The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[slaginpit]

[dapro]

You need to get the orange cap off.

[technoblue]

Peaugh reviews Maketoys Cupola (not-Chromedome):

Highlights (for me)
+ Rubber tires

+ Paint apps
+ Posability
+ Clever transformation

Is anyone else looking forward to this one?

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I'd be all over it if I didn't already own Function X1. Definitely getting their Hardhead though.

[mikeszekely]

Cupola looks good, better than Function X1. But the only G1 Headmaster I owned was Brainstorm, I didn't see any of the Japanese Headmasters cartoon until I was an adult (and it was pretty bad), didn't read the old Marvel comics, and while I watched the American Season 4 miniseries numerous times, Chromedome never really stood out for me. I don't really have any strong attachment to a G1 Chromedome.

Now, I'm in love with IDW's More Than Meets the Eye series, and Chromedome's a major character there. Neither Function X1 nor Cupola really capture that Chromedome, though.

[Scyla]

Maybe MMC is willing to take a shot on IDW Chromedome. They are releasing an IDW Impactor so they are at least looking at other Autobot characters. However I would prefer more Decepticons.

[mikeszekely]

Maybe MMC is willing to take a shot on IDW Chromedome. They are releasing an IDW Impactor so they are at least looking at other Autobot characters. However I would prefer more Decepticons.

Decepticons are cool. But MTMTE has become my absolute favorite work of Transformers fiction ever, so I'll be partial to any toy, Hasbro or 3P, that captures the MTMTE look of any of the book's main characters.

[David Hingtgen]

I don't think I ever had an Autobot Headmaster. Decepticons are cooler, I've known that since I was 4. In my house we had:

Mindwipe

Skullcruncher (I think, not 100% sure)

Weirdwolf

Snapdragon

Apeface

Scorponok

See a pattern?

[technoblue]

Cupola will be my first headmaster. Ever. As a kid, targetmasters appealed to me more as "something" cool and different in the line-up. Headmasters were silly. A couple of other things ended up turning my attention away from transformers for a long while until college: the trauma of the 1986 movie (when it was ordained that most of the G1 crew needed to die to make room for other toys), and M.A.S.K. The latter of which did a very good job of satisfying my young desire to see people controlling transforming things.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Dang it, I was telling myself that if ToyWorld ever made a cartoon accurate redeco of their Astrotrain I would get one. It turns out they are making one, but it's going to be a TF Con exclusive. Booooo!

It looks like non-attendees can buy one too, but you have to get it from TF Source. I'm still weary of buying from them ever since their online security breach.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Valkyrie Hunter D

[slaginpit]

This guy weighs like a brick.
He is so awesome

[eriku]

^Nice! Looking forward to that guy, especially since their Makuros was so damn well done.

As for Cupola, I'd probably be more excited if I didn't have Code, who remains one of my favorite transforming toys of all time. Add to that the severely limited forward hip movement on Cupola and I think I'll just admire him from afar. It looks like a hell of a fantastic toy though, and I'll be looking forward to Hardhead and whatever else they do.

[Mechapilot77]

This guy weighs like a brick.

He is so awesome

DAMMIT! thats out already? got to pick one up. lunar the best place for that?

[eriku]

My FansToys Tesla (Perceptor) came in today. Highly recommended if you like Percy. Solid in both modes, tons of joints, very high quality overall. The dials on his arms and the feet are diecast metal. Just a nice, clean and no-nonsense rendition of the character. This is my first FansToys toy so I look forward to getting more from them in the future, probably Hound.

[Scyla]

My FansToys Tesla (Perceptor) came in today. Highly recommended if you like Percy. Solid in both modes, tons of joints, very high quality overall. The dials on his arms and the feet are diecast metal. Just a nice, clean and no-nonsense rendition of the character. This is my first FansToys toy so I look forward to getting more from them in the future, probably Hound.

I really want to like Tesla but I just can't. The toy feels so lackluster to me that I'm not able to bring myself to spend money for it. Maybe Make Toys will release one in their Remaster line.

On the other hand if some of the reviewers that have the toy get their videos out and I get a better look at it I might change my opinion.

Hopefully Kapow Toys sends out my Sever soon. I'm really looking forward for a giant robot Stegosaurus.

