The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

 

[sh9000]

 

[Scyla]

Got a couple of 3rd party bots. First Magic Square Optimus Prime V2. Of course in black and teal.

Transformation is what you expect from a G1 cartoon accurate toy: crazy origami and fake parts.

But those MS materials; yuck. I know it is the standard MS fare but somehow it is worse on this release. Especially truck mode won’t lock together well due to the flexible materials. A great handfeel it has not!

Posability and playability in robot mode is great. I mean what other action figure can pull off such a pose convincingly:

Other than that I got FT Chomp. If you like what FansToys is doing you will be liking this one even if I’m not enamored by the price.

@mikeszekely ShowZ sent out my Star Blade so in roughly two weeks I can tell you how it compares to the other Star Saber toys out there.

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Scyla

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

@mikeszekely ShowZ sent out my Star Blade so in roughly two weeks I can tell you how it compares to the other Star Saber toys out there.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.  I nearly bought one the first time, but ultimately I decided I don't really need an MP Star Saber.  I'm hoping the HasLab one fills teh Star Saber-shaped hole in my heart.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, Scyla said:

Got a couple of 3rd party bots. First Magic Square Optimus Prime V2. Of course in black and teal.

Transformation is what you expect from a G1 cartoon accurate toy: crazy origami and fake parts.

But those MS materials; yuck. I know it is the standard MS fare but somehow it is worse on this release. Especially truck mode won’t lock together well due to the flexible materials. A great handfeel it has not!

Posability and playability in robot mode is great. I mean what other action figure can pull off such a pose convincingly:

Other than that I got FT Chomp. If you like what FansToys is doing you will be liking this one even if I’m not enamored by the price.

@mikeszekely ShowZ sent out my Star Blade so in roughly two weeks I can tell you how it compares to the other Star Saber toys out there.

 

"Origami and fake parts"- had a good chuckle at that, but it's so true.

Looking at this figure, it's so damned impressive how far design has come in just a decade or so, especially at the legends scale.  Anybody remember Hybrid Style Optimus by Kawamori? Yeah, I try to forget it, too.

 

I've got Magic Square's regular V2 Optimus POed with Showz. Hoping it'll release soon. Your pic only whets the appetite.

[Scyla]

@M'Kyuun why I can’t deny that Hybrid Convoy looks like G1 Prime to MP-10 next to the current generation of heroic Autobot commanders I still have a soft spot for it.

To me the super toon accurate toys, while impressive in their engineering, never feel like something could exist in real life. For the same reason I still prefer MP-10 over MP-44.

[Scyla]

BSF‘s review of Hannibal the FansToys Cerebros:

I have no interest in the Fortress Maximus since it is too big for my liking. However I’m getting the Headmaster since it seems nicely done.

[mikeszekely]

I still have Hybrid Style Optimus.  Yeah, engineering has come a long way since then.

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I've got Magic Square's regular V2 Optimus POed with Showz.

I mean, it's impressive for what it does, but I'm sticking with V1.  V2 is a little too cartoony.

2 hours ago, Scyla said:

To me the super toon accurate toys, while impressive in their engineering, never feel like something could exist in real life. For the same reason I still prefer MP-10 over MP-44.

The trend is definitely to make toys that look as much like the animation cells as possible, warts and all.  MP-44 was never my cup of tea, either, but I did upgrade from MP-10 to Magic Square's MP-scale Prime, which seemed like a nice middle ground that hides the wheels on the legs and fixes MP-10's gorilla arms but still retains some truck details and doesn't try to copy the Sunbow short torso, big pelvis, long legs, and thin arms.  Plus, unlike MP-10, MS-01's abdomen grill is the actual truck grill.

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

I have no interest in the Fortress Maximus since it is too big for my liking. However I’m getting the Headmaster since it seems nicely done.

I agree, but not enough to pay over $200 for a guy that just turns into a head for an impractically larger toy coming at a future date.

[M'Kyuun]

52 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

I still have Hybrid Style Optimus.  Yeah, engineering has come a long way since then.

I mean, it's impressive for what it does, but I'm sticking with V1.  V2 is a little too cartoony.

