The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[M'Kyuun]

19 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Ever since Dr Wu released his version of Cyclonus I've wanted him to do Scourge, too, to complete the trio of new '86 Decepticons.  Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long.  This is Star Shuttle, Dr Wu's take on Scourge.

Putting Star Shuttle with Destroy Emperor (Galvatron) and Wingman (Cyclonus) really show how far the good doctor has come along since starting the Extreme Warfare line.  Destroy Emperor looks positively primitive next to his henchmen!  But I personally think that Star Shuttle is a bit more sharply sculpted than even the relatively recent Wingman.

As good as he looks from the front, as we spin him around we do see quite a bit of alt mode.  You kind of expect that in the wings, but the outsides of his legs and his backpack almost completely hide his robot form when viewed from the back.  Once again, though, I'm inclined to cut some slack to a toy that's shorter than a tube of Chapstick and costs about as much as a Deluxe despite coming packed with a second figure.

This time he even comes with a weapon!  To be totally clear, I'm not sure if every copy of Star Shuttle will come with a gun.  The impression I got was that this is a first run/preorder bonus.

Star Shuttle's got pretty good articulation for his tiny size.  His head swivels, no tilt.  His shoulders are ball joints that swivel and move laterally 90 degrees.  His elbows are ball joints which bend 90 degrees and double as bicep swivels.  His wrists don't swivel, but his waist does.  Hips are ball joints that go 90 degrees forward and laterally, and nearly 90 degrees backward.  He has actual thigh swivels just above his knees, which are hinges that bend 90 degrees.  His toes have some up/down tilt, and his ankles can pivot 90 degrees.  His wings are attached via ball joints, so they can spread and flap for more dynamic poses.

Star Shuttle's tiny hands are too small to practically have peg holes, so instead the handle of his gun is sort of like a c-clip that clamps around his fists.

Star Shuttle's transformation borrows more from the G1 toy than the Studio Series one, with his legs turning inward and his heels folding down to make the front of the vehicle.  His backpack spins 180 and a flap folds out to fill in the gap around his thighs.  His shoulders shrug up and his forearms turn to plug into his cape, which then wraps around to tab in near his waist on the underside.  Then his head turns 180 degrees and flips up, collar and all, so his head crest plugs into the middle engine nacelle.

I think his alt mode came out pretty well, turning into a solid, swooshable little representation of the 3-engined, aerodynamic brick we all know and love (or hate, not judging).  I think the biggest knocks against it are the visible shoulders and ball sockets on the wing joints.  To a lesser extent, the hinges on the backpack flap and wings also seem relatively larger than they might on a Studio Series or Masterpiece figure, but it's the tradeoff necessary to make a figure this tiny that's also durable.

With no wheels to roll on, not alt mode weapon storage, and no moving parts the alt mode doesn't actually do much, though.  I guess it doesn't have to.

And if troop building is your thing (at this price, why not?), good news!  While the Scourge version of Star Shuttle comes packed with an entirely different fellow we'll talk about next time, you can also buy a two pack of Star Shuttle with a brighter blue plastic and a very pale blue in place of white, so Scourge can hang with his Sweeps.

And yeah, everything I keep saying in all my other Dr Wu reviews applies here.  They're not mini Masterpieces the way Newage or Magic Square make their figures.  They're relatively simple, relatively cheap Micromaster-sized figures that do a great job of making your Titans and Combiners look even bigger.  Their small size and small price also makes them easy to collect.  So once again, yes, I recommend Star Shuttle.

I don't collect these-yet-but I have to say the amount of articulation and the sheer detail that Dr. Wu accomplished with this tiny figure is extraordinary. I'm far more into his cassettes, of which I hope there are many more, especially the main characters like Rumble Ravage, Laserbeak, etc. However, as you pointed out, this shows improvement over earlier figs and hopefully he'll revisit some of those earlier attempts with refined versions.

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'll say this for Red Tank... he's not my favorite Dr Wu figure, but he's not the worst, either.  He's fine.  The fact that he's a main G1 cartoon character means you probably don't want to leave him out, and the fact that he comes with the quite good Star Shuttle means you're probably going to want the whole pack anyway.  So do it!  Do it with the knowledge that the Datsuns are coming...

Always a bit of a bummer when you're collecting a line and one toy really kinda stands out, like Star Shuttle, and your left feeling disappointed and wondering why the same attention and care isn't given to every single toy. That said, at that scale, a lot can be forgiven and I think Wu's still doing a good job on these guys overall.

Bring on the Datsuns! I preordered Prowl and Kickback tonight, as I'm a sucker for Prowl, and the thought of having a toy that tiny that still transforms and has a fair bit of articulation is worth picking up. I'm still enamored with Newage's take, which is pretty small, but it'll positively dwarf Dr. Wu's. 

[Briareos]

 

[tekering]

Back in 2016, DX9's "Tyrant" and FansToys "Sovereign" were released, and both were well-received by the fandom.  Nonetheless, collectors wondered why -- five years after the release of Masterpiece Rodimus -- TakaraTomy still hadn't produced an MP Galvatron.

Who would've believed, with the release of Sovereign 2.0 a decade later, we'd STILL be wondering? 😂

[mikeszekely]

I think I like this head better than the Sunbow one...

