The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Kuma Style]

The full review for BadCube's OTS-14 SteamRoll is up. http://kumastyledesigns.com/badcube-steamroll-review/

This one was a fun one to break down as it's definitely a piece with its highs and lows. The review goes into good depth but overall I'd say it's a solid piece and good buy but not likely to be the last SideSwipe figure you'll purchase even if a better one is years out. Here are some pics from the gallery portion:

 

 

 

 

 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

The cleaner Countach looks superb, but ultimately it's not enough for me to kick the official Sideswipe to the curb.  I'll pick up a G2 version if it ever comes down the pipe though.  Great pics as usual Kuma!

[Kuma Style]

Hey thanks, man.. and yea I think it's a situation to where if you don't have a sideswipe this is an easy choice but if you have an official even though this is better it's not really quite enough to warrant double-dipping and trying to sell the OG at a loss unless you just plain want a better fit with the newer officials. 

[Kuma Style]

[Kuma Style]

[David Hingtgen]

21 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

The cleaner Countach looks superb, but ultimately it's not enough for me to kick the official Sideswipe to the curb.  I'll pick up a G2 version if it ever comes down the pipe though.  Great pics as usual Kuma!

It’s cleaner, but there’s a thousand little shape issues that just make it look off.  It reminds me a lot of those fake Countach kit-cars.  (Though admittedly, still looks more like the real thing than most of those kits do). 

I keep getting the impression that they mainly used a 3-view drawing for the car mode, and very few photos.  So many subtle curves are lost.  So many body panels and fairings have been straightened and flattened and simplified.  It’s like a low-poly version of a Countach.  The overall shape is right, but so many “little things” are off, that if you really know the Countach, it’s hard to shake the “something’s not right” feeling. 

[M'Kyuun]

If this puts you off, you'll be even less impressed with their take on Red Alert (Recon). Lots of liberties with the car mode. Personally, I'm not crazy about it; I think Steamroll looks much better, but there are still niggles I have with bot mode, particularly those long plain shins. It just needs some texture, or a little color- something to break up that black plank beyond the silver trapezoids at the knee. 

I'm thinking TT will likely make an upgrade for Sideswipe in the near future; he was their first MP car bot, and placing Sunstreaker next to him illuminates how far they've come with the engineering. The plus side is that Sideswipe won't need the additional car transformation, so they should be able to turn out a much more svelte bot. But, as Kuma says, Steamroll is a nice looking stand-in, and just seems like a fun figure on its own. While the wide chest of MP Sideswipe doesn't bother me as much as other folks, I think BC's solution was eloquently incorporated, as it has little impact on either mode beyond the intended aesthetic. 

That Pointblank looks lovely; never had the original, but as a kid, I used to often peruse the toy brochures that came with TFs and I remember always liking his design, both bot and car. I hope Has/Tak do the Targetmasters as part of PotP, and this guy makes the lineup. 

 

[mikeszekely]

I didn't look at the alt modes super carefully, but I was under the impression that a lot (all?) of the discrepancies between their alt modes and actual Countaches are discrepancies between the animation models and actual Countaches. Not something that will appeal to Lambo fans, but a likely hit with fans of Takara's all-toon, all the time direction.

 

[David Hingtgen]

Not for Sideswipe.  It doesn't "closely resemble the animation model" at all.   (Animation Sideswipe is not a Countach, it's barely even Countach-esque).   They were clearly going for a real Countach, they just "didn't have enough reference of the real thing".  

Even their Red Alert, while the whole back end is re-done, the front end is still trying to be a real Countach, and not 100% toon-accurate. 

There's a clear line between "basing it on the toon" and "simply didn't get it right while basing it on the real thing". 

I pray we never seen a truly toon-accurate Optimus, because that's a trapezoid on wheels...

 

[Kuma Style]

Honestly I'm at a point to where I don't think Transformers in general are for fans of cars and car models because by nature they're just never "perfect" like scale models and the like. This conversation will happen (and does) for literally every Masterpiece-scaled piece which is fine but at some point something's got to give.

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I actually took you guys' advice and purchased Occular Max Jaguar about 1.5 weeks ago but even being EMS it hasn't updated from processed in Guanzhou on the 16th. I have a registered air piece from Hong Kong that shipped out the 20th and will be here tomorrow. Very odd. Giving it a few days before shooting Planet Steel an email but overall very weird.

