The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[David Hingtgen]

True, but without a brand/media tie-in there's no "emotional tie" to the characters. Few people would buy a 3rd-party "transforming robot" solely on appearance. (my biggest beef is "they don't turn into anything"----quasi-sci-fi-cybertronian alt-modes do absolutely nothing for me) Make a transforming 747, Ohio-class submarine, or Abrams tank, and I'll buy it in an instant even without being an actual "character". But a jet-like thing, a ship-like thing, and a tank-like thing that have no "existence" outside of their toy---I'll pass.

[chowyunskinny]

TFC Toys not Aerialbots:

Rest of the article here:

http://tformers.com/...17806/news.html

And countdown to David Hingten pointing out inaccuracies in 3...2...1...

Edited June 26, 2012 by David Hingtgen

[David Hingtgen]

Sorry, was away from home most of the day.

Honestly---I'll accept a lot for a triple-changing jet with a real alt-mode. Yeah, there's some bot kibble sticking out in all directions, but it's 100x better than the originals, and still 10x better than anything Hasbro has done the past few years. (cough, Leader Jetfire, Leader SS, Voyager SS)

Interestingly, it doesn't look like Eagle has the "classic" Aerialbot transformation. Phantom clearly does, but I'm just not seeing it from the jet mode nor the bot mode leg-close up of Eagle. (since the tailfins are still on the legs).

My main beef is currently twin Sparrow missiles on both. No plane has a twin-Sparrow launcher AFAIK. You can have Sparrows, and you can have twin-rail launchers, but you cannot have twin Sparrows. If they were simply replaced with AMRAAMs, all would be fine. (also, if weapons are swappable between them, I am so putting the JSOW's on Skydive, not Air Raid) Props for having the missiles mounted the right way though, with all 4 fins. MP Starscream fail.

::edit:: Ah, Phantom does have a TISEO pod---I suspected it might from the silhouette. But that's wrong for the type of F-4 it is. Only the F-4E can have TISEO. While I can't tell exactly what type of F-4 this is, it's *not" an F-4E. (the TISEO pod is that peg-looking thing sticking out from the leading of the wing, near the root)

PS---I edited the previous post to hopefully have a working pic. Let me know if anybody has a red x instead.

PPS to everybody planning on getting FoC Bruticus "because it's licensed, nyah"----enjoy your official Hasbro combiner.

[Uxi]

I'd pay good money for Galvatron done by anyone.

[CoryHolmes]

You know, that FoC Bruticus is growing on me. He seems more like a robot that's been cludged together from other robots, and not designed as a whole robot that's then broken down into smaller ones.

Not that I'm going to spend any money on him, mind...

[kanedaestes]

More images of the not ariel bots in robot mode are up. I like what I see so far but it sucks their transformations won't be that complex. That is more a fault of the original designs though.

[NeoverseOmega]

Those look pretty sweet in both modes - while I am a fan of complex transformations, in order to stay true to the original designs and pull of the limb modes I suspect these are about as complex as they need to be. They are certainly lightyears beyond the originals (there are some really nice touches in the transformations, the way the arms fold forward, unfold to become thinner and partially insert into the side to keep the planes reasonably streamlined is an elegant improvement over the 80's versions, and I suspect there are going to be some nice origami twists to the torso/head/cockpit assemblage, but at the very least there is going to be a lot of nice little robot details tucking away into the plane to bring it much closer to a believeable aircraft than Hasbro has been doing lately). Still wondering how they are going to handle Silverbolt - the concorde scares me a little, but how they've handled these two makes me fairly confident it will, again, be a huge improvement over the original.

These aren't exactly Valkyries, but considering the aerialbots were essentially plastic bricks with unfolding jet and robot parts on them a kamawori-esque transformation would end up with robots that look nothing like what they are trying to homage and probably wouldn't fit together into anything resembling super-ion.

I would love to see a valkyrie style assembler though! Heh, now theres a project for the big K with his legos . . . .

[Hikuro]

I dunno, I'm mostly just getting the FoC Bruticus as a completist. But otherwise the Fansproject upgrades make it more legit looking.

[s001]

I have that little guy on Prime's grill. Who or what is it?

[David Hingtgen]

You have a "Hi-Q", Powermaster Prime's powermaster.

Anyways---Not-Broadside!

