nhyone

42 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

My impression of them is comes entirely from the cartoon, and compared to that I find the toy heads overly generic.

I have the toys and I watched the cartoons. I only remember how Motormaster and Menasor look like.

It is slightly better for Aerialbots as I know there's one with orange head. 

1 hour ago, JB0 said:

It bugs me a lot that they describe him as a "berserkar". If it is a pun, it is a bad one and should be "bersercar". If it is an error, it is an offensive one and they should learn to spellcheck.

Is there anything offensive about this word that I missed?

I googled it and 'berserker' is a word. (With 'e', not 'a'.) Maybe they think 'kar' is closer than 'car'.

12 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Waiting for the release of XTB’s Motormaster.

XTB is so far ahead of its competitors, there is no urgency to release MM. They can easily release him 1 year later and still be ahead.

11 hours ago, tekering said:

Of course, this constant competition always leads to analysis paralysis, and I never end up buying any version as a result.  (See MP Stunticons, Aerialbots, and Combaticons for more examples of difficult choices I've thus far refrained from making.)

These 'wars' are still ongoing, so you still have time. 

I'm now waiting for some re-issues that may or may not come.

The Wei Jiang gray is too dark, but it looks okay for the blue guardian variant. Very tempted.

(Can't afford to buy FT-20G.)

On 7/27/2019 at 10:03 AM, mikeszekely said:

Anyone have any thoughts on DNA's Susanoo?  Preorders have gone up for a new run with a weathered look, and it seems quite a bit cheaper than the original run at only $80.

If you rather have the original paintwork, both DS-01 and DS-02 can be had at ~300 yuan (US$45) on TaoBao. Shipping to US may add another US$20+ maybe. This is not a strong seller.

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

TFSource is taking preorders for Hasbro's Unicron... at the low, low price of $780.  I guess that's what's happening if the crowdfunding fails.  

I thought they provide this as a service for overseas customers? They will back the project on your behalf, for a small $200 handling fee, and that is excluding shipping.

8 hours ago, tekering said:

P.S. This is Unicron were talking about, Mike.  There is no such thing as "too big," much less "way too big."  

Oh yes there is. 

After all the gung-ho size talk, the practicality of storage prevails.

Since this is Zeta Toys with its size fetish, I think this will be Constructor-sized. This is already pretty big.

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I think if they increased the production number to 16000 at a lower price point, say around $300, they'd maybe make quota.

Bobby Skullface brought up something I didn't consider: that HasLab would proceed even if it didn't hit 8,000 backers.

Don't think it would be the case, but it is a possibility.

Zeta teases only the head now. But from their quote, I think they have more in mind.

They play a pun on the word "head" in Chinese.

(It is hard to start [head] any thing, every thing starts with the head.)

Hasbro has competition:

https://m.weibo.cn/status/4396879280142547?

It looks G1, for Zeta anyway. 

It used to be in the past 3P steered clear of TT.

On 7/18/2019 at 12:18 PM, nightmareB4macross said:

The back kind of resembles a deluxe type oversized insecticon beetle.

The legs need more work.

Can the figure stand unassisted?

On 7/18/2019 at 2:25 AM, mikeszekely said:

Yeah, I think I read somewhere that the tooling for the Titan-class Metroplex was around $300,000.  That's before you account for plastic and actually paying the factory to make and assemble the parts.

Somehow, the 27" Lewin MP-01 is sold at US$190 on TaoBao.

This gives an idea the material and manufacturing cost -- since they can skip 99% of the design and engineering.

Also, I don't think it is a high volume product.

8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

So I'm curious what the real reason is for backing out; I think transforming him on video would have raised interest

To avoid giving their engineering secrets away before launch, especially to KO companies.

I imagine a smaller Unicorn will be quite popular.

I'm amazed they still need 8,000 backers at this price point.

11 minutes ago, tekering said:

As one so-called "expert" myself, you've forgotten a few stages of the process.  Third-party manufacturers have sought my cooperation concerning:

• packaging design
• promotional text
• translation
• product photography
• retail distribution
• video reviews

Of course. I'm talking about the figure itself.

13 minutes ago, RavenHawk said:

Most designers I know run around $100/hr, and even 3d printed prototypes are a chunk of change, depending on materials.

I'm thinking more of a freelance designer, where the price is agreed upfront.

I'm guessing low-thousands for the prototype. It need not be fully functional.

On 5/11/2019 at 11:22 AM, Lexomatic said:

What I'm really curious about is: WHO is making them, and HOW? I presume they're leveraging modern CAD/CAM and China's low-cost manufacturing expertise, honed on official Transformers and other Japanese robot toys -- but are they true amateurs, or former employees of Hasbro, Takara, Bandai, etc.?

IMO, it's doable, even if you don't have any expertise and all you have is money -- but you better have some.

First is the design.

Next is the prototype.

Followed by the molds.

And finally, creating the parts and assembling the figure.

When you break it down like that, you realize you just need to pay others (experts) to do the work. What you need to ensure is that you can make a profit or at least break even at the end.

How much does each of the steps cost? No idea. I can guess, but I have no idea how wildly away I am.

(I don't think the first two steps will cost more than $5k.)

15 hours ago, Dobber said:

That’s what I thought too. I only have a tablet anyway not to mention I’m computer stupid and get completely lost with torrents and such.

The Ultimate Introductory Guide has instructions to download from a file sharing website. Not difficult, just tedious.

The last time I did it (a couple of years ago), I didn't want to install any programs on my PC, so I downloaded the parts one by one.

11 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

Small victory, as there are other LEGO-like brick makers out there, although Lepin was one of the more well known, and also known for making copies of official sets, which is what really spelled its doom legally.

I don't know if you are lumping all brick makers together, because it is legal to make Lego compatible bricks.

We can use TaoBao to infer who is infringing. Lepin, Lele, Bela, Decool and SY are all banned for foreign buyers.

FansToys was banned for a short while too, but it seems to be okay now. Transformers KO makers (note: not 3P) are more savvy and have not copied sets as-is.

On 4/28/2019 at 12:23 AM, M'Kyuun said:

LEGO has been waging a legal battle against this and other clone companies for some time, so this is a small victory for The LEGO Group, and demonstrates some good faith from the Chinese government.

The owner was arrested and you called it 'a small victory'?

It is a major blow.

Has the Gundam KO maker recovered? Its owner was arrested as well.

Even if Lepin comes back, it will not be able to use exact box art and have 1:1 sets. The October court ruling was very clear on that.

(This is why the police could only act on October 2018.)

5 hours ago, Scyla said:

I tried to look for it in the two reviews I have watched but couldn‘t spot it.

No one knows how it is done. But FansToys has subverted our expectations. 

I'm sure the TE-01 repaints will come sooner or later.

Still milking the MP-10 mold?

I thought MP-44 would be out by then. Repaints are inevitable.

Hmm, I just hid my reply. Oops.