The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Negotiator]

Just got my ds-01 and first impression before attempting anything other than posing it is. F'n wow.  Although the null rays are a really tight fit onto the arms.. his default face looks alot better in person.   

[slaginpit]

lol sheeet what da F is this 

[sqidd]

3 hours ago, slaginpit said:

lol sheeet what da F is this 

Looks good in cube mode.

[pengbuzz]

40 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Looks good in cube mode.

That would allow UN SPACY to store it pretty easily, eh?

[Ignacio Ocamica]

On 9/11/2021 at 11:53 PM, Negotiator said:

Just got my ds-01 and first impression before attempting anything other than posing it is. F'n wow.  Although the null rays are a really tight fit onto the arms.. his default face looks alot better in person.   

Should have mine anytime soon!!

[M'Kyuun]

23 hours ago, slaginpit said:

lol sheeet what da F is this 

It's called Icarus, and it's an upcoming set of transforming cubes that, as you can see from the pics, become jets, and further combine to form a robot in 52Toys' MegaBox series. Unlike the majority of the BeastBox/MegaBox toys, which transform from a cube to animal or creature, this set and its two predecessors turn into vehicles (construction, and submersibles).  I have the first two sets, and I'm very much looking forward to this one, as I like the jet modes and the lanky bot mode.

Glad to hear that first impressions of DS-01 are positive. I'm sticking with Meteor, but if that didn't exist and it was a toss up between this and the Takara, I'd take the DS version without a second thought.

[sh9000]

TFSource has a sale on XTB Youth Version Overheat and Crackup so I ordered those two with Youth Version Deathwish there.  Then I ordered Youth Version Flipout, Gravestone, and the trailer at The Chosen Prime.

[sqidd]

Is this Treebeards cousin?

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

TFSource has a sale on XTB Youth Version Overheat and Crackup so I ordered those two with Youth Version Deathwish there.  Then I ordered Youth Version Flipout, Gravestone, and the trailer at The Chosen Prime.

I just ordered the two that are on sale.  I just paid for the Ark, Saltus Alternative is due any time now, and if it gets backed I'll have to pay for Star Saber soon, too, so I'm holding off on the others for now.  There's a good chance that I'll get the other two Youth limbs and the trailer, but I honestly don't care for the Youth version of Gravestone.

Hmm... I have the Fans Toys and DX9 Stunticons, too.  Maybe I should sell off the four non-Youth XTB Stunticon cars...

[mantisfists]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I just ordered the two that are on sale. 

Well, dammit.....I just did the same.  Works out well because the youth Wildrider is on sale at Show.z for $67 with no tax or shipping fees.  I'd been eyeing him for a while now.  Picked up Gravestone from Show.z as well.  Looks like I'll be all in for this set, too.  Along with Cang Toys' Predacons, Dream Star's Aerialbots, Gigapower's Dinobots and whatever the hell else is going to get me divorced.

[M'Kyuun]

11 hours ago, sqidd said:

Is this Treebeards cousin?

Actually, it reminds me a bit of the SV-51. Love that valk's design, too.

[sqidd]

25 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Actually, it reminds me a bit of the SV-51. Love that valk's design, too.

I'm still going with Treebeard.

[sh9000]

15 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Maybe I should sell off the four non-Youth XTB Stunticon cars...

If you decide to sell them then let me know.  I might be interested in them.

[Rhubarbarian]

On 9/13/2021 at 8:14 AM, M'Kyuun said:

It's called Icarus, and it's an upcoming set of transforming cubes that, as you can see from the pics, become jets, and further combine to form a robot in 52Toys' MegaBox series. Unlike the majority of the BeastBox/MegaBox toys, which transform from a cube to animal or creature, this set and its two predecessors turn into vehicles (construction, and submersibles).  I have the first two sets, and I'm very much looking forward to this one, as I like the jet modes and the lanky bot mode.

I actually had just ordered the MegaBox Deep One Elite, it looked like a pretty rad design. The Icarus doesn't seem as well executed, unfortunately. 

[slaginpit]

 

 

WOW

 

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, Rhubarbarian said:

I actually had just ordered the MegaBox Deep One Elite, it looked like a pretty rad design. The Icarus doesn't seem as well executed, unfortunately. 

