The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[technoblue]

On 6/8/2022 at 12:58 AM, mikeszekely said:

To be clear, my gripes were really directed more at the regular version of Ymir.  If I were to get one, I agree that the EX version looks a lot better with the gold chrome, smoked translucent plastic, and tampographs where the original had stickers.  That said, there's still smoothness to Ymir that I'm not super into; no ridges on the dino belly, no pentagonal jaw hinge on the dino head, no ridges around the robot forearms/dino legs, no greebles on the outsides of the robot legs, etc.

None of this should be taken as a slight by anyone who's really into the super-toon stylings of the regular version of Ymir; I know there's a big demand for that ultra-Sunbow look right now.  It's just not my preference.

Hey, @mikeszekely. I should have replied to this sooner but I wanted to say that I do understand. I'm not slighted by anyone's critique of things I like or personally insulted by the different opinions either. I hope that is clear too. Ymir for sure isn't for everybody, even with the updated EX colorway, but I do think these Legends are great. They've certainly done their job luring me away from larger clunky third-party MPs. As a bonus, though, this has helped me save a lot of space here at home while still having a fun collection that is representative of my favorite characters. The prices are not always great and that's a legitimate concern, especially for someone like myself who now has both NA, MS, and other versions of certain Legends releases. 

Then again, prices are bonkers for just about everything at the moment...

Anyway, I'm not trying to push one voice or opinion above any other. I just want to add to the variety here. 

People can take or leave what I write as they do.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, technoblue said:

Hey, @mikeszekely. I should have replied to this sooner but I wanted to say that I do understand. I'm not slighted by anyone's critique of things I like or personally insulted by the different opinions either. I hope that is clear too. Ymir for sure isn't for everybody, even with the updated EX colorway, but I do think these Legends are great. They've certainly done their job luring me away from larger clunky third-party MPs. As a bonus, though, this has helped me save a lot of space here at home while still having a fun collection that is representative of my favorite characters. The prices are not always great and that's a legitimate concern, especially for someone like myself who now has both NA, MS, and other versions of certain Legends releases. 

Then again, prices are bonkers for just about everything at the moment...

Anyway, I'm not trying to push one voice or opinion above any other. I just want to add to the variety here. 

People can take or leave what I write as they do.

Oh, we're good, TB.  I just happen to spend time on another certain Transformers-specific board where a difference of opinion is often taken as a personal attack.  Things are generally much more civil here, but to be safe I just wanted to explain the issues I had with Ymir and reiterate that it was just a matter of my own personal preferences.  I want this thread (and the official one) to remain a place where we can have frank an open discussions about these figures.  As someone who has been a member of these boards a very long time and someone who posts frequently in these discussions, often with full reviews, I'm just being a bit cautious.  While I know MW has a lot of the old Hasui-era holdouts, I also know from the other board that the Sunbow style is very popular and I just don't want my opinion to discourage people who might be reading these posts but disagree with me from joining the discussion.

[Convectuoso]

 

 

 

[technoblue]

Cool transformation video. I think that is actually Classics/Henkei! Grimlock in the dino/bot mode comparison and not one of the Generations releases like the subtitles say, but that is a good thing IMO. Classics Grimlock is close in size to G1 Grimlock, so NA's dino mode appears to be a very close match and bot mode is just a hair short.

That's all good for my collection.

[M'Kyuun]

New toy! 

[Convectuoso]

I got him today too!

[mikeszekely]

18 minutes ago, Convectuoso said:

I got him today too!

I still like the one on the left, but I'm glad people are enjoying either or both.

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I still like the one on the left, but I'm glad people are enjoying either or both.

I don't own V1, but after getting their Megatron, I needed an Optimus; V2 was being promoted at the time. and looked pretty good to me. Seeing them side by side , I have to say I prefer the V1 proportions and overall look, but since I have Light of Freedom for my MP collection, having a more MP-44 styled Optimus for my burgeoning legends collection seemed a good move for variety's sake. I like the fig, so no regrets.

I haven't watched any V1 reviews, so I'm not sure how it transforms, although I doubt there's not much difference between it, Light of Freedom, and Light of Justice 2.0. The transformation is pretty cool, except for some overly tight bits, like the sliders for his wheel-well/torso sides and the extending pegs for the rear tires, both of which make me nervous every time I transform him. There are a lot of moving parts in such a small package, and when they're too tight, it's nerve-racking trying to get them to move without applying too much force and breaking something.  He's a fun little Optimus toy, though, and fortunately, mine came with the repair bot thingy that inhabits his trailer (early copies were missing that bit due to some issues with the factory, IIRC). other than some tight bits, I have no complaints; Magic Square did a great job.

