The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[JB0]

1 hour ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Mike, you may have to follow cartoon accuracy and just bury him to be forgotten.

Bury him, then dig him up a week later. It is the only way.

[dizman]

Only to be forgotten again when Omega Supreme and Sky Lynx replace him next season.

[mikeszekely]

Sky Guardian came in today. I'll have a full review tomorrow, but spoilers: no, he's not worth $40.

Edited March 4, 2017 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

Like a few others, I saw some sellers dumping copies of Mechaform's Sky Guardian, a 3P Skyfire* that was originally selling for over $150, for as low as $40 shipped on Ebay.  I'd heard it was pretty bad, but $150 bad can be $40 OK, right?  As I said on another message board, at $40 a 3P toy doesn't have to be good, just better than Hasbro.  And if I'm being totally fair... they failed at even that.

*I say Skyfire and not Jetfire because it's going entirely for G1 cartoon, not a VF-1, and not a cartoon/VF-1 or cartoon/F-14 hybrid like a lot of modern Jetfires.

At first glance he doesn't look too bad.  He's white, red, blue, black, and gray like he should be, in all the spots he should be, minus a little red on his knees.  His chest is about the right shape, he's got the round shoulders and, although it's hard to see, his shins and knees have the correct shape.  His head's a little small and he's got kind of a mushy face sculpt, but it's got the right details and honestly I've seen worse faces on TF toys.  He's going to be too short for most people's MP collections, but he's a nice size for a lot of CHUG shelves.

Of course, our first sign of things going south would be the plastic quality.  It's bad, you guys.  I'm talking that soft, crappy plastic that dollar store KOs are made of.  Seriously, Classics Jetfire probably weighs as much as Sky Guardian despite being roughly half the size.  And when we look closely, more trouble.  Weird hips, skinny thighs, and the worst hands I've ever seen on a toy, 3P or official, transforming or not.  

Accessory-wise, he comes with his gun, which looks a little off too me but honestly is pretty similar to the animation model, so what do I know?  He also comes with a little baggie with these white parts.  What are they for?  I have no idea and not because they're not mentioned in the instructions.  No, in what will our next sign of trouble Sky Guardian doesn't come with any instructions at all.

More trouble- his articulation is bad.  His head is on a ball joint, and he actually has decent up, down, and lateral tilt.  His shoulders are ratcheted for rotation, but there's so much space between detents that five or six clicks would take you the full 360 degrees.  Friction hinges give him maybe 45 degrees of lateral movement.  He has a bicep swivel just above his elbow, which is a single joint that's soft-ratcheted... maybe?  There's resistance that feels like clicking, but two clicks goes from fully extended to 90 degrees of bend, which is his limit.  His wrists swivel.  Now his awful, awful hands... ok, the four fingers are pinned at the base knuckle, with an addition knuckle hinge mid-finger.  They're molded together, though, so all the fingers are either open or closed.  His thumb, though, is a molded part of the palm, permanently tucked at that odd angle.  There's a 5mm peg hole on top of his thumb where his weapon pegs in adequately.  He has no waist swivel.  His hips are basically ball joints at the end of those big posts.  He can kick all the way forward and backward, but his lateral movement is limited to about 45 degrees.  What's more, he doesn't have dedicated thigh swivel, so you're limited to how much you can rotate the leg on the ball joint.  His knees feel like a soft ratchet, and this time you actually get a couple of clicks before you get to a little over 90 degrees.  Finally, it looks like he should have zero articulation in the foot, although if you don't peg the heel into the back of the shin (which it really looks like your'e supposed to do) you can get a little up/down movement, but no ankle tilt or swivel.

Yet more trouble... he's hollower than a Hasbro toy.  Here, you can see through most of his torso from the side.  In fact, his lats are really just thin panels that fold down from his chest to hide some of the gap between his chest and hips.  Also, you can see that his thighs are really just the front and outside edges.  The inside and back of his thighs are nonexistent.  Mid transformation, you can see backpack is fairly hollow, and just how much of his hips and torso are just thin panels of poor-quality plastic.

Also, I'm not sure how obvious it is from the mid-transformation picture, but he's comically over-engineered.  Almost all of his body is on some kind of hinge off his backpack, and what isn't is on sliders.  In the case of his shoulders, rotating sliders.  People argue that an advantage to larger toys in the MP line is that they allow for more complex engineering, but from what I've seen Fans Toy's Phoenix is dead simple compared to this guy.

Eventually, we get to his Cybertronian space jet mode.  From this angle, it almost doesn't look too bad.  Pretty cartoon accurate, even.

