The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Kuma Style]

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Kuma Style

[mikeszekely]

I didn't even realize that Maketoys did that mold in Powered Convoy/Delta Magnus colors.  And I was just thinking that I hadn't see any pictures from you lately, @Kuma Style.  Hopefully you've just been busy with other things, but I was a little concerned.  This is 2020, after all...

[Kuma Style]

43 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I didn't even realize that Maketoys did that mold in Powered Convoy/Delta Magnus colors.  And I was just thinking that I hadn't see any pictures from you lately, @Kuma Style.  Hopefully you've just been busy with other things, but I was a little concerned.  This is 2020, after all...

Oh thanks for the concern but honestly haven't been active much with this stuff because things are so GOOD. New home bought over the summer and just tons of working on projects, staying fit and being out and about with friends/family, hunting/fishing/camping/shooting, etc. etc.. I can say I was hardly inside of my house this summer even if I was at home. Hell I even bought a telescope recently for the upstairs deck and have gotten into star gazing.

I think I've officially decided to be a "seasonal" collector at best. I'll still preorder and buy year round but it's really hard to commit to sitting up on a computer doing this stuff when I could frankly be doing things more productive. Love the communities and those in it but perspective on it all and the type of "involvement" I want to have has definitely changed.

And hope you've been well too, man. You're a great contributor and your reviews are frankly one of my favorite parts about having visited this forum.

Edit: OH, it using the gento mold is just a one-off that I'm hoping can get produced one day but... Maketoys.

Edited September 30, 2020 by Kuma Style

[mikeszekely]

46 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

Oh thanks for the concern but honestly haven't been active much with this stuff because things are so GOOD. New home bought over the summer and just tons of working on projects, staying fit and being out and about with friends/family, hunting/fishing/camping/shooting, etc. etc.. I can say I was hardly inside of my house this summer even if I was at home. Hell I even bought a telescope recently for the upstairs deck and have gotten into star gazing.

I think I've officially decided to be a "seasonal" collector at best. I'll still preorder and buy year round but it's really hard to commit to sitting up on a computer doing this stuff when I could frankly be doing things more productive. Love the communities and those in it but perspective on it all and the type of "involvement" I want to have has definitely changed.

And hope you've been well too, man.

Congrats on the house!

I don't think I've kept as busy as you, but I honestly can't complain.  The whole COVID thing hasn't impacted my family as badly as a lot of other people we know, and I was at least able to take my daughter to Lake Pymatuning this summer.  It was a big deal for me, because I used to go there every summer when I was a kid and I loved sharing that experience with my own kid.  Plus it was her first time swimming in anything besides a pool.

49 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

You're a great contributor and your reviews are frankly one of my favorite parts about having visited this forum.

Thanks for the kind words.

50 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

but... Maketoys.

Yeah. 

[twich]

On 9/21/2020 at 9:11 AM, ghostryder said:

Is this the one yougot? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Transformers-Robot-Formers-MP-11-Amplified-Model-F11-C-Thundercracker-Toy-12-H/193211589360?hash=item2cfc4ee2f0:g:d7YAAOSwm2pd0ArI

I was curious if the knees and feet look like the pics in the auction, which more or less match the MP-11 mold.  The Robot Hero version has closed of knee joints and minor changes to the feet.  Maybe these are recolors of the Tanaka OS MP-11, which is a direct OS of MP-11 and slightly smaller than the Robot Hero.

Yes, that is the same one   My son has a KO MP-11 skywarp and they are exactly the same as far as structures go for the legs.  Sorry it took so long to answer, 6, 12-hour shifts in a row tends to detach me from reality.

Twich

[Kuma Style]

11 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Congrats on the house!

I don't think I've kept as busy as you, but I honestly can't complain.  The whole COVID thing hasn't impacted my family as badly as a lot of other people we know, and I was at least able to take my daughter to Lake Pymatuning this summer.  It was a big deal for me, because I used to go there every summer when I was a kid and I loved sharing that experience with my own kid.  Plus it was her first time swimming in anything besides a pool.

Thanks for the kind words.