This looks pretty good, although I'd prefer it had trans-yellow plastic around mechanical innards like the G1 toys. If they do a toy-accurate verion with metallic paint and the trans-clear bits, I may be down for a mini-Grimlock. I particularly like the way the arm expands into the dino leg and the dino tail with moving bits. Love that sort of detail that allows some expression and realism in dino mode. I'm not a big fan of the ultra-toon smoothness all over- I prefer surface detail on my bots, which is another reason I hope this gets the toy-accurate treatment.  The core design is really good, though.  The question remains, how long 'til MS reveal their Dinobot designs?

I wish the SS86 Grimlock looked this good- he has that really awkward and chonky looking rear end in T-rex mode and a non-articulated tail. Amazing how much better this little Grim is over a leader class toy.

[Convectuoso]

5 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

If they do a toy-accurate verion with metallic paint and the trans-clear bits, I may be down for a mini-Grimlock

There's the EX Version

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

There's the EX Version

Ooooh. That's more like it. Could live without all the toy decal details, but I guess it's all or nothing. Darn it- now I want to spend money.  Before I do, though, I'm willing to wait for MS to show theirs for comparison. You know they will. I usually find one or the other to be more appealing to me per character, so it's worth waiting for the preferred option. This is a pretty snazzy Grimlock, but I have a feeling MS' won't have those exposed inner legs. From an engineering standpoint, I think MS are usually more refined. this does some things I dig, though, so we'll see. Gawd it's a great time to be a TF fan.

[technoblue]

8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Ooooh. That's more like it. Could live without all the toy decal details, but I guess it's all or nothing. Darn it- now I want to spend money.  Before I do, though, I'm willing to wait for MS to show theirs for comparison. You know they will. I usually find one or the other to be more appealing to me per character, so it's worth waiting for the preferred option. This is a pretty snazzy Grimlock, but I have a feeling MS' won't have those exposed inner legs. From an engineering standpoint, I think MS are usually more refined. this does some things I dig, though, so we'll see. Gawd it's a great time to be a TF fan.

Word is that NA is giving Ymir leg covers, but I don't know if they are getting added in as a bonus or coming separately at a later date.

I haven't heard anything about MS doing Dinobots...yet. They are currently working on their own version of Mirage, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Skyfire. If they do follow NA, I expect a Dino announcement could come later in the year. By then, NA may already have announced a metallic version of Ymir without the toy decals similar to how H27EX and H27M compare for their David/Optimus.

[Convectuoso]

40 minutes ago, technoblue said:

Word is that NA is giving Ymir leg covers, but I don't know if they are getting added in as a bonus or coming separately at a later

They already said the leg covers for Grimlock will be included with their following Dinobot release. 

[technoblue]

5 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

They already said the leg covers for Grimlock will be included with their following Dinobot release. 

Nice. Even better if the leg covers aren't limited to the initial toon release.

[M'Kyuun]

Query for the repair experts here: I broke the hinge to which the arm linkages attach on my Magic Square Doomsday(Megatron). It's sculpted to match the side vents, and there's not much real estate with which to attach it. I tried Gorilla Glue, which had zero effect. Been thinking of trying JB Weld, but I'm casting about here to see if there's a better glue or method to use. Appreciate any suggestions.

[Convectuoso]

That's too bad, @M'Kyuun 

I don't know how to help with that.

Here's a video of the upcoming MS Ratchet

 

[MKT]

 

Just throwing this one out here..

It’s quite satisfying watching all 8 figs come together, with its crazy detailed but solid engineering and the paint job looks pretty phenomenal. 

Even has that balls of steel from the movie. 😂

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

That's too bad, @M'Kyuun 

I don't know how to help with that.

Here's a video of the upcoming MS Ratchet

 

Magic Square is just knocking it out of the park. Both of these clean up better than the MP figs, especially in the sides of the upper torsos.  I so wish they'd upscale their stuff to match mainline scale.

[derex3592]

Ok, I'll just come out and say it. never had any love for Bayformer designs or the movies really apart from the 1st one kinda, but that Devastator is amazing! The paint apps are incredible! 

 

MS Ratchet looks reeeally goood! Might have to be my 1st MS purchase!  

[Convectuoso]

I didn't know Magic Square had launched an official website.

 Seems like they may add a Shopping Cart option in the future.

https://magicsquaretoys.com/

 

[Hikuro]

I'm thinking about going out tomorrow cause it's been a few months. Anything in particular I should keep an eye out for that might be fun? I'm seeing you guys talking about all this magicsquare stuff, I know they're legend scale TFers but are they really that good? 

