The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[Scyla]

As a long-time MTMTE reader, you're in for a good time. MTMTE might be my favorite Transformers fiction of all time. Colorful, complex characters, interesting scenarios, great dialogue.

Well, that might not be a problem. Talon and Tigris are still only available to preorder. I was thinking I'd try to grab Leo Dux, Bovis, and Fortis by the end of the month, then preorder the other two and they'd get here when they get here. Still not exactly sure how I'm going to work that out money-wise, but I have a birthday. At 35, it's silly to expect too much but at the very least maybe I can talk my wife into relaxing the ol' purse strings a little.

*Side note... if you're into collecting expensive toys, doing the stay-at-home dad thing with a wife who works in finance will NOT be conducive to that hobby.

Since I have no experience with western (i.e. American) comics it is a bit weird to get into the storytelling in those. I figured that I haven't found the right mindset for it yet. Regardless I have MtmtE volume 3 to 6 on my desk so I have plenty of stuff to read in the next few days.

Regarding Anarchus. I'd loved to have some sort of data pad included as an accessory that he can hold and inspect. He is a journalist after all.

[Valkyrie2008]

Picked up and having a lot of fun with Gutter (Chrome) and Sphinx this month. Both really awesome fun toys. Add in Apollyon and I think these three are a nice addition to the current Has/Tak MP line.

Nice haul Ace! Sphinx looks great in alt mode, but in bot mode, the face just doesn't scream Mirage, other than that it's a great piece.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Sphinx has a good enough face for me...if it wasn't all scratched up out of the box. Once I have the time, I'll have to repaint it. Despite this, if Takara never releases a MP Mirage, Sphinx makes an excellent stand-in.

[Scyla]

Sphinx has a good enough face for me...if it wasn't all scratched up out of the box. Once I have the time, I'll have to repaint it. Despite this, if Takara never releases a MP Mirage, Sphinx makes an excellent stand-in.

Or you could ask MMCs customer service for a replacement.

[dizman]

Commotus has an awesome shade of black which looks either like pitch black or has a greenish tint depending on the lighting. I first was worried that he might be too bland and too dark but in hand in is stunning. You can see the difference between pure black and the main color of the body in the tank shovels where a highlight is painted in. Now I wish he would have more pure black markings on him but it is not a big deal. What is a big deal is that so little of the panel lines are picked out in an Allspark Blue color. I've seem some mods that painted more details in and it looks stunning. Especially the lower legs would have needed these highlights. Other than that everything works a-okay. The transformation is simple but rewarding all the articulation you need is present and the toy feels solid holding it in hand. The only minor issue for me would be the design of the double hinged elbows that look odd to me in some poses. The Spartan (Impactor) version of the toy was voted the best 3rd party toy in 2015 (in the not a combiner and not a Masterpiece toy category) and in my opinion rightfully so.

I'll second this. I just got commotus, he is probably my favorite 3rd party figure in a long time. He's not overly complicated and has a good range of movement for some fun poses, the joints are nice and tight too. The black/grey looks great with some of the smaller details picked out in a flashy black paint and the visor is a perfect shade of metallic red to give that evil look. It also helps that I'm a big Metal Slug fan and he transforms into the SV-001 Slug (kinda). Highly recommended, buy commotus or spartan!

[mikeszekely]

I'm glad to hear that everyone is enjoying Commotus. I wonder why he just does nothing for me?

[Valkyrie2008]

I'm glad to hear that everyone is enjoying Commotus. I wonder why he just does nothing for me?

I second that. Well, I only collect G1 Masterpiece style and I can barely afford that too.

[mikeszekely]

I second that. Well, I only collect G1 Masterpiece style and I can barely afford that too.

I actually prefer CHUGs, or 3P stuff that fits with CHUGs. I have no idea if Commotus fits with CHUGs or not; for me, it's more that Turmoil was such a bland, forgettable character only from the IDW fiction. I just have no desire for a toy of him, even if it is really good.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

I actually prefer CHUGs, or 3P stuff that fits with CHUGs. I have no idea if Commotus fits with CHUGs or not; for me, it's more that Turmoil was such a bland, forgettable character only from the IDW fiction. I just have no desire for a toy of him, even if it is really good.

mike s. did you ever decide on a 3p predacon set?

[mikeszekely]

mike s. did you ever decide on a 3p predacon set?