Yeah. 

- TY man. It's nice to finally be in that "dream" home and learn quite a bit as we do these projects and the like. It's just great.

 

- I'm glad that you got to have a relatively normal summer. The thing that honestly hit me the hardest was the gyms being closed from late March through late June. I'm someone to where fitness is a huge part of my life so that really messed me up, lol and I guess since I wonder if I've been subconsciously working double time trying to get back what was lost asap. First world problems though, I know.

For both my wife and myself though there was no job loss and the like so honestly really no complaints. I'm well past hanging out at bars and only went to theater for major features so my day to day wasn't too thrown off outside of gym. It was bizarre walking and driving past so many empty businesses, though.

- Credit where due, man!

- Ref "them" - I know of some planned re release type stuff that should make people happy but I'm more concerned with all of the new stuff teased coming to fruition. 

[mark-1s]

Dream Star (never heard of them) is making their own "stylized" version of Superion. So far I'm really liking it, but still need to see more pics of the individual bots and their alt modes. Silverbolt has a lot of under-junk.

  https://news.tfw2005.com/2020/09/30/dream-star-toys-g1-superion-aerialbots-gray-prototype-420916

Edited October 1, 2020 by mark-1s
lol "Thunderbolt"

[Dobber]

Whoa! That looks pretty cool. The F-4 in particular looks really nice!

Chris

[tekering]

4 hours ago, mark-1s said:

Thunderbolt has a lot of under-junk.

Silverbolt, yeah.  The others look like better jets, but it's the combined gestalt I'm really taken by.  

[mikeszekely]

So I'm the last one to get really hyped about a Fans Toys product... but Thomas arrived at my retailer, and I should have him in hand early next week.  Can't wait to see how he fares against The Captain.

[mark-1s]

59 minutes ago, tekering said:

Silverbolt, yeah.  The others look like better jets, but it's the combined gestalt I'm really taken by.  

"Thunderbolt" facepalm. I guess I had a brainfart. Thx!

[sh9000]

Those Aerialbots look cool in both modes.  It’s how I would imagine post Bumblebee movie style Aerialbots to look.

Edited October 1, 2020 by sh9000

[M'Kyuun]

Poor Silverbolt; he is forever resigned to be a bot with an airplane on his back. I'd love to see someone do a version of him where he becomes the plane instead of hang gliding under it. The other jets look pretty good. The Harrier looks nice. Their F-15 looks better than a certain recently revealed fig that's garnering a lot of talk in the official TF thread.

[JB0]

43 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Poor Silverbolt; he is forever resigned to be a bot with an airplane on his back.

At least with Silverbolt they have an excuse. A Concorde's little more than a pencil with wings.

Some of the OTHER hang-gliding robots that've come out over the years have no such excuse.

 

[technoblue]

I like the stylized bots, and the F-4 and F-16, but something seems off with the rest (especially the taper of the Concorde's nose). The nose-up look should have a different slope top and bottom. It shouldn't look that much like a pencil.

Sadly, the prototype as it is right now is drawing my eyes to the flaws.

[Chronocidal]

That F-16 has issues though.. that's.. like a cartoon SD version.  Reminds me a little of that old GI Joe toy with the flip-down handle that projected targets on the wall.

The other three don't look bad, but seriously, when is someone going to just put Silverbolt out of his misery, and use an XB-70 as the alt mode?  Every single freaking Silverbolt I've ever seen has been an utter disaster of a robot that turns into a box strapped to an airplane that folds up into a different box.  It's like hanging two different pictures on either side of a revolving wall.  

[Kuma Style]

7 hours ago, mark-1s said:

Dream Star (never heard of them) is making their own "stylized" version of Superion. So far I'm really liking it, but still need to see more pics of the individual bots and their alt modes. Silverbolt has a lot of under-junk.

Looks incredible. For me that's a perfect mixture of real and stylization all around.

-------------

 

 

[JB0]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

The other three don't look bad, but seriously, when is someone going to just put Silverbolt out of his misery, and use an XB-70 as the alt mode?  

