The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[mikeszekely]

Funny, the last two things I reviewed (over in the official thread) were MPM Ratchet and MPM Ironhide.  Now here I am with another Ratchet and Ironhide- this time it's Planet X's Fall of Cybertron-inpsired Vejovis (Ratchet) and Mars (Ironhide).

Aesthetically, both figures are pretty game-accurate.  As tends to be the case with Planet X's stuff the differences between the figures are really concessions to the fact that these are transforming toys that actually transform instead of shifting some polygons around.  The proportions are a little off- you notice it the most on Vejovis' torso and Mars' shoulder pads, and they've got some kibble with the wheels jutting from their legs while the in-game models seem to have everything blended more smoothly.  Likewise, the wheels on their forearms stick out a bit, while they're more in-line with the elbows in the game.  Possibly due to the choice of materials Vejovis has silvery gray hands, pelvis, and thighs when they should be red for the hands and white for the rest.

While Mars is technically a remold of Vejovis, I like that Planet X didn't repaint Vejovis and call it a day.  The figures share the same bodies from the waist down, the same biceps and forearms, and the same backpacks but they have different heads and torsos.

I do have some questions about Planet X's scale, though.  Both of these guys are right around the same size as Jupiter, their Optimus Prime.  Was that game accurate?  I don't recall.  But all three of them are only around a head shorter than Vulcan, their Grimlock, and that definitely doesn't feel right.

Speaking of not feeling right, I've looked at a number of Planet X's figures now and out of the box the very first thing I noticed was that these guys use a different plastic than previous figures.  It feels lighter and, although I'm certainly no expert on plastics, cheaper.  It reminds me a bit of the stuff Zeta used for their Aerialbot limbs.  With poor plastic seems to have come poor tolerances, as the hips on both figures are fairly loose.  They both also have an issue with the flaps on the back of their forearms not tabbing into their wrists securely, so they have a tendency to open and let the hands start to fold in when you don't really want them to.

Anyway... Mars doesn't come with anything too fancy.  He's got an axe.  Now, at no point in either game do I recall playing as Ironhide, so I couldn't tell you if that's accurate or not.  The gun he comes with looks like War for Cybertron version of the Neutron Assault Rifle.

Vejovis, on the other hand, comes with a pile of parts, two screws (of which you'll only need one), and a small screwdriver.  When you put all the parts together you'll have what appears to be the Energon Harvester from Fall of Cybertron (basically that game's shotgun).

Subjectively I'm not a fan of the plastic on these guys, but objectively they have pretty poor articulation.  Their heads are on ball joints with decent up/down/sideways tilt.  Their shoulders rotate, but get caught up easily on their backpacks.  They only move about 45 degrees laterally, and that's only when their arms are at their sides.  If their arms are raised their shoulder pads have no clearance to allow them to open their arms.  Their biceps swivel, but again only freely if their arms are at their sides.  If they bend their elbows (which they can do to just under 90 degrees) the tires on their arms will start to collide with their shoulders when you swivel their biceps.  Their wrists swivel, and their MP carbot-style hands have fixed thumbs and fingers molded in a single piece hinged at the base.  Their waists swivel, as long as your mindful of their backpacks.  Their hips can move forward 90 degrees, backward a little under that, and laterally only about 60 degrees.  Their thighs swivel, but their knees can only bend around 45 degrees.  Their feet can tilt up slightly, down a bit, and his ankles can both swivel and pivot up to 180 degrees.

Both figures can hold their guns fine; they just use 5mm ports that slide into their molded grips.  To get Ironhide to hold his axe you kind of have to just open his fingers and push it into place; it doesn't come apart to slide in like some of the other melee weapons that have come with Planet X's figures.

Side note, the big barrel on Vejovis' gun isn't fixed in place.  You can remove it if you prefer to give him something more like a pistol.

