The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[shazam]

 

[M'Kyuun]

On 2/4/2024 at 6:48 PM, shazam said:

 

I have the first largely undecoed version of Jive (Thank you Toyhax for remedying the toony plainness), but I would have waited for this version had I known it was coming, as applying stickers isn't my idea of fun. I also have Zeta's Jazzy (originally marketed as Toyworld's Coolsville before the two companies parted ways), which is a rather unsung MP scaled 3P Jazz which came out around the time that Maketoys released their very popular Downbeat. I preferred the Zeta version for its more G1 toy-inspired look in bot mode. Neither toy is perfect, especially when it comes to the transformations, but once accomplished, both present well, IMHO, in both modes. TBH, I wasn't familiar with the TR-01, so this vid was enlightening in that respect. It's amazing how many options we've had over the years, and hopefully Takara will eventually take their crack, although, admittedly, I haven't really been all that impressed with the majority of toon-slavish designs they've been putting out over the last few years. Skids was my last official MP purchase, and my only gripe with him is that I wish he'd come with swappable shins to recreate his 'windowed shins' look from his og box art.

[shazam]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I have the first largely undecoed version of Jive (Thank you Toyhax for remedying the toony plainness), but I would have waited for this version had I known it was coming, as applying stickers isn't my idea of fun. I also have Zeta's Jazzy (originally marketed as Toyworld's Coolsville before the two companies parted ways), which is a rather unsung MP scaled 3P Jazz which came out around the time that Maketoys released their very popular Downbeat. I preferred the Zeta version for its more G1 toy-inspired look in bot mode. Neither toy is perfect, especially when it comes to the transformations, but once accomplished, both present well, IMHO, in both modes. TBH, I wasn't familiar with the TR-01, so this vid was enlightening in that respect. It's amazing how many options we've had over the years, and hopefully Takara will eventually take their crack, although, admittedly, I haven't really been all that impressed with the majority of toon-slavish designs they've been putting out over the last few years. Skids was my last official MP purchase, and my only gripe with him is that I wish he'd come with swappable shins to recreate his 'windowed shins' look from his og box art.

Takara Tomy could definitely do better with QC and design. At least there are other companies that produce quality 3rd party products that are worth collecting. 

The Fans Toys Jive FT-48X (Jazz) is a really good example of a 3rd party toy at its best. I can only complain about the price.

[mikeszekely]

This topic's gotten a little quiet... can't speak for the rest of you, but I know I've slowed down a lot due to a combination of factors... I've got MP-ish representations of most of the Sunbow cast, prices have gone up a lot since COVID (and, if I'm a bit cynical, since the bigger 3Ps saw what people were willing to pay for MP-44), fewer companies competing in the MP space, and Hasbro's mainline stuff doing a better job of giving me what I wanted for a lot less since Siege.  Still, there was a TFCon this weekend, and I did want to share a few things that I did find interesting.

First up, we have the prototypes for MMC's all-built-in Mixmaster and Scrapper.  Both are looking pretty good to me.  Maybe a little on the thin side, but MMC abandoned the OX look a long time ago for Sunbow, and the Constructions did have pretty thin (and sometimes just plain weird) animation models.  On looks alone I think you could make a pretty compelling case for any of the three Devastators being worked on right now, but I loved MMC's Bruticus, and I love their Protectobots.  I'm definitely in for these guys, and if I bother with XTB or FT's it's just because I've got most of the 3P Devastators so far.

At modes.

Oh, and speaking of Fans Toys, I try not to deal with them.  They're often more expensive than the competition, I frequently find them to have lifeless sculpts and transformations that make BadCube's look good, plus for all their vaunted reputation I've had enough QC issues with the FT figures I have bought to be be wary.  That said, I want to call attention to their Ultra Magnus...

As most 3Ps are leaning hard into that super-Sunbow aesthetic I think it's actually getting a bit harder to tell these figures apart from each other at a glance.  Like, if it weren't for the metallic paint if you'd told me that this was XTB's already-released Ultra Magnus I might believe you.

Actually, with the unsightly red hinges on the sides and the pretty visible torso on the trailer floor, Maybe FT's Magnus looks worse than XTB's in alt mode.  But, FT is doing on thing that could get me to upgrade from MP-22 that XTB couldn't...

The cab turns into a white Optimus Prime, and the trailer turns into armor that fits over the cab robot!

And yeah, there's an obvious question there, and the obvious question has an obvious answer.  Yes, FT is doing Optimus Prime.  I'm sure the plastic will be better, and he'll have diecast and weigh like 4x as much, but I'm not seeing anything here that really makes me think it looks any better than Magic Square's MS-02.  Of course, I have MS-02... and MS-01, and TE-01, and MP-10, and MP-44... it'd kind of be weird if I didn't get FT's.

Since XTB announced they're doing an MP Ironhide and Ratchet last fall, FT of course has to hurry up and announce theirs so you don't accidentally give your money to a competitor.  Normally, this wouldn't be a blip for me.  I just don't feel like chasing "upgrades" for the rest of my life.  I already have Voodoo Robots' Salus for Ratchet and MP-27 with the hip kit for Ironhide, and sure, XTB's looks more cartoony, but so what?

Fans Toys' looks to be even more cartoon accurate than XTB's, and look, they've even got working doors!  But still... so what?

Well, the "what" might be the sled.  "Wait a minute," you're thinking.  "MP-27 came with a sled.  Come to think of it, XTB's is, too!  What makes FT's so special?"  Glad you asked!  Did you notice how small it looks compared to the weapons on it?  OK, take a good look at the front tips of the rear treads.  Now, go back to the robot pictures.  Behind Ironhide's head, in the crouching pose, at his collar.  Do you see what appears to be that front tip of tread?  Looks to me that FT's Ironhide transforms completely from van to robot, like the MP and like XTB, but rather than have a separate sled accessory it looks like his backpack comes off to transform into the sled, and that's just clever engineering if you ask me.

[Scyla]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

This topic's gotten a little quiet... can't speak for the rest of you, but I know I've slowed down a lot due to a combination of factors... I've got MP-ish representations of most of the Sunbow cast, prices have gone up a lot since COVID (and, if I'm a bit cynical, since the bigger 3Ps saw what people were willing to pay for MP-44), fewer companies competing in the MP space, and Hasbro's mainline stuff doing a better job of giving me what I wanted for a lot less since Siege.  Still, there was a TFCon this weekend, and I did want to share a few things that I did find interesting.

First up, we have the prototypes for MMC's all-built-in Mixmaster and Scrapper.  Both are looking pretty good to me.  Maybe a little on the thin side, but MMC abandoned the OX look a long time ago for Sunbow, and the Constructions did have pretty thin (and sometimes just plain weird) animation models.  On looks alone I think you could make a pretty compelling case for any of the three Devastators being worked on right now, but I loved MMC's Bruticus, and I love their Protectobots.  I'm definitely in for these guys, and if I bother with XTB or FT's it's just because I've got most of the 3P Devastators so far.

At modes.

Oh, and speaking of Fans Toys, I try not to deal with them.  They're often more expensive than the competition, I frequently find them to have lifeless sculpts and transformations that make BadCube's look good, plus for all their vaunted reputation I've had enough QC issues with the FT figures I have bought to be be wary.  That said, I want to call attention to their Ultra Magnus...

As most 3Ps are leaning hard into that super-Sunbow aesthetic I think it's actually getting a bit harder to tell these figures apart from each other at a glance.  Like, if it weren't for the metallic paint if you'd told me that this was XTB's already-released Ultra Magnus I might believe you.

Actually, with the unsightly red hinges on the sides and the pretty visible torso on the trailer floor, Maybe FT's Magnus looks worse than XTB's in alt mode.  But, FT is doing on thing that could get me to upgrade from MP-22 that XTB couldn't...

