The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Nothing new there.  Third-party designs have been making HasTak look like incompetents for over a decade now. 

Fair enough, but this guy still looks better than DX9's Gewalt and KFC's Ditka.

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Conversely, TakaraTomy is where the design work is being done for the official figures

True for the MP stuff.  But I'm given to understand that War for Cybertron shifted the development for most of the mainline stuff to teams in the States.

[tekering]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm given to understand that War for Cybertron shifted the development for most of the mainline stuff to teams in the States.

Well, that would certainly explain Kingdom Galvatron. 

[M'Kyuun]

All things considered, if Hasbro has indeed taken on the burden of designing actual transforming figs for WFC, they've made marked improvements since their old Pretender days. WFC has had its share of hits and misses, but I think it's fair to say they've scored more hits overall. I've been pretty pleased with the line so far as it has fed my desire for faithful G1 updates in the main line. Too, I tend not to be as picky as some, although I do have a modicum of standards. Stuff like Astrotrain and Ultra Magnus didn't make the cut.  I'm hoping they'll do better in the future. Ultimately, the most ideal scenario would be for third party to reenter the CHUG scale fray and, at the very least, tackle those characters for whom the official releases left us wanting. There seem to be no takers, however- Hasbro's legal Kung-Fu is mighty.  I don't blame them for protecting their IP, but it's sad to not have the same options we've been enjoying for MP and legends releases.

[sh9000]

 

[tekering]

One of the most significant characters from the Lost Light has finally joined my crew:

Getaway!

MMC's "Exitus" scales well with IDW lines from a variety of manufacturers. 

[Mechapilot77]

On 4/25/2021 at 7:56 PM, tekering said:

One of the most significant characters from the Lost Light has finally joined my crew:

Getaway!

MMC's "Exitus" scales well with IDW lines from a variety of manufacturers. 

those look really nice together but i'm glad i'm not an idw comics guy because then i would "NEED" all these and most of other mmc stuff too.  as is i can pick and choose.  haha.  i don't know how many times i've almost bought the mmc drift (or derivatives), but i keep hoping someone will pick up the old g creation design they shared forever ago.

[tekering]

3 hours ago, Mechapilot77 said:

i'm glad i'm not an idw comics guy because then i would "NEED" all these and most of other mmc stuff too.

I know exactly what you mean.  It's all character merchandise to me, so if I don't know the character, I don't need the merchandise. 

Mind you, after the disappointments of Netflix's Siege and Earthrise, the Bayverse films, and Rescue Bots Academy, I wouldn't even be a Transformers fan if it weren't for IDW.

[mikeszekely]

41 minutes ago, tekering said:

Mind you, after the disappointments of Netflix's Siege and Earthrise, the Bayverse films, and Rescue Bots Academy, I wouldn't even be a Transformers fan if it weren't for IDW.

I saw some of the people working on the new Nickelodeon show, and based on their resumes, it looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Why they don't just get someone to animate More Than Meets the Eye is beyond me...

[JB0]

48 minutes ago, tekering said:

I know exactly what you mean.  It's all character merchandise to me, so if I don't know the character, I don't need the merchandise. 

Mind you, after the disappointments of Netflix's Siege and Earthrise, the Bayverse films, and Rescue Bots Academy, I wouldn't even be a Transformers fan if it weren't for IDW.

For the most part, I'm just in the "this is a cool-looking robot" camp at this point.

There's a few purchases driven by nostalgia(I'm here for pretty much any Sky Lynx toy, and have very specific dinobot requirements that can be over-simplified to "original toy only, no toon accuracy"), but mostly I'm taking these things as just "cool robot is cool" at this point.

[Mechapilot77]

17 hours ago, tekering said:

I know exactly what you mean.  It's all character merchandise to me, so if I don't know the character, I don't need the merchandise. 

Mind you, after the disappointments of Netflix's Siege and Earthrise, the Bayverse films, and Rescue Bots Academy, I wouldn't even be a Transformers fan if it weren't for IDW.

the netflix shows were bad but at least the character models look decent, which means the toys look decent enough (well some of them!)  also jetfire finally gets to be not a big useless doofus who is just there to give people rides.  that being said a character is  a character.   IDW prowl is nothing like G1 prowl i hear but i bought that g creation rebel because it looks cool and its like g1 prowl in a new body.  :-P

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, Mechapilot77 said:

the netflix shows were bad but at least the character models look decent, which means the toys look decent enough (well some of them!)  also jetfire finally gets to be not a big useless doofus who is just there to give people rides.  that being said a character is  a character.   IDW prowl is nothing like G1 prowl i hear but i bought that g creation rebel because it looks cool and its like g1 prowl in a new body.  :-P

Have to agree about the Netflix shows- the voicework is what killed them for me- overly dramatic staccato deliveries just made nearly every scene cringeworthy. For whatever reason, the female deliveries were far more natural and enjoyable, but nearly every male delivery was haltingly melodramatic- bit of a directorial dichotomy.  The CG work was fine to me, and the story wasn't hateful. It's a bit surprising, as Rooster Teeth, well known for RWBY, have done a great job with both storytelling and voice work for that show. RIP Monty. Something was lost in translation here. Too bad.  They need to go back and watch Transformers: Prime and take notes.

