The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Kuma Style]

[Kuma Style]

Fans Hobby Overlord comes today too.

[Kuma Style]

[Atheonyirh]

Wee, not so wee, and FRIGGIN' HUGE. 

[mikeszekely]

Double Evil wasn't really on my radar, as I'm not strongly attached to Overlord.  But I caught another review and it looks phenomenal.  No idea when I'll be able to work it into my budget, but it's gotta happen.

[Kuma Style]

2 hours ago, Atheonyirh said:

Wee, not so wee, and FRIGGIN' HUGE. 

Yea... I'd love to get a Carnifex to break up that size gap but I legit can't make myself like that design. It hurts.

[Kuma Style]

 

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

I'd love to get a Carnifex to break up that size gap but I legit can't make myself like that design. It hurts.

I respectfully disagree.

 As good as you've made "Double Evil" look, he's no Carnifex.

[Kuma Style]

4 minutes ago, tekering said:

I respectfully disagree.

 

 

 

 

That's very nice but I don't really look at opinions and preferences as a competitive thing. As long as you like what you buy then you have the best collection that you can possibly have. /fin

[tekering]

4 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

As long as you like what you buy then you have the best collection that you can possibly have.

Of course, yeah.  "Double Evil" wasn't even on my radar -- IDW Overlord is the only one I know -- but now my Masterpiece Star Saber's starting to look a little lonely...  

[Kuma Style]

Random of the MM Caesar alt. modes

 

[sh9000]

I can’t wait to get Deadend and Dragstrip.

[Mechapilot77]

14 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I can’t wait to get Deadend and Dragstrip.

deadend's alt mode is too panelly but still looks decent.  dragstrip might be the best of the limb bots based on these photos.

[derex3592]

Guys!!! My $49.99 Transform Element TE-01 from China arrived today!!!  Isn't it the greatest toy EVER??!!   The transformation IS complex but totally worth it!       

 Yeeehhhh...Ok, take your shots... ....lesson learned....LMFAO.   Paypal dispute claim filed. 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by derex3592

[Negotiator]

Aw man. That really sucks.  Happened to me for something else a while ago. And seller disappeared.  Automated paypal kept takiing the sellers side because of the tracking number he gave.  A PayPal CS said they'll give the money back after they give seller a chance to respond again...but he gave tracking again and they gave let him have the money again. Finally I just filed for unauthorized use and the money finally came back to me.  I called CS and explained again what's going on and thankfully the rep just said " ya it's fine. " and she closed the dispute. Had some hoops to jump thru but ended ok but pain in the butt because of these types of sellers.

[Dangard Ace]

Had similar happen to me earlier this month.  Good thing I video myself opening packages showing the tracking slip and sealed box.  Uploaded the video to Vimeo, sent the link to eBay CS and the seller didn’t even fight.  Just refunded my money so I’m up a $2 red toy truck.  Yah!   Still gave the asshole negative feedback.  

 

To to stay on topic 

 

 

[JB0]

1 hour ago, derex3592 said:

Guys!!! My $49.99 Transform Element TE-01 from China arrived today!!!  Isn't it the greatest toy EVER??!!   The transformation IS complex but totally worth it!       

 Yeeehhhh...Ok, take your shots... ....lesson learned....LMFAO.   Paypal dispute claim filed. 

 

 

Definitely a robot in disguise. A VERY good disguise.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Guys!!! My $49.99 Transform Element TE-01 from China arrived today!!!

That sucks.  I have a feeling I'm in the same boat with a thankfully much cheaper figure.  Decided I want MechFansToys' Dinobots, but no one had them all in stock.  Wound up ordering Grimlock from ShowZ, Slag, Snarl, and Swoop from TF-Direct, but could only find Sludge on ebay.  I picked a "top-rated" seller and the price was what you'd expect it to be, so I didn't anticipate any problems.  Flash forward three weeks later and I've got all my Dinobots but Sludge, who's tracking number got as far as "Regional distribution center arrived" on January 20th but hasn't moved since.  And when I checked on the seller I see he's got a ton of new negative reviews, all variations on, "package never arrived."  I'd start the claim, but we're still inside ebay's delivery window.  I might order another one from another seller.  The other seller doesn't have a lot of feedback, which makes me nervous, but the feedback he's got is all positive except for two guys who say their stuff arrived damaged.