Yeah, I haven't figured out how I'm going to pay for it yet, but I settled on Feral Rex. Ares just seems like butt... too many liberties taken with the design (wrong colors, odd red barrels on his back cannons, etc, sword that's a big orange surfboard), and from the reviews I've watched he falls apart if you sneeze. I think I could have got Warlord and been happy; the partsforming doesn't bother me as much as it does some other people, and the simpler G1-ish design I think actually fits pretty well with Combiner Wars, and he seems reasonably solid (as in, if I shook him he wouldn't come apart any worse than Hasbro's official stuff). At the end of the day, though, Feral Rex manages to look almost as good in Predaking mode as Warlord, without all the partsforming, seems just as solid, but the individual Feral Cons are light years better than Warlord's not-Predacons. While my Combiners do spend most of their time in Combined mode, the fact is that I do like to take them apart and play with them, occasionally re-posing them as a team of bots or a team of alt-modes for awhile, and I think I'm going to be more satisfied with Feral Rex. I already ordered a sheet of Decepticon emblems (among of few other sheets) from Reprolabels/Toyhax, and I currently have Bovis, Fortis, and Leo Dux sitting in a shopping cart at BBTS. I just have to pull the trigger, then explain to my wife (who works in finance) why her stay-at-home-dad of a husband dropped over $300 on toys while simultaneously preordering Talon and Tigris and hoping that they don't charge/ship too close to the first three...

Hey, maybe I'll get lucky and win that giant Powerball jackpot. Then I can buy all the cool 3P toys I can't afford.

[Scyla]

I actually prefer CHUGs, or 3P stuff that fits with CHUGs. I have no idea if Commotus fits with CHUGs or not; for me, it's more that Turmoil was such a bland, forgettable character only from the IDW fiction. I just have no desire for a toy of him, even if it is really good.

Well he fits well with Feral Rex.

Honestly my Reformatted toys have a shelf on its own where I put them all. Like I said prior to Cynicus and Anarchus I had no interest in the IDW comics so I just bought them because they are cool transforming toys. I think MMCs designers have their own artistic style that only sorta fits with the retail Transformers. They are their own beast and thats why I like them.

[Dio]

Man, all this hate for Ares... I am highly satisfied with mine, but I collect WfC/FoC aesthetic in scale close to CHUG, so I'm a bit of an outlier. It looks awesome opposite my PX Dinobots. The only issue I've had is the loose knee connector pegs on Nemean, still trying to figure out a good way to lock those out but it's just a matter of jamming something in there.

Feral Rex, I just couldn't get past the SD proportions in combined mode. It's straight out of a Super Robot Taisen game, but adheres to the geewun demand of all 5 figures being the same size while Ares commits the sacrilege of making Nemean a larger core bot.

[mikeszekely]

Well he fits well with Feral Rex.

Honestly my Reformatted toys have a shelf on its own where I put them all. Like I said prior to Cynicus and Anarchus I had no interest in the IDW comics so I just bought them because they are cool transforming toys. I think MMCs designers have their own artistic style that only sorta fits with the retail Transformers. They are their own beast and thats why I like them.

As toys, MMC's style is definitely different than Hasbro/G1, but when you read enough IDW you'll find that MMC is definitely going for the IDW look. Not that I think that's a bad thing! In fact, I never had a chance to get Hasbro's Generations Arcee, and I'm seriously thinking that instead of paying a fortune on the secondary market for her that I might as well get MMC's Azelea, which is much closer to IDW Arcee than the Generations version.

Man, all this hate for Ares... I am highly satisfied with mine, but I collect WfC/FoC aesthetic in scale close to CHUG, so I'm a bit of an outlier. It looks awesome opposite my PX Dinobots. The only issue I've had is the loose knee connector pegs on Nemean, still trying to figure out a good way to lock those out but it's just a matter of jamming something in there.

Feral Rex, I just couldn't get past the SD proportions in combined mode. It's straight out of a Super Robot Taisen game, but adheres to the geewun demand of all 5 figures being the same size while Ares commits the sacrilege of making Nemean a larger core bot.

If you've got Ares and you're happy with him, that's all that really matters, right? But after watching shake tests, where someone would pick up the combined figure and shake it to see what comes off, Ares always seemed to fare the worst. On Rex and Warlord, the wings, arm cannon, and sword would come off. On Ares, all that would come off plus a bit more. For display purposes, I guess that doesn't matter as much, but like I said there were other aspects of Ares like the orange surfboard sword, the red barrels on the back cannons, and some other odd color choices, that kind of bug me.

I think it's a little funny, though, that your gripe with Rex is his proportions in combined mode. Warlord's the only one that really pulls off Predaking's proportions, but with Rex's legs extended I don't see a whole lot of difference between him and Ares proportionally.

Anyway, I ordered Bovis, Fortis, and Leo Dux today. I'm pretty excited, as the only other 3P toys I have are Mania King and Hegemon. I know there are some people that are vehemently against 3P Transformers, but it's kind of an exciting new world for me where I pay MP prices for Voyager-sized toys and, if I'm lucky, get MP quality in a Voyager-sized toy. (For the record, Hegemon is deeply flawed but still the best Voyager-sized Megatron you can get, and Mania King is fantastic as long as you can get past the lack of rotating wrists, something most Hasbro toys lack anyway).

