Transformers

I thought Zeta Toys tried this and got its derriere handed to it by HasTak behind the wood shed.

https://tformers.com/full-reveal-of-01-studio-cell-unofficial-unicron-with-a-head/36539/news.html

Pre-orders are open, too.

The Chosen Prime

Show.Z Store

Yeah, Zeta got themselves a new name to sell their Unicron under.  Some degree of separation in case Hasbro brings the hammer down again.  

I'm tentatively excited to see TFCon October in Chicago again this year.  Hopefully it won't get cancelled.  

54 minutes ago, Galvatim said:

I'm tentatively excited to see TFCon October in Chicago again this year.  Hopefully it won't get cancelled.  

I'm pondering whether it would be worth it to book a flight + hotel room but the current obvious problems makes that idea less than ideal.

I missed the LA one last year and hoped to hear/read an announcement for TFcon LA 2020. That's not likely to happen now. This makes the idea of the Chicago one enticing despite the current situation.

I got in a shipment of TF toys. I specifically bought figures made by NewAge. I'll hide almost all the images because I have a few to post.

Spoiler

 

While I'll eventually get the NewAge figures incorporated into my NSFW comics, none of the photos in this post are from said comics.

 

 

 

Agamemnon and Lucifer were purchased from Toy Dojo.

ToyHax labels added. Size comparison with Voyager Class Earthrise StarAYIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE

I took a look at video reviews of both Aggie and Lucy via YouTube. The reviews convinced me I should buy them. These guys are indeed awesome. The engineering which went into them is extremely impressive.

These are my first third party "Legends Class" purchases. I'm generally not into Legends Class figures. However, I now want(ed) to add some to my collection for one reason. I want(ed) figures which would scale well with Siege Omega 🌮🍕 Supreme. I decided to take a chance and the plunge.
 

Spoiler

 

 

They... scale a lot better with Omega than I expected.

I've rambled on and off about how I place a priority on figures with swappable faces because I make photo comics. Not-Megatron has that feature. Not-StarAYIIIIIIIEEEE doesn't. However, that won't matter much with the NewAge figures because I bought them specifically for better scaling with Omega. Face swapping is nice but I won't need to do much of that, if at all, with figures of this size.

The figures do not feel cheap. I was at first balking at the price tag but I took a chance. Now that I've had an opportunity to play with them a bit, I can see why they're so expensive despite their tiny size. I'm going to get value for my money here and I'm looking forward to buying additional third party Legends Class figures.

The NewAge figures are easy and enthusiastic recommendations from me.

Edited March 24, 2020 by growcian

I have a few of Newage's figures, Bumblebee, Prowl, Blue Bluestreak and Jazz.  Bluestreak is pretty nice, Prowl is well made, Bumblebee is on the shelf with my Iron Factory Autobots, and Jazz sucks, because he lacks door wings in robot mode.  I'm totally biased, Jazz is a personal favorite, as I owned not only the original G1 toy, (which fell to pieces after just a few years) but the Pretender, Actionmaster and G2 versions as a kid.  The transformation is clever, it's not really a bad figure, like I said, I have a personal bias towards the look of toy Jazz, over the cartoon.  

And speaking of Jazz...

Let me see your Jazz hands!

Kieth's Fantasy Club MP Ironhide articulated hands just happen to fit on Downbeat.  Or Maestro, in this case.  Another way to add a bit of expression to your figure.  The gun still tabs in perfectly.

I still want a VF-1S Jetfire at about this size, but Siege Skyfire doesn't look too bad with Masterpiece/Fans Hobby Powermaster Optimus.  

2 hours ago, Galvatim said:

Kieth's Fantasy Club MP Ironhide articulated hands just happen to fit on Downbeat.  Or Maestro, in this case.  Another way to add a bit of expression to your figure.  The gun still tabs in perfectly.

😮

Thanks for this info. 😃 In addition to different face plates, I find having articulated hands to be quite useful for my purposes.

2 minutes ago, growcian said:

😮

Thanks for this info. 😃 In addition to different face plates, I find having articulated hands to be quite useful for my purposes.

