The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[M'Kyuun]

54 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm not.  As Hasbro's been doing a pretty good job of checking my boxes in the last few years I've been losing interesting in expensive 3P figures that take up way too much space, to the point that I've actually thought about selling off a lot of the ones I bought just to try to have a complete Sunbow cast at the MP scale but never actually liked all that much.  I didn't have the Omnibots as a kid, nor were they in any fiction that I recall, so I don't have any attachment to the designs.  I was passingly curious to see what XTB might cook up, but when reviews of Fioravanti started hitting it seemed like the usual XTB "looks nice, is kind of a pain" design and I figured I'd be better off spending my money on other things.

Perfectly fair. The reports of Fioravanti's challenging nature are not exaggerated. I messed with him for the first time since getting him tonight to do my review and managed to break one of his seats (they're on little sliders and my one seat wouldn't budge so I applied a little more force to it and the little plastic loop that let it slide broke). Also, one of the retractable headlights covers came off, so I'm going to have to reglue it back on. Breakages aside, it's not a fun or easy transformation, especially the legs, and handling it, you find yourself wondering why on Earth they made it that way when there are certainly easier ways that accomplish the same thing. Anyway, Yaguchi is quite a bit simpler to transform. I'm hoping their Camshaft will be as well.

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

If Hasbro ever gets around to them, though, I'm sure I'd check them out.

Oh, I'm all in for mainline versions. Evan Brooks mentioned wanting to do them in a stream, so I'm hoping he gets his wish. I'm guessing Hasui san would probably want to get in on that too. They're way overdue some official toys and Legacy is the ideal venue. Digits crossed.

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

And I've definitely got my eyes on Mecha Invasion's Hook and Long Haul.

I've got my eyes on them purely from a curiosity position. I dig that they're doing something different with such established characters. However, I haven't the space for much of anything anymore, let alone another MP scaled Devastator. I still have ToyWorld's Constructor, and while it's a bit dated, it's fine. I'm wondering where I'm going to put SS86 Devastator, and potentially Superion depending on how the jet modes turn out (little faith, I'm afraid). Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how Mech Invasion's take on Devy pans out and any future combiner projects they feel like putting their stamp on.

[David Hingtgen]

Mech Invasion's Hook and Long Haul are SO good, but making Mixmaster an arm, and a conventional truck instead of a cabover, is a deal-killer.  It's like they're trying so hard to be both G1 and Bayverse at the same time.  Long Haul being clearly a Bayverse dump truck instead of G1 isn't that big a deal IMHO--still forms the lower torso, and it's still a generally similar-looking type of dump truck.  But Mixmaster is so clearly neither the G1 position nor type of truck.  And it doesn't even look good as an arm, it looks terrible.  Maybe if they'd made an awesome-looking arm mode out of that cement mixer, I might possibly be convinced.  

And Scrapper just has a terrible bot mode with shovel-feet.  (and is also now an arm...)

If they redid it with the same torso bots, but made the legs legs and the arms arms, as they should be---I'd be all-in.   

[Tking22]

Yeah I've been eye-balling these new Constructicons, and for the most part they look great, but there's enough I'm not liking to not want to upgrade. Overall, they look good, but still, years later, I'm still happy with my Constructor G1 box set. 

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Sovereign 2.0, my favorite Decepticon from my favorite 3P company:

 

[mikeszekely]

It's got more Sunbow-ish lines, but unlike Tesla and Spindrift there's nothing about it that makes me feel a need to upgrade.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

On 11/13/2024 at 12:42 AM, mikeszekely said:

It's got more Sunbow-ish lines, but unlike Tesla and Spindrift there's nothing about it that makes me feel a need to upgrade.

Don't get me wrong, I love FansToys Sovereign 1.0 but Galvatron and Megatron are like the VF-1 to me. If there's a new improved version I gotta have it.

Sculptwise this Sovereign 2.0 is perfect to me.

[Hikuro]

considering I don't own one, I'd probably be willing to pick one up. Don't really have much in terms of 3rd party MP figures, they're really expensive and with so many variations and options out there I always have a hard time figuring out what I want. I mean I am pretty satisfied with my MMC Mirage but the Cliffjumper version, not so much, I mean it's okay it works well with the Bumeblebee 1.0 I got so I can't really complain. 
Still though those prices are tough. 