And yeah, it was good to see Skyfire get a proper role beyond big soldier/ big transport.  Hasbro's naming shenanigans be damned- G1 Skyfire will always and forever be Skyfire to me. I'm still amazed that we got a proper toy of him after all these decades.

 

[tekering]

3 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

They need to go back and watch Transformers: Prime and take notes.

1. Hire union voice actors, like Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (not soundalikes with no acting talent).
2. Use original models for tertiary characters, rather than recycling the secondary cast ad nauseam.
3. If the budget doesn't allow for #1 and #2, just reduce the episode count!  Three good episodes is infinitely preferable to six lousy ones. 
4. Tell the voice director to decide if they're gonna imitate G1 or not; don't leave it up to each actor to choose.  
5. If you're gonna let the actor choose anyway, at least insist on a consistent performance... 
6. Pay your actors for each line they deliver, NOT for each minute it takes them to deliver it.  

[Convectuoso]

I got my second NewAge seeker, Samael

I'm really happy with him. Now I'm considering getting the Coneheads. What version of them is better? NA or MS?

[Scyla]

 

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

I got my second NewAge seeker, Samael

I'm really happy with him. Now I'm considering getting the Coneheads. What version of them is better? NA or MS?

NA without a doubt 

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

Now I'm considering getting the Coneheads. What version of them is better? NA or MS?

 

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

NA without a doubt

Gotta agree with Scyla here, this is coming from someone who usually prefer Magic Square.  NA really nailed their Seekers, but something is just off about Magic Square's.

[M'Kyuun]

I'll chime in a third.

[mikeszekely]

Got a few DNA kits in (not Scorponok, because it hasn't come in yet).  Today we'll look at two older ones, DK-08 and DK-08+ for Titans Return Optimal Optimus.

OK, I'm kind of going a bit backward, but we're going to start with DK-08+.  This kit consists of parts that replace ones already on Primal.  You've got new shoulder armor/arm guards, new shoulder cannons, and new hands.  The armor parts are a bit bigger than Hasbro's, and they have hinges so they can splay out.  The shoulder cannons are a bit longer, and that's before you take into account that they're actually extendable.  The hands are, I think , the real draw in this kit.  While they retain the thumb flipping gimmick and the 5mm peg hole built into said thumb, they add a number of other joints.  The fingers are now individually articulated, with the ability to splay and two knuckle joints per finger, the thumb has a knuckle hinge, and there's a hinge at the wrist.

As was the case with the stock guns, the smaller Primal figure can use the shoulder cannons as rifles.  The armor, though, can fit onto a tab on Primal's forearm that allows him to use it as a shield.

Of course, the parts are really meant for Optimal Optimus.  As mentioned, the shoulder cannons have extendable barrels, but they work the same as the stock ones otherwise.  The holes in the thumbs on the new hands can still hold let Primal hold them as handheld weapons.  The armor can properly fit with pegs that fit into holes on the top of his shoulders, just like the stock armor, and the larger size does seem more animation-accurate.  Or, it can plug into the back of his forearms for gorilla mode, mostly like the stock armor.  Due to the larger size, they do kind of come up over his elbows in a way the stock armor didn't.  It's not really a problem for robot or gorilla mode, however, in jet mode the backs of his biceps kind of keep them from plugging in the whole way.  And, although the joints on the left hand area  little loose, the new hands are a big improvement over the stock ones.

Meanwhile, there's the DK-08 (no plus) kit.  While this kit does contain new wings to replace the ones on the stock figure this kit is mostly about new stuff.  We've got two parts with a pair of wheels on them, two big turbines, a pair of scimitars, and a pair of rifles.

As with the shoulder armor, the gist of the new wings is that they're bigger than the stock ones.  The wings are attached using a pinless hinge, so it's a fairly simple matter to yank them off and stick the new ones on.

As for the parts with the wheels, they simply plug into the 5mm ports on the outsides of his legs.  DNA even thoughtfully put a new 5mm port on it.