[Kuma Style]

 

[Scyla]

On 6/23/2022 at 9:04 PM, M'Kyuun said:

Query for the repair experts here: I broke the hinge to which the arm linkages attach on my Magic Square Doomsday(Megatron). It's sculpted to match the side vents, and there's not much real estate with which to attach it. I tried Gorilla Glue, which had zero effect. Been thinking of trying JB Weld, but I'm casting about here to see if there's a better glue or method to use. Appreciate any suggestions.

Have you tried contacting the store where you got it from if they have replacement pieces?

[M'Kyuun]

31 minutes ago, Scyla said:

Have you tried contacting the store where you got it from if they have replacement pieces?

No, I didn't figure it was even an option. I bought some JB Weld for plastics, including nylon, today, and tomorrow I'm going to try and affect a repair. The fig is still serviceable as-is, and could probably even still be transformed, but knowing that it's broken bugs me. The fact that my own incompetence is the cause bugs me more. Anyway, I'm going to try the repair route, and if that fails, I may just rebuy it. It's such a beautiful fig, and if I end up botching the repair, it's worth a second purchase.

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

No, I didn't figure it was even an option. I bought some JB Weld for plastics, including nylon, today, and tomorrow I'm going to try and affect a repair. The fig is still serviceable as-is, and could probably even still be transformed, but knowing that it's broken bugs me. The fact that my own incompetence is the cause bugs me more. Anyway, I'm going to try the repair route, and if that fails, I may just rebuy it. It's such a beautiful fig, and if I end up botching the repair, it's worth a second purchase.

It is worth a try. Some companies have excellent after sales support. Even if this is not the case your retailer might have a  junker he scalped for other parts.

I don’t know how the after sales support for MS is though.

I know how you feel. I have two breaks I inflicted on my toys that are super upsetting: one of the canards of my VF-19Advanced  and the hip swing bar on my VF-25F Renewal. Just thinking about them makes me angry 

If anyone has junkers of both toys hit me up!

[sh9000]

 

 

 

[Firefox21]

As a Transformers fan, I couldn't believe I'm saying this: "I don't want to transform any of those."  

[mikeszekely]

This review for this kit, an upgrade kit for Studio Series Wreck-Gar from Nonnef, has been awhile in the making.  Mostly because I felt strongly compelled to do a bit fiddling before I actually put the kit together.

We'll start with the easy stuff on the larger gray sprue.  While everything here comes with the kit I bought, the Rubbish set, you can buy just this gray sprue for a smaller price as the Wreck-Gar set.  And right away, the most obvious part of this kit is a G1 toy-style rifle.  

The other parts are a bit less obvious.  There's a pair of these small bits, and they're basically alternate nipple cannons.  The originals are installed on ball joints, so swapping them is a matter of popping the old ones out and pushing the Nonnef ones in.  Do people think the default ones are too big or look bad?  I personally don't see the need to swap, but it's an option, I guess (although if you use the full Rubbish kit you won't use them anyway).  There's also these... shock absorbers?... that you can plug into ports near his ankles.  This replicates a detail from the G1 toy, but it's not necessary for a screen-accurate look.

The rest of the sprue contains these bits.  You have options for robot mode.  The larger piece can use the slit in the middle to grab the little tabs on Wreck-Gar's shoulders that plug into his feet for bike mode.  The smaller pipe bits can plug into Wreck-Gar's abdomen.  Or, you can combine them and make something like a pistol.

They're really more for bike mode, though.  The pipe plugs into the larger part, and the larger part uses a tab to fit into a hollow piece on Wreck-Gar's seat, and the resulting contraption helps fill in the gap between his seat and his legs.  This does require some partsforming, though.

While we're in alt mode, I'll note that Nonnef included a small peg on the gun so that it can plug into the back of the bike, just like his pinwheel axe thingy can.

I like that this kit gives you the option to fill in the bike mode, but the robot placement isn't ideal so I'm not inclined to use it on Wreck-Gar.  I'm not a fan of the new nipple cannons, and while I appreciate that Nonnef was trying to replicate a toy detail the shock absorbers aren't necessary.  However, at $6 this kit is one of the cheapest ways to give Wreck-Gar his rifle, which I consider to be an essential accessory.  So it's probably worth buying a Wreck-Gar set just for that.

But!  If you have a second Wreck-Gar lying around, we can use the the larger Rubbish kit to make our custom version of this guy:

OK, we'll start with the knee.  Basically, you take these three gray parts and arrange them like so, with the red spike installed in the pentagonal-shaped bit.  It's designed to plug into the outside of Wreck-Gar's leg, where his spikes are, and the pentagonal bit simply sits in front of his knee.