[shazam]

 

[mikeszekely]

Generally speaking I prefer injection molded upgrades to 3D printed ones.  However, there's just not as many injection-molded kits out there... Perfect Effect seems to have vanished, Nonnef was affected by the hurricanes, and DNA's output has been both slow and an infuriating crapshoot swinging wildly between kits that are absolute must-have upgrades and kits that create as many problems as they solve (and often don't even solve the main issue I had with a figure).  So on a whim I decided to to pick up a few 3D printed kits after all.

My single biggest complaint with the Orion Pax figure that came in the SDCC Fractured Friendship pack is that they took the gun that came with Gamer Edition Prime and stuck a block in the gap to give it a 5mm peg.  It just looks awkward.  In search of something better, I found this set from BDT Studio.  It's a pair of comic-accurate rifles and a pair of adapters.  The sculpt of the rifles themselves is pretty good, and BDT painted them a nice gunmetal color.  You have look pretty closely under bright lights (like I'm doing for pictures) to notice the print lines.  However, I absolutely loathe BDT's penchant for 3D-printing their weapons with holes that they affix a plastic tube into instead of printing the handle.

Despite my misgivings, the handles certainly seem secure, and they fit snugly in Pax's hands.  However, they don't really have any bot mode storage.

As for alt mode, that's where the adapters come in.  The idea is that you're supposed to remove his arm guns then plug the adapter into the port that the arm guns were in so that you have a new port facing outward and a peg pointing backward.  The peg plugs into the back of the rifle, and the arm guns plug into the new ports.  Now, I think this would look terrible even if it did work, so I don't know if I'm disappointed or relieved that it doesn't even actually work.  The new ports are way too big for the arm guns to plug into; they just fall right back out.  It seems like an over-engineered solution anyway, when something like a slot molded into the rifle itself that fit over the tabs on the back of the truck would have been a lot easier and better.

At around $16 these guns aren't exactly cheap and I hate the alt mode storage.  But they're the only comic-accurate rifles for Pax I can find, so I guess my recommendation comes down to how badly you want to replace his stock gun and how much it matters to you that the replacements are accurate.

TFSafari, where I buy my kits from, offers discounts based on how many upgrade kits you buy in an order, so I decided to toss in these Shockwave Lab smokestacks for SS86 Optimus Prime.  As you can see, they're pretty similar to the stock smokestacks; maybe the paint is a little shinier.  They don't even look 3D printed.

Some assembly is required.  You'll need to remove these two screws from the back of Prime's shoulders.  The front of the shoulder and the joint will stay attached to the torso, while the back of the shoulder, the smokestack, and the entire arm will come off.  Once the arm is off, swapping the stacks is as easy as sliding the original one out of the groove and slipping the new one into place.

Given how similar they are, you might be asking what's the need for a kit like this?  Well, for one, the new stacks fix one of my few complaints about SS86 Prime, in that they're much more snug than the stock ones.  You're far less likely to bump them out of place when you rotate them.  But the other difference is that the tips are actually holes, which makes for a slightly more realistic look.

I can't say that this kit is necessary, especially for $11, when you could just use floor polish or something to tighten up the stacks Prime already had.  But the quality here is pretty good, should you decide that this is the way you want to go.

As long as we're talking about Shockwave Lab smokestacks, there's also this kit, but for Legacy Deluxe-class Prime, that comes with smokestacks and a few fillers.

Unlike the SS86 ones, this time there's a much more noticeable difference.  The stock stacks only had the holes one one side of the exhaust shields, and they're very shallow.  Plus, they're bare gray plastic.  The Shockwave Lab stacks have deeper, more visible holes and are painted silver like the ones for SS86 Prime.  And, once again, they have the hole in the top of the exhaust pipe.

Installation is super easy (barely an inconvenience), since Legacy Prime's smokestacks are simply pegged into his shoulders.  All you have to do is pull them out and plug the new ones in, and they're a nice fit.

