The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Firefox]

Anyone know if this KFC EAVI Metal Phase 11 Stratotanker ever going to be released?

Paid a small token for the pre-order and this release date keeps postponing. Is KFC in some sort of trouble?

[mikeszekely]

Been awhile since I got a new toy and shared my thoughts... without going into a lot of details, I had some expenses, planned and unplanned, that diverted funds from collecting.  There's also the small fact that when I started 3P collecting my goal was to get representations of all the combiners, and quite frankly I'm at a point where I'm either looking at Japanese-only teams or I'm double-dipping.

Speaking of double-dipping, while I was pretty set on the Devastator for my collection, another has found it's way into my hands, so I thought it'd be fun to talk about it and then later on we'll do a big showdown.  So I'm starting off tonight with TFC's Structor, their version of Scrapper.  BTW, this arrived to me with Reprolabels already applied.

At first glance, Structor's a pretty reasonable Scrapper.  He could have done with silver lats and thighs, a purple pelvis, and ditched the purple and black on his arms, and his head would have worked better with a visored face instead of those diamond eyes.  It's not too far off the mark, though.  An important thing to remember is that when TFC was releasing these guys the MP line hadn't really taken off yet, and 3P's were just starting to move from making upgrades to CHUG figures to entire CHUG figures.  While TFC's designs continue to be pretty stylized today, back then it was pretty much a given because that's what HasTak was doing.  And, aesthetically-speaking, Structor's a good fit for the CHUGs of the day.  Actually, if anything, he feels more to me like the original Classics toys like Optimus than the Generations stuff that was actually in stores at the time.

Of course, there are some ways he was like the CHUGs of the day.  Check out the hollow insides of the forearms and the backs of his legs.  While I'm griping about the design. he's got a ton of junk on his back.  He's also an odd size, taller than a Deluxe but a little shorter than a Voyager like CW Scrapper here.

For accessories, he comes with a pair of wings and a pair of guns.  Oddly, one is the same purple plastic as the wings, the other is identical but cast in translucent red.  I don't know what the thinking was there.  Maybe TFC intended the translucent guns as a bonus with the early batches (AFAIK they never didn't come with them).  Either way, I'd have preferred two purple guns.

Structor's articulation is pretty poor by modern standards... maybe it was more acceptable in 2011?  In any case, his head is on a swivel so he can turn but not tilt his head.  His shoulders rotate on pegs with a hinge that gets him 90 degrees of lateral movement.  He has bicep swivels, and hinged elbows that bend 180 degrees but no wrist swivels.  He has a soft-ratcheted waist swivel below his actual waist that's a little hindered by all the kibble on his back.  His hips move forward 90 degrees and backward until they start bumping that kibble on soft ratchets, and 90 degrees laterally on friction hinges.  His has thigh swivels, and his knee can bend well over 90 degrees as it folds over the thigh for transformation.  He has no ankle articulation at all.  Due to a joint intended for combined mode, he can also lean his torso to the side.  Now, if I buy a new 3P toy I demand ankle tilts and wrist and waist swivels.  The lack of them here really makes Structor feel like something Hasbro could have done.  Heck, even their Scrapper has ankles!  Of course, there's doesn't have elbows or a waist, so I guess Structor still wins.

He holds his guns ok, not super tight.  The pegs are a little shallow.  His instructions indicate that you should peg the wings onto his lower legs.

That said, there are also peg holes on his arms and gun you can use.

I think Structor's alt mode comes across pretty well.  The arms maybe don't hide as well as CW Scrapper's, but the additional painted details make it pop, as does the working piston on the shovel.  Speaking of the shovel, it's hinged at the where the arms connect to the shovel and where the arms connect to the front of the vehicle, so about the same as CW Scrapper.

In a very G1 nod, the wings can peg onto the back of Structor for that flying front loader look.  The cab can swivel, and his gun can peg into the hole in front, or the hole on the gun can fit the peg on the cab.  Speaking of the cab, one thing I found kind of odd is that the cab is just pegged in place.  There's no need to remove it for any of his modes.  It also has a peg hole on the back that doesn't serve much purpose.

I'm going to say it one more time, because I think this is really the core of the whole review, but Structor simply does not live up to 3P engineering standards in 2017.  I think he originally retailed for close to $100, and if you have a $100 and you're looking to buy a Scrapper there are versions that do have the sort of engineering you'd expect at that price.  On the other hand, while I don't know about Structor himself the prices for the entire set of TFC Constructicons have really come down.  At current market prices that makes him a pretty good option for a CHUG Scrapper, perhaps better than the actual CHUG Scrapper.  In that sense, I think you can still make a case for this guy.

[mikeszekely]

Moving things along, tonight it's TFC's Mad Blender, their version of Mixmaster.  Note that not only did the copy I received has Reprolabels, but it came with the default green panels on the mixing drum replaced with purple ones by Crazy Devy.  Aside from the color change (which I prefer), that won't affect this review.

Up front and aesthetically, I'm a lot less enthused with Mad Blender.  Due to his transformation you can't really have his mixing drum on his back.  You can either have it dangling from his butt or you can remove it entirely.  Coupled with the the lack of Mixmaster's hood and a nondescript, not particularly Mixmastery head the result comes off as a little generic.  I get that Mad Blender is meant to have that updated, not-quite-G1 look that Hasbro's CHUGs often do, but I really wish that TFC had done something with him to make him a bit more obviously Mixmaster.

Mad Blender comes with a handful of accessories.  There's a purple chunk that clearly goes with Structor's wings to make the combined mode chest shield, a pair of black bits that will form handles for the combined mode gun, and a pair of funky-looking guns.  As with Structor, one is purple and the other a translucent red twin of the first.

Mad Blender's articulation is in line with Structor's, which is to say decidedly CHUG-ish and poor by modern 3P standards.  His head's on a swivel with no tilt, shoulders hinged in the chest for 90 degrees of lateral motion and pegged for rotation.  His biceps rotate, and he can bend his elbows 90 degrees.  No hand or wrist articulation.  He has a waist swivel below his proper waist, and like Structor he can lean to either side.  His hips ratchet 90 degrees forward and a little less than that backward, and friction laterally 90 degrees.  He has two thigh swivels due to a fairly unnecessary step in his transformation (one I forgot to do for these pictures).  When transformed properly, he has two joints that could be used for knees.  Neither is ratcheted, and either is capable of greater than 90 degrees on it's own.  His little flip-out toes can flip back up, but otherwise he has no foot or ankle articulation.

He can hold his weapons just fine.  If you look for them, there are enough places on his body or even on his guns to plug in his combined-mode parts as well.

While I'd have preferred to just leave it on his back, TFC clearly didn't want for you to have any leftover bits lying around and came up with an alternative to having the mixing drum hanging off his butt.  Basically, you pull the drum apart and you're left with an inner stem that look sort of like a rifle, and eight segments with pegs and holes and molded details to look like little cannons all over his body.  It's a nice thought, but these sort of ludicrous full-burst modes don't really work for me (at least not in Transformers... I'm totally cool with them in Gundam).

Say what you will about his robot mode (I certainly did), his alt mode is a lot closer to what you'd expect Mixmaster to look like than the Combiner Wars version.  Not sure how I feel about the extra wheels in the middle, though.  It's not a detail that's traditionally on Mixmaster, and they kind of get in the way in bot mode, but his tires would probably look too small if the extra set wasn't in the middle.  In any case, he's got some nice details picked out in paint.

Mad Blender has plenty of places to plug in his accessories.

One thing that's kind of cool is that without accessories Mad Blender has a really obvious combiner port chilling out in the back.  However, the combined mode chest piece fits over the back and it doesn't just cover the port, it actually looks like it belongs there.  Unfortunately, as you can see the tips at the bottom don't overhang the combiner port, otherwise the chest piece might have given Mad Blender that Mixmaster hood.

I don't think Mad Blender is as good a figure as Structor, so if Structor isn't the best Scrapper than Mad Blender certainly isn't the best Mixmaster.  However, I'm still forced to make the same conclusion I did about Structor; at the current aftermarket prices Mad Blender is arguably a better CHUG Mixmaster than the actual CHUG CW Mixmaster.

[mikeszekely]

A little later than planned, but here's TFC's Heavy Labor, their Long Haul.  As with the others, he came to me pre-Reprolabeled.

Maybe Long Haul's a tougher fellow to get right, especially without partsforming.  Hasbro's own version was definitely the most oddly-proportioned (we'll leave out Mixmaster due to the odd decision to totally change his alt mode).  Heavy Labor has better proportions, but he's still a little shorter than the other TFC Constructicons, and he's still nearly as weide as he is tall.  There are a number of other odd decisions here.  The black thighs and purple shins instead of silver/green or all green, green arms instead of gray or purple, the fold down purple waist, for starters.  Maybe the fact that the bed of the truck is mostly in his arms instead of his legs.  Then there's the fact that the flatter truck nose, the dominance of the grill, and decidedly not-truck details under the grill to the fold-down waist don't lend to a very truckish appearance.  If it weren't for the head, which is a little flat on top but otherwise very Long Haul, I'm not sure I'd recognize who he's supposed to be.

