to rotate the disc so that the hinge is as far forward as it can go, to get more of his legs under his center of mass, but if you want his hips to be able to move laterally you’ll actually need that hinge parallel to the ground. Then there’s a hinge mid-thigh that bends almost 90 degrees, a ratcheted knee that bends around 90 degrees, and a tight hinge at his digitgrade ankle that can bend forward quite a bit if his robot-mode hand isn't tabbed in pace, but nothing if it is. No dino-thigh swivels, no dino-ankle pivots.  His dino toes can splay out, and he does have a little dew claw on the back of his foot.  His tail has four hinges that allow for some up/down bend, and two that allow for side-to-side bend, plus five of the spines on his tail are hinged so you can position them just how you like.

Despite having several joints, some of them ratcheted, his overall weight distribution (and one loose friction joint) can make balancing him tricky. It’s a case where once you find the sweet spot he’ll be fine, but until you get it expect him to face plant onto his dino-snout.  As near as I can tell, the trick is to get the disc so that the hinge is at the bottom, then rotate the the thigh without moving the disc as far forward as it'll go.  Tab the robot-mode hand into the dino-foot, locking it's angle in place, then bend the dino-knee until the feet are flat.

Here's another side-on shot of M. Wrath with the Studio Series toy.  I'll remind you that my SS Grimlock has the DNA upgrade, otherwise much of his dino-neck would be an obvious robot arm curled under a flap (concealed by a neck filler), and his tail would be shorter, non-articulated, and have a spiked lump in it (replaced by DNA's tail).  M. Wrath's torso has a more natural shape, with narrower hips and thinner lower legs (without inaccurate robot-mode knee spikes) that sport a proper digitigrade ankle bend, and no robot toes for heels.

Even his underbelly is fairly tidy and sporting minimal gaps.  If you look carefully, though, you can start to work out his robot mode and much of the transformation (which is largely getting the partsforming bit off, getting the head and tail out of the way, then unfolding his legs off of his back before turning his legs into arms, tidying up his pelvis armor, spinning his head and tail 180 degrees, then splitting them and settling them into place).

From the back, you can see M. Wrath with the partsforming element attached (left) and removed (right).  It mostly helps hide his robot legs better and covers a gap in the back of the neck that the armature it's attached to needs to pass through for transformation, plus it helps blend his dino-hips into his torso a bit.  So while it does clean up his dino-mode a bit, if you really hate partsforming and just leave it off I think you'll still have a better-looking dino-mode than the Studio Series or the older AoE toys will give you.

Because he's bigger, M. Wrath's dino mode will scale better with Studio Series figures than the actual Studio Series toy.  That said, while I feel like his robot-mode size is just about right compared to SS Prime, and I do think this size is passable in dino-mode (Prime doesn't look like he's sitting on a pony), the dino-mode is definitely still too small.

And that's really where the included Prime figure comes in.  There's a small peg on M. Wrath's back, just above his shoulders, that fits into a corresponding peg hole on Prime's undercarriage.  Plugging Prime allows you to recreate the Prime-riding-a-T-Rex-into-battle scene with a more screen-accurate size-difference.

Unfortunately, the partsforming head of the club and little Prime are the only accessories he can use in dino mode.  The mace hand and the haft of the club have to sit off to the side.

M. Wrath was obviously a passion-project for GCreation.  As noted earlier this figure was three years in the making.  While not perfectly accurate the sculpt in both modes is fantastic.  Little Prime has a ton of paint.  M. Wrath himself has numerous painted details and that tarnished metal wash.  He's a big figure, taller than MP-08 Grimlock and fairly hefty.  A part of me wants to just say he's good, that he and his little Prime make a nice standalone display, and leave it at that.  But the thing is, M. Wrath has a fairly hefty price tag (right around $250).  I often say that the lower the price the more forgiving I'll be, and at a price that's just a little less than I paid for Studio-1's Unicron or DX9's Omega Supreme I'm not feeling too forgiving.  I'm going to notice that the dino-shins come un-tabbed easier than I like, that his robot-mode articulation could have been better, that his dino-mode articulation could have been better, and that some of his joints are a bit inconsistent.  I'm going to focus on how challenging he can be to balance, how bad his club looks with its balled-up dino-back for a head, how disappointingly bad he is at holding the club, and how the mace-hand and the rest of the club have no use in dino mode.  And I'm going to point out, again, that he's far too small for an MPM display, essentially being a replacement for a Studio Series figure that you could have bought five times over for the same amount of money.  And, ultimately, I can't say that I feel M. Wrath is worth the price tag.  At $150, sure, this figure would be a definite recommend, even if they had to ditch Little Prime to hit that price point.  $200, maybe.  But unless you're a big fan of movie Grimlock you're probably going to have regrets paying $250 for M. Wrath.

