The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, sh9000 said:

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

If so, that's a transformation beyond even Unique Toys' Challenger- lots and lots of folding to end up with such a clean and minimal looking bot. Judging by the size of the visible tires, it looks to be about 1/3 of the fire truck mode's mass.  Interdimensional pocket?  Are XTB really a bunch of physicists from CERN? or Los Alamos? 

[mikeszekely]

These days you can't throw a rock without hitting some kind of Chinese 3D-printed upgrade for a Hasbro Transformer.  However, there's been a few groups with multiple kits under their belts that you can start to see some patterns.  And one of those patterns has been that some of the best options are from Go Better.  Here's two of their newer kits.

First up we have this kit for Kingdom Inferno.  It's mostly filler bits, but it does have some neat tricks.  Now again, this is a 3D printed kit, but the quality of the print is very good.  You have to look closely to see any lines, and all the parts are painted.  I bought and was pretty pleased with their kit for Grapple (although it appears I never reviewed it?), so I was anticipating this one before I even had Inferno in hand.

For starters, there's quite a bit of leg filler.  There's a part for the front of the inside of the thigh, the back of the inside of the thigh, and the round bit for the inside of the thigh.  There's also a part that fills in the hollows on the inside of his feet.  The fit is very good, not difficult to get in but snug enough that they won't come back out.

There's filler for the ladder.  The smaller piece goes in first, and the bigger piece meets with where there's the support structure in the middle.

There's filler for his arms.  The bicep filler is pretty standard stuff, but the forearm filler is one of the reasons why I love Go Better so much more than other Chinese 3D printing groups or even some injection molded stuff like Nonnef.  It actually has a hinge in it.  The base is secured tightly near the rivet in his elbow, but the bulk of it opens like a flap so you can tuck his hand in during transformation.

There's one more piece in this kit.  It fits onto the outside of his forearm, by plugging into the 5mm port.  So... kind of unfortunate if you like the 5mm ports, but it does fill that hollow bit around the pin, so I think I dig it.  But, there's only one for his right arm, leaving him a tad asymmetric.

The reason is that it's not really a filler part.  Instead, there's a hinged flap that opens up, and voila, he's got his communicator from... that one episode.  Yeah.

The communicator, which honestly is pretty optional, does leave a little bump where the ladder is sitting.  But otherwise none of the parts affect his transformation in the slightest.  So... It's a bit odd that he doesn't have the belly piece that they put in the grapple kit.  And I kind of wish they'd have given him a communicator for both arms, so his arms remained symmetrical.  But on the whole it's a good kit if you really want something to fill the hollow gaps on him.  It doesn't do much beyond that, but doesn't need to.  I'd give it a recommend.  My only real complaint is that I wish they'd mirrored the communicator piece.

The other kit I got is this one, for Kingdom Optimus Primal.  Primal was a pretty good figure, I thought, but he did have one glaring flaw that this kit attempts to address.

Well, for starter you get these two screw hole covers... for the backs of his thighs.  Not the hugely visible rivets in his shoulders.  I mean, it's a solution to a problem I didn't really have, but it's fine, I guess.

The big gray piece is a jetpack.  This seems to be something Go Better included to replicate a feature seen in the cartoon and, I think, on the MP.  There's a bit that fits over the hinge on his monkey butt flap, then the rest folds into the gap under his backpack.

The thrusters on the jetpack are molded such that most blast effect parts from various War for Cybertron releases should fit in them, albeit a bit more loosely than I'd like because they're a bit shallow.  There's a also a smaller hole between them for a flight stand.  All-in-all a pretty need addition, but my issue with Primal wasn't his lack of jetpack.

No, the real issue for me has always been the huge gap between the panel that flips between his robot and beast chest and the panel his neck is connected to.  And fortunately, that is where the last piece comes into play.  To install it, you'll have to pull his back open like you're transforming him.  Then you'll find some notches on the Go Better part.  They fit onto the lip of his neck panel, hinge side up, then fold the front down and tuck in the sides before closing him back up.

I think this is a huge improvement.  Granted, the hinges stick up a bit farther than I'd like, but I think that's a small price to pay to not have a gaping window into Primal's chest cavity.