Problems occur when looking at other angles, though.  From the back you've got the sliding bar jutting past the the backpack, and not at all hidden by the limply-folded hand chilling back there.  And from the side we can see both of his arms hanging out down along the bottom, the gap between them not quite filled by his gun, with his other hand pegged to the underside of the fuselage just behind his half-hidden head.  Kudos, I do like how the gun unfolds to make the front landing gear, but it doesn't roll.  Nor do the incredibly stupid-looking, unpainted, molded plastic "wheels" on the back.

There's one other problem that pictures failed to capture, and that's just how poorly toleranced thing turd is.  Some stuff is loose, some stuff is too tight.  The worst parts might be the red backs of his forearms and the biceps that unclip and fold from the shoulder.  All told, I transformed this guy from robot to jet mode just once and there were white plastic shavings and red flecks of paint left in my work space.

I'd have to say, if you're in the market for an MP Skyfire, get the Fans Toy's one, even if I do think it's too big (the almighty Sunbow chart disagrees with me, BTW).  Looking for a CHUG?  You won't hear me say this often, but get the Hasbro Leader-class Jetfire.  Unless you're super insistent that you have a cartoon-style Skyfire and you're willing to accept a poorly made, poorly designed toy made out of poor materials to have that look, Sky Guardian should be a hard pass, even at $40.  I have no idea how the Mechaform guys came up with their original price (per toy, I'd assume it went $5 for materials, $5 for design, $140 for cocaine and hookers).

[sh9000]

That looks extremely terrible.

[mikeszekely]

31 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

That looks extremely terrible.

In this case, looks are definitely not deceiving.  Sky Guardian is the worst 3P toy I've bought, and I have KFC's Mugan Scope.

[anime52k8]

That seems to be a trend with 3rd party Skyfires. I'm beginning to think it's got more to do with him than the people making the toys.

[David Hingtgen]

eBay flash sale made it quite a bit cheaper---very impressed, nice figure.  Best of Poseidon so far.   Tried my new "hollow" insignia.  

[nhyone]

I would like to ask people's opinion of FansToys Dinbots normal vs X. Which one do you prefer?

Because they are so ex, I decided to buy only one, FT-07 Stomp (aka Sludge). FT-07 reissue is available for pre-order on TaoBao. Am wondering if I should wait for FT-07X?

[technoblue]

I went with the X releases, myself. I don't have anything bad to say about them. They are solid and they do look like premium masterpiece figures  to me.

But they are expensive since they are limited runs and have additional paint apps. Picking one over the other is really a personal choice. If you like the shiny paint and don't mind waiting, then the X releases are worth it. If you want to save some money and prefer the G1 look, the standard releases are out now, and you can plan a budget to get all of the dinos since Grimlock (Grinder) was just released. Of course, if you want Caesium instead of Scoria, then I guess more waiting is required. 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

That there is a HUGE autobot.

[Tking22]

7 hours ago, nhyone said:

I would like to ask people's opinion of FansToys Dinbots normal vs X. Which one do you prefer?

Because they are so ex, I decided to buy only one, FT-07 Stomp (aka Sludge). FT-07 reissue is available for pre-order on TaoBao. Am wondering if I should wait for FT-07X?

I guess it depends on what you're looking for really like technoblue mentioned. I have all 5 of the toon colored grey plastic Dinos, that's how i like them, the X versions are a bit too blinged up for me. That said there's no denying the X versions are fairly impressive at certain angles, the extra paint goes a long way, it's just a bit too much for me what with all the chrome and gold already on the grey plastic toon versions. The X versions are getting harder to find, so I'd say make your choice quick because if you do want the X versions you'll probably need to track down a Soar and Scoria. Grinder doesn't even have an X version for pre-order yet so no worries there, Stomp and Sever should be easy finds though. The FansToys Dinos are excellent figures, VERY well made, detailed, and the transformations are fun and fairly simple. I'd recommend the regular versions if you want a more toon accurate look, X if you're willing to go all out and want the flashiest Dinos available.

[calubin_175]

Is the Fans Toys Jetfire more complex than the VF-1's transformation?

It is the biggest non combiner non citybot toy out there. But still, articulation is limited. I think Carnifex has the best articulation for the 30cm category. Jetfire is 35cm.

[Professor Dire]

26 minutes ago, calubin_175 said:

Is the Fans Toys Jetfire more complex than the VF-1's transformation?

It is the biggest non combiner non citybot toy out there. But still, articulation is limited. I think Carnifex has the best articulation for the 30cm category. Jetfire is 35cm.