I have the first release of Deep One, and it's a pretty well executed set, better, I think than their Landbreaker set. The submersible modes are more realistic than the more sci-fi mech-y construction vehicles. But I'm an aircraft guy above all,  and Icarus appeals to me more, I think, due to that bias. Even with Eagle falling far more into the range of sci-fi plane than the more realistic Raven, which reminds me of the B-1B Lancer in profile,  the planes and their lanky combined mode hit that sweet spot for me. Unless it turns out to be a floppy mess, I imagine it'll be one of my favorites among my growing Megabox collection.

[Convectuoso]

From Facebook: Test shots of Magic Square's Jazz prototype next to the NewAge version

[sh9000]

[tekering]

As if X-Transbots didn't have a full slate of upcoming releases already, they feel the need to resurrect CG mockups from six years ago...?

[mikeszekely]

22 hours ago, sh9000 said:

If you decide to sell them then let me know.  I might be interested in them.

Will do.  I had TFSource send the two Youth versions I ordered, so when they get here I'll do some comparisons and decide if I really need both versions.

19 hours ago, slaginpit said:

WOW

I mean, Firage and El Cid weren't great.  But I do want an MP DotM Megatron...

5 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

From Facebook: Test shots of Magic Square's Jazz prototype next to the NewAge version

I wonder if NA will wind up doing a second Jazz, like the did with Bumblebee.  Because NA's Jazz looks fine for a Legends-size figure released a few years ago, but MS's really leaves it in the dust.

3 hours ago, tekering said:

As if X-Transbots didn't have a full slate of upcoming releases already, they feel the need to resurrect CG mockups from six years ago...?

Right?  It'd be one thing if we were still hurting for a good Inferno/Grapple/Artfire, but we've already got three pretty great options, so you could already have bought one from each company, covered all three characters, and not have had to buy the same mold twice.  So, I mean, good for anyone who looked at these six years ago and thought that somehow XTB nailed some little detail that bugged them on Maketoys/MMC/Takara's, but I'm good, thanks.

[M'Kyuun]

So fervently wish Magic Square would consider upscaling their designs to match CHUG scales. That Jazz has me all aswoon. No feet hanging out the back, either, Hasbro. 

NA's is still a pretty respectable take, but yeah, Magic Square are really bringing the A-game with MP level sculpt and complexity at the legends scale. Impressive.

[mantisfists]

Just got the Youth versions of Dragstrip Overheat and Breakdown Crackup in from TFSource.  Unfortunately, Overheat came with a broken shoulder out of the box.

 

As long as I can get a replacement part/figure for him, I love the pair.  Crackup is a perfect homage to the G1 toys, in my opinion.

He's definitely a sexy MFer.  Even The Ravishing One himself would have been happy to be get a Rude Awakening from him....

Not bad at all for $45. Can't wait to get his buddies who are on their way from China.  

[mikeszekely]

I got a few things in today, too, including some Youth Stunticons.  But before I get to them, I want to talk about the biggest box in the shipment, which ironically contained the smallest figure.  It's Mech Fans Toys Poison, their Legends-scale Octane.

While I know that a lot of you guys have really embraced the Legends scale (and the admittedly awesome things Magic Square and New Age have been doing in that size) I've been reluctant to start a third Transformers collection at a smaller size.  But you'll recall that I bought MFT's Astrotrain, and I liked it so much I bought both repaints.  I knew at the time Octane and Blitzwing were coming, and I decided to jump in on at least the MFT Decepticon Triple Changers.

Out of the box, I'm quite impressed with Poison's cartoon likeness.  The sculpt and colors are pretty much exactly what you'd want them to be, although there are a few seams in his abdomen that I can overlook at this size/price point.  MFT even managed to capture the way the sides of his shins extend along the sides of the knees and feet, per the animation model.

Size-wise, he's a little smaller than Astrotrain.  I mean, I guess that works for me.

Poison doesn't come with a ton of accessories, but to be fair he doesn't need a ton.  You've got an alternate head with a yelling face, and a purple rifle.