[M'Kyuun]

Thanks for the kind words on my review, Mike. Still learning. On a related note, I went back and looked at the instructions, which I'm happy to say are step-by-steps with photos of the toy highlighting the areas affected with little pictogram notations for stuff like locking mechanisms. I appreciate that approach. What they don't show you is anything at all to do with the weapons- none of them are featured. it's not a big deal for his Ion Blaster or his small energon ax, which are straightforward plug the peg in the hand. The big blade probably could have used a pic or two showing how the handle unfolds, how the blade itself folds, and explain what the apparent slider on the back of the blade is for. I still don't know.

As for the GCreation Grimlock, without having seen the film, but owning the Hasbro toy (which is ok, but lackluster compared to these more complex and expensive third party toys) as my only reference, it looks amazing for what it is. As you said, the finish looks beautiful. Admittedly, I never cared for the Bayformer Dinobot designs, but GCreation did a fantastic job of crafting a transforming toy within that aesthetic, no mean feat.  I was surprised to see that it was GCreation instead of Unique Toys, who've carved a niche for themselves with their amazing Bayformer figures. I'm sorry to hear it doesn't quite live up to expectations, especially at the price. Still, if the look works for you, you've got a great looking display piece in either mode, and hopefully that ameliorates some of the disappointing aspects.

Edited September 20, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[Scyla]

As far as I know the big sword was a freebie for PEs 10th anniversary and was originally designed for their Origins Leonidas (Leo Convoy). That might be the reason why it is not featured in the instructions since the base toy is a retool/repaint of their Jetpower Revive Prime that didn’t have this sword.

I have the black version of Origin Leonidas (called Xerxes) somewhere and I can check if anything about the sword is mentioned in there. 

[M'Kyuun]

Good info, Scyla. I had no idea about that big blade; I just thought it an interesting weapon choice for a CHUG scaled figure.  This is my first Nemesis Prime figure, and admittedly, I have no idea about the character's backstory; I know of it solely through the various toys over the years, so I don't know to question stuff like that without the benefit of familiarity.

Anyway, it's an appreciated addition, even if the slider is purely the artifact of its having been made for a previous figure.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

This is my first Nemesis Prime figure, and admittedly, I have no idea about the character's backstory; I know of it solely through the various toys over the years, so I don't know to question stuff like that without the benefit of familiarity.

The first time a Prime got a black repaint was in the Japan-only Beast Wars II.  There was an episode where one of the Maximals tried to use a copy machine to make a copy of Lio Convoy, and AFAIK "Copy Convoy" was destroyed by the end of the episode when the Maximals destroyed the copy machine.  Two years later the G1 toy was re-released for a convention as "Convoy Black Version".  I don't know if there was story behind that figure, but it still had Autobot symbols, as did a 2001 repaint of Powermaster Optimus Prime whose bio indicated that it was the actual Optimus, just in different colors for a special mission.

I would argue the first real Nemesis Prime was Car Robots Black Convoy (2000), who we know as Robots In Disguise Scourge.  The story there goes that six Autobot protoforms were sent to Earth to find Fortress Maximus (who'd been hidden on Earth long ago), but their ship crashed and was lost.  Megatron learned about the ship and managed to find it, and after reprogramming them he took the pods with the protoforms to a military base to scan for alt modes.  The first five became the Decepticon Commandos (repaints of the Combaticons).  As Megatron was scanning a tanker truck for the sixth Optimus jumped in to save the truck's driver and got scanned, too, resulting in a robot with some of Optimus Prime's features (which was a really a convoluted story for explaining why a black repaint of G2's Laser Optimus Prime was a bad guy).  Scourge was, at least, a recurring villain in the series.

AFAIK, the first instance of the name "Nemesis Prime" came from Transformers Armada.  I don't remember the exact details, but late in the series they wind up on a strange planet where they're attacked by a black clone of Optimus Prime for an episode.  Interestingly, in the Japanese version Nemesis Prime was called Scourge.

After that I guess it got kind of trendy to do black Optimus repaints, rarely with any real fiction behind them beyond him being an evil clone retroactively inserted into the G1 continuity.  The Universe toy suggested the was a low-ranking Decepticon rebuilt by Straxus to match Optimus, MP-10B suggested he was a clone created by Unicron.  Ultimately his backstory is whatever headcanon you come up with for him.