The scimitars have long 5mm pegs on them with tabs near the top.  The 5mm peg can slide into the smaller Primal's hands, or the holes in the thumbs on the stock hands (or technically the new ones).  The tabs near the top fit into slots behind the fingers of the DNA hands, though, and that looks a bit better.  Likewise, the rifles have tabs on the handles that also fit into slots on the DNA hands, and that works great.  But, they don't have 5mm pegs, so the smaller Primal can't use them.  In fact, Optimal Optimus himself can't use them if you didn't get the DK-08+ kit because I don't believe they'll work with the stock hands.

Ok, you might have noticed that I didn't mention those turbines.  Well, that's where I ran into a problem.  See, they work by opening the smaller Primal's chest and slotting into the hollow spaces there.  If your Optimal Optimus is unmodified, that'll work just fine.  However, you might recall that I separated the smaller Primal by removing a pin.  I can't really find a way to attach those turbines without the smaller Primal (although I might just drill some new 5mm ports).

Well, if you do have the smaller Primal attached, not only can you attach the turbines to him, you can use both Primal and the turbines to attach his weapons.  The orange rifles have slots on them that fit into tabs on the smaller Primal's feet, with notches on the butts that slide over tabs on the turbines.  The scimitars, meanwhile, have pegs on them that plug into the the middle of the turbine fans.

Gorilla mode works pretty good with DK-08.  The wheels on the legs don't really affect anything.  The turbines plug into each other to form a big wheel, and the wheel fits into the huge hollow gap in the gorilla's back.  Tabs on the wheels fit into notches to secure the whole thing, and the only downside is that it restricts how much Optimus can raise his head.  Also, while it doesn't bother me, there's really no place to store the rifles or scimitars in this mode.

Jet mode mostly works well with the new parts, too.  The new wings definitely enhance the jet mode, and the turbines simply use fold-out pegs to plug into some of the peg holes the shoulder armor uses.  Not the most accurate to the original thing, but you can always just leave them off if it bugs you.

The rifles again can tab onto the smaller Primal's feet.  Again, I don't think it looks bad like that.  It kind of helps fill in the backpack.  The scimitars can plug into peg holes on the guns, so all the new stuff can be stored in this mode.

One thing I'm not crazy about are the wheels in this mode.  Since the stabilizers on Optimus' legs weren't designed with them in mind they're very restricted with the wheels folded in.  You can fold them out to free up the stabs, but they look kind of wrong folded down in jet mode.

The big draw of the DK-08 kit for some will be that it's main purpose is to give Optimus back his truck/tank/whatever mode.  You start with the jet mode, then flip the new DNA wheels down.  Take the turbines in their combined big wheel mode, then use the bigger tabs to fit into hollow gaps on the chin of his cockpit.  The pegs can fold outward, and fit into the holes on thumbs (DNA or, presumably, the stock ones). 

I think this works fairly well.  Granted, Hasbro never intended it, so it doesn't sit up as well as the original and the smaller Primal doesn't really make for a moveable turret, plus he kind of looks like he's holding one of those exercise rollers instead of touching his fists in front of a wheel.  But again, Hasbro never intended for TR Optimal Optimus to have this mode, so it's kind of to DNA's credit that we can even get this close.  And since it is mostly just the jet mode the orange rifles and scimitars can still be stowed on the back.  My biggest complaint here is that the armor on his forearms is barely hanging on because his biceps keep the armor from plugging in all the way.  This can be avoided, though, by simply using the stock ones, or by turning the forearms 90 degrees so the armor plugs into the outside instead of the top.

If you have Optimal Optimus, I recommend the DK-08+ kit.  I could take or leave the armor and shoulder cannons, but they're probably a small improvement over the stock ones.  The hands, though, are a major improvement and basically a necessity for the DK-08 kit.  As for that kit, well.... it depends on how badly you want the truck/tank mode, or how badly you want the weapons.  Again, the larger wings are nice but I could take them or leave them, and the scimitars are kind of nice to have for the smaller Primal but not worth buying a kit over.  Personally, as I mentioned, the turbine wheels are a bit of a problem for me because I modded Optimus to not need Primal for robot mode, and I don't think I'd buy a kit just to give him his missing truck/tank mode.  The rifles, though, feel kind of essential.  I wish DNA had put the rifles in the DK-08+ kit, because that'd strengthen my recommendation and probably allow me to say "pass" on the DK-08 kit.  But with the rifles in the non-plus kit you're probably better off just picking up both kits.

[Chronocidal]

Phew.. just had my Zeta Flash movie Blitzwing dropped off, and my fingers hurt.  I'll post a few more details once I get the nerve up to transform it again and put it through its paces, but this one is a doozy.  For anyone who thought Bandai's SV-262 was not complex enough, this one should be right up your alley.  

Overall I think it's really well done.  A few tolerances are on the tight side, and some of the snaps and pins need some massaging, but everything works well enough.