As you can probably tell from the hinges, the chest filler can stay on during transformation, allowing it to fold as necessary.  It's still even acting a bit as filler around the ape collar.  It doesn't fill in quite as well as it does in robot mode, but the gap wasn't as bad in the first place in ape mode, so I've got not real complaints.  Likewise, the screw hole covers on the backs of his robot thighs can stay on, even if they're covered by his robot butt now.

If there is one downside to this kit, though, it's that the jetpack cannot stay on for transformation.  The parts it connects to in bot mode shift around in ways that make it impossible to stay connected in ape mode.  Even if it could stay on it actually gets in the way of opening his back for transformation, so, yeah, it's the kind of part you have to take off and set to the side.  Now, I'm not totally bothered- the jetpack wasn't something I needed, and it's pretty easy for me to just put it in a drawer and forget about it.  That said, Go Better's kits aren't cheap.  Maybe it'd have been better if they just left the jetpack out and charged a few bucks less.  Honestly, I could have done without the screw hole covers, too.  Still, I'm still super happy with this kit because it fills the gap in his robot chest, and that's what I really wanted it for.  It's another recommend from me.

[Convectuoso]

Great kits, @mikeszekely

I just ordered some upgrade parts for NewAge's Soundwave and Ratchet. I'll post some pics once I get them

[MKT]

Sharing a recent purchase that arrived last week, with a pictorial write up..

 

This is Zeta’s ZV-02 Flash, aka 2018 Bumblebee movie’s Blitzwing..

 

 

For better or worse, as opposed to Bayverse bots, Travis Knight’s Bumbleblee movie designs hark back to the G1 era. Most who grew up with G1 would have instantly recognized all the characters in the opening scene on Cybertron. For some reason though, they choose to make this guy as Blitzwing, even though the whole design screams, ahem..  Starscream.

 

 

With these third party Bumblebee movie toy efforts, we do seem to be entering a new era of toymaking, whereby these companies are really able to replicate their bot mode to almost 100% of what we see onscreen, yet make them transform to their real-world alt modes with more than reasonable likeness. This is the 3^rd figure of this movie, after Toyword’s Optimus Prime & Transcraft’s Bumblebee, which a casual observer would have a hard time telling the difference between them and the non-transforming, CGI-accurate Threezero’s versions...

 

 

Nevertheless, there are some concessions. Head & hands are a bit too small, and having to transform means articulation can be compromised in some ways.

 

 

The quest for accuracy in both modes means transformation is a really complicated and involving affair these days. I have come to approach these toys the same as assembling a model kit, or building a moderately sized Lego set – prepare to block off a whole afternoon or evening to transform them. Total concentration, gentle but steady hands are necessary. But the payoff is satisfying…

 

 

Blitzwing turns into a cool McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom II jet. Even though it has endless folding panels, everything comes together solidly & securely (perhaps too snugly in some places), and there is no slack at all when holding it in hand,,

 

 

In bot mode, it is already a big toy, but transforming it involves some mass-shifting resulting in an even larger jet. Here it is with a 1/48 DX Chogokin VF-1J for comparison.

Picking it up and swooshing it gives me a huge silly grin as I come to a certain realization.. You see, when we were kids, toys were on average much bigger than they are today, and coupled with our kid-sized hands, they felt much more substantial. The size of this Blitzwing and its solid plastics in grown-up hands really telegraphs the feeling of being a kid-with-a huge-toy-plane again, more so mostly needing two hands to swoosh it.. 

Nevertheless, the pic above also shows there is a bit of problem in its proportions, as someone (@Dobber ?) observed a few pages back. Its length of 41.5cm makes it about 1/46 scale, but its wingspan of 29cm makes it 1/40 widthwise. Hence, its overall too short, giving it a bit of a SD-ish characteristic.

 

 

However, it is a characteristic I’m willing to overlook, as this toy manages to do the one most important thing most other Transformer jet toys have failed: having a relatively clean underside without extraneous kibble or having that bot-hanging-off-a-jet look. Although there are some gaps & what look like missing panels on Blitzwing’s underside, it’s a huge, huge improvement as compared to say, Bayverse’s Starscream F-22 & Jetfire SR-71 toys.