The cab turns into a white Optimus Prime, and the trailer turns into armor that fits over the cab robot!

And yeah, there's an obvious question there, and the obvious question has an obvious answer.  Yes, FT is doing Optimus Prime.  I'm sure the plastic will be better, and he'll have diecast and weigh like 4x as much, but I'm not seeing anything here that really makes me think it looks any better than Magic Square's MS-02.  Of course, I have MS-02... and MS-01, and TE-01, and MP-10, and MP-44... it'd kind of be weird if I didn't get FT's.

Since XTB announced they're doing an MP Ironhide and Ratchet last fall, FT of course has to hurry up and announce theirs so you don't accidentally give your money to a competitor.  Normally, this wouldn't be a blip for me.  I just don't feel like chasing "upgrades" for the rest of my life.  I already have Voodoo Robots' Salus for Ratchet and MP-27 with the hip kit for Ironhide, and sure, XTB's looks more cartoony, but so what?

Fans Toys' looks to be even more cartoon accurate than XTB's, and look, they've even got working doors!  But still... so what?

Well, the "what" might be the sled.  "Wait a minute," you're thinking.  "MP-27 came with a sled.  Come to think of it, XTB's is, too!  What makes FT's so special?"  Glad you asked!  Did you notice how small it looks compared to the weapons on it?  OK, take a good look at the front tips of the rear treads.  Now, go back to the robot pictures.  Behind Ironhide's head, in the crouching pose, at his collar.  Do you see what appears to be that front tip of tread?  Looks to me that FT's Ironhide transforms completely from van to robot, like the MP and like XTB, but rather than have a separate sled accessory it looks like his backpack comes off to transform into the sled, and that's just clever engineering if you ask me.

So the Fantasy Model line is for characters that Takara already did? 

I'm super excited for FT Magnus and Ironhide/Ratchet. I have the Takara releases and while they are fun to handle they are lacking a lot in robot mode with lots of articulation and proportion issues on Magnus and the dichotomy (chest and hip kibble) between toy and  toon design on Ironhide.

What I found interesting is what FansToys didn’t show. No Berserk and no completed Menasor. For some reason I'm looking forward to their Menesor so it is sad not seeing a preview of it.

[mikeszekely]

5 hours ago, Scyla said:

What I found interesting is what FansToys didn’t show. No Berserk and no completed Menasor. For some reason I'm looking forward to their Menesor so it is sad not seeing a preview of it.

It's funny, MMC's preview of Scrapper and Mixmaster has people talking about XTB and FT's Constructicons. Some of the FT fans are attacking XTB for their QC, but I'm thinking that hey, at least they finished a combiner.

[Scyla]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

It's funny, MMC's preview of Scrapper and Mixmaster has people talking about XTB and FT's Constructicons. Some of the FT fans are attacking XTB for their QC, but I'm thinking that hey, at least they finished a combiner.

I think the problem is that some things take ages to come out probably because the market has cooled down considerably.

I feel like MMC is in a good spot (looking forward to Ignis) and their combiners target a different market. Their Devastator is probably fun to handle too.

Looks interesting, I wonder if the threads for the shoulders collapses or if they will be this… compact in alt mode too:

[mikeszekely]

Been awhile, but I got some unofficial DNA upgrades for a few official figures.  We'll start with DK-43, a kit for Studio Series Gamer Edition Optimus Prime.

This is a kit that has a lot of pieces in it, but in a move that's a bit unusual for DNA there aren't really any parts that replace any stock parts, aside from the axe.  No screwdrivers or pin pushers required.  This kit is actually mostly filler bits.

First thing's first, we'll take these gray parts.  They go into Prime's very hollow thighs, and they fit snugly.  I wasn't super put off by the hollow thighs in the first place, but DNA did a good job fixing the problem anyway.

Next up we have these filler pieces for Prime's toes.  Because the bottom of Prime's feet wind up on the roof of the vehicle his hollow toes bugged me more than the thighs.  The fit here is a bit weird... I didn't have any trouble getting them in and they're definitely not going to fall out, but they don't exactly sit flat and if you push down in one corner the opposite corner will come up.  I'll also note that DNA didn't do a great job color-matching the plastic.

The flaps on the outside of Prime's legs were another spot that bugged me.  It's like Hasbro thought they could get away with waffling that area because it's tucked inside the vehicle mode, but they forgot that it's super visible in robot mode.  DNA's parts cover most of the waffling and add some interesting mechanical details.  They attach using slots on the underside that grab onto the waffle lines on the leg.  The connection didn't feel that secure to me, but once I had them on I haven't had any issues with them coming off.  So they're fine.

The last two blue parts go on Prime's feet.  You need to lift his shins and tilt the feet forward so you can see the gaps on top of his heels.  The DNA parts have bits that wedge into the gap.  Then you fold the trio of hinges on them as shown to make a bigger heel for Prime.  In bot mode that's not much, but they'll come into play more in alt mode.  Unfortunately, the connection here is pretty loose, and manipulating the hinges almost always causes the parts to pop out.

With the leg fillers done we're moving on to filling gaps I didn't even notice.  First up is this part, which is really two parts on a sprue.  Cut them off the sprue, then they slide into the tops of Prime's shoulders like so.  It was a bit tricky to manipulate such tiny parts with my fat old fingers (and Prime's noggin in the way doesn't help), but once they're in they're pretty secure, and the red plastic is definitely a better match.

With those parts installed, we can then do these parts with the half-wheels.  A little prep work is required... they come in the box like the one on the right.  Rotate the wheel 90 degrees and fold in the hinge, so it looks like the one on the left.  The post on the hinged bit fits into a hollow just behind where we installed the first shoulder bits (you can see it between Prime's antenna on the left), then the half-wheel lines up with the actual wheels on his back.  And, well, I guess it works fine.  Hides some hollows that I didn't really notice and bulks up his wheels to, I guess, look more like the video game's CGI model.  Not sure they were totally necessary, though.

The last red part is this little rectangle.  You want the slot facing out, and then it goes in the indicated spot on Prime's back, behind the alt mode's nose, just over the mushroom peg.  The connection is borderline nonexistent, though.

The gist here is that, instead of using the little peg to plug Prime's arm into his butt when he's got his gun attached instead, you can use a tab on it to plug into the DNA part, then fold the alt mode nose down over it so it's hidden away a bit better.  As I noted, though, the connection is too loose.  The alt mode nose will kind of keep everything in place, but if you manipulate him you can expect it to fall off.  If you try to unplug the arm expect it to take that part with it.  And if you turn his waist, as you do for transformation, expect it to just pop off.  It might be the most useless bit in the whole kit...

Especially when you consider that DNA rightly understood that a lot of us don't want to pull arms off to plug in weapons.  And DNA included this bit for that reason...  slide it up through the hollow that normally goes under Prime's elbow.  There's a peg on it that you can fit into the peg hole where Prime's arm would plug in.

Basically, we added a 5mm port to Prime's gun so that he can just hold it in his hand... kind of.  The peg is hinged (for alt mode), and the his forearms are so big that they push against the bottom of the gun.  That gives the gun a sort of permanent droop.  It makes me wonder why DNA didn't just replace the gun entirely...

...especially since that's exactly what they did for his axe.  DNA's axe works pretty similarly to Hasbro's... the long shaft comes apart so you can slide it through Prime's fist before putting it back together, and the blade can go from a single edge to a double edge.  The spike at the top is pointier and the translucent plastic looks a bit more like an energon glow than the sandy paint on the official, sure, but I didn't really have a problem with the official in the first place.

With these sorts of kits we have to consider how they affect the alt mode.  And, for the most part, they don't here.  The filler pieces are, for the most part, not visible, and they don't interfere with any of the alt mode bits close and folding into place.  I do have to note that they add a few steps to the transformation, though.  To start, we have to rotate the wheel parts on the posts we used to attach them, fold the hinges away from the shoulders, and rotate the wheels 90 degrees so they look like they do on the left.  Then they'll just kind of chill on the underside of the alt mode.