Seriously. An XB-70 would give them a place to store parts AND make him match the rest of the team, while still retaining the general lines of plane mode.

[Froy]

10 hours ago, mark-1s said:

Dream Star (never heard of them) is making their own "stylized" version of Superion. So far I'm really liking it, but still need to see more pics of the individual bots and their alt modes. Silverbolt has a lot of under-junk.

  https://news.tfw2005.com/2020/09/30/dream-star-toys-g1-superion-aerialbots-gray-prototype-420916

[Scyla]

I‘m a big fan of FansToys Maverick, while not a perfect Concorde they did an admirable job at cleaning up the underside.

The only thing missing is a panel to hide the thighs and a correctly done nosecone. 
 

[Mechapilot77]

DST superion - i like it a lot.  the planes look "good enough" for me (yes there are for sure inaccuracies which i will not go into because i'm not as familiar with them as some others) in that they have minimal (for a TF) underside kibble apparently.  silverbolt is well...at least this time more forgivable.  this guy needs the bulk.  he's not a "pants former" like zeta or FT's.  that's why he is so bulky (i mean look at that bot mode bulk too).  they managed to keep his proportions ok despite the bulk(unlike say mmc's onslaught).  still this don't seem to be "all built in", just not a pantsformer combiner.  like where are those feet and hands gonna go?  doubt its inside the limbs - i don't mind partsforming hands and feet on a combiner too much TBH but MMC's approach was cool.  that being said this guy - i see a little Generations Toys/Transformission and Cang toys/TFC influence in there.  TBH the style in which this was revealed is PURE warbotron (which rumor has it became Generation Toys/TFM) and the level of detail approaches that as well but it is a more mature and restrained design compared to that (lets face it warbotron is old now and didn't age well but people had eyegasms over it when first shown).  fans of tranforming jets/scifi planes in the 3P space got lots to look forward to....  this guy and his 4 passable jets (sorry silverbolt i  ain't interested in calling you a plane), that TFC j20 lumitent, and that big firebird kavalinka.  very exciting indeed!  now if only zeta could fix their blitzwing to be passable to me.  haha

Edited October 1, 2020 by Mechapilot77

[M'Kyuun]

16 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

So I'm the last one to get really hyped about a Fans Toys product... but Thomas arrived at my retailer, and I should have him in hand early next week.  Can't wait to see how he fares against The Captain.

This post got lost in the new 3P Superion shuffle. That's good news, Mike; I've been wanting a good G1 Astrotrain for a long time, and I finally settled on Thomas as being the best option. I watched a vid review of it yesterday;  only slightly disappointing that the vertical stab doesn't split to cover the chest (the split chest is a partsforming add-on), but TBH, it's never been a look I cared for and I wasn't going to display mine with it open anyway. I lament having the option more than the feature. The figure itself looks really good; there are a few potential issues, like the leg kibble not pegging in well, but overall, the alt modes look great, from a G1 toy & toon perspective, and the bot mode does everything I need it to do. I PO'd mine with ShowZ, and just paid the balance, so hopefully I'll be getting a shipping notification soon. 

Blitzwing is my favorite triple changer, and I also PO'd FT's Berserk. I didn't care for their first design, but after they went back and redesigned it, I thought it looked the best of all the 3P offerings. I hope they wait to release it after Christmas, though.  Oct-December are expensive months with the holidays.

Big Firebird's Windblade is up for PO on ShowZ now, and I'm tempted. I really like the look of Nicee, who I believe is slow boating my way as I type (tracking is nonexistent for her at the moment), and I like the application of the similar style applied to Windblade.  I'm curious to see how much, if any, of Nicee is recycled into her design.

The J-20 and the Kalavinka are both really interesting designs, especially since they're not tied to a franchise, and both appear to be well-executed jetformers, a delight we generally can only look forward to from the Macross offerings. The Kalavinka is especially tempting at the relatively bargain price of $70. I want to see more pics from more angles, more specifically, the bottom, before I decide whether or not to get it. It may sound hypocritical, given my absolute disdain for the Bayformer aesthetic, but I like the unconventional bot mode with all its pointy bits and hard angles, as opposed to the more Gundam-esque look of the J-20's bot mode. Both are cool, though, and the J-20 is tempting for that lovely alt mode. To buy or not to buy: the agony of my first world existence.

