The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[dimension]

I picked up a MPP10..... pretty damn impressive for a KO.

[nhyone]

If this is true maybe FansToys found a way around this middle man or they are willing to reduce the profit margins because they want to stay competitive with GigaPower who also lowered the MSRP for their Dinobots to $135 from $200.

US$200 is way too much for one Dinobot. All 5 is US$1,000! Not going to happen for me.

Even at the reduced price (which is still very expensive), I will probably consider just 1 or 2 -- especially for re-enactment with Devastator.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Here comes a new challenger! That's what? 4 options for Trailbreaker now?

[Tking22]

Here comes a new challenger! That's what? 4 options for Trailbreaker now?

Yikes, I love my Willis/Hound but damn, that looks like the worst of the bunch. And now, Takara will have to announce their version within a month or so...

[mikeszekely]

Today, we're going to take a look a Scrapper. "Didn't we just do that yesterday?" Yep, but that was Generation Toys version from just this year. Today, we're going to hop in a time machine and go all the way back to 2012. Today, we're looking at Maktoys Wheel Loader.

Full disclosure: I bought this guy (and will likely wind up with a Hercules, too, if I can find one under $200) more out of curiosity than a belief that Giant will come out as the best Devastator, and to save money I bought one listed as a KO. As near as I can tell, it's identical down to the box, but keep in mind that any quality issues I bring up may or may not apply to the real deal.

Wheel Loader's a fairly diminutive Scrapper, and the smallest of the four I have, although that's pretty much par for the course for Maketoys. As you can see with his Voyager Combiner Wars counterpart (and Reveal the Shield Jazz), he's definitely closer in size to a Deluxe.

So let's address the elephant in the room... this guy really doesn't look much like Scrapper. His torso, which is sorely lacking in purple, is dominated by his alt-mode cab, his thighs are a very dark gray, and he's carrying wheels on his forearms instead of his shoulders. At least his arms are green, his bucked on his back, and his head sculpt is fairly Scrapper-esque, if a little dark, but honestly if I took my Generations Scoop toy, painted him green, and put Wheel Loader's head on him it'd look a lot more like Scrapper. To be totally fair to Maketoys, though, they've always had more stylized designs, and in 2012 (well, actually earlier, since they did their yellow Giant first) MPs weren't really big yet and 3Ps were taking more cues from the Classics/Henkei/Universe/Generations line, which itself wasn't always G1-accurate. I still don't like it, though.

Wheel Loader doesn't have the best articulation by modern standards, but again that seemed more acceptable back then. His head's on a ball joint. His shoulders are on ball joints, and the way they're cut you really only get maybe 45 degrees of lateral movement. He's got a bicep swivel, but no wrist swivel or any other hand articulation. His elbow is a single hinge, but it'll get you well over 90 degrees. His waist is actually on a ball joint, so in addition to a waist swivel he's got a bit an an ab crunch. His hips are ball jointed and can go all the way forward, backward, or out to the side. He's got a thigh swivel, and his single-jointed knee can bend all the way due to his transformation. He's got a hinge in his foot to provide a small degree of ankle tilt.

Maketoys' love of ball joints does give their figures a sort of "action-figure" feel, when they work well. In this case, though, Wheel Loader's a little loose, and that makes him feel a bit more fiddly than fun.

Since I got these guys in a gift set, it's more accurate to say "Giant comes with..." than saying that anything comes with Wheel Loader. However, based on the instructions, this purple rifle belongs to him.

Design in 2012 (and earlier) is clearly not what it is today. While I can forgive some of the aesthetic choices, it's harder to overlook how Wheel Loader's back is dominated by a combiner port. You can tell it actually sticks out further than his bucket, because there's a partsforming piece pegged on top of it. The fact that it dominates his back probably has more to do with the cab on the front than an aesthetic choice by the designer. From behind, you can also see that Wheel Loader suffers from a lot of the hollowness that we routinely give Hasbro flak for.

Wheel Loader turns into a front loader... which is sometimes referred to as a wheel loader. Despite the smaller size Wheel Loader looks really good in alt mode. The partsforming bits on the back are a little out-of-place, but Maketoys clearly put some effort into making Wheel Loader look like a realistic vehicle with smart use of paint and molded detail. The bucket, though, has just one point of articulation, and that's where the arms connect to the vehicle.

Like GT's Scraper, the back of the cab is open. In GT's case, the combiner port it revealed at least filled the space. What we have here is a silver and gold metal piston just chilling, and a bunch of hollow space. And speaking of combiner ports, there's a huge one where the grill should be.

Maketoys has always been big about making sure all the combiner parts have a place to go in every mode, so one thing they did that GT would repeat just in the last year (which we'll see later) is to make the combined-mode forearms into a portable generators. Wheel Loader has a little fold out hitch to pull one of them. The hitch isn't very secure, though. He also has a place for his gun to tab onto in alt mode.

In some ways, Wheel Loader reminds me of GT's Scraper. They both have stylized designs in robot mode. They both have detailed alt modes that are designed to look like realistic front loaders. The thing is, GT's doing it way better. Granted, Wheel Loader is around five years old, and Scraper hasn't had his first birthday yet. And yeah, there's the fact that Scraper cost almost as much by himself as I paid for the whole Giant set. On the other hand, I'm a believer in "you get what you pay for," and if Wheel Loader is showing his age it's because 3P design has come a long way in the last few years. We will, of course, see how Giant turns out in case you just want a nice Devastator and don't care as much about the Constructicons themselves, but if you're looking for a good Scrapper I suggest you spend the extra cash and go with ToyWorld or Generation Toy.

