The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Firefox]

Looks like after the Chinese Flanker, it would be their J-31, the S-70 equivalent helicopter and Y-20 transport aircraft. Finally, we have some good looking robots transformed into good looking aircraft. Bring it on!

[Dobber]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

No idea. But it's in stock at ShowZ Store. They're reliable; I've bought a ton from them. They ship to many countries from China.

That is where I ordered mine from as well. I’ll also vouch for them too. I’ve bought many things from them and my J-20 is on its way so they are shipping.

Chris

[Dobber]

22 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Heads up, fans of that J-20 figure.  TFC is apparently going to continue the line.  The next one will be based on China's Z-10 helicopter, and artwork show suggests they could be doing a Chinese Flanker after that.

Not going to guess what the silhouetted ones are, as I'm not an expert on Chinese military craft, although I'd suggest the first one that looks like an F-35 is probably the J-31, which was allegedly developed after PLA-sponsered hackers got into Lockheed and stole terrabytes worth of data on the F-35.

Looking closer at the silhouette pic, there appears to be more on the bottom. You can just make out another possible fighter on the bottom left. Any ideas?

Chris

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

My guess for the bottom row, FC-31 (F-35 KO), Z-20 (Blackhawk KO), and Y-20 (C-17 KO).

[no3Ljm]

2 hours ago, Dobber said:

That is where I ordered mine from as well. I’ll also vouch for them too. I’ve bought many things from them and my J-20 is on its way so they are shipping.

Chris

Hey @Dobber. If it's possible, once you get it, can you post a pic of it alongside a 1/60 VF-1 (if you have it) in Fighter and Battroid modes. I'm just curious because one of the customer comments on the item page says "fits perfectly with 1/60, 1/72 airplane models." It might fit with a 1/72 VF-1 which I screenshot from a Youtube video but I'm definitely sure not with a 1/60. Thanks!

TFC J-20 with KitzConcept 1/72 VF-1J

 

[Dobber]

9 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Hey @Dobber. If it's possible, once you get it, can you post a pic of it alongside a 1/60 VF-1 (if you have it) in Fighter and Battroid modes. I'm just curious because one of the customer comments on the item page says "fits perfectly with 1/60, 1/72 airplane models." It might fit with a 1/72 VF-1 which I screenshot from a Youtube video but I'm definitely sure not with a 1/60. Thanks!

TFC J-20 with KitzConcept 1/72 VF-1J

 

Will do. From what could see in videos...it looks like it would be at most 1/72 but....IMO....maybe slightly smaller. Not sure how big the J-20 is though.

Chris

[no3Ljm]

3 minutes ago, Dobber said:

Will do. From what could see in videos...it looks like it would be at most 1/72 but....IMO....maybe slightly smaller. Not sure how big the J-20 is though.

Chris

Thank you sir! 

 

[Dobber]

Looks like the very bottom lower left fighter that can barely be seen is the J-10. If you look close you can just make out the top of the refueling probe.

 

 

not sure now as the V. Stab is not right.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Dobber

[mikeszekely]

Almost forgot, no prototype or anything yet, but here's artwork for the J-15 (the KO Flanker).

Apparently these are all from some Chinese manga called "No Sky 2035."

[Dobber]

Mike beat me to it! I was about to post that. Also lots more pictures of the prepro CS-02 attack helicopter on ShowZ’s site. It’s up for preorder.

https://showzstore.com/tfc-toys-cs-02-zhi-10_p2780.html

I’m really liking the looks of this line so far. Wish they’d do some other aircraft and not just the Chinese, but I get why.

Chris

[Xigfrid]

Thank you all, I also know showZ and sure they have a good rep. Unfortunately last time I checked, they didn’t have great shipping rates for France. 

I believe the J-20 is scaled around 1:80

[Dobber]

Yeah I was looking at more pictures of the toy and the real thing and the J-20 is a huge aircraft. Definitely smaller than 1/72 for the toy. 1/80 sounds good.

Chris

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

Thank you all, I also know showZ and sure they have a good rep. Unfortunately last time I checked, they didn’t have great shipping rates for France. 

I believe the J-20 is scaled around 1:80

Try bababobo0712. He's an eBay seller that recently opened a web store. He's got it for a little more than ShowZ, but it looks like he offers free epacket to France.