It is a bit more complex than the Yamato/Arcadia VF-1 1/60.  Due the torso and arms.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Professor Dire
clean up

[nhyone]

I didn't realize the X version is limited to 1,000 pieces. If so, they are unlikely to be reissued.

Let me see if I'm able to find one w/o significant markup on TaoBao *and* ship overseas. It seems to be prohibited for export -- dinosaur, perhaps.

I was rather surprised to find a FT-07 that I could pre-order. I like cartoon color, but bling is, well, bling. 

The official pics for FT-07X are way overexposed, IMO. I can't see how it looks under natural lighting.

The X version comes with the pop-out eyes too? It is one reason why I consider Stomp over other Dinbots... 

[Professor Dire]

I am getting Thunderstorm(Wing) by Garatron tomorrow.  I am beyond stoked!

[technoblue]

4 hours ago, nhyone said:

<snip>

The X version comes with the pop-out eyes too? It is one reason why I consider Stomp over other Dinbots... 

Yes, my copy of FT-07X Stomp includes the pop-out eyes. I wasn't expecting them because I had read they were specific to the G1 version. It was a nice surprise.

[David Hingtgen]

Did the neck-replacement mod on TFC not-Snaptrap.   Not as bad as I feared getting it in, but removing the old one was a pain.   A minor difference, but every millimeter helps.  Wish the new neck-hinge wasn't light pink though, makes the "floating head" effect stand out more---the original was solid green.  Deep pink or dark grey would have been best--darker and blend in.   

[M'Kyuun]

Seriously considering getting Fans Toy's regular version of Stomp, but the folded up tail in the leg doesn't look like it secures very well, if at all, by any tabs or otherwise locking mechanism. So I'm curious if anyone here who owns him could give some insight as to whether that becomes an issue over time.  In all other regards, he looks amazing, and my nostalgia runneth over every time I see a picture of him. Moreover, it doesn't seem like Takara are going to revisit the Dinobots any time soon in the MP line, and besides, their Grimlock was a bit small compared to MP-10. FT got the look and size just right, IMHO. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[David Hingtgen]

Have seen many say it's the 3P figure of the year/ever.  If I wasn't so picky about Dinobot dino-modes, I'd have picked it up already.  (Too wide).   

[M'Kyuun]

Too wide- do you mean in the legs/shoulder width?  To me he's difficult to distinguish from the G1 toy in distant shots/thumbnails. In a word, lovely. I've never bought a Fans Toys product, but just from various reviews and comments on the forums, they have a very good reputation for making a quality product. Honestly, my only concern is that tail being loose in the leg in bot mode- it would be the only mar on an otherwise near perfect toy (nothing's 100%).

Been looking up their other Dinos, and I'm thinking I may need to snap up a copy of Scoria, as they seem to be going fast as well. Wish these things weren't so expensive. Collector's lament.

[David Hingtgen]

Well, more like the super-wide body makes the legs very far apart.   He's like as wide as he is long (ignoring neck and tail---just the body).   Looks odd to me.  I mean, all Sludges look like that to some degree, but this is too much.   

[M'Kyuun]

Well, mileage varies. Looks good to me, and my wife, to whom I'm belly-aching over the decision to get him, is telling me to just get him. She's not really a fan of all this stuff herself, but pretty supportive regardless. For 14 years, she's given ear to all my regrets over passed-over or otherwise un-obtained toys, and nudges me towards getting this stuff when I'm teetering on the fence. I fear it may be a little too much like inviting an alcoholic to a bar.

[technoblue]

Mm. This may not help, then.

Stomp's tail collapses onto itself and locks into the open space filling in the back of the leg in robot mode. It's clever how its done and it is secure (at least, it is on mine). I also like the proportions, but I'm not a hard sell in that area.

 

[mikeszekely]

Eh, just get Stomp. You only live once.

Maybe hold off on Scoria's, though. Perfect Fusion is confirmed to be Fans Toys, so Cesium is like Scoria 2.0.

[M'Kyuun]

Good to know about Scoria.  Just PO'd Stomp, BTW- seems too well done a figure to pass up.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Much appreciated. Been on the fence for awhile now, and I don't want to miss the window of opportunity.

Edit: Just looked up the differences between Scoria and Cesium- def closer to home for the G1 toy with Cesium, although I think I prefer the chunkier legs of Scoria. It doesn't hurt that Cesium is about $60 less than Scoria, either, and that, being a new figure, will benefit from all FT's experience since making the other dinos. I appreciate the heads up, Mike.  More decisions.