I also love that all the armament missiles are individual pieces, including the pylons and external fuel tanks..

[sh9000]

 

[Chronocidal]

3 hours ago, MKT said:

Sharing a recent purchase that arrived last week, with a pictorial write up..

 The quest for accuracy in both modes means transformation is a really complicated and involving affair these days. I have come to approach these toys the same as assembling a model kit, or building a moderately sized Lego set – prepare to block off a whole afternoon or evening to transform them. Total concentration, gentle but steady hands are necessary. But the payoff is satisfying…

 

Blitzwing turns into a cool McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom II jet. Even though it has endless folding panels, everything comes together solidly & securely (perhaps too snugly in some places), and there is no slack at all when holding it in hand,,

 In bot mode, it is already a big toy, but transforming it involves some mass-shifting resulting in an even larger jet. Here it is with a 1/48 DX Chogokin VF-1J for comparison.

Picking it up and swooshing it gives me a huge silly grin as I come to a certain realization.. You see, when we were kids, toys were on average much bigger than they are today, and coupled with our kid-sized hands, they felt much more substantial. The size of this Blitzwing and its solid plastics in grown-up hands really telegraphs the feeling of being a kid-with-a huge-toy-plane again, more so mostly needing two hands to swoosh it.. 

Nevertheless, the pic above also shows there is a bit of problem in its proportions, as someone (@Dobber ?) observed a few pages back. Its length of 41.5cm makes it about 1/46 scale, but its wingspan of 29cm makes it 1/40 widthwise. Hence, its overall too short, giving it a bit of a SD-ish characteristic.

 

However, it is a characteristic I’m willing to overlook, as this toy manages to do the one most important thing most other Transformer jet toys have failed: having a relatively clean underside without extraneous kibble or having that bot-hanging-off-a-jet look. Although there are some gaps & what look like missing panels on Blitzwing’s underside, it’s a huge, huge improvement as compared to say, Bayverse’s Starscream F-22 & Jetfire SR-71 toys.

I also love that all the armament missiles are individual pieces, including the pylons and external fuel tanks..

Been planning to post some more thoughts about this guy, and have to agree, he's a beast to transform, but the effort is worth it.  I'm thinking of ordering a second to customize in fact.

Unfortunately, Zeta's QC on this one hasn't been great, and I've seen lots of reports of missing pieces.  Mine came missing the two larger ball-jointed flaps on the back (really insignificant, and I'm not worried about them) and one of the tailhook panels between the engines (requested a replacement for that one).  I also managed to snap off one of the tiny folding fins behind he head somehow, might have been a weak molding.

As far as the jet is concerned.. okay, here's where I'm going to go into aircraft nerd mode.  First off, the jet used in the movie looks like it should be an F-4D, while this iteration looks much more like an F-4E, due to the under-nose cannon mount.  The Mechanical Alliance release of Blitzwing also looks a bit off-model for an F-4D, but attempts to cover it up by painting the entire nose section dark.  This one just accepts that it's going to use the E-model's smaller radome, and I think it's better off for it.  I don't personally mind the inaccuracy to the movie because I prefer the sleeker nose, but some might not like the compromise.

Second, the wing pylons are massively goofy.  I did notice something funny though in a review that compared this one to the fancy non-transforming figure.  Take a look at the pylons mounted to the back of the legs.

Zeta copied that mold exactly.... but didn't realize that the twin pegs sticking up were supposed to go into the wing, not a weapon.  Consequently, while generally a passable shape (ignoring the oversized nature and the rear half blocking the gear doors), the pylons are upside down.  So, instead of having pegs in place of those dual tabs, and matching holes under the wings, we have tabs under the wings that slip into the weapons rails between the sidewinder rails.   For what it's worth, they do nicely mount the sidewinders.

This bugged me, so I took matters into my own hands, and started drilling, cutting, and filing.  They now mount right side up, but the length of the pylons is a bit much, and impedes the gear doors.  I'm debating whether to cut them down a bit, or just try making/printing a more accurate set of pylons myself.