[anime52k8]

On 9/11/2020 at 2:22 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Ugh, that doesn't sound promising. Once I start receiving tracking info on it, I'll have to keep an eye on it in the event it gets lost. Sorry to hear that on your end, and thanks for the heads up. Hopefully, both of our orders will show up.

So showZstore is shipping everything by boat now apparently. it's gonna be a while.

[M'Kyuun]

My copy of Nicee shipped on the 10th, and as yet, there is no available tracking. So I guess it's slow boating across the pond. Hopefully they don't encounter any big storm systems, or get hit by pirates.

[mikeszekely]

33 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

My copy of Nicee shipped on the 10th, and as yet, there is no available tracking. So I guess it's slow boating across the pond. Hopefully they don't encounter any big storm systems, or get hit by pirates.

No tracking for me yet, either, and my package shipped on the 11th.

...of August.

[ghostryder]

On 9/16/2020 at 10:27 PM, twich said:

So, I just got my first and only KO/3P masterpiece transformer, the Robot Formers Oversized Thundercracker Seeker mold MP-11. Man, this thing is huge! The build quality is nice and it fits together well! My Arcadia 1/60 35th Anniversary VF-1J looks like it could be a drone or a ghost booster for thundercracker! These toys are supposed to be around 1/48 scale, right? Anyway, very impressed with it....now only if they made Macross jets that big!

twich

 

Is this the one yougot? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Transformers-Robot-Formers-MP-11-Amplified-Model-F11-C-Thundercracker-Toy-12-H/193211589360?hash=item2cfc4ee2f0:g:d7YAAOSwm2pd0ArI

I was curious if the knees and feet look like the pics in the auction, which more or less match the MP-11 mold.  The Robot Hero version has closed of knee joints and minor changes to the feet.  Maybe these are recolors of the Tanaka OS MP-11, which is a direct OS of MP-11 and slightly smaller than the Robot Hero.

[sh9000]

https://tfsource.com/tfc-toys/craft-series-cs-01-lumitent-tfc-toys/

This looks kind of cool as a regular aircraft mecha.  If it scaled well with a HMR VF-1 then I’d probably get it.

[JB0]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

https://tfsource.com/tfc-toys/craft-series-cs-01-lumitent-tfc-toys/

This looks kind of cool as a regular aircraft mecha.  If it scaled well with a HMR VF-1 then I’d probably get it.

It really does. Good jet and good robot.

The vehicle-first design seems like a must to get a good transforming jet. The six-winged backpack is a bit much, though. 

[mikeszekely]

Got a little package today from TF Safari, which means I've got some more 3D-printed upgrade kits, this time all from Go Better/GX Studio.

First up is this thing.  It's the GX-09 kit for Earthrise Optimus Prime.

It's a pretty simple backpack.  It has a 5mm peg and it simply plugs into the port on Prime's back.  Using dead Prime as a "before" model, you can see that the backpack doesn't add a ton of bulk.  I'd argue that, with the rounded edges, it's even a bit animation-accurate, and the color matching Go Better did was pretty close.

Of course, the main draw of the kit isn't to plug up a 5mm port on Prime's back.  The sides unfold on multiple hinges, allowing it to transform (without removing it) into a narrower but longer panel that fills in the space between his arms in truck mode.  And that, frankly, looks a lot better to me.

The GX-09 kit gets a definite recommend from me.  Between it, the mix-and-matched ZBX and Nonnef kits for the trailer, the Matrix Workshop ion rifle, and the Reprolabels (to say nothing of the fact that I took my trailer apart and repainted it) Earthrise Prime has gone from really good to nearly perfect in my book.

The second kit up is the GX-07 kit for Siege Sideswipe.  It's a spoiler for his alt mode.

It's a pretty simple idea.  Sideswipe already has these blocky cut-outs.  The Go Better kit slides in to the rearmost hole on each side.

And, yeah, Sideswipe's Cybertronian alt mode was already basically what you might get if Lamborghini decided to bring back and update the Countach, but the addition of a spoiler really adds to the G1 vibes.  However, you might notice that the sides don't quite line up right in the middle, which is a bummber.