The other thing is the new heel pieces.  They unfold and then refold on their hinges to cover up the gap on Prime's rear and adding some nice game-accurate metallic red details.  This, right here, is why I bought this kit.  It's attempting to fix my single biggest issue with the figure.

BTW, the 5mm peg handle we added to the rifle folds up so that the rifle can sit on top of Prime just as it normally does.  And with the DNA axe in double-edged mode, you'll find a gap between the blades on one side that fits over a tab that was already on Prime's gun, allowing him to carry his weapons in alt mode as he normally does.  (You can also see, above the exhaust pipe, how the toe filler looks in alt mode).

I can't help but feel a bit frustrated by this kit.  On the one hand, most of the filler bits work pretty well... especially the filler I didn't really care about in the first place.  But when it comes to the stuff I did care about, the gap in the rear of the vehicle and the lack of a weapon that he can simply hold in his hand, that's where DNA dropped the ball.  Adding a handle to the original gun that he can only hold at a droopy angle doesn't work as well as simply replacing the gun would have.  And while they did include some nice-looking filler for the rear of the vehicle it's practically impossible to keep them attached.  So I'll put it this way... if you were more bothered by his thin shoulder wheels and the hollows on the sides of his legs, thigh, and under his toes than this is probably a good kit for you.  If you don't mind gluing the heel parts in permanently, then I'd recommend this kit as it fixes the worst problem with the alt mode.  But if you're adverse to permanently modding a figure then their inability to stay put makes them too impractical a solution for me to recommend, and if you were looking for a better gun solution you'll have to look elsewhere.

[mikeszekely]

Addendum to my previous post:

I realized, belatedly, that I missed a part.  Actually, I was aware of it.  It's a gray part that looks like the ridged bit that connects the head of the axe to the shaft- you can see it between the red and blue parts in the lower middle of the first pic in the review  All day yesterday when I was messing with the figure I couldn't figure out why DNA included it, and the instructions don't mention it.  I wrote it off as maybe an extra part for the shaft or something.  But after writing the review I was thinking about the weapons came right out of their arms in the game, and how Hasbro included it for the guns but not the melee weapons, and then it hit me.

Pull the bottom of the axe's shaft off, and replace it with the part I missed.  Now you've got a shorter shaft that ends in a 5mm port that you can plug into the peg on Prime's arm- just like in the game.  It does make that little gray part that at first seemed superfluous actually pretty cool... but it ultimately doesn't change my review.  The fillers are still mostly good but not super necessary.  The gray part works as well on the stock axe as it does on DNA's own, so I still would have preferred that DNA replace Prime's gun than his axe.  And the parts that I really wanted from this kit the most are still the most frustrating parts of the kit.  Here's hoping the next kit I look at is a bit better.

[mikeszekely]

After DK-43 comes DK-44, so... here's DK-44, the DNA upgrade kit for Studio Series Rise of the Beasts Optimus Prime.

I mentioned yesterday that the kit for Gamer Edition Optimus was mostly filler parts not replacement parts, and that was unusual for DNA.  Well, we're back to form with this kit.  Nothing is filler, really, and we're going to need our screwdrivers for this.  But before we go replacing parts, let's take a look at some of the stuff we don't need a screwdriver for.

Up first we have new swords and axes.  They're pretty close in design to the sword that came with Prime and the axe that came with Primal, but they have a nice coat of gunmetal paint with exposed translucent orange edges.  You also get two of each.  They don't feel super necessary, but they're nice to have if you wanted Prime dual-wielding, especially if you skipped Primal but still wanted Prime to have an axe (or two).  One thing to note, all four weapons don't have tabs.  Rather, they have a hole, and there are two long tabs that are separate pieces that can be used with either an axe or a sword.

The new weapons work pretty much exactly like the old ones.  Prime can hold the swords in his hands or use the small pegs on the bottoms to plug into his wrists.  The axes are only slightly different in that they have pommels on the bottom, and you have to remove them to slide the handle into Prime's hands.  The tabs that hold the pommels on aren't the same shape as the peg on the bottom of the Hasbro axe, so the DNA axes do not peg into Prime's wrists.  Using the included tab you can store the DNA weapons on Prime's back, either separately or by running the tab through the hole on two weapons at a time.

The replacement guns are a major upgrade over the dinky original (which was so small that I can't even find it right now).  Where the original was just the barrel and plugged into a peg on Prime's wrist, the DNA guns are molded more-accurately and cover over Prime's whole forearm.  They're not without faults, though.  If you looked carefully you might notice that they're not mirrored, there isn't a dedicated left arm cannon and right arm cannon.  There's simply two of the same cannon.  There are differences on the sides, and it really looks like it was designed for his right arm.  That said, I looked at the cannons for the ThreeZero DLX figure, and they're more symmetric.  Ultimately I think the DNA cannons are passable enough on either arm and you're unlikely to really notice unless he's dual wielding and you're really paying attention.  And the included blast effect parts fit into the barrels, although their small relative size and blue color makes it look like he's wearing squirt guns.

Like the melee weapons, the DNA cannon can be stored on Prime's back using a peg on the underside.  The thing is, even though Prime's back has two holes it can fit it the cannons are too big and the holes too close together for both cannons to fit on Prime's back at a time.

Alright, now it's time for surgery.  Begin by taking the flaps with the Autobot insignias and pulling them off Prime's shoulders.  Set them aside, you'll need them later.  Turn him over, remove the pair of screws on the back of the shoulders, and carefully pry them apart.

You're going to separate the arm into four parts- the front of the shoulder with the smokestack still attached, the back of the shoulder, the gray trapezoid, and the rest of the arm.  Keep the trapezoid and the rest of the arm, but you can ditch the front and back of the shoulder.

Open the DNA shoulders by removing the pair of screws on the back.  You'll find this red part in the front half; take it out and fit it onto the mushroom peg sticking out of Prime's torso as shown.

Now, you can fit the front half of the shoulder back over the red part.  Take Prime's arm and the gray trapezoid and fit it into the back half of the shoulder, then fit the two halves of the shoulder together and replace the screws.  Be sure to make sure the screws are nice and tight.  Take the flap with the Autobot insignia from the original shoulder and snap it into place on the front of the new shoulder.

Let's take a moment to figure out what we've accomplished here.  For starters, the new shoulders have painted smokestacks with rotating tips, so they can angle backwards like they do in the movie (although the rotation is a bit loose).  More importantly, though, we added a joint.  This gives Prime's shoulder lateral movement outside of the rotation, where the originals only had lateral movement inside of the rotation.  In other words, with the DNA shoulders Prime can now raise and spread his arms at the same time, addressing one of my biggest complaints with the figure.  DNA's red plastic is an excellent match for Hasbro's, and you'll notice that they used red plastic for the part on top of Prime's shoulder instead of gray, which is actually more movie accurate.

Moving down to the legs, lift Prime's shins so you have access to the blue calf parts.  Yank them off the pegs, and replace them with the DNA parts.

The immediate robot mode-benefit of doing this is pretty simple.  We replaced the stock tab and slot that hold his legs together for alt mode, because the original ones stuck out pretty far from the insides of his legs.  DNA's parts have hinges, allowing them to fold flat into the legs.  It's a minor aesthetic upgrade, and it does come at the cost of making his calves flat and taking away that more organic (and movie accurate) curve.  There's a reason for that, though, that we'll get to in a minute.

One last thing to replace here.  Pop his stock feet off the ball joints, and replace them with the feet in the kit.  The immediate benefit here is that instead of being a single solid part there are a pair of hinges in the DNA feet, allowing Prime to bend his toes up and down.  But there's an alt-mode reason for doing this.  It's probably worth noting here that unlike the GE Prime kit, this time the blue plastic is an excellent match for the stock plastic.

