The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Dobber]

Well, not as bad as I feared, and definitely better than Mp-52, but still not great either. There’s a lot of bot just hanging there underneath. 
 

Chris

[technoblue]

4 hours ago, Dobber said:

Well, not as bad as I feared, and definitely better than Mp-52, but still not great either. There’s a lot of bot just hanging there underneath. 
 

Chris

It’s a measure of consistency and what a fan wants from Masterpiece, I guess. Takara went in a very specific direction with MP-52. To match the toon/toy cues, they opted for underneath kibble that is highly inconsistent to the real-world vehicle. As has been noted, MP-3 and MP-11 were doing their own thing in alt mode and trying to keep a profile that was more in line with the real-world aircraft. Indeed, MP-52 has real-world detail but the profile that’s posted above was obviously not Takara’s intent this time.

DS appears to be skirting the line trying to please all fans and it will be interesting to see if they do it. The underneath kibble has no peaks and valleys like MP-52 but it is still a visible chonk.  If I were to compare DS-01 to a smaller scale Voyager, then I think Earthrise Starscream would be a good match. To me, both have nice jets on top of thick blocks which hide the transformy bits in alt mode.

Edited July 20, 2021 by technoblue

[Ignacio Ocamica]

DS-01 is my favorite Starscream in robot mode. It ticks all the right boxes, it's what I wanted. Turned out better than MP-52 IMO.

[M'Kyuun]

8 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

It's an improvement all around, but wow that's a ton of joints in the tails.  I guess that's just the go-to method now.

As silly as the sandwich wing design on MP-52 looks, I actually think they fairly well nailed the tail section transformation.  Reminds me a bit of the Iron Factory (I think) transformation, that twisted and folded the tails and stabilizers around so they laid flat against the backs of the wings.

The more I see of the complex mechanisms these are using, the more I wonder how accurate they could get both modes if they just went all out, and made the whole jet turn completely inside-out to transform, hiding and collapsing the entire robot inside the fuselage, and then expanding the boxy structures to bulk out the robot.

Yes, at least to the legs. I'd love to see the arms collapse into the center fuselage like the G1 toy, and the Robot Masters fig, as well, and then employ the same kind deformation mechanics they employed on MP-36 Megatron's legs to smooth everything out in fighter mode and try to capture the shape of the actual aircraft. Likewise, the rotating chest intakes was a stroke of genius that nobody, including Takara themselves, seems to want to emulate.  Such a great design idea that's ideal for both modes. I like NA's approach of turning the entire upper torso, including chest intakes, and rotating them inwards and making them form part of the forward fuselage. Brilliant idea that works oh so well. With a little additional engineering, on a larger toy, I think it'd be possible to also have node gear doors and a retractable nose gear in there, too. I'd love to see NA take a crack at MP scale with that mold, adding in all the embellishments that are too difficult at legends scale. 

[Mechapilot77]

On 7/19/2021 at 11:15 PM, M'Kyuun said:

From those angles, it looks much better than MP-52. The forward fuselage is a little too short vertically; it should come down to the base of the intakes, just above the robot chesticle section.  Those mains are really short, as even with a too-small forward fuselage to help with the nose gear height, the plane still looks like it's sitting at a nose-high attitude on the ground. Nitpicks. Overall, it looks pretty clean, a far more acceptable F-15 than the atrocious MP-52.

By way of comparison, Maketoys' jet mode is pretty accurate to the source, as is the NewAge, and both are more accurate than the DS, at least that forward section. Without a good profile shot, it's difficult to judge the tail section, and honestly, the only Seekers I've seen that even approached accuracy were MP-03, which was very close due to Kawamori's tinkering with the leg shape and foot design, followed by MP-11, which lost some of that accuracy in fighter for a slightly more accurate toon foot and blockier leg , which still looked awkward.  Maketoy's tail section is pretty squared off and a little chunky and would have benefitted from a taper or a nice angle, like the NewAge Seeker. NA's actually looks pretty good; it's a shame they didn't hide the foot internally, as it would have looked even better.

wow, i forgot the MT was so slim in jet mode and hadnt' seen the newage from that angle before.  the mp3/11/52 got progressively worse in alt mode.  The MT still has the robo bewbs facing down but is sleek otherwise (but has maddening things about it like opaque cockpit, cartoonized shaping and proportions in the alt mode).  the DS is a bit fat with the robo bewbs facing down (which newage was able to avoid?) but its much more steamlined than anything from takara with the exception of perhaps the mp-03.  holding out hope it'll be the best overall still.

[Chronocidal]

Something just occurred to me, and I wonder if anyone would be bold enough to try it.

Setting aside the chest intake issue (which MP-3 had solved and I think everyone should go back to that method), the biggest streamlining issue seems to be that Starscream's legs taper in the opposite direction of the F-15's fuselage.  They tried to compromise on MP-3, and the legs just wound up very narrow on the bottom.  MP-11 reversed this, and made the legs fatter, and no one has tried to streamline them that way again.

Wacky idea.  What if the entire lower leg opened up, and the shin flipped around?  It would probably play havoc with the leg and foot joints, but doing this would put the widest point of the leg where most Starscreams put the knees, and potentially let you hide the feet in the mid-body, instead of dangling under the engines.