  I'm also thinking of cutting off the spikes on the leading edge of the wing, since I think they just look silly.  The F-4 did have a sensor of some sort on the leading edge (think it was a camera), but only one of them, on one wing.

For the sparrows though, it is possible to mount them all on the belly.  The front two slot onto those tabs under the intakes nicely as shown above.  The rear two kind of have two options.  You can either embed the fins in those slots on the underside inboard of the gear (more stable, but depends on fin thickness (which isn't entirely consistent), and sticks down further), or you can try and sort of wedge them onto the rear tabs just ahead of the exhaust nozzles.  The rear mount looks better, but those tabs are very oddly angled, and the missiles might just pop off.  I was able to get them on pretty firmly.

One other thing I noticed is that while they look completely identical, the four wing flaps are actually two separate molds for the left and right side.  If they don't line up well, you can try swapping them around.  Mine worked best with the small ejector pin marks all facing the top of the wing.

Anywho, accurate to the movie or not, I'm just thrilled to see someone actually develop a transforming jet whose robot parts all fit inside of the jet.  The odd scaling doesn't really bug me for some reason, it just looks like a cartoony F-4.  If I was to make a Macross comparison?  I think this is kind of like a Chunky Monkey equivalent of an F-4.  It's got the key design features, but slightly beefed up.  Though.. nowhere near as simple to transform.  

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Chronocidal

[Bobby]

55 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Unfortunately, Zeta's QC on this one hasn't been great, and I've seen lots of reports of missing pieces.  Mine came missing the two larger ball-jointed flaps on the back (really insignificant, and I'm not worried about them) and one of the tailhook panels between the engines (requested a replacement for that one).  I also managed to snap off one of the tiny folding fins behind he head somehow, might have been a weak molding.

Sorry to hear ... broken or missing parts is always a bummer.  Mine just arrived and is actually missing the front half of his head which means he has no face ... I sent in a request to David @ ShowZ and am hopeful.

MKT's comments about requiring lots of focus and time and parts being a bit too snugly are spot on but the reward's worth it.  

[Chronocidal]

10 minutes ago, Bobby said:

Sorry to hear ... broken or missing parts is always a bummer.  Mine just arrived and is actually missing the front half of his head which means he has no face ... I sent in a request to David @ ShowZ and am hopeful.

MKT's comments about requiring lots of focus and time and parts being a bit too snugly are spot on but the reward's worth it.  

Ouch.  Yeah, I don't know what drove them to package the face and wings separately, but they really set themselves up for failure with how many parts are scattered around the boxes.

Technically I wasn't -missing- the tailhook panel.. what they did was give me two right-side copies of one part.  It wasn't visible because it was packed in bot mode, and that piece was embedded in the leg so deep you'd never know it was assembled incorrectly.

[JB0]

21 minutes ago, Bobby said:

Mine just arrived and is actually missing the front half of his head which means he has no face ... I sent in a request to David @ ShowZ and am hopeful.

I hope they take care of you quickly.

In the meantime, he can be set up with Revenge of the Fallen Prime and his face-ripping claws, though!

[Bobby]

9 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Technically I wasn't -missing- the tailhook panel.. what they did was give me two right-side copies of one part.  It wasn't visible because it was packed in bot mode, and that piece was embedded in the leg so deep you'd never know it was assembled incorrectly.

I know exactly what/where you're talking about and also since it's technically a faux tailhook makes it even easier to mix'em up during assembly!

[Bobby]

2 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I hope they take care of you quickly.

In the meantime, he can be set up with Revenge of the Fallen Prime and his face-ripping claws, though!

Thanks! Me too ... and for whatever reason missing a face feels more incomplete that missing other parts ... and now I need to buy a ROTF Prime to hold me over in the meantime  

[Chronocidal]

You know.. now I'm actually curious.  I have a spare head from my oversized Starscream.  Would be funny if it fit the ball joint.  

[JB0]

10 minutes ago, Bobby said:

Thanks! Me too ... and for whatever reason missing a face feels more incomplete that missing other parts ... and now I need to buy a ROTF Prime to hold me over in the meantime  

You can make do without a lotta bits(headcanon them away as "battle damage" if they're too noticable), but a face is pretty important. 

