The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[mikeszekely]

After all that, this would be the last of the RE:Master line (not counting Hellfire since he's the same mold as Wrestle).  And this would be Contact Shot, Maketoys' version of Pointblank.

So, the trouble here is even remembering who the heck Pointblank is.  I do recall the Headmasters being a big deal in "Rebirth," but the new Targetmaster characters were largely overshadowed by Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr becoming Targetmasters.  I have no recollection of the G1 toy, but Contact shot looks pretty accurate to it  In fact, that bit or red on his crotch is a toy detail.  He's just got better proportions.  And I had to check a wiki to see if he was even in "Rebirth."  Spoiler, he was, and yeah, that's kind of what the he looked like, just with a much more simplified torso and a totally different head.  The kicker is that I did watch The Headmasters, and just last year, and I still had to check a wiki before I had that, "oh, yeah, I kind of remember him" moment.  And he mostly looks like that, but for some reason Pointblank was kind of backward in The Headmasters.  The blue spoilers on his knees were on the backs of his legs, and the wheels on his shoulders are just missing.  Despite those small differences, Contact Shot is proportionally very much based on his Headmasters appearance.

Pointblank comes with a chunk of the rear of his vehicle mode... yeah, he partsforms.  I guess the G1 toy did, too.  He also comes with three extra faces, a US cartoon-style helmet, his Targetmaster buddy, and a red barrel.

Little not-Peacemaker appears to be fairly accurate.  He could use a little more blank on his crotch, and in the animation his hands weren't so obviously gunbarrels, but for a guy this small I'm not complaining.  Instead I'll admire the molded detail and the nicely-painted face and eyes.

Despite turning into a gun instead of a head, not-Peacemaker is constructed basically the same and as nearly the same articulation as the Maketoys Headmasters.  The only difference is that his head can actually rotate.  Size-wise, he's the same size as the Maketoys Headmasters, which I think is appropriate, but if you have some other 3P Targetmasters I've been reliably told that not-Peacemaker is smaller.

Contact Shot has pretty good articulation, as you'd expect from a Maketoys' figure.  His head is on a ball joint that rotates and has pretty great range for up, down, and lateral tilt.  His big shoulder pads have a pair of hinges and a swivel so they do a good job moving out of the way of his shoulders, which are set on a big ball joint for rotation and some minimal forward/backward butterfly motion.  A dedicated hinge also allows for over 90 degrees of lateral movement.  His wrists and biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbow gets a little better than 90 degrees (although careful manipulation of the shoulder pad can create the illusion that he's curling his arm all the way to his shoulder.  His hands are, sadly, the same as Cupola and Ironwill's, with all four fingers molded as one solid piece pinned at the base knuckle.  His waist swivels, and he's got enough ab crunch for a proper pelvic-thrusting pose.  His hips are ratcheted all the way around, and unlike the Headmasters his skirts move out of the way, giving him 90 forward and backward, and nearly 90 degrees laterally.  His thigh swivels are ratcheted.  His knees are ratcheted and good for 90 degrees.  Then we come to his feet, which are a little weird.  Theres one hinge that gives him some up and down foot tilt, but the foot is actually conencted to a double hinge that helps the foot slide up into its alt mode position.  Thing is, depending on how you angle those hinges, you go all the way from about 30 degrees of outward ankle tilt to about 45 degrees of inward tilt (more, if you're willing to untab the inside of his leg).

The red barrel can plug into the partsforming engine/spoiler/chunk, and the chunk can peg onto his arm.  I don't recall seeing it like that in either "Rebirth" or The Headmasters but, barrel aside, that's how the G1 toy did it.  Not Peacemaker has a transforming handle with the same grooves as most other RE:Master weapons, and Contact Shot holds it with the same tiny rails in the palms.  Unfortunately, Maketoys didn't include the The Headmasters  option of attaching him to the wrist.