As for the new Superion, I'm with Mechpilot77; I think the limb bots look alright (and yeah, there's something off about the F-16- a little too chubby in the nose), but Silverbolt, typically, takes the biggest hit in the design department, and it just doesn't appeal to me. My interest in combiners is lukewarm, anyway, so I'll be skipping this set. Cool for those that dig it, though. Always nice to have a new player on the field, too, as you never know what sort of innovation they'll bring to the table.

 

[technoblue]

Big Fire Bird did a fantastic job on Nicee. The stylized look isn't too far out there for me, and the transformation is on point. Seeing the early photos and reviews makes me wonder why Hasbro couldn't do something like this in their own WFC style though, especially since the core transformation elements do seem to call back to POTP days.

Anyway, a missed opportunity. I'm definitely in on Windblade. The silhouette makes it appear that BFB is putting their own spin on Windblade too, which is fine by me.

Somewhat related, has anyone seen this version of BW Waspinator as a Helicopter? TH-01 Trojan Horse is from a new company, WeMakeWorks. The design comes from an artist that I'm not too familiar with, but who seems to be well known to other TF fans: theamazingspino.

 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Somewhat related, has anyone seen this version of BW Waspinator as a Helicopter? TH-01 Trojan Horse is from a new company, WeMakeWorks.

I saw it, and they have Dinobot as one of those Buffalo trucks Bonecrusher turned into in the first Bayverse film. I'm not really into Beast Wars, so they're neat-but-pass for me. That said, theamazingspino did a design for Prowl and Barricade. If Barricade gets made I'm there. He was my favorite Bayverse Deception and I love G1-ish versions (that aren't the actual G1 Micromaster).

[M'Kyuun]

I saw that Waspinator helo on Twitter, and followed the link to theamazingspino's page. He/she does some nice work with putting his own spin on Transformer characters. Waspinator is a good example, and the toy looks cool. The alt mode suits the character, and it looks sharp in Waspinator's deco, especially those black and yellow stripes on the tail boom/legs.

AS TF fans, we're spoiled for choice. I'm glad to see stuff like this inspired by what independent artists are doing on sites like Artstation and Deviantart. BFB's Kalavinka follows suit in the same vein. 

[Kuma Style]

[technoblue]

Such a sublime, cool photo of GCreations Rebel. Thanks @Kuma Style 

Circling back to Waspinator...and this new stylized BW take...I'm impressed. I usually pass on BW since I'm more into transforming mecha than transforming organics. The artist did a wonderful job capturing the essence of the BW bots while also switching up their alts so that they're modern and mechanical and less beasty. It's a nice twist that's winning me over.

[M'Kyuun]

That is a nice pic, Kuma. As usual. For some reason, I always think MMC made that, but yeah, GCreation did a nice job. 

Concerning theamazingspino's mechanical alt takes on the BW characters, it's a nice alternative for peeps who've long wondered "what if?" As beasts still, Transmetals worked better for me, and I lament that Transtech, which was moving in this direction and away from animal alts, never got produced, as some of those designs were ahead of their time. I'm glad that the Cheetor Transtech design, which was probably my favorite, was the inspiration behind Animated Blurr.  I still love his design.

[M'Kyuun]

My copy of Nicee just arrived, so hopefully that gives some hope to other folks waiting on her. I ordered mine from ShowZ,

Beautiful fig- nice tight joints. I hope they release the Arcee head for her at some point. Minor issue with mine; there's a little piece of clear plastic placed between her chest and her abdomen to prevent scratching in package, and it was pinched between the two halves of her upper torso on mine. There are two screws that hold it together, so a little loosening allowed me to get most of it out. I didn't want to take her apart completely, so I used tweezers, but the plastic just ripped. But, I got enough of it that it doesn't show anymore. Just something to be aware of, as they must insert that little protective sheet in there during assembly.