Edited December 22, 2020 by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, Dobber said:

Mike beat me to it! I was about to post that. Also lots more pictures of the prepro CS-02 attack helicopter on ShowZ’s site. It’s up for preorder.

https://showzstore.com/tfc-toys-cs-02-zhi-10_p2780.html

I’m really liking the looks of this line so far. Wish they’d do some other aircraft and not just the Chinese, but I get why.

Chris

I'm still fence-sitting on the J-20 and the chopper, but the Flanker fig looks awesome, and I love the look of the Flanker, which makes this guy pretty much a sure-buy.

I also wish they'd do more than just Chinese planes (I understand why, too), but man, a YF-23 from these guys would be amazing.

[mikeszekely]

20 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm still fence-sitting on the J-20 and the chopper, but the Flanker fig looks awesome, and I love the look of the Flanker, which makes this guy pretty much a sure-buy.

I also wish they'd do more than just Chinese planes (I understand why, too), but man, a YF-23 from these guys would be amazing.

I've been fence-sitting myself. I'm not interested in the helicopter, but I might get the jets.

[Chronocidal]

Ok, I might have to get that Flanker.  Have to see the jet mode, but if they can pull off something even as good as the Maverick F-14, I call that a win.

[Mechapilot77]

i should have my hands on the j-20 this week it seems!  woot!  the helicopter looks amazing (i would have prefered it be a tiny bit smaller though and the j20 much bigger...say 1/60 scale but its 1/80).  wonder what scale it is.  the J-15 though....wow that bot mode looks great!  might skip the helicopter (probably not though) but the j-15 is a must!

[Mechapilot77]

13 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Ok, I might have to get that Flanker.  Have to see the jet mode, but if they can pull off something even as good as the Maverick F-14, I call that a win.

odds are it'll be as good or better than the j-20 plane mode which is very clean! 

[no3Ljm]

I'm not sure if this is just me. But the J-15 robot mode have a cross feel to it of Union Flag and Brave unit from Gundam 00 if it were designed for Metal Build look. Without the wing ofcourse. Would be nice too if the color they will use is the bluish-grey of Union Flag piloted by Setsuna in the Trailblazer movie.

 

[sh9000]

The TFC Lumitent J-20 is around 1/82 scale.  I would have considered buying it to go with my HMR Valks.

[sh9000]

[M'Kyuun]

Nice first season group shot. I'm only missing Gears, Brawn, and Windcharger in my MP collection (I keep hoping Takara will complete the minibots, but I'm starting to think it ain't happening). Anyway, nice collection.

[tekering]

36 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I'm only missing Gears, Brawn, and Windcharger in my MP collection (I keep hoping Takara will complete the minibots, but I'm starting to think it ain't happening).

Why would you wait for Takara?  They've been producing Masterpiece Transformers for seventeen years, and still haven't gotten through half of the first season cast.

If you're only missing a few minibots, then you must already have at least ten third-party figures representing the above characters... so why not "Boost," "Brawny," "Grump," or "Hunk?" 

[mikeszekely]

19 hours ago, tekering said:

Why would you wait for Takara?  They've been producing Masterpiece Transformers for seventeen years, and still haven't gotten through half of the first season cast.

It's not just that- if there was some sign that they were checking off a list, however slowly, I could see an argument for waiting.  But during that 17 year stretch that they weren't doing Gears, Brawn, Wincharger, Cliffjumper, Jazz, Trailbreaker, Slag, Sludge, Snarl, Mirage, Jetfire, Reflector, or the Insecticons they've managed to release Optimus three times, Bumblebee twice, Megatron twice, and they're coming up on a third Starscream.  They just want to do the big money characters.  Maybe Brawn has enough screen time to warrant a Takara figure from them a decade from now after they do Soundave 2.0, Prowl 2.0, and Bumblebee 3.0, but I'd bet some anniversary comes up and you see MPs of the big names from the Unicron Trilogy or Prime before then.

Speaking of Prime... awhile back a company called APC Toys released a slightly improved KO of First Edition Voyager-class Optimus Prime, which while I'm not super keen on KOs I thought was a decent way for Prime fans to get their hands on a figure that didn't see a wide release (despite being better than the more-common RiD Voyager-class toy).  Well, APC did stop there, and now they've released Dark Master, the Megatron to go with that Prime.