You have other options, though.  You can take the barrel off of the chunk and slide it over not-Peacemaker's barrel, giving him a much less anemic-looking barrel.  The chunk can be flipped around, and it still has a gun-like weapon molded onto it.  Or, you can fold out a clip on the chunk that fits around the a tab on his back, which is the most Headmasters-accurate option.

As for the faces, you get four expressions; a semi-netural, subtle smile, a shouting face, a frowning face, and a bared-teeth grimmace.  The catch, though, is that the faces with teh eyes only work with the toy/Headmasters-style helmet.  The visored faces only work with the "Rebirth"-style helmet.  So if you want a visored frown but the Optimus ears and crest, or eyes and a smile with an antenna on a dunce cap, you're SOL.

Contact Shot turns into a space-sportscar, and... it's ok, I guess.  I remember even as a kid not caring for the "futuristic" or "Cybertronian" alt modes of the Season 3+ toys and wishing for a return to the real cars and jets of Season 1 and 2.  But I digress.  Size-wise, he's a little wider than Cupola, but similar in size on the whole. 

Contact Shot is pretty accurate to the G1 toy, including details like the little gray marks on the front fenders, headlight covers that are different shade of red, painted detail like the toy's stickers on the spoilers above the vents at the rear, and the tampoed flames in place of the toy's stickers.  He's even got a little molded divot on the roof where the G1 toy's Targetmaster gun could plug in, although it's just for show here.  Not-Peacemaker doesn't peg anywhere in gun mode while Contact Shot is in alt mode.  Contact Shot seems a little lower and a little sleeker than the G1 toy.  The other big differences are that the gunnish-think on the engine chunk is painted in gunmetal instead of left in blue, his arms aren't totally covered on the sides of the car, which causes him to loose the black triangles and some of the smoothness to the side.  Oh, and he's got a large red... I dunno, exhaust?

Oh, if you're looking for a comparison with his car mode in "Rebirth," the gun on the engine would be blue but the engine itself would be gunmetal, he'd lose the flames and wouldn't have the black triangle anyway, the blue roof was done in the same white as the windshield (perhaps implying that the windshield went the whole way to the hinge) and the tips of his front bumper would be black.  Near as I can tell The Headmasters version is basically the G1 toy sans stickers.

Contact Shot does have an opening cockpit, with a cool translucent orange dash, a molded steering wheel, and even molded pedals.  The back of Contact Shot's head is showing a bit.  Sadly, unlike Cupola, he's just a one-seater, but not-Peacemaker fits in snugly with the dash closing over his legs.

Yes, not-Peacemaker can ride shotgun in Cupola's car.

Not-Peacemaker may not be able to tab into the car in gun mode, but Contact Shot is still armed.  In addition to the gun molded onto his engine he's got two panels that flip onen and reveal... some kind of guns?  Launcher tubes?  I don't know.  I can't recall if Pointblank ever used anything like that in either "Rebirth" or The Headmasters, so it could be "that thing from that episode" or it could be just a gimmick.  It's a nice little touch either way.

If you want a more G1 look you can remove the barrel/exhaust, although there's nowhere else to store it and it exposes a seem where the legs connect.  You can take the engine/gun/spoiler/chunk off, too, revealing some painted engine parts.

So evaluating Contact Shot is tough.  He's an accurate-enough space-sportscar, which is kind of cool.  His robot mode is dynamic and poseable, toy-accurate, mostly Headmasters-accurate, and fairly "Rebirth"-accurate.  He's a good figure.  But he might be my least favorite of the entire RE:Master series, and that comes down entirely to my total lack of connectiong with Pointblank.  Unless you're a big Headmasters fan, or you had the toy when you were a kid, you probably don't care about Pointblank either, and that right there is the dilemma.  If you like cool transforming robot toys regardless of who they are or where they come from, you might like Contact Shot.  If you're really into The Headmasters and you can recall Pointblank as the tough and cool leader of the Targetmasters who showed up three quarters of the series in and you're thinking "I definitely do need an MP Pointblank in my collection!" then by all means get Contact Shot, you'll love him.  But if you're building up a collection of MP-style characters that have some nostalgic connection to your childhood, and your childhood is Seasons 1-3 plus the '86 movie, then I think it's hard to get excited for a figure like this the way you would for Optimus or Starscream or one of the other characters who figured more prominently into the US G1 cartoon, even if Contact shot is technically a better toy than MP-10 or MP-11.