Unlike other guys in the set, Heavy Labor doesn't come with any extra gestalt bits, just his purple gun and it's translucent red twin, which he holds ok.

Articulation is still less than I'd like.  Same head swivel with no tilt.  Ball-jointed shoulders rotate and move 90 degrees laterally.  Due to transformation, he's got a bit of a backwards butterfly, though, and that's nice.  Bicep swivel above the elbow, which can bend well over 90 degrees before his forearm meets the kibble on his shoulders.  Still no wrist articulation.  Waist swivel is there, but his waist flap has to be be lifted.  It needs to be similarly lifted when his hips move forward, up to 90 degrees on ratchets.  His hops can move backward or to laterally, also 90 degrees and ratcheted.  He's got a thigh swivel, and his knees are double-jointed with enough range to fold over on themselves.  Again, not foot articulation outside of his toes being able to fold upward for transformation.

His alt mode is... ok.  I guess.  Again, the nose it kind of flat and the grill dominates the front, and the fold up waist is more obvious robot part than garish purple bumper.  He's also got visible hands in his truck bed.  That said, it's still pretty obviously a dump truck, and with the extra paint detailing maybe a better dump truck than Hasbro's.

Heavy Labor's instructions suggest plugging the guns in where and how I've put the red one, which just seems stupid.  Why not rotate it so that the barrel is pointing forward?  If all you want to do is store it, plugging it into his fists help hide them and make it look like he's just hauling something.

Also sort of weird... the rear tires have different hubcaps than the front tires.

And we're back to where we were with the other two... probably not the best Long Haul you can buy, skipping the $400-$600 newer 3P offerings and comparing him more directly to Hasbro's... I guess he's an OK CHUG Long Haul.  If Hasbro's Long Haul wasn't so goofy-looking, though, he'd have a harder time competing.

[David Hingtgen]

Whoever did the Reprolabel application did a good job--they look to be about as anal as I am, about alignment/symmetry.  

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

Whoever did the Reprolabel application did a good job--they look to be about as anal as I am, about alignment/symmetry.  

That's because I pulled off anything that was peeling or too crooked. 

[mikeszekely]

Gonna move this along, new Persona came out today and if you can't tell by my avatar I'm a big fan of the series.  So here's Dr. Crank, TFC's Hook (pre-Reprolabeled).  Sorry the pics are a little washed out; one of my lamps died.

After their rather generic takes on Mixmaster and Long Haul, Dr. Crank does what Structor did, namely present as as a very Classics/Generations take on the character he's supposed to be.  Nice, flat-top head (although again we have eyes instead of a visor), purple torso, mostly green arms, and a crane on his back.  He lacks the cleaner legs of the cartoon Hook and the CW version but they're very similar to the G1 toy.  I'd have liked silver thighs instead of black and the aforementioned visor, but I've got no major aesthetic beefs.

In addition to his purple and translucent red guns, Dr. Crank comes with a little purple bit and his hook.  The hook is pretty mean-looking, but I don't think I've ever seen a crane with a hook like that.

Dr. Crank's got that swivel head with no tilt.  His shoulders can rotate.  There's a dedicated hinge for lateral movement that'll do 90 degrees as long as you swing the tire from the side of his shoulder to the front.  There's also a transformation hinge in his chest, and used together he has nearly 180 degrees of lateral movement.  His biceps swivel, and his single-hinged elbow bends 180 degrees, so his forearm lies flat against his bicep.  No wrist, hand, or waist articulation.  His hips can swing 90 degrees forward but only a little backward due to his back kibble.  His hips move laterally on ratchets, but only about 45 degrees before the tires on his hips get in the way.  He has double-jointed knees that get all the bend you could want and thigh swivels just above the knee.  He doesn't have any foot articulation.  Actually, he doesn't have any feet.

Like his team mates, there are plenty of places to peg his accessories onto his body in robot mode.  Additionally, the crane can be repositioned so that it extends over either shoulder, or removed entirely.

Dr. Crank's alt mode is right, but somehow wrong.  The crane boom seems far too thick.  The rear deck and cab are missing, although the boom does still rotate.  There is the front cab, but it sits over a more traditional truck cab.  And those tires are disturbingly evenly spaced apart.  TFC did one other really weird thing.  Note the gray fold out pegs on the side of the truck.  The one between the front pair of wheels will be used to connect Dr. Crank to Heavy Labor.  It has a twin on the other side that seems to exist entirely so that the vehicle is symmetrical; it's not used for combined mode.  Likewise, the other two pegs shown in the above picture mirror a pair on the other side.  The pegs on the other side are used to connect the arms in combined mode, but the two on the pictured side have no purpose.

Dr. Crank's crane boom can rotate and extend.  The pistons are a nice touch, but I'm not sure about the purple bits that flip backward.  Counterbalance?  Is that a thing on these trucks?  I think it's also kind of lame that the hook pegs onto either side of the end of the crane boom.  There are pulley wheels on the crane boom and the hook... I wonder if at some stage TFC was planning to attach the hook with string?  That would make Dr. Crank alone among the various Hooks in that he'd have a fully working crane then.  In fact, that other random purple bit fits over a little square peg on the pulley wheel at the base of the boom to allow you to more easily turn the wheel.

There are plenty of places to attach Dr. Crane's accessories in vehicle mode, too.  Or, you can remove them all, including the crane.  What you're left is a very flat truck, with visible robot fists and a visible combiner head.  The crane does a pretty good job hiding those things normally, though.

I'm not going to claim that Dr. Crank is the best Hook you can buy... soon, we'll be comparing the various options and I'll let you know which one I think is.  But once again, at current market prices he doesn't have to be the best Hook.  The question really is whether or not he's a better Hook than the official version for CHUG collectors, and I'd argue that he is.

[valhary]

Just pick this guy and I have to say thats impressive! 

Even having a very simple transformation looks so well thanks to almost perfect mix of sculpted, diecast and paint job 

I can't wait for the ginrai! 

Thumbs up for fanshobby!

[mikeszekely]

On 3/30/2017 at 6:20 AM, Firefox said:

Anyone know if this KFC EAVI Metal Phase 11 Stratotanker ever going to be released?

Paid a small token for the pre-order and this release date keeps postponing. Is KFC in some sort of trouble?

 

There are new pics on Weibo apparently, and per Keith himself color pics next month.  It will apparently be out before XTB's Cliffjumper.

1 hour ago, valhary said:

Just pick this guy and I have to say thats impressive! 

Even having a very simple transformation looks so well thanks to almost perfect mix of sculpted, diecast and paint job 

I can't wait for the ginrai! 

Thumbs up for fanshobby!

 

I'd kill for someone to do to that toy what KBB did to MP-10.

[mikeszekely]

I'll get my review in early today so I can play more Persona.  Here's Exgraver, TFC's Scavenger.  I guess he must have been released last originally, because he's the only one that doesn't have Reprolabels.  Makes me think the guy who gave these to me just rushed to combine them.

Anyway... he half works for me.  His shoulders are a little broad, but I think he's got the basic Scavenger shape right.  The head is a little stylized but clearly Scavenger.  The shovel can curl up on his back as pictured, or hang off his butt like the cartoon.  My first complaint is that his legs are black instead of purple, which isn't my preference but I know that some people like that for some reason.  I could forgive it, except that TFC decided to make up the purple in places where it really doesn't belong.  The biceps I can tolerate, but the big purple chest panel stands in place of a silver ironing board, which IMHO is a signature part of Scavenger's look.

He comes with the standard purple and translucent red guns, as well as a combined-mode hand and a typical TFC hand/foot connector.

Exgraver's head is actually on a ball joint, so in addition to rotation he can look up a good deal, although lateral tilt is still fairly limited and downward tilt is basically nonexistent.  His shoulders move laterally 90 degrees and rotate all the way around.  He's got bicep swivels, 90 degrees of elbow bend, and in a first for this set he also has wrist swivels.  His waist can swivel.  His hips are on ball joints that can, in theory, rotate 360 degrees; in practice his thighs will start to collide with his waist, still well over 90 degrees.  He has thigh swivels, and his knees can bed 180 degrees.  His toes can fold upward for transformation, although his heel spur moves up as his toes do in a sort of automorph gimmick that makes it impractical to use for poses.  No ankle tilt.

To minimize partsforming later, TFC set it up so that Exgraver can carry the combined-mode hand on his back.  The shovel gets in the way a little, though, but it can fortunately move to his left arm.

Exgraver's alt mode is fine.  The black bucket on the shovel is sort of an odd choice, and we've already talked about the black treads, but everything else is basically how you'd expect it.  One slightly odd thing, though, is that his cab is actually pegged into one of his fists in this mode (and transforming him requires you to leave it pegged into his hand or to remove it and peg it somewhere else, like his shoulder).  The other fist is sadly visible in alt mode.