[M'Kyuun]

Sorry to hear about the delay, Kuma. Hopefully, all will work out, and he'll be in front of your camera by week's end. I think you'll dig him. I have him posing with my other Decepticons in my living room, and it still gives warm fuzzies to look at him. MMC did an amazing job. Of course, I must confess bias, as he's my favorite of the cassettes, and the cassettes are some of my favorite Transformer designs. Saying that, I still fence-sat for this guy for about a year before committing. Money well spent, IMHO. Love him.

I sprung for the Toyhax labels, which improves his cassette mode immensely, although he's rarely in tape mode, admittedly. Other than his neck, which is limited by virtue of the design, in all other respects he's just a very dynamically poseable figure. I think you'll have fun doing a shoot with him. I hope so, and look forward to any galleries you share. Again, best wishes to you, and hope all works out satisfactorily. 

[David Hingtgen]

7 hours ago, Kuma Style said:

Honestly I'm at a point to where I don't think Transformers in general are for fans of cars and car models because by nature they're just never "perfect" like scale models and the like. This conversation will happen (and does) for literally every Masterpiece-scaled piece which is fine but at some point something's got to give.

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Takara seems to be doing pretty well at it—-MP Sideswipe, Prowl, Wheeljack have basically perfect alt-modes, shape-wise.  Their only alt-mode compromises are generally the undersides and exhaust area. 

Again—-some alt-modes being “off” don’t seem to be a conscious decision to go more toon-accurate or to improve bot-mode looks.  Sometimes it simply seems to be lack of research/care, because for  many areas “doing it right wouldn’t affect bot-mode”.  

[Kuma Style]

@M'Kyuun Yea man; I'm extremely excited for it. Just hate that it's probably going to make me hunt down Frenzy the second I get it in hand haha.

@David Hingtgen Honestly I could see Third Parties caring less like you said particularly not having to worry about licensing with the car companies and appeasing them. I appreciate that insight.

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[sh9000]

Cool!

[nhyone]

Not being a car person, I think the car modes look "close enough". 

[Kuma Style]

On 6/25/2018 at 7:45 AM, nhyone said:

Not being a car person, I think the car modes look "close enough". 

Same boat.

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Kind of random but I got in those replacement parts for MT Cupola today... they really dohelp. The wheels aren't popping off anymore, the foot flaps click and stay in place, the tops of the feets aren't falling off... for 6 bucks shipped from MT direct and a week from there to here it's a great purchase.

[David Hingtgen]

It kinda falls along the lines of the two different styles in the MP-line:  The earlier "ultra-realistic alt-mode, bot-mode being a detailed hybrid of the best aspects of the toy and toon", vs the current "toon-accurate and smooth no matter what, even if copying an animation error".   Most of my MP's are from the 'realistic alt-mode' era, and alt-mode has always been more important to me than to most TF fans.  So a "sudden shift" away from that will make new ones look odd in comparison, and as mentioned before---if it doesn't affect bot-mode, there's really no reason not to "copy the real thing" other than a lack of care/research.  

[Kuma Style]

[M'Kyuun]

Liking him, Kuma?

[Scyla]

So I got my BadCube Recon and I agree with most of the points Kuma made.  It is a bit on the light side and a bit gappy. There where also some questionable decisions taken like painting red on black without a second coat or a white paint underneath. But at least they are a unified shade of dirty red compared to my MP Lambor who came in 50 shades of red -.-.

The toy has its highlights though. The transformation is challenging but not too difficult and quite rewarding. Articulation is good and paint is usually applied evenly. I wished they painted the details on the legs as they look plain.  I'm excited that Sideswipe and Red Alert are two different molds in my MP collection so I tend to overlook some of its flaws.

That said this Toy is like the Ikea version of a piece of furniture. They are build it with as little material as possible. Where furniture from a carpenter is made with real wood that looks a and feels massive the Ikea furniture tried to make everything as thin as possible. It looks stylish but has no substance.

This is how Recon feels for me. Everything is works and it looks good but there is some substance missing. If they made  every piece on the toy a millimeter or two thicker and the feet and lower legs die-cast this would be truly awesome.

What safes the toy is the small size where the lack of mass is not as noticeable. On a bigger toy like MP Star Saber it makes the toy feel like a shampoo bottle but for a smaller one it is o.k.