[Tking22]

So is FansToys ever going to release Willis or was that quietly cancelled or something? I had heard they like dragging their feet on certain releases, and they love delays, but this seems absurd. I pre-ordered him back in March, and he's been delayed three times now. This was to be my first third party, but at this point, I may just cancel it and not even bother.

[mikeszekely]

So is FansToys ever going to release Willis or was that quietly cancelled or something? I had heard they like dragging their feet on certain releases, and they love delays, but this seems absurd. I pre-ordered him back in March, and he's been delayed three times now. This was to be my first third party, but at this point, I may just cancel it and not even bother.

At this point, why not just get Gundog?

[Scyla]

As toys, MMC's style is definitely different than Hasbro/G1, but when you read enough IDW you'll find that MMC is definitely going for the IDW look. Not that I think that's a bad thing! In fact, I never had a chance to get Hasbro's Generations Arcee, and I'm seriously thinking that instead of paying a fortune on the secondary market for her that I might as well get MMC's Azelea, which is much closer to IDW Arcee than the Generations version.

If you've got Ares and you're happy with him, that's all that really matters, right? But after watching shake tests, where someone would pick up the combined figure and shake it to see what comes off, Ares always seemed to fare the worst. On Rex and Warlord, the wings, arm cannon, and sword would come off. On Ares, all that would come off plus a bit more. For display purposes, I guess that doesn't matter as much, but like I said there were other aspects of Ares like the orange surfboard sword, the red barrels on the back cannons, and some other odd color choices, that kind of bug me.

I think it's a little funny, though, that your gripe with Rex is his proportions in combined mode. Warlord's the only one that really pulls off Predaking's proportions, but with Rex's legs extended I don't see a whole lot of difference between him and Ares proportionally.

Anyway, I ordered Bovis, Fortis, and Leo Dux today. I'm pretty excited, as the only other 3P toys I have are Mania King and Hegemon. I know there are some people that are vehemently against 3P Transformers, but it's kind of an exciting new world for me where I pay MP prices for Voyager-sized toys and, if I'm lucky, get MP quality in a Voyager-sized toy. (For the record, Hegemon is deeply flawed but still the best Voyager-sized Megatron you can get, and Mania King is fantastic as long as you can get past the lack of rotating wrists, something most Hasbro toys lack anyway).

I don't know about that. Sure MMCs Carnifex looks is clearly Overlord but not really the IDW Overlord form Last Stand of the Wreckers, Terminus Hexatron is Sixshot but run through a lot of edgy filters, Impactors alt-mode is not a Metal Slug tank. Of course the DJD guy look the part but they fit in nicely with all the other Reformatted toys. I know MMC is going for an IDW homage but they have enough aspects that make them unique (some might say to their detriment). I think it gives the toy a unique identity that I seek out.

If I hadn't a dislike for motorcycle transformers I would be more curious about their Unrustable Bastards announcement a few TFCons ago.

[edit:] I hope you like what you are getting into. Just don't overhype them. They are fun figures. A few things I like to add. The hands on Bovis and Fortis are very tight for they weapons. I used to put the hand-foot mortars into their hands and left them their over night so that the hands get a little bit wider. After that the melee weapons where easier to insert. There is also a video how you can insert them more easily (

). Next there was an assembly error on Bovis and Fortis elbow ratchets. They where inserted the wrong way this would lead to scuffs in the ratchet part which might be ecstatically displeasing. There is a guide buy David Hingtgen over at tfw2005 explaining it in detal (http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/tutorials-how-tos/964197-mmc-bovis-elbow-fix-replacement-guide.html). The problem does not hinder the functionality of the joint tough and it might be possible that it was fixed with later runs. Tigris comes with replacement ratchets should you need them.Next Fortis comes with a replacement part for Bovis. IIRC there could be an molding issue on Bovis' crotch but I never seen any image of this so you are probably fine.

Finally take your time with the toys you can do so much with them. Bovis' guns can store in his shoulder pauldrons for example. I loved to play around with different bawler poses for the leg bots.

Edited January 10, 2016 by Scyla

[Tking22]

At this point, why not just get Gundog?

Gundog doesn't do anything for me, I don't think he looks very good.

[David Hingtgen]

The Bovis pelvis issue was fixed by like the 1.5th release of him.

As for the knives---I do it like this:

Go about 8 mins in. That's the best way to do it.

Also watch for combining Fortis and Tigris' blades in dual-wielding/staff mode. If they don't want to slide in---don't force them, you'll probably never get them apart without snapping them. Shave the handle or opening just a bit if you encounter any resistance.

[mikeszekely]

Gundog doesn't do anything for me, I don't think he looks very good.

Well, to each his own, again. I get that Willis has that G1 cartoon look down, but I'm not always a fan of a toy replicating Floro Dery's overly-simplified animation models too closely. Kind of like how MP-10 has all the features Optimus Prime is known for, but his legs have a more dynamic shape than the cartoon and he's got a butt load of molded details in truck mode. Personally, I like Gundog a lot more, and I actually prefer to toy-colored version.