Just be aware that the Ironhide hands are gray, and don't quite match.  Maestro actually has a very dark gray instead of black, but it's still not a match.  It seems KFC has dropped their MP articulated hands series, too.  No articulated hands for MP18+ Bluestreak.  I have the hands for Ratchet and G2 Sideswipe as well, and another company's kit for MP-10 Optimus that I picked up included articulated hands, too.  

Some time ago, I bought the Kotobukiya kits of Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.

I now have more recent acquisitions. The kits below are by Furai / Flame Toys.

I finished building Thundercracker. I haven't finished building Skywarp.

I mentioned the bits about the Kotobukiya kits at the beginning because instead of sticking to what comes in the Flame Toys kits, I created a custom neck joint so I can use the Koto kits' seeker heads on the Flame Toys kits' bodies.

Measurement in inches.

Measurement in centimeters.

Size comparison with Voyager Class Earthrise Starscream.

 

The finished kit's articulation is just plain awesome. Playing around with it and putting Thundercracker into different poses is a lot of fun.

It's too bad the tolerance issues make building him a chore. This kit has a different type of tolerance issue when compared to the IDW Prime and Megs kits. Fortunately, none of the tolerance issues led to a deal breaker but they did make the kit less fun to build than it could have been.

Another not-so-great part is the included stickers. They're foil stickers and highly reflective. They look nice. Unfortunately, they're extremely thin and difficult to apply properly onto the kit.

Since my plan with this version of Thundercracker is to make him pose like mad and use him as an actor in my comics, I didn't bother to paint him from head to toe. I applied some paint accents using Gundam Markers, did some panel lining, and applied basic weathering.

Flame Toys' TF kits have so far been consistent with the tolerance issues with every single kit I built so far. I'll basically say the same thing as I already said in the past: I can't recommend this kit to beginners. Beginners wouldn't know how to deal with the tolerance issues. I would steer newbies away from this kit and would only suggest it to somewhat experienced builders who want to build a robot which isn't a Gundam.

@growcian, Thundercracker got a big head after his film won at the Oscars?  

 

I received the Fans Hobby Master Builder MB-04 Gunfighter II (G2 Laser Optimus) I ordered from eBay last night.

Matrix chamber.

With G2 Jazz.

Ironhide wonders why his leader is always changing his look.  Optimus just can't figure out what's on Ironhide's chest.  

 

Finished building Skywarp.

On 4/3/2020 at 8:03 PM, Galvatim said:

@growcian, Thundercracker got a big head after his film won at the Oscars?

We can't have that now, can we? Someone needs to teach him and Skywarp a lesson!

As much as I complain about the tolerances of Furai / Flame Toys kits, these seeker kits look absolutely awesome when finished. Unlike with some other companies' kits due to tolerances, I didn't irreparably break something while building the Furai kits.

In other non-news, I got a sweet deal on Siege Megs.

Anyone else who wants one can still buy at this price (as of this writing).

A family photo I guess 

here is my generation toy Tyrant as joe exotic with Mastermind Creations Jaguar 

Edited April 10, 2020 by F-15alice
the image didnt work

Doccat!

The insert for the cassette case is also the instruction sheet.  

This guy is based on Glit, an obscure redeco of Ravage from the notorious Transformers: Kissplayers.  I bought the original, along with the other two cassettes he came with, mostly because I thought they looked cool.  Glit is the Decepticon medic, although he seems more like a neutral from his bio, treating the wounded of either faction.  Shattered Glass Ravage also looks like Glit, but isn't a character I care for.  

This is my first Mastermind Creations Ocular Max Remix series purchase, and the quality matches their other releases.  

I also got KBB MP-10V, the shrunken KO of MP-10 Optimus.  You can see here that he's noticeably shorter than TE-01 SG Optimus, and taller than voyager class Siege Optimus. 

He's alright, but doesn't really fit in with mainline deluxe and voyager class figures, due to the different style of the Masterpiece line.  Also, his gun looks small.  

On 4/10/2020 at 3:03 PM, Galvatim said:

Also, his gun looks small.  

Since he's a KO of the MP-10, that's not surprising. MP-10's gun looked small for the MP-10 as well. At least there's the gun folding gimmick so you can store it in his back compartment.