 

[mikeszekely]

Over a year ago I covered MMC's Shiftlane, their version a Rollbar, a retool of their version of Swindle.  And then... well, nothing for a long time.  But I don't really do full reviews for repaints, and I don't buy nearly as much 3P stuff I used to (and when I do, I don't really buy repaints).  But... I did get the rest of the set.

So the first one after Shiftlane was Chops, the MMC version of Ro-Tor.  Now, the animation models for Robots In Disguise were a lot closer to the toys than the G1 Combaticons.  MMC cleverly flipped Shiftlane's torso around.  For Chops, they remolded the front of his torso.  For the most part, that works for him.  The new torso is pretty cartoon accurate, and aside from having Vortex's little feet he's accurate enough down through the legs.  MMC tucked Vortex's tail and use the engine nacelles to make for more G1 cartoon-accurate, but that actually works against Chops, since Ro-Tor's toy-accurate arms were clearly the helicopter tail.  Ro-Tor also shouldn't have the little arm guns that Vortex does, but Chops has all the same accessories that their Vortex did.

Transformation is the same as Vortex, which is to say it's still my least favorite of the set.  The helicopter mode was designed to walk a fine line between G1 cartoon-accurate and a realistic Seasprite.  Again, it's the kind of thing that worked pretty well for the Vortex version, but the RiD animation was much closer to the simplified look of the toy.  To that end, I don't think that Chops came out badly, per se.  The realistic helicopter is fine, but some details are a bit off.  Why isn't the nose red?  Where's the gray panel on the side?

The third release was Astrolift, aka Movor.  Again, MMC made a few modifications to make the mold a bit more RiD-accurate.  He's got new feet, and a partly new chest.  As with Chops, the new chest is indeed more accurate, but the faux wheels are kind of unnecessary.  And while the arms are made from the front of the shuttle, same as Blast-Off, details like the visible pink cockpit windows are missing.  I'm not sure why MMC didn't just paint a fake windows onto part of his arm where the actual cockpit could cover over it.

As for the shuttle mode, well, Movor always had more realistic colors than Blast-Off, and the realistic look pretty good with MMC's (fairly) realistic design (the engine bells are still wrong).  It's worth pointing out, though, that in the cartoon Movor was drawn rather strangely, with small wings, a rectangular fuselage, and sharply angled engine nacelles, so aside from the colors Astrolift isn't exactly cartoon-accurate here.  Another thing to note is that Movor was animated with the larger cannons from the toy over the wings/near the rear of the fuselage.  Since MMC's Blast-Off didn't include those, neither does Astrolift... just the smaller pistol, which still folds up and tucks into a spot near the top rear of the fuselage.

The fourth release was Fortiflex, their Armorhide.  Fortiflex has remolded hip skirts, which better resemble the trapezoidal hips of Armorhide's character model.  From the waist down, no complaints.  From the waist up, though... well, Brawl's animation model was pretty different from the G1 toy, with a much smaller chest and treads for shoulders.  Armorhide's animation model, being closer to the toy, kept the big tank chest and the arms where the treads were on the backs of his arms, not the front.  The remolded chest does sort of look like the front of the tank, but it's clearly not as protruding, and no changes to the arms means you've got treads and dark browns where we should have tan bits from the top of the tank.

Tank mode is still looking sharp, though.  Again, MMC likes realistic details so we've got the periscope, mirrors, and working hatches.  Although Armorhide didn't use them in the cartoon, he's still go the rear-mounted double-barreled gun that came with Brawl.

Megalith, aka Mega-Octane, finishes up the set.  I don't think it's particularly controversial to say that Onslaught was the weakest of MMC's Combaticons due to being the most hampered by the all-in-one gimmick, and that's certainly still the case with Megalith.  However, MMC's Onslaught, due largely to his transformation, was always a bit more toy-ish than the other four, and this is something that works in Megalith's favor as the wheels on his torso and the extra kibble on the backs of his shoulders are all cartoon-accurate now.  Even the large orange pelvis is.  You just have to squint and remember that it's all supposed to be pelvis, regardless of where his hips and waist swivel are.  As far as mold changes go, the only difference is some minor changes to the molds of his chest panels.  Note that he comes with both an orange version of Onslaught's original gun, as well as the gun and boxes from the upgrade kit they did for their Bruticus.

Transformation is the same, and the truck mode is basically just Onslaught's in a different color scheme.  I suppose the grill could be a little more cartoon-y, but I think it's fine overall.  

Of course, if you're this far in, you're probably not in because you want the Decepticon Commandos, you're probably in for Ruination, so here's Eversus, the combined mode.  Like Megalith on his own, I think Eversus benefits a bit from the toy-style torso.  You'll notice that the head and chest are the ones that came with the Bruticus upgrade kit; Eversus does NOT have the Blast-Off chest and G1 cartoon Bruticus head were stock on Onslaught.  The chest is painted with details from the Japanese release of Car Robots Dorailer.

However, while the torso goes a long way toward the Ruination look, being designed first and foremost as Bruticus does hold him back in a few ways.  His left arm lacks the big red guns from the RiD Ro-Tor toy, just the little ones from Vortex.  And his elbow bends like Vortex, whereas the cartoon had the side of the helicopter as the front of the arm.  Likewise, the front of his left arm was the side of Movor, and presented as white.  The biggest difference, though, is that Armorhide connects backward in the cartoon, with the turret on the back of his leg and the front of the tank as his knee.  But Brawl was designed to match the G1 cartoon, with the turret on the shin.