I'm thinking it would mess a little with the robot details in alt mode, but I don't actually know if anyone would care if the leg details were backwards on the underside of the jet.  So long as they wind up in the right place on the bot, it probably would get a pass.

Might have to see if I can't make a quick CAD model of this later as a test, see how the proportions work out, and whether there would be room for all the necessary parts.

[M'Kyuun]

35 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Something just occurred to me, and I wonder if anyone would be bold enough to try it.

Setting aside the chest intake issue (which MP-3 had solved and I think everyone should go back to that method), the biggest streamlining issue seems to be that Starscream's legs taper in the opposite direction of the F-15's fuselage.  They tried to compromise on MP-3, and the legs just wound up very narrow on the bottom.  MP-11 reversed this, and made the legs fatter, and no one has tried to streamline them that way again.

Wacky idea.  What if the entire lower leg opened up, and the shin flipped around?  It would probably play havoc with the leg and foot joints, but doing this would put the widest point of the leg where most Starscreams put the knees, and potentially let you hide the feet in the mid-body, instead of dangling under the engines.

I'm thinking it would mess a little with the robot details in alt mode, but I don't actually know if anyone would care if the leg details were backwards on the underside of the jet.  So long as they wind up in the right place on the bot, it probably would get a pass.

Might have to see if I can't make a quick CAD model of this later as a test, see how the proportions work out, and whether there would be room for all the necessary parts.

I have indeed thought of it, although, as you mention, it may play some havoc with the feet. OR, what if only the outer fascia of the legs rotated 180, but the inner leg remained as per the original design, negating the need to move the feet. I think that'd solve the problem nicely, and perhaps it would offer the possibility of ensconcing the feet within the leg in jet mode to help preserve the smooth taper to the exhausts.

Anyway, I think there are engineering options with the legs; it just doesn't seem like most companies have much interest in straying too far from the original design. Some use sliders to foreshorten them, but otherwise, most Seeker toys' legs just stick straight back with the toes folded up into the leg. Definitely curious to see what you're able to come with.

[mikeszekely]

I think there are companies out there that could do a better jet mode. I think they don't want to. It's like wanting a chibi Porsche mode for Cliffjumper, the weird biplane design for Blitzwing, or the uncircumsized shuttle for Astrotrain... the animation models followed the toys, and aren't real-world accurate. And people sometimes prefer animation accuracy to real-world accuracy.

[M'Kyuun]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I think there are companies out there that could do a better jet mode. I think they don't want to. It's like wanting a chibi Porsche mode for Cliffjumper, the weird biplane design for Blitzwing, or the uncircumsized shuttle for Astrotrain... the animation models followed the toys, and aren't real-world accurate. And people sometimes prefer animation accuracy to real-world accuracy.

And they're well within their rights to be wrong.  

Honestly, the uncircumcised shuttle for Astrotrain never bothered me that much for some reason, and it should. I love Fans Toys Thomas, and they did a remarkable job nailing the realistic look of the locomotive mode, but their shuttle, while smooth on top, still has those bits on the sides that stick out due to all the panel-fu, just like the G1 toy. It would have been nice if could have smoothed the whole thing out to make it look accurate, or closer to accurate, but apparently it's a challenging thing to do, and that was a concession that also homages the G1 toy. Somehow, it doesn't bother me near as much as MP-52's peaks and valleys. Guess we all have our own quirky nitpicks.

Not sure if anyone else has posted this, but I came across this initially on Twitter tonight/this morning (it's almost 2AM PST, and I should probably be snoozing). It's a really interesting take on Aerialbot Slingshot, stylized by this new third party, Dreamstar Toys, as Slingshoot.   This thing's got my attention. I'm a huge Harrier fan, and there are so, so few good transforming toys of that plane, but this one, while a little chubby and showing a little bit of bot-stuff on the flanks where its variable nozzles should be, as well as some bot kibble on the belly where the belly gun pods should be, it's passable. I'll also mention that the intakes are too wide, and each has nearly a full fan blade showing, indicating two engines- no wonder she's so fat!  For those who are unaware, the Harrier, both British and American variants, is a single engine jet, and only about a 1/3 of the first stage fan blade is visible through the intakes. Alas, license and concessions. Borderline egg-plane proportions and visible bot bits notwithstanding, I'm digging this guy in both modes. I'll admit, when I first saw the pics, I thought it was a new take on Shatter from the Bumblebee Movie, as it has a bit of that Bay-bot busy-ness going on, and SS Shatter also had the full fan blade in each intake, so I presumed until I did some reading. This will apparently, like MMC's Bruticus, be part of an all-in-one non-partsforming combiner, albeit with a decidedly non-G1 blocky bot aesthetic. I have no interest in collecting the whole team, and their take on Silverbolt is, unfortunately, like virtually every take by everyone who attempts it, a big block-o-bot hanging out under a nice Concorde fuselage. So sad; after seeing their Slingshoot, I was hoping they'd work some magic and offer up a more accurate Concorde, but the Robot Fates continue to kick slag in our collective faces. At this point I'd like to see UniqueToys take a crack at it, but I digress. Anyway, this was new to me, and very different in its approach, so I thought it worth sharing. Credit to TFW2005, whose pics I linked.

 

[Convectuoso]

Magic Square's version of Jazz

[mark-1s]

/\/\/\/\

I'm sure it's just the lighting, but it looks like Jazz has eyes, not just a visor.