Transforming these guys is a case of both simple and frustrating.  How they actually fold up is mostly obvious, and even if you do need to refer to the instructions it's likely something you'll only have to do once as it's mostly a case of folding in the head and hands, collapsing the arms and scrunching them in, spinning 180 at the waist, and then folding up the legs.  The frustration, though, comes from the backpack.  You see, to have the room for tucking in the head and collapsing the arms you need to pull the backpack away from the body, which it's designed to do.  Unfortunately, it's designed with a spring that pulls it back toward the figure, and it needs to spin 180 degrees.  So, you're forced to pull and hold the backpack out while simultaneously completing the upper-body transformation.

With the differently-molded torso and head parts hidden in or under the vehicles both figures wind up with the same alt modes, just in different colors.  Mars is very game-accurate; he's even got details like the two raised squares under his windshield.  The only faults I can really find are that the gray on the front fender runs the whole way down the side to the rear fender in the game, but a fair bit of it has to be red on the toy because it's his forearms.  There's also a bit of a crease in the roof that the game's model didn't have, due to where his shins end up.

Vejovis' basic shape is fine, but his colors are a bit less accurate.  In the game, all of his fenders and most of the roof were red, but again painting those parts of the alt mode red would leave him with a ton of red on his arms and legs in robot mode, so I'll let it slide.  His grill should also be different.  That's actually a bit frustrating that they just copied Mars' grill, because the grill is made from the shoulder pad pieces that are actually different between the two, and with a little more care PX could have gotten that detail right.

They both have a 5mm port on either side of the vehicle.  This port is actually used for a connection between the knee and the lower leg in robot mode, though.  While you can use the 5mm ports on their weapons to plug them in somewhat awkwardly it doesn't seem to be intended, but at the same time their doesn't seem to be any better alternative way to store the weapons.

If you're a fan of the games and you've been collecting Planet X's figures for a display then Vejovis and Mars will certainly look good in that display.  However, these are easily the worst Planet X figures I've looked at so far, and if they're not essential to your display I'd recommend passing on them.  As it stands I'm not too unhappy since I got them at a pretty big discount (around $90 for the both of them), but if I'd paid their full retail price I'd be pretty angry.  Their articulation is poor even by pre-Siege Hasbro standards, let alone contemporary 3P offerings, and the materials are a noticeable step down from previous Planet X releases.

[technoblue]

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Funny, the last two things I reviewed (over in the official thread) were MPM Ratchet and MPM Ironhide.  Now here I am with another Ratchet and Ironhide- this time it's Planet X's Fall of Cybertron-inpsired Vejovis (Ratchet) and Mars (Ironhide).

...

If you're a fan of the games and you've been collecting Planet X's figures for a display then Vejovis and Mars will certainly look good in that display.  However, these are easily the worst Planet X figures I've looked at so far, and if they're not essential to your display I'd recommend passing on them.  As it stands I'm not too unhappy since I got them at a pretty big discount (around $90 for the both of them), but if I'd paid their full retail price I'd be pretty angry.  Their articulation is poor even by pre-Siege Hasbro standards, let alone contemporary 3P offerings, and the materials are a noticeable step down from previous Planet X releases.

I've had these two since they were released. I think they're pretty cool.  

Myself, when comparing Vejovis or Mars to releases like Pluto, Summanus, Quirinus, and so on...I don't notice much of a difference in plastic quality. Planet X releases have been fiddly from the beginning. My first copy of Pluto arrived broken in the box! Luckily, I was able to get a replacement with no issues. With the dinos, there were reports of pieces falling off and loose limbs, and apart from Vulcan those figures aren't what I would call weighty in hand. Anyway, based on my experience these two fit in with the Planet X standard fare.

I do kind of wish Planet X would up their game and give us more hallmark releases like Jupiter, Apollo, Vulcan, and Mors (all the seeker repaints, really). Kadmos and Insemnios are so much improved to be in a class unto themselves, which shows how far they could take these if they wanted to. Anyway, I'm definitely a fan of the Cybertronian look from the games. I think it beats even the WFC Siege updates in the official mainline despite the limited articulation. They may not be for everyone, but they do fit in with what I'm looking for.

[mikeszekely]

26 minutes ago, technoblue said:

I do kind of wish Planet X would up their game and give us more hallmark releases like Jupiter, Apollo, Vulcan, and Mors (all the seeker repaints, really).