The other reality is that in RiD Ruination frequently flipped his arms and legs, with Armorhide as the right arm, Rollbar as the left arm, Ro-Tor as the right leg, and Movor as the left.  But since Bruticus only had his "standard" configuration in the G1 cartoon, MMC only designed their Bruticus with the single combination, so that's the only one that Eversus gets.

So, I guess the question is whether or not the whole set is worth it.  And I think that's an interesting question.  On the one hand, the strong toy aesthetics and Megaltih and, by extension, the core of Eversus, actually seem to work better for Ruination than they did as Bruticus.  Plus, while MMC was competing at the time with Zeta and Unique Toys, there really hasn't been too many takes on Ruination, and certainly not at this scale.  I think, despite the compromises that come with being designed as a Bruticus first, this is a solid take on the characters and it goes great with Fans Hobby's Scourge.  Top it off with better joint tolerances all around than Bruticus, and I'd say that I'm quite glad to have this set.

But, the thing is, there are enough quirks with these designs that I don't really want to own two of each of these molds.  And in the years since MMC first released their Bruticus, we've gotten another take on an MP Bruticus from Magic Square.  So while this set does satisfy my desire for Ruination, it also makes me want to sell the MMC Bruticus and buy Magic Square's.

[Scyla]

17 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Over a year ago I covered MMC's Shiftlane, their version a Rollbar, a retool of their version of Swindle.  And then... well, nothing for a long time.  But I don't really do full reviews for repaints, and I don't buy nearly as much 3P stuff I used to (and when I do, I don't really buy repaints).  But... I did get the rest of the set.

So the first one after Shiftlane was Chops, the MMC version of Ro-Tor.  Now, the animation models for Robots In Disguise were a lot closer to the toys than the G1 Combaticons.  MMC cleverly flipped Shiftlane's torso around.  For Chops, they remolded the front of his torso.  For the most part, that works for him.  The new torso is pretty cartoon accurate, and aside from having Vortex's little feet he's accurate enough down through the legs.  MMC tucked Vortex's tail and use the engine nacelles to make for more G1 cartoon-accurate, but that actually works against Chops, since Ro-Tor's toy-accurate arms were clearly the helicopter tail.  Ro-Tor also shouldn't have the little arm guns that Vortex does, but Chops has all the same accessories that their Vortex did.

Transformation is the same as Vortex, which is to say it's still my least favorite of the set.  The helicopter mode was designed to walk a fine line between G1 cartoon-accurate and a realistic Seasprite.  Again, it's the kind of thing that worked pretty well for the Vortex version, but the RiD animation was much closer to the simplified look of the toy.  To that end, I don't think that Chops came out badly, per se.  The realistic helicopter is fine, but some details are a bit off.  Why isn't the nose red?  Where's the gray panel on the side?

The third release was Astrolift, aka Movor.  Again, MMC made a few modifications to make the mold a bit more RiD-accurate.  He's got new feet, and a partly new chest.  As with Chops, the new chest is indeed more accurate, but the faux wheels are kind of unnecessary.  And while the arms are made from the front of the shuttle, same as Blast-Off, details like the visible pink cockpit windows are missing.  I'm not sure why MMC didn't just paint a fake windows onto part of his arm where the actual cockpit could cover over it.

As for the shuttle mode, well, Movor always had more realistic colors than Blast-Off, and the realistic look pretty good with MMC's (fairly) realistic design (the engine bells are still wrong).  It's worth pointing out, though, that in the cartoon Movor was drawn rather strangely, with small wings, a rectangular fuselage, and sharply angled engine nacelles, so aside from the colors Astrolift isn't exactly cartoon-accurate here.  Another thing to note is that Movor was animated with the larger cannons from the toy over the wings/near the rear of the fuselage.  Since MMC's Blast-Off didn't include those, neither does Astrolift... just the smaller pistol, which still folds up and tucks into a spot near the top rear of the fuselage.

The fourth release was Fortiflex, their Armorhide.  Fortiflex has remolded hip skirts, which better resemble the trapezoidal hips of Armorhide's character model.  From the waist down, no complaints.  From the waist up, though... well, Brawl's animation model was pretty different from the G1 toy, with a much smaller chest and treads for shoulders.  Armorhide's animation model, being closer to the toy, kept the big tank chest and the arms where the treads were on the backs of his arms, not the front.  The remolded chest does sort of look like the front of the tank, but it's clearly not as protruding, and no changes to the arms means you've got treads and dark browns where we should have tan bits from the top of the tank.

Tank mode is still looking sharp, though.  Again, MMC likes realistic details so we've got the periscope, mirrors, and working hatches.  Although Armorhide didn't use them in the cartoon, he's still go the rear-mounted double-barreled gun that came with Brawl.

Megalith, aka Mega-Octane, finishes up the set.  I don't think it's particularly controversial to say that Onslaught was the weakest of MMC's Combaticons due to being the most hampered by the all-in-one gimmick, and that's certainly still the case with Megalith.  However, MMC's Onslaught, due largely to his transformation, was always a bit more toy-ish than the other four, and this is something that works in Megalith's favor as the wheels on his torso and the extra kibble on the backs of his shoulders are all cartoon-accurate now.  Even the large orange pelvis is.  You just have to squint and remember that it's all supposed to be pelvis, regardless of where his hips and waist swivel are.  As far as mold changes go, the only difference is some minor changes to the molds of his chest panels.  Note that he comes with both an orange version of Onslaught's original gun, as well as the gun and boxes from the upgrade kit they did for their Bruticus.