[mikeszekely]

4 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

My copy of Nicee just arrived, so hopefully that gives some hope to other folks waiting on her. I ordered mine from ShowZ,

Interesting. I wonder if ShowZ has changed shipping methods again, as I'm still waiting for an order that shipped on August 11th.  I'd be contacting ShowZ or Paypal soon, except there's actually been recently activity in California on the tracking.

[technoblue]

 I placed my Nicee pre-order fashionably late with actionrobo, and they went on holiday before shipping it out, so I don't expect to see any movement on my copy until Monday.

[CoryHolmes]

That Superion looks amazing, but after that all-in-one Bruiticus, I'll expect all combiners to work like that.  No more partsforming gestalts, pls!

[mikeszekely]

He came faster than I thought.  It's Thomas, Fans Toys' MP Astrotrain.

Astrotrain is my favorite triplechanger and one of my favorite Decepticons.  Although brief, his appearances in the 1986 Transformers: The Movie were integral, first as the scene where Starscream dumped Megatron into space, and later as the guy putting the crown on Starscream's head.  And yet, despite his popularity with fans, the poor guy's never really been done justice.  I mean, the Classics version was kind of ok for it's time as a modernized take on the the G1 toy, but the Titans Return version was just... yuck.  The Siege version had promise, but ultimately let us down with a gappy, messy shuttle and a train with bizarre proportions.  Things haven't been much better in the realm of unlicensed third parties.  I understand we've had a pretty decent Legends version with Mechanic Studio/Mech Fans Toys, but for years if we wanted something to display with MP figures it's been DX9's Chigurh, ToyWorld/Zeta's Devil Star/Spacetron, and Fancy Cell's Transportation Captain.  Personally, I'd written off DX9 and ToyWorld/Zeta for being too stylized, and for the last few years I've had the Captain sitting in my MP display.  But the Captain had his own problems- too small, iffy plastic, still not quite as cartoony as I'd like.  I'm saying all that to emphasize that an Astrotrain that looks this good from a company with a reputation (deserved or not) like Fans Toys is a big deal.

And yeah, out of the box Fans Toys came out swinging.  White face, purple helmet with a yellow crest, check.  Not-quite-cube shoulders with a circle on the front?  Check.  His torso is properly sectioned, with the purple-outlined red panels on his tummy.  His pelvis has the inverted trapezoid on the crotch and the rectangles flanking it.  His forearms and biceps have the line running down the middle, and his forearms have the overhanging bit over his hands (but not the markings on the outside).  His shins have all the right linework (and a little more) on them.  He's even got purple lumps of fake wheels flanking his head.  His wings are mostly gray with a purple outline.  In the movie his wings were mostly purple, but gray with a purple outline is how they appeared in the episode "Triple Takeover," and is still cartoon-accurate.  About the worst I can say is that he has actual feet, and he's got a bit of kibble on the sides of his legs instead of wheels (although the kibble does put cartoon-accurate purple on the sides of his legs, so...).

Ok, sure, he's a tad messier from behind, but honestly not really any worse than the Captain.  His backpack might even be smaller, the exposed thrusters at an angle that might be more useful for the robot mode, and the tail on his back is even cartoon-accurate.

Before I continue, though, I have to point out a serious QC flaw.  Above, you're looking at the inside of Thomas' right leg (toes pointed toward your left).  Now, Thomas' knees are ratcheted.  Position "A" is as straight as it goes, and you can see his knee is slightly bent.  However, pushing it just one click forward results in position "B."  As of this writing, it seems to be a fairly widespread issue caused by the fact that parts were designed so as not to be interchangeable.  That is, the right knee needs the ratchet parts specific for that knee, and the left needs parts just for that knee.  Using the wrong ratchet in the wrong knee (which is apparently what a lot of factory workers did) results in this misalignment.

Well, QC issues aren't all you get with Thomas.  He also comes with a gun, similar to the cartoon but much more detailed, a second angry pooping face, a toy-style chest piece, and a section of train tracks.