The rest of the kit gets a bit more drastic.  You take this red bit and fit it through what will be the front of the replacement head.  The kit includes two different face options, but we're going with the one from the movie so we'll take the gray piece with the bit of nose and plug the brown mouth plate into it, then plug the whole thing onto the front of the head.

Next, take one side of he head in install the gray faux handlebars so the larger peg is pointing toward the front of the head.  Get the gray middle piece and attach it to that peg so that the opening in the ball socket it facing the back of the head.  Things get a little tricky from here.  You have to semi-attach the other side of the head while also attaching the front of the head to the hole in the gray piece but also the pegs on the sides of the head.  Do your best, and squish everything together until it's tight.  Once you've got the head complete, you just pop Wreck-Gar's off the ball joint and pop the new head on.

Of course, one of the most noticeable features about that Junkion is that he's got a big ol' wheel in his chest, and that's what we're going to do next.  First, find the red spikes and like them up properly in one half of the gray tire parts, then close it off with the other half.  Get the red chest part and the two red hinges.  You want to attach the hinges to the pegs in the chest, then the wheel into the other side, so that when everything is stretched out it looks like the above picture (flatter on the bottom, rounded at the ends on the top, with the ridge at the chest).

No glue is necessary for this kit: included are two red panels with ball joints on them.  Remove Wreck-Gar's nipple cannons, then you can fit the panels into the new chest so that he ball joints fit into the sockets the nipple guns vacated, holding everything in place.  The hinges will fold up so the wheel sits in the middle of the chest.

Now, a lot of people will stop there and call it a day.  But I just kept thinking that colors were off.  So I removed the limbs, took them apart, and got to painting.

And here's the Junkion Rubbish I wound up with.  No, Rubbish didn't have the shock absorbers in the movie, but I felt like using them here just to keep him more visually distinct from Wreck Gar.  I also removed Wreck-Gar's spikes with a Dremel.  I'm not sure I'm satified with the Nonnef knee spikes.  The extra brown does add some color breakup, but it's not really accurate.  I might drill small holes into the shins just below the knees and glue the spikes directly into them.  Finally, I left the alt mode filler fully assembled and on his shoulders, because the animation model does have some kind of piping there.

Aside from the bike filler, which we already talked about, there's no partsforming.  The new Nonnef chest stays in place.  The hinges we used to attach the faux tire to the chest allows it to fold down under the bike and out of the way.

I'm not 100% satisfied with my custom Rubbish, though.  I'd like to paint the front of the bike brown to match the new head, Rubbish's rims should be gray or silver, and while I'm not sure what the canonical color should be I'd like the fuel tank to be some other color, maybe that sandy color, just to make him more visually distinct from Wreck Gar.  However, disassembly of Wreck-Gar's torso would involve some riveted pins that I just wasn't comfortable trying to remove, and I'm not even sure how to get the wheels apart.  And my issues with less-than-100%-accuracy are really outside the scope of what Nonnef set out to do with this kit.  The fact is that his kit sets out to take a second Wreck-Gar figure you might own (and if you don't check you're local Target where they might be shelfwarming) and modify it so you have another Junkion to troop build with.  I'm not sure how many Junkions Hasbro is planning on doing, but I'd say the safe money was always Wreck-Gar plus one remold, when I think there's at least eight or nine different designs seen in the movie.  This kit is a great way to get at least one of them, and for that I'd recommend it.

Now, Nonnef has said that if this kit sells well he may design a few more, but he hasn't said if they'd be for Wreck-Gar or the upcoming official Junkheap.  I'm not sure how many I'm in for.  I mean, I'll buy every Junkion if they get an official release, but I'd really have to think on it before I put in the time, work, and money (not just for a kit but also the paint) before I do another custom.  But when I display teams like this two never really seems like enough... two Alicons plus one Bailiff, three Sharkticons, two Sweeps plus Scourge, etc.  So I wanted Wreck-Gar and at least two Junkions for display.  Nonnef's kit and a little effort gave me Rubbish, the cool one with a wheel in his chest, and I'm pretty satisfied with that.

[Wolf-1]

Nice to actually see one of these "Junkion" kits actually get installed.  Wasn't aware of the NonNef version but was aware that Maiden Japans, only description in the listings, have made a couple of different kits that do the same thing essentially.  New head, chest, skirts and knee bolsters from what I can tell.  Funny thing, I'm still awaiting my copy of Wreck Gar but already have the second Junkion release.  TF Labs, leg and interrior shoulder covers fit nicely.  

When it comes to Slag, I've personally found GoBetter's kit to really hit the mark I was aiming for.  Allows for the horns to swivel out and be seen in Bot mode, which was screen acurate. Plus the new rear Dino legs fillout so much better, though his calf's in Bot mode will now be larger due to the extra pieces folding up for storage.  Easy install, even with the removal of the lowest screw in the rear legs.