[eriku]

Yeah, a lot of people keep throwing around 'lackluster' and other 'ho hum' type comments at TFW but I guess I don't know what else a Masterpiece Perceptor needs to do that Tesla doesn't do. Considering the source material I don't think Tesla lacks any luster at all. It looks pretty much perfect to me in both modes, has an enjoyable transformation, is built really well and is highly poseable so that's all I need.

[Scyla]

After some consideration I came to the conclusion that my main problem is that the transformation is not obfuscating the Robot-Mode enough. It just looks too much robot in microscope mode to me.

The best comparison that I could came up with is MP-10 (and that is universally loved by TF fans right?). On MP-10 there are a few transformation steps that help to distance the robot-mode from the alt-mode. Stuff like the lower abdomen parts swinging around, the face grill, the panels that cover the wheels on the lower legs. The same the other way round. The swingable parts with the vent detail hide in alt-mode so that it doesn't look like Convoys legs, the flip out side view mirrors help to make it not look like a box on wheels and so on.

On Tesla all this is missing. The robot swings up his arms and sits down = lackluster.

In my opinion there could be a few steps to help my specific problem with Tesla. I listed a few on TFW. For example they could compress the lower abdomen so that the tray is on the same level as the legs. the arms could compress like in the line art so that the look more like cube than robot arms, there could be a sliding mechanism to slide the legs backward so that the torso sits in the middle of the microscope. They could have implemented a mechanism to hide the blue thighs so that it doesn't quite like a sitting robot. Or they could have a mounting armature for the microscope that flips up from the back so that it looks more like a piece of science equipment.

At first I thought this might be compromises so that Tesla could have a tank mode but it seems that isn't there either.

TL:DR Teslas transformation doesn't hide the robot mode enough for me.

[eriku]

Cool, hope you get what you want someday but I'm glad this one doesn't have any of those extra steps in the transformation.

I like how straightforward he is and the end result looks like Percy's alt mode to me so I'm content.

I do wish he had an official tank mode, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

[David Hingtgen]

Dang it, I was telling myself that if ToyWorld ever made a cartoon accurate redeco of their Astrotrain I would get one. It turns out they are making one, but it's going to be a TF Con exclusive. Booooo!

It looks like non-attendees can buy one too, but you have to get it from TF Source. I'm still weary of buying from them ever since their online security breach.

To me, that just shows they don't know their market. The colors a TON of people wanted/expected---as in, the one they spent their childhood watching on TV, the color they held in their hands playing with the toy---should have been the MAIN release, not the exclusive. This just makes me less likely to ever buy anything from ToyWorld.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Yup, I really want an Astrotrain, but I don't want to deal with TF Source and after a good long look, DX9's Chigurh wasn't ringing my bell (shuttle mode was too stumpy

Tesla is in my Pile o' Loot, and I think he will look splendid standing with MP Wheeljack. I just want to find a nice sniper rifle for him.

[Tking22]

So I officially pre-ordered my first third party Transformer, FansToys Willis/Hound, and I honestly can not wait. I was never terribly interested in Masterpeice Transformers, I always knew they were quality, and the fact that they are based on G1 was awesome too, but I just never got into them, until the last week when my pre-ordered MP-10 arrived, and now, unfortunately I've caught the bug. Literally an hour after my Takara Optimus arrived I also ordered Wheeljack, Sideswipe, Bumblebee and Prowl, all Takara versions, I just couldn't resist. Now I'm in the uncomfortable spot of needing more but I'm being held back by what Takara has made, I initially looked for a nice third party Ironhide, but Takara announced theres so all is well on that front, same with finding a Ratchet, we'll obviously get him too now that Ironhide is on the way, so I looked for Hound instead. From what I saw there are three current contenders for Hound, which is crazy, and more then I expected, FansToys stuff looks prenomenal though, while I'm not much for the Dinobots myself their renditions looks crazy, so I went with their Willis. Hound isn't releasing for awhile so I've got some wait time, I've also been eyeing Hova/Jazz by TNR, they've never made anything before though so I'm wary about locking one down.

[M'Kyuun]

My wife got Apollyon for me for my birthday. I'm looking forward to getting him.

RobotKingdom has him for $139, but they take their pound of flesh on the shipping. Ouch!