I don't know if it would made the toy better but when I compare this with my MMC Reformatted robots who are built like bricks they are just a joy to handle and feel significant and well worth the price to me.

I also need some help. The collarbones on mine have a pink hue and are not completely white. I assume due to a missing coat of paint. I need to capture this on an image because I want to try to get a replacement piece.

It seems impossible to capture the pink hue with my camera (a Sony Alpha 6000). Does anyone know how to capture the effect on an image? I appreciate any help.

 

[sh9000]

 

[David Hingtgen]

Gah, FT just showed their Stunticons (well, 2 of them) and after pointing out over at TFW how they got Breakdown's spoiler totally wrong (ironically, FT has named him "Spoiler"), and I "kept glancing over at Wildrider", I realized---they are not basing their Stunticons on the real cars.  They are going 100% toon-accurate for the cars.  That makes them a bit goofy-looking IMHO, and is the exact opposite of what I want.  

Sigh, still waiting for someone to simply do "early MP style" Stunticons.   What's early MP?   Think Sideswipe, Datsuns, and Wheeljack.  As realistic an alt-mode as possible, and the robot mode is a hybrid of the best/signature elements of the toon and toy.  Not "uber-toon-ified to the point of being bland and copying animation errors"     (because, the toon itself, was referencing the original toys, and any shape/color accent on the character model is usually a simplified version of a nifty sculpted 3D area on the toy)  

[mikeszekely]

Menasor would be the third combiner FansToys has announced, and and not a single member of any of the three looks likely to be an actual release anytime soon.  Only reason I can think of for FT to announce Stunticons now is that they're banking on their reputation to get people to hold off on XTB's or DX9's in favor of eventual FansToy's ones.

But to be frank, it isn't 2016 anymore.  DX9 isn't putting out figures like Chigurh and Sworder that are missing the MP aesthetic anymore- we're getting stuff like Richthotfen and Gabriel.  XTB isn't putting out junk anymore- we're getting stuff like Klaatu and Paean.  And the nail in the coffin is that FT isn't guaranteed gold anymore.  Phoenix was the last thing FT release that wowed me, and stuff like Rouge and Apache have just be awful.

I'm really happy with Crackup.  Flipout, XTB's Wildrider, is starting to make the test-shot rounds, and it's looking fantastic.  The price is good, and even if XTB's Menasor winds up not being my cup of tea I'm quite happy with their Stunticon cars as individual Stunticons.  For now, FT has nothing to offer me, and I'd strongly suggest they finish at least one combiner before announcing another.

[sh9000]

FT’s robot modes look too tall for my preference.  I’ll stick to XTB.

[David Hingtgen]

Rouge turned out awful?  I haven't followed it closely---what'd I miss/what are the issues? 

(Honestly I'll probably wait for like Windblade/Nautica, to buy a 3P MP fembot) 

Also, checking in on the FT Menasor thread over at TFW---it's 3x as big now, and not one comment about the alt-modes.  Every single post since mine, has been about SCALE.   Yeesh.  The one thing that is beyond pointless to discuss.  They're not even consistent to themselves, much less other characters...

It's clear the fandom cares about scale, scale, scale, and scale.  Transformation, bot mode, appearance/color/paint, are all "raindrops in the ocean" compared to HOW DOES IT SCALE TO MP-10?!?! 

(and of course----MP Prime 3.0 is coming, and that'll just reset everything again)

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

Rouge turned out awful?  I haven't followed it closely---what'd I miss/what are the issues? 

Ahem...

If you want the TLDR, though, it'd be gaps in her torso, difficulty standing, awkward backpack, and the most miserable transformation of any transforming toy I've handled (and that's coming from a guy who thinks stuff that's often cited as difficult like Sunsurge or Downbeat are pretty easy).  Worse than MP-05.

[nhyone]

4 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

Also, checking in on the FT Menasor thread over at TFW---it's 3x as big now, and not one comment about the alt-modes.  Every single post since mine, has been about SCALE.

I missed that thread. 

I like how they look in both modes! 

If anyone is concerned enough, you might want to contact their (official?) representative there. It might just work.

Scale will be an issue with combiners. Most combiners are too small, so making each bot bigger is good, IMO.

But more importantly than scale (size, really) to me is proportion. I've not seen a combiner with good proportions. Constructor is passable (except for his giant forearms), and it was done with extra parts. (I don't mind it at all.)