[MKT]

"Just standing as still as possible, and distribute my weight evenly in case my hip joints explode"

 

 

[JB0]

16 minutes ago, MKT said:

"Just standing as still as possible, and distribute my weight evenly in case my hip joints explode"

"Stillness from Bumblebee?! Awww man, we're all gonna die!"

[sh9000]

 

 

[sh9000]

 

[mikeszekely]

A long time ago I had an opportunity to pick up either Fans Toys Hydra or DX9's Hanzo for around the same price, and I ultimately chose neither  Really, I think my MP collection is fine with just Season 1-3 characters; I prefer the Japanese fiction to Season 4 or the Marvel comics, but also have no particular attachment to it.  I just didn't need an MP Sixshot.

It seems there was a recent reissue, or DX9 found a bunch in a warehouse, because I recently found him at Show.Z Store for a mere $80 (because, let's be honest, $80 in 2022 just isn't that much anymore).  So how is Hanzo in an MP collection today?

Out of the box, my initial impression is that he looks pretty good.  I know some people prefer a greener color, like the Titans Return toy/Sunbow animation/G1 toy, and Hanzo was available in that color, but I do prefer this Headmasters-esque teal.  I have to really start digging into all three sources (G1 toy, "The Rebirth", and The Headmasters) to start picking things apart.  So where do things start breaking down?  He's got some painted details on his knees that's pretty G1 toy, as is the the sculpt on his chest.  The chest wings have some gunmetal paint that I'd assume recalls the G1 toy's stickers, but only the foil background and none of the details.  Fine, I suppose, since neither the US nor Japanese animation had any color but black.  There are the black cylinders on the corners of his chest, that's a toy detail that was simply omitted in Japanese animation and made white for some reason by Sunbow.  His crotch has some details added that aren't really the cockpit details of the G1 toy nor the plain white void of either animation, but no, I'd say things really start breaking down when we get to his legs.  He's got some small white cockpit kibble on the outside of his legs were the G1 toy and both animation models had some larger black and white kibble, and a large part of the front of his shins is black instead of purple.  And then there's the wheels... like the G1 toy and the animation models, Hanzo has wheels on his shoulders and forearms, but the ones on his forearms are fake, necessitating another set of wheels on his legs that no other Sixshot has.  Out of the box they're flat along the sides of his legs, but per the instructions you can rotate the whole armature around and then fold the wheels back over his calves.  While that makes them less obvious from the front in robot mode, the tradeoff is that they stick pretty far behind his legs, farther even than his heel spurs.

Hanzo comes with a number of accessories.  We get a pair of chromed rifles that are somewhat similar to the ones that came with the G1 toy.  Then, leaning into The Headmasters' fiction depicting him as part of a ninja clan, we get two chrome swords, two black kunai, and two black shuriken.  Oh, and I suppose his fake wheels are accessories, too.

Hanzo's head seems to be on a ball joint, with some upward range but very limited downward or sideways tilt.  His shoulders rotate on ratchets.  Due to his large shoulder bits with the wheels, best I can get his shoulders outward is about 60 degrees.  A more frustrating issues is that in addition to that hinge there's another pair of them, one a tight ratchet and the other simply friction, that shift his arms up and down for his various alt modes.  The hinge closest to his body is friction, and it's pretty loose, causing his arms to droop at his sides.  His biceps swivel, and he's got double-jointed elbows, both friction, that get you just about 180 degrees of bend.  His wrists swivel.  His fingers are individually articulated, with a ball joint at the base of the thumb and one hinged knuckle, then hinges at the base and two knuckles on each finger.  His waist swivels, sadly there's no ab crunch.  His hips go 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees laterally, and a little short of that backward, all on ratchets.  His thighs swivel, and then there's a second swivel below the knee that's more for transformation.  His knees bend 90 degrees on ratchets.  His feet can tilt down, his toes can tilt up, and he's got about 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

Ready for more disappointment?  He holds his accessories very poorly.  The rifle's have little slots on the handles that fit onto tabs on his palms, but they're not the best fit and just closing his fingers around the handle is likely to pop them out.   It's worse for the swords and kunai, as they lack even poorly-toleranced slots for his palm tabs, so it's only the friction in his fingers holding them.

At least he has storage for his weapons.  There's pegs on each hip that can mate with the butt of either rifle, a hole near the base of the blades on his swords, or a hole in the pommels of his kunai.  There are also pegs on the fronts and sides of his shins, although they're more for alt mode, and pegs on the outsides of his forearms.  The ones on his forearms are needed for the faux tires.  The tires do not attach directly, though; first, you have to put the shuriken inside each tire with a small peg, then the other side of the shuriken has the larger peg hole for the pegs on his arms.