As for the fillers, the red ones go in his back and are meant to cover the gaps and pins in the butterfly transformation joint.  They're kind of a pain to get in, because if they're not sitting right they'll actually block his arms from transforming.  Once they're in, though, they'll stay in with no issues.

The silver pieces fill in the gabs in his thighs.  They're painted silver, which doesn't make them a perfect match for the bare gray plastic his thighs are molded out of, but installation was simple enough.  I guess the thing is, neither his back nor his thigh gaps really bothered me.  I'd have preferred they fill in the gaps around the 5mm ports on the bottoms of his feet, since they face up in truck mode.  Alas, that's something you don't get a filler for.

Despite being a bit underwhelmed by the filler parts, of the three kits this is the one I actually do recommend outright.  At $11 it's the same price as the SS86 smokestacks, but the filler, underwhelming though it may be, at least adds to the value.  Plus, unlike the SS86 stacks, the ones for Legacy Prime are more obviously an upgrade.

[shazam]

 

Edited November 23 by shazam

[David Hingtgen]

3 hours ago, shazam said:

 

Wow, I only needed to watch the first 2 secs to go from "interested" to "hard no"---that side view of truck mode is atrocious.  

(I put a LOT of emphasis into truck mode, for my Primes---and so many sacrifice SO much in truck mode for such minimal gain in robot mode---there's no 'balance' at all between the modes, they're willing to do almost anything to make it look "1% more like that one screen shot" even if it instantly makes truck mode so much worse)

[shazam]

3 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

Wow, I only needed to watch the first 2 secs to go from "interested" to "hard no"---that side view of truck mode is atrocious.  

(I put a LOT of emphasis into truck mode, for my Primes---and so many sacrifice SO much in truck mode for such minimal gain in robot mode---there's no 'balance' at all between the modes, they're willing to do almost anything to make it look "1% more like that one screen shot" even if it instantly makes truck mode so much worse)

Which toy version do you think hits the best medium for presentation? A lot of effort goes into designing the transformation aspect of these figures. Way too much if you ask me. 

My eyes get tired from watching how many panels need to be folded, spun around, redirected again in another orientation, then hidden behind something else. 

[shazam]

 

Edited November 25 by shazam

[sh9000]

TouchToys J35-C Xiaoyao Navy version.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

6 hours ago, sh9000 said:

TouchToys J35-C Xiaoyao Navy version.

Eat your heart out, Breakaway.

I just placed a pre-order for MMC's Stray. I love my Ronin, but the alt mode for Stray looks quite good:

 

[mikeszekely]

That's a darn fine looking Peg. Maybe I should get one...

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

TF Source's ad showed this variant:

The red tinting is cool, and I imagine it would totally fit the character.  Overall though, I prefer this deco over the plain black striped one from Initial D.

Ooh boy, chase variants are going irk some people bad.

Edited November 26 by Valkyrie Hunter D

[sh9000]

DX9 Red Storm.

[mikeszekely]

Got my notice from ShowZ to pay off the next set of Mecha Invasion Constructicons.  Seems doubtful they'll ship before the end of the year, but it's looking like they'll be here before the Chinese New Year shut down.  I'm pretty stoked; the first set, while not perfect, were simple, fun, and relatively inexpensive; it's easy to overlook some minor flaws when four MI Constructicons cost less than one of Fans Toys.

Speaking of, while I'd thus far bought most of the Devastators, I can't bring myself to do another Devastator war and buy them all.  I've heard good things about XTB's Long Haul, but their track record for QC issues is keeping me away.  I think Fans Toys' Scrapper just doesn't look all that hot.  And 01 Studio's looks like the old ToyWorld one, but more stylized and without partsforming.  I expect I'm passing on all of those.  Given how their Combaticons and Protectobots came out, I think MMC's Constructicons will be my final G1 MP-style ones.

I'm thinking about giving Dream Star's Constructicons a go, though, or at least their Scrapper.  Like Mecha Invasion, Dream Star seems to be an offshoot of Generation Toy that's doing a more stylized take on Devastator, and I dig how their Scrapper looks.  Plus it looks like Hook is next, and he has both a torso mode and a leg mode, because Dream Star might also be doing a Prowl that can combine with the Constructicons IDW-style.  What's more, it looks like some of the combiner kibble will form a Megatron.