Poison's head is on a ball joint, and it can look up and down or tilt sideways a reasonable amount in addition to rotating.  His shoulders are also ball joints, and can rotate and extend a hair under 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend 90 degrees.  His wrists don't have articulation, which is a bit disappointing but again tolerable at this size.  His waist can swivel.  His entire front hip skirt moves as one piece, but only a little.  To get the maximum range, his hips actually drop down a bit, then they can move about 60 degrees forward or laterally, and 90 degrees backward on a ball joint.  His thighs swivel.  His knees can bend 90 degrees, but weirdly there's these points where they click into place (although I'm pretty sure they're not ratcheted), and there's just three stopping points, so your choices become straight, bent 45 degrees, or bent 90 degrees, nothing in between.  His feet are kind of weird.  They're attached not at an actual ankle, but to hinges on the back of his calves.  So they can bend down, but you won't really want to because it looks like his foot is falling off, and they can't bend up.  Now, a large chunk of his foot is on a swivel, and that swivel gives him the most natural-looking ankle pivot.  However, the swivel is tight, and a part attached to his calf swivels, too, taking the entire foot with it.  It can sort of double as an ankle pivot, too, but honestly I'd prefer if MFT found a way to secure it a bit better.  And that's going to be something of a running theme with this guy.

Poison can hold his gun by sliding the peg-handle into either of his hole-shaped fists.

Transformation from bot to truck is fairly straightforward, and the result isn't too bad.  I dare say it cleans up a bit better than the Titans Return toy (which, frankly, I think is itself an improvement over the old Universe toy).

OK, sure, the cab again has a few seams and some bulging hinges, but I'll give that a pass.  There's not a ton of separation between the cab and the trailer, but that's pretty cartoon accurate, actually, and I'm cool with the not-so-rounded shape as it's similar to the G1 toy.  There's no visible arm along the side, which may not be cartoon accurate but I think it's an improvement.  What I'm not loving, though, is the lack of rear wheels for the cab, and the way that the wing along the side of the trailer starts a bit further back, with the gray stripe not turning up until halfway down the side of the trailer.  I'm also not loving the way the back of the trailer looks, with the folded bits clearly from the plane mode.

You might have noticed the ports in the gray stripes on the trailer.  There's a peg on the side of Poison's gun, and it fits into the port on just the one side of the trailer.  Good enough, I suppose.  The truck rolls, but not super great.  There's not a ton of clearance underneath.  It's not helped, either, by the fact that the swiveling parts with the wheels lock into each other, but not to anything else so they can kind of still move in ways you don't really want.

Transformation to plane mode is only slightly more complicated, and yet in some ways it's kind of similar to the G1 toy.  It involves turning his lower legs around in a way that's similar to the G1 toy's, using his arms for engines, and using the inverted front of the truck as the rear fuselage with the sides folding around to make some of the tail and the horizontal stabilizers.  Instead of partsforming, though, the vertical stabilizer also unfolds from the truck cab.

I have to cut MFT some slack; Triple Changers are hard to do.  It seems like there's always one mode that suffers are a bit more than the others.  In Poison's case, though, I definitely think it's the plane.  The windows don't run down the length of the fuselage, and the flaps that were on the sides of his knees don't make for a smooth cockpit area.  It's lacking the cartoon swooshes (or the G1 sticker details that those swooshes simplified).  It's also lacking any gray on the wings.  While I certainly applaud their efforts to avoid partsforming, the result is a vertical stabilizer that's too small and doesn't cover the tires in the tail.  I'm also a bit irked that, although there are tabs and slots near the edge, the cab-tail doesn't really lock into the rest of the fuselage, relying more on friction to stay in place.

Posion's arm-engines are too close to the ports under his wings we used to store the guns in truck mode, which had me scouring the figure for alternatives (the instructions don't mention his gun at all).  Now, the side of his gun has the one peg, plus some hollowed-out spaces that could be a slot and a peg hole.  However, I couldn't find any tabs or pegs on the jet that correspond do them.  Best I could do is kind of wedge the barrel between the wheels on the underside of the plane.  It doesn't lock it at all, but the friction held surprisingly well.

Ultimately, Poison's something of a paradox.  On the one hand, it might be the best Octane figure yet, as it's more accurate that Unique Toys' Provider or Titans Return Octone, but it lacks the major QC issues I had with KFC's Stratotanker and Titans Return Octone.  On the other hand, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by Poison.  He feels like a step back in joint and material quality from MFT's Astrotrain, and the overall design and engineering feels a bit less refined than their Astrotrain.  I'd still recommend him for a Legends collection, and I'd still love for someone to upscale it to fit with the official War for Cybertron stuff, but unlike Astrotrain who I'd take pretty much as-is I'd hope that if someone upscaled Poison they'd take a little time to fix some of the issues I have with him.

[mikeszekely]

If Poison was in the largest box in my recent delivery, what, you ask, was in the smallest?  That'd be Fans Hobby's Ace Hitter, their MP-ish Goshooter.