Transformation is the same, and the truck mode is basically just Onslaught's in a different color scheme.  I suppose the grill could be a little more cartoon-y, but I think it's fine overall.  

Of course, if you're this far in, you're probably not in because you want the Decepticon Commandos, you're probably in for Ruination, so here's Eversus, the combined mode.  Like Megalith on his own, I think Eversus benefits a bit from the toy-style torso.  You'll notice that the head and chest are the ones that came with the Bruticus upgrade kit; Eversus does NOT have the Blast-Off chest and G1 cartoon Bruticus head were stock on Onslaught.  The chest is painted with details from the Japanese release of Car Robots Dorailer.

However, while the torso goes a long way toward the Ruination look, being designed first and foremost as Bruticus does hold him back in a few ways.  His left arm lacks the big red guns from the RiD Ro-Tor toy, just the little ones from Vortex.  And his elbow bends like Vortex, whereas the cartoon had the side of the helicopter as the front of the arm.  Likewise, the front of his left arm was the side of Movor, and presented as white.  The biggest difference, though, is that Armorhide connects backward in the cartoon, with the turret on the back of his leg and the front of the tank as his knee.  But Brawl was designed to match the G1 cartoon, with the turret on the shin.

The other reality is that in RiD Ruination frequently flipped his arms and legs, with Armorhide as the right arm, Rollbar as the left arm, Ro-Tor as the right leg, and Movor as the left.  But since Bruticus only had his "standard" configuration in the G1 cartoon, MMC only designed their Bruticus with the single combination, so that's the only one that Eversus gets.

So, I guess the question is whether or not the whole set is worth it.  And I think that's an interesting question.  On the one hand, the strong toy aesthetics and Megaltih and, by extension, the core of Eversus, actually seem to work better for Ruination than they did as Bruticus.  Plus, while MMC was competing at the time with Zeta and Unique Toys, there really hasn't been too many takes on Ruination, and certainly not at this scale.  I think, despite the compromises that come with being designed as a Bruticus first, this is a solid take on the characters and it goes great with Fans Hobby's Scourge.  Top it off with better joint tolerances all around than Bruticus, and I'd say that I'm quite glad to have this set.

But, the thing is, there are enough quirks with these designs that I don't really want to own two of each of these molds.  And in the years since MMC first released their Bruticus, we've gotten another take on an MP Bruticus from Magic Square.  So while this set does satisfy my desire for Ruination, it also makes me want to sell the MMC Bruticus and buy Magic Square's.

Seeing MMC’s Onslaught always makes me twitch. Such a shame it wasn’t better. The only thing that I would improve with the limb bot would be the ability for Blast-Off’s toes to rotate so it doesn’t is so apparent that the ankle tilt is almost nonexistent.

Oh well, at some point FansToys will do Bruticus. I will wait a little bit longer for a good Masterpiece Onslaught.

[sh9000]

Does Ruination's weapons combine?

I think I'm mainly interested in the articulated hands and maybe the thigh parts.

[sh9000]

I'll only get DK-73.

[M'Kyuun]

I got the Long Haul kit (I forget the designator). I wish they'd make a kit with only their more articulated arms for Bonecrusher, Mixmaster, and Scavenger, as I'd jump on that in a heartbeat. Bonecrusher and Mixmaster, especially, could use those arm upgrades.

[sh9000]

The chest filler will be included as a bonus part.

[M'Kyuun]

I was recently pondering getting Siyang Culture's legends scaled train bots when a blast from the past popped up: Pocket Toys' KO of the Iron Factory Combaticons/Bruticus. I was still trying to avoid jumping down the legends rabbit hole when these originally came out, and I've harbored a small pang of regret every time pics of it pop up. So when this appeared, and at a decent price (guess it's actually sold even cheaper, but I wasn't aware of that until I'd already bought it), I gave a few minutes consideration before lobbing it into my cart. I didn't end up getting the train bots, though. 

 War Giant

 

Not without its flaws, but it also has its charms. I love the chonkiness of both the individual bots and the final combined mode. What's more, unlike Hasbro's Bruticus, no frame necessary.

Edited Saturday at 01:28 AM by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

21 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I was recently pondering getting Siyang Culture's legends scaled train bots when a blast from the past popped up: Pocket Toys' KO of the Iron Factory Combaticons/Bruticus. I was still trying to avoid jumping down the legends rabbit hole when these originally came out, and I've harbored a small pang of regret every time pics of it pop up. So when this appeared, and at a decent price (guess it's actually sold even cheaper, but I wasn't aware of that until I'd already bought it), I gave a few minutes consideration before lobbing it into my cart. I didn't end up getting the train bots, though. 

 War Giant

 

 

Not without its flaws, but it also has its charms. I love the chonkiness of both the individual bots and the final combined mode. What's more, unlike Hasbro's Bruticus, no frame necessary.

Interesting... we're talking about Bruticus again.  Wonder if we can make that a theme (foreshadowing)?  I mean, Hasbro's Brawl and Blast Off should be here pretty soon...