About that alt mode... from the front there's not a lot of difference.  The DNA shoulders transform basically the same as the stock ones.  The only differences is that you can swivel the tips of the smokestacks so that they're still correctly angled backward.  Plus, the red tops make for red roof.  Too bad we still have the stock gray flap Prime's head is on, eh?  The big difference is in the back.   Instead of folding Prime's shins up and leaving a huge honking mess stuffed against the back of the cab, DNA asks, "what if we just folded up his feet, like most other Prime toys?"  And so we tab his legs together using the new fold out tab and slot, we spin his feet around 180 degrees, and we use the double hinges to fold his toes flat against his heels.  And... yeah, the back of the truck is super obviously robot legs that don't look like the actual back of a truck... just like almost every other Optimus.  And it still looks a lot better than stock alt mode.  But this is also why the new calf parts are flat.  The stock ones spun around, but without moving Prime's shins there's no room for the DNA parts to rotate.  So they need to be flat to give him the clearance to still roll.

Now, you could simply stop there.  It's a bit gappy, but again no worse than the original.  But DNA did include a pair of these parts, which provide a few uses.  We can attach them by using the smaller inner slots and sticking them onto the tabs on Prime's shins.  Right away, it secures his legs a bit tighter and fills in the gap between his shins a bit.  But there's more!

This part provides storage for the DNA weapons in alt mode, using the tabs through a pair of weapons into the larger slots, and the peg on the cannon into the 5mm port closer to the cab.  The instructions even suggest that you can plug one cannon into the other, but I can't figure out how to do it securely.  But the fun doesn't stop there!

The other 5mm port on the blue part allows you to connect Prime to a trailer!  This is a feature that Earthrise, Volvo, Laser, and previous Studio Series Primes (including Bumblebee Optimus) had, but was sorely lacking from this figure as he came stock.  While you're technically free to use the Earthrise trailer, Laser Optimus' trailer, or Studio Series Dark of the Moon Prime's trailer, I'd argue he looks the most correct with an Earthrise trailer.  Besides, if you use the Earthrise trailer the use for the spare blue part comes into play.  You can attach it to a peg inside the trailer, allowing his new DNA weapons to ride inside.  With the upcoming Studio Series 86 Optimus potentially replacing Earthrise for a lot of people this could leave the old Earthrise trailer free to be reclaimed by ROTB Optimus anyway.

I guess there's one last part in the kit, but it's almost not worth mentioning.  There's a slug figure of Noah Diaz.  Sure, it's got more accurate proportions and better scale than the Studio Series Core-class figure, but it has zero articulation.  He's permanently stuck in the three-point Iron Man pose.  And for what?  You can stick one of the included effect parts into his back.  he can sort of ride on the back of Prime like that, but he doesn't actually lock into place anywhere.  Frankly, he's a waist of plastic.

I wouldn't say that this kit is perfect... like I said, Noah's a waste of plastic.  It'd have been nice if Prime's cannons were mirrored instead of duplicated.  Or, maybe just include one blaster, one axe, and one sword.  Ditch the blast effects.  Because this kit actually runs a bit more than the figure it upgrades.

That said, I'd highly recommend this kit anyway.  It addresses as best as could be the three main complaints I had with this figure.  The shoulders fix Prime's lateral articulation.  By moving the transformation from the shins to the feet they've cleaned up the absolute mess that was the stock alt mode.  And they made the figure compatible with trailers.  The fact that they also included a much better cannon, melee weapons with minor improvements (included an axe you had to buy a whole different figure to get stock), added toe articulation, and cleaned up the inner legs a bit is all icing on an already excellent cake.  Without the kit, ROTB Optimus was a good but seriously flawed figure.  With the kit, he's probably the best live-action movie Optimus Prime that Hasbro's released.

[mikeszekely]

OK, last kit for now.  We're skipping DK-45, a kit for Legacy Armada Prime that IMHO makes the figure worse, and sticking with Rise of the Beasts.  This kit is DK-46, the DNA upgrade for Studio Series Scourge.

We've got quite a few parts here, and right away we can see what looks to be new arms.  So, yeah, hopefully you didn't put your screwdrivers away after installing the kit on Prime yesterday.  And we're just going to have to get right into it.

We'll begin by popping Scourge's head off the ball joint, pulling his backpack away from his body, and undoing these two screws.  Once they're out, you can slide his chest and wheels (really, most of his upper body) out and off.

If you swing the wheels out and you look at the chunk of torso you just removed you'll find one wheel connected directly to the chest, and that wheel has Scourge's collar on the other end on a post where the screw went through.  On the post for the other screw is the other wheel.  You need to remove that wheel, then remove the collar from the wheel that's attached to the chest.  Keep the wheels and chest, but you can ditch the collar (along with Scourge's original head).

Find the DNA replacement collar.  It has these spikey-looking rib bits.  Attach the lone wheel to the post, then fold it under the collar while spinning the ribs so that they're outside the wheel.  Note that the ribs rotate on sliders, so you can slide them out to get the clearance you need to get them over and around the wheel.  Once that's done, do the same for the wheel with the chest.  When you're done, it should look like the third picture.

Slide the chest piece back into place and replace the screws.  Pop the DNA head onto the ball joint.  Then you can put the mask onto the face.

Online, people have complained about DNA's head sculpt.  I get where they're coming from... but I don't think the original was particularly good in the first place.  Really, I don't think Scourge looks too bad with the complete DNA head, but the gimmick with it is that the mask is removable, like the end of the film.  And the face under the mask is a bit derpy.  But hey, the neck is more solid.  I do like that.

Moving along, next up we can replace Scourge's right arm.  Begin by removing the two screws on the inside of his forearm.  Pry the inside off, then slid the outside out of the elbow joint.  Replace it with the DNA arm, being sure to encapsulate the DNA hand as you do so, then replace the screws.

As for the left arm, well, you'll recall that it's actually pegged in and meant to be removed so you can plug his blaster in.  So replacing the stock left arm is as easy as pulling it off and plugging the DNA arm in instead.

Speaking of his blaster, DNA included a butt for Scourge.  You simply plug it into the slot and stand hole on his stock butt.  There's a notch in the DNA butt, and you can use the tabs on the blaster to store it on the DNA butt.

We're not just going to beef up Scourge's butt, though.  There are these pieces that attach to the outsides of his thighs by plugging them into the cutouts where the mushroom swivels peak through, just under the ports.

There are also parts that plug into the hollows on the insides of his thighs- one has a single big rectangular tab, the other has two smaller trapezoidal tabs, and that'll help you keep track of which goes into which thigh.  While they do fill the hollows and bulk out the inside a bit, they wrap around the front of the thigh.  I'll note that, on my copy at least, the filler for the left thigh is fine, but the one for the right keeps popping out.  Fortunately, it's the only part that pops off.

Which reminds me, we have one more part for Scourge's legs.  This part attaches to the tabs on his shins, bulking them up an bit and adding some ankle armor.

There's one other part that I didn't include in my first photograph, because it's so small I actually didn't notice it at first and when I realized it was supposed to be there it took me a hot minute to actually find it.  It's this little gray thing.  It fits (a bit loosely) into the wing joints on Studio Series Airazor, and I think it's supposed to be the thing that he shot at her to infect her.  Note the hole it the center; it can also fit onto a peg in the middle of the new claw hand.

And that just leaves the new arm blade.  Unlike the stock arm, this one isn't permanently attached.  It has a T-shaped peg that fits into a slot on the back of Scourges arm and then slides down to lock into place.  Well... I say lock, but I'm using the term loosely, pun intended.  I don't think it'll fall out, but there's plenty of wiggle.