Three main complaints with it.  First, the instructions are pretty useless, and leave a lot of steps up to your imagination, opting for a diagram of how everything should look when its done for the smaller details.  I've been watching multiple videos to get a handle of it.  Second, the wing mounts are fairly sloppy, and it makes the wings a little floppy in alt mode, and I have no idea how they'll stay attached to the bot.  They packaged it in bot mode with the wings in a separate box, which surprised me at first, but it saved a lot of room in the box.

Third.. well, if they'd packaged it in jet mode, this wouldn't have happened, but I managed to get two right-side panels and no left-side panel in one spot.  Contacted TF Direct to see if they can get me the piece, but fortunately it's not terribly obvious what's missing.  It's one of the smaller folding flaps that form the area around the engines and tailhook, and it gets completely hidden in bot mode, so there was really no way to tell they had installed the wrong part.

Seriously, this thing is an adventure to transform.  Very solid and posable in bot mode with plenty of articulation, and everything locks pretty solidly in jet mode.

[M'Kyuun]

3 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Got a few DNA kits in (not Scorponok, because it hasn't come in yet).  Today we'll look at two older ones, DK-08 and DK-08+ for Titans Return Optimal Optimus.

OK, I'm kind of going a bit backward, but we're going to start with DK-08+.  This kit consists of parts that replace ones already on Primal.  You've got new shoulder armor/arm guards, new shoulder cannons, and new hands.  The armor parts are a bit bigger than Hasbro's, and they have hinges so they can splay out.  The shoulder cannons are a bit longer, and that's before you take into account that they're actually extendable.  The hands are, I think , the real draw in this kit.  While they retain the thumb flipping gimmick and the 5mm peg hole built into said thumb, they add a number of other joints.  The fingers are now individually articulated, with the ability to splay and two knuckle joints per finger, the thumb has a knuckle hinge, and there's a hinge at the wrist.

As was the case with the stock guns, the smaller Primal figure can use the shoulder cannons as rifles.  The armor, though, can fit onto a tab on Primal's forearm that allows him to use it as a shield.

Of course, the parts are really meant for Optimal Optimus.  As mentioned, the shoulder cannons have extendable barrels, but they work the same as the stock ones otherwise.  The holes in the thumbs on the new hands can still hold let Primal hold them as handheld weapons.  The armor can properly fit with pegs that fit into holes on the top of his shoulders, just like the stock armor, and the larger size does seem more animation-accurate.  Or, it can plug into the back of his forearms for gorilla mode, mostly like the stock armor.  Due to the larger size, they do kind of come up over his elbows in a way the stock armor didn't.  It's not really a problem for robot or gorilla mode, however, in jet mode the backs of his biceps kind of keep them from plugging in the whole way.  And, although the joints on the left hand area  little loose, the new hands are a big improvement over the stock ones.

Meanwhile, there's the DK-08 (no plus) kit.  While this kit does contain new wings to replace the ones on the stock figure this kit is mostly about new stuff.  We've got two parts with a pair of wheels on them, two big turbines, a pair of scimitars, and a pair of rifles.

As with the shoulder armor, the gist of the new wings is that they're bigger than the stock ones.  The wings are attached using a pinless hinge, so it's a fairly simple matter to yank them off and stick the new ones on.

As for the parts with the wheels, they simply plug into the 5mm ports on the outsides of his legs.  DNA even thoughtfully put a new 5mm port on it.

The scimitars have long 5mm pegs on them with tabs near the top.  The 5mm peg can slide into the smaller Primal's hands, or the holes in the thumbs on the stock hands (or technically the new ones).  The tabs near the top fit into slots behind the fingers of the DNA hands, though, and that looks a bit better.  Likewise, the rifles have tabs on the handles that also fit into slots on the DNA hands, and that works great.  But, they don't have 5mm pegs, so the smaller Primal can't use them.  In fact, Optimal Optimus himself can't use them if you didn't get the DK-08+ kit because I don't believe they'll work with the stock hands.

Ok, you might have noticed that I didn't mention those turbines.  Well, that's where I ran into a problem.  See, they work by opening the smaller Primal's chest and slotting into the hollow spaces there.  If your Optimal Optimus is unmodified, that'll work just fine.  However, you might recall that I separated the smaller Primal by removing a pin.  I can't really find a way to attach those turbines without the smaller Primal (although I might just drill some new 5mm ports).

Well, if you do have the smaller Primal attached, not only can you attach the turbines to him, you can use both Primal and the turbines to attach his weapons.  The orange rifles have slots on them that fit into tabs on the smaller Primal's feet, with notches on the butts that slide over tabs on the turbines.  The scimitars, meanwhile, have pegs on them that plug into the the middle of the turbine fans.