[Kuma Style]

Someone in one of the Facebook groups just stated a retailer confirmed a re release of FansToys Sovereign. I completely regret having sold it so I'm buying the heck out of the re release.

[M'Kyuun]

Good luck reacquiring Sovereign, Kuma.

Concerning Contact Shot, I'm generally of the same opinion as Mike regarding Cybertronian alt modes. However, I've always liked Pointblank's. Skimming the review, I think Maketoys did a great job, and I just dig the look of this guy in both modes. Thanks for the review, Mike.

[Kuma Style]

10 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Good luck reacquiring Sovereign, Kuma.

We'll see; The aftermarket prices are just stupid so even if I decide to pass when it comes to, it'll at least be nice to have the option to get it at regular rates again. 

[kanedaestes]

Same here. Glad it’s being rereleased. I need them to rerelease the insecticons and Grinder then I’m happy 

[mikeszekely]

I have Tyrant, and I could have lived with him, but I have to admit Sovereign looks better, at least in robot mode, and by most accounts he's one of FansToys' better figures (I give FansToys a hard time, and people keep telling me I'm just buying their worst figures).  I preordered one.  Doesn't look like there's a ton of other stuff coming in March, and I have time to change my mind and cancel.

[valhary]

production samples

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

PM Prime looks like he's on a bug Hunt at Hadley's Hope!

I pre-ordered Sovereign as well. I just totally forgot about it when first released, and after market prices for it went ridiculous real fast.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Valkyrie Hunter D

[M'Kyuun]

7 hours ago, kanedaestes said:

Same here. Glad it’s being rereleased. I need them to rerelease the insecticons and Grinder then I’m happy 

I just got my Grinder earlier this year; surprised that it's already in short supply. Just got Cesium a couple months ago after a bit of a wait, and I'm glad I went with him instead of Scoria. Cesium is definitely a better G1 Slag homage, and arguably a better overall figure, than Scoria. Hopefully FT will continue rereleasing some of these highly sought figures; my experience with FT has been overwhelmingly positive thus far with my Dinobot collection and Phoenix (Skyfire).  These are dream toys come true for me.

That PM Prime looks pretty amazing, esp with that BFG. I have the Takara version from TR/Legends, and even with Takara's improvements over the Hasbro release, it doesn't hold a candle to this figure. I should add that Ginrai and Powermasters don't even interest me that much, but with PMP/Ginrai, the whole all-in-one transformation, as well as Takara's changes , differentiated it enough from Ultra Magnus to get it. However, the fact that it wasn't truly a Powermaster, with the little transforming snap-on engine dude, was not lost on me. They did it right on this guy, and gave him better proportions, and certainly better legs and feet, than Has/Tak. Pretty cool.

[mikeszekely]

57 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

That PM Prime looks pretty amazing, esp with that BFG.

Be advised that the BFG doesn't come with Power Baser (that PM Prime).  It comes with MB-09, which is the trailer for their Scourge/Laser Optimus Prime.

[Kuma Style]

 

[valhary]

is so close!

[Kuma Style]

Power Baser has not looked bad in a SINGLE PIC. That says a ton.

[Kuma Style]

Full review of Iron Factory's IF EX-26 Racing Bros is up. http://kumastyledesigns.com/iron-factory-racing-bros-review/

Overall a positive article as theese are some of my favorite Iron Factory releases to date. Here are a few pics from the gallery:

[Kuma Style]

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2017 by Kuma Style

[Scyla]

I've got a few FansToys bots in last week: Apache (Springer), Spindrift (Seaspray) and Koot (Kup). 