And while they haven't unveiled the third mode, it's pretty clear he's got an aircraft carrier's flightdeck on his back/shoulders:

[anime52k8]

robot mode looks awesome, jet mode looks passable. hopefully the carrier mode looks good.

I still think the whole turning into an aircraft carrier AND a fighter jet is really stupid.

:edit:

The more I look at it, the more it looks like something out of Mospeada.

Edited June 30, 2012 by anime52k8

[David Hingtgen]

Based on the earlier concept silhouettes (which are NOT how the prototype turned out), the ship mode was rather SDF-1ish. But IMHO based on what we see now, the final version will probably be more "traditional nuclear carrier" in appearance.

[GMANIFESS]

About time Broadside gets some respect. He was a badass in the Wreckers comics.

And anything is an improvement over his G1 toy...

[M'Kyuun]

The more I look at it, the more it looks like something out of Mospeada.

I got an Alpha vibe from it, too. Usually I'm not too impressed with transforming jets in the TF world... I've been spoiled by Valkyries; however, the jet looks pretty good, and moreso considering it's a triple changer. That bot mode is lovely. The grey color of the proto works well...seems a shame to sully it with red. If they used dark red judiciously, combined with an overall light and dark grey paint scheme, it might look alright. I don't think bright red would be very complimentary.

Looking forward to seeing the carrier mode, and a final painted prototype.

[Sam]

Broadside looks pretty neat indeed! I'm keen to see his colours...!

I just got the maketoys giant and its just too much awesome it makes my eyes bleed, really fun to transform and pose, its a great g1 feel, and coupled with hegemon megatron and 2 of the insecticons I scored on sale, I've been loving the 3rd parties a lot more than anything official! (that will change when december hits and soundwave/sideswipe/red alert become available though hehe)

I did get that arcee motorbike which is a great tformer in itself, but did anyone get one of the g1eqsue arcees and find it good? It seemed none really nailed it quality wise...?

oh, and the superion jets.AWESOME MUST HAVES!

And the coloured pics of Igears Rachet just oozes fantasmiconess! I wish they would show off Ironhides final version pic as well!

end drooling session..

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I did get that arcee motorbike which is a great tformer in itself, but did anyone get one of the g1eqsue arcees and find it good? It seemed none really nailed it quality wise...?

The Arcee that Igear distributes is a great rendition of G1 Arcee. Very posable with a lot of femme poise, and the head sculpt nails her look IMHO. It's kind of a mess when you look at the underside of its alt mode and see exactly how everything folds up-very much like a garage kit, but it works.

And yes, the jets look awesome. I would buy Fireflight by itself just to have a cool looking transforming Phantom. I don't like how Air Raid's nose cone splits though. I'm wondering if its a gimmick to show off plane detail or just part of the transformation mechanism.

Edited June 30, 2012 by Valkyrie Hunter D

[David Hingtgen]

I'm thinking gimmick, but that's not really TFC's style AFAIK. Maybe it's needed for leg mode and we just don't know why yet? It's totally inaccurate to the real thing, both how it opens and what's inside. (MP-03 etc is quite correct)

[BeyondTheGrave]

Anyways---Not-Broadside!

It could be a pony.

[Sam]

The Arcee that Igear distributes is a great rendition of G1 Arcee. Very posable with a lot of femme poise, and the head sculpt nails her look IMHO. It's kind of a mess when you look at the underside of its alt mode and see exactly how everything folds up-very much like a garage kit, but it works.

ahh, that was one that i had seen that did seem nice looking, but didn't it have issues with floppyness or something ? As for the underside, I dont mind, its not like I'll have her posed 'post accident' on the side of the road or anything hehe.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

No floppiness with mine, but I do have a hard time standing her straight up due to her dainty feet. She does have a display stand inculded, and I have her in far more stable poses anyway, so her small feet isn't an issue.

Any Hardhead fans around? The guys who made Hegemon may be making a next-gen version: Toyworld. I'm actually more excited about their Throttlebot on the same page. Rollbar never looked so good.

[Twoducks]

Ok, now I know who Broadside is… the guy that squashed Devastator by dropping itself in aircraft carrier mode. Best use of altmode EVER.

Plane mode looks really meh but there is a pic from above that doesn’t look bad.