 

[M'Kyuun]

Once again, I look upon a very well crafted legends scale fig and wish fervently that they'd upscale to match CHUG. We can't see it from this angle, but I'll bet that car mode doesn't have big blocky feet hanging out the back.  

As much as I like collecting Hasbro's mainline, third parties are undeniably doing it better at legends scale. It's a shame that their prices are akin to leader class or higher for such small figures, but one must weigh the total package of what the legends figs offer over CHUG, which is all over the place in terms of design, accuracy, hollow bits, complexity of transformation, paint, etc. 3P legends offers more quality per fig, and the price, while a bit exorbitant, reflects it. 

It's a quandary, then, whether to just abandon CHUG and go full legends. I haven't the space, or budget, for both full on, but I'm well invested in CHUG, and if I'm being honest, I still enjoy the main line, especially all the G1 goodness we've been getting since Titans Return. The WfC figs, for the better part, have been pretty well done. They still lack the spit and polish of most of the legends figs though, and that's hard to ignore. And that draws me further into the murky waters of add-ons and upgrades, which often cost as much or more than the fig itself to correct issues that shouldn't exist in the first place. I haven't swum too deep into that pool as of yet, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terribly tempted for a few of my figs just to make them feel more complete, as they should have been straight outta the box. Alas, first world issue, but as an unapologetic first worlder, this is the issue that lies before me.

[M'Kyuun]

The rest of Dreamstar Toys' Aerialbots: Credit to Show.Z for pics.

Wow- great shaping on that empennage! If only the Seekers looked so good.

F-15 mode looks good from above, but loses some fidelity on that underside. Credit for accurately placing the mains, though. Funny that they're extended, but not the nose. Still, it's pretty flat, and worlds better than MP-52. No bot pics available on the site, and I couldn't find them anywhere else.

Fairly clean underside. Again, the mains are positioned accurately, and are extended, but not the nose. No bot pics for this guy, either.

IMHO, one of the most challenging fighters to craft into a transforming bot due to its small size and tubular shaping. This is a remarkable effort, probably the best I've seen in my many years of being a transforming robot fan.  The mains look off on this one, but I hope I'm wrong.  Love how clean that underside is, though. Even more impressive is that it becomes a relatively chunky bot without all that chunkiness turning the fighter into a cube, or an F-16 shaped hang glider. Def on my radar, Pun not intentional, but what the heck. 

The one disappointment out of the bunch.  I was so vehemently hoping this would be as clean and integrated as the rest, but this Silverbolt joins a long roster of robots hanging out under a Concorde, or the odd SR-71.  I know I'm gonna get an "I told ya so" from @mikeszekely, but I remain steadfast in my belief that a fully integrated transforming Concorde is possible where the plane itself forms the bot rather than a big block o'bot hanging out underneath. Not this time, sadly, but hopefully within my lifetime. I just want that one fleeting moment of vindication.

Anyway, while I'm not interested in collecting them all, I like the design approach and aesthetic. It has Bayformer's complexity without the nonsensical and decidedly unrealistic placement and shaping of aircraft parts in bot mode. I'm strongly reminded of Sci-Figure Industries' Lumitent and Fiery Thunderbolt helicopter. I wouldn't be surprised if the same folks (TFC Toys) were doing these, too. 

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by M'Kyuun

[Scyla]

@M'Kyuun I think FansToys Maverick is probably the best version of a transforming (ehm I mean converting) Concorde. It is not perfect by any means but the designer went to great lengths to get as close as possible.

So much so that my biggest complaint is that the way the nosecone can’t fold down like on the real Concorde.

Since is is also not hindered by the engineering of a torso mode I can recommend him as a stand-alone piece if you are just a fan of jet Transformers.

The Dream Star Toys Silverbolt seems to suffer a lot from being a all-in-one combiner and they probably packed a lot of their Superion into him.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Scyla

[JB0]

I still don't understand why they don't just make Silverbolt an XB-70 Valkyrie. It is a long narrow plane that is SUPPOSED to have a big box on the underside.

 

But yeah,. they could do a LOT better with the Concorde than they are.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

@M'Kyuun I think FansToys Maverick is probably the best version of a transforming (ehm I mean converting) Concord. It is not perfect by any means but the designer went to great lengths to get as close as possible.

So much so that my biggest complaint is that the way the nosecone can’t fold down like on the real Concorde.

Since is is also not hindered by the engineering of a torso mode I can recommend him as a stand-alone piece if you are just a fan of jet Transformers.

The Dream Star Toys Silverbolt seems to suffer a lot from being a all-in-one combiner and they probably packed a lot of their Superion into him.

Scyla, HUGE thank you for that link. I can die happy now. 😍 That is how you do a proper Silverbolt, and any other aircraft of a similar profile. Serious and much deserved kudos to their engineers for making it all work and really doing the utmost to preserve the sleekness of the Concorde mode. I was vaguely aware that FT made a Superion, but as my interest in combiners is on the low end, generally moreso for the Aerialbots b/c of how butchered the plane modes usually turn out, I never paid attention when these things hit market. While it looks like a PITA to, ahem, convert😉, one can't argue with the end result: a very blocky G1 accurate Silverbolt that turns into a sleek Concorde where the vast majority of the bot is integrated into the plane, as it absolutely without question should be forever and always until the end of reality as we know it.  Happy sigh.