By hallmark do you mean a much-desired character, or do you mean the sort of must-have release like Vulcan? If the former then Shockwave will be their next release. If the latter, well, fingers crossed because I'm definitely going to get that Shockwave.

[technoblue]

16 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

By hallmark do you mean a much-desired character, or do you mean the sort of must-have release like Vulcan? If the former then Shockwave will be their next release. If the latter, well, fingers crossed because I'm definitely going to get that Shockwave.

In this context, I was using it to classify their top-tier releases but I think must-have fits just as well. 

Their Shockwave looks great. I have it pre-ordered already (yeah, I should wait) but I'm crossing my fingers too hoping that it's one of the more solid Planet X figures.

[Kuma Style]

After 22 years Fansproject is finally finishing g2 Menasor. Holy moly.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

After 22 years Fansproject is finally finishing g2 Menasor. Holy moly.

Fansproject has been around since 1998?

[Kuma Style]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Fansproject has been around since 1998?

... Yes.

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

[Firefox]

Nicee is a very good quality product. Worth every cent of it. The only third party product that I'm really impressed. FansToys products have good quality too but the transformation seems rather over complicated. Ocular Max and XTransbot have good engineering but all the ones that I have, have QC issues one way or the other. May be it's my bad luck.

[Kuma Style]

 

[mikeszekely]

Some interesting stuff.  I'm definitely in on MMC's Defensor, and definitely NOT doing XTB's.  They still haven't even finished their Menasor.  They didn't even show off the trailer at TFCon, but they found the time to announce MP Omnibots. 

If Planet X finishes their IDW Grimlock before MMC does I'll be into that. 

Energon is one of my least-favorite Optimus designs, but I'll probably get that Fans Hobby one for my Prime display.  Speaking of Primes, that MMC Star Convoy is everything that the Takara one wasn't, and it might be my favorite reveal at the show.

[sh9000]

I’ll probably get their Omnibots and Protectobots.

[technoblue]

I'm thinking of going with MMC's Protectobots too. Their Combaticons won me over. Solus Prime definitely looks to be a proper upgrade to Takara's mainline release to me. I also have Optus Pexus, Exitus, and Mnemo/Motif on pre-order. Can't wait to see those in person.  

The Maketoys Cross Dimension news is very, very cool. Shockwave looks good (a retool of CD Despotron?). I'm crossing my fingers hoping that this means the CD Galvatron and Rodimus that they teased way back are still on their schedule too. The RE:Master EX seekers come at a good time, especially if they get to reissuing EX versions of Lightning and Skycrow later on (so that fans can have access to reasonable prices again). I'm particularly keen on matching my G2 Screamer to the new Acid Swarm.

Planet X going IDW? Yeah, I'm in. Then again, I'm already in with most of their stuff (nothing to see here )

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I’ll probably get their Omnibots and Protectobots.

I have no attachment to the Omnibots whatsoever, but people seem pretty excited.  Maybe I'll check them out if they're reasonably-priced, they do look kind of cool.  As for the Protectobots, I'm glad there are options, especially since XTB will likely do a pantsformer, but that Streetwise doesn't look so hot to me (waiting for David to point out it's not gray).  And I'm a little miffed that XTB had reveals for Omibots, Protectobots, Deathsaurus, etc but they didn't show anything of the trailer we actually need to make Menasor.  It's been two and a half years since Crackup, and almost ten months since Gravestone.

58 minutes ago, technoblue said:

The Maketoys Cross Dimension news is very, very cool. Shockwave looks good (a retool of CD Despotron?). I'm crossing my fingers hoping that this means the CD Galvatron and Rodimus that they teased way back are still on their schedule too.

I loved Rioter Despotron, but I'm not sure I like it as Shockwave.  Oh well, I'm happy to see signs of life from Maketoys, and if this is what they gotta do to get the money to get some of their other designs made then so be it.

[tekering]

I was happy to see so many new 3P reveals there, but Ryan and Stacey's commentary was worse than Japanese television! 

Like, are they contractually obligated to heap glowing praise on everything? 

When opinions are so consistently monotonous, they cease to carry any weight and just become noise. 