David, Scylla, thanks for the useful tips. Hopefully a lot of issues with previous runs will have been fixed, since whatever run this is must be pretty recent if Talon and Tigris are still preorder items. Anything else I should know? Have any of you tried the Professor Heisenberg upgrade to give Feral Rex the claw-tipped fingers?

Really not sure what 3P I'll get after Rex, but I'm leaning toward Azalea. Like I said, I need an Arcee, and she's relatively low-priced. I mentioned before, but didn't get any feedback, but KFC's Tempest can be had pretty cheaply, too. Finally, I'm sort of tempted to replace my Motormaster with Lone Wolf, any thoughts?

[David Hingtgen]

I tried both finger upgrades: the Dr Killinger ones and Prof H. Ended up using neither.

1. Removing the pins to install Dr K's caused stress/cracking in the knuckles, despite me being very slow and careful. Decided it wasn't worth the further risk/damage. Also they're not symmetrical in any axis---to my eye it's very obvious they're "home grown/sculpted". I've removed MMC pins in Rex before just fine, they're generally easy----dunno why the fingers were so different.

2. Prof H's-----can't fold them back up to store in the feet. That's a deal killer for me. Plus they actually look even stubbier from some angles. They're pointier now, but even thicker. My set's for sale if anyone wants them, cheap.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Does anyone know offhand if some beefier barrels were made for Feral Rex's shoulder cannons?

[Scyla]

I think Dr. Killinger did some prototypes. IIRC he said that these guns weren't feasibly so they never made it to the final stage. That are the only guns I know about.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I think Dr. Killinger did some prototypes. IIRC he said that these guns weren't feasibly so they never made it to the final stage. That are the only guns I know about.

Darn, that was the only set I knew about also. Well, there was also a set I found in Shapeways, but I have my issues with their material.

I sent a message to MMC regarding my Sphinx's scratched face. I have high hopes for their customer service.

[mikeszekely]

Leo Dux, Bovis, and Fortis arrived today. I've only had a chance to open and mess around with Leo Dux, so I'll post more when I've had a chance to form some actual opinions. I do have one question, though. What do I do with the two bits of the sword that go inside Dux's abdomen in lion mode and the two parts that make up the tail/sword hilt when Dux is in bot mode? I understand how the pelvis armor/lion butt makes a shield of sorts, but those parts just don't make sense to me. There's a small picture where it looks like at least the chest pieces are on his arm, and the bio card has a cannon weapon on his arm that doesn't seem to actually exist (but kind of resembles the tail and those chest parts, like you're getting read to build the sword). There doesn't seem to be any way to use it as a weapon or attach it to Dux's person that I can see.

EDIT: I answered my own questions. Yes, the part the pelvis armor clips onto does pop off Dux's butt and rotates, and should stay on the same side as Dux's back. The rest of Dux's hips and legs rotate around. As for Rex's sword bits not folding in after being attached to the hinge, turns out it was an assembly error (one that's been around since at least Nero Rex). I had to pop his back off, then there's a small piece inside that I had to remove, turn it 180 degrees, then put it all back together.

Edited January 16, 2016 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

I accidentally posted this in the regular TF thread, but I meant to post here.

More detailed reviews forthcoming, but suffice to say that the Feralcons impressed me enough that I ordered Felisaber with no intention of using him as part of Rex.

I also preordered a set of CrazyDevy's guns for the individual Feralcons.

[Scyla]

So today I've continued my read on the MtmtE comic. I'm now up to volume 5 where they encounter Star Saber. I dig the IDW design and since I was terribly disappointed with MP Star Saber it got me thinking if MMC could remold their Carnifex (IDWish Overlord) into an IDW Star Saber:

The fact that the remolded Fortis into Bovis and Spartan into Commotus so well and seeing that they seem to do IDW Lockdown and Cyclonus from the same mold they could bush it even further and to a Star Saber.

Maybe this is wishful thinking but I just want a good Star Saber.

[mikeszekely]

OK, first I'm going to make some general observations about MMC, then I'm going to talk about Leo Dux. I'll do Bovis and Fortis later, and Felisaber when he arrives next week. Tigris, Talon, and the combined Feral Rex will have to wait until my preorders ship.

So, MMC. In general, I'm very impressed. If Leo Dux, Bovis, and Fortis are indicative of MMC's quality I can see why they have so many fans among 3P toy buyers, although I personally don't have a lot to compare different companies (yet?). It starts right away, with the packaging. Each figure comes in a pretty large box with a photo of the bot on the front, which swings open so you can see the toy inside and some cool artwork on the inside cover. The toys are packed securely in a plastic tray with their accessories, and a plastic cover over the tray. The plastic is set with a cardboard backer into the box. Unlike Hasbro, there's just one twist tie around each figure's waist, the plastic tray isn't tied to the cardboard anywhere. Something else I really dig is that the instructions are printed as a book. If you flip the book over, it's a mini comic book. The instruction book is packaged with a bio card inside a plastic sleeve.