[Tking22]

Yeah I definitely eyed Apollyon, his second run seems to have released just as I started getting into Masterpiece stuff, but I'm just still not much for him personally. He looks okay, but the very mixed reviews and reports of all kinds of different little QC issues really put me off of him, especially for the price. My biggest objection against Apollyon however is the fact that there are so few Masterpiece Cons out there, since I just got into Masterpiece stuff I've noticed this rather quickly, I don't want Starscream and mutiple repainted jets in my collection, it would be Starscream, Soundwave, Apollyon, and ??? My collector OCD would continuously drive me to collect an even amount of bots for both sides, and that seems to not be an option due to the lack of Cons available. Where are all the Masterpiece car Cons? Where's Barricade or Breakdown? I'm sure there's some sweet third party stuff out there, but I've made the simple decision of sticking to Autobots only for my Masterpiece collection. Apollyon does look pretty great in robot mode though, and he's totally decked out with accessories and other little goodies, but I'm just not willing to pull the trigger, hopefully he brings joy to others that get him, and dread for the Bots he stands next to or across from...

[M'Kyuun]

Well, the way I look at it is: the issues with Apollyon don't outweigh the good. Moreover, it's an excellent take on Megatron, and whether or not Takara will produce a new MP G1 Megatron is an unknown. Apollyon isn't too badly priced, comes with a number of accessories, and fits the current MP scale, and looks great (IMO). If Takara doesn't produce a new Megs for whatever reason, I'm covered. If they do, and it looks good, I'll get him, too. If Takara makes a new MP Megs, and it's too close to their first attempt, then, again, I'm covered.

As of BotCon, it seems Takara's focus is shifting to MP Beast Wars due to the 20th anniversary. While I'm curious to see what kind of innovation they bring to the line, I'm a little meh. I want to finish my G1 MP collection. I'd love to have the entire '84 lineup, as those are the core characters, and first season remains my favorite out of all the G1 TF toons. I found the show to be increasingly unwatchable after first season, even when I was a kid. To me, the first season had a more serious, slightly more mature, undertone than the successive seasons, and it really appealed to me. It just got silly after that. Anyway, I know MP Ironhide, and Ratchet by default, are coming; I just hope they continue to produce the G1 figures along with Beast Wars.

Speaking of G1 figs, Fans Toys' Willy is mighty tempting. However, I'm of the mind that Takara will eventually get around to making him, and judging by the previous releases, he'll be worth the wait.

[slaginpit]

[technoblue]

For what it's worth, run 2 of Apollyon is starting to arrive for people who waited to order, and is getting even more positive feedback than run 1.

I'm not counting Takara out when it comes to Decepticons, but I do agree that it seems Autobots are the real focus of the official releases.

I don't know if my 3P purchases are do to a lack of patience or a lack of faith that Takara/Hasbro will complete the MP line before I go senile.

But I still love a good surprise.

[slaginpit]

For what it's worth, run 2 of Apollyon is starting to arrive for people who waited to order, and is getting even more positive feedback than run 1.

I'm not counting Takara out when it comes to Decepticons, but I do agree that it seems Autobots are the real focus of the official releases.

I don't know if my 3P purchases are do to a lack of patience or a lack of faith that Takara/Hasbro will complete the MP line before I go senile.

But I still love a good surprise.

Well I still prefer KFC Magnus to the MP one.....

[technoblue]

Excellent point. KFC and Takara had similar all-in-one transformations, but I think Citizen Stack is the better version too, especially if you are a fan of articulation and that IDW look. I really thought Takara would differentiate themselves by giving Magnus a white prime/magnus parts release...cartoon accuracy be damned.

Oh well, it's not worth revisiting that old wound.

[Vermillion One]

Agreed. For some reason I cant put KFC Magnus away. I picked up the diaclone version on clearance and feel its far superior to the Takara release. Maybe it was the (relative) bargain, but its easily a top 10 figure for articulation and accuracy.

On another note, is anyone looking for a Guttur? I have decided to pick up the Fanstoys Dinobots and dont need him in my collection...

[slaginpit]

After some consideration I came to the conclusion that my main problem is that the transformation is not obfuscating the Robot-Mode enough. It just looks too much robot in microscope mode to me.