The trend is definitely to make toys that look as much like the animation cells as possible, warts and all.  MP-44 was never my cup of tea, either, but I did upgrade from MP-10 to Magic Square's MP-scale Prime, which seemed like a nice middle ground that hides the wheels on the legs and fixes MP-10's gorilla arms but still retains some truck details and doesn't try to copy the Sunbow short torso, big pelvis, long legs, and thin arms.  Plus, unlike MP-10, MS-01's abdomen grill is the actual truck grill.

I agree, but not enough to pay over $200 for a guy that just turns into a head for an impractically larger toy coming at a future date.

I never got the Hybrid Style; the bot mode wasn't bad, but that truck mode was all sorts of wrong. Part of the appeal to me has always been the ability to change into a believable alt mode. Granted I've a number of them now that have Cybertronian alts or just weird alts, but for the most part, if a TF is supposed to turn into a real world vehicle, licensed or not, I expect it to look like said vehicle and not be all misshapen and obviously compromised.  It's why I take such umbrage with most jet TFs, as they're generally so far from accurate with all sorts of egregious concessions and bot kibble hanging out. 

V2 does tend towards Sunbow, but IDK, I don't mind it at this scale. Too, I believe the articulation is improved over V1. Anyway, I also chose Magic Square's Light of Freedom over MP-44 for all the same reasons you listed. So I have a less toony Prime for my MP collection, and I'll have a more toony one for my seemingly and reluctantly ever-growing legends collection. Can't help it, though- some of these things just blow my mind with how well they're designed and engineered. IIRC, MS' Jazz is on his way to me now. These things are more addictive than opium. Need my fix.

 

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I still have Hybrid Style Optimus.  Yeah, engineering has come a long way since then.

I mean, it's impressive for what it does, but I'm sticking with V1.  V2 is a little too cartoony.

The trend is definitely to make toys that look as much like the animation cells as possible, warts and all.  MP-44 was never my cup of tea, either, but I did upgrade from MP-10 to Magic Square's MP-scale Prime, which seemed like a nice middle ground that hides the wheels on the legs and fixes MP-10's gorilla arms but still retains some truck details and doesn't try to copy the Sunbow short torso, big pelvis, long legs, and thin arms.  Plus, unlike MP-10, MS-01's abdomen grill is the actual truck grill.

I agree, but not enough to pay over $200 for a guy that just turns into a head for an impractically larger toy coming at a future date.

It seems I have a weird obsession with Fort Max heads since I also have the Perfect Effect one from a few years back.

[no3Ljm]

I just stumbled this on YouTube. Anyone got this Dream Star Toys Slingshot? There's a lot of origami foldings but it looks sweet.  

 

[Chronocidal]

I saw that, and was wondering if it's different from one of the previous Harrier 3rd party transformers.  I don't usually follow Superion-related stuff because I feel like no one has pulled off a Silverbolt that didn't fall on its face.

I do like that they managed to get the hand self-contained though.  If they can pull off the other limbs, I might jump on this one, but Silverbolt aside, these Superion sets always seem to wind up with F-15s that aren't as good as Starscream, and F-16s that wind up as blocky messes.

Edit: Yeah, looked up the preview of the entire set, and the other jets aren't terrible, despite the F-16 looking like an SD-style caracature.

But everyone NEEDS to ditch the Concorde as an option forever.  It does not work.  Give up, and use a plane with potential to not look like a robot hangliding under an aircraft.  People keep suggesting the XB-70, and I cannot help but agree, because even if the underside boxy section had to be bulked up, it's still the only reasonably similar design that even has anything like a giant boxy underbelly.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Chronocidal

[M'Kyuun]

46 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

I just stumbled this on YouTube. Anyone got this Dream Star Toys Slingshot? There's a lot of origami foldings but it looks sweet.  

 

I have it POed, but I'm still waiting for it. I don't think any of the US sellers have it in stock yet.  Love the Harrier, and there are so few decent transforming versions of it. This one is pretty well done, so I'm getting it and the F-16, another jet that seldom gets a decent transformable toy. This one's bot mode looks pretty sweet, as well.

12 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

I saw that, and was wondering if it's different from one of the previous Harrier 3rd party transformers.  I don't usually follow Superion-related stuff because I feel like no one has pulled off a Silverbolt that didn't fall on its face.