[mikeszekely]

Peaugh has a review up for Maketoys' Despotron. I was really digging DX9's Mightron and was thinking that Despotron's legs were looking kind of chunky, but I'm really impressed with the clever transformation and how well it cleans up. But then Peaugh showed it next to Mightron and MP-10, and holy cow! I'm totally convinced that Despotron is the winner of the MP Megatron wars.

Peaugh compared it to Apollyon, too, BTW. Poor Apollyon owners...

[Scyla]

Peaughs review of MakeToys Despotron:

He looks really good. If MMC doesn't announce one in the next month I have to get him.

[M'Kyuun]

Hey now, no pity parties for this Apollyon owner. I like my Apollyon; it's not perfect, but it's still a striking take on Megatron, and I like that the designer kept the G1 transformation mechanic while attempting to not copy MP-5. I read an interview with him where he tips his hat to Takara for MP-5's arm mechanics.

Anyway, Despotron is shaping up to be a fantastic looking figure. I love the creative engineering on this guy, and the final result is the cleanest version in robot mode thus far. He still has his flaws, though- the transformation is not G1 accurate, so his shoulder hammers are cheats, the barrel has both a long slot and a screw hole that are clearly visible in gun mode, and clever as the lower torso transformation is, if those locking points weaken or break over time, he'll become Accordiontron. But I digress; I'm playing devil's advocate for a toy I will most likely pick up, and I think everything they did with this figure just works. These third parties are really bringing some amazing creativity to the table, and I can't help but feel that Takara are falling well behind within their own franchise. If they decide to do a new MP Megs, it's going to be challenging for them to create something new, and to meet the standards being set by these unofficial products.

Despotron aside, I got my Toyworld Bulldozer in yesterday, my first ever version of Bonecrusher in 30+ yrs of collecting, and I was in love with the chunky beast at first sight. Handling this guy makes me want the rest; overall, just a great toy, except mine has an issue where the right heel wasn't pinned properly so the heel cannot swing out to a full 90 degrees. As a result of the stresses this created, the part to which the heel is attached has a 4mm crack running down its center from the point where it attaches to the linkage, essentially where it rotates to enable ankle tilt for the heel. If the heel parts weren't integral to attaching the Devastator lower arm piece, I'd just glue the crack and live with his gimp heel. But I'm eventually going to get all these guys, and I will be combining them, so this isn't going to work. I've already contacted TFSource, and hopefully they'll just do a one for one swap. It's really a shame that something so small can ruin what is otherwise a beautiful figure.

Edited August 31, 2016 by M'Kyuun

[Tking22]

Peaughs review of MakeToys Despotron:

He looks really good. If MMC doesn't announce one in the next month I have to get him.

A very cool transformation indeed! But still not the MP Megs for me, his legs and head look awful, I still gotta stick with Mightron.

[Dangard Ace]

My Apollyon is still G1 Megatron and still the only one that comes with silencer. IMO Despotron is Dreamwave version of G1 Megatron. G1 based but Pat Lee chunky. Looks good and tempted to buy him. We'll see. Mightron just feels weird to me. Too skinny legs and the chest seems off.

Damn you Sixo and your photoshoots! You made Mightron look better than Despotron.

[sh9000]

So the legs keep sliding down on IDW Despotron? Cool.

[mikeszekely]

Well, not to take away from discussions on Megatrons, but these Constructicons aren't going to review themselves (not that you couldn't watch probably a dozen Youtube reviews). We'll work from the ground up, so tonight we're going to do Mixer, Maketoys' Mixmaster.

Well... he's actually not a bad-looking Mixmaster. Sure, he's not totally G1-accurate, but for a company with a reputation for stylized designs their take on Mixmaster is remarkably restrained. Now, I've obviously still got at least two other Mixmasters to look at before I can declare a definitive champ, but with more green in his arms, flashes of silver in his abdomen, better proportions than CW or TW Mixmaster, and a better solution to the rear-tire kibble than TW, he might actually be the best-looking Mixmaster I currently own. I especially like his chest; it's reminiscent of the G1 toy's sticker details, and it's a look that ToyWorld would go on to use on their Mixmaster. It's too bad he's so much smaller (and the ToyWorld ones so much larger), otherwise I'd be tempted to mix-and-match Constructicons from different sets.

I gotta ask, though... what's up with the kitty cat whiskers?

If you're concerned about the lack of missiles or nozzles on Mixer's hood, don't be- a flip-down panel reveals a pair of molded and painted missiles chilling inside (although it's gotta be hard aiming with that panel in your face...). Speaking of his hood, his combiner port is chilling out up there, out in the open, but it doesn't bother me as much as it did on Wheel Loader.

Mixer, like most Maketoys combiner figures, is mostly ball-jointed: ball joint head, ball joint shoulders that can get about 45 degrees laterally, ball joints for elbows, ball joints for hips (full forward/backward movement, about 45 degrees laterally), ball-jointed ankles for up/down and lateral tilt, and like Wheel Loader even a ball-jointed waist for swivel and a little ab crunch. Other joints would be a hinge in the elbows (they're double-jointed), bicep and thigh swivels, and a single-jointed knee hinge that can bend all the way around for transformation. Also do to his transformation, he's got butterfly joints where his shoulders are connected to his chest. Really, the only thing he's missing is a wrist swivel, but some of my favorite 3P toys are missing wrist swivels. For the most part, I think he's got plenty of articulation, but his main failing here is that he's the loosest of the six Maketoys Constructicons I have.

Again, all the accessories are part in a the gift set, but this is the gun the instructions say is his.

In addition to a gun, we mustn't forget that this is a Maketoys combiner, so all the combiner bits need a home in all three modes. For robot mode, it falls to Mixer to carry Giant's forearms. They just plug into the mixing drum on his back. As with other Maketoys/FP combiners, it's not something I'd do personally, but it's nice to have the option.