But yeah, I have to original Iron Factory version.  He's been chilling next to the clock on my desk for years (and occasionally comes out when I need to re-create that one animation error where Bruticus is a normal-sized dude grouped with the individual Combaticons).  A bit stylized, and I'm not really into Legends, but I'm still glad I have him.

Edited Saturday at 10:19 PM by mikeszekely

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Interesting... we're talking about Bruticus again.  Wonder if we can make that a theme (foreshadowing)?  I mean, Hasbro's Brawl and Blast Off should be here pretty soon...

But yeah, I have to original Iron Factory version.  He's been chilling next to the clock on my desk for years (and occasionally comes out when I need to re-create that one animation error where Bruticus is a normal-sized dude grouped with the individual Combaticons).  A bit stylized, and I'm not really into Legends, but I'm still glad I have him.

Stylized stuff is hit and miss for me, but I do like the look of Iron Factory's older stuff. Their latest Samurai-inspired figs don't really do it for me. Unfortunately, they never re-release their figs, as I'd love the chance to pick up some of the older figs I missed out on before I started collecting legends. I thought I'd missed my opportunity to own their Bruticus, but then the Pocket Toys KO version popped up and it was one of those 'holy crap' moments that don't come along too often. As I mentioned, the individual figs aren't without their flaws (some due to IF's designs, some due to molding/other), but after watching a pretty in-depth critique of the OG IF set, and learning that Pocket Toys actually fixed a couple of issues, I'm glad I got them. War Giant looks awesome in all his chonky goodness, and I like the looks of the individual bots as well. As is endemic with their figs, the articulation is lackluster, especially in the arms, but I dig the way they look. It's a nice addition to my small IF collection.

Edited Sunday at 03:37 AM by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I'm not really into Legends

I tried... I picked up a few releases, primarily from Magic Square.  They do some really impressive designs, but ultimately couldn't justify going all in on a fourth scale (after MP, Generations, and Dr. Wu, that is).  Needless to say, I was pretty excited when Magic Square released their first MP-style figure, a very excellent Optimus Prime.  A bit less excited when they did their second and it was Optimus Prime again... I mean, I still bought it and it was still great, but I'd love for Magic Square to up-scale some of their designs for other characters.

On 11/22/2025 at 9:46 PM, mikeszekely said:

So, I guess the question is whether or not the whole set is worth it.  And I think that's an interesting question.  On the one hand, the strong toy aesthetics and Megaltih and, by extension, the core of Eversus, actually seem to work better for Ruination than they did as Bruticus... but, the thing is, there are enough quirks with these designs that I don't really want to own two of each of these molds.

How fortunate for me, then, that Magic Square's third MP-style release is MS-03 Heavy Gunner, their take on Brawl.

Of all their Combaticons, I thought MMC's Brawl was their best one.  Going up against him first is a high hurdle for Heavy Gunner to clear.  And, aesthetically, anyway... I think he made it.  I mean, we can debate the merits of some realism and whether you should go hard on Sunbow or not.  The objective fact of the matter is that Heavy Gunner is indeed closer to the animation.  Yes, he's smoother because he doesn't have a lot of real details on him they way MMC's does, but also because he's just cleaner.  His forearms don't have those broken panels, his abdomen doesn't have that big pin running through it...

...Magic Square was even careful to mimic the cartoon's color placement.  The sides of his lower legs are gray, inside and out.  There's no tank-colored bits on his shoulders or forearms.  Honestly, the only thing I can criticize as not totally cartoon-accurate is that he's not quite as blocky as the animation model; the angles on his pelvis are a bit sharper, and there's a taper to his thighs that the cartoon lacks.  I'm loathe to actually suggest that's a criticism, though, because I think overall Heavy Gunner presents dynamic, dare I say heroic proportions.  He looks good even when he's just standing in a slight A-stance.

Oh, and I should definitely mention the plastic.  Magic Square has often been criticized for their nylon plastic.  Yeah, it's a little flexible and very durable, but it's also light, doesn't take paint well, wears on joints, and has a particular texture.  I think they got away with it for their Legends stuff, but MS-01 showed it maybe wasn't he best choice for larger figures.  They did change their formula for MS-02, and while I can't say there was anything objectively bad about it it was definitely light and kind of "cheap" feeling.  Heavy Gunner's plastic is definitely a bit lighter than something you might find on a Fans Toys or MMC figure, but it's definitely a step up from that they've been using and, for the most part, feels fine to me.

For the most part.*

For completeness, here he is with the other "MP" offerings.  Zeta's still gets credit for being a fair representation of the toy, but obviously not the cartoon.  Unique Toys' was good for the time, being one of the first takes on the character to do the flatter cartoon chest instead of folding the front of the tank over, but some color choices were the first hints of the more stylized characters UT ultimately ending up running with.

Heavy Gunner comes with his gun, of course, and a big ol' foot for combined mode that we'll set aside for now.  He also comes with the rear-mounted guns for his tank mode, and it's here that we run into our first issue.*  See, I don't know if it's because their older plastics left them more wiggle room on their tolerances, but on the rear mounted guns the barrel on one side moved without issue, but the other didn't want to move at all.  I pushed a little harder and the peg inside sheered right off.  *sigh*  I supposed I can glue it, but then that barrel will be permanently at whatever angle I glue it to.  Broken before I even posed him.