Gorilla mode works pretty good with DK-08.  The wheels on the legs don't really affect anything.  The turbines plug into each other to form a big wheel, and the wheel fits into the huge hollow gap in the gorilla's back.  Tabs on the wheels fit into notches to secure the whole thing, and the only downside is that it restricts how much Optimus can raise his head.  Also, while it doesn't bother me, there's really no place to store the rifles or scimitars in this mode.

Jet mode mostly works well with the new parts, too.  The new wings definitely enhance the jet mode, and the turbines simply use fold-out pegs to plug into some of the peg holes the shoulder armor uses.  Not the most accurate to the original thing, but you can always just leave them off if it bugs you.

The rifles again can tab onto the smaller Primal's feet.  Again, I don't think it looks bad like that.  It kind of helps fill in the backpack.  The scimitars can plug into peg holes on the guns, so all the new stuff can be stored in this mode.

One thing I'm not crazy about are the wheels in this mode.  Since the stabilizers on Optimus' legs weren't designed with them in mind they're very restricted with the wheels folded in.  You can fold them out to free up the stabs, but they look kind of wrong folded down in jet mode.

The big draw of the DK-08 kit for some will be that it's main purpose is to give Optimus back his truck/tank/whatever mode.  You start with the jet mode, then flip the new DNA wheels down.  Take the turbines in their combined big wheel mode, then use the bigger tabs to fit into hollow gaps on the chin of his cockpit.  The pegs can fold outward, and fit into the holes on thumbs (DNA or, presumably, the stock ones). 

I think this works fairly well.  Granted, Hasbro never intended it, so it doesn't sit up as well as the original and the smaller Primal doesn't really make for a moveable turret, plus he kind of looks like he's holding one of those exercise rollers instead of touching his fists in front of a wheel.  But again, Hasbro never intended for TR Optimal Optimus to have this mode, so it's kind of to DNA's credit that we can even get this close.  And since it is mostly just the jet mode the orange rifles and scimitars can still be stowed on the back.  My biggest complaint here is that the armor on his forearms is barely hanging on because his biceps keep the armor from plugging in all the way.  This can be avoided, though, by simply using the stock ones, or by turning the forearms 90 degrees so the armor plugs into the outside instead of the top.

If you have Optimal Optimus, I recommend the DK-08+ kit.  I could take or leave the armor and shoulder cannons, but they're probably a small improvement over the stock ones.  The hands, though, are a major improvement and basically a necessity for the DK-08 kit.  As for that kit, well.... it depends on how badly you want the truck/tank mode, or how badly you want the weapons.  Again, the larger wings are nice but I could take them or leave them, and the scimitars are kind of nice to have for the smaller Primal but not worth buying a kit over.  Personally, as I mentioned, the turbine wheels are a bit of a problem for me because I modded Optimus to not need Primal for robot mode, and I don't think I'd buy a kit just to give him his missing truck/tank mode.  The rifles, though, feel kind of essential.  I wish DNA had put the rifles in the DK-08+ kit, because that'd strengthen my recommendation and probably allow me to say "pass" on the DK-08 kit.  But with the rifles in the non-plus kit you're probably better off just picking up both kits.

I was pretty happy when Beast Wars ventured into the Transmetal stuff, as robo-animal forms just made more sense to me, and I even liked that they had third 'transportation' modes, for lack of a better term. That said, Primal's Optimal Optimus  version never did a thing for me- it just looked clunky, cheap, and unappealing, especially compared to the majority of the rest of the line. Even now, almost thirty years later, it looks like something lifted from a completely different (cheaper) toyline and shoehorned in to give him a 'big' toy to match Megatron's Dragon mode.  Honestly, I wasn't taken with Megs' Dragon, either. Guess I'm a tough crowd. 

All this BW stuff coming from Kingdom makes me wonder if they're going to venture into Transmetal territory with new toys, or Beast Machines for that matter. I wouldn't mind, as I liked many of those designs, still have a lot of those toys in storage, and wouldn't be opposed to updates, if done well.

[nightmareB4macross]

13 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

I got my second NewAge seeker, Samael

I'm really happy with him. Now I'm considering getting the Coneheads. What version of them is better? NA or MS?

Congratulations!!

These are really great figures. 

Personally NA Coneheads is the way to go, but using MS would give you a different look that would make two unique trios.

[mikeszekely]

Skull face reviewed a pre-production sample of XTB's Streetwise. It looks good in both modes, and looks to have good articulation, but it has a ton of really questionable design decisions like tiny ball joints in the shoulders and hands on small flaps at the ends of his firearms. The transformation looks like a nightmare, too, with his arms, torso, and lower legs exploding into numerous armatures and flaps. When I saw the video was up I was thinking that if it's out soon I might buy it because I like police cars, but after watching it I'm committed to waiting for MMC.