(EDIT: just checked again, and I see the listing is gone and the seller isn't on ebay anymore, so I maybe I'll get that claim started sooner rather than later...)

(DOUBLE EDIT: and I can't find anyone else selling MFT Sludge )

Edited February 7, 2019 by mikeszekely

[captain america]

3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Guys!!! My $49.99 Transform Element TE-01 from China arrived today!!!  Isn't it the greatest toy EVER??!!   The transformation IS complex but totally worth it!       

 Yeeehhhh...Ok, take your shots... ....lesson learned....LMFAO.   Paypal dispute claim filed. 

 

 

The good part is that the tracking number is on the envelope. If you can match that to the tracking number provided upon shipping, Paypal will see that there's no way a large boxed figure could have been sent that way and hopefully make the matter a slam-dunk in your favor.

[Kuma Style]

The full article and gallery for Master Made's SDT-06 Caesar and ST-05 Statue Add On is up on KumaStyle.com: http://kumastyledesigns.com/master-made-caesar-review/

The article breaks it down in full per usual but overall it's one helluva' piece. I really like that it feels like a culmination of all of the cool things that the Mega Series has brought up to now. Check out some pics from the gallery as well (full gallery is 30 pictures:)

 

 

 

[nhyone]

11 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Guys!!! My $49.99 Transform Element TE-01 from China arrived today!!!  Isn't it the greatest toy EVER??!!   The transformation IS complex but totally worth it!       

 Yeeehhhh...Ok, take your shots... ....lesson learned....LMFAO.   Paypal dispute claim filed. 

Isn't $49.99 a little too cheap to be real?

[JB0]

I think the worst part is that it is a pair of SD card holders. Too cheap to even include some ancient 1GB SD cards in the bag.

[Xigfrid]

18 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Guys!!! My $49.99 Transform Element TE-01 from China arrived today!!!  Isn't it the greatest toy EVER??!!   The transformation IS complex but totally worth it!       

 Yeeehhhh...Ok, take your shots... ....lesson learned....LMFAO.   Paypal dispute claim filed. 

 

 

Ho i am sorry for you  

I have been looking this seller and I could hardly resist not ordering the TE-01 from him. I think he sold 20ish already

[derex3592]

5 hours ago, JB0 said:

I think the worst part is that it is a pair of SD card holders. Too cheap to even include some ancient 1GB SD cards in the bag.

RIGHT! 

[derex3592]

6 hours ago, nhyone said:

Isn't $49.99 a little too cheap to be real?

Yeh, I knew it was probably to good to be true, but I rolled the dice...

[derex3592]

3 minutes ago, Xigfrid said:

Ho i am sorry for you  

I have been looking this seller and I could hardly resist not ordering the TE-01 from him. I think he sold 20ish already

guess I won't be alone in my suffering then! 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Xigfrid said:

Ho i am sorry for you  

I have been looking this seller and I could hardly resist not ordering the TE-01 from him. I think he sold 20ish already

That's a lot of empty SD card cases.

Anyway, got a package today, so reviews incoming (hopefully another one next week or the week after). One thing I got that in not going to do a full review for, though, is the Shadow Fisher SFM-03 upgrade kit for MP Ironhide.

What you get are replacement fenders and front tires, plus new screws and a screwdriver. The idea is that you're replacing the stick parts, where the wheels are attached to the fenders and sit on Ironhide's hips, with new parts that separate the wheels from the fenders.

You open Ironhide's pelvis and remove the sliding pieces with Ironhide's stock fenders and tires, the replace them with Shadow Fisher wheels. The new wheels are still plastic and look almost exactly like the stock wheels. They still tab into his butt. But instead of being attached by a hinge to a fender they're on a small silver-painted hip skirt. It's really amazing how much better he looks without chunks of kibble on his hips.