[technoblue]

Yeah. Rouge is frustrating. The wheel locking mechanism doesn’t always work, meaning that you will be fighting with it while transforming her to alt mode. Tansforming her shoulder pauldrons is convoluted rather than intuitive. Also, her playability is made worse by a poorly thought out swappable chest gimmick. I don’t know what FansToys was thinking with that one.

Each die-cast chest piece has two tiny plastic screw mounts to connect to her skeleton/frame. The problem is that the tolerances for these plastic pieces are off creating a tight fit in bot mode. If one is unable to transform Rouge exactly right, the paint will flake off as the chest rubs against her lower abdomen—not fun.

On my copy, the toon-accurate chest lost the most paint. 

As an aside, FansToys went all in on a more humanoid look, which to me isn’t really Arcee. I was hoping for more of a robot look. I was surprised how there wasn’t really a balance of options this time. Oh well. Most of FT’s movie bots have been disappointing me. I completely understand where @mikeszekely is coming from now.

Edited June 30, 2018 by technoblue

[Kuma Style]

@M'Kyuun Ref Jaguar: Honestly I really like it but those damned hip rockets are SCARY.

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Details for this one in terms of price and release are going to be updated on AgesThree and Up but FPJ is continuing on with their Causality Recolors with the 2nd piece, K-Bone. This is a repaint of T-Bone from their Intimidator set but it has added female pegs on the torso so that it can face either way on the leg in combined mode (replacement parts will come later for Kar Krash to do the same later.)

I did a write up on my site but here are the pics:

 

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

[JB0]

The chubby one in the bottom-right is ADORABLE.

[M'Kyuun]

Kuma, and anyone else who owns Ocular Max Jaguar, be aware that the front paws are intended to be slid off their pegs during transformation, as the pegs are 'T' shaped, and can break under the stress of snapping them on and off. There was a warning in my instructions calling this out, and I thought I'd pass it along.

I can also recommend the Toyhax/Repro labels for this guy, as it adds much needed detail, especially in his cassette mode. I found him to be too plain straight out of the box. One caveat if you do; the rotating plates behind his shoulders can rub against the decals, as the tolerances are pretty tight, so patience and care are requisite. Worth it though, IMHO.

I can also recommend Furor and the red cassette dude (forgot his name). Just a really solid figure with lots of articulation, a decently complex transformation for a figure this size, and looks good (better in scale) next to his MP brethren. MMC did a great job with it. Can't say I feel the same about Volture and Buzzard, although they're ok. I'm not crazy about their feet/legs, and the wingtips are held together by tiny magnets, which have a tendency to fall off on mine. I've had to glue several in place on my copies. The joints on mine aren't the tightest, either. While Jaguar and Furor feel like premium toys in hand, I can't say the same for the condors.

Edit: And by way of confirmation, the MP cassettes are the same size as the original G1- they can all fit in both G1 Soundwave and his MP counterpart. By extension, it stands to reason that they all fit in G1 Blaster as well. Sadly, Has/Tak made neither Titans Return Blaster's nor Soundwave's chests compatible with the cassettes as they should sit normally. You can, however, slide them into the cavernous slot in their chests intended for the gadget bots, which were designed to replace the anachronistic cassettes. IMHO, it's a really unfortunate lost opportunity to make these new figs cross-compatible and utilize one of the coolest gimmicks in the franchise.

Edited July 2, 2018 by M'Kyuun

[Kurisama]

So the 3rd-party "Renegade" (Not-Cybertronian-Starscream) has only 12 days left.

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on these, seeing as I know the guy who designed the figure. Support a fellow Macrossworld-er!

https://maastoys.com/projects/air-soldiers/

Remember if you pledge, you pay after the target and date have both been met. I'd dearly love to have one on my shelf.

PS. It does a decent gerwalk. No official pics yet.

[mikeszekely]

11 minutes ago, Kurisama said:

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on these, seeing as I know the guy who designed the figure. Support a fellow Macrossworld-er!

I mean, I dig the designs.  I think the designer struck a good balance that believably reconciles the cartoon's pyramidal alt-modes the Seekers had on Cybertron with the obviously unchanged "I turn into an F-15" robot modes.  I'm just not sure how it'd fit into my collection at this point.

That said, I'd love to write a review here, if they'd send me a test shot (not looking for a handout, I'd be more than happy to send any hypothetic review sample on to another reviewer after and buy my own copy if I like it).