Dream Star did good with all the limb bots' jet modes. They're not perfect, there are concessions, but compared historically to other TF jets, these are among the best I've seen. That gave me hope that finally we'd get a Silverbolt with a clean and fairly accurate Concorde alt, but no- it's the same old block-o-bot dangling obtrusively under a Concorde treatment that nobody seems to be able to improve upon. They can do crazy origami for any other vehicle, but not a huge streamlined jet. It makes no sense to me. There's a lot of fuselage and engine on this bird, so why not make use of that real-estate to integrate the robot into the alt instead of just folding it up into a giant cube that hangs off the bottom of the plane? Gah, frustrating!

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I never got the Hybrid Style; the bot mode wasn't bad, but that truck mode was all sorts of wrong. Part of the appeal to me has always been the ability to change into a believable alt mode. Granted I've a number of them now that have Cybertronian alts or just weird alts, but for the most part, if a TF is supposed to turn into a real world vehicle, licensed or not, I expect it to look like said vehicle and not be all misshapen and obviously compromised.  It's why I take such umbrage with most jet TFs, as they're generally so far from accurate with all sorts of egregious concessions and bot kibble hanging out. 

Oh, I don't disagree with any of that, but you gotta keep things in the context of the time.  HS Convoy came out in, what, 2006?  Still a good five years before MP-10.  We weren't spoiled for G1 Primes at the time like we are now- it was mostly reissues of the G1 toy, the Robot Heroes toy (which had a worse alt mode), and MP-01.  Classics Prime, both the much-loved Voyager and the Deluxe one (yet another crappy alt mode), hit the same year as HS.  It was exciting to get a cartoon Prime at all, but the real novelty was getting such a tiny one.  But yes, by modern standards Magic Square and Newage have both delivered similar-sized, much better figures.

3 hours ago, Scyla said:

It seems I have a weird obsession with Fort Max heads since I also have the Perfect Effect one from a few years back.

At least that one had a tank mode.

[Scyla]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Oh, I don't disagree with any of that, but you gotta keep things in the context of the time.  HS Convoy came out in, what, 2006?  Still a good five years before MP-10.  We weren't spoiled for G1 Primes at the time like we are now- it was mostly reissues of the G1 toy, the Robot Heroes toy (which had a worse alt mode), and MP-01.  Classics Prime, both the much-loved Voyager and the Deluxe one (yet another crappy alt mode), hit the same year as HS.  It was exciting to get a cartoon Prime at all, but the real novelty was getting such a tiny one.  But yes, by modern standards Magic Square and Newage have both delivered similar-sized, much better figures.

At least that one had a tank mode.

I don’t know if I would call it that. Everything that made up the tank was a set of removable tank treads and a gun. 
I would say it had a box mode with add-ons. 

[Convectuoso]

Coming from NewAge:

[technoblue]

Cool. That's a very creative remold of their Cyclonus to get BW Depth Charge. 

Also, it looks like Newage is diving into the Dinobots too. They've teased H44 Ymir with a not-so-subtle still from Jurassic Park. 

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

Cool. That's a very creative remold of their Cyclonus to get BW Depth Charge. 

Also, it looks like Newage is diving into the Dinobots too. They've teased H44 Ymir with a not-so-subtle still from Jurassic Park. 

I saw this over on Twitter- brilliant reuse of that mold. I also saw someone's custom Terradive (can't find the pic now), as well as this custom Bayformer Vector Sigma. If Hasbro is smart, they're taking notes.

Man, I'm trying not to get sucked into the legends rabbit hole too far, but dagnabbit!, they just keep pumping out awesomeness that often rivals or betters the main line and MP stuff. My soul cries out for it, but my left brain whispers, "you have no more room for this s##t!". If they do Dinobots and they're on par. it's gonna be a mighty internal wresting match between logic and lizard to resist getting them.

[tekering]

15 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I also saw someone's custom Terradive (can't find the pic now), as well as this custom Bayformer Vector Sigma.

That's Vector Prime from Galaxy Force (aka Cybertron), not Vector Sigma, the spherical computer module featured in most Transformers continuities (but not the Bayverse). 😅

[no3Ljm]

Thanks for the feedback regarding Slingshot, @Chronocidal @M'Kyuun. 

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I saw this over on Twitter- brilliant reuse of that mold. I also saw someone's custom Terradive (can't find the pic now), as well as this custom Bayformer Vector Sigma. If Hasbro is smart, they're taking notes.