So, why'd we do all that, aside from the already stated benefits of a giving Scourge a head with a removable mask and an arm blade that isn't permanently attached?  We've also added some filler to his sides and bulked up his butt and legs, which doesn't just make him seem less skinny it's actually more screen-accurate armor.  And while some metallic paint on the new parts might have been nice, as near as I can tell the more silvery color is also more accurate than the mostly-black of the stock parts.

Aside from aesthetics, Scourge gets a bit more articulation from the kit, too.  His right hand now has a wrist swivel, plus his thumb and each finger are now individually articulated as the base knuckles.  As for the left arm, the claws still open at the base, but they know have an additional hinge in the middle of each claw.  The claw can also swivel freely (and loosely)... I don't recall if that's because it spun around in the movie or not.  If you don't want it spinning so freely, there are two hooks at the base that can grab notches on his wrist to lock it into place.

Bot mode upgrades are only as good as they can still transform, so let's take a look at what's changed going into alt mode.  For starters, once you've untabbed the chest and moved the backpack out of the way, you'll need to swing his shoulders are far back as you can.  use the sliders on the new ribs to get them out of the way so you can work the wheels and chest out.  Once they're out, slide the ribs back to where they started.

The legs actually work pretty much exactly the same as before.  Spin the waist 180 degrees, then swivel at the thighs and pop the wheels out, tuck the feet in, and tab them together.  Everything still fits fin with the extra DNA parts on.  Really, the only extra thing here is to push the ankle armor down.

Continue transforming him like you normally would.  Just one thing to be aware of, if you want things to fit right, and that's that you should turn both of his arms at the bicep as you fold them in so that the front of his elbows and forearms are facing toward the outside.  Then it's just a matter of unfolding the backpack, settling into place, and tabbing the grill in.

Aesthetically, I don't feel like his truck mode was affected too much.  Sure, the rear where a trailer would hypothetically attach is much less flat, but arguably less messy.  And the extra armor back there kind of fits with the Mad Max vibes anyway.  However, we don't have a permanently attached arm blade stuffed into the gap between his legs now, and there's nowhere to tab in the unfolded (and messy, let's be honest) blaster.  So what are we going to do?

Well, it's not the most elegant solution, but for the blaster we don't unfold it at all.  Instead, we wedge it between his legs, with the barrel kind of jammed over his toes.  It's just friction; there's no tabs or anything securing it in place.  But, if I'm being honest, it's pretty secure there.

As for the arm blade, like the stock one it folds in half.  When you do, you'll notice that the hinge makes sort of a C-clip.  The clip grabs onto the base of Scourge's thumb, lying flat along the back of the truck (the instructions make it look like it's on it's edge, and I suppose it could be, if his hand were rotated 90 degrees, but there's reason to do it that way).

Ultimately, everything sits neat and tidy, or at least no messier than it was when it was stock.  The only thing worth mentioning is that the blaster wedged between his legs pushes his feet part just enough to create a little gap between them, but nothing severe.

All-in-all, this is a pretty good kit that's executed fairly well without much in the way of QC issues, and one that doesn't introduce new problems the way some overly-ambitious kits tend to.  It does improve Scourge aesthetically, I really like being able to remove the arm blade, and the added articulation in both the normal hand and the claw are most welcome.  That being said, if I were grading figures Scourge would have been maybe a B before, and this kit takes him to a B+, while at the same price DNA's kit for Optimus Prime to a C figure to an A... it just doesn't have the same impact.  So where Optimus' kit is practically a must-buy despite costing more than the base figure, and I do ultimately recommend Scourge's kit, I wouldn't say it's as necessary if you don't feel like dropping $45 on it.

[mikeszekely]

MMC is making an MP-style "G1" drift in their Infinity Finity line.  And his alt mode is the Toyota Sprinter from Initial D.

[Wolf-1]

They really should have picked a better scaled option to put Drift up against.  Taller in Bot mode and the exact same wheel base in Alt mode as a Lambo; G1 scaling strikes again.  Now I'm all excited for an official crossover, I know won't be happening anytime soon.

[anime52k8]

4 hours ago, Wolf-1 said:

They really should have picked a better scaled option to put Drift up against.  Taller in Bot mode and the exact same wheel base in Alt mode as a Lambo; G1 scaling strikes again.  Now I'm all excited for an official crossover, I know won't be happening anytime soon.

fun fact: The sprinter trueno has a wheelbase 2.5 inches shorter than a Countach but is 3 inches longer overall.

[mikeszekely]

1 minute ago, anime52k8 said:

fun fact: The sprinter trueno has a wheelbase 2.5 inches shorter than a Countach but is 3 inches longer overall.

I'm not surprised.  I've never seen a Sprinter Trueno in real life, but my friend had the generation of Corolla it was based on.  It's by no means a big car.  But I have seen a Countach's a couple of times, and they're smaller than you might think.

[Scyla]

15 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

MMC is making an MP-style "G1" drift in their Infinity Finity line.  And his alt mode is the Toyota Sprinter from Initial D.

I was looking forward to this one. But I'm taken aback by the disconnect between the 80s car alt-mode and the modern IDW robot-mode. 
Maybe it was faulty reasoning on my part but I would have expected and wanted a much more "G1" looking robot mode.

I don’t know for whom this is for. We already had an IDW Drift (futuristic alt-mode and all) from MMC in the Reformatted line. We have the Flame Toys stylized one and the transformable knockoff one.

So I'm confused. It seems like MMC's IF line is a continuation of Reformatted but at a larger scale without a consistent art style? 

[JB0]

Peg's back, baby!

[Wolf-1]

14 hours ago, anime52k8 said:

fun fact: The sprinter trueno has a wheelbase 2.5 inches shorter than a Countach but is 3 inches longer overall.

Wheel base is closer to 3" difference; don't know which Sprinter you're using for overall length but the longest version I could find was 162", which still fell short of the Countach's 163".  Citing Google.  

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

22 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

MMC is making an MP-style "G1" drift in their Infinity Finity line.  And his alt mode is the Toyota Sprinter from Initial D.

I still prefer Ronin and its bombastic alt mode, but it's hard to turn down a humble, transformable Trueno.

[mikeszekely]

6 hours ago, Scyla said:

I was looking forward to this one. But I'm taken aback by the disconnect between the 80s car alt-mode and the modern IDW robot-mode. 
Maybe it was faulty reasoning on my part but I would have expected and wanted a much more "G1" looking robot mode.

I don’t know for whom this is for. We already had an IDW Drift (futuristic alt-mode and all) from MMC in the Reformatted line. We have the Flame Toys stylized one and the transformable knockoff one.

So I'm confused. It seems like MMC's IF line is a continuation of Reformatted but at a larger scale without a consistent art style? 

I mean, the design isn't just consistent with the Cybertronian MTMTE IDW version that MMC was using as a base, or the Flame Toys one.  It's also consistent with Chris Ryall's original design that in turn informed the design of the Generations toy from whence dear Peg got his nickname.  In other words, it's just what Drift looks like.  I'm not sure what exactly you wanted for him to look more G1 in bot mode.  He's simply Drift, with the generic late '90s/early aughts tuner swapped out for a car that might have been available to the Japanese street racing scene in 1984.

[JB0]

Honestly, he looks pretty G1 to me. Monochrome enough to be unstickered G1, but still G1.

[Scyla]

On 4/3/2024 at 7:42 PM, mikeszekely said:

I mean, the design isn't just consistent with the Cybertronian MTMTE IDW version that MMC was using as a base, or the Flame Toys one.  It's also consistent with Chris Ryall's original design that in turn informed the design of the Generations toy from whence dear Peg got his nickname.  In other words, it's just what Drift looks like.  I'm not sure what exactly you wanted for him to look more G1 in bot mode.  He's simply Drift, with the generic late '90s/early aughts tuner swapped out for a car that might have been available to the Japanese street racing scene in 1984.