I say Goshooter and not Siren, because like Minerva and Nightbeat what they got in Japan and what we got in the States wound up being different.  In bot mode, the differences between Goshooter and Siren are less obvious; white instead of a light gray, black on his shins with "POLICE" deco instead of red with "FIRE DEPT".  And as Goshooter, Fans Hobby did a pretty good job capturing the character.  To be fair, I think Ace Hitter leans a little more toward the original Japanese toy, but the animation model for Goshooter was also a bit closer to the toy than a lot of Sunbow Transformers were.

Indeed, where Minerva felt a bit stylized (as Fans Hobby is wont to do), with the front of the car forming her legs instead of her arms and vice versa, Ace Hitter is one of the more accurate figures Fans Hobby has done in general.  The front of the car turning into his legs is correct this time, as is the kibble hanging off his arms.  The blue torso, the white flap with the gray patch, black arms and hands, that all checks out.  He's got molded detail on his shoulders where the G1 toy had screws, and some vents that were molded on the original toy but colored like the cartoon.  The original toy had black thighs, the cartoon had light gray thighs, and Fans Hobby split the difference with dark gray.  In my opinion, the biggest differences are the feet and head.  The original toy didn't really have feet at all; Masterforce added some but they were black as far as I can tell.  Fans Hobby opted for the same blue used on his torso, and I think it works fine.  As for the head, the original toy used little black guns to make his ears, and the cartoon retained the black ears.  Just like they did with Minerva, though, Ace Hitter has the Headmaster's white arms for most of the ear, with little white antenna on top of his head.

Oh, there's also the red-painted eyes.  That's actually accurate to the toy, but if you prefer the blue eyes of the Masterforce animation there are stickers included.

Speaking of Headmasters, you get one and the cap needed to complete the head mode.  You also get two black pistols that can fold up for storage, and an alternate happy face.  The default face, which we'll see in a bit, is identical to the one that came on the Shooter figure that came with God Armor.  Actually, the Shooter figure that came with Ace Hitter is identical all around, which, you know, aside from having white arms, white abs, and no yellow on his chest is cartoonish enough.  I'll note, though, that the left hip on the one that came with Ace Hitter has a burr or something in the ball joint, so moving the leg makes it pop off.  No biggie, I'll stuff that one in God Armor and use the God Armor one for Ace Hitter's head.

Speaking of heads, Ace Hitter can swivel on Shooter's neck.  Then, I can't tell if it's Shooter's neck joint or play in the socket, but Ace Hitter can also tilt his head forward, backwards, and sideways.  His shoulders rotate, and the arm kibble is on hinged armatures connected to the back of his shoulders, allowing them to move enough that he can get his shoulders 90 degrees of lateral movement.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees on a single hinge.  HIs wrists swivel and can bend downward.  His hands still have that sort of Gunpla feel that Minerva's do, but they're not as thin and fragile-feeling.  His thumbs have a hinge at the base to open and close, and his fingers (which are all molded together) have a joint at the base and a joint mid-knuckle.  His waist is a ball joint, so in addition to swiveling he can lean back, ab crunch forward, or tilt sideways for "I'm a Little Teapot."  His hips move forward and laterally 90 degrees, and backward a little less.  The hip joints are friction and a tad looser than I'd like, but not so loose that I have troubles getting him to stand and pose.  His thighs swivel around the hips, and his knees bend slightly over 90 degrees on double joints; in theory they could bend more, but the door kibble on his calves gets in the way.  His feet are also kind of weird.  They can tilt up on a ball joint, and his toes can tilt down.  His toes can also swivel for a faux ankle pivot, but it's kind of not necessary because that ball joint also allows for pivot.  Not enough pivot, maybe, but the ball joint is connected to a double hinge that actually connects the foot to the outside of his leg, under the tires.  They have a notch to keep you from bending the foot into his shin too far, but otherwise aren't secured.

Ace Hitter can hold his guns by pressing the little tabs on the handles into either palm.  Or, you can fold the gun up and use a slot on it to attach to a tab on either thigh for storage.