Exgraver has places to plug in his weapons in alt mode.  His shovel can rotate 360 degrees, with a tight ratcheted hinge at the base, a friction hinge along the arm, and a friction hinge at the bucket.  The shovel also features working pistons.  The shovel is, as mentioned, pegged on and can be removed.  Interestingly enough, it fits a peg hole in of Structor's cab.

Again, to minimize partsforming, Exgraver is designed to carry the combiner hand in alt mode.  In fact, he actually looks better if he does, because the hand will fill a gap in the back of the vehicle, hiding his robot head.  And since the fingers are tucked inside it's not even immediately recognizable as a hand.

Aesthetic quibbles aside, Exgraver is the high point in this set.  He's got better articulation, less kibble, and lack the generic appearance that plagued TFC's Mixmaster and Long Haul.  I definitely think, as CHUG Scavenger, that Exgraver fares favorably against his Combiner Wars competition.

[Slave IV]

On 3/30/2017 at 3:20 AM, Firefox said:

Anyone know if this KFC EAVI Metal Phase 11 Stratotanker ever going to be released?

Paid a small token for the pre-order and this release date keeps postponing. Is KFC in some sort of trouble?

Not at all...They seem to be doing better than ever. "Keith", of "K"FC has been pretty active answering questions on the TFW forums lately. Today he mentioned,

It cant out by q2 since we have occupied with cosmos , octane , hoist , and trailbreaker .and two more unannounced characters in q2 as well will eating those spot up .but we will be sure speedup . Keep you tuned .

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/x-transbots-mm-hubcap-and-cliffjumper.1060528/page-21#post-14486132

Responding about their Cliffjumper.

He also mentioned some changes at the factory to improve on quality.

[mikeszekely]

Tonight we'll do the last member of the TFC Constructicons.  Here's Neck Breaker, their Bonecrusher, pre-Reprolabeled.

Bonecrusher is a character that everyone seems to want to reinvent, usually because they want to find some place to put the shovel blade besides his chest... which is half of TFC's problem here.  Most of the blade is on his chest, though, so he's not as far off as he could be.  There's too much black, especially on his decidedly not-green legs, and his head is a weirdly squished, but all-in-all he could have turned out a lot worse.  I'm definitely not a fan of wrapping the sides of the shovel blade over his hips, though.

Neck Breaker comes with his purple and red translucent guns, a combiner hand and connector, and a red visor.  The instructions suggest that Neck Breaker can wear the visor, but I don't see how it'd fit.  It's really for combined mode.

Neck Breaker's got the same ball-jointed head that Exgraver does, allowing him to rotate his head but also look directly up.  There's minimal sideways tilt and no downward tilt, though.  His shoulders and biceps can rotate, and a hinge in his shoulder lets it move 90 degrees laterally.  If you unpeg his shoulder, you can even cheat in a little forward butterfly.  His elbow can bend 90 degrees.  Unfortunately he doesn't have any wrist swivel, but due to his transformation he can bend his wrist down.  He has a waist swivel and thigh swivels, although if you transform him according to the instructions the shovel kibble will interfere with the thigh swivels.  His hips, knees, and his proper feet are identical to Exgraver's.  Something that I think improves Neck Breaker, though, is to flip the shovel blades down and use them for feet.  Still won't give him ankle articulation, but it'll give him a little more up/down tilt and doesn't interfere with his stability.

Like Exgraver, in addition to holding his guns he can carry the combiner hand on his back.

Maybe part of the reason everyone winds up unable to simply put the shovel on Bonecrusher's chest is because they want to make the alt mode look more realistic by including the arms that hold the blade instead of merely sticking it on a hinge at the front?  Neck Breaker's alt mode looks fine, except I'd rather every last bit of black were green, especially the shovel blade.  There's also some purple showing where his robot biceps are, and that too could have been avoided if they'd simply giving him green biceps.  In any case, the arms holding the shovel can rotate where they're connected to the front and the treads, the pistons work, and the shovel blade can pivot a bit.  Too much movement will cause it to come apart.

The instructions suggest pegging Neck Breaker's guns like this, but again there are plenty of spots where you can put them.  Like Exgraver, Neck Breaker can carry the combiner hand in alt mode.  However, it really doesn't integrate as well.  I mean, you can square it off like this and maybe tell yourself it's a ripper, but to me it never really stops looking like a giant robot hand.

And there you have it.  Neckbreaker is a fine if unremarkable CHUG take on Bonecrusher.  I might prefer the Combiner Wars version, though.

[M'Kyuun]

I like the more modern construction vehicle aesthetic they went for, but the bot modes show a lot of license, and my preference is more for G1 homage. I'm getting the complete ToyWorld Constructor set with all the various improvements due out in a couple months. I already have three of their Constructor figs, and while the vehicle modes are a bit more simplified than I'd like, overall they do the job. My set will likely remain in their individual bot modes, as i like how they look, and it'll mitigate the wear and tear they'd receive if I left them combined for extended periods- heavy figures.

I've been on a bit of a 3rd party binge lately, and ordered all five of Fans Toy's Iron Dibots. Grinder will be on my doorstep tomorrow, Soar is on a slow boat from China (Ebayed him b/c I wanted the blue chested version) due sometime between the middle of April and May, and Stomp and Cesium( new more G1 accurate version of Slag) are preordered. I have Sever, and man is he sweet. After sitting on the fence for about a year, I finally ordered Ocular Max's Jaguar, as I love Ravage, and I figure I'd better get him while he's still available. After watching a few vids, I think I'll get the Toyhax labels for him to make him look more authentic in his cassette mode.

 

These third parties are rolling out some amazing figures- wish I had the room and finances for many more of them. Too many expensive hobbies.

[mikeszekely]

Well, after I finish my Hercules reviews I'll have one other thing to review, then I'm planning on doing a big comparison on all the Devastators on the market.

I also have some Dinobots on the way, but they're not FansToys...

[mikeszekely]

Ok, here's the fun part where we stick 'em all together.  Tonight it's Hercules, TFC's Devastator.

Although modern TFC combiners like Poseidon and Hades are pretty close to Warbotron in height, Hercules is a little small for my 3P combiner collection.

On the flip side, he's a head taller or so than your average Combiner Wars gestalt.  It's worth noting, though, that he's significantly shorter than Combiner Wars Devastator, and therefore arguably a better fit.  Likewise, if you've got kits like Perfect Effect's for any of your CW gestalts that will probably reduce or eliminate the height difference.

Aesthetically Hercules is exactly what his component members have been suggesting: a CHUG Devastator.  There's not even a lot of liberties here.  There's the purple thighs (which may reference that purple chunk on the G1 toy) and the Devasator-but-not-quite head.  The biggest departure is in the arms.  Rather than have separate forearm pieces the treads on Exgraver and Neck Breaker swing down and fold over to form Hercules' forearms, an idea that they may have got from IDW's All Hail Megatron.  Honestly, I think it's not a bad idea, as it greatly cut down on the need for partsforming.

On kind of interesting tidbit here is that until Poseidon TFC's combiners used the same ports and connectors (in fact, the same ports and connectors as the combiners in Transformers Energon and the Power Core Combiners).  That means if you have any other non-Poseidon TFC combiners you can swap the limbs around.  Even the hands and the hand connectors are the same.  It's an idea that works better in theory than in practice, since the limbs aren't necessary the same size.  As you can see, Uranos has longer legs than Hercules.

Recall that visor that came with Neck Breaker?  If a Devastator with eyes isn't your thing, you can clip it over Herc's face.  It's a little thin, though, so the eyes kind of show through.

Speaking of accessories, all those little guns that came with the Constructicons combine to form Herc's gun.  It's a little frustrating that they don't tell you how, but they lay out sort of like this.  Personally, I don't really need Herc or the Constructicons dual-wielding and I don't like the translucent red, so it's going back in the box.

Herc's head is on a ball joint.  Due to how it moves for transformation into Dr. Crank it can look straight up and a little bit down but it can't really tilt laterally.  His shoulders are ratcheted for both rotation and lateral movement.  His right arm can move about 45 degrees laterally, but the left is impeded by the crane boom.  His biceps can swivel, and his elbows can ratchet just short of 90 degrees.  His wrists can swive, and his fingers are typical for TFC.  There's a base pin plus one addition hinge on the individually-articulated fingers, while the thumb is on a ball joint at the base with one additional hinge.  His waist can swivel, but  that's impeded by the dump truck bed. on his back.  His hips are basically Heavy Labor's, so he can get 90 degrees forward and laterally, all on ratchets, but again the truck bed prevents him from getting much backward.  He's got Heavy Labor's thigh swivels, but his legs can also rotate where Exgraver and Mad Blender connect to Heavy labor.  The combiner ports on Exgraver and Mad Blender become ratcheting knees that can bend 90 degrees, and the tilt in their waists make for Herc's ankle tilt.  Pegs on the gun handles fit peg holes on either palm so that he holds the guns securely.

The main challenge in posing Hercules isn't a lack of articulation, it's a problem that's plagued basically TFC as recently as Hades; the joints just aren't strong enough.  Part of that is in the hips (although they're actually better than Hades').  Part of it is that the Energon-style combiner ports just weren't mean to cope with figures as big as this (although, again, it's not as as Hades).