Edit#2  Well, Not only did I get Stomp, but I also Po'd Cesium (after doing a back and forth comparison with G1 Slag-amazing how close they got to the look of the original with this version-thanks again, Mike!), and also got Sever.  So, that's about $300 more than I was planning on spending on TFs this month, but after looking at pics of these things and reading reviews, I'm literally sold on them.  Think I'll wait a month or two, and prob round out the team with Grinder and Soar. Of all the dinos, I wish they'd taken more creative liberties with Soar to streamline him - the original toy was the weakest of the Dinobot designs, and I wouldn't have minded some better integration of the arms and legs. Alas, it is what it is, and by midsummer, I'll finally have my Devastator (Constructor) and all the G1 Dinobots in MP scale. Shaping up to be a good, albeit expensive, year for this long time TF fan.

Edited March 12, 2017 by M'Kyuun

[sh9000]

I have all of FT's Dinobots except Grimlock.  These are my MP Dinobots.  If there were ever official versions (most likely not), then I would gladly buy them as well.

[M'Kyuun]

And there's nothing wrong with that- I'm down with the Dino love.  I'd probably ride the fence on official versions, esp if they were scaled to the previous Grimlock release, since I'm now nearly $600 invested in FT's versions.  I suppose if Takara started from scratch and made all five to scale better with MP-10, I'd give it serious consideration. I like official stuff. <Shrug>

For now, though, there's no indication that Takara is moving in that direction, and FT have, by all appearances, made very acceptable stand-ins. I foresee no regrets when these guys arrive- ebullient girlish squealing may in fact be heard emanating from my house on those days when they show up.  I'll post a sign out front: "Man-child on premises- new toy arrived- just keep walking."

[Tking22]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

And there's nothing wrong with that- I'm down with the Dino love.  I'd probably ride the fence on official versions, esp if they were scaled to the previous Grimlock release, since I'm now nearly $600 invested in FT's versions.  I suppose if Takara started from scratch and made all five to scale better with MP-10, I'd give it serious consideration. I like official stuff. <Shrug>

For now, though, there's no indication that Takara is moving in that direction, and FT have, by all appearances, made very acceptable stand-ins. I foresee no regrets when these guys arrive- ebullient girlish squealing may in fact be heard emanating from my house on those days when they show up.  I'll post a sign out front: "Man-child on premises- new toy arrived- just keep walking."

They look good together, and I'd honestly recommend Scoria, I think he's fine, but I can get waiting for Cesium. Are you just getting the grey toon versions or are you going X? I love my toon Dinos, they're beautiful pieces.

---Also, unfortunately, I read this about Cesium over on TFW2005.

botfan said: ↑

Didn't dalianjj say April. This is March. Please, have a drink and relax.

Click to expand...

Yeah....but there's this....
 

King Nergil said: ↑

Well, I was so blown away by Grinder that I had to beg the man himself to give us any information about the status of Caesium. I bring bad news:

"not sure the exact date now"

So I guess the silence will go on for a while.... ... Not sure if I can handle it...  

Click to expand...

---So I guess he's still a bit off. He looks good to me, he just doesn't look improved enough to be a replacement, especially when my re-issue Scoria is fine, he is tight, tight, tight, no issues with hips or anything.

[M'Kyuun]

To answer your question, I want my Dinos to echo the G1 toys, so flat gray all the way. It may not appeal to everyone, but I wish FT had put more of the smoked plastic cowlings on these guys. I always loved that on the original toys, where some of the inner workings can be seen.  The chromed look works, though, although they're going to be a bear to keep fingerprints to a minimum (I hate fingerprints on any of my toys- I'm very OCD about washing my hands, to the point where I've gotten blood on my stuff from my hands cracking and splitting).  Like I said, OCD.

Thanks for the heads up about Cesium's release. Honestly, I'm not in any real hurry, and I hope any delays are to refine the toy prior to finalizing the thing for mass assembly.  I try to be optimistic about delays. At the end of the day, there's nothing I can do about it, and I've managed to live 45 years without it, so I think I can wait a little longer and hope for a better product to come of it.

I'm hoping Sever will show up this week (along with TR Kickback, Bee, and Gnaw from my Stack). He'll be my first Fans Toys figure as well as my first 3P Dino, and I look forward to seeing what all the fanfare is about. The big plus though is having a new G1esque Dinobot since MP Grimlock to mess with. Kinda exciting.

[Tking22]

8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

To answer your question, I want my Dinos to echo the G1 toys, so flat gray all the way. It may not appeal to everyone, but I wish FT had put more of the smoked plastic cowlings on these guys. I always loved that on the original toys, where some of the inner workings can be seen.  The chromed look works, though, although they're going to be a bear to keep fingerprints to a minimum (I hate fingerprints on any of my toys- I'm very OCD about washing my hands, to the point where I've gotten blood on my stuff from my hands cracking and splitting).  Like I said, OCD.