Sixshot has a lot of alt modes, so we're going to have to fly through them.  First up, his car mode.  If you follow DX9's instructions, the wings are pointed backward compared to G1/Sunbow/Headmasters/Titans Return, and the only way to make the rear wheels touch the ground is turn the green part so it's sloping down, then fold the wheel back out.  There's also the fact that the cab is black instead of purple, and a kibbly roof with his robot feet dangling off the back.  I think the basic silhouette is there, but it's not one of his more accurate modes.

There's pegs on the sides of the cab and one (but only one) of his wings.  Ostensibly there are holes in the tips of the wings, and the rifle handles fold in to reveal a peg.  Problem 1: the hinge that folds the handle in is way too tight.  Problem 2: the holes in the wings aren't actually big enough for the pegs on the rifles.  Oh, there's the pegs for the faux wheels, too.  If you leave them in place Sixshot has too many wheels, but what else are you going to do with them?

Jet mode.  At first I was thinking that Hanzo's jet mode looks kind of stumpy, but then I realized it's from just two issues.  First, instead of having his arms hang straight out the back like engine nacelles Hanzo's arms curl around and meet behind the jet.  Maybe DX9 thought that'd give the jet a more streamlined appearance?  It's just wrong, though.  The other issue is that the wheels on his legs don't really have anywhere to go, so they're just laying on the top... right about where his cockpit crotch should be.  So instead of a cockpit crotch he's got a cockpit made from leg kibble right where the purple meets the black.  Straighten his arms, loose the wheels on top, and move the cockpit back and this would probably be his most-accurate mode.

To copy the G1 look, the guns again need to peg into the wings, but again, they don't really fit.  There's a few other pegs you can use to store his accessories, though.

Next up we have his wolf mode.  I've heard a lot of praise for Hanzo's wolf mode.  The front half is indeed quite nice- good likeness on the head, which can look down a little and open its jaws.  Accurate colors, with some added silver on the claws.  It's the back half that's the problem.  For starters, there's the rear legs.  A lot of people like them, because they better resemble a wolf's legs than the bent-the-wrong-way-at-the-knee robot legs that the G1 toy/cartoons/TR toy has... but that's just the thing.  By being more wolf-like, they're less Sixshot-accurate.  There's also the fact that the jet nose, which should be alongside his legs, are folded onto his butt, and the wheels they added to his robot legs are stuck, again, on his back.  What's more, the engineering involved in unfurling the wolf legs from the inside of his robot legs is responsible for some of the issues he has in other modes- that's his wolf legs draped across the roof of the car, for example.  (I'd say the bulk of his other issues are folding his jet nose into his legs instead of alongside, to make room for a fake cockpit instead of just using his crotch, because they added wheels to his legs and made the ones on his arms fake).

I'm not exactly sure what the ideal weapon placement his for wolf mode.  While you can omit the tires on his arms/forelegs if you wish I like leaving them there- it's G1 accurate.  There are pegs on his robot hip skirts and the front of his wolf hips, too, and one on the inside of one of his wings, too.

Hanzo's tank mode gets a lot of flack for two reasons.  First, there's those blasted wheels on his legs again.  With nowhere better to go they're just left along side the turret.  Two, there's no cockpit for the tank.  This one seems fairly egregious; I don't see why DX9 couldn't have molded something onto that plain black flap on his back.  There's only one mode I can think of where it might possibly interfere, and even then it wouldn't have been that big of a deal.  I might also point out that while the barrels that fold out of his toes and make up his heel spurs are accurate enough it might have been nice if his toes also folded up to give the turret a sleeker look.  Those gripes aside, though, it's a pretty accurate tank mode.

There's not much in the way of accessory storage in tank mode.  You do have the pegs on his arms, and there are the ones on his car-cab-shins.  I like to put the guns on those ones, I think that's the most G1-accurate choice.

Finally, we have his submarine mode...

Just kidding.  G1 gun style, baby!  To be fair, this was always Sixshot's most-questionable alt mode, as it was pretty much always Sixshot lying down in bot mode with his arms turned and his wings folded down to make a handle.  The tank barrels do poke out, and all of that is pretty G1-accurate.  Going purely by the instructions, Hanzo's forearms and bent inward and clipped to his shoulders, as they are for jet mode, instead of sticking straight out the back.  It's not accurate, sure, but I don't mind it (and there's really nothing stopping you from straightening them).  While I wish his rifles had some way to plug into his feet between the tank barrels, which I believe was the official G1 transformation, they can plug into the sides of his legs (as in tank mode) which, if I recall correctly, was how The Headmasters was animated, so I won't even call it wrong.  It's just those stupid leg wheels again, and the fact that the toes on his feet can't fold away.  Oh, and I suppose the lack of a trigger, but to my knowledge only the G1 toy had that.