The best comparison that I could came up with is MP-10 (and that is universally loved by TF fans right?). On MP-10 there are a few transformation steps that help to distance the robot-mode from the alt-mode. Stuff like the lower abdomen parts swinging around, the face grill, the panels that cover the wheels on the lower legs. The same the other way round. The swingable parts with the vent detail hide in alt-mode so that it doesn't look like Convoys legs, the flip out side view mirrors help to make it not look like a box on wheels and so on.

On Tesla all this is missing. The robot swings up his arms and sits down = lackluster.

In my opinion there could be a few steps to help my specific problem with Tesla. I listed a few on TFW. For example they could compress the lower abdomen so that the tray is on the same level as the legs. the arms could compress like in the line art so that the look more like cube than robot arms, there could be a sliding mechanism to slide the legs backward so that the torso sits in the middle of the microscope. They could have implemented a mechanism to hide the blue thighs so that it doesn't quite like a sitting robot. Or they could have a mounting armature for the microscope that flips up from the back so that it looks more like a piece of science equipment.

At first I thought this might be compromises so that Tesla could have a tank mode but it seems that isn't there either.

TL:DR Teslas transformation doesn't hide the robot mode enough for me.

agreed there was so much potential

To actually add some Transformation

[Scyla]

Cool, hope you get what you want someday but I'm glad this one doesn't have any of those extra steps in the transformation.

I like how straightforward he is and the end result looks like Percy's alt mode to me so I'm content.

I do wish he had an official tank mode, but it's not a deal breaker for me.

The problem is I really want to love Tesla but I just can't at the moment. I have all the other Fanstoys releases and they are all great. That is the hard part. I want Tesla and I want to put him next to my other Fanstoys/Takara Masterpiece Transformers so I can have someday the complete G1 cast but he just doesn't to it for me.

Maybe I give in and buy him in the future.

[M'Kyuun]

Well, in FansToys' defense, there's only so much you can do with a G1 styled Perceptor. If you're going for either show or toy accuracy, the final product is going to look like a robot 'raising the roof' in a half lotus position, with a big scope where his head normally sits. A cooler option would be to completely redesign him as a mobile laboratory truck, complete with removable workbench with microscope. Just an idea.

[JB0]

Well, in FansToys' defense, there's only so much you can do with a G1 styled Perceptor. If you're going for either show or toy accuracy, the final product is going to look like a robot 'raising the roof' in a half lotus position, with a big scope where his head normally sits. A cooler option would be to completely redesign him as a mobile laboratory truck, complete with removable workbench with microscope. Just an idea.

Basically Masterpiecing Classics Perceptor, then?

[Scyla]

Well, in FansToys' defense, there's only so much you can do with a G1 styled Perceptor. If you're going for either show or toy accuracy, the final product is going to look like a robot 'raising the roof' in a half lotus position, with a big scope where his head normally sits. A cooler option would be to completely redesign him as a mobile laboratory truck, complete with removable workbench with microscope. Just an idea.

In my rant post I gave a few suggestions what could have been done. The main thing imho would be to collapse the abdomen so the tray sits on the lower legs and not hovering in mid air.

After I made the initial post I had also the idea to compare it to their Quakewave which has basically the same problem. G1 Shockwave collapses the legs straighten out his arms and is not a space lazer gun. Instead to mimic the G1 toy transformation Fanstoys implemented an ingenious leg transformation to get rid of the back of the gun and allow for beefy legs. In addition they implemented extra flaps and transformation steps to hide the feet and designed a way to store the tip of the gun on the back of the toy without looking like it (it basically turns inside out).

That is some cool and intriguing engineering which makes the toy so much more interesting and fun to play with for me.

This is also the reason why I think the argument, that G1 Perceptor was a boring toy and this is the only way it should transform because it is accurate, is not a valid excuse for the way Tesla turned out.

However I can't wait to have Fanstoys Sever in hand because he looks like a awesome transforming robot toy. For good measure I threw in a Fan Project Quake into the order so I can have a mini Shockwave that other toys can hold.

I also think that Fanstoys Willis, Grinder and their not-Insecticons look great....

...which makes Tesla a really awkward specimen....

.... *rant rant rant*

[VF5SS]

the color they held in their hands playing with the toy

they did