For all the parts integration, you can't leave the purple bit on the crank on Dr. Crank's boom, or it will stick out in front of Herc's face.  You can put it on those weird flip-out parts, though, and it makes for a neat little shoulder gun.

You can also remove the boom entirely, giving Hercules a nice club.

I wasn't as into the 3P scene back when Hercules was originally released to know if this was something that was always sort of planned or if this was done in response to fan feedback, but TFC also released an add-on kit called The Rage of Hercules.  The kit comes with an alternate head with a new angry face, another visor, a mouthless face, some shoulder extensions, new G1-style forearms and connectors, and a new gun in two parts.  Why in parts, you ask?  You may notice pegs and peg holes in various spots on most of this stuff; apparently TFC tried to make the new parts semi-usable outside of combined mode.  Unfortunately, they didn't give any instructions for how, so I'm content to say "partsforming" and leave it at that.

Here's a better look at the new head and faces with the old one.  It's different, and the differences do make it a little more G1/Studio OX, but they're pretty subtle differences.  The faces pop off, so if you want the more stoic face of the original on the new head you can, but the new faces don't fit as well on the old head.  The visor is basically the same, it's just thicker so it's both more sturdy and doesn't let the eyes show through as much.  Swapping the head is a simple matter of pulling the original off of the ball joint and snapping the new one on.

As for the gun, it's a little cleaner since it's not made up of smaller guns and doesn't have all their little peg handles sticking out from weird spots.  The handle is also built-in, so you don't need the handle pieces.  A black gun just doesn't say "Devastator" to me the way a purple one does, though.

The shoulder extensions fit over the original combiner pegs.  They were crazy tight, though; I wound up using a little silicone grease so I could get them on and off without scratching away plastic from the pegs.  The new pegs sit up higher and out further from Herc's body and add an additional ratcheting joint.  Neck Breaker and Exgraver are basically returned to their vehicle modes, and the new forearms grip into hollow spaces.  They don't stay, though, which is why there's another gray part that wraps around and locks it into place.  The new forearms have peg holes for the hands already, so you don't need the TFC hand connectors.  You can probably find some place to stick them on Herc's body, though.

Herc's articulation doesn't change much.  The new forearms have their own ratcheting elbows that have a little more clearance and can get the full 90 degree bend, and the additional ratchet on the shoulder extensions gives Herc a little more lateral shoulder movement, but that's about it.  His shoulders are a little broader and higher, so he looks a little more intimidating but not as proportionate as he does without them.  The new forearms have peg holes so that you can mount the crane boom onto his arms.  Also, since the new elbows are a little lower there's a little more room for Exgraver's shovel to hang down Studio OX/G1 toy style, if you're into that.

Ultimately, the Rage of Hercules kit is exactly what you'd want in an add-on kit.  It's something that gives you more options for Hercules, but doesn't feel like a necessity (whereas TFC seemed to deliberately screw up Uranos then bundle up the fixes in a necessary cash grab of a kit).

I'll reiterate something I've been saying about this set... when it came out it was around $600, and I don't see how it was ever worth that much short of that just being what 3P stuff cost back then.  The engineering is dated.  The aesthetics are hardcore Classics.  That said, most of the individual bots fit in great with CHUGs, as does the combined Hercules.  And these days it's not too difficult to track this guy down for $200 or less.  At that price, leaving out more expensive options like ToyWorld's Constructor and GT's Gravity Builder, and with this design, he compares most to Combiner Wars Devastator.  And when I make that comparison, he's heavier, less hollow, and sized closer to the other 5-member Combiner Wars gestalts, with individuals that aren't as G1 but often better articulated.  So while I won't say that Hercules is the definitive Devastator (you'll have to tune in over the next week to see who I think gets that title), I think there's still a strong case to be made for including Hercules in a display with other CHUG Transformers.

[M'Kyuun]

Got my FT Grinder today. Chunky beast, he is (pun fully intended). Just a really solid, well-scaled G1 Grimlock. Glad I went with these guys- they fill the void nicely, and I'll finally have all five G1 Dinobots when Cesium and Stomp release. Having two of their Iron Dibots in hand, I appreciate why Fans Toys have the reputation they have- everything about these figures shows a high standard of quality. Heck, my Grinder actually had a quality inspector sticker on it- only time I've seen that.

I look forward to your reviews of another company's dinos, Mike. Always interesting to see the differences in design, engineering, detail, and features from company to company in a similar toy.

[David Hingtgen]

Mike---Exgraver was the first of Hercules.  I think he was first by several months.  I know the last two were released simultaneously.  (Mixmaster and Bonecrusher I think). 

So the absence of Reprolabels on that one is odd.   Exgraver does have a fairly serious issue with his scoop--later figures came with replacements (I think Long Haul had it).  If you take a closeup of the base of the arm (where it attaches/pivots around the main body of the vehicle) I can see if yours is replaced/upgraded.  

Edit---here ya go:

[mikeszekely]

10 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

Mike---Exgraver was the first of Hercules.  I think he was first by several months.  I know the last two were released simultaneously.  (Mixmaster and Bonecrusher I think). 

So the absence of Reprolabels on that one is odd.   Exgraver does have a fairly serious issue with his scoop--later figures came with replacements (I think Long Haul had it).  If you take a closeup of the base of the arm (where it attaches/pivots around the main body of the vehicle) I can see if yours is replaced/upgraded.  

Edit---here ya go:

 

I have both scoops. Looks like the replacement is installed. Out of curiosity, what was the issue? Both seem fine.

I also had replacement hips for Heavy Labor. I understand the original had issues with the ratchets getting worn down to uselessness. When I received the set Herc could barely stand, so I swapped the hips with the replacement and it made a huge difference.

[mikeszekely]

On 4/8/2017 at 2:05 AM, M'Kyuun said:

I look forward to your reviews of another company's dinos, Mike. Always interesting to see the differences in design, engineering, detail, and features from company to company in a similar toy.

That's basically the reason I bought Hercules.  I mean, I definitely didn't need it.

Speaking of not needing stuff... I'm getting dangerously close to buying all of the 3P combiners.  Not all as in every character, all as in every available version of every character.  I might have a problem, you guys...  Not counting teams in progress (of which I think I have all the released members) or announced projects that haven't had any releases I think I'm down to FP's Dinoking, TFC's Defensor, and the two non-Feral Rex Predakings.  (And before anyone who has paid attention to my reviews thinks I'm forgetting a combiner in the list of don't-haves because I haven't reviewed it, I actually probably do have it and I'm either waiting for it to arrive or I have it, it's on the shelf, I just haven't reviewed it.)

[M'Kyuun]

That's dedication, Mike. The Dino combiners are more interesting to me than most of the others- just the novelty of them and the inventiveness applied to keep them looking close to the classic Dinobots while still combining is intriguing. I've never been into combiners that much- pretty much Devastator and Bruticus are the ones that I like. Thanks to CW, I have Bruticus, and thanks to ToyWorld, I'll have my Devastator in a month or two, barring any delays.  Regardless, I'll peek in on your upcoming reviews, as I usually do, and wish you the best in your endeavors to collect and review all these combiners.

[mikeszekely]

Well, before I can move on to Dinobots or anything else, I've gotta wrap up the Devastators.  And there's one more 3P Devastator... one I wasn't really willing to shell out $150 for.  I was willing to shell out $50, though, so here's MechFansToys Hercules, a KO of DX9's Hulkie.  As far as I know, there isn't much difference between the KO and the real thing aside from the KO being a little closer to TFC's Hercules green while DX9 is closer to the muted green of just about every other 3P Devy.  So, feel free to take this as a review of both unless I tell you otherwise.

One nice thing, whether you're buying the DX9 version or the KO, is that you're getting the whole team in one box.  And here they are, with Legends-class Titans Return Wheelie for scale.  I gotta hand it to DX9, they did a pretty great job capturing the Constructicons in a Legends scale.  Don't get me wrong, they're not perfect... Scavenger's shovel forms part of his torso, breaking up that silver ironing board.  Hook could use white or silver thighs, Long Haul green thighs and black/dark gray arms, etc, but on the whole these guys are a lot more accurate and much less stylized than most of their larger cousins.  Bonecrusher even has his shovel blade for his chest, with none of it chilling anywhere else.  None of them came out particularly bad, although I'd say Scrapper is probably the strongest and Scavenger the weakest.

Being Legends-scale does come with some drawbacks, though.  All six use ball joints for their shoulders, and a ball joint doing double-duty for their elbows and bicep swivels.  None of them have wrist swivels, waist swivels, or ankle tilts, and only Long Haul has any head articulation.  All of them but Long Haul have ball joints for hips.  They all do have knee hinges and thigh swivels.

All six can assume their alt modes.  Again, they all look pretty good, except maybe Hook.  His crane boom is too short and very purple.  Scrapper and Long Haul have working tires; the ones on Mixmaster and Hook are actually just detail molded onto a larger part and, where necessary, painted black.  Mixmaster's drum spins.  Scavenger's deck can turn and he's got three points of articulation on his shovel.  Scrapper's shovel also has three points of articulation.  After seeing so many Long Haul's with kibbly truck beds DX9's is nice and clean.