[Convectuoso]

Magic Square's Light of Justice, clear windows version

[Scyla]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Skull face reviewed a pre-production sample of XTB's Streetwise. It looks good in both modes, and looks to have good articulation, but it has a ton of really questionable design decisions like tiny ball joints in the shoulders and hands on small flaps at the ends of his firearms. The transformation looks like a nightmare, too, with his arms, torso, and lower legs exploding into numerous armatures and flaps. When I saw the video was up I was thinking that if it's out soon I might buy it because I like police cars, but after watching it I'm committed to waiting for MMC.

Speaking of MMC. Have you gotten a shipping notification for Stellarus Prominion already?

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

Speaking of MMC. Have you gotten a shipping notification for Stellarus Prominion already?

No, I didn't order with PSX.  International shipping to the US is still weird right now, so I'm waiting for a domestic seller like TCP or Toy Dojo to get him.

[Scyla]

51 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

No, I didn't order with PSX.  International shipping to the US is still weird right now, so I'm waiting for a domestic seller like TCP or Toy Dojo to get him.

Bummer, I need a review from someone that I know I can trust. I don’t want to miss out if he is good, but everything about this toy screams cheap and hollow mess. 
On a scale from MP Star Saber to Kuro Kara Kuri Star Saber he should be as far away from the MP as possible.

[mikeszekely]

8 hours ago, Scyla said:

Bummer, I need a review from someone that I know I can trust. I don’t want to miss out if he is good, but everything about this toy screams cheap and hollow mess. 
On a scale from MP Star Saber to Kuro Kara Kuri Star Saber he should be as far away from the MP as possible.

Well, I'll definitely be getting him once he arrives domestically, and I'll definitely be reviewing him here.  I don't have any Star Sabers, though, so I'll be comparing him with the Gen Selects and G1 Star Convoys.

The only concern I really have right now is the gray plastic thighs.  They look a bit cheap, but apparently MMC did look into painting them and the paint kept rubbing.

Edited May 8, 2021 by mikeszekely

[nightmareB4macross]

8 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

Magic Square's Light of Justice, clear windows version

I wonder why they MS went with black leg joints. 

[Convectuoso]

56 minutes ago, nightmareB4macross said:

I wonder why they MS went with black leg joints. 

I was wondering the same thing

[mikeszekely]

So... DNA did a pretty good job with the kits for Titans Return Optimal Optimus, but they weren't the only kits I picked up.  While I was at it, I also grabbed DK-20, their kit for upgrading Studio Series Devastator.

This is one of the more expensive kits DNA has released, but when you open it up you can see why, as there are a ton of parts, including a pair of tiny screws.  Some of the parts we'll cover now, as they can sort of be used with the individual Constructicons, but some of them we'll get to when we're putting everything together.

For starters, we'll start with Scavenger.  While he's in vehicle mode, open the panels on his sides and find this gap molded into it.  There are two small rectangular bits, and you'll want to plug one onto each side.  Once they're installed they can stay there forever, although they'll probably come off if you don't glue them.

Now, take the flaps with "D&K" printed on them.  There's a gray bit on a hinge; find the side that's flat except for a small peg with a tiny hole on it.  Next, grab the bits with the rubber hoses.  One side has a hole on it, and you want to fit that hole over the peg on the D&K part, then use the included screws to lock them on.  Pro tip: maybe don't screw them on.  It's a huge pain to get them in place, with the hoses constantly getting in the way, when the fit of the hole over the peg is probably enough on its own.

Now, take those gray bits you just screwed the hoses onto, and they'll connect to a black bit on the back of Scavenger.  With the hoses on the bottom, two tabs should fit into the underside of the black bit, and the other arm of the gray part will run along the back with a small hook tab that'll grab into a hollow space on the top.  The D&K flaps just lie along the back, and you just sort of wedge the hoses up behind the treads.  To be honest, they don't really look like they belong on Scavenger's alt mode, but at the same time the mostly open back and top of his alt mode was pretty unfinished anyway, so it's not really any worse.

The parts can stay on in robot mode.  The end of the hoses you just had wedged up under his alt mode will use a small peg to plug into the rectangular pieces you added to those flaps earlier.  It's not really movie accurate, and the flaps with the "D&K" just kind of jut out behind his armpits.  You could always unclip them from the gray parts and take them off,  if you prefer.

Mixmaster gets a new part, and it may or may not be something that's only included in the first run of the kit.  It uses a tab to plug into the back of Mixmaster's cab in truck mode, but it looks very out of place there.