And here's Mixer in mixer truck mode. For the most part, everything I said about Wheel Loader applies here. Maketoys has taken care to combine molded detail with smart use of paint to craft an alt mode that fairly realistic. If it weren't plastic it could almost pass for a non-transforming diecast toy. Mixer looks so good in alt mode that I'm willing to forgive the lack of Mixmaster's silver grill and the fact that the mixing drum doesn't rotate. I'd also prefer a purple mixing drum, but honestly the bits of purple torso peaking out and at the white/red striping on the drum do enough color break up for me that I'm not too bent up about it.

Just like Wheel Loader, it falls to Mixer to tow one of the portable generators that become Giant's forearms. His weapon can be also be pegged onto the side in alt mode. And, once again, we have the combiner port very visible on the rear of the vehicle. I don't mind it as much here, though. Unlike Wheel Loader, it's not dominating the space, nor is it hanging out where a grill should be. Although it's not really how a real mixing truck works, my brain can buy the port as being where the mix exits the drum.

So yeah, turns out Mixer's a pretty good Mixmaster. Maybe even the best Mixmaster. In a total vacuum, he'd be a recommend from me. However, I've already denounced Maketoys' effort at a Scrapper, and combining Constructicons from different sets probably isn't the best way to go (especially if you want them to combine!). As good as he is, he's not as fun as a stand-alone as someone like GT's Scraper, so you should probably wait for the rest of my reviews before deciding if the Giant set is the way you want to go.

[dizman]

Just watched the Despotron review, what a clever way to hide some of the more troublesome parts of Megatron's gun mode. To top it off the transformation looked almost bearable compared to the other offerings. I'll probably wait to see what QC issues may arise with the first run but if all turns out well Despotron may be the Megs I end up with. I'm still in for a green and purple tank Megatron if any 3p companies are foolish enough to make one .

[Tking22]

Heavy breathing...

I can't wait, I think I might NEED them. MMC and FansToys just didn't do it for me, both of these guys look amazing though.

[mikeszekely]

Tonight: Maketoys' Dump Truck, their Long Haul. Soon: MOAR CONSTRUCTICONS!!!

So... yeah. Yeesh. I mean, it's toys like this that have people arguing in favor of ToyWorld's Constructor's partsforming. Dump Truck is suffering, and suffering hard, because his robot mode was clearly given the least priority after Maketoys' figured out how to make a dump truck into waist, hips, crotch, and thighs of Giant. It almost doesn't feel fair to point out that there is zero resemblance to G1 Long Haul aside from having some green and some dump truck parts on him. His proportions, especially the squat, t-shaped torso, are all over the place. His hands, which are both larger than his own head and larger than Combiner Wars Long Haul's, are especially ridiculous. If someone had handed me this toy and told me it was from one of the Bayverse films, I'd believe him.

For articulation, Dump Truck's head is on a ball joint, and his ball-jointed shoulders both rotate and can extend laterally about 90 degrees. Due to the way he transforms, he's got a nice butterfly motion, too. He's got bicep swivels, and, a rarity in this set, wrist swivels. His elbows are double-jointed, but kibble prevents you from getting the full range out of it. His waist is actually a ratcheted swivel. His hips are ratcheted universal joints that can go all the way forward but only about 45 degrees laterally. His thigh swivels are ratcheted. His knees are ratcheted (I have in my notes 45 degrees of bend, but I think I meant 90). Although his ankles are ball joints their ability to tilt is limited.

The wheels are a point of annoyance. They move, and there doesn't seem to be any way to lock them down.

Dump truck's got a few more accessories, according to the instructions, than the rest of team. There is, of course, his gun. He is also supposed to be able to carry Giant's chest plate as a shield, but I couldn't get it into his Hulk hands- it seems like there's not enough space between the handle and the back of his shield.

There are also these chromed bits. The instructions tell you to have them pegged on the back of his arms, but the peg on them fits into his hands, if you like. These pieces are honestly something of a peeve for me, though. I mean, if they did something cool in truck mode, maybe they'd be alright...

...but they just chill out in his bed. Maybe if they did something cool in combined mode (spoiler: they do something, but it isn't that cool)?

His truck mode, for the most part, is pretty nice. It fits with the realistic look that we saw on Wheel Loader and and Mixer Truck. My earlier complaint about the wheels still stands in this mode: there's no real way to lock them in place. The bed doesn't articulate. Due to the bed actually forming arms instead of legs, you can't even fudge it.

Speaking of his bed, he's not going to be a very useful dump truck if his bed's always full of crap. In addition to the chrome pieces, he's got Giant's chest plate folded up and wedged in there. And it's not just pegged to the bed; without it, you're actually missing a chuck of the back of the bed. In fact, if you take the extras out of the bed, you're not just exposing a missing chunk. You're suddenly confronted by the fact that a large portion of the bed is a greebly purple swath in what ought to a green truck bed. The purple isn't purple parts, either. It's purple paint on green parts. You can tell, because the paint job here his pretty sloppy.

Oh, and without the stuff in the bed the combiner pegs hanging off the back seem more noticeable.

Oddly enough, for all the crap that goes into his bed, his gun doesn't. In alt mode, his gun pegs onto the side. And despite pegging onto the side, unlike Wheel Loader or Mixer Truck it's not attached in a way that makes him look like a construction vehicle armed for battle. The barrel is actually pointed toward the rear, and angled to follow the base of the bed.