Well, at least Heavy Gunner himself isn't broken, and I can pose him.  And he's good at posing, too!  His head's on a hinged swivel, so no sideways tilt, but he can look down until his chin touches his chest and he can look almost 90 degrees straight up.  His shoulders swivel on friction joints and move nearly 90 degrees laterally on ratchets.  Plus, mostly due to his transformation, he's got butterfly hinges that shift his shoulders roughly 45 degrees forward or backward.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend a little over 90 degrees on a single hinge.  His wrists swivel, plus it can bend back into a "stop" pose.  Which goes really well with his individually-articulated fingers, each one on a ball joint at the base for bending, splaying, and swiveling (in the case of the thumb), plus one additional pinned knuckle hinge.  His waist swivels, and like both of MS's Optimus figures the torso has a double hinge in it for back bends and ab crunches.  His hips actually have two points of rotation, one where the joint actually swivels and one which lowers the point of swivel, giving him over 90 degrees of forward bend, but only about 60 degrees backward due to his backpack getting in the way.  Scary strong ratchets have me not wanting to push the lateral movement beyond 90 degrees.  His thighs swivel.  His knees are double-jointed and combined bend nearly 180 degrees.  Sadly no up/down tilt on his feet, but his ankles pivot 90 degrees.  Overall he's not quite as articulated as MS-02 was, but certainly above average overall.

Heavy Gunner's pistol has a small tab on the handle that plugs into a slot on either palm.  It works, but the tab is pretty small so it doesn't take much for it to come loose.  Even when it's not tabbed in, his fingers do a good job of holding it in place.

When it comes to the rear-mounted guns, seems like it's easiest for most companies to just ignore them.  MMC included them, but aside from a rather forced shoulder cannon mode they didn't really do anything but sit off to the side in bot mode.  Magic Square decided to put a fold out handle on them so Heavy Gunner could use them as another handheld weapon.  Better than nothing, I guess.

Transformation is definitely a process.  Is the guy designing stuff for Magic Square these days a former designer at Unique Toys?  I can't help but think of figures like their Age of Extinction Lockdown and Optimus, who kind of turned inside out.  I kid you not, the turret, the square part with the two round circles that the turret sits on (part of his back), some of the treads, his heels, and his shins are the only bits of the tank that would be visible in robot mode.  The front of the tank was inside his torso, and the entire green/brown parts over the treads were inside his legs.  To be clear, I don't think it's a difficult transformation, especially once you know what you're doing, but it can be a bit fiddly when the entire leg from the knee down is exploded open, and it's not exactly intuitive.  There's a lot of flaps that will need to flip, and sometimes other flaps will be in your way.  Oh, and the knees must be in the exact right position, or things won't line up proper.

And, again for good measure, how Heavy Gunner stacks up with Zeta and Unique Toys.

Subjectively, I'm going to say that I do think MMC's Brawl wins the alt mode.  It's got enough realistic detail for me to say, "yeah, that looks like a Leopard I." Objectively, Heavy Gunner is more cartoon-accurate.  Brawl's shin vents are clearly present on the rear, as is the rear fuel drum that I don't think you'd see on an actual Leopard but was present on the animation model.  The two trios of smoke grenade launchers are on the front of the turret, like the cartoon, and he's got the little slit for the driver to see out of next to the spike on the animation that I assume was supposed to be a gun port.  Really, the only thing I can criticize is that he's got two spotlights where the animation model I believe only had one, but they're just pegged in and you could pull the extra off anyway.

Heavy Gunner rolls out wheels under his treads.  His turret can spin, and the main barrel can be raised and lowered.  Fold the handle in, and you can plug his gun into the top of the turret.  The double-barreled gun plugs into the back, and in theory you can raise and lower the barrels.  In theory.😒

Accessory breakage aside, I'm quite pleased with Heavy Gunner.  I think he's a fantastic robot- excellent articulation, excellent cartoon accuracy.  Subjectively, I like him better than MMC's.  Transformation is a bit of a bear until you learn it; frankly, I hope their Legends version wasn't this complicated because I don't know if I deal with all the flaps at a much smaller scale.  Again, I do prefer MMC's more realistic tank mode, but I have to acknowledge that Heavy Gunner is far more cartoon-accurate in alt mode.  I think subjective preferences do matter a lot; if you have MMC's set and you love it, then I'm not necessarily saying you should rush out to replace it.  But Heavy Gunner is objectively an extremely good figure, and I'm not not saying you should rush out to replace MMC's, either.

[davidwhangchoi]

anyone own this?

 

 

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, davidwhangchoi said:

anyone own this?

Nope.  I already think thought 24" figures were pushing the limits of practicality, both in terms of how much space they take up and in on unwieldy they are to try to transform and pose.

Tell you what I do got, though... MS-04 Munitioner.  Magic Square's MP-style take on Swindle.

MMC's Swindle, though very good, struck me as a tad busy.  He had kind of chunky legs with alt mode bits on his feet, gappy knees, and panels on his shins that simply aren't present on the animation model.  And much like with their Brawl, Magic Square comes onto the scene with a smooth, clean figure that just nails the animation model.

Seriously, they went to almost ridiculous lengths to get the cartoon look.  MMC put faux wheels on their Swindle's shoulders, Magic Square put faux wheels on Munitioner's shoulders and on his legs- inside and outside, because that's how the animation model works.  His smooth shins have a taper, but also the slight cutaway in front of the outer wheels because, again, that's what's on the animation model.  He's got the purple hood chest like MMC, but also the smaller waist under it that the animation model has.