As for the new fenders, you remove the screws holding his bumper on. The new Shadow Fisher fenders fit over the tabs that the old ones would grab in van mode, then you screw them on with me screw that go through the new fenders and back into the bumper. The new fenders stay in place when Ironhide's a robot. This covers some of the gaps in his sides. And if you're wondering, the color match is good. The red plastic looks the same, although the yellow paint is a little lighter. Still transforms fine as everything fits right in alt mode.

So yeah, if you've got MP Ironhide* and you haven't picked up this kit I highly recommend it, especially as it's apparently just been reissued. For $20 is a huge improvement with no obvious downside. It's really how Takara did have designed it in the first place.

*There's a kit for Ratchet, SFM-04, too. I don't have MP Ratchet (got Voodoo's Salus instead), but presumably it's just as good as brings the same level of benefit.

Edited February 7, 2019 by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

Glad to hear you like and recommend this kit, Mike. I've been considering it for some time, and went ahead and ordered it earlier this week, so it'll be coming next week with MMC's Hellion, PS-04 Azalea, and Magic Square's Strongman. I do have MP Ratchet as well, but I figured I'd just get Ironhide's kit for now to see how it works out. I kinda like keeping Ratchet as-is, as it gives a little distinction to them, but I may just go ahead and get his kit, too. Anyway, I couldn't agree more that Takara should've implemented this change before releasing the figures. Cheers for the review.

[Dobber]

23 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Guys!!! My $49.99 Transform Element TE-01 from China arrived today!!!  Isn't it the greatest toy EVER??!!   The transformation IS complex but totally worth it!       

 Yeeehhhh...Ok, take your shots... ....lesson learned....LMFAO.   Paypal dispute claim filed. 

 

 

Awe man, sorry to see this. Your heart must’ve sank when you saw that itty-bitty envelope.

Chris

[David Hingtgen]

They could at least have given, like 256MB SD cards in the cases...

[JB0]

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

They could at least have given, like 256MB SD cards in the cases...

I expected, in true shady chinese fashion, a 4GB card that only holds 256MB.

(I have a flash drive like that. I bought it because it turns into a poorly-articulated Ravage with a blue decepticon logo. I threw it out when the leg snapped off. Possibly the worst legally-distinct converting robot toy.)

[RavenHawk]

7 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I expected, in true shady chinese fashion, a 4GB card that only holds 256MB.

(I have a flash drive like that. I bought it because it turns into a poorly-articulated Ravage with a blue decepticon logo. I threw it out when the leg snapped off. Possibly the worst legally-distinct converting robot toy.)

I almost bought that toy! Good to know I didn't miss out...

[mikeszekely]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

so it'll be coming next week with MMC's Hellion, PS-04 Azalea, and Magic Square's Strongman.

Speak of the devil.

After Fans Toys' Rouge turned out to be one of my most miserable experiences with a 3P figure to date I finally got around to selling her off.  Now the Arcee in my collection is MMC Ocular Max Azalea.

One of the big reasons I kept my preorder for Rouge was that I thought she looked the best between the two.  I think I'll stand by that.  Azalea is a little shorter than MP-28, while Rouge was a little taller.  I like her default face better than any of Rouge's, though.  Although I side with the camp that says Arcee's biceps and hands are pink and not white, the fact that there's a debate about it is due to that pink being a much lighter and more subtle shade than what Azalea's sporting.  Her shins have a noticeable point midway where the lower half is thinner than the upper half instead of having a natural curve.  Her knees have some gray joints showing, and the gray that should be on her ankles doesn't come the whole way around.  But I think the most noticeable difference is that Rouge's thighs and hips went up to her "bikini", but Azalea's thighs are a little lower and you can see some of the joints inside.

The thing with the hips, though, is that they can shift up and down like some other high-end non-transformable figures that I don't collect (but I think I've seen something like this on S.H. Figuarts).  And I think the hips exemplify the main difference between Rouge and Azalea: Fans Toys sacrificed everything in the name of appearance, MMC make a few aesthetic concessions in the pursuit of better engineering.