I keep flip flopping over whether to buy some version of the Ocular Max Ravage figure. As usual, I find myself seeing the decision being made for me by waffling long enough. Just when I think I might pull the trigger on a purchase, the retailers I usually buy from goes out of stock (or closes pre-orders). That's clearly a sign I don't make Ravage a priority but there's enough of a want there to make me flip flop in the first place.

Considering my Optimus Prime collection, it's a wonder I didn't buy this sooner.

Light of Justice MS-B18X is basically a scaled down version of Magic Square's Light of Freedom MS-01X. This guy is as awesome as the TF reviewers on YouTube said he was.

The way he scales with NewAge Agamemnon is just amazing. While they were manufactured by different companies, the scaling between these two is perfect.

Like with the Earthrise version of Prime, I'm not sure how much play value I'll get out from the trailer. I do have to say the trailer is very well made. However, that's at the bottom of my checklist for why I made this purchase. (It's the reason I didn't bother taking photos of that.)

I basically wanted a Prime who would scale well with mini-Megs and Siege Omega 🌮🍕 Supreme. MS-B18X does that job exceptionally.

...and a potential pre-order SNAFU is now in the works.

I have FT-21 Berserk on pre-order from The Chosen Prime. I received an e-mail saying the following this morning.

Quote

Dear Customer,

We have been asked by Fans Toys to stop taking Pre-Orders for FT-25 Outrider and FT-21 Berserk.  While your order will remain in place, there will be some changes in the coming weeks/months that will affect this item.   Since this item has been up for Pre-Order for some time and they have decided to redesign the items, they will have an increase in price and we will make those adjustments once we have been notified of the new pricing and offer the item back up for Pre-Order.  At this time, you are welcome to log into your account and cancel this item or simply leave the order in place and we will update the price when we receive the new information.  In the event the item was Pre-Paid, store credit will be issued for the balance.  We appreciate your understanding and look forward to servicing your transformer purchases now and in the future!

Interestingly, TCP's order page for Berserk is still up (at the same $145 price I pre-ordered at) and remains unchanged.

As usual, I have a bad feeling about this. Considering FT-44 Thomas' asking price, I'm expecting the sticker price for Berserk to jump by $75 to match its fellow triple changer.

What I wrote above might sound silly, especially coming from someone who buys large scale dolls and doll clothing which cost many times more than a $200 TF toy. However, I specifically look for value in my purchases. What do I mean by value? It means if I pay a certain amount of money for something, will I feel I got my money's worth from that purchase? Will I feel satisfied (because I got value) or will I feel I got ripped off (because I overpaid)? Considering the TF toys I'm looking to purchase are by no means inexpensive, I want to make sure I get satisfaction from however much I spend.

For now, I'm going to leave my pre-order for Berserk alone. The worst hasn't happened yet so I have the luxury of time concerning whether I want to go through with the purchase. I don't need to go pre-ballistic over a price increase I don't know the amount of at this time. I can go ballistic *after* I know what the price increase is.

As for FT-25 Outrider, I don't need another Trailbreaker. I'm perfectly happy with X-transbots Aegis and I'm not about to start a Trailbreaker collection. I didn't pre-order Outrider.

EDIT: TF Source now shows Berserk at $220. Time to go... Berserk.

Outrider is now $150 (vs. the old price of $100).

Edited May 1, 2020 by growcian

@growcian, I heard that Berserk might have a price increase, and wasn't thrilled.  Fans Toys' products aren't really worth that much, at least in my opinion.  I know overly complex transformations are all the rage now, but Fans Toys have always been ridiculous.   I'll just keep hoping MMC releases the Triplechangers as part of their Ocular Max line.  I've heard good things about their take on Springer (I have Open and Play Big Spring myself, which is well worth the price, if you just want a nice, low cost Springer).  

I received Maketoys Screamer (G2 Starscream). 

I don't feel like this is a major upgrade over Takara's MP-03/11 mold.  The torso is held together with pins, and started coming apart during transformation.  Jet mode is just okay, not as realistic as MP-03.  

 

 

6 hours ago, Galvatim said:

Fans Toys' products aren't really worth that much, at least in my opinion.  I know overly complex transformations are all the rage now, but Fans Toys have always been ridiculous.

At this moment, I don't have any Fans Toys figures. I have three on pre-order: Hunk, Berserk, and Thomas. I don't know firsthand how overly complex Fans Toys robots are with their transformations.