It's meant more for robot mode.  You open the flap under the cab (that's part of Devastator's jaw) and use some pegs on the sides to wedge it in there, and it's supposed to replicate that scene where Mixmaster turned into artillery for a second in the movie.  In fact, DNA suggests an artillery mode (bottom).  No instructions on how to get there, but it seems like it's mostly posing his arms like he's doing a pushup and bending his knees the wrong way.

For next bit, take the grinder thing off of Overload.  There's a bit sticking off of one end that looks like part of a friction hinge.  Well, take the flappy piece from the kit with the hinges and you'll find an end that looks ready to mate to that hinge, and jam the two parts together.

The wrecking balls can lay in a gap behind the silver details on the trailer.  The bit you just attached to the grinder folds in on itself, then the grinder plugs back on where it normally goes.  The other flat part without hinges has a peg on it that fits into a hole just in front of the silver bits.  Looks kind of messy, but he is supposed to be some kind of articulated dump truck.  I guess it's reasonable for him to haul things, although they don't have a place to go in robot mode.

Likewise, the biggest piece in the kit has a pair of pegs that can fit into Long Haul's hands, allowing him to haul it around, and the two thicker parts with some white on them can plug onto Scrapper, but they have no place to go in robot mode.  But, much like the Studio Series Constructicons themselves, you probably bought all this stuff for the combined mode, so let's get to it.

Start by flipping everyone to combined mode, and put everyone together except for Mixmaster.  When you get to the part where you fold out Devastator's face stop for a moment.  Attach the grinder like normal, then fold the sides down over the gray bits you flipped out of Mixmaster to fill out Devastator's cheeks.  When you fold the face up it'll tab into the gray bits as usual, but another bit will actually tab onto the DNA part at the forehead.  So far, we're off to a good start, yeah?  Devastator's face looks a lot more complete with the cheeks and the ears, which are on hinges for some posability.

The hoses on Scavenger are kind of connected to Devastator's shoulders.  Run the length of the hoses over his back and plug them into the holes indicated above.

The thicker parts with the bit of white paint have a trio of pegs on the back.  Those pegs line up with screw holes on Devastator's biceps and help fill them out.

There are four tabs on Devastator's back that lock into the treads on the opposite half to form a wheel on Scavenger's robot mode.  These tabs will fit into four slots on the large piece.  This fills out his back and adds the grinder's exit port.

Now, find this part of Scavenger that looks like two cylinders with a narrow gap between them.  There's a part in the kit that has a tube with a slot in it on a c-clip with a smaller c-clip inside.  The smaller c-clip fits into the gap, the larger c-clip grabs the cylinders.  Just make sure the slot is facing down with the tube pointing toward the front of Devastator.

Thing start getting a little dicey here.  Instead of connecting Mixmaster the usual way (using clips under Mixmaster's wrists to grab little tabs near those cylinders on Scavenger) we're going to unfold the spout from Mixmaster's mixing drum that's normally folded away for this mode, then we're going to plug the spout into the tube we just attached to Scavenger.  Then we're going to try as best we can to rotate the tube up and over the cylinders and fold the whole thing back into Mixmaster's drum.  Try and sort Mixmaster's hands and feet as best you can.

Instead of putting Mixmaster's nose on the back of Mixmaster himself find the two small circular bits with tabs on them.  They fit into the marked circular hollow on the inside of the arms that hold the wheel above Scavenger's head in robot mode; in Devastator mode they're just chilling on his back.  Once installed (and they can stay there permanently) you can wedge the nose of Mixmaster's truck between them, lining things up so that the tabs fit into the gaps in the middle of the rims on the wheels.

We're in the home stretch now.  Fold Overload's head down from Devastator's tummy.  On the back of his neck are some hollows; take the flat piece you stored on his alt mode and you'll find some tabs on one end that fit into those hollows.  At the other end is a c-clip.  In theory, you're going to fold Overload's head back up and the c-clip will grab onto the exposed sliding bar under Overload's cab, and this piece will fill out Devastator's abs.  In practice the weight of all the parts above it are probably pushing things out of alignment and the clip will sit slightly above the bar.  If you try to push everything into alignment you're more likely than not to pop the tabs out of the back of Overload's neck and knock the whole piece off than to get the c-clip onto the bar.

And to finish things off, the wrecking balls are on a thin piece of plastic shaped just so to slide into a slot on Devastator's back side, leaving them dangling underneath his crotch.  Meanwhile, the gun part included for Mixmaster doesn't really have a purpose for Devastator mode, but you can plug in onto his Scrapper arm in the same place you could stow the bicep fillers.