Another bummer is that they simply lay across the backs of his legs, which gets in the way of his knee bend.  Partsforming is an option, I suppose, but I found out (after I'd ordered this kit) that Nonnef is doing spoilers for this mold, and unlike the Go Better kit (which is two solid pieces) the Nonnef kit will have swivels, so the spoiler can swing to the sides and not block the knees.  Nonnef is having trouble getting the red to match, so only black and white will be available at first.  I'll grab a white set for Red Alert and a black set for my custom Clampdown, and if they're good I'll probably replace the Go Better kit for Sideswipe when Nonnef gets the red right.  For now, I'll say this kit was a good idea, but wait and see if Nonnef's execution is better.

Speaking of Nonnef's execution... the last kit in this order is the GX-08 kit for Earthrise Wheeljack.  You may recall I already bought and reviewed Nonnef's kit for Wheeljack, so what's different?  Both kits offer a new spoiler/wings and a cartoon-style shoulder launcher, but beyond that they go in different directions.  Nonnef's kit gave us a pistol and some wrenches, while the rest of Go Better's kit is gap fillers.

So we'll start off easy.  The two black parts are gap fillers for his thighs.

The big white parts with the holes plug into the squarish hole on the edge of the back of Wheeljack's leg, with the holse fitting over and around the 5mm ports on his calves.  Then the hinged section folds around, with a slit for the window to fit through, to cover the space on the inside of Wheeljack's lower legs.

Wheeljack can transform with these fillers attached, with the minor added step of opening the hinged panel so his thighs can collapse into his lower legs, then folding the panels pack in again.  Note, however, that Wheeljack didn't have a ton of ground clearance to begin with, and the Go Better parts are basically touching the ground.  You're probably not going to get him to roll like this, but it's not so bad that it looks wrong when he's just sitting there.  If it's really an issue for you partsforming is an option (but not necessary).

Speaking of partsforming... while Nonnef's spoiler was designed to replace the original a lot of users (myself included) found ourselves using them for robot mode but swapping them with the originals in alt mode because, frankly, the clear spoiler wasn't working for us.  I thought about painting it, but I also wasn't sure what paint matched.  Well, whatever Go Better used for theirs might not be an exact match, but it's close enough.

The spoiler works differently than the others in robot mode.  The back of the spoiler actually folds up, revealing the wings instead of splitting to form the wings.  Then it's just a matter of folding the wings out.  You can see how Go Better's wings (A) compare with the originals (B) and Nonnef's (C).  I'll say that I prefer the gray over Nonnef's clear, but I may repaint them silver to match Wheeljack's mask.

Go Better's shoulder cannon is a single piece (two if you count the hinge), compared to the multiple hinges on Nonnef's.  It works the same as Nonnef's; there's a hinge with a tab that fits into the slots on Wheeljack's shoulder, and that hinge can fold back to reveal a peg that allows it to plug into a 5mm port (like the one on the car's roof).  I think the sculpt might be slightly better on the Go Better one, and it's pre-painted silver (Nonnef's was gray and I painted it silver myself),  However, I like that Nonnef's is a little smaller and compatible wtih the Siege blast effect parts.

Last (and probably least) are two red parts.  They plug into the 5mm ports on Wheeljack's shoulders so that when he transforms they look like taillights.  It's a nice thought, and it does look pretty good.  I'm not sure if I'm keen on giving up two of the three available 5mm ports on the alt mode, though, what with me still having a Nonnef pistol and wrench to store somewhere.

I like the gap fillers on the Go Better kit, even if they create a minor ground clearance issue for the car mode, and the Go Better spoiler just works better than Nonnef's.  However, if you don't mind the gaps so much and you're handy with paint, don't mind a clear spoiler, or don't mind part-swapping you might find Go Better's kit to be a bit redundant, plus Nonnef's kit provides a pistol and wrenches.  If you're only willing to buy one upgrade I'd say I prefer Go Better's.  Like I said, the spoiler/wings just work better, and you can always use the Wheeljack's packed-in accessory as a pistol.  I'll say, though, that both kits are well-done and this is a case where I didn't mind buying both.  Indeed, the white Hasbro used for Exhaust is probably easier to match than the off-white they used for Wheeljack, so I might yet paint the Nonnef wings and give them to Exhaust.  I'll paint both of their original accessories as matching toy-style shoulder accessories for Exhaust, and that'll help make them more visually distinct.

[M'Kyuun]

I bought the Nonnef trailer upgrade kit for my Prime, but after looking at Mike's pics, I wish I'd have picked up the ZXB kit as well. I think the fenders look better, and I like that the shorter swing out supports for the trailer allow for it to connect to Prime without the additional extension required by the Nonnef. Plus, I think it looks better in proportion to the trailer itself. I just checked TFSafari, and they're sold out.  For now, the Nonnef upgrade is ok, but hopefully the ZXB stuff will get a rerelease.