I haven't had much time with Apache but he seems nifty so far. Only real issues I could see is the non existing outward shoulder movement when having the arm forward. Haven't transformed him yet. 

Sprindrift is pretty cool. I hadn't planned on buying him but I tossed him into the order on a whim. I have two issues with him.

The first is paint: he needs more if it. In my opinion yellow and red plastic looks often terrible without some sort of finish to it. I really wished they would put some yellow paint on the yellow plastic. I can understand if you don't want to paint parts that rub against each other so I would loved if they picked up some highlights with a red paint.

My idea would be to paint the details on the legs and knees, the nacelles for the propellers or the head with a yellow color to give him some extra premium touch. His feet are painted but the rest of the hovercraft pontoons are not wich is a missed opportunity and none of his weapons have any painted details. On the other hand I'm not sure if this would bode well with most of the Masterpiece crowd since they seem to want the flat look of the animation.

Otherwise I like him much more than I thought I would. The transformation is actually pretty cool if you are familiar with it. Out of the box it seems a bit problematic to peg some of the panels in but after a few rounds of play I got a feeling for it.

Now to Koot. Koot is an almost perfect toy. There are some nitpicks like not enough painted details (see above). He has a bit of a backpack with flaps on the side that pronounces the issue even more. The transformation is actually pretty good (with the exception of the thing I talk in the next section) the only issue is a sliding rail that is too tight. I've heard it will get less of an issue if you work the sliding rail in.

Now onward to the big issue of the toy that might make or break it for you if you are interested in it. The front wheels have a part of the fender attached to them. The pieces can rotate a bit around the wheels but not enough which breaks the transformation completely. You need to force the flanks of the abdomen around the fender pieces which doesn't feel good. This would be a none issue if the fender pieces would rotate around the wheels some more. It really baffles me why this is an issue at all.

I'm pretty happy about Koot and I hope the they to a Blur so I can complete the 86 movie bots. FansToys Rogue (Arcee) and Hoodlum (Hot Rod) are a must buy for me now.

[Kuma Style]

Thanks for the feedback @SCyla; Koot in particular just sounds like an undisputed winner 

[kanedaestes]

I just got mine and yeah. He’s awesome just have to get used to the parts moving around other parts. My Apache is sitting in the office of my apartment building so I won’t have him till tomorrow. As far as outward arm movement many bots from different companies lack that articulation including the Dinobots so I’m ok with it 

Edited December 10, 2017 by kanedaestes

[Dangard Ace]

12 hours ago, Scyla said:

 

Now onward to the big issue of the toy that might make or break it for you if you are interested in it. The front wheels have a part of the fender attached to them. The pieces can rotate a bit around the wheels but not enough which breaks the transformation completely. You need to force the flanks of the abdomen around the fender pieces which doesn't feel good. This would be a none issue if the fender pieces would rotate around the wheels some more. It really baffles me why this is an issue at all.

I'm pretty happy about Koot and I hope the they to a Blur so I can complete the 86 movie bots. FansToys Rogue (Arcee) and Hoodlum (Hot Rod) are a must buy for me now.

Did you do the mod to Koot where they cut off some plastic so that you don’t have to bend things around to transform it?

[Kuma Style]

 

[Scyla]

18 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

Did you do the mod to Koot where they cut off some plastic so that you don’t have to bend things around to transform it?

No, I wasn't aware of that but I see how it could work.

On other news transformed FTs Apache today. I have no idea what people mean when they say he is easier to transform than Koot. To me Koot was a breeze to get through compared to Apache. It is definitely doable but its almost a full workout for the hands. I think I will have sore hands tomorrow.