As for the toys themselves, they're mostly very well engineered. There's plenty of sculpted detail and good use of colors without being overly busy, lots of ratchets, tight joints, and parts that stay pegged together when placed properly. Plus, some of the things they do with their transformations are things that Has/Tak engineers wouldn't dream of doing. The plastic doesn't feel at all like the kind Hasbro uses, but I think that's actually good. It's strong and has a good heft to it. MMC does seem a little cheeky, though. As an unlicensed product, they of course don't come with Decepticon symbols. However, it's super obvious where they go if you get some aftermarket stickers (mine are courtesy of Toyhax, formerly Reprolabels). In fact, Leo Dux has some molded detail on his right shoulder that's just a blank, pentagonal space on his left, where Razorclaw has his symbol.

Now, Leo Dux specifically. (Forgive the poor quality of pics... all I have is a cellphone, and with a baby I'm limited to where I can play with my toys and take pics).

Leo Dux is MMC's take on Razorclaw. I think it's a pretty good take. They took some liberties, like the projections above his shoulders, the red biceps, the orange mouth plate, other spots of color, the way the waist is designed, and there are back guns instead of shoulder guns. Honestly, though, I think a lot of actual CHUG Transformers take far more liberties, and there are a lot of callbacks to the original Razorclaw toy, like the gold on the knees, the fact that the projections above his shoulders are sort of where the original toy's lion feet sat, the bits of red in his thighs where lion legs showed through his bot legs, etc. The biggest change is actually his weapons. Everything thing he comes with is shown in this first picture. He's got a shield, which is made out of the combined Feral Rex's pelvis armor, and two melee weapons that can either be arranged like a cleaver (left hand) or an oversized single-edged sword (right hand). There's also the black part(s) on the ground. It doesn't seem to have any use or place in bot mode. In lion mode, part of it fills in his chest and part of it is his tail. It's also used to make part of Feral Rex's sword. Leo Dux has no guns, besides the cannons on his back. The weapons are what they are because they're going to combine with everyone else's to make Rex's admittedly-cool sword, but as stand-alone weapons for Leo Dux they're one of his relatively few cons. They're just big, awkward-looking, and he could seriously use a gun.

Leo Dux is big for a Voyager, standing a head taller than Combiner Wars Onslaught and a head shorter than MP-10. He's not just taller, though. He's thicker, more solid, and heavier.

As I mentioned, the engineering is very impressive. The cannons on his back can extend then extend and bend so they're firing over his shoulders. His head is on a ball joint. His shoulders have ratchets in the torso for swinging his arms forward and backward, then there's another ratchet inside for swinging the arms out to the side. The arm rotates 360 degrees above the bicep. His elbow joint bends both where it connects to the bicep and where it connects to the forearm, and both joints can rotate forward or backward. His wrists rotate and have a small range of forward/backward motion. He can turn at the waist. His hips are on ratchets that can move forward or backward and side to side, and his hip armor swings inward and outward so his legs have clearance enough for him to do Van Damme-style splits. His legs can rotate inward or outward just above the red on his thighs. The knees, like the elbows, are double-jointed. Just below the red on his thigh bends what in a human would be the wrong way. At the bottom of the knee, where the black lower legs connect to the yellow knee, his legs bend in what we'd consider the correct direction. Then there's his feet, which are designed for maximum stability while providing a range of poses. See, he's got his actual feet, which can move forward or backward where they connect to his shins and have a bend in the middle. The front of the feet are connected in a way so that they can rotate, providing an approximation of ankle tilt. For more stability, Dux has heels that are on a swing arm on the back of his legs, and the heels can rotate on the arm. If that's somehow not enough stability for you, he's got a section that can fold out from behind the foot, bracing the front part of the foot against the bottom of the lower leg (where the ratchets for the pegs that the combiner legs attach to are). Practically, what this means is that you can pose Dux pretty much however you like and his feet are going to hold him up.

Transforming him into lion mode isn't particularly difficult; you basically flip up the lion head, his arms become the lion's front legs, his legs collapse into the lion's body, and the lion's lower legs unfold from the sides of Dux's lower legs. There's some interesting stuff going on here, though. For one, the lion's neck actually has a ball-jointed peg that pegs it into the back of Dux's head. Two, there's more to Dux's mane tucked away behind the lion head. Three, there's a flap on a hinge behind the lion head. Part of that thing that has no use in bot mode fits around the flap, then it folds up and fills the gap where the lion head sat in bot mode. The rest pegs between Dux's legs to make the lion's tail. And four, in between Dux's torso and lower body is a thin part that can rotate independently. This is so that it stays on Dux's butt in robot mode when his upper body rotates for cool poses (or so that it stays on Rex's butt when Rex's upper body rotates), but on the lion's back when his lower body has to turn 180 degrees. Five, the bot hands fold into the arm, but there's an actual cover that opens to allow it to fold in and closes to cover it, something you don't really see outside MP's on real Transformers. Finally, the shield/pelvis armor folds into a different configuration and pegs onto the lion's back.