Hulkie/Hercules comes with just a few accessories.  There's two fists and a gun for combined mode, a black girder, and seven guns for the individual Constructicons.  Why seven when there are six Constructicons?  I don't really know, but AFAIK it's not a KO thing, Hulkie came with seven guns too (although one of them was purple with Hulkie and here' they're all black).  One cool thing about the girder is that the guns fit into it, giving you a place to stash them when they're in vehicle or combined mode.

As for the rest of the combined mode parts, Hulkie was designed with minimal partsforming in mind.  His waist hangs out on Long Haul's butt, and his forearms are stowed under Scavenger and Bonecrusher in alt mode or on their backs in robot mode.  You can even leave the hands on them, if you want.  Hulkie's head lives in Hook's back, and the boom hanging from the back of Hook's head folds up and splits down the middle to form Hulkie's chest plate.

And here is Hulkie.  He is, impressively enough, one of the more cartoon-accurate Devastators, despite only being waist high to a Combiner Wars gestalt.

In fact, Hulkie is actually only a little taller than an MP car.  

So maybe Hulkie is a good Devastator for when he's only Soundwave-sized.

Anyways... Hulkie's head is on a ball joint and can look up, down, and tilt his head a bit in addition to rotating.  His shoulders can move laterally about 45 degrees as well as rotate.  He has a bicep swivel above his elbows, which either have a very minimal bend or can bend just over 90 degrees (more on that in a bit).  His wrists can swivel.  His thumb is on a ball joint and his fingers are on a pin hinge at the base, with no additional knuckles.  His pointer finger can move independently of the other three, which are molded as one piece.  No waist swivel.  His hips can rotate 90 degrees forward or backward, and bend laterally 90 degrees to the sides.  His knees can bend at least 90 degrees.  Due to the shape of the connectors, the Mixmaster leg can swivel just below the knee which can kind of work as a thigh swivel, but the Scrapper leg cannot.  Both Scrapper and Mixmaster have joints built into them to give Hulkie ankle tilts, and you can manipulate Scrapper's shovel or Mixmaster's cab to give Hulkie's feet a little downward tilt, too.

This articulation works pretty good... in theory.  I have no idea how well-toleranced the real Hulkie was (I hear conflicting things, with some people saying Hulkie was great and others saying that he was very poor quality, so I don't know), but a big problem for the MechFansToys KO is that while most of the ball joints are nice and tight, almost every joint that relies on a pin hinge is too loose.  Practically speaking, it's difficult to get him to do more than stand at attention, although I might see what I can do about taking him apart and tightening some of those joints.

Ok, so about those elbows... DX9 designed Hulkie with one side of his forearm to be hollow.  If you have that side turned forward, you actually have a double-jointed elbow and the protruding treads from Scavenger or Bonecrusher will tuck down into that hollow space.  If you don't have his arm bent, though, that means the front of his arm is hollow.  If you turn it around so the back is hollow then you're limited to a single hinge.  It's a shame they couldn't have come up with a better design, but I guess that's too much to ask for in a Legends-class toy.

Personally, I don't really get the 3P Legends craze.  If Hulkie is an example they don't really improve on the engineering of an actual Legends-class toy but cost three times as much.  You at least get better engineering with most 3P Voyagers, and 3P MPs are often on par with or cheaper than their official counterparts.  Even if every joint had been absolutely perfect there is no way I'd recommend anyone spend $150 on Hulkie.  Heck, I've seen him on sale for $99 on occasion and I wouldn't even recommend him at that price.  For $50, though the KO version does make a fun little Devastator that's easy to mess around with and will probably fit on your desk a lot easier than the other Devastator options.  I don't see him as a display piece (unless you're really into Legends), but he can be a fun little figure nevertheless.

[M'Kyuun]

This looks like a fun little set. Can't say I'm too crazy about all the Devastator parts hanging awkwardly from the individual bots, but in a Legends sized set, they did a nice job capturing the look of both Constructicons and Devastator.   Thanks for the review, Mike.

There's something really appealing about small figures like this; I'd love to see Has/Tak make a series of chibified figures.

[David Hingtgen]

Anyone interested in FP Protector? (Rodimus trailer/armor for Classics HotRod).  Or should I just throw it up on eBay? 

[mikeszekely]

I might as well ask the same-ish, anyone looking for a Quantron?

[mikeszekely]

So now that I have five 3P Devastators plus the official Combiner Wars version the natural question would be, "Which Devastator is the best?"

It's complicated.

Let's take a look, from smallest to largest (so DX9/MechFans Toys, Maketoys, TFC, Hasbro, Generation Toy, and ToyWorld).  We'll start with Scrapper.

On looks things aren't too bad.  Only Maketoys' is really off, but Maketoys had a reputation for doing their own thing.  It's impressive, actually, how accurate DX9 got on such a small scale.  Hasbro's is the most animation accurate, but it's also the lightest, flimsiest, and possessing the worst articulation.  In my mind it really comes down to Generation Toy and ToyWorld.  Although ToyWorld is arguably a little more G1-accurate, I like slightly-stylized, stronger-looking GT version.

In alt mode, I'm again impressed by the G1-ness of DX9 and scratching my head at how far off the reservation Maketoys wandered.  With the simple canopy ToyWorld's got a G1 toy vibe going, but that makes the lack of a driver's seat/steering more noticeable.  GT delivers an alt mode that looks like it could be a non-transforming front loader, but where they really win in my eyes is how well they integrate and hide away the weapons in alt/combined mode.  That's why he's the only robot holding his gun in the bot-mode pic.

Verdict: GT makes the best Scrapper.  In a theme you're going to see more of, ToyWorld is a very close runner up.  ToyWorld's is arguably more G1 and arguably more MP-sized, but GT is stylized without going too far from the source, has the more fun transformation, looks more like a real vehicle in alt mode, and hides his weapon better.  That's kind of what you'd expect, though, given that they're the most expensive.

Going from Devastator's top to bottom Mixmaster is next.  GT's the only one who went with a toy-style head.  You could say it matches their somewhat stylized aesthetic, but it's a strike in my book.  The worst this time is TFC's, who doesn't really look like Mixmaster at all.  Maketoys actually didn't do too bad this time.  What's holding them back is the overuse of ball joints.  ToyWorld's came out pretty great.  I think they really could have run away with it on this one, but the poor design for stowing his real wheels in bot mode brings him down a notch.

It's a shame DX9 has molded wheels instead of actual spinning wheels.  For it's small size, it really nails the look.  I have no idea what Hasbro was thinking; while they're pretty gung-ho G1 on most of the Constructicons the decision to ditch Mixmaster's traditional alt mode for a front discharge mixer is just baffling.  GT did a really good job making a realistic-looking truck right down the safety rails common on a lot of Chinese models, but they get minus points for the mixing drum not actually being a whole mixing drum.  The wind up drum on ToyWorld's is a little much, but once again I feel like they really nailed that "G1 toy blown up with more detail" aesthetic.  Too bad the missiles on his hood don't really belong in this mode and have nowhere to stow away.

Verdict: Tie between GT and ToyWorld  This one is really too close to call.  On ToyWorld, getting everything to line up right so that the top panels of the cab go all the way down is a pain, and like I said the rear wheels don't stow well on his shoulders.  Mixmaster is probably the weakest of the ToyWorld set and therefore should have been the easiest for GT overtake.  But, with the mixing drum cheat and the toy-style head GT didn't really put their best foot forward here either.  Then on the vehicle side what ToyWorld has in G1-ness GT makes up for in realism and detail, so that's a wash.

Half of the Long Haul's aren't really doing it for me.  Hasbro's got really weird proportions, TFC is close but ultimately looks kind of generic, and Maketoys just veered off into crazy town again.  For a little Legends guy DX9 really nails the Long Haul look.  ToyWorld's is pretty good, although it's definitely going for more of a toy look with the black head, purple arms, and purple pelvis, and he gets a big deduction for not being able to stand well without buying a stupid add-on.  The area around his collar and shoulders is also cleaner than you typically see a Long Haul.  There's no question GT's Long Haul is stylized with his stockier (but proportionate, unlike Maketoys/TFC/Hasbro) build and the extra stuff across his chest.  I kind of dig it, though.  The stairs are like a bandolier, and I'm cool with Long Haul being the team's bruiser.  I'm also a fan of the head; cartoon silver, same dome head/visor/mouthplate, but with the design tweaked just enough so that he looks meaner.  My only real complaint is that I wish the silver parts on his forearms and the rotating panels on the sides of his lower legs actually locked into place.

DX9 and ToyWorld really come close the G1 look; the grill portions just need to stick out a little further and they'd be spot on.  ToyWorld's doesn't work quite as well, though, if you put the add on parts that helped in stand in bot mode onto the vehicle because they'll cover the bed.  Once again GT adds a lot of details like the stairs on the front that help you see him as a realistic dump truck of the huge sort used for mining, but the amount of kibble in his truck bed is atrocious.  Maketoys suffers a similar problem; the bed is cleaner, but it's missing a chunk out of the back.