In many ways, transforming Ace Hitter is going to feel familiar if you've transformed the previously-released Athena.  The roof, rear window, and front windshield are going to unfold from his back kibble.  The arms fold up into the back of the car, while the kibble on his shoulders joins with the window and encapsulates it.  His lower legs open up and fold over his thighs to form the front of the car, and kibble on his calves unfurls and makes the doors.  There are some changes, though, too, that make transforming Ace Hitter a more pleasant experience.  It's easier to get his feet set properly.  Less of his leg opens, meaning you don't have the same clearance issues folding them over the thighs.  His arms collapse and tuck into the arm kibble, again making it easier to get everything lined up right.  And his back kibble, which folds up better than Athena's, BTW, doesn't need to be removed.

Aside from the lack of Autobot insignias, the police deco is G1 toy accurate.  Same goes for the translucent blue windows.  And it's a pretty nice representation of a second-gen Mazda RX-7, with translucent taillights, orange and yellow painted marker lights on the front, a painted grill, and pop-out translucent headlights.  Would it have been nice to have some marker lights on the sides, maybe split the single translucent red taillights into separate orange/red/white?  Sure.  But it still remains a clean, largely accurate car mode and I dig it very much.

As was the case with Athena and, I believe, the original toy, the roof and front windshield open to reveal a seat for the Headmaster.  Unlike Athena, you don't have to pull the whole top of to find room to store the cap and guns.  Instead, you turn him over and look at the underside.  There's a gap between his arms, tabs on his shoulders.  The slots on the guns are open on one end, so they can slide into place over those slots.  That'll leave just enough space behind the license plate for two notches; those notches allow the cornetd of the cap to plug in securely.

When I reviewed Athena I suggested that she was worth the price Fans Hobby was asking, but that the price was lower than other 3P toys of that size and that lower price was reflected in her overall quality, noting inferior plastic, tolerance issues, and a certain fiddlyness that made her feel a bit cheap.  I'm pleased to say that, without actually being much more expensive (I paid $5 more for Ace Hitter than Athena) that Ace Hitter is more solid and less fiddly.  He doesn't seem to have the tolerance issues I had with Athena, and while he's not swimming in paint and he's diecast free the plastic feels a bit better than what was used on Athena.  While he's no Overlord, and I'm hoping for more improvements when they do Cab/Hosehead, Ace Hitter feels like a bit of a course correction for Fans Hobby.

I think, in this hobby, Sunbow characters take priority over other G1 characters (unless you happened to have had a particular toy).  I think that might make Goshooter less of a character you need an MP of, especially if you're holding out for a Siren deco, and if you weren't into the Headmaster Juniors then Ace Hitter isn't going to suddenly sell you on them.  That said, if you were after the Juniors and were less than enthusiastic about Athena, take heart!  Ace Hitter is definitely the better of the pair, and if you were interested in him I'd say that you won't be disappointed if you pick him up.

[Convectuoso]

Great reviews as always, @mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

OK, the rest of that shipment was the two XTransbots Youth-version Stunticons, so I guess this is a Repaint Roundup.

First up is Crackup, AKA Breakdown.  The most immediate, obvious changes are of course that the Youth version has some tampos on his arms and shins that kind of mimic the G1 toy's stickers, and a more toy-style head... which could have used more work by the way.  From the nose down he still has the cartoon face, but he's got shades instead of the bigger visor that the G1 toy was sporting.  It's not just the head, though; there's a surprising amount of remolded parts for a repaint.  His shins are actually different, lacking the vents on the regular version.  His hip skirts lack the horizontal line and pentagon, going for a smooth crotch and the arcs on the hips.  His thighs have different linework.  His chest and abs are also different, again, to replace the cartoon details with molded shapes that are more toy accurate.  And his chest is covered in silver paint where the original toy was unpainted diecast.

His gun, though.  That's totally the same.

The differences are less obvious in car mode... I guess breakdown's animation model hewed closer to the toy than the other Stunticons.  That I can see, the smaller painted details like the taillights are a bit sharper on the Youth version.  The window frames are off-white instead of black.  The leg flaps with the exhausts are off-white instead of blue.  And all the tires are bigger on the Youth version.  I guess XTB thought Crackup didn't roll well enough?

Oh, and I'm not sure how well it's showing up in my pictures, but the off-white on the Youth version is definitely closer to the G1 toy than the kind of peachy color used on the original.

As far as gimmicks go, the Youth version's gun stores on the back in car mode, just like the original.  There's no extra faces or anything.

Youth Overheat's kind of the opposite of Crackup.  Crackup's most obvious changes were in bot mode, but Overheat's a bit more subtle.  There is, of course, the new toy-style head, a new engine-tummy, and different thighs, but that's the extent of remolded parts.  There's some tampoed stripes on his feet, and the yellow color used on the Youth version is more uniform and slightly darker or more orange than the original.  I kind of wish they'd changed his knees, as those knee pads are still totally cartoon.