Full disclosure: I eventually gave up and muted the audio, so I didn't listen to the whole video, but... was anything even remotely critical expressed about... anything? 

[M'Kyuun]

Not much shown that that really interests me, but my interest is definitely piqued for the Omnibots. I've been longing for updates of those guys since the 80s (I only own Downshift, but I thought they were all neat), and while my fingers remain crossed that maybe they'll turn up in WFC: Kingdom, I'm pleased to see that XTB are making an attempt. Honesty, I wish it was MMC doing them, or FT, but I'm going to keep an eye on the progress of these guys regardless. I'm a little bummed that Downshift wasn't shown, as he's my fave of the three, and the one I was most looking forward to seeing in updated form. Camshaft and Overdrive look nice, a good mix of toon and toy. 

Down for the re-release of Maketoys' Meteor. I hope HasTak don't try to block that.

I'm generally not a fan of Cybertronian alts, but there's something alluring about MMC's Mnemo- cool looking design in both modes. I have no familiarity with the character (Yet- I have a ton of IDW comics to catch up on thanks to @mikeszekely), but from a purely aesthetic POV, it appeals. Can't say the same for its partner, Motif, whose alt mode is a nondescript slab. The bot mode resembles the G1 cassette dudes, but that alt mode doesn't look like a cassette. It looks like nothing familiar, which illustrates my dislike of Cybertronian alts.

Totally unfamiliar with Deathasaurus, so it was interesting for an uninitiated like me to see a couple versions of it. FWIW, I much preferred MMC's take on it, although both struck me, in a good way, as rather Zoid-like, which is an aesthetic I'm hands-down all-for when beast modes are concerned. If you're going to do robo-beasts, you can't find a much finer example than Zoids to emulate, IMHO.

28 minutes ago, tekering said:

I was happy to see so many new 3P reveals there, but Ryan and Stacey's commentary was worse than Japanese television! 

Like, are they contractually obligated to heap glowing praise on everything? 

When opinions are so consistently monotonous, they cease to carry any weight and just become noise. 

Full disclosure: I eventually gave up and muted the audio, so I didn't listen to the whole video, but... was anything even remotely critical expressed about... anything? 

Um, no, not really. The commentary was pretty much a lot of running puns and glowing praise. I don't want to be negative, as I appreciate that they're trying to present everything in a positive light, but as you say, praise loses its effect when it's doled out in equally effusive terms towards everything. The puns, though. Ugh!  Ryan's Canadian lilt was an oddly enjoyable distraction.

Edited October 26, 2020 by M'Kyuun

[technoblue]

On 10/25/2020 at 9:03 PM, M'Kyuun said:

I'm generally not a fan of Cybertronian alts, but there's something alluring about MMC's Mnemo- cool looking design in both modes. I have no familiarity with the character (Yet- I have a ton of IDW comics to catch up on thanks to @mikeszekely), but from a purely aesthetic POV, it appeals. Can't say the same for its partner, Motif, whose alt mode is a nondescript slab. The bot mode resembles the G1 cassette dudes, but that alt mode doesn't look like a cassette. It looks like nothing familiar, which illustrates my dislike of Cybertronian alts.

I like how Cybertronian alts afford artists and toy designers more license to be creative with their character interpretations. It's different than the well-established G1 Toy/Diaclone designs sure, but it's also one more thing that shows how much variety exists in the brand (as well as in the fandom). I mean, if it wasn't for Cybertronian alts, we wouldn't have Tetrajets... Well, I like them anyway.  

As for Motif. He is IDW Rewind and although he looks kind of like his G1 counterpart, he isn't written anything like him. The reason he's packaged with IDW Chromedome (Mnemo) is a bit of a character spoiler... My knowledge of these things doesn't compare to mike's, but TFWiki does note that Rewind's IDW alt mode is some sort of memory stick: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rewind_(G1)/2005_IDW_continuity.

Granted, I think MMC did give priority to Motif's bot mode in this release. 

Edited October 27, 2020 by technoblue
wrong headmaster

[technoblue]

Apologies for the double post.