Long Haul seems like a difficult character to do. The official Combiner Wars version also has really odd proportions due to the priority given to combined mode, and even ToyWorld's, which uses partsforming to escape a lot of the issues that CW Long Haul and Dump Truck here ran into, still has issues with stability. And yet, in a field of flawed Long Hauls, Maketoys' Dump Truck is probably the worst one. If you're looking for a good Long Haul, look elsewhere; even CW Long Haul is better. As a component in a Devastator, well, that review is coming.

[JB0]

I kinda like the parts going into the dumper. From the side, it looks like a dump truck full of stuff.

[mikeszekely]

I kinda like the parts going into the dumper. From the side, it looks like a dump truck full of stuff.

If the dumper's always full, though, how can Long Haul remove stuff?

I guess it works for him, though. He didn't join that outfit to be a dump truck.

[Tking22]

Oh boy, oh boy! I really can't wait now!

Still the best looking options in my opinion, they look pretty damn amazing!

[mikeszekely]

I'm glad you're excited, but I never saw Trailbreaker as that "main" of a character, I guess.

That begs, the question, though... while pretty much all the toys prior to the '86 movie had at least a small part in one episode, other characters definitely had more screen time. And while my collection has largely been combiner focused, I'm adding a few Autobots now to help address the fact that they were outnumbered in my collection at around 5-1... so who do you guys consider the "main" characters to be? The Autobot "must-haves", if you will.

Here's what I'm thinking, but I'd appreciate some input.

-Optimus Prime

-Bumblebee

-Jazz

-Wheeljack

-Hound

-Mirage

-Ratchet

-Ironhide

-Brawn

-Cliffjumper

[Tking22]

I'm glad you're excited, but I never saw Trailbreaker as that "main" of a character, I guess.

That begs, the question, though... while pretty much all the toys prior to the '86 movie had at least a small part in one episode, other characters definitely had more screen time. And while my collection has largely been combiner focused, I'm adding a few Autobots now to help address the fact that they were outnumbered in my collection at around 5-1... so who do you guys consider the "main" characters to be? The Autobot "must-haves", if you will.

Here's what I'm thinking, but I'd appreciate some input.

-Optimus Prime

-Bumblebee

-Jazz

-Wheeljack

-Hound

-Mirage

-Ratchet

-Ironhide

-Brawn

-Cliffjumper

Trailbreaker definitely isn't one of the main characters in my opinion, nor is he a character I even really like, but he is original Arc crew, so I need an MP of him. I'd say if you're looking to only cover the most necessary Autobots then you need at least one of the Datsun bros, I'd say Prowl. You also need one Lambo character, and to that I'd say Sideswipe.

[technoblue]

... so who do you guys consider the "main" characters to be? The Autobot "must-haves", if you will.

I would vote for the dinobots, although it took me a long time to come around to the third-party versions. You might have better luck with them since there are more options today, and some even combine! For carbots, I agree with Tking22. Sideswipe/Red Alert and Streak/Prowl are great if you want to fill out that core list. I think Sideswipe has the added benefit of not dying in the animated film, which is a benefit only a few of the original series bots can claim (like the dinobots).

Edited September 2, 2016 by technoblue

[mikeszekely]

I actually meant to have Prowl on the list. I'm surprised I forgot him!

As for the Lambos, I don't remember Sideswipe doing jack after giving Prime his jetpack (except helping get Skyfire out of the ice), I don't remember Sunstreaker doing jack period, and Red Alert just had that one episode where he hung out with Starscream (that I remember). Not sure I'd consider them part of the main group, but Sideswipe was actually the first Transformer I owned, so I guess I'll just pick up his MP and call it.

Good call on the Dinobots, technoblue. I know they probably have the worst Swoop, and I know the combined mode is supposed to be terrible, but I'll probably pick up ToyWorld's Dinobot combiner. Because combiner. Heck, I'll probably get the ToyWorld one, then start tracking down the GCreation ones. I mean, I am working on my second Menasor and third Devastator (not counting the Hasbro ones).

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention, TFSource's weekend sale is Function-X Crox for $39.99. He's going in my stack, then Browning II's the only Function-X mold I'll still need to be caught up.

Edited September 3, 2016 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

Alright, we're moving along with these guys. Tonight it's Mobile Crane, Maketoys' take on Hook.

So, he's kind of not too far off the mark. The purple chest and hips work out ok, he's green where he needs to be, and the wheels on his upper arms are all certainly evocative of Hook. But his head throws me off every time I look at him. It's honestly got the right sculpt, with the flat head and visor eyes, but the green is so out of place. I find myself thinking more about Animated Blitzwing than Hook.

There's also the tiny matter of his right foot being the back of Giant's head. Sure, Giant's head folds up a little, but it's still pretty obvious what you're seeing.

For articulation, Mobile Crane has the usual ball-jointed head. His shoulders are on ball joints, and he can get about 90 degrees laterally before his shoulders hit his head. There's a hinge in there for transformation, but it doesn't gain him anything. His elbows are double-jointed, so he can touch his shoulders. His hips are ball jointed and he can kick all the way forward or backward, but only spread about 45 degrees. His knees are single-jointed but can get all the way back. He does have thigh swivels. For what he's got, his joints feel better than the leg bots. But Mobile Crane is suffering in a lot of ways. He has no waist swivel, no bicep swivels, no wrist swivels, and no ankle articulation of any kind because he really doesn't have feet.

That's the gun that belongs to him, according to the instructions.

In addition to his gun, the crane boom detaches (it's actually required for transforming him). You can mount it onto his arm and he can use it as a sort of weapon.

If you prefer a more tradition boom-on-the-back, there is a mounting point for it. It doesn't sit like it does in vehicle mode, so you see it poking out above his shoulders and head. It also doesn't reach the ground when it's fully retracted. Impressively, Mobile Crane didn't have any trouble standing while carrying the boom on his back.