Since the lion's front legs are Dux's arms, they have the same wonderful range of articulation. The front claws themselves are ball-jointed, adding to the poses you can get out of lion mode. His back legs can rotate where they connect to Dux's lower legs, and there's two joints in the red part of the legs plus more ball joints for the feet. The back legs are a little more limited since they don't have as much inward-outward range and the joints have less range before the leg parts bump into each other. The tail has two points where it can bend up to 90 degrees, plus you can flip it around depending on whether you want a down-up bend or an up-down bend in the tail. The lion's mouth opens, but sadly the lion's neck doesn't have anything to speak of in terms of articulation. The cannons can be aimed a bit in lion mode. The lion may not be as articulated as the bot, but you can still get a pretty good array of poses out of it, which isn't bad when you figure that we're usually satisfied with spinning tires on cars or fold-out landing gear on planes.

Be advised that my Dux came mis-assembled from the factory. There's a part on the inside edge behind the lion's head inside his chest. There's a groove on one side of it that should be facing upward, allowing the flap with the lion's chest parts to fold in. On mine it was assembled upside-down, preventing the chest from being able to fold in. This can be easily fixed by removing the four screws around the cannons on Dux's back, carefully pulling his back off (I say carefully because without the screws both the back and front will come off the waist, the arms could come off the front, thin pieces that give the ratchets their click and sit behind the arms could come off, and the lion's head and neck can come off). The offending part is held in by two screws; remove them, turn the part 180 degrees, then screw everything back together. While the fix isn't too bad, it took me awhile to figure out what was wrong because the instructions are pretty weak, leaving me frustrated and spending time on Google when I wanted to be enjoying my new toy. It's not like even official Hasbro toys don't sometimes have assembly errors, but I'm still going to count this as another strike against Dux.

Goofy weapons and assembly errors aside, Leo Dux is a fantastic toy. He's a wonderfully-articulated toy that's solid and sturdy enough to play with a satisfying, if simple, transformation. And, he captures Razorclaw's look (arguably better than TFC's Nemean) while giving it enough of a modern take to avoid looking too dull or simplistic (like UT's Sharp Claw). Unless you're looking for a slightly bigger, broader-chested Razorclaw (Nemean) or a slightly-smaller, more G1-accurate Razorclaw (Sharp Claw), I can't recommend Leo Dux enough.

[David Hingtgen]

Oh yeah, forgot to give you a heads-up--- it seems that the Nero Rex repaint, and all re-releases of Leo, have that chest-piece in backwards. The originals were correct. Glad you were able to figure it out and fix it without damaging/stressing anything. At least it isn't pinned, though MMC pins as a rule are easily removed, as toys go. Reminds me of the MP seekers, where most of the ones after MP-03 had the chest intake bits swapped, until they were fixed again like 5 releases later. I can't think of any other issues with the Rex re-releases, most everything else is corrected/fixed from the first batch. I think Leo is the only instance of something getting messed up.

As for "other bits":

The tail halves can peg onto the sides of the cannons, in robot mode. (YMMV, they're designed too, but the chrome plating affects the tolerance--mine peg in well, but I seem to be the exception rather than the rule)

The chest-hole-covering halves can peg onto Talon's wings. (obstinately as thrusters, but really it's just to allow Rex to be wholly self-contained in combined mode, using every part from the whole team)

Leo's own cannon comes with Tigris. Partly to "balance out" costs/plastic. Talon and Tigris are both arms, but Talon also has the wings, and Leo already comes with so many parts. So Tigris has both his guns and Leo's cannon.

[mikeszekely]

Oh yeah, forgot to give you a heads-up--- it seems that the Nero Rex repaint, and all re-releases of Leo, have that chest-piece in backwards. The originals were correct. Glad you were able to figure it out and fix it without damaging/stressing anything. At least it isn't pinned, though MMC pins as a rule are easily removed, as toys go. Reminds me of the MP seekers, where most of the ones after MP-03 had the chest intake bits swapped, until they were fixed again like 5 releases later. I can't think of any other issues with the Rex re-releases, most everything else is corrected/fixed from the first batch. I think Leo is the only instance of something getting messed up.