I remember we had a discussion up thread about the feet on ER Ironhide and Ratchet, and how it would be nice to replace the stock "Siege" style moccasins with something that let the alt mode look more like the classic G1 Vannettes. Well, there appears to be a solution.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Transformers-Earthrise-Ironhide-Ratchet-Feet-Upgrade-UPGRADE-ONLY/154155357246

I was thinking that it would be cool if we got similar third-party add-ons for the reissued Headmasters. For instance, if someone did a limited run nosecone/shield for Brainstorm that had removable twin cannons. That would be sweet.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Apologies for the double post

It happens.

On 10/25/2020 at 10:41 PM, technoblue said:

As for Motif. He is IDW Rewind and although he looks kind of like his G1 counterpart, he isn't written anything like him. The reason he's packaged with IDW Chromedome (Mnemo) is a bit of a character spoiler... My knowledge of these things doesn't compare to mike's, but TFWiki does note that Rewind's IDW alt mode is some sort of memory stick: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rewind_(G1)/2005_IDW_continuity.

Yeah.  It's been awhile, and I don't remember that he actually transformed and you could see his alt mode, but without getting into spoilers it's mentioned that his alt mode is a "data slug," and it's an issue in his past.

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

I remember we had a discussion up thread about the feet on ER Ironhide and Ratchet, and how it would be nice to replace the stock "Siege" style moccasins with something that let the alt mode look more like the classic G1 Vannettes. Well, there appears to be a solution.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Transformers-Earthrise-Ironhide-Ratchet-Feet-Upgrade-UPGRADE-ONLY/154155357246

It's a step in the right direction, but I'm kind of hoping someone like DNA might do something a little more polished.  Maybe put swivels in so the toes can rotate 180 degrees instead of not quite touching the ground, and definitely something with better color matching.

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

I was thinking that it would be cool if we got similar third-party add-ons for the reissued Headmasters. For instance, if someone did a limited run nosecone/shield for Brainstorm that had removable twin cannons. That would be sweet.

Yeah... but honestly, even with a better nose that Brainstorm is still more Blurr than Brainstorm.  Unless Titan Master compatibility is super important to you I think you're better off with the older Generations Brainstorm, or maybe Maketoys Smart Robin than trying to fix Titans Return Brainstorm.

[technoblue]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

It's a step in the right direction, but I'm kind of hoping someone like DNA might do something a little more polished.  Maybe put swivels in so the toes can rotate 180 degrees instead of not quite touching the ground, and definitely something with better color matching.

Yeah, the colour matching could be better on that Ironhide sample. The feet also seem a touch too wide where they meet with the cover piece. Still, I've decided to pick up two sets. If a better set comes along with extra polish and improved joints, I'm in.

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Yeah... but honestly, even with a better nose that Brainstorm is still more Blurr than Brainstorm.  Unless Titan Master compatibility is super important to you I think you're better off with the older Generations Brainstorm, or maybe Maketoys Smart Robin than trying to fix Titans Return Brainstorm.

True. I wasn't as impressed with the articulation on T30 Brainstorm, although his ship mode is miles better. I agree that TR Brainstorm would have benefited from not being a mould-mate with Blurr. There are some good fan examples of Brainstorm done up using TR Triggerhappy as a base. That may have been an interesting choice had Hasbro decided to go that route. 

Smart Robin is very cool but hard to find. I did have the alt version Combs Robin back in the day.

Maketoys...their Brainstorm looks very cool. Dunno if they will get around to finishing their Headmasters, but if they do I'm in.

[Kuma Style]

Am I the only one that liked the Fansprojecf Brainstorm? I thoroughly enjoyed a good amount of their FX line.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

Am I the only one that liked the Fansprojecf Brainstorm? I thoroughly enjoyed a good amount of their FX line.

I can't speak for everyone, but I love Smart Robin. It's probably my single favorite FP piece ever. Aesthetically it's fine, not perfectly G1 but not too stylized. The articulation is ok. But the engineering, especially at the time, was mind-blowing.  I was extremely lucky to pick one up used, missing the box and instructions, but with both guns and both the regular Headmasters-style head with the full face and the toy-style head with the mask for around $40.