While Prime was basically a 1:1 KO with a few extra accessories (that themselves seemed to be KOs of Dr Wu's stuff) a bit more work went into Dark Master.  Rather than starting with RiD Megatron (right, custom-painted with some aftermarket parts), basically the only Voyager mold from Takara Tomy (others like Sharticon Megatron were remolds of RiD), APC Toys decided to start with the mold many fans considered to be the superior one- the Deluxe-class First Edition version (left).  This left APC with a little more work to do.  For starters, they had to make it bigger.  In fact, Dark Master is significantly bigger than both of the official Megatrons.

They also made a few changes to the mold.  Ball joints on the hips and shoulders of the original toy have been replaced with universal joints, and pivots have been added to the ankles.  Plus, the backpack has been modified, with the sides collapsing in on double hinges and the part that Megatron peeks through in alt mode rotates and lies neatly on top instead of only half attempting to tuck behind.

One more quick size comparison with APC/FE Prime, who himself is slightly taller than RiD Prime, and then we'll talk about the other big difference- paint.  Like I said, Prime was pretty much a 1:1 KO, with a little extra silver paint on the midriff but mostly using the same brownish-gunmetal on the biceps, knees, and hands and same unpainted plastic as FE Prime.  Dark Master comes in two versions, and both favor paint over the gray plastic of the official FE toy.  The difference is in how they're painted.  The regular version is a bright silver.  The version I got is the "Battle Damage" version, which uses a wash to replicate the scratched-up look of the animation model but at the expense of making him a bit darker overall.  So, you'll have to decide if you want a more accurate color and less-accurate cleanliness or a less-accurate silver with more realistic weathering.  All I can say is that I don't regret going with this version, but I think I'd have been happy with the other other version.  Unlike Prime, who was re-released with a more premium, cartoon-accurate paintjob (which I'll have in-hand in a month or two).

Dark Master comes with his fusion cannon, but like Prime he comes with a few bonus accessories (which again may or may not be copies of Dr Wu stuff).  You get a pair of arm blades, that have the same wash and just a hint of purple at the base.  You get the Dark Star Saber.  And you get a holder for said Dark Star Saber.

Oh, and unlike the FE toy, Dark Master's fusion cannon has a small switch on one side, and with some batteries it'll light up.  The instructions, which are entirely in Chinese, weren't helpful in figuring out what batteries to use, but our friends at ShowZ Store tell me that LR41/AG3 is the way to go.  Unfortunately, despite having a plethora of button cell batteries I've picked up for any number of transforming toys over the years that's one size I don't have.

Dark Master's head is on a ball joint that can look down a little and tilt sideways a bit, but he can't really look up due to the shape of his helmet.  His shoulders rotate and can move 90 degrees laterally (although his backpack gets in the way if you're rotating and moving laterally).  His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows can curl all the way up.  His wrists can swivel, but unfortunately he lacks a waist swivel (but both the FE and RiD official figures don't have waist swivels either).  His hips can move forward a little under 90 degrees, backward about 60 degrees, and laterally 90 degrees.  His thighs swivel just above his knees, which bend 90 degrees.  His feet can tilt down a little, mostly due to transformation, but as previously mentioned APC added a slight ankle pivot.  Nothing great, but enough to keep his feet flat in a moderate A-stance.

Dark Master's cannon works the same as the FE toys, which is to say that there's a small rectangular tab on it that fits into a small rectangular hole on his right arm only (with a groove behind it to accommodate the alt-mode tabs), but it also has a fold-out 5mm handle for other figures to hold.  The arm blades have pegs that fit into holes on either forearm, just above his wrists.  To get him to hold the Dark Star Saber you have to pop off the pommel, then slide the weapon into his hand before replacing the pommel.

He doesn't have to hold the sword, though.  The remaining accessory fits into the head-hole on his backpack, oval-end first, with two tabs securing it.  The outside has a clip that fits around the blade of the sword, and that clip is on a swivel so you can have him wear it at whatever angle suits you.

While there's a few extra steps in transforming the backpack the transformation and alt mode is basically the same as the First Edition toy, which is mostly a good thing.  While fairly similar to the RiD version I've always thought it to be slightly easier and cleaner.