Verdict: GT.  ToyWorld does pull off the truck mode better, but needing add-ons just to stand is a big blow.  It's especially unforgivable when you figure that the issues with all the other Long Hauls are basically caused by needing to form Devastator's waist, pelvis, hips, and thighs while ToyWorld uses a huge partsforming chunk for all but the waist section.  For as bad as GT's bed looks, the rest of the truck works fine and I really dig the bot mode.

Maketoys' Hook is, by far, the worst.  The green head and black face looks nothing like Hook, and Devastator's head is chilling on his right foot like a giant tumor.  GT's Hook was delayed and still somehow comes off as rushed.  There's some interesting ideas going on, but the head isn't Hook enough and the crane boom is too long for his bot mode.  ToyWorld's does a pretty good job of capturing Hook, and he even handles his rear wheels better than their Mixmaster.  The worst thing I can say about him is that the locking tabs for his various modes are a pain to keep track of and that the tolerances on his elbows makes transforming them a little scary.  Where GT's Hook feels rushed, ToyWorld's feels like the high point of their whole set.

Hook's the weakest of the DX9 set, and his half-hearted attempt at alt mode shows why.  TFC's boom is too thick.  Hasbro's doesn't extend at all.  ToyWorld's looks pretty accurate, but GT's got some nice touches like the ladders on the sides, the pistons on the boom, and the fold out stabilizers.  I'd give it to GT, but that black rear cab bugs me more than it probably should.

Verdict: ToyWorld wins this one.  It really comes down to GT's being both a little over-engineered and a little rushed, while ToyWorld's Hook was the best figure in their set with solid efforts in both robot and alt mode.

Storing Scavenger's scoop on his tummy is an interesting choice that does get it out of the way, but it omits the silver ironing board look that I think is part of Scavenger's signature style.  It's why I'm not fond of TFC's, either.  As stylized as Maketoys' is I really don't hate it.  Stowing the scoop on the arm is ok, and the proportions are rather dynamic.  ToyWorld's got a nice G1 look with the wider chest and narrow waist and full-on purple legs; shame the treads limit his thigh swivel, and he's got a big block of combiner kibble living behind his head.  Honestly, I rather like GT's here.  The proportions are a little off from your usual Scavenger and the silver ironing board is on the small side, but like Maketoys' GT's is rather dynamic.  He even has an ab crunch.

Nobody really did a bad crane mode.  That being said, ToyWorld's working treads are pretty cool in this mode, and he does the best job hiding his robot parts.

Verdict: GT, in the closest match since Mixmaster tied.  I think ToyWorld did a really good job with their Scavenger, but I do like GT's more dynamic look as a personal preference.

Bonecrusher must be a character who is easy to screw up.  DX9's is mostly ok, but too much black.  Maketoys' isn't even on the same playing field.  TFC's has even more black than DX9's.  Hasbro's actually looks the best with the flat chest and predominantly green body with silver arms, but feels the cheapest and has the worst articulation, plus the hips don't stay locked together well.  GT tried to replicate Bonecrusher's chest by making it mostly flat and painting it silver, but between the shovel kibble on his arms, the purple pelvis, the decidedly un-Bonecrusher head, and the amount of black still showing on his legs fails to make a robot that actually looks like Bonecrusher.  ToyWorld's Bonecrusher comes close, with a decent head, lots of green, and the shovel chest.  I especially like how, despite also having tread legs, ToyWorld's Bonecrusher doesn't have the same feet as their Scavenger.  My gripes really come down to his arms being too long (I don't have them fully extending in this picture), there's too much purple that I'd rather were green and silver, and the shovel sits at an angle that I wish were flatter.

Like Scavenger, the alt modes are pretty good all around.  ToyWorld's got that same problem they had with Scrapper, with the toy-style roof but the glaring omission of a driver's seat or steering wheel.  The shovel blade also seems pretty small proportionally.  It's close to Hasbro's in size, despite Hasbro's being significantly smaller in other aspects.  GT's probably looks the best with working pistons on the arms holding the shovel blade, and nice cabin for the driver, and little details like the exhaust pipe and the front grill.

Verdict: ToyWorld.  Hasbro's just feels too cheap, and while GT delivered a great alt mode and a cool robot, that robot bears almost no resemblance to Bonecrusher.  I kind of thinking not looking like Bonecrusher automatically disqualifies you from being the definitive Bonecrusher, but maybe that's just me.

Sorry that I don't really have the space to photograph them all side-by-side like their individual modes.  This should at least give you a comparative size, and if you want a clearer look at the guys in the back you can either Google them or dig back through this thread for my earlier reviews.

This is really the do-or-die portion of this post, because I doubt there are a lot of people out there who are thinking something like "Screw the rest of the Constructicons, I just really want the best Mixmaster!"  There aren't going to be a lot of people mixing and matching GT and ToyWorld to have the best overall individual Constructicons.  The majority want a unified aesthetic.  Scratch that, the majority want Devastator.  It wasn't Long Haul that trashed Autobot City.  It wasn't Hook that pounded Sludge so hard his eyes popped out.  It wasn't Scavenger climbing the Empire State Building.  That was all Devastator.

Let me start off by making one thing clear... every one of these Devastators has something going for it that makes an argument for being in someone's collection.

DX9- The only Legends-scale Devastator, and possibly the best for keeping on a desk to mess around with.

Maketoys - Still one of the best-looking Devastators you can buy, and at current market prices won't break the bank.

TFC - In terms of aesthetics and engineering, TFC's might beat out the Hasbro one for the most CHUG Devastator you can get.  He even scales better with the other Combiner Wars teams, and with current market prices is priced competitively with the official.

Hasbro - Actually the most cartoon-accurate of the bunch, plus if you're official only then he's your guy.

GT - Looks fantastic and scales the best with the majority of 3P combiners that aren't from Maketoys or Fansproject.

ToyWorld - Far and away the largest, which for some means the one that scales the best with MP toys.  With the most articualted hands I've seen on a Transformer toy, an ab crunch, and a partsforming hips/thighs/knee piece he's really one of the most poseable combiners you can get.

Now with all that out of the way, this is an opinion piece on the ultimate Devastator.  I do have an opinion on that, and I'm not going to cop out by saying they're all good.  So without further ado, the ultimate Devastator is...

Generation Toy's Gravity Builder.

This comes down to a number of things.  It's obviously super subjective, but I think Gravity Builder looks the best all around.  He's got good overall proportions, and he does it with only the hands/forearms and chest shield partsforming (and even then, those parts can be carried in bot and alt mode if you choose).  He's a good head and face sculpt, and plenty of realistic detail.  All of the Constructicon's individual guns are stowed away on/in Gravity Builder somewhere.  The individual Constructicons are about the same size as an MP car which works for my own personal head-canon scale.  Likewise, Gravity Builder is approximately the same size as the bulk of my combiner display, a display that includes every combiner from the US G1 line except for Monstructor (as of right now, only Defensor and Menasor are significantly smaller, but TFM's Havoc will replace Fansproject's M3 and if GT, TFM, or MMC don't do a Defensor in this size then there's always Prometheus).

Don't get me wrong, ToyWorld makes a very strong case for Constructor.  His arms are too long, though, and I'm not a big fan of the Studio OX aesthetic.  I'm not totally against partsforming, but the hips/pelvis/thighs/knees part that comes with Long Haul is actually bigger than Long Haul, and that strikes me as excessive.  And while his size might be a plus for some, I honestly think he's just too big.  ToyWorld is apparently working on Bruticus, Superion, and Menasor, but for the moment he towers over basically every other combiner on the market.  At that size, even with the partsforming bits providing dedicated joints for combined mode and additional stability he's still rather unwieldy.

I think we should also mention the elephant in the room.  Fans Toys, one of if not the most well-regarded company in the world of third party Transformers, released a silhouette of an upcoming project that is very clearly Devastator.  Given FT's pedigree their Devastator has a real shot at taking the crown from GT, although given their track record a complete six-member team from FT could be years away.

At the end of the day, though, this is just my opinion.  I hope that you've read my reviews and that they helped you make an informed opinion of your own, one that may or may not be in agreement with mine but is ultimately the right choice for your personal collection.  And whatever that choice is, I think it's pretty great that we, as fans and collectors, live in a time where we have so many options available to us.

[M'Kyuun]

Wow, pretty extensive review, Mike. It's cool to see all of them together for comparison's sake. Ultimately, I went with Toy World's Constructor, as I like the G1 aesthetic they were going for, and, if I'm really being honest (I am), they had me with the rolling treads on Unearth and Bulldozer. I have their Scavenger, Bonecrusher, and Hook, and I love how solid and chunky they feel in hand.  I have the full 6 figure set PO'd, and I can't wait to have them all.