Anyways, wish some 3rd party would grow the pair to actually do Astrotrain or Blitzwing.

[David Hingtgen]

The Decepticons had better triple-changers. They had the best two (Astrotrain and Blitzwing) and their worst (Octane) is still loads better than any of the Autobot ones IMHO.

Half of why Blitzwing works as well as it does is because the MiG-25 is so dang boxy. He can *not* be updated to anything else.

Astrotrain would actually work better as a diesel loco, as then the wheels would be fewer, much smaller, and easy to hide. (Classics already went this route) Though he's already about the best type of steam loco possible for the same goal of "hiding the wheels"-----most steam locos would have larger, and more, wheels. It'd be really nice if he had a tender though. True, he's a ROCKET-POWERED steam loco, but he always did look weird with no tender behind him.

Hmmn, that could be nice-----have shuttle mode be "just the shuttle, and the loco itself" but the loco's tender could serve as the tender, and make up part of bot mode (maybe housing fists and head and weapons). This'd allow for awesome loco and bot modes, without compromising shuttle mode.

[Sam]

ah thanks, poor ol arcee and her dainty feet, its always an issue lol. but cool, I'll try and find one for a decent price then me thinks!

really like hegemon megs, the plastic seems like it could have been better quality, but both modes are fantastic and I would look forward to a Hardhead if one was made, and I keep looking for a pre order option for rollbar but non have popped up.

[David Hingtgen]

TFC posted a colorized pic of the prototype "Eagle"----but the colors frankly suck. It is not even certain if they're honestly planning this exact scheme or it they just posted a fan's concept. However, someone at TFW2005 (NECIO) did a MUCH better version, that needs to be spread among the fandom, so that TFC is aware of how much better it could look.

TFC's post:

The version from "NECIO":

[anime52k8]

hmm... The more saturated red on the fan version looks better, but other than that I prefer the TFC. Take what TFC is showing, darken up the red and ditch the pale blue accents and it'll be spot on for Air raid.

also, maybe this is just because it's an F-15 turning into a robot but I'm seeing a lot of the classics seeker mold in this thing.

[David Hingtgen]

The more I (and others) think about it, the more that has to be another fan's work, not TFC. Basically--it doesn't follow the mold. The lower leg/rear fuselage is one big chunk, split left/right. So it has to be black, if the jet is to be black. There's no way they'd mold it in white, then paint half of it black. (plus, paint apps cost money----NECIO's version is almost entirely "molded color differentiation" with just a few bits of actual paint---like the Hercules bots were)

Also, they painted in what is merely a shadow, not an actual area, on the shoulder.

[Twoducks]

The mini Shockwave sub included just made this an awesome purchase. Glad I picked it up.

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/3rd-party-unlicensed-41/knight-morpher-cyclops-released-and-new-pics-175395/

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I'm really considering getting this: G1 Bumblebee reshell. I've seen a couple of great looking customs just like it and I was going to do something similar. But getting this would just cut down a lot of work!

[Sam]

I'm really considering getting this: G1 Bumblebee reshell. I've seen a couple of great looking customs just like it and I was going to do something similar. But getting this would just cut down a lot of work!

damn.. thats cool! Now I want one LOL.

also nabbed one of those arcees on ebay, so I'm keenly looking forward to it getting here.

might have to nab that g1esque bb though, thats all kinds of win! Are those guys good to order from ie no probs on such a long time away preorder ?

[EXO]

Saw that reshell last week. I think it's awesome.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

might have to nab that g1esque bb though, thats all kinds of win! Are those guys good to order from ie no probs on such a long time away preorder ?

I've never ordered from them, but it seems to be the place to go for KOs for a lot of people. Me thinks I should wait for reviews first.

[Sam]

strangely its no longer on the site at all... I've paid... but its not listed... I wonder if I should be worried....?

[GMANIFESS]

OH DAMN... that's not a good sign.

[Sam]

no,.. no its not. I just emailed them, I'm hoping its a case of ' we sold out of all preorder slots, therefore removed it from purchasing' or something...

otherwise 'paypal, please cancel' is next on the agenda!

*fingers crossed*

[GMANIFESS]

Yeah, i'd probably cancel paypal anyway just incase. Keep us posted.

I was considering making an order from them. I see that over-sized WFC Prime is missing from the site too.