And finally, we have the completed Devastator with DNA parts installed.  Now, I went back and watched the Devastator scenes in ROTF (the sacrifices I make for you guys).  As near as I can tell, the hoses were on concept art for Devastator (the same art that gave him the silver face the early ROTF toys all used), but they're not actually on the final movie model.  The flaps are, though, and there's no question the added bits to his head and face are a big improvement.  The bicep fillers and back filler work well enough, although they add some weight to joints that, at least on my copy, weren't holding up that well before the kit.  The wrecking balls don't really interfere with anything, and the new abs look decent enough even if they're not fully locked into place on that bar.  But at this point, you might be asking what's up with the new connection between Mixmaster and Scavenger.

This is where things kind of fall apart for me.  The idea here is that the new connection gives Devastator much better range in his neck articulation, allowing him to get on all fours like in the movie and still look forward.  In practice, though, a mix of overburdened friction joints in his back where Scavenger kind of folds over on himself, ratchets in his hips and friction joints in his Long Haul ankle that can't quite handle all the weight that they're meant to support, and a ratchet in his left shoulder that had started to pull apart so the teeth don't meet even before I added any DNA parts make posing Devastator on all fours something of a chore.  Then, even if you get him there, Mixmaster is simply too heavy for what's really a series of hinge joints in the base of the mixer's spout and where you connected the tube piece to Scavenger.  Perhaps there's a way to arrange Mixmaster's arms and legs to help support him, but the instructions don't offer any guidance and I was left with Devastator's head dropping his face into the ground.

I eventually settled on getting Devastator back into a standing pose- basically the same pose I had him in before I put DNA's kit on him, and left him feeling frustrated by the whole endeavor.  I've since cooled off, and I can evaluate the kit a bit more rationally.  So let's look at the facts.  For starters, this is an expensive kit.  At around $50 at most stores this kit costs as much as Overload and Scavenger did, and more than the any of the other six Constructicons.  While all of the parts can be carried in some way by the vehicles modes, most of them have to be set off to the side in robot modes and added later to the combined mode.  And if we're being honest, even a lot of the ones that can be carried on the vehicles are probably better left off, making this kit really more a bunch of parts you leave off to the side and then add on when you want to form Devastator.  I'm not really mad at that, though; aside from Scrapper, Scrapmetal, and Long Haul the Constructicons were already suffering from compromises to one or both of their other modes and I wouldn't recommend them for anything other than combined mode.  If combined mode is the only reason to collect the whole set then an add-on to improve the combined mode doesn't really have to have a purpose otherwise.  So the question is ultimately this: does the kit improve the combined mode enough to be worth $50?  If I'd written this review yesterday right after installing the kit I'd have flat out told you no, skip this kit, especially if you're main reason for going in on it is to get him on all fours.  The tolerances simply aren't up to snuff (although to be fair that's at least partly Hasbro's fault, since the joints on my copy are were giving out before I added anything).  The new neck connection between Mixmaster and Scavenger is especially a weak point.  It's also frustrating that I can't get the c-clip on the ab piece onto the bar under Overload's cab.

However, with a cooler head I have to admit that the back piece, the bicep fillers, the flaps on his back, and especially the extra pieces for his head do improve Devastator's appearance and add a bit more screen-accuracy.  The ab piece even works without clipping in fully, and while I could live without the wrecking balls I'm sure there are people out there that are going to love them.  It's really just the new neck connection that doesn't really work, and presumably you could simply not use it and connect Mixmaster the Hasbro-intended way even with the rest of the DNA kit installed.  In other words, the kit works 90% as intended; compared to something like the DNA legs for Siege Ultra Magnus that were toleranced so poorly with the leg armor wouldn't stay on in robot mode and the clips would latch onto the trailer that they'd rip right out of the legs when you tried to remove the cab from the trailer that I wound up putting the stock legs back on that's actually pretty good.  So actually, if you want something to give Devastator a bit more movie-accuracy, especially in the face, and to fill out and hide some screw holes, then this kit might indeed be worth picking up, as long as you understand that the new neck connections is probably going to cause more problems than it solves.

[sh9000]

I might still buy XTB’s Protectobots.  Wish they went with Aerialbots first.

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

I might still buy XTB’s Protectobots.  Wish they went with Aerialbots first.

Can the firetruck on the top really turn into the robot on the bottom? 

[tekering]

[M'Kyuun]

Ok, cuz like Scyla, I was thinking that's a new extreme even by Takara's standards.

[sh9000]

20 hours ago, Scyla said:

Can the firetruck on the top really turn into the robot on the bottom? 

I asked and they said the entire fire truck turns into the robot.

[tekering]

20 minutes ago, sh9000 said:

I asked and they said the entire fire truck turns into the robot.

That robot mode image must be an unfinished render, then.