For toy accuracy you can leave the wheels on his shoulders turned up, but it's literally just skipping a transformation step.  The engineering and assembly is the same, so you can still rotate them down if you prefer.

You get the same gun as the original version, but the purple paint is more reddish than the bluer purple the original got.

And, unlike Crackup, the differences are more noticeable in car mode.  Again, you don't have the multiple shades of yellow.  You have the black section in front of the cockpit, no stripes on the front spoiler, and horizontal stripes on the rear spoiler and the sides of the car.  And again, the engine's a bit different.  I think the changes were more about accommodating the robot tummy, but there it is.  I find myself wishing they'd painted the sides of the engine, under those little wings that the original didn't have, a yellow color.  Those details were molded onto the original G1 toy, but weren't painted or stickered, so I think yellow would have been a better match.

Overheat's gun can still store either under the car between his legs or on the engine.  And Overhead does still come with the little driver, in black and white instead of yellow and orange.  There's no extra face, though.

Well, I've reviewed four out of five Stunticons across three different MP (and one Legends) sets.  I've been pretty upfront about the fact that the XTB set is my least favorite- they have the best alt modes, hands down, but they're the least fun to transform and tended to have the most QC issues.  I decided I wasn't even going to bother with the overpriced trailer of combiner bits, figuring that DX9 adequately covered my MP Menasor needs, and Fans Toys gave me the best individual Stunticons.  But I though, hey, maybe I'd get the Youth trailer.  Then XTB could at least give me a cool toy/OX-style Menasor, right?  And unlike DX9, XTB used some paint on the skeleton's arms to match the cars, paint that isn't actually a match for the original Stunticons I already had.  Going in on the Youth versions will at least give me better color matching if I do get the Youth trailer, or failing that it'll at least give me something different to display than another set of Sunbow Stunticons.  For under $50 each, yeah, I'm glad I got these guys.  I even got motivated enough to order a copy of Youth Wildrider from ShowZ for $67, and I might finish off the cars and grab a Youth Dead End next month.  But the weird thing is, while I do like a toy-style Menasor, I still prefer cartoon Stunticons, and I can't bring myself to invest in a Youth Motormaster... Motormaster just isn't gray to me.

[Scyla]

FansToys showed a prototype for their FT-40A Hannibal (Cerebros, Fort Max Head):

Also available for preorder at Bombusbee: https://www.bombusbee.net/fanstoys-ft-40a-p3291.html

[tekering]

29 minutes ago, Scyla said:

Also available for preorder at Bombusbee: https://www.bombusbee.net/fanstoys-ft-40a-p3291.html

Much appreciated!  My usual go-to retailers were already sold out.

[Scyla]

28 minutes ago, tekering said:

Much appreciated!  My usual go-to retailers were already sold out.

Will you be buying the full Fort Max if they are going to release it?

[mikeszekely]

$230 for a Transforming head seems steep, even if Fans Toys wants it to be the new normal.  I don't even want to imagine how much they think they're going to charge for the rest of him.

Between Fans Toys being unable (or unwilling) to meet demand and their new "if scalpers can get this much for our stuff why don't we cut out the middle man and start gouging out of the gate" business model I'm just want to get the last Stunticon and be done with Fans Toys.  At this point I don't even think I'll bother to finish the Aerialbots.

[tekering]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

$230 for a Transforming head seems steep

What? TWO HUNDRED and thirty dollars?

6 hours ago, Scyla said:

Will you be buying the full Fort Max if they are going to release it?

Apparently not...

I certainly won't be pre-ordering again without knowing the final cost.

[mikeszekely]

33 minutes ago, tekering said:

What? TWO HUNDRED and thirty dollars?

To be clear, that's the price at the big US retailers. I'm guessing Chinese stores will have it for $180-190.

[mikeszekely]

Got a few unofficial upgrade kits for the official stuff last week.