Unfortunately, I missed the boat when this guy was reasonably priced; $259 is the best price on ebay, plus $100 shipping. Too much. For now, I'm just ecstatic knowing this thing exists, and that it's possible. 

As for Dreamstar's Silverbolt,  I agree. I'm doubting that those feet on their Superion are part of the leg bots; they look like ground servicing vehicles to me, which is apropos.  I looked at pics of their fully combined Superion earlier, including a back shot, and it doesn't appear as though the leg bots attach to armatures, a la a number of Menasors out there, that extend from Silverbolt.  SB is pretty much the head, torso and the thighs.  I wish they'd taken inspiration from FT's Maverick, as I really dig the aesthetic they're going for, and a streamlined Concorde with that bot mode might've pushed me towards getting my first full Superion.

[mikeszekely]

Hey, I got a notification that Unique Toys' Nero was delivered!

Unfortunately I'm 150 miles away in Erie for the weekend...

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Scyla, HUGE thank you for that link. I can die happy now. 😍 That is how you do a proper Silverbolt, and any other aircraft of a similar profile. Serious and much deserved kudos to their engineers for making it all work and really doing the utmost to preserve the sleekness of the Concorde mode. I was vaguely aware that FT made a Superion, but as my interest in combiners is on the low end, generally moreso for the Aerialbots b/c of how butchered the plane modes usually turn out, I never paid attention when these things hit market. While it looks like a PITA to, ahem, convert😉, one can't argue with the end result: a very blocky G1 accurate Silverbolt that turns into a sleek Concorde where the vast majority of the bot is integrated into the plane, as it absolutely without question should be forever and always until the end of reality as we know it.  Happy sigh.

For what it's worth, I didn't really care for Maverick.

9 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I know I'm gonna get an "I told ya so" from @mikeszekely,

[Scyla]

@M'Kyuun, @mikeszekely I have a confession to make: I’m probably a FansToys Maverick apologist. 😋

[M'Kyuun]

7 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

For what it's worth, I didn't really care for Maverick.

FT seem to be known for their lackluster articulation, even among recent releases, which seems odd. I think they concentrate more on transformation engineering, and a lot of what they've been putting out seems overly complex.  I watched Emgo's "Just transform it' vid, and there are a lot of moving parts involved, beggaring the question if all of them are absolutely necessary. I love what they did with sandwiching bits of the bot into the fuselage, moving the shoulders back, turning the arms into the engine nacelles. All of that is brilliant, and works towards the good of the alt mode. It's by far the best Silverbolt Concorde I've seen.  I even like how the wings fold onto the legs, thus reducing the leg profile in jet mode, and I think the concession of using the forward parts of the wings to simulate the full wings, per the G1 model, is a forgivable concession. Overall, I see far more good about the design than bad. Despite its faults, I think it should serve as a template for every and any company producing a transforming aircraft with similar design traits to eliminate the bot under a plane syndrome that's become the standard for the last thirty-plus years. FT dared to do it differently, and the result was worth it, IMHO.

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

@M'Kyuun, @mikeszekely I have a confession to make: I’m probably a FansToys Maverick apologist. 😋

I'm joining the club. 

[Chronocidal]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

For what it's worth, I didn't really care for Maverick.

I had to think about that a second, because I forgot Maverick was the FT Silverbolt, on top of the Top Gun crossover.  

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I had to think about that a second, because I forgot Maverick was the FT Silverbolt, on top of the Top Gun crossover.  

Oh yeah! I liked the Hasbro one better.😁

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Oh yeah! I liked the Hasbro one better.😁

What's not to like about a licensed F-14 Transformer whose transformation closely resembles that of the VF-1, which itself was inspired by the F-14, on a Macross forum? If this was Has/Tak's way of thumbing their nose at Harmony Gold, then I'm all the happier it exists. Along with the original Jetfire, it's one of the best jet-formers ever produced. 

20 hours ago, JB0 said:

I still don't understand why they don't just make Silverbolt an XB-70 Valkyrie. It is a long narrow plane that is SUPPOSED to have a big box on the underside.

 

But yeah,. they could do a LOT better with the Concorde than they are.

Both you and @David Hingtgenhave suggested the XB-70, and given that the rest of the Aerialbots are military planes, the bomber would have been the more apropos alt mode, not to mention the large boxy engines would have have served to hide a big boxy robot more naturally. Or the B-1 Lancer, for that matter, which has a design closer to the Concorde. Funny they didn't go with the latter option, as they weren't too concerned about licenses for all these vehicle modes back in the 80s, and the B-1B was the new hotness in American bombers, with the first B-1B arriving at Dyess in '85.  A supersonic bomber leading the charge for the rest of the Aerialbots would have been pretty kickass.

[JB0]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Both you and @David Hingtgenhave suggested the XB-70, and given that the rest of the Aerialbots are military planes, the bomber would have been the more apropos alt mode, not to mention the large boxy engines would have have served to hide a big boxy robot more naturally. Or the B-1 Lancer, for that matter, which has a design closer to the Concorde. Funny they didn't go with the latter option, as they weren't too concerned about licenses for all these vehicle modes back in the 80s, and the B-1B was the new hotness in American bombers, with the first B-1B arriving at Dyess in '85.  A supersonic bomber leading the charge for the rest of the Aerialbots would have been pretty kickass.