 

Wow. Thanks @M'Kyuun and @tekering. That Vector Prime custom is something else too—expertly done. 

I do miss collecting mainline Transformers, especially as more toy-based decos are announced but the space issue is real—truly. I decided to solve it a different way ‘s all. It was tough but I also cut the newer Planet-X releases and decided to get picky about MMC’s Reformatted line.

I mostly keep up w/select 3P and official MPs, and the smaller legends from NA and MS nowadays. Oh, and anything related to TF Prime is always fair game.  I have a few of the IF and MFT legends too but I don’t collect them like the NA and MS bots.

[tekering]

3 hours ago, technoblue said:

That Vector Prime custom is something else too—expertly done. 

"Expertly Photoshopped" is more like it... but not even expertly enough to fool me. 🤨

Look closely, and you'll see all the telltale signs of photo manipulation.

[technoblue]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

"Expertly Photoshopped" is more like it... but not even expertly enough to fool me. 🤨

Look closely, and you'll see all the telltale signs of photo manipulation.

HaHa! It did fool me earlier. 

Taking a closer look now, I am seeing inconsistencies but even so it’s a neat idea all the same. 

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

[M'Kyuun]

On 5/18/2022 at 6:32 PM, Kuma Style said:

 

I appreciate the review, Kuma. This fig passed under my radar on first outing, and I only just recently really took notice of her, likely due to a Twitter post. Anyway, it was enough prompting to go look at some additional pics and eventually get her new version POed. As to the face, like you, I'd prefer stoic, and I think every fig should come with that as the default, with any additional faces as extras, but it is what it is, and as smirking faces go, it's subtle enough that it honestly doesn't bother me. The fig itself is pretty damned impressive for its very dedicated-action-figure-esque design- to look at her on first glance, you'd be hard pressed to expect she transformed. This, like their Azalea, is a fembot done right, minimizing alt-mode kibble in bot mode while maintaining a lithe feminine shape as well as delivering a satisfying and effective alt mode. It's excellent.  I'm generally not a fan of Cybertronian alt modes, but there has definitely been a great deal of improvement in that area, from official to non, in creating more complex and believable alt modes. Eris' tank mode is a pure thumbs up.  It looks great, it's functional (LOVE those moving treads- such a rarity, so I tend to favor those toys that have them), and the transformation is unexpected, effective, and cool. Definitely looking forward to getting her in-hand. 

Too, that IF Seaspray 😍. I never was much of a fan of the character, but I like his design, and this interpretation, with IF's signature style, looks fantastic to me. Got him POed, too.

[Scyla]

I think it was a good idea by the MMC designer(I think it was Makoto) to use the legs as the tank turret. That allows to have slender legs without the need to scaffold them with panels.

I wished they would have come up with a way to deal with the tank treads other than turning them into a backpack. But it is not too egregious. 

[Convectuoso]

NewAge's Grimlock

 

[tekering]

23 minutes ago, Convectuoso said:

NewAge's Grimlock

Looks great by itself, but if it doesn't scale properly with all the other Legends-sized figures in my Iron Factory/Magic Square/MechFanToys/War in Pocket/NewAge collection (as many NewAge figures don't), I'll have no use for it.

At this stage of the game, scale is everything.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, tekering said:

Looks great by itself, but if it doesn't scale properly with all the other Legends-sized figures in my Iron Factory/Magic Square/MechFanToys/War in Pocket/NewAge collection (as many NewAge figures don't), I'll have no use for it.

At this stage of the game, scale is everything.

My legends collection is very scant and piecemeal, only buying a fig here or there based on aesthetic preference and whim. Scale's not as important to me as much as how each individual fig appeals, so I have a mix of MS, NA, and IF figs now. Generally, the ultra-toon look is not my preference, although I'm not averse to getting a more toonish fig if it appeals. NA is obviously going total-toon with their Dinobots, and the result is very smooth and rounded, and while I think they did an excellent job in what they set out to do, I'm willing to wait for Magic Square to show their take, because you know it's coming. I hope they went in a more toy-based direction with lots of detail and more angular surfaces. I really don't need a legends set of Dinobots, but they've long been some of my favorite characters from the original series, and a small team faithful to the look of the G1 toys would sure look nice on my desk.

Edited May 20, 2022 by M'Kyuun