You might recall my quest to acquire modern versions of the G1 toys I own or used to own. I also want to buy modern versions of G1 characters I wanted back in the day but couldn't afford. I bought something I was satisfied with for Blitzwing but I never owned any version of Astrotrain. Back in the day, I wanted both triple changers but could only afford one. A kid I knew at school had Astrotrain so I ended up buying Blitzwing.

Fast forward to more recent times, I didn't like the Astrotrain who was a Headmaster and I balked at the WFC Siege release because I came to the conclusion it's awful. I also found plenty of things I didn't like about Chigurh and other unlicensed 3P attempts. FT-44 Thomas is the first Astrotrain I've seen I would be happy with but there's still a bit of a sticker shock. I decided to buy Thomas so I also decided to place a pre-order for Berserk as well. With Thomas and Berserk being $220 / $145 respectively, I didn't like the asking prices but I was willing to deal with them.

Then came the e-mail about the price increase for Berserk. While the e-mail provided no price increase info, the $75 jump is pretty much confirmed as of this writing.

I might get value for Berserk despite the price jump. I'm going to have to see *something* we haven't already seen before its release, though. I hope to see some kind of pre-production prototype being passed on from YouTube reviewer to reviewer at some point. Yeah, the prototype figure will have some issues but I should be able to tell enough from the pre-production sample to determine whether I'll get my money's worth at $220 per figure.

My pre-orders are with TCP. I built up some points there which I can convert into gift certificates. They won't amount to much but I can slightly offset the toys' costs with the points/certificates.

However, if I become convinced Berserk isn't worth it at $220, I'll end up canceling my pre-order for Thomas as well. This is specifically a "both or neither" situation for me.

6 hours ago, Galvatim said:

I received Maketoys Screamer (G2 Starscream).

I don't feel like this is a major upgrade over Takara's MP-03/11 mold.  The torso is held together with pins, and started coming apart during transformation.  Jet mode is just okay, not as realistic as MP-03.

I took a vacation last year and told myself I'll buy (Howling) Meteor after I get back from it. Before I went on vacation, BBTS had Meteor in stock. I later kicked myself. After I got back from vacation, Meteor was gone with no prospects of a restock. I managed to write Starscream into my comics using other toys of Starscream I was able to acquire, so I don't need a Masterpiece-scale Starscream now.

I like Maketoys' seeker mold for the robot mode. For the plane mode, I prefer the MP-11 mold.

This might be old news, but something I happened to stumble on in random browsing; an animated (3DCG) Transformers movie is coming:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/animated-transformers-prequel-works-toy-story-4-director-1292556

Time to say something about the cheap Megatron.

The first thing I did immediately after taking him out from his package was to use lacquer thinner and a paper towel to get rid of the messy silver splashes masquerading as battle damage. I didn't wipe off everything. I only wiped off the crud on his chest and shins. This had less than desired results. I actually wiped off the silver crud from Siege Prime's thighs without any issues using lacquer thinner. However, that was only true for Siege Prime. Siege Megs created a new challenge after wiping off the crud. Both the chest and shins ended up with very messy residues of glossy paint. I also discovered the shins are actually painted with very dark brown based on what was left on the paper towel. I later used Mr. Super Clear on his chest and shins. His chest looked even messier afterwards so I used several grades of fine grit sandpaper. The mess you'll see below (hidden under the spoiler tag) might not be squeaky clean now but it looked a lot worse before I used the sandpaper. As messy as it might be, I prefer what his chest looks like now compared to what it used to look like with the silver crud. The shins looked fine after spraying Mr. Super Clear so I didn't use sandpaper on them.
 

Spoiler

Let's take a look at his alt mode.

Spoiler

Side by side with Earthrise Optimus Prime.

If you don't look at the bottom side, his tank mode actually looks pretty good.

In terms of size, he's pretty much as tall as Siege and Earthrise Prime.

Spoiler

Now for things I find annoying other than the silver crud which plagued the Siege line.

Spoiler

Wrist Gapformers.

The tank parts make him back heavy in robot mode.

Pros:

• Robot mode looks great from the front.
• As long as you don't look at it from the bottom side, the tank mode looks great as well.
• The addition of the sword accessory used for his alt mode turns out to be a fun accessory.