And it's not like those concessions are major ones.  Azalea is still a figure that very much looks like G1 Arcee.  Aside from the minor nitpicks I mentioned she's pretty much spot on.

She comes with quite a few accessories, considering that she comes in a box smaller than a lot of Legends figures.  You've got three alternate faces.  The lower lip on the smiling face could have used a little more paint, I think ,and I wish that she had a more serious face that didn't have a visor, but ultimately they're fine.  We've got two pistols that seem fairly accurate to what she used in the '86 movie.  Since her default hands are static fists with no holes she has alternate hands for gripping pistols, kind of relaxed/cupping, and kind of relaxed/cupping but with the index finger raised a bit.  On a figure with delicate hands this size alternate hands seem like a smart alternative to articulated hands, but I wish there were a few more options.  Something like splayed fingers, pointing, peace sign, ok sign, etc.  Also, the hands are made out of a softer, more pliable plastic, which is fine, but it seems to have a bit of flashing left on it.  Lastly, there's an alternate antenna, more for her car mode than bot mode.

See, out of the box she has a little white cover, not really an antenna.  I guess the thought is that if you're going to be swapping hands you can swap this part, too.  To be honest, though, the antenna really doesn't bother me and I'll probably just leave it on.

Azalea's articulation is good... in fact, as I already alluded she feels almost like an action figure.  Her head sits on a ball joint at the base of her skull that provides for rotation plus some up/down and sideways tilt.  However, the bottom of her neck is on a double hinge so you can swing her entire neck forward and backward as well as raise it out of her torso or collapse it back in.  So she can look almost straight up, almost straight down, she can crane her neck forward, she can shrink back like Rodimus just ordered her to watch Wheelie and Daniel.  Her shoulders rotate, and a soft ratchet lets her move her shoulder laterally over 90 degrees.  Her biceps swivel.  Her elbows are double jointed and can curl 180 degrees.  Her wrists are basically ball pegs, so they can rotate and they have some 360 degree tilt.  Without taking her apart to see, I'd guess her torso has a pair of ball joints, at either end of her gray midriff section.  The shape of her body limits them a bit, but they work in tandem to turn her torso like a waist swivel that can get almost 45 degrees left or right, but also the kind of bending and stretching that isn't merely an ab crunch.  She can lean to the sides.  She can arch her back.  She might not be able to swivel her waist 90 degrees into an epic pelvic thrust, but she can still be dynamic in a way that looks organic.  Her hips, as mentioned before, can drop down so that she can about 90 degrees forward and a little less backward (more if you splay her legs 45-ish degrees), and she can move her legs laterally just under 90 degrees on a soft ratchet.  Her thighs do swivel around the gray inner joint, which means they can't spin 360 degrees but you can get a little inward and about 60 degrees out.  Her knees are single-jointed but still bend until her calf meets her thigh.  Her entire foot can tilt down, her toes can tilt up, and a dedicated hinge provides plenty of ankle pivot to the inside and the outside.

Something else I'd like to point out, as it affects posing her, is that instead of loading up with diecast in the torso the way Fans Toys did (or does), Azalea's diecast is in her lower legs and feet.  This keeps her center of gravity low, so even with her dainty feet she stands well and isn't prone to tipping the way Rouge did.  Plus, her backpack feels much more secure.

You have to use the hands designed for holding guns to get her to hold her guns, but they're molded in a way that they feet neatly around the grips with her index finger inside the trigger guards.  She can also store them via tiny pegs on her upper thighs.  There are corresponding holes both on the gun itself if you want the keep the handle folded up as well as on the handle if you want the guns to sit a little lower.

The reason Azalea comes in such a tiny package is because she comes in alt mode... and it's a tiny alt mode.  As you can see, she's closer in size to Hellion than to MP-28.  I don't have her to compare with directly, but I'd say she's maybe 30% smaller than Rouge.