Thomas's head is on a hinged swivel, and he can look up around 45 degrees but only a little bit down.  His shoulders can rotate on ratchets, but you're not going to get the full 160 degrees because his wings don't hinge backward.  They can move laterally maybe 75 degrees as well.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows are double-jointed and bend maybe 150 degrees.  His wrists swivel.  His thumb is on a ball joint at the base for folding over his palm and swiveling, with one additional hinge.  Each finger is individually-articulated with pins at the base and mid-knuckle.  His waist swivels (not a guarantee with FT), and on a ratchet no less.  It's limited to three clicks, or about 45 degrees, in either direction.  Hip skirts on the front and sides can hinge out of the way, allowing his hip to move almost 90 degrees forward on a ratchet and almost 90 degrees laterally on a friction joint.  Due to butt kibble, you only get about one click back, though.  His thighs swivel.  His knees are double-jointed, ratcheted and can bend over 90 degrees, but the lower joint is extremely tight on my copy.  His feet have a very slight up/down tilt, a slight upward toe bend, and a little over 45 degrees of ankle pivot.  On my copy the left ankle moves with no trouble, but again on the right its so stiff I almost thought he didn't have ankle pivots.

The gun has tabs on the handle that fit into slots on his palms, typical MP-style.  The toy-style chest is a bit of partsforming, and simply plugs into the front of his chest.  You'll have to remove it to transform him, but I expect most people will leave it off anyway.  He doesn't really interact with the tracks in this mode.

Speaking of transformations, there's quite a few steps and a few minor clearance issues, but honestly transforming Thomas really isn't all that bad, especially for a Fans Toys figure.  Something I find interesting his how the transformation actually shifts his mass; figures like The Captain and Siege Astrotrain simply wound up with a short, thick locomotive, and while ToyWorld/Zeta had a pretty good locomotive mode it seemed to come at the expense of a weirdly thin robot.  But Thomas went from a fairly burly robot to a locomotive that looks very proportionate to my non-expert eye.

Thomas' locomotive mode mode is kind of a mixed bag.  While Fans Toys did include a number of real-world details, including a coupling rod that moves as the wheels turn, and some cartoon details like the yellow windows and the thrusters on the back, the front of the train is rather bland, lacking details that were even on the animation model.  And the sides are a bit kibbly, especially near the engineer's compartment, with several gray panels and hinges peeking through.  Speaking of gray, the roof over the engineer's compartment is gray instead of purple due to his transformation.  Oh, and I'm sure that you'll notice that the top of the train, just ahead of the middle, isn't tabbed together particularly well.  As near as I can determine this is a direct result of his legs' inability to line up perfectly due to the ratchet issue on his knee.  Overall, it's a huge improvement over most Astrotrain figures before it, but it's probably the weakest of his three modes.

In locomotive mode his gun can be stored on the underside.  The top of the gun has some detail that acts like a hook, grabbing the top of his robot shins.  And now's probably a good time to get those tracks out.  There doesn't seem to be a place to store the toy-chest, though.

Astrotrain's shuttle mode is my preferred of the two alt modes.  Again, I can't help but point out the great proportions.  The Captain's chunky train had a certain cartoon charm, but his shuttle mode looks like someone taped a cockpit and wings to a refrigerator.  Thomas, though, is appropriately long and sleek.

And again, pretty cartoon accurate.  Purple nose with blue windows, mostly gray but with a line of purple running from the yellow and red "door" to the rear, the G1 sticker markings behind the door, and the red bits on the top in front of the tail, all cartoon-accurate.  I know that some shuttle fans might be disappointed that it's not a bit cleaner, retaining the "collar" around the cockpit it and nose, but to me the uncircumcised look is part of Astrotrain's G1 appearance, both toy and toon.

From the top you can again see that, despite the collar, the overall proportions are still quite good, with hinged elevons on the wings even.  The underside is a bit messy, especially under the wings, but I think it's fair to expect some concessions to the fact that this shuttle has to turn into both a robot and a locomotive.  My only real complaint would be the landing gear.  There's one that folds out from the nose, no issues, but there is no rear landing gear.  Instead, there's tiny wheels on some of that under-wing kibble, and the whole thing sits lower to the ground than I'd like all that purple paint to be.