Along with 3P Constructicons, I've also started collecting 3P Dinobots, and I went with Fan's Toys Iron Dibots. Thus far, I have Sever (Snarl), Grinder (Grimlock), and today I got the blue version of Soar (Swoop). Every one of these figures is a treat to behold, and even to transform. There's a fair bit of innovation involved, and the results are really clean bot modes with a lot of die-cast heft, great articulation, and spot-on G1 aesthetics in both modes. In Soar's case, I wouldn't have minded their taking a little license to better integrate the arms into his ptero mode, but FT really were going for the G1 look, so his arms just kinda hang at his sides and give his dino mode a really boxy look that echoes the original toy ( actually, the original toy's arms tucked into the body a little for a little streamlining). I wish they'd allowed the arms to tuck in at an angle to give his pteranodon more of a V shape, but it is what it is, and it makes up for the boxiness with wing , head, and leg articulation. These are the only FT figures I own thus far, but I'm quickly understanding the high regard that many collector's have for them and their products. Very solid, and two of my Dibots have even had inspection stickers on them! One last thing, my copy of Soar came with a mis-assembled neck piece that wouldn't sit flush. Also included in the box was an extra properly-assembled head and neck assembly in a little bag. I guess the inspectors look for known issues and insert the necessary fix-it parts in the box. It was the work of several minutes and my Soar was back in perfect order; this is how a company should address quality issues. Very impressed with this company and its products thus far. Can't wait for Stomp and PF Cesium (their new Slag mold).

[nhyone]

For me, only two meets the G1 (cartoon) look: the HasTak Devastator and the ToyWorld Constructor.

The HasTak individual bots are somewhat sub-optimal (YMMV), since the goal is G1 combined form.

It is even better with the DNA DK-01 upgrade kit.

For ToyWorld, the upgrade parts made available later are essential to get the G1 look.

While some people may not like it for being a partsformer, I think it is needed to get the gestalt form look proportional. Almost every other gestalt look off somewhat.

The DK-01 kit quenched my thirst for 3P versions, for now at least. We'll see when FansToys show off their version. I'm not sure how they can surpass ToyWorld, though.

[M'Kyuun]

Well, even though Constructor is my Devastator of choice, the vehicle modes are simplified, a little too much like the G1 Constructicons. I'm thinking primarily of their Bonecrusher and Scrapper, both of which would have benefited from full cabins to make them look more realistic. It's ironic that they went so far as to make rolling treads on Bulldozer, but then only gave him a convertible awning for an operator's cabin, when the latter posed a far less engineering challenge. Burden, who comes with his own quality issues (which I hope are fixed when they release the boxset this summer), is the best modern version of G1 Long Haul, IMHO. Quality issues aside, where I think they missed the mark to really make the figure shine is in the lack of functionality of his vehicle mode; how difficult would it have been to design a small set of panels to which the rear wheels would attach? These panels could be mounted at the knee and made to lock to the backs of the thighs, enabling the dumper to function as it would on a real dump truck. It seems such a missed opportunity, as nearly all the Constructors have at least some functionality in their vehicle modes, and that would have set this version above the rest for having that extra functionality. My opinion, but it bugs me when I think if only....

Until owning their Dinobots, I had only word of mouth to go on for Fan's Toys' reputation. Now that I have three figures in hand, I think I'm going to experience a bittersweet feeling when FT finally reveal their Constructicons. I'm too invested in TW, and one MP scaled Devastator is enough (both financially, and due to ever shrinking space restrictions). But, I'll bet they're going to be nice.

[mikeszekely]

Well, I think I made it pretty clear that ToyWorld's Constructor is pretty good. There's certainly no shame in going with it for your Devastator needs. Even now I'll occasionally mess with him and I'm always awed by how exists his hands are.

I'm also not saying Gravity Builder is perfect, because he's not. Just, having both in hand, I like him more.

Fans Toys is going to be issue. I haven't bought any of their stuff because they've been focused on very G1, very MP figures, abd that's not really my thing. And without any first hand experience the fervent attitude of their adherents is kind of off-putting, to the point that when they do occasionally me something that might fit it my collection I'll go with their competition (not that I have any regrets about getting Gundog!). Combiners are my jam, though, and even though I have more than enough Devastators I could see myself getting another one just so I can say I have them all. Heck, I'm close to having all the 3P combiners, period.

[Tking22]

12 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Wow, pretty extensive review, Mike. It's cool to see all of them together for comparison's sake. Ultimately, I went with Toy World's Constructor, as I like the G1 aesthetic they were going for, and, if I'm really being honest (I am), they had me with the rolling treads on Unearth and Bulldozer. I have their Scavenger, Bonecrusher, and Hook, and I love how solid and chunky they feel in hand.  I have the full 6 figure set PO'd, and I can't wait to have them all.

Along with 3P Constructicons, I've also started collecting 3P Dinobots, and I went with Fan's Toys Iron Dibots. Thus far, I have Sever (Snarl), Grinder (Grimlock), and today I got the blue version of Soar (Swoop). Every one of these figures is a treat to behold, and even to transform. There's a fair bit of innovation involved, and the results are really clean bot modes with a lot of die-cast heft, great articulation, and spot-on G1 aesthetics in both modes. In Soar's case, I wouldn't have minded their taking a little license to better integrate the arms into his ptero mode, but FT really were going for the G1 look, so his arms just kinda hang at his sides and give his dino mode a really boxy look that echoes the original toy ( actually, the original toy's arms tucked into the body a little for a little streamlining). I wish they'd allowed the arms to tuck in at an angle to give his pteranodon more of a V shape, but it is what it is, and it makes up for the boxiness with wing , head, and leg articulation. These are the only FT figures I own thus far, but I'm quickly understanding the high regard that many collector's have for them and their products. Very solid, and two of my Dibots have even had inspection stickers on them! One last thing, my copy of Soar came with a mis-assembled neck piece that wouldn't sit flush. Also included in the box was an extra properly-assembled head and neck assembly in a little bag. I guess the inspectors look for known issues and insert the necessary fix-it parts in the box. It was the work of several minutes and my Soar was back in perfect order; this is how a company should address quality issues. Very impressed with this company and its products thus far. Can't wait for Stomp and PF Cesium (their new Slag mold).

Every re-issue copy of Soar was misassembled out of the factory, blue and red. But as you've seen FT was quick on it and got new heads out to retailers, I only had to wait a few days after I got the just released re-issue to get mine. Since you have Soar and Grinder, did you swap the gold knee bits on Soar yet for the die-cast ones Grinder comes with? I did, and it isn't a huge difference but I like the piece of mind. I don't know if you're a Shockwave fan but I just got a cheap re-issue FT Quakwave, and this guy is pretty damn nice too. I got the "toon" color more or less, not the T or "toy" release in the dark purple. I'd recommend him, I couldn't stand the look of the TT one, and Quakeblast is too dark in my opinion, he's like the FT toy color Quakwave, definitely toy accurate, but not for me.

[M'Kyuun]

I got my Soar from an ebay seller, and the extra head assembly was in the packing, so I completely missed it when I pulled the box out (the packing was completely made of styrofoam perfectly fitted to Soar's box, and then wrapped completely in thick yellow packing tape. It was actually some of the best packaging I've ever seen). Anyway, I did the swap once I did find it, but haven't swapped the knee parts yet. I'm trying to be careful with the plastic ones, but if they do end up breaking, I'll go ahead and install the metal ones.

I'm a rarity, as I prefer the look of TT's Shockwave over the 3P offerings. I wish he'd been a darker shade of purple, but overall, it doesn't bother me. Anyway, I thought Shockwave was pretty well done. In his case, I prefer the animation design over the G1 toy. Of course, opinions vary dramatically over this figure, and I can respect that. I'm glad the third parties veered away from the cartoon look, as the differences between the various versions should give everyone what they want, within reason.

[mikeszekely]

I mentioned a bit ago that the Maketoys/Fansproject combiners are turning out to be subjectively too small for my collection.  Giant only lasted until I got Gravity Builder.  I've already reviewed the first two of TFM's Stunticons, and fully expect that they'll replace M3/Intimidator.  It's time to look at the guys who are knocking Quantron off the shelf.  This time we'll start with the torso, so up first is Laser Cannon, Warbotron's version of Scattershot.

Laser Cannon is a big dude.  He's a good head or so taller than Maketoys' version, and nearly as tall as MP-10.  As big as he is, and despite being a combiner torso, he's got very normal proportions, especially compared to Maketoys'.  While I did think that Maketoys' Scattershot was actually pretty cool, there's no question that Laser Cannon hews much closer to G1.  In fact, he's a few more splashes of color and some extra greebles away from Don Figueroa's art in Dreamwave's More Than Meets the Eye sourcebooks.  All-in-all, he's a good-looking Scattershot.

I'm especially fond of how, unlike Maketoys', there's no combiner head hanging off his back.  On the other hand, what's not on his back is his alt mode nosecone, which has nowhere to really attach.  This is a major disappointment.

Laser Cannon comes with a ton of accessories.  From top to bottom, left to right, we have a rifle, the alt mode nose cone, a chunk that seems to have no other use than as a stand despite having a 5mm peg inside, a trio of swords (one long, two short), a pair of pistols, a pair of axes, the combiner feet, a trio of doo-dads, the combined mode hands, and two diecast foot connectors.