Unique Toys' Swindle was one of their best Combaticons, but the extra greebles on his legs, the big fenders and real wheels on his shoulders, the dark biceps and wrist stripes, and the more muted colors speak of a time before everyone committed to going full cartoon.  And Zeta's Swindle... was certainly a thing.  So, aesthetically at least, I have to give the edge to Munitioner.  Heck, the only thing I can find to complain about is his somewhat boring facial expression.  Swindle needs a smirk.

Oh, and would you look at that!  Munitioner comes with an extra smirking face!  He also comes with his arm cannon, his gun that's just a missile, and the bit you need to mount both to his alt mode.  And if you were paying attention to what came with Heavy Gunner, you could probably guess that Munitioner was coming with the other combined mode foot.

And just like with Heavy Gunner, Munitioner doesn't just look nice, he poses nice, too.  Head is a hinged swivel, with downward tilt until his head touches his chest and upward tilt just short of 90 degrees.  His shoulders swivel, with 90 degrees of lateral movement on the correct side of the swivel then almost 90 more on the other side of the swivel due to his transformation.  Sadly, no butterfly joints, though.  Biceps swivel, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees on a single hinge.  His wrists swivel and can bend back, like Heavy Gunner's, but they're a tad smaller.  As a result, the thumb is on a ball joint with one more hinged knuckle, and his index finger is hinged is separate from the others, hinged at the base and mid-knuckle but lacking the ability to splay like Heavy Gunner.  The other three fingers are also hinged at the base and mid-knuckle, but they're molded together.  His waist swivels, and he's got that double torso joint that gives him both a back bend and an ab crunch.  His hips work exactly like Heavy Gunner's as well, giving him 90 degrees of backward and lateral movement but close to 120 degrees of forward range.  His thighs swivel, and his double-jointed knees bend nearly 180 degrees.  He has a very slight upward toe tilt, nothing down, and his ankles pivot 90 degrees.

Once again, we have a small tab on the missile gun's handle that plugs into a slot in his palms, and once again it's a little on the small side and prone to popping loose.  And just like Heavy Gunner's alt mode leftovers had a flip-out handle for him to hold it in bot mode, so goes the connector part for Munitioner's weapons.  It doesn't really look much like a weapon, though, and I find myself wishing that there was literally anywhere else to stow it.  As for his arm cannon, if you want it on the side of his arm so it doesn't get in the way of his elbows, there's tiny pegs that fit into the center of the fake wheels on his shoulders, much like MMC's Swindle.

However, if you prefer the on-the-front look he often had in the cartoon (and on his control art), there's also a tab on it that fits into the front of his shoulders.  Lastly, there's the alternate face.  Swapping is easy, just tilt his head up so you can get under his chin and slide his face forward; it's just tabbed in.  Pop the smirking face on by pushing the tab on the back into the slot on his head.

In what I think is going to become a theme here Munitioner's transformation is a lot like Heavy Gunner's.  You need to basically turn him inside out, as the real front wheels, fenders, and grill are inside is torso and need to trade places with his head and arms, and the process seems more complicated than it strictly needed to be.  Once you have the top/front sorted, you again need to explode the legs into a variety of panels that end with the actual real wheels, sides, rear, and seat backs coming from inside his legs while his shins for the top of the rear and the outside edges of his legs forming the bottom.

A bit of a tougher call than Heavy Gunner, I'd say.  There are a few more details like marker lighst and what not on MMC's Swindle, but a few visible joints and more seams as well.

Zeta gets immediately disqualified for having the wrong alt mode entirely, but I appreciate how well Unique Toys' has held up, with a bit more realistic details than Munitioner while also managing to be cleaner than MMC's.

Then again, the space between his shins on the back of vehicle is actually on the animation model, and there's an argument to be had that the smooth sides are also more cartoon accurate.  I do personally prefer a bit more realistic alt mode detail, though, so I'm a bit bummed by the lack of taillights.  I can't help but note that amount of visible legs bits folded up but not quite concealed under the vehicle.

Munitioner does have a steering wheel, but no shift knob or anything else in the interior.  Well, there are the seat backs, but the seat cushions are just the tops of Munitioner's thighs.  Yep, Munitioner's interior is mostly his butt.  He rolls on his wheels.  The connector clamps between his legs, then the handle of the missile folds in to reveal a little peg that fits into a small hole on one side of the connector, while a hole in the side of the arm cannon's barrel fits onto a peg on the opposite side.  The connector can swivel like a turret, and the weapons can swivel on the connector to aim up/down.  With no breakages this time!

On the whole, I think the competition here is a bit more fierce than yesterday.  I do still think that Munitioner pairs the best-looking robot with excellent articulation, but the transformation is a bit more tedious than Heavy Gunner's.  I do prefer realistic alt modes, but there's a certain cleanliness to Heavy Gunner's super-Sunbow tank mode that Munitioner's visible leg kibble is missing.  I'd still recommend him as the "best" Swindle, but the gap between him and MMC's Swindle is definitely smaller than the gap between Heavy Gunner and MMC's Brawl.  Buy Munitioner to replace Unique Toys or Zeta, sure, but this isn't the figure that's going to sell you on upgrading from MMC.

[JB0]

The nice thing about the combaticons is the toys are even less detailed than the cartoon, so I don't have to feel too cheated by the current hyper-toon-accuracy focus.