If I'm being totally honest, Rouge probably makes a for a better alt mode.  Azalea's got gaps in the back where her hip joints her showing, flaps on the back that try to blend her butt with her fenders but aren't entirely successful, plus like leave a lot of pink at the back that should be white.  The white on her hood is just the block, instead of going all the way to the windshield.  A windshield that sits a little too far forward, I might add.  Her exposed knees don't have that same smooth transition between the front and rear fenders.  Her cockpit's a little messy.  But, and this is a huge but, transforming Azalea isn't a horrible nightmare.  Things flow in a logical order.  Nothing feels like it has to be bend or forced around another part with minimal clearance.  It's actually kind of fun transforming her.

You can fold the handles of the guns in to reveal little tabs that allow you to tab the guns unto her rear in alt mode.  She does roll, albeit not the greatest, and her tires are rubber or silicone or something or the sort despite their thinness.  Messy though her cockpit might be she does have seats that flip out and blue paint that might be something like an in-dash display.

This is the part where I might show you how the default white antenna cover looks, but I'm going to level with you guys.  I keep my nails short.  What nail I have, I couldn't work it under the white part, so I got a nylon spudger and tried to work it in there.  And what happened was that the white part exploded off of her.  I heard it bouncing off something in the room, but I can't find it anywhere.  It's good that I wasn't planning on using it anyway, because I'll have to move to find it (which I just did last year).  I'll tell my daughter about it, that way when I'm dead and she's cleaning up this room and packing up the collection that will be her inheritance she'll know what it is if she comes across it.

So, as with her robot mode, the aesthetic compromises to her vehicle mode mostly result in better engineering, and I can absolutely live with that.  But if I do have one complaint is that only the default balled fist hands fit under the hood in alt mode.  If you're using other hands with her, like the gun hands, they'll peek out from underneath.  So you're kind of forced to remove the hands you're most likely to be using every time you put her into car mode, with nowhere to really store them except to set them off to the side somewhere.

I'm not going to come out and tell anyone that they're wrong if they decide to go with Rouge over Azalea.  If you're the kind of collector that puts their robots in a fairly neutral pose on a shelf and then never touches them again there are reasons why you might prefer Rouge.  I do still think, from the neck down at least, that Azalea looks better, and her larger size might be a better fit for some people's collections.

But, if life was a rom-com, Rouge is the girl the male lead is pining over until he realizes that all she's got is looks, and Azalea is the female lead who eventually gets the guy when he finally realizes that she's got all the other qualities he was after.  She moves better, she poses better, and she transforms so much better that you really have to wonder what FT's engineer was thinking.  Azalea is probably the best Ocular Max product I've experienced (out of her, Cliffjumper, Inferno, Mirage, Rumble/Frenzy, and Ravage).  She's so good that I'm suddenly very interested in their Springer, and I already have a perfectly good Springer.  She makes me wish Ocular Max would do Hot Rod and the rest of the movie cast.  If you like to handle your figures at then this is the Arcee you want, and I can't recommend her enough.

[M'Kyuun]

Great review, Mike. I agree that Rouge takes the prize in overall aesthetics, but that's about all she's got. In all other aspects, especially the toy aspect, Azalea is the superior figure. I think they did an outstanding job of maintaining her toon look and proportions without resorting to the shellforming of  Generations Arcee- no easy feat. It's a good transformation system, and all that articulation is icing on the proverbial cake. Messy cockpit aside, I love the look of her car mode, too. Can't wait to get my copy.

I'm also considering Ocular Max's Springer (Saltus). It strikes a good balance between the three modes, and while they took liberties with the car mode, the looks of which I vastly prefer over canon, and the chopper mode suffers a bit in the tail section, overall, it does the job. I'm just waiting for an early review to see how the engineering pans out. If it turns out to be a floppy mess like Rouge throughout transformation, I'll likely pass. However, I doubt that'll be the case.  It appeals to me already from the pics, and if it's a solid transforming toy to boot, they can take my money.

[JB0]

4 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

I almost bought that toy! Good to know I didn't miss out...

I got it for ten bucks, and... okay, it was still overpriced, but not so much so that I had regrets.