While I do think it's better than the RiD toy, it's not exactly screen accurate, and it doesn't really lie flat.  Neither of those issues are exactly APC's fault, though, since they're just copying what HasTak did with the FE figure.  And, to be fair, Megatron seemed to require a lot of anime magic to get to alt mode in the cartoon.  It would be cool to see if a 3P could come up with a more original design that does a better job with the alt mode while maintaining at least this level of robot mode, sure, especially if said toy were more MP-ish.  Still, this is the best transforming Prime Megatron I think you can buy, and for a very reasonable $50-ish no less.  With the anniversary of Prime hitting and Hasbro themselves re-issuing some Japan-only figures you might be finding yourself (like me) dusting off your old Prime collection.  If you are, Dark Master is a definite upgrade over RiD Megatron, and the larger size help him scale better with figures like FE Prime and RiD Starscream, and I recommend him.  Sure, I'd prefer if a company would offer more original designs, but honestly I'm happy that someone is giving Prime some love, and I'd greatly appreciate improved versions of Knock Out and Airachnid.  And any in-scale version of Hardshell.  Alas, their next project seems to be a KO of FE Arcee, which I don't really need.  They've also teased a KO of FE Bulkhead which I am absolutely in for.

[M'Kyuun]

21 hours ago, tekering said:

Why would you wait for Takara?  They've been producing Masterpiece Transformers for seventeen years, and still haven't gotten through half of the first season cast.

If you're only missing a few minibots, then you must already have at least ten third-party figures representing the above characters... so why not "Boost," "Brawny," "Grump," or "Hunk?" 

The simple answer is that none of the third party figs of these characters has appealed to me for one reason or another. I have nothing against third party; indeed, my MP collection has more third party figs than official. While I'd like to complete my first season bots, I'm patient and willing to wait and see what else comes along, be it Takara or third party. The way Takara's been going, odds are I'll be going for third party. And if I never end up filling those spots, so be it. I haven't lost any sleep over it yet, and after seventeen years (wow, hard to believe it's been going that long), I think I'll be ok.

 

[sh9000]

 

[mikeszekely]

Where I live it's almost 2021.  You know what happens in 2021?  Classics Optimus Prime turns 15.  When I got this guy I was over the moon with him.  Matter of fact, Hasbro released a Deluxe-Class Classics Prime, then three more Primes during the Prime Wars Trilogy, but until late 2018 this was still probably the best official CHUG Optimus you could get.  Heck, I even bought an improved version of this figure upscaled to MP-10's size.  But, yeah, he's kind of showing his age.  Those blocky wrists with no swivel.  The lack of ankle pivots.  The copious kibble and the shellformer alt mode.  As good as this guy was he was definitely dethroned by Siege Optimus, who's own short-lived reign was ended by the mini Masterpiece that is Earthrise Optimus Prime.  Is there any room left in ER Prime's world for this Classics veteran?  Can Classics Prime be updated for a modern era?

A few years ago, Fansproject thought so.

This kit is the TFX-06 Parallax Red Armor (note that there's a TFX-07 kit that's the same thing, but in Ultra Magnus colors).  It was an interesting release even at the time, as Fansproject was fading into obscurity and out of the blue they decided to release an upgrade kit for a figure that was already around a decade old.  Frankly, I think a lot of people just slept on this one; either they were happy with Classics Prime as he already was, or they were already looking at alternatives like Combiner Wars Prime, iGear's mini MP-01 KO, ToyWorld's Orion, or KBB's MP-10v.  But today you can pick this kit up for around $15, and since Classics Prime is, well, a classic, I figured it's worth a look.

Above is everything that comes in the box.  Note the big chunk; although it comes like that in the box you'll need to separate it into two guns and a new chest/head for Prime.

To get started, take Prime's gun and wind vane and toss them aside; you won't need them for this.  Start to transform Prime's head and backpack so it's tucked away as show, and unfurl the bumper.

Prime's feet fit into the new boots by wedging his toe in until the unused tabs fit into the groove on the boots.  The new pelvis grabs onto his butt and goes under his crotch and over his existing pelvis.

Remove the screws on the back of Prime's shoulders.  Plug the new shoulder armor into the screw hole, then replace the screws.  Snap the new sides over the kibble on his arms.