Oh yeah, the Lancer would've been a great choice at the time. It might've been TOO new for the designers, though? The Diaclone Scramble City toys had been intended to be hitting shelves IN 1985, before Hasbro's success with Transformers completely sidelined Takara's original plans and they moved to reissuing the previous year's toys as Transformers. Not that that "the plane isn't out yet" ever stopped people from making toys and models based on it, but...

By contrast, at the time the B-70 had already been cancelled for being technologically obsolete, the prototypes relegated to experimental status, and the plane seemingly destined to obscurity. I will admit that In the mid-80s, the Valkyrie would've been a poor choice. (But making a war machine out of the Concorde wasn't?)

 

Pushing for a Valkyrie now is partially a compromise, to keep a similar(but by no means identical) profile to the Concorde.

... And partially just a shameless attempt to badger someone into making a transforming Valkyrie(no, not THAT one!), because I want to see one. Not that anyone's listening, but if they are... I'd also like an X-29 robot please?

[lechuck]

In case anyone is on the fence about getting MPM-12 because of the issues, there might be a solution coming up.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/mpm-12-optimus-prime-bumblebee-movie.1208361/page-129#post-19352251

[sh9000]

 

[Mechapilot77]

19 hours ago, lechuck said:

In case anyone is on the fence about getting MPM-12 because of the issues, there might be a solution coming up.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/mpm-12-optimus-prime-bumblebee-movie.1208361/page-129#post-19352251

 

To be brutally honest here.  the robot arm looks no better, actually a touch worse BUT the truck is MUCH better with no cat ears.  HOWEVER a 3D printed part on this toy won't match very well.  also given the photos and the visuals here , somebody will easily figure out how to incorporate this into an MPM KO/improved version and release as a full toy matched plastics./paints etc....and it will likely be cheaper than the mpm.  knowing the KO market though, they might unnecessariy upscale the crap out of it.  *sigh*.

[mikeszekely]

Bit of a scare, as I left Friday to take my family to Presque Isle for the weekend, and no sooner to I check into the hotel when I get a notification that a package was delivered.  Fortunately, my neighbor grabbed it for me so it didn't get swiped or sit on my porch all weekend (I assumed it rained at home, since it's always raining in the Pittsburgh area).  So tonight I'm able to provide you guys with my review of what's supposedly the final figure from Unique Toys; Nero, their take on an MPM Age of Extinction Galvatron.

So here's the thing... I'm counting Galvatron as a Megatron, and then of all the version of Megatron in the movieverse Galvatron was in the running for my least-favorite.  Literally the only reason I bought Nero is because the engineering Unique Toys' puts into their movie figures is such a treat, and this is supposedly the last one they're doing.  But in-hand, next to the other MPM-style Megatrons I have, Nero's actually faring pretty well.  A bit smaller than Dragoon, but with a bit more paint.  And he certainly makes the official MPM Megatron look like cheap garbage.

And here he is with his rival, Challenger.  The two share a lot in common- they're similar sizes (Nero's just a bit taller with his hips fully extended), they both turn into trucks, but they both show very little to indicate that they transform.  I mean, if you compare Nero to the Prime 1 Studio Galvatron, sure, you can find some seams and hinges that betray the fact that he transforms, especially the hinges jutting out of his sides, but for the most part UT did a very good job sculpting his body surfaces to be as movie-accurate as possible, with appropriate touches of paint to bring out some details.

And again, this being Unique Toys and not Takara, this is true for his back side as well.  This is not a robot carrying a backpack with his shelforming alt mode.  UT's black magic is real.

But before we get to that, let's talk about accessories.  He comes with a hand cannon, and some diecast missiles.  A small bag will also have diecast wing mirrors and a bar.  Another small bag will have this little dude, presumably Joshua Joyce and not Agent 47.  It may also have the curving horns that go on Galvatron's head; the first batch shipped with the horns already attached, but due to reports of the horns breaking during shipping UT recalled what it could and set subsequent batches out with the horns left unattached.  Attaching them is as simple as plugging the tabs on them into slots on his head, and once attached they do not need to be removed again.

Alright, so Nero's head is on a hinged swivel, so he can look up maybe 30 degrees and down a little bit, and his head swivels (but only until his chin starts colliding with his shoulders.  His shoulders are ratcheted for rotating, and a ratcheted hinge moves them laterally a little under 90 degrees.  Like some of UT's previous movie figures, the shoulder armor has hinges with springs that allow it to move out the way when the shoulders move laterally but to snap back into position when they can.  His biceps swivel.  His ratcheted elbows bend significantly over 90 degrees, but they don't quite straighten all the way due to armor on the back of his elbow.  His wrists are ball joints, so they can flex up/down/in/out a bit in addition to swiveling.  His thumb is on a ball joint at the base, with two hinged knuckles.  His fingers are hinged at the base with two more knuckles.  The index finger is separate from the rest, but the other three are molded as one unit.  His waist swivels, although you may find you'll have to move the cables on his belly to get the pose you want.  HIs hips move forward and backward 90 degrees on ratchets, and laterally over 90 degrees on a friction joint, plus due to his transformation they have something like a butterfly shoulder joint, but in his crotch.  He has a "thigh" swivel, albeit just above his knees, and those knees bend slightly over 90 degrees on another ratchet.  His ankles are kind of weird.  Due to transformation, the actual weight of the robot hovers over his foot, and the joint that connects his foot to his leg is a hinge on the back of his leg.  This joint technically gives him a bit of upward and downward tilt, but in practice due to the joint being just a too-loose friction joint the weight of the figure will cause him to lean forward until the bottom of the leg is resting on top of the foot.  It gives him a bit of forward lean that you'll have to balance with subtle bends at the knees and or the hips.  On, yeah, and he's got good ankle pivots.