Laser Cannon's articulation isn't the greatest.  It's like Warbotron tried to make sure all the joints were there, but didn't care how well they worked.  His head is on a ball joint, but the amount he can tilt his head in any given direction is very slight.  His shoulders can move laterally a little over 90 degrees on a hinge at the chest and another inside the shoulder as well as rotate, but his chest panel and and back kibble inhibit his shoulder rotation if you're using the chest hinge.  His biceps swivel.  His elbows are single hinges but only get about 45 degrees, which is a bummer.  His wrists swivel, and his fingers are all a single piece on a base hinge similar to an MP car.  His waist can swivel.  His hips can swing forward 90 degrees and backward almost 90 degrees on what I think are very soft ratchets.  He can also move his hips laterally 90 degrees on stronger ratchets, but the space between detents is fairly wide.  Four clicks will take you from straight up-and-down to the full Van Damme.  He's got thigh swivels, and knees that are not ratcheted despite molding that looks like ratchets.  The knees can bend backward 90 degrees, and forward until his knee armor hits his thigh.  He does have very good inward ankle tilts, and you can get a little upward tilt on his toes if you undo some tabs on the bottom of his feet.

Although his hands are similar to an MP cars, like many other similar hands on other 3P toys they don't use a tab-and-slot for the weapons.  Instead, his palm and fingers are molded in such a way that when his fists are closed they make a 5mm peg hole.  So, Laser Cannon can hold his swords and the rifle just fine, and even though it's just friction he can hold the axes fine too.  However, the pegs on the pistols are too short, so his grip on them is very loose.  Another bummer.  Although the rifle is actually somewhat evocative of his G1 rifle (just imagine it all in white), a dual pistol-wielding Scattershot would have been pretty cool.

All is not lost, though.  Reminiscent of the G1 toy (or Figueroa's art), you can peg the pistols into Laser Cannon's shoulders.

Laser Cannon turns into a flying... thing.  I can't say I'm super fond of it, but it's actually not too far off from the G1 toy, and he gets to the is mode mostly on his own.  There is the partsforming nosecone, but it makes up a much smaller percentage of the vehicle than Maketoys' does.  Maketoys' is arguably sleeker, but the big chunks in the middle of the back end are G1-accurate.  One thing I don't like, though is that getting him to this mode requires you to pull off his chest, transform him, attach the nosecone, then slap the chest on top as an afterthought.

Remember the stand and the doo-dads?  What you do is extend the stand, then peg the swords in.  If you open the tips of the swords, you'll find holes to peg in the doo-dads.

The pegs on the other ends of the doo-dads fit into spaces on the underside of Laser Cannon, giving him a nice flight stand.  It's a nice touch, but honestly something I'll probably never use again after this photo.  The pistols peg into the top and bottom of the alt mode in a very G1 fashion, and even the combined-mode hands peg onto the underside.  The rifle can also be carried on top.

Just like the G1 toy, Laser Cannon has a third mode where he becomes a laser cannon.  The barrel of the nosecone can even open and extend like the G1 version.  It's not the best alt mode, but neither was the original, so I guess it's a nice homage.

All-in-all, I like Laser Cannon.  I think he's a pretty good updated version of Scattershot.  Push comes to shove, I do like him better than Maketoys' more stylized take.  However, he's definitely got some flaws, and some of those flaws (like the lack of place to keep his nosecone in robot mode) are real head scratchers because they seem like they could have been fixed with some simple design tweaks.  So, while I think he's very likely the best Scattershot toy you can buy at the time of this writing it seems to me that if another 3P decided to take a crack at him he might not remain the best Scattershot you can buy.

[mikeszekely]

I'm a little backed up, so I'm just going to keep churning these out.  Here's Speed Wheel, Warbotron's Lightspeed.

As was the case with Scattershot, Speed Wheel sticks closer to G1 Lightspeed than Maketoys'.  The head sculpt is very G1 with a little extra silver and orange on his forehead, his lower legs and feet are the front of the car, and the wheel placement in robot mode is right where you'd expect it to be.  Warbotron did move some of the cockpit to Speed Wheel's knees to solve the problem of how Lightspeed's big cockpit became a little stripe on bot mode in the cartoon, but the biggest changes are mostly for color breakup- the gold on his shoulders, some gray and gunmetal on his chest, a black pelvis and hands, gray biceps, the random gray on his feet, and picking the vents on his hood-shins out in gunmetal instead of red.  Warbotron also opted to go with a darker gray and smokey translucent for the cockpit instead of a more traditional light gray.  I think I might have kept the vents red and ditched the gray on his feet, but for the most part I'm OK with what Warbotron did here.  It helps make Speed Wheel a little more visually interesting, while both toy and 'toon Lightspeed was limited to just red and light gray.

I kind of wish Speed Wheel was a little smaller.  He's nearly a head taller than an MP car.  I've said before how in my head canon most Transformers are about the same size, and that's for comparing guys that turn into robo-fish with guys that turn into cars.  Two guys that turn into cars should be even closer in height.

I'd say a bigger issue for me, aesthetically, is the kibble.  Where the rear of the car seemed to fold nicely onto Lightspeed's back that's not the case with Speed Wheel, and he's left with folded up bits of spoiler hanging awkwardly off the backs of his shoulders.  I'd feel more tolerant of it if they at least locked in place in some way, but it's all left to just flop around.  Likewise, although you don't really see it in the above photo, two gray bars are hinged to his sides, and all they're for is holding some car kibble out behind him.  The kibble doesn't even rest against his body.  I've criticized some of Maketoys' early figures as being over-engineered, but I feel like Warbotron did the opposite and Speed Wheel feels a little under-engineered.

Speed Wheel's sole accessories are a pair of guns, done in black plastic with silver paint on the barrels and hinged handles.  They're very reminiscent of what we got with Generation Toys' Constructicons, which make sense since GT is/related to/spun off from Warbotron.

Speed Wheel's articulation is mostly fine, with one glaring issue.  His head is on a ball joint with some downward and lateral tilt and a pretty good upward tilt.  His shoulders, the problem area, are hinged in his torso and inside the shoulder.  The problem is that the joint for rotation is also inside the shoulder.  So, while you can move the hinge laterally until his shoulder starts bumping his head (roughly 45 degrees, with the second hinge inside the shoulder getting you to a little under 90 degrees) his arms can't really spread away from his torso if his shoulder is also rotated.  Continuing on, he does have bicep and wrist swivels, hinged elbows that can bend 90 degrees, fingers that are all one piece and hinged at the base knuckle, a waist swivel, universal hips that get just shy of 90 degrees forward, backwards, and laterally, thigh swivels built into the hip joint that can't rotate all the way around but can manage a mostly natural 45 degrees or so, and a hinged knee that can bend 90 degrees.  His feet consist of two parts, the front and the heel.  The heel can tilt downward.  The toes can also tilt downward, and they have a joint for rotating that gives him a faux ankle tilt.

Speed Wheel can hold is guns just fine.  If you like, there are also pegholes at the top of his back for storage.

I really like the sleeker and more futuristic look of Maketoys' version of Lightspeed, but once again Speed Wheel is very G1.  He's got the divot in the nose, the right spoiler and cockpit, the venting on the hood, and he's wider at the wheels/narrower in the middle.  The darker gray paint on the cockpit is still fine but I wish they'd used it for the entire cockpit.  The gold and gray paint on the spoiler are also nice touches.  I think I'd have preferred the venting on the hood were red, though, and I'm not a fan of the random gray between the headlights.  And he still looks too big next to MP Prowl.

Once again, though, my biggest complaint comes down to kibble.  There's wedge-shaped chunks with gray paint between the front and rear fenders.  They diminish the sleeker lines of the G1 car, lines Speed Wheel still could have had if those parts were omitted.  If they served a bot mode purpose I'd let it slide, but those are the parts that just hang off his back in bot mode.  They do help keep the fenders aligned in car mode, but once again I wish Warbotron had put a little more effort into engineering a better solution.

Aside from alignment, the only other purpose they serve is to provide pegholes to mount his guns in car mode.  You can either peg them sideways, so they can splay out, or on the top as pictured.  I prefer the top-mounted look, personally.  In a nice but not necessary move Warbotron put panels in place so you can open the hood.  There's some molded detail in there that might have stood about a little more if they'd painted it, but I guess it's not worth the money to paint what is, essentially, and Easter egg.

I'd have to say that I like Speed Wheel.  I don't like the way his car kibble just sticks out behind him and I really don't like his shoulders, but you can still get some decent poses out of him and I think that aesthetically he's a really good take on a visually boring character.  As with their Scattershot, I'd argue that Speed Wheel is in fact the best version of Lighspeed you can get, but if another 3P wants to take a crack at him there's definitely room for improvement.

[David Hingtgen]

Anyone have DX9 Carry?   Now that Reprolabels has their spoiler+sticker set out, I'm very tempted.  

[sh9000]