(Decepti)Cons:

• Silver crud which tainted the Siege line rears its ugly head.
• Speaking of head, that doesn't turn 180 degrees so Megatron's face is visible in his alt mode by looking at it from the bottom.
• The "wrist gap" says this toy was cheaply made.
• "Backpack" makes Megs back heavy enough to make him lean backwards.
• The turret of the tank mode has little to no mobility.

Some figures in the Siege line had more realistic sliver crud painted on them than others. Megs has one of the poorer paint jobs among the Siege line.

Megs' head is on a ball peg but wasn't designed to allow a 180-degree turn. WHY?!? While hilarious when looking at his tank mode from the bottom, the fact remains this design aspect was ignored.

Siege Megatron is a Voyager Class figure. I bring this up because of his wrist gap. Siege Starscream is also a Voyager Class figure. Siege Starscream's wrists hide in his forearms while in alt mode. In robot mode, Starscram's arms were designed in a way to hide the gaps created in the forearms. Siege Megatron's arms weren't designed this way at all. Despite both being Voyager Class figures, there was more attention paid to Starscream's robot mode aesthetics than for Megatron. I did all this rambling because this being "a cheap figure and some compromises were made" isn't an excuse, especially when Siege Starscream is the perfect example of how gaps in the forearms can be covered up for toys at the Voyager Class price point.

As for the tank mode's turret, it should not be counted on to be able to move in different angles. It's stuck until you transform Megs back into robot mode. Due to social, political, and business issues, Megatron couldn't be designed as a firearm so a G1-style robot mode had to get shoved into what transforms into a tank. What the tank looks like and its functionality were just afterthoughts.

While I didn't pay full MSRP for Siege Megs, I think I can understand why he was so cheap; I don't think he sold very well. I got value by paying about 53% of MSRP. I'm fairly certain I would have felt like I got ripped off at full MSRP.

Edited May 3, 2020 by growcian

More NewAge seekers. Images hidden behind the tag.

Spoiler

 

Interestingly, both Decepticons' boxes say, "All Hail Agamemnon". Agamemnon is NewAge's name for its Megatron. All Hail Megatron is a famous story among those who read the IDW comics.

I love the fact Samael (Skywarp) came with a different face sculpt compared to his "brothers". Faces aren't swappable but I'm not expecting that feature with 4-inch (10cm) figures.

Leviathan (Thundercracker) actually included a replacement lower body upgrade part for Agamemnon. While the lower body parts can be acquired separately, I'm glad I didn't have to.

Comapred to what Agamemnon's included torso looks like, the upgrade was welcome.

Back to the Seekers...

 

Now that I have the three primary Seekers, I don't think I'll be dipping into the Coneheads version. While the three of these guys look great together, I don't want six of them. NewAge made many other color variants as well but I don't think I'll bother with them either. I got my money's worth with three. My enjoyment will have diminishing returns if I buy more of the same (or nearly identical) Seeker mold figures.

I'm very impressed with these Legends Class figures from NewAge. While I mentioned I don't want to buy additional Seeker mold figures, there are too many other NewAge figures I would like to buy at this moment. 😅💸

MP14+ Red Alert (anime ver.). 

I like the gray used on in place of white.  I don't recall Red Alert being gray on the cartoon, but there's not much I recall about Red Alert in the cartoon.

Robot mode is cool.  There are a few little details that are remolded from Sideswipe, like fake wheels on the shoulders.  

I upgraded Ironhide with the Shadow Fisher front wheel kit.  The front wheel well panels stay on the chest, instead of hanging off the waist.  

Now Ironhide can kick Decepticreeps out of the sky.  

8 minutes ago, Galvatim said:

MP14+ Red Alert (anime ver.). 

At first glance I thought that said "FUD" on it.

I always wondered why the original G1 versions of Ratchet and Ironhide differed so vastly from the cartoon show versions.  Was it that difficult back in the day to make the robot modes even close to the cartoon style?  Or were they just lazy when swapping over Takara designs that were already existing in toy form?  As a kid I always wanted an Ironhide that looked like he did in the cartoon.  I got his original toy for my B-day one year and was just so unhappy with how he looked in robot mode.  I loved the character so it was disappointing to see him all funky in toy form. 

 

 

Billy