So for me the he looks like his alt mode would fit right into an G1 MP carbot collection. However his robot mode doesn’t.

For me the G1 design for the car bots are: 

1. Simplified detail with regards to greebles and sculpt (since the toys and the cartoon were less sophisticated)

2. Chunky limb proportions, especially in the legs.

3. Large parts of the alt-mode making up sections of the robot-mode (like chests for Jazz or the legs for Prowl).

Yes, Drift looks like Drift but I would preferred something more in line with the MP Autobot lineup.

For example, the chest could be the hood of the car, the shape of the legs would be more simplified or the feet could be integrated into the lower legs.

I‘m not criticizing MMC on that since it might have been a case of wrong expectation management on my side.

When they announced an IF Drift this was not the robot mode I had in mind. 

[JB0]

5 hours ago, Scyla said:

1. Simplified detail with regards to greebles and sculpt (since the toys and the cartoon were less sophisticated)

Sticker detail. The original toys had a crapton of random greebles represented as stickers.

 

 

[shazam]

 

[mikeszekely]

Well, it certainly matches the aesthetic of the first three.  Which, frankly, weren't that great, and I already sold off.

[shazam]

30 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Well, it certainly matches the aesthetic of the first three.  Which, frankly, weren't that great, and I already sold off.

To each is their own. I think most fans that have already bought into these toys would want to continue so they have the completed range of figures. 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

2 hours ago, shazam said:

 

It's been so long since this set was started that I forgot who is left.  Fireflight and Slingshot, right?  I'm hoping their Blitzwing will be released before the next eclipse.

[M'Kyuun]

Just got these guys in this week. They are New Age's Rhedosaurus (Sludge), Freyr (Swoop), Herbie (Bumblebee), and Vanishing Point (Cliffjumper).

These guys are tiny. a few reference pics. First a LEGO minifig for scale.

Here they are with New Age's takes on fellow Minibots Powerglide and Cosmos.

Sorry for the blurry pic. Here they are with G1 Huffer, the only OG Minibot I own.

With Iron Factory's takes on a blue Cliffjumper repaint and their take on Huffer.

Here  are Rhedosaurus and Freyr with New Age's take on Grimlock. I also wanted Freyr (Swoop) in G1 toy colors except with a blue chest, but they only make a toy version with a red chest. So the blue version unfortunately has the toon coloration instead of the shiny paints and tampo. I love how that blue looks though. NA's Sludge stays true to the G1 toy's shaping and placement of the robot chest in sauropod mode, two areas where the Has/Tak SS86 deviated much to my disappointment. This take on Sludge is nigh perfect. Like the SS86, there are dino-specific front legs, which store in the bot's torso, used effectively. The sauropodian neck has two swivel joints built into it allowing for several degrees of motion omnidirectionally, the head can look up nearly 90 degrees, and the mouth can open about 30 degrees. The tail has three swivel joints allowing for some expressive left and right swishing. Bot mode has all the standard pose ability, including ankle rockers. He also has double jointed elbows for 180 degrees of bend, single jointed knees that extend well past 90. Paint and tampo are crisply applied and look amazing. Being partial to Sludge, the only Dinobot I owned as a kid, I love this figure.

 

Freyr is no slump, either.  As well as sporting an excellent range of articulation throughout in bot mode, his transformation skews towards the G1 toy where the arms collapse on themselves, the chest collapses upwards and inwards, and then the arms further collapse inwards giving his ptero mode a slimmer body. he's still somewhat brickish , but it's not as bad as it could be if all those things didn't collapse to thin him out a bit. Overall, he looks great in both modes, and again, I'm glad I got him. New age is killing it with their Dinobots and I'm excited to get their takes on Slag and Snarl when they release.

[mikeszekely]

19 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

These guys are tiny

Speaking of tiny, I picked up Dr. Wu's Microscope, a Micromaster-sized Perceptor from their Extreme Warfare line.

I don't have a Lego minifigure to compare with.  I don't have a ton of Legends-sized guys, either... but I do have Studio Series 86 and Titans Return Perceptor, and he's about knee-high to those guys.  Kind of hard to make out the details, though...

So here he is with the "Child's Play" miniature Perceptor that came with X-Transbots' MP-style offering.  Microscope is much more solidly built and can even transform, despite being roughly half again tall, but you start to notice that, proportionally, Microscope is on the chunkier side.  I wonder if this isn't a necessity of the size, like you can only make a ball joint so small and only make the plastic around the socket so thin before it's a horrible floppy mess that feels like you're going to break it if you sneeze too hard.  Because that's how the XTB figure feels, but Microscope is a more robust figure that you can certainly play with.

Aside from being a bit chunky, Microscope seems to take a lot of design cues from the Studio Series figure.  On the one hand, that's good!  The SS86 figure was trying very hard to look like the '86 movie, so Microscope is very G1 Sunbow accurate.  He just needs a little silver on the end of his scope, and a little red faux hinge on his waist.  On the other hand, they really copied the Studio Series figure.  Same hollow edges on the insides of the forearms, same molded but unpainted treads on the inside of the legs, same hollow back.  Both even have a tab on the side opposite the scope, only it's more obvious on Microscope due to it being black and relatively thicker.

Microscope doesn't come with any accessories, so we'll jump right to articulation.  Head's on a swivel, no tilt.  His shoulders are ball joints that can rotate 360 degrees and move laterally 90.  His elbows are hinges that bend 90 degrees.  Normally, I prefer hinges to ball joints, but on a figure this small what it really means is that he's got no bicep swivels.  Nor does he have any wrist swivels.  His waist can swivel, though.  Hips are ball joints that can go slightly over 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally.  Technically his legs can swivel a little around the ball joint, so he can turn his feet out a bit, but he lacks a more dynamic dedicated thigh swivel.  His knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His toes can tilt down 90 degrees, up very slightly, and his ankle can pivot 90 degrees.

Transformation is basically identical to the Studio Series toy.  Turn his head, tuck it into his back.  Fold his hands in, rotate his shoulders, then double hinge them down and into his sides.  The scope hinges over, and the tab on the other side folds up to lock into it.  He sits down, spreads his legs, then a transformation joint folds them forward again.  Finish it off by bending down the toes and opening the chest.

The simple engineering gives him a sort of unfinished look.  There's no mirror under the slide tray.  The dials on his arms don't turn.  Nothing actually locks his legs into place.  Thing is, this is all true of the Studio Series toy, too.  It's a lot easier to forgive, though, when the figure is like a quarter the size.

And no, Dr. Wu didn't forget about the tank mode.  Microscope lacks the extra toy-style treads that the Titans Return figure had, but there are extra hinges for tank mode, and pegs on his legs that lock into ports on his shoulders that hold everything together nice and tidy.  In other words, it feels like less of an afterthought than it does on the SS86 toy.

I guess I don't have a lot to say that I haven't already said about Dr. Wu's Extreme Warfare figures.  The engineering isn't mind-blowing, and the lack of accessories is kind of a bummer, sure.  On the other hand, they're usually better painted and engineered than Hasbro's Core-class figures, and they're half the size, which makes them even better options for displaying with Titans.  And they're cheap by 3P standards, usually running around $30 for two figures (I actually got a pair of two-packs for $44).  That puts the in impulse buy territory for me.  So I recommend Microscope.  Like the other Extreme Warfare figures he's a fun, tiny figure well worth the asking price.  Just know that to get him, you'll wind up with another figure...

[M'Kyuun]

25 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Speaking of tiny, I picked up Dr. Wu's Microscope, a Micromaster-sized Perceptor from their Extreme Warfare line.