I don't think accessory storage was a priority in this mode, but you can pull it off if you're creative enough, as his shins and robot hip skirts have available pegs and the faux wheels can stay on his forearms.

To be honest, though, I think the best storage for the swords and kunai is back in the box.  G1 Sixshot didn't have them, Titans Returns Sixshot doesn't have them, and Hanzo doesn't need them.  Meanwhile, while he can't hold them so great, his rifles are meant to integrate with his alt modes, and that was true going back to the G1 toy.

So where do we stand with Hanzo, then?  Well, I'm glad I didn't pay more for him.  There's no diecast, and there's not a lot of paint on him.  Not that I think paint and diecast are the be-all, end-all the way some collectors do, but when you couple that loose hinges in his shoulders and wolf paws, tolerance issues plugging his guns into his wings, more tolerance issues plugging his guns in his hands, and a lack of any ability to plug his other accessories into his hands and Hanzo definitely isn't striking me as a "premium" sort of figure.  Then I find myself lamenting DX9's design decisions, like the less-accurate, more-realistic wolf legs, the faux wheels on his forearms, and the addition of actual wheels on his legs to make up for the ones on his arms being fake.  Indeed, Hanzo's kind of doing something I didn't expect, and he's making me wish I would have bought Hydra when I had the chance.  Of course, the ridiculous aftermarket on Hydra (one of the reasons why I'm not keen on Fans Toys in the first place) isn't going to keep Hydra well away from my shelf, and then we circle back to why I did ultimately buy Hanzo- price.  If you don't already have Hydra and you decide you want an MP Sixshot you can either buy an imperfect but still good-looking Hanzo for a low price that feels fair enough, or you can dump $300 plus chasing Hydra on the aftermarket.  Put that way, I think Hydra might be better, I wish I'd bought Hydra earlier, but I'm definitely not buying him now and I'm not sorry I bought Hanzo now.  I guess I'll call that a recommend, but with a big ol' asterisk.

[mikeszekely]

Ok, this one's not actually Transformers, but it's Transformers-adjacent, maybe.  It's from a company called Toy Wolf.  I've seen it listed as "Dirty Man," but the printed name is 汚大將, which translates to something more like "Dirty General" in Chinese or "Dirty Lieutenant" in a Japanese way that they don't actually use in the JSDF... the figure's made in China and Toy Wolf seems to be Chinese, but there's other Japanese writing on the instructions, so... I dunno.  I'm going with the Chinese Wu Dajiang.

So... yeah.  Like I said, not a Transformer, but he does give me some serious Bayverse vibes, what with his squat proportions, three-fingered hands, little not-quite-digitigrade-but-not-normal legs, and (although you can't see in this picture) four eyes.  Specifically, he kind of reminds me of the first film, when the bit of Allspark starts turning random appliances in Sam's house into Transformers.  

Of course, he's not simply one of the metal alien bugs from the Bayverse.  Our little Dirty General has a distinct samurai vibe going, with a head and face modeled after a samurai helmet and mask, details on his arms akin to a samurai's armor, and a kamon emblem on his belly.  Heck, I'd say that the large panels between his torso and arms are even a bit reminiscent of a surcoat.

The Dirty General comes with a few accessories... first up, we have a pair of katana.  While every samurai would have one, it might have been nice of the other was a shorter wakizashi as the long/short pair was the standard during the Edo period.  There's a red tengu nose, and a pair of sashimono banners with the same kamon as his belly... and yeah, his clan emblem is a poo.  Which is why he also comes with an oddly gunmetal poo, a roll of toilet paper, and a plunger.

The Dirty General's head is on a hinged ball joint.  He can look up a little, down a fair bit, and swivel his head to look sideways a bit less than 90 degrees... less than we're used to, I suppose, but perfectly adequate.  His jaw is hinged so he can open his mouth.  His shoulders are on ball joints for rotation and 90 degrees of lateral movement.  He's got a dedicated bicep swivel and single elbow hinges that still bend 180 degrees.  His wrists are ball joints that swivel and give him some up/down/in/out wiggle.  No waist swivel.  His hips are, you guessed it, ball joints that bend a little short of 90 degrees forward/backward/laterally.  Unfortunately, what swivel they have on the balls is all the thigh swivel we get. They bend slightly a hinge where the black meets the white on his thighs, but most of his knee joint is actually on the back of his leg, and it can bend slightly forward and almost 180 degrees backward.  His ankles are ball joints which allows them to swivel, tilt up or down, and and pivot.