After the success he had making spoilers for the Siege Sideswipe mold a solution for the Earthrise version was practically inevitable.  There's two big problems right off the bat, though.  One, these are technically adapters for the spoilers he already released.  Maybe not a big deal if you bought spoilers to make the Siege molds look more Earthy, but now that you have Earth modes you're thinking the Cybertronian modes don't actually need spoilers.  But if you want to keep the spoilers on the Siege versions (maybe so they match all the ones that didn't get Earth modes yet) then you're stuck buying adapters and the entire Siege kit.  Two, they only come in black.  Color-matching has never been Nonnef's strong suit, and apparently he's been having more trouble than usual, so I guess he just gave up.  Some people like the black, but it's just an inaccuracy to me.  Fortunately, we can fix it...

There we go.  Nothing a little Krylon Fusion can't handle.

OK, so these install by plugging the adapters into the triangular cutouts on the back of the car.  The fit feels a bit more snug than the Siege version, but the connection point is smaller.  So they feel less likely to pop straight out, but more likely to twist out when you're manipulating the spoiler.

The spoilers just plug into the hole.  Once again they rotate out the way of the knees for transformation, and there is a raised bit on the adapters to provide the spoilers with definite stopping points for both robot and car mode.

If you're comfortable painting your stuff then I'll recommend these.  Even if you wind up buying more Siege spoilers to plug into the adapters it's still probably cheaper (in the US) than importing a Chinese one, and Nonnef's stuff isn't 3D-printed.

Next up we have a couple of things from JRC Designs.  This one is a kit to add 5mm ports to Earth-mode Mirage's shoulders.  You'll see, on the underside, there's a flat edge near the hole and a small tab on the other end.  The tab fits into the gap in the swivel on top of his transformation joint, with the flat edge to kind of brace it in place.

And, yeah, it pretty much does the basic job it set out to do, putting 5mm ports on his shoulders that you can plug his shoulder cannon into.

What I really like about this kit, though, is that it's not partsforming.  It can stay in place, rotating with the back of the joint to make some details for the back of the car.

JRC's stuff is a bit grainier than a lot of the better Chinese outfits, and it's pretty easy to pop these off accidentally.  But they're cheap, they stay on in vehicle mode, and fix one of the most glaring issues I had with this figure.  That's enough to get a recommend from me.

Also from JRC we have some foot fillers for Studio Series 86 Slag (I get that he has some other kits for Slag, but I really liked Nonnef's swords for Grimlock and I hear Nonnef is working on Slag kit next, so...).

Again, a little grainy, but they're just to make the bottom of his feet less hollow.  In that, they fit well and get the job done.  And again, they're pretty cheap.  So nothing that's going to change your world or anything, but probably worth a look.

One last JRC kit, and it's these hubcaps for Studio Series 86 Kup.

The backs of the hubcaps have tabs on them, and those tabs wedge into the gap on the wheel's axle clips.  Like Slag's feet, this isn't going to change your world or anything.  But I think the wheels do look a bit nicer, and this one's so cheap the shipping will cost more than the hubcaps.  I wouldn't suggest starting an order just for the hubcaps, but if you're already doing an order consider tossing a set of these in.

The last kit I got was from an Ebay seller, and I don't know who makes it.  It's a replacement sword for Siege Springer.  The kit comes like this, with the 3D-printed sword assembled with three chunks of 5mm plastic tubing.  There are four ports on the black middle part of the sword, so I guess we'll stick one in to make the handle.

The sword's a tad big, but Springer holds it no problem.  Well, maybe one problem.  His grip on the tube we're using as the handle is tight.  Like, two of the tubes wouldn't even go into his hand, and the third is tight enough that you're going to pull the sword off if it rather than remove the sword and peg from his hand.

Maybe that's for the best, though?  Maybe some partsforming was intended.  See, if you open the sword to make rotor blades (which look pretty cool, if you ask me) the tube-handle sticks out farther than the gap in the blade.  And there's no pegs, just holes, in the middle of the black part.  But if we relocate the handle to the middle, we can plug the rotor into the helicopter.

Again, tight fit, so it's not going to spin freely.  And it sticks up a bit far for my taste.  So maybe the best solution is to trim the tubes?  I don't know.

I do know that a thing you can do is plug the new sword rotor into the old one to give Springer a helicopter mode with four rotor blades.  But I don't know why you'd actually want to.

I don't know about this one.  The quality is iffy, the tubes instead of actual pegs is weird, the fit of everything just seems off.  A better rotor solution than the tri-part mess he came with is high on my list of wants, but I don't think this is the solution I'm looking for.  Give this one a pass.

[sh9000]

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

I reckon they would sell Fort Max in partitions like their Omega Supreme.  I honestly thought their Fort Max was an April Fool's stunt.