The blades on his arms have hinges, mostly for transformation, but they do not come off.  I feel like they retracted in the movie, but I can't bring myself to actually watch it, so... *shrugs*

The hand cannon cannons can be attached by kind of smushing his hand into a fist, then tucking said fist into a cavity on the back of the cannon so that a tab inside of it can plug into the armor on the back of his hand.  I've heard some people say they're having trouble keeping it attached, but in my experience if everything's tucked in right and the tab is in place then it stays on just fine.  As for the other accessories, well, they don't seem to have a place in robot mode.  There's nothing in the (crappy) instructions about them.  The instructions also don't mention the fact that there are LEDs in his head, and with the right batteries you can get his eyes to light up.  His eyes are painted, though, so I didn't bother.

Like I said, UT's engineering is black magic.  Nero's transformation isn't quite as simple and intuitive as Challenger or Peru Kill's, but I think it's a bit better than Dragoon's.  Stuff mostly makes sense, but almost every part of him explodes open and turns inside out, and there's a lot of panels that need to be lined up just right to form the truck cab.  Once it's all together, though, he's very solid.

I put him with Challenger for scale, but I'm not familiar enough with these models of truck (or any truck, really) to tell you if they're in the same scale.  I think Challenger looks smaller, though.

As tends to the be the case, UT did have to make some sacrifices to the alt mode to get the robot mode looking so good.  There are visible seems all along the cab, including some obvious ball joints under the windshield.  The grill doesn't quite line up perfectly.  And although some panels do fold out to try to help things, his robot arms are still kind of visible on the back of the cab.  

Oh, you can see where the wing mirrors attack to the side windows, and the bar on the bumper under the grill.  Like his horns, once they're attached they don't need to be removed.  That said, once attached you don't have a ton of clearance for folding everything back inside his robot torso, and I had one of the mirrors pop off- and take the window with it.  Fortunately it was easy to pop back on.

We'll take a quick look at the top and bottom, too.  From above, it's not perfect but I think UT did an alright job flipping some of the leg around to form the fifth-wheel coupling, but you can also see how his pointy robo-butt sticks out of the back near the roof.  And from below, well... you're mostly  seeing his forearms, legs, and feet, with a bit of his arm blades peaking through.  Now, I think UT did a good job making most of it not obvious robot parts, but at the same time it's definitely not what the underside of a truck looks like.

In any case, Nero rolls on rubber tires, assuming you can get them all to touch the ground.  The back tires on mine are sticking up a bit.  The diecast missiles plug into the fuel tanks on the side; that much I know is movie accurate.  Like Challenger, Nero's doors do open.  Unlike Challenger, there's space inside.  You can cram Josh in there if you want, but he's a bit too tall to actually sit.  This is despite the fact that there are springed panels that automatically flip down.  These panels serve no purpose in robot mode; they're tucked away in his torso.  I think the intention is that these are Nero's seats.

While the truck can use the missiles the robot mode couldn't, there doesn't seem to be a way to store his hand cannon now.  I mean, you can kind of set it on his back, but it doesn't secure there in any way that I can see.

Like I was saying, I bought Nero more because I liked UT's other figures more than I actually like the characters, plus I didn't want to miss out on their final release.  Galvatron is hardly a character I felt I needed an MPM figure of.  In hand, though, I really like this figure.  In most ways, it feels like a definite step up in quality and engineering from Dragoon, and it certainly looks a lot more premium and has more shelf presence than MPM-08.  If you're not collecting movie toys and have passed on all of UT's other offerings then you're probably not going to start now.  However, if you enjoyed UT's movie figures then you're going to love Nero.  He gets a recommend from me.

[M'Kyuun]

9 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Bit of a scare, as I left Friday to take my family to Presque Isle for the weekend, and no sooner to I check into the hotel when I get a notification that a package was delivered.  Fortunately, my neighbor grabbed it for me so it didn't get swiped or sit on my porch all weekend (I assumed it rained at home, since it's always raining in the Pittsburgh area).  So tonight I'm able to provide you guys with my review of what's supposedly the final figure from Unique Toys; Nero, their take on an MPM Age of Extinction Galvatron.

So here's the thing... I'm counting Galvatron as a Megatron, and then of all the version of Megatron in the movieverse Galvatron was in the running for my least-favorite.  Literally the only reason I bought Nero is because the engineering Unique Toys' puts into their movie figures is such a treat, and this is supposedly the last one they're doing.  But in-hand, next to the other MPM-style Megatrons I have, Nero's actually faring pretty well.  A bit smaller than Dragoon, but with a bit more paint.  And he certainly makes the official MPM Megatron look like cheap garbage.