His fingers aren't articulated, they're molded into an open 5mm port.  This means he holds his swords simply by plugging them into his hands.  It also means his accessories are compatible with actual Transformers that use 5mm pegs for their accessories.

The sashimono banners are properly pegged onto his back using the top two holes on his backpack.  A third hole allows you to also store the toilet paper, and the hole in the toilet paper's "roll" can in turn be used to store the plunger.  Sadly, there's no way for him to wear his katana on his hips, or even to properly store them at all (you can kind of slide them into the gap between his back and backpack).

The sashimono have 5mm pegs pointed down as well as inward, so he could carry them in his hands, if you like.  He can also hold the plunger by it's handle, or the toilet paper roll by the same peg you use to plug it into his back.  The plunger itself has a 5mm port in the cup, so you could plug a sword or the toilet paper onto it, too.  I think I'm inclined to display mine with katana and the plunger in place of a wakizashi.  I may give his other katana to a figure like Titans Return Windblade.

As for the rest of his accessories, you can pull the part of his mask with his upper jaw and nose off (see the four eyes now?).  Then the tengu nose simply plugs in its place and... yeah, I can see what they're going for.  But the nose can't stay on for transformation, so frankly I'm inclined to leave it in the box or a drawer and keep the regular mask.

Lastly, there's the poop.  It's a bit of an odd accessory... there's a small rim around the bottom and a hole on the bottom.  But the rim is too large for it to fit on the plunger, and the hole is too large to fit on a 5mm peg.  At first I didn't see much of a way for him to interact with it at all, but then I realized the rim is just the right size to allow you to plug the poop on top of his head.

Well, let's get to the elephant in the room... the Dirty General's alt mode is a toilet.  Even if you hadn't heard of this thing, I'm thinking by now you had to have seen this coming.  Specifically, judging by the differently-sized molded and silver-painted buttons on top, he's a one-piece, dual-flush commode.

Oh, and I'm just guessing, but I doubt that this was the company's first product... maybe just the first under the Toy Wolf banner, but whoever designed this toy clearly has experience as the transformation is smooth and effective, going from a solid robot to a solid toilet.

One of the sashimono has small pegs on it, and the other has corresponding holes that allow them to be stuck together, then flipped over to reveal a nice tile floor that the toilet attaches to.  The toilet paper, meanwhile, can stay plugged into the same spot as his robot mode, now on top of the tank.

The poo doesn't have any place to attach to, per se, but the lid does open and you can drop it into the bowl.  And if we spin it around and take a look at the back, well... ok, it's a bit messy and you probably don't want to do that.  But I'll note that the General's arms leave a gap between them, and his katana can actually be stored in between them due to their slightly off-set blades by plugging the handles into the ports where the sashimono go in robot mode.  The only things you can't store in this mode, then are the tengu nose, which I wasn't going to use anyway, and the plunger, which is is probably my biggest disappointment with the alt mode.  Then again, if I'm only going to use one katana I guess there's nothing stopping me from plugging the plunger into the space for the other...

I'm sure you probably saw that the Dirty General is a bit shorter than a Deluxe car.  Yeah... turns out he's just the right size to turn into a toilet that's about the right scale to use with most popular 6" action figures (like the Star Wars Black collection, Marvel Legends, the Ghostbusters Plasma series, or in my case, the Green Ranger from the Power Rangers Lightning collection).  Although, while the lid does open, there's no seat over the bowl.

If you only collect transforming toys, though, you might have a harder time getting one to sit.  Most Voyagers (and larger) are simply too big, and their hips don't bend enough to do more than hover.  Deluxes are a little too small; Sideswipe here sat, but his feet don't touch the ground.  And even that assumes you're using a figure with minimal backpack, as the bowl's not very wide.

Of course, just because a Transfomer can't sit, doesn't mean you can't still find other poses that do work...

OK, so what can I really say about this one?  I mean, it's a ridiculous samurai goblin that turns into a toilet... I mean, where does that even go in one's collection?  Who actually needs this?  And yeah, that's probably why I ignored this thing when it originally came out three years ago with a price tag over $100.  On the other hand, he's a ridiculous samurai goblin that turns into a toilet, and I love him for that.  And at the current sale price over at Show.Z Store under $55, well, suddenly I'm the guy that needs this.  So, I guess it really boils down to this... just look at the thing.  Do you see something crass that has no business in your collection?  Then it's not for you.  But if you see something charmingly amusing, or amusingly charming, and you can find a place in your heart and shelf for this little guy, then I'm going to definitely recommend it.  Because ultimately it's a very well-made, solidly built, appropriately detailed toy with a simple, fun transformation that happens to turn into crapper.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

The poop is a nice touch.