[Bobby]

32 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

You know.. now I'm actually curious.  I have a spare head from my oversized Starscream.  Would be funny if it fit the ball joint.  

It came with an extra head?! ... hmmm, I have an oversized Starscream ... but now I gotta find the box! 

[Chronocidal]

It depends on which type you bought, I got one of the Robot Hero Airstrikes releases (specifically the MP-3 Greenscream style).  It came with a spare head with a different expression.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Chronocidal

[MKT]

@Chronocidal You mentioned missing the 2 larger ball jointed flaps.. I found mine in the baggie of parts, together with the missiles, plus the easily missed tiny switch button for the back of its head.

Good explanation on the pylons issue. I knew there was something off about the pylons, but I'm not enough of an aircraft nut to identify what it is..

 

@Bobby I only speculate, yours came with missing face because it was still in the old separate wing & face package. Show.Z versions came with the much needed wing peg fixes. They got the new replacement wings, threw it in with the toy but forgot about the face sitting in the older package..

[slaginpit]

20 hours ago, MKT said:

Sharing a recent purchase that arrived last week, with a pictorial write up..

 

This is Zeta’s ZV-02 Flash, aka 2018 Bumblebee movie’s Blitzwing..

 

 

For better or worse, as opposed to Bayverse bots, Travis Knight’s Bumbleblee movie designs hark back to the G1 era. Most who grew up with G1 would have instantly recognized all the characters in the opening scene on Cybertron. For some reason though, they choose to make this guy as Blitzwing, even though the whole design screams, ahem..  Starscream.

 

 

With these third party Bumblebee movie toy efforts, we do seem to be entering a new era of toymaking, whereby these companies are really able to replicate their bot mode to almost 100% of what we see onscreen, yet make them transform to their real-world alt modes with more than reasonable likeness. This is the 3^rd figure of this movie, after Toyword’s Optimus Prime & Transcraft’s Bumblebee, which a casual observer would have a hard time telling the difference between them and the non-transforming, CGI-accurate Threezero’s versions...

 

 

 

Nevertheless, there are some concessions. Head & hands are a bit too small, and having to transform means articulation can be compromised in some ways.

 

 

 

The quest for accuracy in both modes means transformation is a really complicated and involving affair these days. I have come to approach these toys the same as assembling a model kit, or building a moderately sized Lego set – prepare to block off a whole afternoon or evening to transform them. Total concentration, gentle but steady hands are necessary. But the payoff is satisfying…

 

 

 

Blitzwing turns into a cool McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom II jet. Even though it has endless folding panels, everything comes together solidly & securely (perhaps too snugly in some places), and there is no slack at all when holding it in hand,,

 

 

 

In bot mode, it is already a big toy, but transforming it involves some mass-shifting resulting in an even larger jet. Here it is with a 1/48 DX Chogokin VF-1J for comparison.

Picking it up and swooshing it gives me a huge silly grin as I come to a certain realization.. You see, when we were kids, toys were on average much bigger than they are today, and coupled with our kid-sized hands, they felt much more substantial. The size of this Blitzwing and its solid plastics in grown-up hands really telegraphs the feeling of being a kid-with-a huge-toy-plane again, more so mostly needing two hands to swoosh it.. 

Nevertheless, the pic above also shows there is a bit of problem in its proportions, as someone (@Dobber ?) observed a few pages back. Its length of 41.5cm makes it about 1/46 scale, but its wingspan of 29cm makes it 1/40 widthwise. Hence, its overall too short, giving it a bit of a SD-ish characteristic.

 

 

 

However, it is a characteristic I’m willing to overlook, as this toy manages to do the one most important thing most other Transformer jet toys have failed: having a relatively clean underside without extraneous kibble or having that bot-hanging-off-a-jet look. Although there are some gaps & what look like missing panels on Blitzwing’s underside, it’s a huge, huge improvement as compared to say, Bayverse’s Starscream F-22 & Jetfire SR-71 toys.