The good thing is he has lots of tabs to keep everything together. There are a few important things I noticed during transformation

• From bot to car mode make sure that the torso is collapsed all the way. Otherwise you won't be able to peg the butt flap into the back of the thighs which leaves a bigger gab where you can see most of the thighs in car mode. You can transform him without that and I was puzzled on how to get the taps into the thighs. 
• Again for car mode the foot assembly actually pegs into the inside of the back fenders. To secure it even further you can peg the spoiler fins into wing pylon bits. This only works correctly when you have the hinge assembly in the foot lined correctly. This makes the transformation in car mode much less of a hassle. Took me still some time to line everything up.
• For helicopter mode it is important to slide the the thighs inward completely otherwise you get too much pressure in the leg assembly in the forward fuselage of the helicopter which makes it hard to peg everything together. 

Sans the transformation I dig him. That is not a fair assessment though. FansToys does some neat tricks compared to other Springer lookalikes. The way the legs swivel around making the underside much cleaner and bring the wing pylons that fill out the legs and car from the back to the front. Helicopter mode is clearly the superior alt-mode but even the care looks enough like Springer even if it is elongated. You can only do so much without magic. The way FansToys solved the mass-shifting of yellow shoulder armor between modes is a clever trick. 

I like Apache quite a bit. The green paint they used to paint the hood intake is visually stunning even if it is not a vibrant color. I wished they used it on other parts like the thigh area. The paint is not as much of an issue with Apache than it is with their Spindrift  (Seaspray) but the yellow plastic just looks bad without paint. I would love to have more paint all around.

To me he is clearly the best MP Springer homage that is out there. I was thinking about waiting for MMCs Saluts but lately the Masterpice lookalikes from them weren't up to the task with questionable decisions for engineering, fit and finish and quality control. From the TFW boards their Omne (Cosmos) seems to have a high breakage rate and I wasn't satisfied with their Terraegis (Trailbreaker) and the buzzard cassette bots. 

Even if a better Springer comes out (there are like two or three others planned for release) I can't see me replace Apache. He is also a good triple changer so I'm looking forward to their Berserker (Blitzwing) and Hydra (Sixshot).

[edit:] Forgot to mention that I got a broken part on my Apache straight out of the box. Nothing major; a screw head broke off in one of the shoulder blocks. The shoulder seems to be holding together just fine but I might need to replace it in the future.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Scyla

[valhary]

amazing engineering!

 

https://youtu.be/NI2NJGB9DSw

[Kuma Style]

2 minutes ago, valhary said:

amazing engineering!

 

https://youtu.be/NI2NJGB9DSw

I literally just opened mine up (got two)... it's VERY impressive just to even look at.

[Kuma Style]

Got the full review for the Iron Factory IF EX-20F Fangs of Tyrant up. Link in sig. http://kumastyledesigns.com/iron-factory-fangs-of-tyranny-review/

Full thoughts in the link but overall these are a solid set and a no brainer if you're into IF stuff in general. Here are a few pics from the gallery:

[Kuma Style]

[mikeszekely]

It's interesting how different people's tastes can be (and why, as helpful as reviews can be, you should always remember that they're ultimately the reviewer's opinions).  I was strongly considering picking up Koot, but the transformation kind of turned me off.  Really hoping X-Transbot's haven't shelved their Kup.  As for Apache, I gotta be honest, he was never really on my radar.  I think his bot mode and helicopter mode looks ok, but his car mode just looked awful.  It looks even worse to me in reviews, where it's not at that 3/4 angle.  The shoulder articulation and that transformation really just cemented my decision to pass on him.  I'm still curious to see how MMC and XTB's Springer's shake out, but for $60 I've got Big Spring sitting in my stash at The Chosen Prime, just waiting for Unique Toys' Onslaught to come out so I can save on shipping.

Anyway, I finally got my replacement Galaxy Meteor, so we can wrap up Maketoys' RE:Master line with their take on a Masterpiece-style Cybertron/Galaxy Force Starscream.