Mobile Crane's alt mode is, perhaps, the weakest of the Giant team. It's not really bad, but a lot of the realistic molded detail and smart use of paint we've seen on the other three comes across as sort of greebly lumps. The rear cab for the crane boom looks like it's half the size of the driver's cab. You can also see the back of Mobile Crane's head chilling near the boom's deck. It makes me think that Maketoys' made his head green so he'd blend in better.

But when we look at him from a different angle, you've again got Giant's big black head just chilling out there. I suppose you could always pop it off if you want a cleaner look and you're ok with partsforming.

Mobile Crane's boom extends to about double the length, and the hook at the end is hinged so you can pose it how you like. His boom should also rotate. I say should because mine didn't. I took it apart, and it looked like there's a ratchet inside, but the ratchets are made of a translucent red plastic. When I put it back together I both stripped the screw and broke the ratchet. It spins freely now... too freely.

In alt mode, Mobile Crane's gun pegs into the end of the boom. I guess, if you're going to arm a crane, that would give you the biggest firing arc, but again I prefer the weapons to be hidden, or just set off to the side.

All-in-all, I find myself thinking that Mobile Crane's not bad. A few years ago I might have even recommended him as a decent "Classics" Hook. Today, though, I think there's likely to be at least two better options by the end of the year.

[mikeszekely]

I try not to hit you guys with too many reviews at a time, and I know I still have two more of Maketoys' Constructicons plus the combined Giant to get through... but I came across this guy and I want to talk about him. So here's ToyWorld's Bii, their Bumblebee. Note that this is the TW-03B version, not the first run, so he's got translucent windows and a metallic gold finish instead of yellow plastic and painted windows.

Bii is, roughly, Deluxe-sized. He's about as tall as the original Classics Bumblebee, but not nearly as chunky, and smaller than the Generations IDW-style Bumblebee from a few years ago.

I'd normally dive right into aesthetics, but I want to get a few more comparisons out of the way.

Bii with MP Prowl, so you can see how that scales.

Now, the elephant in the room is going to be the official MP Bumble, whom I don't have. I was able to find this picture from one Jaysen Ng, though, of MP Bee with the first run Bii. They're fairly similar in size, they both look like Bumblebee, they both have the car's front for feet and roof for torso, but it's amazing how different they actually look. MP Bee has some things going for him, like the yellow crotch with the v-shape, pudgier torso, and thinner limbs with the coil-ish biceps that make him more animation-accurate (although I don't know where Takara came up with that shade of yellow, or why his head is shaped more like Cliffjumper's). I feel like Bii has more heroic proportions and a better head, though. And while someone's sure to point out that a metallic gold Bumblebee is more of a G2 thing, I actually really dig it on Bii.

In some ways, with those proportions and the black crotch, he actually reminds me a lot of Don Figueroa's art from an old Dreamwave source book. It makes me feel like saying that Bii isn't exactly less G1 accurate, but perhaps less Sunbow-accurate, and the look you prefer is largely subjective.

I do have a few aesthetic nitpicks with Bii, though. His bumpers really should have been black. Same with the knee joints. Perhaps the biggest offender is his waist. Due to the way he transforms, Bii's only got one window instead of four on his abdomen. Now, that part I don't mind so much, but the roof on his torso doesn't quite come down all the way to his crotch piece. This exposes some parts inside that were molded in the same gray colors as his knee joints, and it kind of stands out. If ToyWorld would have painted those parts gold, I don't think it'd be as noticeable. On the whole, though, I think those are pretty minor complaints.

Bii has a few advantages over MP Bumble, though. His back cleans up a bit better, and his forearms don't have that hollow gap.

For a little guy, Bii's got plenty of articulation. His head is on a ball joint. He can't tilt his head sideways due to the way it's cut, and he can't really look down because his neck's too short. He's got good upward range, about 45 degrees, which is what you really want for a little guy like Bumblebee. His shoulders are also on ball joints that can rotate and allow him to extend his arms laterally 90 degrees. He's got bicep swivels, tight wrist swivels, and ratcheted elbows that bend 90 degrees. His waist swivels. His ball-jointed hips can move backward and laterally a full 90 degrees, and nearly that forward (the shape of his crotch impedes it slightly). His legs have a tiny amount of swivel movement at the ball-joint, but he's got a full swivel just below the knee to make up for it. Speaking of knees, they're also ratcheted and bend nearly 90 degrees backward. Oddly, they also bend 90 degrees forward. His feet are on ball joints, but instead of a more typical ball peg extending straight down from the bottom of the leg into the top of the foot, the peg extends forward from the base of his shin to a spot just inside the hood. The result is pretty great ankle articulation. He can tilt his foot up 45 degrees, down slightly more so, and a very deep inward ankle tilt. Sure, Bii could be better with double-jointed elbows and knees, hands that open up like MP Bumble (although I hear MP Bumble doesn't have wrist swivels?), or an ab crunch, but it's still easy to get some dynamic poses out of him.

Bii's sole accessory is his gun. Maybe not the most G1-accurate gun (I assume, comparing it to pics of the MP's gun), but it's a nice pistol size for a Bumblebee and fits tightly into his hand.

Moving right along, here's Bii in alt mode. Again, the bumper really ought to have been black, but there's a lot of nice detail here- the translucent windows and headlights, the silver-painted windshield wipers, what appears to be a rear view mirror behind the windshield, silver paint on the mirror side of the side view mirrors (although Beetles only had mirrors on the driver's side), plus molded lines, vents, a spot for the VW badge, and molded lights on the fenders.

Bii with an MP Prowl. From the side here, you can see that Bii's alt-mode proportions are closer to the original G1 toy's Choro-Q proportions. This is probably Bii's biggest strength.