I don't have a Lego minifigure to compare with.  I don't have a ton of Legends-sized guys, either... but I do have Studio Series 86 and Titans Return Perceptor, and he's about knee-high to those guys.  Kind of hard to make out the details, though...

So here he is with the "Child's Play" miniature Perceptor that came with X-Transbots' MP-style offering.  Microscope is much more solidly built and can even transform, despite being roughly half again tall, but you start to notice that, proportionally, Microscope is on the chunkier side.  I wonder if this isn't a necessity of the size, like you can only make a ball joint so small and only make the plastic around the socket so thin before it's a horrible floppy mess that feels like you're going to break it if you sneeze too hard.  Because that's how the XTB figure feels, but Microscope is a more robust figure that you can certainly play with.

Aside from being a bit chunky, Microscope seems to take a lot of design cues from the Studio Series figure.  On the one hand, that's good!  The SS86 figure was trying very hard to look like the '86 movie, so Microscope is very G1 Sunbow accurate.  He just needs a little silver on the end of his scope, and a little red faux hinge on his waist.  On the other hand, they really copied the Studio Series figure.  Same hollow edges on the insides of the forearms, same molded but unpainted treads on the inside of the legs, same hollow back.  Both even have a tab on the side opposite the scope, only it's more obvious on Microscope due to it being black and relatively thicker.

Microscope doesn't come with any accessories, so we'll jump right to articulation.  Head's on a swivel, no tilt.  His shoulders are ball joints that can rotate 360 degrees and move laterally 90.  His elbows are hinges that bend 90 degrees.  Normally, I prefer hinges to ball joints, but on a figure this small what it really means is that he's got no bicep swivels.  Nor does he have any wrist swivels.  His waist can swivel, though.  Hips are ball joints that can go slightly over 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally.  Technically his legs can swivel a little around the ball joint, so he can turn his feet out a bit, but he lacks a more dynamic dedicated thigh swivel.  His knees bend a little over 90 degrees.  His toes can tilt down 90 degrees, up very slightly, and his ankle can pivot 90 degrees.

Transformation is basically identical to the Studio Series toy.  Turn his head, tuck it into his back.  Fold his hands in, rotate his shoulders, then double hinge them down and into his sides.  The scope hinges over, and the tab on the other side folds up to lock into it.  He sits down, spreads his legs, then a transformation joint folds them forward again.  Finish it off by bending down the toes and opening the chest.

The simple engineering gives him a sort of unfinished look.  There's no mirror under the slide tray.  The dials on his arms don't turn.  Nothing actually locks his legs into place.  Thing is, this is all true of the Studio Series toy, too.  It's a lot easier to forgive, though, when the figure is like a quarter the size.

And no, Dr. Wu didn't forget about the tank mode.  Microscope lacks the extra toy-style treads that the Titans Return figure had, but there are extra hinges for tank mode, and pegs on his legs that lock into ports on his shoulders that hold everything together nice and tidy.  In other words, it feels like less of an afterthought than it does on the SS86 toy.

I guess I don't have a lot to say that I haven't already said about Dr. Wu's Extreme Warfare figures.  The engineering isn't mind-blowing, and the lack of accessories is kind of a bummer, sure.  On the other hand, they're usually better painted and engineered than Hasbro's Core-class figures, and they're half the size, which makes them even better options for displaying with Titans.  And they're cheap by 3P standards, usually running around $30 for two figures (I actually got a pair of two-packs for $44).  That puts the in impulse buy territory for me.  So I recommend Microscope.  Like the other Extreme Warfare figures he's a fun, tiny figure well worth the asking price.  Just know that to get him, you'll wind up with another figure...

I've been collecting Dr Wu's cassette bots, and I've been pretty impressed all around with the majority of them. As you say, despite their diminutive sizes, they're robust enough to be played with and they generally capture their subjects very well. The only non-cassette Wu fig I own is their take on Arcee. I chose Wu's over NewAge's, as I felt both the backpack and alt modes were better executed. However, I'm more into the cassettes, which are all done in Hasbro's new smaller-than-RW micro-cassette scale so they fit in with current figures only better engineered with superior articulation. Thus far, he's been concentrating on the cassette combiners which Hasbro seems unlikely to do, but eventually, I hope he'll move on to the regular cassettes like Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, etc. Ravage is my all-time fave of the cassettes, and I'd love to see Wu's take- I'm not expecting MMC levels of engineering, but if he could approximate what Keith did with his excellent takes on Ramhorn and Steeljaw recently, albeit at regular micro-cassette scale, that would be remarkable as I seriously doubt that Tak/Has will ever come close. I know Hasbro's planning a Steeljaw later this year, but again, after owning the travesty that is Ravage, I have little faith that it'll anywhere approach good let alone mere mediocrity. Dr Wu seems to be our only hope of decent Cassettes at the current scale. Have money, want cassettes.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I've been collecting Dr Wu's cassette bots, and I've been pretty impressed all around with the majority of them.

Oh, that reminds me.  I only ever bought Dr. Wu's version of Squawkbox.  I skipped the drones (which seemed kind of cool, but I wasn't feeling the need for original designs), but I still need Dr. Wu's version of Slamdance.

EDIT: Found and ordered from TFSafari.

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I hope he'll move on to the regular cassettes like Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, etc.

I'm not against it, but I'd rather he start with Slugfest and Overkill, since we don't have any version of them yet.  And depending on how much of his resources the cassettes take, I'd kind of rather he keep working on the Extreme Warfare line.  He teased a Megatron and a Wheeljack awhile back, and frankly, I'm in for the entire Sunbow cast.

Edited April 19 by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Oh, that reminds me.  I only ever bought Dr. Wu's version of Squawkbox.  I skipped the drones (which seemed kind of cool, but I wasn't feeling the need for original designs), but I still need Dr. Wu's version of Slamdance.

EDIT: Found and ordered from TFSafari.

I'm not against it, but I'd rather he start with Slugfest and Overkill, since we don't have any version of them yet.  And depending on how much of his resources the cassettes take, I'd kind of rather he keep working on the Extreme Warfare line.  He teased a Megatron and a Wheeljack awhile back, and frankly, I'm in for the entire Sunbow cast.

Although I have a soft spot for Beastbox (love that little pink gorilla- still have my G1 set, and love Wu's update), compared to his Squawkbox, IMHO Wu's take on SlamDance translated into a more cohesive toy except for the precarious weapon attachments which could have greatly benefitted from stronger tabs. Be careful with them, as they're very small and their attachment is tenuous at best. That bit of frustration notwithstanding, I hope you enjoy them. I wish Tak/Has were doing the cassettes at this level, but alas, not even close, except for Legacy Eject. Wu's figs still enjoy better articulation but Eject is the best official cassette thus far in the Legacy scale. Their new Rumble was so close, but the lack of elbows was pretty disappointing.  Like, c'mon man, just two more parts on the sprue could've given us ball jointed elbows, and that would've been awesome. I would have rather had elbows than the pile drivers.

As much as I love the cassettes, I own nary a single copy of Slugfest or Overkill, so a new Dr. Wu set is very much welcomed for my CHUG collection. I'd love to see Keith (KFC) do an updated version as well in the OG micro-cassette scale. If they were to turn out anywhere near as good as his recent Ramhorn and Steeljaw, fantastic! And of course, I'd love for MMC to do their takes as well for the MP scale. 

In case you weren't aware, this set is coming from Fans Toys: Robot Paradise RP-01C Buzzsaw, Overkill, Autoscout & Slugfest Set of 4 - Show.Z Store (showzstore.com)  

FT's cassettes are OG micro-cassette scale, and with this set, I'll finally have my first copies of Slugfest and Overkill. I wish they'd put Ratbat in there instead of the pointless Autoscout, but I guess they need to keep him tied to Acoustic Blaster so people will buy him. Hopefully, they'll eventually do just a solo release of Ratbat or a two-pack with him and another recolored cassette, probably the Autoscout just to get their money from the mold.🙄 Just to add my additional $.02, I have both KFC's and FT's recent OG micro-cassette scaled Ramhorn and Steeljaw and I think Keith's versions are far superior. At that scale, I don't know how he could've improved on them, especially Ramhorn; they're just so well done. If Keith can replicate that effort with the dino-cassettes, yes please.