As for "other bits":

The tail halves can peg onto the sides of the cannons, in robot mode. (YMMV, they're designed too, but the chrome plating affects the tolerance--mine peg in well, but I seem to be the exception rather than the rule)

The chest-hole-covering halves can peg onto Talon's wings. (obstinately as thrusters, but really it's just to allow Rex to be wholly self-contained in combined mode, using every part from the whole team)

Leo's own cannon comes with Tigris. Partly to "balance out" costs/plastic. Talon and Tigris are both arms, but Talon also has the wings, and Leo already comes with so many parts. So Tigris has both his guns and Leo's cannon.

Thanks for the tips. Yeah, my tail parts peg on, but loosely. Well, loosely for MMC. Normal enough for Hasbro. I stuck half a chest bit to each half of the tail. Looks a little wonky, but it's keeping all of Dux's parts on Dux. Wish there was a peg, though. The chest bits are just held by friction there.

Huh. I (pre)ordered a set of Professor Heisenburg's Royal Arsenal guns for Rex. I might not have if I'd know that Dux's gun comes with Tigris. Well, not that it really matters. The Royal Arsenal doesn't look like it comes with a hand weapon for Dux anyway, just the missing shoulder guns (looks like they slip on the combiner pegs). Hmm. I'll probably keep my preorder. It'll be nice to have a gun for Fortis that isn't those arm cannons, anyway, and even if I don't use them all with the Feralcons I'm sure they'll come in handy somewhere.

I finished taking pictures for Bovis and Fortis. It's late on the East Coast, though, so I'll wait until tomorrow to write a review.

[Scyla]

I'm glad you're enjoying your toys. I was a but worried since I got the feeling we talked you into them.

A few things. Once you have Talon in hand you can peg his wing backpack into either Leo Dux or Tigris so you can make a flying lion or tiger if your into such things. Second you can turn Leo Dux' tail around 180 degrees. I have it that way so it gives the illusion of a more natural looking tail. Third you can utilize Leo Dux' hips to give his alt-mode a more feline shape so he has either a arched back or the other way round. This is good for howling poses.

[mikeszekely]

I'm glad you're enjoying your toys. I was a but worried since I got the feeling we talked you into them.

You kind of did talk me into them! But I don't think it's a bad thing. Like I said, I think I would have been happy with the UT ones... I still think their combined Predaking looks the best. But you guys really got me looking at not just the Predaking, but the individual Predacons as well, especially Razorclaw. I could really see how TFC sculpted some interesting toys, but how they went a little too far IMO in redesigning the Predacons. And I could see how UT's Predacons were perhaps a little too close to G1, with an almost too-simple design. MMC's take may not be perfect, but I think they did a good job walking the line between making good-looking toys while staying true to the characters. And now that I have a few in hand, I can say that I'm as impressed with the engineering and quality as I am with the design... although down the line I almost would still like to get Warlord, just to have an in-hand comparison.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I like a beefy looking Predaking, so Rex was a no brainer for me.

Now go get Commotus!

[David Hingtgen]

The cannon I mentioned for Leo is the core of the combiner cannon, and it is arm-mounted, so if you really want something hand-held you need to go aftermarket.

[mikeszekely]

Onto my thoughts on Bovis and Fortis, MMC's takes on Tantrum and Headstrong. I'm not going to post about them separately because they are, by and large, the same figure.

Once again, I feel like MMC did a pretty good job of capturing the characters. They got the red animal heads behind the robot heads, the red robot heads with yellow faces, the black horns, the yellow torso on Headstrong and the orange torso on Tantrum, black thighs, black feet on Headstrong, red feet on Tantrum, black rhino legs on Headstrong, red bull legs on Tantrum (although with black hooves, which if you prefer red they come with Felisaber), and the (toy-accurate) black biceps (IIRC, Headstrong's whole arms were red in the cartoon). They managed to get the red on Headstrong's arms and the gray on Tantrum's, and they even manged to get little details like the silver plate on Tantrum's chest (toy-accurate, but downplayed in the cartoon), and the black bars in the middle of Headstrong's chest. The biggest departure from the G1 look are the lower legs, which were black on both Tantrum and Headstrong but are orange on Bovis and yellow on Fortis. It throws off the look a little for me personally, but I understand that they did it to keep their alt-mode bodies correctly-colored.

In terms of size, Bovis and Fortis are slightly shorter than Leo Dux, and perfectly in line with what you'd expect for a Voyager-class toy.