(Again, photo credit to Jaysen Ng.) MP Bumble was going for a realistic Beetle alt-mode. Takara nailed that, for the most part, but it comes across to me as too long for Bumblebee.

Truthfully, he looks too long compared to actual Beetles I've seen, although I freely admit that I don't know enough about older Beetles to say that there wasn't a particular style in a particular year that has proportions more like MP Bumble. But my point is that the Micro Change car that became Bumblebee was based on a Choro-Q mold, and Bumblebee was drawn with the same exaggerated proportions in the cartoon. So, and this is just my opinion, MP Bumble's realistic alt mode doesn't look like Bumblebee to me, but Bii nails it.

A look at Bii's rear. Despite the Choro-Q proportions he's still got enough detail. Here, we see the red-painted tail lights, more molding and vents, and a fun little ToyWorld license plate. That tail pipe is actually the handle of Bii's gun, which is clipped just behind the rear bumper. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I like it when guns can be stored and hidden in car mode.

Honestly, there's a lot I really like about Bii. I think he's got great proportions, cleans up well, and I do prefer the cartoony Beetle. I like that he doesn't have the hollow forearm gaps. Some of the stuff MP Bee does, like the way the doors fold around his feet and the tires turn sideways, Bii did first.

Bii does have some issues, though, that keep him from being perfect. I've already mentioned a few aesthetic ones, and even suggested how he could be better articulated (even though is articulation is fine). What I haven't mentioned is that transforming Bii is kind of a pain. And it's not even the whole transformation; most of it, like the way the roof rotates, how his sides collapse in, etc, is fine. Great, really. But there are two big annoyances. The first and biggest is that the top rear of the car is on a ball joint. During transformation, it has to spin around to fold over the engine cover on Bii's back, but the clearances are very tight and you're very likely going to pop that part off. The second is similar to the first: the windows above the doors fold down, then the door folds onto Bii's heel. The windows are on a hinge, but it's friction without a pin. Bii's legs have to be transformed with the door open and the window up, otherwise his leg will block you from unfolding the window or the door will block Bii's leg from collapsing. Now, there are little gray nubs on the inside of Bii's feet that help hold Bee's legs in place in car mode. You kind of have to work the leg around the numb, but that means you're pulling the leg a little toward the windows. If you're not careful, you'll pop the windows off, although it's a little easier to avoid than popping the rear off the ball joint.

Recommending Bii is tricky. By all accounts, MP Bumble is very good and about the same size. Based on appearances, they both have their pros and cons. Although I've really had no interest in him, I find myself wishing I had a copy of MP Bumble on hand to compare them more directly and tell you which I definitively think is the better Bee. What I can tell you is that I personally like the way Bii looks better, I can tell you that I think Bii is fun but flawed, I can tell you that I'm glad I have him, and I can tell you that I have no motivation to replace him with with MP. But, while I'm happy with him, like I said earlier I think picking between Bee and MP Bumble really comes down to which you personally an subjectively think looks better. So on that note, if you think you might like him better than MP Bumble, then I do recommend Bii. But if you're looking at Bii and thinking that MP Bumble looks better, then get MP Bumble.

[JB0]

Re: real VWs...

There is a lot of variation from year to year, and later Bugs DID have passenger mirrors.

And though there were many externally visible changes over the decades it was in production, I THINK Takara's MP Bumblebee is based on the larger Super Beetle rather than the regular one. This is, to my mind, a mistake. It may just be based on "the wrong year", in which case ... I still think it looks funny.

[mikeszekely]

Well, I had my fun with a little Bii detour, but we've got Constructicons to finish. Tonight, let's have a look at Excavator, Maketoy's Scavanger.

Excavator isn't the radical departure that Dump Truck or Wheel Loader were, but he's not as accurate as Mixer Truck was, either. He's got the silver surfboard on his torso, but it's shrunk. He traded his purple pants for black, although he's still got purple feet. He's carrying his shovel on his arm instead of his back; unlike Mobile Crane, there's no way to move it off of his arm, either. His head is almost Scavenger, but like Mobile Crane the wrong colors throw it off. I guess I'd say he's not too bad, but a tad generic.

Excavator's head is on a ball joint, and he's got ball jointed shoulders with 90 degrees of lateral movement. Bicep, wrist, waist, and thigh swivels are all intact on this guy, and he sports double-jointed elbows. The rest of his joints are all ball joints: hips that can go all the way forward/backward but only about 45 degrees laterally, knees that can bend 90 degrees, and his purple toes which provide a faux ankle tilt.

The gun pictured is supposed to be on, but I couldn't get it to fit onto the slot on his arm.

An obvious reason why the shovel is on Excavator's arm instead of his back would be "because that's the way he transforms". But, he'd have to transform like that somehow; there isn't room on his back for a shovel with all the combiner junk on it.

Those heel spurs, though...

One fun thing you can do with Excavator is transform his arms up a little, then use the handles on the sides of the combined-mode forearms to plug them in to Excavator. Now Dump truck isn't the only guy on the team with huge hands.

With a name like Excavator, you might think that he turns into a Zamboni. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. He turns into an excavator. I know, I'm as disappointed as you are.

Excavator's got some nice details, like the silver paint on the pistons in the shovel, and the black treads do look more realistic than purple ones. However, the realism is diminished by a lot of visible joints and robot parts that aren't green.

Excavator's shovel has just the one joint in the middle for bending, and it can rotate where it's attached to the body. The rotation is nice (and sorely missed on ToyWorld's Scavenger), but I feel like the shovel could have used at least another joint at the scoop, and possible one more at the base. The gun that I couldn't get on in robot mode has no problem sticking to the side of the vehicle.