The thing with Cybertron/Galaxy Force is that the cartoon was already fairly accurate to the toys, unlike G1.  So aside from Maketoys using the cartoon's dark blue instead of the toy's black for stuff like his forearms and thighs, cartoon and toy accuracy means pretty much the same thing.  And on that note, Galaxy Meteor is very accurate to Cybertron/Galaxy Force Starscream.  His fingers are a bit too light of a gray, and he's got a similarly-gray transformation joint in his forearm, but complaining about those minor color differences feels like nitpicking.  The only other aesthetic beef I'd really have are the forearm guards.  Shape-wise, they're upside down (although they're correctly-colored, wtih red closer to the elbow and gray closer to the hand).  It's an odd decision on Maketoys' part, since as near as I can tell flipping them 180 degrees wouldn't have affected his transformation or alt mode.  The only other thing Maketoys really did aesthetically was tweak the proportions, mostly in the torso and legs.  I think these proportions are more dynamic and less squat, so I'm entirely cool with that.

Galaxy Meteor doesn't come with a ton of accessories.  We've got some extra faces, so you have three altogether: stoic, evil smile, and evil smirk.  You have an unmarked Cyber Planet Key.  And you have a rifle.  The rifle is especially interesting to me, because I can't recall Starscream using a gun in Cybertron (even though I only got halfway through it), and I know the Supreme-class toy didn't have a gun.  The Voyager-class toy had a gun, but it looked nothing like this one.

Galaxy Meteor has excellent articulation.  He's not just an improvement on the clunky Voyager-class toy (of which I have a Dirge repaint), he puts a lot of other MP-style figures to shame.  His head is on a ball joint with some upward range and good downward and lateral tilt.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets.  Then a couple of things move laterally in his shoulder; the arm itself can ratchet outward.  The shoulder armor can also ratchet outward, and the wing/guns are on a double hinge (ratcheted at both hinges) so it can further move out of the way.  You have to bend the elbow a little so his forearm guard clears his shoulder armor, but the net result is 90 degrees of lateraly movement.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows are a single hinge that probably gets around 150 degrees.  In addition to the double-hinges on his wing/guns allowing them to move out and up from his arms, they're also on swivels that allow them to rotate.  His wrists are probably his only bummer.  They can swivel, but they get caught on the forearm guards so he can't really get much more than an 1/8th of a turn.  His thumb is a straight piece on a ball joint.  His fingers are a little odd.  The index finger is separate from the other three, with a ball joint at the base and a hinge at the mid knuckle.  The other three are molded together with a ball joint at the base and a pin at the mid knuckle.  Believe it or not, he's got a waist swivel.  His cockpit crotch can actually slide up and down to give his waist extra clearance to turn.  He also has two clicks of ab crunch mid-torso.  His hips can go 90 degrees forward or backward on soft ratchets.  He's got 90 degrees of lateral hip movement as well, although I can't tell if it's ratcheted or not.  I can sort of feel stopping points, but the joints are FansToys squeaky to hear what would be very soft clicks.  He's got ratcheted thigh swivels, and ratcheted knees that can nearly get 180 degrees of bend.  His feet have a ratcheted up/down tilt, good for one click up 90 degrees down.  A hinge on the inside of his shin near the foot gives in 45 degrees of inward ankle tilt.

He holds his gun fine, but the handle is different than the usual Maketoys's style.  There's basically a square molded onto the back of the handle, and that fits a square-shaped cutout in his palm.

In a nice little attention to detail, Maketoys built little pistons into Galaxy Meteor's back that move in and out as you use his ab crunch joint.

It's not just his shoulder wing/guns that can swivel.  The guns on his torso near the cockpit can also swivel up and down.  And the Cyber Planet Key can fit into a slot for it on his back.  The key is smaller than the Hasbro/Takara ones, though, so don't expect GM's key to work with Cybertron/Galaxy Force toys or vice versa.  In any case, it's purely cosmetic.  Inserting the key doesn't do anything.

He does still have his swords, though, and they're still spring-loaded.  Instead of the key deploying them each wing/gun has a blue button hiding among the details.  Pushing the buttom will make the blade flip out.  By the way, that's not the only spring-loaded gimmick on GM.  Just like other Cybertron Starscream toys, his lower legs fold over his thighs.  To hide what would otherwise be hollow lower legs, Maketoys built a spring-loaded accordion panel into the back of his leg.  Pushing on the silver molded detail on his shin reveals it to be a button that releases the accordion panel, allowing it to stretch up and hide the gap.  That's how he gets such great range in his knee, too; the thigh will push the panel inward, but it'll spring back into place when you straighten his leg out agian.