Speaking of arms, open the kibble up like you're going to truck mode.  Remove the two screws on Prime's forearm, then carefully open it up.  Pull the hand off the lower post, then put his arm back together.  Repeat on the other side.  Note that this step isn't covered in the regular directions, and if you've seen reviews of pre-release versions of this kit this step isn't necessary.  That's because the new hand was originally planned to fit over Prime's hand, like a glove, but FP changed the design so Prime could have a wrist swivel.

With Prime's old hands removed you can plug the forearm armor onto the forearm by using a small peg and the little hole on the front of his arm.  Once it's in place you can fold the kibble back into the robot mode position then finish folding the new armor over the back of his arm.

The new wheels have plugs on the back that fit in between the spokes on Prime's front tires.  They're just to make things a bit wider, to fit with the new bumper, which just pushes on over the old one.  Leave the grill folded out, for now.

We're in the home stretch.  Take the chest and head and fit it over the old chest, so the edges of the new one tuck under the lip of his hold one.  Once it's secure, grab the big gray guns.  They have an arm on a slider with a pair of clips.  Those clips fit into grooves on the back of his new shoulder armor.  Everything that's left turns into a pair of rifles for Prime to hold.

And there he is, all armed and armored up.  He gains a bit of height, not to mention wrist swivels, articulated fingers, and ankle pivots, to say nothing of new back cannons, shoulder guns, and rifles.  Most of his articulation uses his original joints, though.  Mostly that's fine, but the riveted swivels for the arm kibble have come a bit loose over the years and the extra weight from the Fansproject parts isn't helping.  I dig the design, which is shades of both regular and Powermaster Optimus but also that Fansproject style.  That said, the proportions are a bit odd, and I had problems with the new hands popping off.  And, while it does add some extra articulation and a fresh new look it's not really enough (or G1 enough) to reclaim the spot held by Earthrise Prime.

Credit where credit is due, you can transform Prime without removing any of the new parts except the shoulder cannons.  It's a bit frustrating, though, due to clearance issues created by the new parts, but the resulting truck looks pretty cool.  It's got a sort of Euro truck aesthetic, minus the giant smokestacks.

So, here's the thing... I like Prime with this kit.  But I don't know if I like him more than I already did.  In some ways, it just made him more cumbersome.  However, the kit's only $15, and the changes are completely reversible.  At that price, it's kind of worth it to just try it for yourself and see.  Just know that, armored or not, there are better options for a CHUG Prime these days.

 

[M'Kyuun]

 returning to the TFC Toys discussion, it'd be great if they did a transforming version of the Su-57, which looks to be quite heavily inspired by the YF-23. Since there will likely never be a transforming YF-23 toy, this would be the next best thing. 

I'd love to have it in this color scheme: 

The digital blue camo with the red Russian stars is pretty neat, though.

[Dobber]

I’d love that too, but they seem to be focusing only on Chinese aircraft. So until China buys or copies a 57 I don’t think we’ll see it. It would be awesome though.

Chris

[M'Kyuun]

41 minutes ago, Dobber said:

I’d love that too, but they seem to be focusing only on Chinese aircraft. So until China buys or copies a 57 I don’t think we’ll see it. It would be awesome though.

Chris

Give it time; the Chinese copy everything.

[Convectuoso]

I found out that there are upgrade parts for New Age's Agamemnon (Megatron), but it only fixes the legs, not the messy back, or the terrible looking arms, so I decided to sell mine and already ordered Magic Square's

[mikeszekely]

If Magic Square would just change their plastic (it's supposed to be durable, but joints seem to wear out easy and they seem to have trouble with the fit of some tabs) they'd rule the Legends game.  New Age has had some nice designs, but with the exception of the Seekers I think Magic Square's designs beat them.

[Convectuoso]

2 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

If Magic Square would just change their plastic (it's supposed to be durable, but joints seem to wear out easy and they seem to have trouble with the fit of some tabs) they'd rule the Legends game.  New Age has had some nice designs, but with the exception of the Seekers I think Magic Square's designs beat them.

Since my first New Age figure was Starscream, and it's such an amazing design, I thought New Age was the manufacturer to go to for this kind of figures, but Megatron was a huge let down. I still have preorders for Soundwave, Ultra Magnus and Galvatron. I hope those don't disappoint.

[sh9000]

[Mechapilot77]

xtb's monolith (menasor) looks really really good.  i actually want the toy version more but am getting the default (toon) one too.  somehow he makes toon menasor look good (DX9 failed that test despite or maybe because they were so accurate)