I also love that all the armament missiles are individual pieces, including the pylons and external fuel tanks..

GORGEOUS...cant for mine to hit the mailbox

 

[slaginpit]

I just preordered this man this is cool 

3

 

 

[tekering]

6 hours ago, slaginpit said:

I just preordered this man

Hmm...  Looks more like a robot to me.

It cries for a filthy, Mad Max-inspired paint job, which I will most assuredly give it.

[Chronocidal]

Was going to say, that thing looks like it belongs in a Mad Max crossover.  It's absolutely begging for a trailer covered in gigantic speakers and a Doof Warrior stage.  

[Mechapilot77]

you know i thought that wa ayamato 1/60 next to the zeta flash but thats a DX chogokin!?  dang.  super deformed proprotions aside (i can't put it aside enough to buy it), i wish it were smaller actually. 

also frost light appears to be awesome.  we'll see when its released.

[M'Kyuun]

Never been a big Mad Max fan, or a fan of post-apoc vehicles modded to the nines with cow catchers, bars, spikes, etc, but if you're gonna make one and make it transform, then Frostlight's the way to do it. Looks awesome in both modes.

[Dobber]

15 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Never been a big Mad Max fan, or a fan of post-apoc vehicles modded to the nines with cow catchers, bars, spikes, etc, but if you're gonna make one and make it transform, then Frostlight's the way to do it. Looks awesome in both modes.

Exactly how I felt. 
 

Chris

[sh9000]

The transformation of the toy is complicated but the stop motion is nice.

[Mechapilot77]

23 hours ago, sh9000 said:

The transformation of the toy is complicated but the stop motion is nice.

 that is pretty nutso transformation.  wonder if this is the best video to follow so far.  i haven't attempted mine yet. 

[slaginpit]

On 5/16/2021 at 2:54 PM, MKT said:

Sharing a recent purchase that arrived last week, with a pictorial write up..

 

This is Zeta’s ZV-02 Flash, aka 2018 Bumblebee movie’s Blitzwing..

 

So um yeah i got mine from show z today. 

Just like showZ to frakk me or at least i dont know my frakking shitty luck. 

Missing missles. missing the two but flap wings it came in separate boxes like the wings . I mean Um like um 

WAT THE frakk BRO!~

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, Zeta overcomplicated this to their own detriment with the way they packaged everything.  I don't get it.  I heard someone saying it was to avoid copyright problems, but I don't know why it affected them and not Mechanical Alliance with their version.

I would say though that fortunately the butt flaps are kind of unimportant overall.  I don't really miss them.  Though.. I wonder if the smaller flaps on the upper back would fit in the same socket.  They're slightly smaller, but since the upper pair is even less visible, they might at least complete the silhouette a bit better.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Chronocidal

[Convectuoso]

I captured these from a video posted on NewAge's Weibo page:

Unfortunately the lighting won't let his face  be seen.

They also added these pics:

 

and I got this one yesterday, also from NewAge

[technoblue]

Something's not right about Optimus there. He's missing a lot of detail and articulation that NA was showing off in their older unpainted prototype. 

The rest of the photos look terrific. How is Jazz in hand, @Convectuoso? Anything to watch out for? I'm still waiting for the toy version, myself.

[Convectuoso]

4 hours ago, technoblue said:

How is Jazz in hand, @Convectuoso? Anything to watch out for? I'm still waiting for the toy version, myself.

Jazz is pretty solid, car mode is awesome, without any visible gaps. And transformation is simple and easy. I only wish NewAge's autobots had optional hands as their Decepticons have.

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

Jazz is pretty solid, car mode is awesome, without any visible gaps. And transformation is simple and easy. I only wish NewAge's autobots had optional hands as their Decepticons have.

Thank you! 

[sh9000]

[JB0]

At last, a Bay Prime I'm interested in!

[Convectuoso]

First video of NewAge's Devastator:

https://video.h5.weibo.cn/1034:4642255244558395/4642256281404819

 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=543527313698542

Same video on both links, in case one on them doesn't work for you

Edited May 29, 2021 by Convectuoso

[nightmareB4macross]

Amazing!