Getting down to the nitty-gritty, Bovis and Fortis aren't quite as good as Leo Dux is, at least as robots. The animal heads don't give Bovis and Fortis' bot heads the same range of motion that Dux's has. The shoulders have about the same range of motion as Dux, but they're not ratchets. The armor on the back of the elbows and the animal legs on the backs of their shoulders mean that Bovis and Fortis can't bend their elbows backwards like Dux, but they do bend far enough forward that they can touch their hand can touch their shoulders. The wrists can rotate but they lack the forward/backward movement of Dux. Like Dux, they can twist at the waist and have ratcheting hips that can bend forward and backward and side to side, but the sides of their thighs prevent them from doing the splits. The legs can rotate around at the knees, and the knees can bend 90 degrees (actually, they can bend farther and do during transformation, but in bot mode that's where the back of the lower legs will hit the back of the thigh). Unlike Dux, they don't have double-jointed knees. The feet attach to the back of the inside of the legs on a swing bar that pegs into the middle of the foot on a ball joint. The foot bends in the middle. This gives them feet that are fairly capable of being posed how you want them to, but they're not as stable on the whole as Dux. Also unlike Dux, there are a few Hasbro-style hollow spots on the inside of the forearms where the wrists fold in (no covers this time) and the lower spots on the inside of the lower legs. I'm also not a fan of the hip armor... they really don't serve any purpose, and even in alt mode aren't pegged into anything, they just tuck way inside the legs.

Once again, the weapons are a bit of a sore point for me. Form is clearly being sacrificed for functionality; the guns and knives have to connect with everyone else's to make Feral Rex's arm cannon and sword. For Bovis, they're really not bad. He's got these serrated knives with spiked handguards that are pretty cool, and some pretty nice twin pistols. Fortis gets shafted, though. His knives wouldn't look too bad, except the handles are just goofy. His guns are okay... they're basically boxes with barrels that can collapse or extend. He can wear them on his arms, but he doesn't have any kind of handheld gun. They both have options for storage, though. In both cases, they put their guns on their forearms or on the outside of their lower legs. Additionally, Bovis can store his guns near his hips on the outside of his thighs or he can carry them in his hands. Both toys can store the knives in the hands, on the hips, on the lower legs, or on the forearms. Plus, Rex's hands can tuck into Rex's feet, and Bovis and Fortis can carry the combined foot/hands on their backs.

Now, onto the animal modes.

Like Dux, the transformation isn't really complicated once you learn it. Flip the face up into the animal head, flip in the wrists, pop out and position the animal legs, fold the bot arms up into the shoulders, move the sides of the thighs to the back, rotate the waist 180 degrees, open the legs up and fold the lower legs over the thighs (being sure to tuck away the hip armor) and fold the feet out onto the backs of the bot legs. That's actually the trickiest part, since you have to turn the feet in just the right way so that the panel they attach to slips through a gap in the heel. Honestly, the most confusing thing is realizing that the top of Bovis is the bottom of Fortis. And really, I have no idea why they did that. To keep them more visually distinct? To keep Bovis' animal head a little higher and Fortis' a little lower? So that Fortis's feet call back to some black that was on G1 Headstrong's animal back? It just feels a little weird and makes Fortis look a little messier in alt mode. I guess, if you wanted to, though, you could transform Fortis the same way as Bovis.

As with their bot modes, their gear can be stored on their alt-mode shoulders, hips, and back. The instructions officially have the knives on the shoulders and the guns on the hips. The foot-hand-cannons store on their backs. If you transformed them according to their official instructions, ridges on the front of the bottom of Rex's foot mate with ridges on Fortis' back, while a fold out prong fits into two slots on Bovis'. Aside from Fortis' back being messy, they both nail their G1 inspirations. Again, though, they're not as articulated as Dux. The animal heads can rotate or look down. Their mouths can open, but doing so will reveal their bot faces inside. Their animal legs can rotate 360 degrees where they attach to their bodies. The lower animal legs and hooves are connected on ball joints so they can bend a little and turn, but they're not as jointed as Dux's animal legs. Likewise, they can turn and bend at the waist a little, but they're basically bricks with animal legs while Dux's lion can get much more dynamic poses.

I want to stress, though, that Bovis and Fortis share the same tight joints, multiple tight pegs, and most of the important articulation that Dux has. I also want to stress that while Bovis and Fortis come up a little short compared to Dux they're still good, solid toys with tons of playability. While I haven't looked at Bovis' and Fortis' TFC or UT counterparts the way I did with Leo Dux, I feel comfortable saying that Bovis and Fortis are great representations of Tantrum and Headstrong and that if (like me) you settled on the Feralcons because Leo Dux is a much better Razorclaw than Nemean or Sharp Claw that Bovis and Fortis aren't going to make you sorry that you went with the Feralcons.

Felisaber should arrive tomorrow, but Tigris and Talon are still preorders with estimated arrivals of Q1, so I'm not sure when I'll get to them or Rex. But I hope you're enjoying my thoughts on the Feralcons so far.

[Scyla]

What I did with Fortis guns was to peg them into the soles of this folded up forelegs. You can unpeg them and turn them around so that they face upwards. Than you can peg the two gun boxes into those and they look like shoulder turrets. They can even be positioned to your linkings.

As for weapon storage you can slot the melee weapons into the ridges on their bellies and the guns can peg into the holes into the feet. That way you don't have to store them on the outside of the animal legs.

The both really offer a great amount of play patterns. I don't want to give all of it away so you can experiment with them a bit.