And here's his Don Figueroa War Within-inspired alt mode.  Again, it's pretty accurate, right down to the half exposed head.  While his robot mode was pretty similar in size to G1 Meteor's he seems to have shrunk a bit for alt mode.  The cockpit doesn't open, and it appearance to be silver paint behind translucent purple plastic.  Transformation is fairly similar to the original toy, just with a few extra bits that help fill out his back in robot mode and hide his robot hands a bit better in alt mode.  Although it's not hard to figure out, I found that getting everything to tab right in the back was a little frustrating.  I've also noticed that the gap between what would be his robot shoulders and robot knees is a bit greater than on the Voyager toy.

His swords can still be deployed in jet mode, and the wing/guns can still use their double hinges and swivel to extend outward and rotate.  The smaller guns near the cockpit can still swivel up and down.  And his rifle fits under the nose.

Galaxy Meteor doesn't have landing gear per se, but four wheels on his underside do let him roll along.  You'll notice that his gun has a little wheel in it as well, so he still rolls even with it pegged in.

All-in-all, Galaxy Meteor looks spot-on in both modes and has a ton of articulation.  Because of that, I've heard it suggested that he got all of Maketoys' love and attention while G1 Meteor, with his hollow wing backs, somewhat plain aesthetic, butt flap, and inability to look up was somehow a half-finished, "good enough" cash grab.  Now that I have both figures in hand, I can't say that I agree with that.  For one, Galaxy Meteor is even more hollow.  Some of that, like his lower legs that are just hidden behind some pop-out flaps, are necessities due to transformation.  But look at his wings in the above picture... they're hollow on the back/underside too.  His forearm guards are hollow.  His cockpit crotch is hollow.  His heel spurs are hollow.  That's all hollow to save plastic.  And unlike G1 Meteor, there's no diecast on Galaxy Meteor.  So, although I don't have a kitchen scale or postal scale to weigh them, I'd guess you'd probably need at least three Galaxy Meteors to get to G1 Meteor's weight.  Aesthetically, MT achieved what they wanted with both Meteor's; it's not their fault the majority of fans seem to want that Sunbow look for their G1 Masterpiece figures.  And while the articulation is a little better on Galaxy Meteor, I think making a toy that looks like Cybertron Starscream does in the cartoon is just easier; Hasbro/Takara already did it (twice).  I often hear people say that they don't need updated Unicron Trilogy figures because the originals were already so good.  MT just needed to figure out how to get better articulation out of it.  Getting a toy that looks like G1 Starscream in the cartoon and still getting it to turn into a reasonable F-15 is a lot harder.  Harder still when you're trying to keep the price at a point where you can entice enough people who already have an MP Starscream to buy another one.  At the end of the day, even with some minor flaws, I think Maketoys put a ton of effort into G1 Meteor, and I actually think it's the better toy.

That being said, Galaxy Meteor is still one of the best figures Maketoys' RE:Master line has to offer.  I think the only reason to hold off, especially since Maketoys dropped the price from the original $140 to $100, is if your collection is strictly G1 characters.  If you can find room on your shelves for a Unicron Trilogy character, though, I'd highly recommend you give Galaxy Meteor a look, as he's practically a case study for how a little extra articulation can really bring the Cybertron/Galaxy Force designs to life.

[Scyla]

I really hope the Galaxy Force Skywarp comes to fruition (also a Skywarp from the G1 Meteor).

Need more Skywarps! 

[Kuma Style]

Can count the minutes of playtime I've had on it with one hand, but I truly think FansHobby's MB-06 Power Baser is going to be my 3PTF of the year.