Thankfully, he doesn't have to sit on this wheels, as the train tracks actually have a use in this mode as well.  Unfold some bits, bend some sections, and voilà, you have a flight stand.

The stand clips into two small slots on the shuttle's belly/top of the locomotive, and the stand itself has two positions, one for level flight and one angled upward.  His gun has tabs on the side that plug into slots on either side of the fuselage, just before the tail section.  I'd have preferred some under belly, more hidden storage, but you take what you get.

Thomas is a good figure, no doubt.  But, I have to point out that Fans Toys' prices have been creeping up.  Thomas cost $60 more than FT's last triplechanger, their Springer.  He's smaller than their Motormaster, despite being less complex and I'm sure using less parts (even allowing for his accessories), but cost $40 more.  At $220, I do believe he cost around the same as FT's much larger Skyfire.  That's a lot of money for a figure this size, honestly more than I'd normally pay except for the fact that Astrotrain is such an important character to me.  At $220, being "good" isn't good enough, Thomas really needed to be perfect.  And yet, for all the things FT did right, even stuff I don't normally associate with their stuff like a mostly-painless transformation, Thomas is not perfect.  It might be a your-mileage-may-vary sort of thing, but as far as I'm concerned the knee ratchets are a serious QC issue that simply should not be on a figure that's at least $40-90 more than most people would pay if it didn't say "Fans Toys" on the box.  And it seems like this is the latest in a long line of Fans Toys figures with some sort of QC issue that would get any other company crucified.  So yes, Thomas is the best Astrotrain you can buy.  And yes, with no serious alternatives I do grudgingly recommend it.  But I can't help but feel taken advantage of, and FT's high prices, inability to meet demand and fueling an ridiculous scalper's market, and shoddy QC has left me little desire to replace my Maketoys Jazz, MMC Cliffjumper, KFC Blaster, or Takara Soundwave with announced Fans Toys versions..

4 hours ago, CoryHolmes said:

That Superion looks amazing, but after that all-in-one Bruiticus, I'll expect all combiners to work like that.  No more partsforming gestalts, pls!

Taken with what I just wrote, yeah, if MMC announced a Superion I'd immediately sell my Fans Toys ones.  They're not very good.

I do still really like FT's Stunticons, though.  If there's one figure they've nailed this year it was their Wildrider.

[JB0]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

  I know that some shuttle fans might be disappointed that it's not a bit cleaner, retaining the "collar" around the cockpit it and nose, but to me the uncircumcised look is part of Astrotrain's G1 appearance, both toy and toon.

You're not wrong. Much like how Blitzwing turns into some kinda biplane-jet instead of a proper Mig, an Astrotrain that turned into an accurate space shuttle would actually be weird(as would one without rocket nozzles sticking out the back of the train).

...

I don't have to be happy about it, though.

 

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Thankfully, he doesn't have to sit on this wheels, as the train tracks actually have a use in this mode as well.  Unfold some bits, bend some sections, and voilà, you have a flight stand.

Okay, THAT is cool as heck.

[M'Kyuun]

Shame about the knee ratchet; hopefully they're not all prone to the issue. I don't think my copy has shipped yet, so my fingers are crossed that it's assembled right. It's a lot of money for such an error.

It's also a shame they didn't put some little pop out mains on the shuttle mode, as it would have then assumed the proper nose down attitude on its gear. Overall, though, IMHO, it's the best G1 Astrotrain toy, period.  I had high hopes for the Earthrise toy, but it was a serious letdown and I skipped it. I almost wish I'd gotten the Captain for the CHUG shelf, as it's closer to that scale, and a decent representation of the character. looking forward to getting mine. I'm also a fan of that shuttle mode, even with the collar around the nose section. 

I'm looking even more forward to their Berserk; Blitzwing has always been my favorite triple changer (more by design than character, and I like his alt modes- they seem more apropos to each other relative to most of the other triple changers). Hopefully, he'll be their next release.