This is definitely the most time, money and effort I've ever put into a figure, and I haven't done nearly as much as Mike has. Still if you're going to pick one fig to splurge on, IMHO, ER Prime is an excellent candidate. Best retail G1 Prime fig bar none, IMHO, and one of the best Prime figures among all lines. I love it.

A week later, and I'm still monkeying around with PE's Dark Warrior with regularity. It's such a fun and good looking Prime figure. If you're in the market for a black painted Prime, but don't want the Hasbro version (although as a repaint of ER Prime, you still can't go wrong), this is a great alternative that scales with CHUG. The IDW inspired sculpt sets it apart visually as well. Just a great figure. 

[mikeszekely]

I mentioned a few days ago while looking the Go Better spoiler kit for Siege Sideswipe that Nonnef was also doing a spoiler kit that I'd check out.  And they came today.

As I said before, I decided to try the set in white for Red Alert and Black for my custom Clampdown.  When I ordered that was all that was available, with red and yellow listed as "coming soon."  Each sprue has three pairs of mirrored parts- a small filler, a larger filler with a hole, and a wing with a peg.

Installing the kit is easy.  The small filler goes into the smaller gaps, and it's a nice touch because the Go Better spoiler left that gap unfilled.  The filler with the hole goes into the larger gap.  Once they're installed, the wing plugs into the hole on the larger gap.  The fit is pretty good, better than the Go Better kit, but you might want to use a little glue if you're worried about them coming out.

The completed kits look pretty good.  The gaps are filled, and the wings line up pretty well.

Aside from the filler for the smaller gap, the main advantage to Nonnef's kit is that the wings can rotate on the peg they're attached with, so unlike the Go Better spoiler they won't interfere with the figure's knee articulation.  All-in-all, I'm quite pleased with this kit.  When Nonnef gets the yellow ones sorted (the red wasn't available when I ordered, but is at the time of writing) I'll pick up red for Sideswipe and yellow for Tigertrack.

Since Nonnef charges a flat rate for shipping you're better off buying more kits at once.  I decided I'd also grab this set of eight guns.  I chose gray, but you can get them in black, red, and purple, too.  His store refers to them as being for Legends-class figures, and states that they're specifically designed for Hasbro's old Huffer (the yellow repaint of IDW Prime), Gears, and Cosmos, plus Titans Returns Brawn and Seaspray and Power of the Primes Wincharger, Outback, Beachcomber, and Tailgate.

Of course, there were other Legends-class figures like Powerglide, the Insecticons, Wheelie, Slash, etc that some of you may still be using for your collection, or you may have a larger figure like Wheeljack that you might be thinking could have used a better gun than whatever pack-in accessory it came with.  No worries!  The designs of the guns are fairly generic, and since the handles are designed to fit into any 5mm port means it doesn't have to be those eight figures.  You're not even restricted to Legends-class; they should fit most Legends, Deluxe, or Voyager-class figures.

That said, there are two guns and two figures I want to talk about in particular.  See, most Legends-class figures don't have anywhere to store a weapon.  And six of the guns just have your basic handles.  But, if you remove the accessory that came with Seaspray you'll find the slot it tabs into.  and one of the guns does have a little tab on the handle.  Beachcomber has a little hole, smaller than 5mm, on his engine.  And one of the guns does have a little peg on the bottom of the handle.

Those two specific guns, then, can store on those two specific figures when they're in alt mode.  But again, the handles are still 5mm, and you don't have to use these guns with these figures.  Personally, I think I can always use a few extra guns.  Not only am I happy with my purchase here, but I'll probably order another set in black when I get the other two spoilers.  The guns are another worthwhile upgrade kit from Nonnef, and if you needs some more I'd recommend them.

[Kuma Style]

Edited September 29, 2020 by Kuma Style

[technoblue]

New images of Master Made's SD Devastator, which I've been waiting for going on three years (link to Toys United Nations on fb):

https://www.facebook.com/玩具聯合國-變形金剛粉絲團-138692049899157/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARCnbJOEulj8K7XJmU1eeAcytEnxvTpGBE4ld6AJUbBsRXdqVhdWsXpFyN9ZlVhJ_uulac8y1A3Mqo6Z&hc_ref=ARTMdxoDHcdRHjzJtweLottVjAGUnB9V2KDhDNI-CAEKHLflSkadgH_Ib3K4GtVIbis&fref=nf

I wonder if MM will do any more combiners? 

Edited September 29, 2020 by technoblue

[Convectuoso]