Excavator is what he is. He's 'meh'. He's not the best in this set, he's not the worst. He's not really a good toy, he's not really a bad toy. He's not the kind of figure that makes you say "I hate this, why'd I buy it?", but nor is he the kind of toy you keep on your desk and have fun fiddling with . I think he's a decent Scavenger to stick in with your Classics figures, but I'm not going to recommend him because I think you can do better.

[mikeszekely]

Got sick, fell asleep. Woke up and remembered we're still not done with Giant. So here's Bulldozer, Maketoys' version of Bonecrusher (and the first of a few 3P Bonecrushers to be called Bulldozer).

I know I've complained a bit about some of Maketoys' Constructicons not really looking like their official counterparts, but but Bulldozer takes the cake. His head looks nothing like Bonecrusher aside from having some combination of black, silver, and red. His torso looks nothing like Bonecrusher, sporting a cab on his generic-looking body instead of a silver chest formed by a shovel blade. His legs are treads, but Maketoys again went with black (and he's sporting Excavator's purple feet). It's sort of like, you know that one episode of the G1 cartoon where Rodimus has a Matrix vision of the Constructicons building Megatron, and there's more Constructicons than the usual six?

It's almost as if Bonecrusher retired/died/got fired and the other five replaced him with one of the extras in that scene who happened to turn into a bulldozer. I'm not buying this guy as Bonecrusher any more than I'd buy a red-painted Age of Extinction Galvatron as Optimus Prime just because they're both trucks.

I digress. Bulldozer has similar articulation to Excavator. His bicep, wrist, waist, and thigh swivels are all there. His head, shoulders, hips, and feet are all ball joints. As with Excavator, his shoulders can get 90 degrees laterally, his hips just 45. The ball pegs for his shoulders are connected to the torso on hinges for transformation, although you can use them to fudge more lateral range out of his shoulders. His knees still bend 90 degrees, and his elbows are still double-jointed and can curl all the way up. The ball joints in his feet are still the source of his ankle tilt.

Unlike Excavator, his weapon actually fits on his arm.

A look at his back side shows that he's got the same combiner kibble and heel spurs as Excavator. We also see how Maketoys dealt with the shovel; split it in half, then swing each half around on his hips to flop behind him. I'm not a fan.

Bulldozer does look nice in alt mode. The cab and caution stripes are nicely done, and he's less bothered by combiner bits, greebles, and exposed joints than Excavator and Mobile Crane. The shovel blade has some nice molded panels and rivets, and the arms holding it look like pistons. Unfortunately, something I forgot to mention about Excavator, there are no wheels on the treads (nor do the treads themselves move like ToyWorld's).

The shovel itself is articulated both were it attaches to the vehicle and at the shovel blade, so you can do some posing with it. And like the others, his weapon can be mounted onto the side of his alt mode.

Bulldozer, in terms of quality and articulation, would be one of the better members of this set. But as I said at the beginning of this review, I don't buy him as Bonecrusher at all. He's not redesigned the way Hasbro's Classics Transformers often were at the time; it's so different that it'd be like trying to redesign Batman and coming up with Superman. On his own, I don't recommend him if you're looking for a Classics Bonecrusher... but I might suggest him if you wanted the extra Constructicons from Rodimus' Matrix vision.

[JET7]

KBB-MP10v, great size.. great for its prize.

'

[CoryHolmes]

OP: Good Grimlock *pet pet pet*

Grim: Me, Grimlock, no pet! Me king! *chomp!*

[mikeszekely]

Wrapping up a long weekend by wrapping up a combiner review. Tonight we're doing Maketoys' Giant, their version of Devastator and (if I'm not mistaken) the first full 3P combiner (at least the yellow version, anyway).

While the individual Constructicons were a bit of a letdown, there's no question that Maketoys nailed Devastator. The colors and proportions are spot on. The black treads actually give him a bit of symmetry and break up the green, and I find that I don't miss the purple and green as much in this mode. And the realistic alt modes give Giant a level of detail that makes him look like an actual robot made of actual construction vehicles instead of merely a toy or a cartoon. I think it's a testament to the design that after how many years and how many Devastators Giant is still one of the best-looking.

Giant's head is on a ball joint. His shoulders have ratchets for both rotation and lateral movement. The elbow parts have soft ratchets for bending as well as a swivel. His wrists can swivel, and each finger can move independently, although they're not as articulated as more modern combiner hands. Each pin is hinged at the base and molded into a curve with no additional joints. The thumb is connected to the hand on a ball joint and molded straight, again with no additional joints. He does have a waist swivel, although it's impeded by the tires on his hips. Speaking of hips, they're ratcheted universals for forward/backward and lateral movement. I didn't test the range in combined mode, but they're Dump Truck's hips and should be similar. Both his knees and his thigh swivels are ratcheted. The big ball joints in Wheel Loader and Mixer Truck's waist become ball jointed ankles for Giant.

Giant's gun is made by combining the six individual weapons. The handle has tabs that fit into slots on Giant's palms, and he holds the gun quite securely.

Up to this point in the review (aesthetics and articulation), the biggest complaint I have are the hip and knee joints, plus the Wheel Loader foot. Despite being ratcheted, the hips and knees aren't really strong enough. Combine that with the fact that Wheel Loader gets a lot of his stability from the fact that the partsforming engine piece holds his arms together and I wound up with issues keeping Giant upright, and you could forget dynamic poses for his legs.

A lesser aesthetic complaint is that there are flaps that open up on Mobile Crane to reveal the shoulder ports. They don't really fold down or anything. You can kind of lose the left one in the crane, but the one on his right just sits there.