I won't begrudge you Dr Wu's Extreme Warfare line, as it obviously has its fans or he wouldn't still be making more figs. Although initially I tried to resist falling down the legends rabbit hole, I've plunged, especially this month. I've spent a lot more than I should have filling the ranks with various figs from both MS and NA, especially NA's Dinobots (their Sludge and Swoop are excellent, their Grimlock not as good, but still ok IMHO- looks slightly undersized to me). However, I have holes in my cassette collection that I'd love to finally have filled in at least some capacity and, given how much quicker he's pumping these things out than anyone else currently, I'm hanging my hat on his continued production of these things. Moreover, he's making cassette teams that we'll otherwise not get if left solely up to Has/Tak, or really anyone else for that matter.

Case in point:  https://showzstore.com/drwu-mini-cassettes-impact-wave_p5895.html 

 I know, not the Slugfest/Overkill team we both want, but it is a Dino combiner cassette team. And yeah, I know that pterosaurs aren't technically dinosaurs, but for the sake of simplicity, I abuse the term. These guys are based on Graphy and Noise, of which I had no familiarity until Pulse had the G1 cassettes for sale awhile back. I passed, as they were pretty expensive, had G1 Frenzy (cartoon's Rumble) packed in as a third wheel to raise the price, and had even more lackluster articulation than most other G1 cassette bots. Guess my waiting for better paid off as Wu's versions are vast improvements, especially Noise's articulation and most certainly Decibel's. I'm looking forward to their and the FT 4-pack's releases to fill some voids in my collection, and I continue to hold out hope that Wu will eventually plumb the entire library of G1 cassettes to give us improved versions in Legacy scale. Versions of Dile and Zaur would be awesome next to Overkill and Slugfest- a nice little menagerie of dinosaur cassettes. Beyond that, if Wu wanted to really get adventurous, he could do updated versions of Micro-change Battle Bike and Jet-heli from the Microman line along with his own mini Microman figure. It's a stretch, but dreams are free. If you're reading this, Dr Wu, do all the TF cassettes first please, and thank you most kindly.

Cassette Machine Battle Bike HG90 (MC-08) (Microman, Microchange, VS/Unaffiliated) | Transformerland.com - Collector's Guide Toy Info  Cassette Machine Jet Heli XL120 (MC-09) (Microman, Microchange, VS/Unaffiliated) | Transformerland.com - Collector's Guide Toy Info

[mikeszekely]

17 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Just know that to get him, you'll wind up with another figure...

The figure you're also paying for when you buy Microscope is Grapple.  Which would be cool if it was that Grapple, but it's actually Hauler.

Hauler is, of course, a retool of Fire Ladder, his tiny Inferno.  There are some changes besides the color, of course.  Hauler's got a brand new head, and he trades the gun-hand accessory for a claw.

The retooling is a bit more evident in truck mode.  The hinges with the wings on Fire Trucks head are gone, as is the peg for the head gun.  His legs have been retooled, so they no longer have the hoses.  And, most obvious of all, the folding fire ladder has been replaced with an extending crane.  The hook on the crane is hinged, and the claw can fit on the end of the crane boom.

Now, say you actually wanted the Transformer Grapple, not Dr. Wu Grapple.  Well, that's a different set entirely!  For that, you need to buy Crane Hook.  Crane Hook is pretty much what you'd expect.  He's identical to Grapple, just with all the green replaced with yellowy-orange (or orangey-yellow).  Unfortunately, that means no gun-hand for Crane Hook, as he just comes with the same claw that Grapple does.

And who does Crane Hook come with, then?  That'd be Black Mirror, the Extreme Warfare version of Magnificus/Shattered Glass Perceptor.  And now we see what the play is here.  Rather than package the main characters together then package the repaints together, like he did with the Seekers and minibots, it seems like the good Doctor has figured that he'll sell more repaints if he packages a repaint character with the figure you really want, and then take the other character you really want and package it with the repaint of the first guy.  On the one hand, I can't totally blame him.  I mean, I 100% bought the pack that had Blaster and Skywarp, but I skipped the pack that was Sunstorm and Twincast.  If Dr Wu packaged Grapple and Perceptor and then put Hauler with Magnificus I probably would have bought one set instead of both.  On the other hand, as the consumer who was forced two buy two repaints to get the two characters I actually wanted, it's pretty annoying and I'm not happy to see that he'll be doing it again soon by packaging Wheeljack with Shattered Glass Inferno and Bulkhead with Slicer (and Exhaust with Artfire).

Well, enough mini ranting.  Black Mirror has a new head modeled after the Gen Selects Magnificus, which in turn was modeled after the masked head on Perceptor's G1 toy.  And for all my complaining, the figures don't get less good just because they're repaints, so while I might not have been inclined to pick up the Magnificus and Hauler colors, I'm still saying it's worth buying them to have regular Perceptor and Grapple.  Honestly, who am I to complain about repaints, anyway?

I mean, I've bought eight different versions of Dr. Wu's Optimus Prime now (and believe it or not, that's not actually all of them).  From left to right, that's Shattered Glass, Dead Optimus, Nemesis Prime, the original Optimus, Ultra Magnus (toy colors), Magna Convoy, one that that appears to be based on the "duck camo" atmos version of MP-10, and Toxitron.  I know for sure Dr. Wu has also done a battle-damaged Optimus, a "cartoon" Ultra Magnus based on the repaint of Classics Optimus, one based on the Evangelion MP-10, and a Golden Lagoon Optimus.  And if he really wanted to he could do the other two atmos versions of MP-10 ("Viotech" and "Elephant"), the Ghostbusters version of MP-10, the three BAPE decos of the G1 toy (red camo, green camo, and gray camo), and Shining Magnus.  I'm sure I'd buy some (or all) of them.

Anyway... most of the Prime Commander redecos come with the same AA-drone-lacking trailer, repair arms, and rifle that the original release did.  But they also come with Roller, who was originally sold separately as a pack with both the gray and blue versions, and the energon axe that came with Magnus.

Speaking of Magnus, you know since I already reviewed him that he comes with his rifle, missiles, and car-carrying trailer instead of a box trailer.  Magna Convoy has the same trailer and accessories as Ultra Magnus instead of the usual Dr. Wu trailer.

This is because, when you break apart the trailer and use it armor Magna Convoy up, you get Delta Magnus.  Unless you consider him to be Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus, although there's no skeletal alternate face inspired by the Botcon-exclusive retool of Reveal the Shield Optimus.

If you prefer the armored-up look and car-carrying trailer, you can also buy the trailer in colors meant for the Nemesis Prime and Shattered Glass figures.  They're not the best value, though, as they lack the cab figure but cost just as much.

Now, I've already recommended Prime and some version of Ultra Magnus, as they're great little figures.  And they're cheap enough that I can live out my dream of having Prime's cab in all the colors of the rainbow, which is why I keep buying them.  Am I actually recommending that you guys buy Prime in every color, though?  Of course not!  Just look at the pictures and pick the colors that you actually like.  In the mean time, I think I've got to start looking around for one of those Golden Lagoon versions...

[mikeszekely]

On 4/19/2024 at 2:01 AM, M'Kyuun said:

Case in point:  https://showzstore.com/drwu-mini-cassettes-impact-wave_p5895.html 

 I know, not the Slugfest/Overkill team we both want, but it is a Dino combiner cassette team.

I mean, I'm in for Decibel, but I guess you haven't seen this yet?

[shazam]