Thanks for the heads up about Cesium's release. Honestly, I'm not in any real hurry, and I hope any delays are to refine the toy prior to finalizing the thing for mass assembly.  I try to be optimistic about delays. At the end of the day, there's nothing I can do about it, and I've managed to live 45 years without it, so I think I can wait a little longer and hope for a better product to come of it.

I'm hoping Sever will show up this week (along with TR Kickback, Bee, and Gnaw from my Stack). He'll be my first Fans Toys figure as well as my first 3P Dino, and I look forward to seeing what all the fanfare is about. The big plus though is having a new G1esque Dinobot since MP Grimlock to mess with. Kinda exciting.

FansToys offered this little add-on for Scoria. From what I've read this little clear smoked plastic add-on was pretty popular for the toy-centric people.

Also, Soar comes with a clear plastic bit that can go over his beak, and Stomp and Grinder both have several areas with clear plastic over some nice little details. Only down side is the clear plastic on Soar, Stomp, and Grinder is not smoked like this Scoria accessory. Maybe if you're crafty enough you can modify the clear plastic into a more smoked looking shade.

[M'Kyuun]

I've seen that bit on Scoria before, and yeah, that's nice- homages the toy very well. Alas, I passed on Scoria for the upcoming Perfect Fusion Cesium, FT's Scoria Mk II, which is much more faithful to the G1 toy, except for the smoky plastic cowl. The gold chromed head still looks nice, though, and I'll likely give it a wipe now and then to keep it shiny and free of prints. I wish they'd used the smoked plastic on these guys everywhere, but maybe it's too expensive, or they felt it just didn't show the details underneath well, or it just didn't look good to them. I dunno, but smokiness notwithstanding, I still think they captured the essence of the G1 Dinobots better than any other company making Dinos, perhaps even better than what Takara, in their heavy toonacious approach, would do at this point.

TFSource shipped Sever, and he's due on my doorstep on Thursday. The Stegosaurus is one of my favorite dinos, and I'm anxious to have him in hand. Also looking forward to finally getting TR Kickback, Gnaw, and Bee, none of which I've seen in any of the stores in my area (Spokane, WA). Kickback was high on my Hasbro want list to finish off the Insecticons, so I was stoked when he was shown at last year's Toy Fair. After seeing reviews, he's not exactly like I'd hoped he'd be (was hoping the lower legs would fold over the robot thighs for a more G1 look), but at that size, I still think he's a decent figure. Now Has-Tak need to remake the Dinobots for Generations- they're long overdue proper updated toys, and it's a shame that we fans must turn to third parties to get those updated figures. TR has been a great line for G1 updates, and the Dinos seem a no-brainer to me, esp if they eschew all other gimmicks and just give us five nice voyager sized updated G1 Dinobots. Leader size would be even better, but I'd be happy with voyager.  Kinda digressed there...

Just to make sure I wasn't missing out on any other 3P Dino stuff, I surfed the interwebs a bit last night looking at the other offerings. For my personal tastes, FT's Dinos are definitely the ones for me. That said, I think the Shuraking combiners look really well done considering that they, well, have to combine. Another figure that grabbed me was FansProject's take on Swoop (Volar) in their Lost Exo Realm line. That bot mode is so lovely and dynamic- ptero mode, so-so, but I like the license they took to incorporate the bot arms and legs better into his alt. Swoop was, IMHO, the weakest of the Dinobots, and even Fan's Toys' version is, by default, also the weakest of their Dibots due to their faithfulness to the original toon/toys. It is what it is, but I'll still eventually get him to complete the set.

[Scyla]

Today I got my replacement part for MMCs Kultur that fixed the paint chip on the forearm an now he is perfect. It is odd to get a package where the sender is a toy factory from China.

[kanedaestes]

Just got and installed the KFC KP-17 upgrade kit for Star Saber. It's a new set of joints, ratchets, and springs so he is not a floppy mess and work better when combined with Simba which now I want to get. 

[valhary]

After two months of waiting and disappointing respond by robotkingdom and toyworld for the missing part in my primorion 

I just decided to transform it !........................ and I Have mixed feelings

The bad points are the head Antennas only need one transformation and bend over and the legs are a pain in the ass very tricky

The good points probably the best g1 truck interpretation of a toy is very square maybe not realistic but give me the feeling that I watch the cartoon also the robot mode is nice 

still think the head sculpt is better in the mp10, but for the rest I think This toy is the best representation of optimus g1 until now

is like the son of the mp01 and mp10