Giant comes in the giftset with two heads. The one on the left is the alternate, and is based on the head that came with Yellow Giant. I like the more normal Devastator face and silver forehead on it, but I have all kinds of issues with it. The socket seems too small; I couldn't get it on the ball joint with any amount of force I felt comfortable using. Even supposing I could get it on, it can't fold up the way the other face does, nor is the socket cut enough that it could tilt all the way down, so there'd be no way to hide it on Mobile Crane outside of combined mode. And the reason it doesn't transform seems to be because there might be electronics inside. I say might because there's a tiny switch on it, but toggling the switch didn't do anything on my copy, and I couldn't find any way to open it up to put batteries in it.

You do get some nice options with the default head, though. You can do eyes, or you can slide down a visor, plus the mouth (weird as it is) can open.

A nice touch with Giant is that Mobile Crane's boom can fold down over his back. Sure, a real crane's boom wouldn't have a joint like that, but to me it's always made more sense to have that joint than to have the boom just jutting out behind him like that.

You can also see that those chromed parts that go with Dump Truck are still just kind of chilling out back there. They do have a use now that we're in combined mode, though.

You can turn them around, the fold Giant's fists back in and plug them into his wrists to give Giant... screwdrivers. One Philips head, one flat head.

The crane boom can also be detached. You can take apart the gun, then put the pieces on the boom to give Giant a kind of melee weapon (not pictured).

Size-wise, Maketoys has largely stuck with scaling their newer combiners to Giant, so Giant looks great with Quantron, M3, and Guardia.

However, almost every 3P combiner that isn't from Maketoys or Fansproject is "Warbotron-scaled" (that is, the size of Warbotron's Bruticus plus or minus and inch or two). If you've got combiners from Warbotron, TFC, MMC, or UT then Giant is going to come up short, and it should go without saying that he's much smaller than ToyWorld's Constructor.

Like Maketoys' other combiners, Giant is approximately the same size as most Combiner Wars combiners. In fact, I think Giant goes with them a lot better than the actual Combiner Wars Devastator.

In the course of my review, I've mentioned most of the problems and complaints I have with Giant. I think the only other thing I need to mention is that there's a bit of play between Mobile Crane's legs. This is a big deal because Dump Truck connects to Mobile Crane in just two places with hooks. One of the hooks grabs Mobile Crane between his legs, but because of the play the hook can come back out even if you're not pressing the release. It's not so bad that Giant's top is just going to fall off, but if you pick him up from the top expect to only get half of him.

Recommending Giant is a bit complicated. Look at the following questions:

-Do you want a good-looking Devastator that you're never going to take out of combined mode?

-Do you want a Devastator that's closer in size to your Combiner Wars guys, and you don't mind that the Constructicons often bear little resemblance to their G1 counterparts?

-Are you looking for a Devastator to display with M3, Quantron, and Guardia, but no other 3P combiner?

If you answered yes to one of those three questions, then I think you're probably ok picking up Giant. Like I said before, I still think he's one of the best-looking Devastators you can get, and time + newer options have made Giant relatively cheap. Outside of those scenarios, though, I think you might be better off with a different Devastator. Which one? Well, I still need to get my hands on TFC's Hercules, but I eventually plan on doing special series comparing Hasbro, Maketoys, TFC, ToyWorld, and Generation Toys' Devastators so we can settle that question once and for all.

[nhyone]

Green Giant used to look good, but he has been eclipsed.

IMO, the most G1-looking and proportionally-sized Devastator is Takara's UW-04, more-so with DNA DK-01 add-on kit. The bot-mode for the Constructicons is compromised, but I can live with it.

[SuperHobo]

Giant is one of the most solid 3rd party combiners out there. At least on mine his ratchets on the hips and knees are rock solid and support any pose. His ball joint ankles could be a snug tighter, but not too bad. Takara's Devy can be my psuedo masterpiece and Giant can go with the other smaller unite warrior guys.

[vlenhoff]

Which company is producing the Trailbreaker in pictures above?

Thanks in advance

Nice reviews Mikesz, thanks.

[technoblue]

I think that is BadCube's version.

[mikeszekely]

Nice reviews Mikesz, thanks.

Stay tuned, I've got at least two more before I leave for China (hopefully more; I'm waiting for TFSource to get in a preorder that most of the other big stores already got).

Oh, and I'm amending my review of GT's Scraper. I was too lazy to pull apart ToyWorld's Constructor when he came in, but after giving it some thought (and going through Giant) I feel like Generation Toy vs ToyWorld is what most people are actually going to want to see as I get the GT Constructicons in. So...

Combiner Wars Scrapper, GT's Scraper, and ToyWorld's Shovel, robot modes. Let's be honest, MT's Wheel Loader is out, and was always going to be out, and I don't have TFC's version of Scrapper. Of these three, CW Scrapper looks the most like the cartoon, but I'm not a fan of his thin feet, hollow forearms and the backs of his legs, or his lack of articulation. Shovel is the most "MP-sized", and has a nice blend of G1 aesthetics and greater detail. GT's is the most stylized, but he feels the most dynamic in hand and is probably the most fun of the three.

The same three in alt mode. CW Scrapper's cartoonish appearance is, in my book, a huge con here. With his open canopy Shovel is actually the most G1 accurate of the three. Although he's got a bit more color, he's also pretty close to the G1 toy. Again, though, I'd say my favorite is Scraper. While one might argue that all the little details make him look too busy, I really dig how GT tried to give Scraper a realistic alt mode.

Of course, that's just between Scrappers. Considering I initially went with ToyWorld because I thought their Constructicons looked better but I'm now getting the GT Constructions because I wound up not liking how ToyWorld's combined Devastator looked you guys might want to wait until I do this for all six + combined mode.