[Axelay]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

As for Apache, I gotta be honest, he was never really on my radar.  I think his bot mode and helicopter mode looks ok, but his car mode just looked awful.  It looks even worse to me in reviews, where it's not at that 3/4 angle.  The shoulder articulation and that transformation really just cemented my decision to pass on him.  I'm still curious to see how MMC and XTB's Springer's shake out, but for $60 I've got Big Spring sitting in my stash at The Chosen Prime, just waiting for Unique Toys' Onslaught to come out so I can save on shipping.

 

I absolutely agree with you on Apache. Robot mode and helicopter mode look great, but car mode is the dealbreaker to me. The thing which still has me interested in MMC's Saltus is that the car mode looks passably like a car. I feel like that's the most difficult mode to accomplish with Springer, so I am holding out on everything else until after I see what the finished product is going to look like. I wish they'd hurry right along and show off some fully painted prototypes.

[Axelay]

5 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

Can count the minutes of playtime I've had on it with one hand, but I truly think FansHobby's MB-06 Power Baser is going to be my 3PTF of the year.

That is some very high praise. I can't wait to see all of your photos of it. I think I am going to have to go ahead and get in an order somewhere for this now.

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

Can count the minutes of playtime I've had on it with one hand, but I truly think FansHobby's MB-06 Power Baser is going to be my 3PTF of the year.

The minute I get the in-stock notification I'm going to mash that ship button so hard...

[Kuma Style]

4 hours ago, Axelay said:

That is some very high praise. I can't wait to see all of your photos of it. I think I am going to have to go ahead and get in an order somewhere for this now.

Yea. Full review and gallery will be up tomorrow. Dedicating the whole night to knocking it out.

[Scyla]

16 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

It's interesting how different people's tastes can be (and why, as helpful as reviews can be, you should always remember that they're ultimately the reviewer's opinions).  I was strongly considering picking up Koot, but the transformation kind of turned me off.  Really hoping X-Transbot's haven't shelved their Kup.  As for Apache, I gotta be honest, he was never really on my radar.  I think his bot mode and helicopter mode looks ok, but his car mode just looked awful.  It looks even worse to me in reviews, where it's not at that 3/4 angle.  The shoulder articulation and that transformation really just cemented my decision to pass on him.  I'm still curious to see how MMC and XTB's Springer's shake out, but for $60 I've got Big Spring sitting in my stash at The Chosen Prime, just waiting for Unique Toys' Onslaught to come out so I can save on shipping.

*snip*

You mean with Koots transformation? 

For me the Fans Hobby bots do nothing for me. I'm the complete opposite of Kuma because to me the Power Baser look unappealing from every angle. Every release of Fans Hobby invokes the same reaction from me: resentment. 

I wonder why this is. At least we should be able to agree on if it is a quality toy or not. This is probably a hard thing to do when discussing about pictures and not having it in hand. Which means at some point I need to buy Fans Hobbys Archenemy maybe this will change my opinion on their releases. For me I need to have a toy in hand to evaluate it completely. Something that looks good in images might be a complete turn-off when it feels flimsy in hand. Maybe the other way around is also true.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

You mean with Koots transformation? 

Yeah, Koot looks good to me, but the transformation doesn't look like one I'd enjoy. So I'll wait awhile, see if XTB is still doing theirs, and make a decision later.

As for FansHobby, I don't know what to tell you except to handle one of their toys if you get a chance. I never got their monsterbots, and I think they tend toward a slightly stylized, puffy sort of Dreamwave aesthetic, but their Scourge and Laser Op are both very good.

[Kuma Style]

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

Fans Hobby

Honestly, I don't really think there's an explanation needed. Outside of Koot, I'm not about FansToys stuff at ALL at the level that it seems most people are but I know for me a big part of it is that I'm a Super Robot fan first and foremost and don't like designs that cater slavishly to G1 animation which I find horrid. We're all different and that's the beauty of the community. I know I'd get bored quick on some forum where everyone likes the exact same stuff I do; it'd negate the point of even coming to it.