It's a shame that the releases kind of went downhill after that.  Sigma L had a slick vampire design, but more average engineering.  Crox was fairly mediocre, and aesthetically was too Optimus.  Browning had some ambitious ideas but felt very unfinished.

And it's a double-shame that they never finished at least the regular Headmasters and gave us a Hardhead.  The design for their Apeface looked a lot better than Siege, too.

Edited October 27, 2020 by mikeszekely

[technoblue]

54 minutes ago, Kuma Style said:

Am I the only one that liked the Fansprojecf Brainstorm? I thoroughly enjoyed a good amount of their FX line.

I ended up getting into Fansproject late. Their toon coloured Brainstorm was the one I wasn't able to find. I did have the following FX figures, though, and enjoyed them very much: Code, Code Virus, Browning, Combs Robin, Quadruple U, and Sigma L. I sold them when I thought Maketoys was going to come through with their MP Headmasters.,,,

Hindsight...I'll tell you what...

[Kuma Style]

MakeToys is still planning their headmasters. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't an anouncement very soon.

Regarding the F(X) stuff, I'm with @mikeszekely; it really let them flex their engineering muscles. Personally Quad U was my favorite of them but yea it was a very unique line for the time.

[technoblue]

That's very good news about the Maketoys Headmasters, even if we have to wait a little longer. I was assuming they had moved on to other things. 

[sh9000]

[M'Kyuun]

Amazing engineering, but honestly, I think it would have been much cooler had they plied their talent towards making him a nigh seamless SR-71. As it is, it's a nice novelty piece, but it's grossly out of scale with that Prime fig. 

[tekering]

What a stunning concept! 

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

it's grossly out of scale with that Prime fig

As an SR-71 is grossly out of scale with a battleship, I think we can give that a pass.

[Firefox]

Nice engineering, like the warship, just wish that it's not Jetfire. They could have create a new character. There's a reason it's called Jetfire. It's because it transforms into a jet. This should call Boatfire or Shipfire.

[Dobber]

4 hours ago, Firefox said:

Nice engineering, like the warship, just wish that it's not Jetfire. They could have create a new character. There's a reason it's called Jetfire. It's because it transforms into a jet. This should call Boatfire or Shipfire.

Agreed....but I’m still really loving the look of this thing regardless of using the Bay-Jetfire Bot as it’s starting point. 
 

Chris

[slide]

Anybody been able to figure what ship he's supposed to be?

 

if it was a warship that was sunk/destroyed by fire, then @Firefox nailed it with "Shipfire"!

[anime52k8]

I think it's supposed to be based on a Queen Elizabeth class.

[M'Kyuun]

Totally agree with creating an original figure instead of glomming off of Bay's Jetfire. Shipfire FTW!  

No idea what ship, or class of ship, or even nationality it's supposed to be. That falls within David H's purview. 

[slide]

3 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

I think it's supposed to be based on a Queen Elizabeth class.

Looks pretty close, and many of the class burned at least a little at Jutland.

I'm not much of a ship guy, but the idea of a BB that transforms is awesome/quite terrifying!

Edited October 29, 2020 by slide

[M'Kyuun]

Watercraft, unless they actually float and you have somewhere to float them, don't make for very fun toys, IMHO. I have a number of LEGO boats that actually float, but with nowhere to actually use them in a proper context, much of the potential fun is lost , beyond the building experience. An aquatic Transformer toy suffers the same issue, as it's difficult to use in any meaningful context,  short of a display or a diorama that simulates water. And even then, the scale, at least in this case, is a bit off-putting. A fleet done in the same scale would make for a cool diorama, but with such contrary scaling between mainline, heck even legends, figs, it's compatibility with anything outside of itself  is severely limited. To me, it's an interesting novelty. Seaspray is the only notable exception, but hovercraft are amphibious, so there's not as much limitation as a ship, boat, or submarine which functions only in or on the water.

Add to that my dislike of the Bay designs, and any interest I may have had zeros out. I do think the engineering is on point, and for those that like this take on Bay's Jetfire,  great. If it does well, perhaps they'll do more ships along the same lines and the fleet idea will become a reality.

[sh9000]

LEK.