And here he is with his rival, Challenger.  The two share a lot in common- they're similar sizes (Nero's just a bit taller with his hips fully extended), they both turn into trucks, but they both show very little to indicate that they transform.  I mean, if you compare Nero to the Prime 1 Studio Galvatron, sure, you can find some seams and hinges that betray the fact that he transforms, especially the hinges jutting out of his sides, but for the most part UT did a very good job sculpting his body surfaces to be as movie-accurate as possible, with appropriate touches of paint to bring out some details.

And again, this being Unique Toys and not Takara, this is true for his back side as well.  This is not a robot carrying a backpack with his shelforming alt mode.  UT's black magic is real.

But before we get to that, let's talk about accessories.  He comes with a hand cannon, and some diecast missiles.  A small bag will also have diecast wing mirrors and a bar.  Another small bag will have this little dude, presumably Joshua Joyce and not Agent 47.  It may also have the curving horns that go on Galvatron's head; the first batch shipped with the horns already attached, but due to reports of the horns breaking during shipping UT recalled what it could and set subsequent batches out with the horns left unattached.  Attaching them is as simple as plugging the tabs on them into slots on his head, and once attached they do not need to be removed again.

Alright, so Nero's head is on a hinged swivel, so he can look up maybe 30 degrees and down a little bit, and his head swivels (but only until his chin starts colliding with his shoulders.  His shoulders are ratcheted for rotating, and a ratcheted hinge moves them laterally a little under 90 degrees.  Like some of UT's previous movie figures, the shoulder armor has hinges with springs that allow it to move out the way when the shoulders move laterally but to snap back into position when they can.  His biceps swivel.  His ratcheted elbows bend significantly over 90 degrees, but they don't quite straighten all the way due to armor on the back of his elbow.  His wrists are ball joints, so they can flex up/down/in/out a bit in addition to swiveling.  His thumb is on a ball joint at the base, with two hinged knuckles.  His fingers are hinged at the base with two more knuckles.  The index finger is separate from the rest, but the other three are molded as one unit.  His waist swivels, although you may find you'll have to move the cables on his belly to get the pose you want.  HIs hips move forward and backward 90 degrees on ratchets, and laterally over 90 degrees on a friction joint, plus due to his transformation they have something like a butterfly shoulder joint, but in his crotch.  He has a "thigh" swivel, albeit just above his knees, and those knees bend slightly over 90 degrees on another ratchet.  His ankles are kind of weird.  Due to transformation, the actual weight of the robot hovers over his foot, and the joint that connects his foot to his leg is a hinge on the back of his leg.  This joint technically gives him a bit of upward and downward tilt, but in practice due to the joint being just a too-loose friction joint the weight of the figure will cause him to lean forward until the bottom of the leg is resting on top of the foot.  It gives him a bit of forward lean that you'll have to balance with subtle bends at the knees and or the hips.  On, yeah, and he's got good ankle pivots.

The blades on his arms have hinges, mostly for transformation, but they do not come off.  I feel like they retracted in the movie, but I can't bring myself to actually watch it, so... *shrugs*

The hand cannon cannons can be attached by kind of smushing his hand into a fist, then tucking said fist into a cavity on the back of the cannon so that a tab inside of it can plug into the armor on the back of his hand.  I've heard some people say they're having trouble keeping it attached, but in my experience if everything's tucked in right and the tab is in place then it stays on just fine.  As for the other accessories, well, they don't seem to have a place in robot mode.  There's nothing in the (crappy) instructions about them.  The instructions also don't mention the fact that there are LEDs in his head, and with the right batteries you can get his eyes to light up.  His eyes are painted, though, so I didn't bother.

Like I said, UT's engineering is black magic.  Nero's transformation isn't quite as simple and intuitive as Challenger or Peru Kill's, but I think it's a bit better than Dragoon's.  Stuff mostly makes sense, but almost every part of him explodes open and turns inside out, and there's a lot of panels that need to be lined up just right to form the truck cab.  Once it's all together, though, he's very solid.

I put him with Challenger for scale, but I'm not familiar enough with these models of truck (or any truck, really) to tell you if they're in the same scale.  I think Challenger looks smaller, though.

As tends to the be the case, UT did have to make some sacrifices to the alt mode to get the robot mode looking so good.  There are visible seems all along the cab, including some obvious ball joints under the windshield.  The grill doesn't quite line up perfectly.  And although some panels do fold out to try to help things, his robot arms are still kind of visible on the back of the cab.  

Oh, you can see where the wing mirrors attack to the side windows, and the bar on the bumper under the grill.  Like his horns, once they're attached they don't need to be removed.  That said, once attached you don't have a ton of clearance for folding everything back inside his robot torso, and I had one of the mirrors pop off- and take the window with it.  Fortunately it was easy to pop back on.

We'll take a quick look at the top and bottom, too.  From above, it's not perfect but I think UT did an alright job flipping some of the leg around to form the fifth-wheel coupling, but you can also see how his pointy robo-butt sticks out of the back near the roof.  And from below, well... you're mostly  seeing his forearms, legs, and feet, with a bit of his arm blades peaking through.  Now, I think UT did a good job making most of it not obvious robot parts, but at the same time it's definitely not what the underside of a truck looks like.

In any case, Nero rolls on rubber tires, assuming you can get them all to touch the ground.  The back tires on mine are sticking up a bit.  The diecast missiles plug into the fuel tanks on the side; that much I know is movie accurate.  Like Challenger, Nero's doors do open.  Unlike Challenger, there's space inside.  You can cram Josh in there if you want, but he's a bit too tall to actually sit.  This is despite the fact that there are springed panels that automatically flip down.  These panels serve no purpose in robot mode; they're tucked away in his torso.  I think the intention is that these are Nero's seats.

While the truck can use the missiles the robot mode couldn't, there doesn't seem to be a way to store his hand cannon now.  I mean, you can kind of set it on his back, but it doesn't secure there in any way that I can see.

Like I was saying, I bought Nero more because I liked UT's other figures more than I actually like the characters, plus I didn't want to miss out on their final release.  Galvatron is hardly a character I felt I needed an MPM figure of.  In hand, though, I really like this figure.  In most ways, it feels like a definite step up in quality and engineering from Dragoon, and it certainly looks a lot more premium and has more shelf presence than MPM-08.  If you're not collecting movie toys and have passed on all of UT's other offerings then you're probably not going to start now.  However, if you enjoyed UT's movie figures then you're going to love Nero.  He gets a recommend from me.

I never like the Bayverse designs for Megatron, and I wasn't even aware they did a Galvatron (I thought this was another iteration of Megs, but I guess, in a way, it is). Anyway, while I don't like the designs at all, I've been tipping my hat to Unique Toys since they started this series of figures for their incredible engineering.  Design work this well done beggars the question of, 'why isn't Takara designing on this level?'. If this isn't masterpiece level engineering, I don't know what is. Actually, I do:

In my estimation, UT are doing it better.  I wonder then, if they're quitting the Movieverse figs, are they turning their attention to another part of the franchise, or quitting altogether?  If the latter, it seems a terrible waste of talent. Too, if the latter, it'd be nice if some of the guys behind these toys found employment with Takara. I doubt it, but what a resume, right?

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I wonder then, if they're quitting the Movieverse figs, are they turning their attention to another part of the franchise, or quitting altogether?

Supposedly quitting altogether. The Wei Jiang raid and Black Apple's arrest had them spooked.

[technoblue]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Design work this well done beggars the question of, 'why isn't Takara designing on this level?'. If this isn't masterpiece level engineering, I don't know what is. Actually, I do:

Beggars?  Anyway, for MPM Bumblebee Optimus, there is another option at least: Dr. Wu.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/general-upgrade-kits-thread.1204491/page-122#post-19387706

Edited July 28, 2021 by technoblue

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Supposedly quitting altogether. The Wei Jiang raid and Black Apple's arrest had them spooked.

Hopefully they can find legit jobs doing the same sort of thing.  There's definitely a market for transforming toys, and those toys don't necessarily have to be Transformers. I'd welcome another property or franchise based around transformable vehicles, especially if it had some good media to go along with it. But, I'm a toy guy, so that's never been the main driver for me; I buy 'em b/c they exist and they appeal to me.  I've always found it funny when folks only buy toys of the characters that interest them. I generally go the opposite- I buy the toys that interest me regardless of the character or whether I care about the character. If the toy is cool, that's all that matters.

Anyway, as I said, it's a terrible waste of tremendous talent if these folks just retire from designing transformable toys. There's room for more, especially at the level they were doing it.

[lechuck]

2 minutes ago, technoblue said:

For MPM Bumblebee Optimus, at least, there is another option: Dr. Wu.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/general-upgrade-kits-thread.1204491/page-122#post-19387706

That is the same upgrade I posted above. Apparently the person doing this is not quite finished with designing the parts and will be teaming up with Dr. Wu.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/tim_heada-mpm12-arm-replacement-kit.1217872/

On 7/27/2021 at 4:38 PM, Mechapilot77 said:

 

To be brutally honest here.  the robot arm looks no better, actually a touch worse BUT the truck is MUCH better with no cat ears.  HOWEVER a 3D printed part on this toy won't match very well.  also given the photos and the visuals here , somebody will easily figure out how to incorporate this into an MPM KO/improved version and release as a full toy matched plastics./paints etc....and it will likely be cheaper than the mpm.  knowing the KO market though, they might unnecessariy upscale the crap out of it.  *sigh*.

Personally those new arms fix a lot of  the priority issues I have with MPM-12. The shoulder pauldrons actually move with the arm, arm length is proportionate and the forearms are not super wide as well as getting rid of that aesthetically displeasing cab door section behind them.

[technoblue]

2 minutes ago, lechuck said:

That is the same upgrade I posted above. Apparently the person doing this is not quite finished with designing the parts and will be teaming up with Dr. Wu.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/tim_heada-mpm12-arm-replacement-kit.1217872/

And so it is! 

That's what I get for not scrolling up. I think the memes are a bit too much in light of this 3P upgrade but I do want to wait to see Dr. Wu's final paint apps before I make any purchasing decisions of my own.

[mikeszekely]

55 minutes ago, lechuck said:

That is the same upgrade I posted above. Apparently the person doing this is not quite finished with designing the parts and will be teaming up with Dr. Wu.

That person would be Tim Heada, whose upgrade kits have more more miss than hit.  Dr. Wu, though, has been pretty reliable and his stuff isn't 3D-printed, so there's hope for it.