The OG Brawl toy in particular looks like he just got in from Battlezone(which would actually be a cool repaint now that I think about it). And man, Swindle's animation model was just made from whole cloth, wasn't it? They didn't even look at the toy... which is no great loss, there's not a lot to take FROM the toy even when it's fully-stickered(and I KNOW some of the animation models are based on unstickered toys). 


These guys are impressive as heck for what they're doing, even if they aren't really my jam. And I do appreciate that they use the vehicle windshield for Swindle's chest instead of stashing it and using a fake-windshield, moreso given how many fake parts ARE on the robot. 
 

[mikeszekely]

After dealing with MMC's Defensor, Mecha Invasion's Devastator, Dream Star Toys' Devastator, heck, even Hasbro's own Superion and Devastator in recent months (years?), it almost seems like the norm is for the bots to be released in some kind of random order where you wind up having to have most, if not all, of the figures before you can begin combining anything.  So it's kind of refreshing that Magic Square worked from the ground up.  That's right, MB-05 is Night Tracer, their version of Onslaught.

Daaaaaaang.  Yesterday I suggested that the gap between Munitioner and MMC's Swindle wasn't so huge, but I think even MMC's most ardent fans will admit that Onslaught was the most-heavily compromised of their Combaticons, arguably of all their combiner figures, due to the all-built-in gimmick.  Then here comes Night Tracer, casually strolling onto the scene and basically nailing it.  Much better proportions than MMC's, with cartoon smooth shins, a nicely tapered torso, a pelvis that isn't faking it with part of the waist, etc.

And in a case that's turning out to be pretty typical for Magic Square, he does it cleanly.  Like MMC, he's even got the cartoon-accurate green/brown on the outsides of his arms.

Pointing out that Unique Toys was a bit stylized is beating a dead horse, but I think it's worth pointing out that prior to Night Tracer I'd have actually suggested that Zeta had the best Onslaught.  But Zeta has its own issues, like the massive shoulders, oversized back cannons, Popeye forearms, and lots of panels that are kind of just folded up and stuck in places.  Night Tracer doesn't need any of that!  He's so committed to looking like the cartoon that he's the only one of the four to copy the cartoon's odd decision to stick a bunch of wheels on his forearms.  UT turned theirs to the back, but all three of the previous releases seemed content to treat the two-forearm-plus-one-bicep-per-arm placement as an animation error and went the toy route of one on each forearm and two on either side of the torso, but Magic Square looked at the animation model and was like, "yeah, we can make that work."

I may have spoken too soon on combining these guys early, though.  Night Tracer comes with his gun, and a big old chest plate for combined mode... and that's it.  And before you ask, no, Onslaught does not turn into the entire torso, head, and chest of Bruticus.  We're gonna need some more parts for that.

But in the mean time, Night Tracer's head is on a ball joint connected to a swivel.  So he can look down until his chin touches his chest, up about 75 degrees or so, but unlike the previous two he's actually got a little sideways tilt, too.  His shoulders swivel, and they move laterally on a ratchet just over 90 degrees on the correct side of the swivel.  If you need more, there's a transformation joint on the other side of the swivel that will get his arms straight up.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows bend maybe 120 degrees or so on a single hinge.  His hands are like Heavy Gunner's, wrists swivel and bend backward, every digit is an individual unit that connects to the hand via a ball joint, and every digit has one additional hinged knuckle.  His waist swivels, and he's got the double-hinge that gives him almost 90 degrees of ab crunch or back bend, though unlike Prime and the previous Combaticons the hinges feel a tad loose on Night Tracer.  His hips are again of the drop-down type, reaching backward 90 degrees and forward a bit over that on ratchets that feel a tad loose for my tastes, and laterally 90 degrees of sturdier ratchets.  His thighs swivel.  His knees are double-jointed and bend nearly 180 degrees combined.  As with the hips, they're kind of loose ratchets, though, with a bit of play that makes him prone to tilting backward when you're posing him (not helped by the weight of the backpack).  His toes bend up but not down, and his ankles pivot 90 degrees.  Again, above-average articulation but he's let down a bit by tolerances.

Compared to the preivous two, Night Tracer might actually have the easiest transformation.  You gotta get the actual front wheels, fenders, and headlights out of his forearms, and get his arms up over his head.  Then you move the turret out of the way to unfold the rest of the cab from on an inside his back, forming the roof, sides, hood, grill and the middle quartet of tires.  With the front half done, rotate the waist 180 degrees and then the back half has the usual Magic Square annoyances... the knees have to be in just the right position, then the lower legs splay open into an array of panels that rearrange themselves into the back half of the truck.  But of the three, I think he's had the least amount of flipping flaps.

This is another case where I like a lot of the realistic details like wing mirrors, wipers, etc on both MMC and Zeta, and the big green hinges on the sides of MMC's truck are actually on the cartoon model.  But, with the arguable exception of Unique Toys' big gap between the truck and trailer, they all did pretty good in truck mode.  Guess it's hard to screw up a long, nearly flat rectangle with a hint of cab and AA guns.

Overall, not a ton to complain about.  You've got the sorts of details you'd expect, like the grill with the fins on it, two windows on the front, two windows on each side, the scoop in the hood, camo splotches, seven wheels to a side in the correct placement with a trio of green boxes between the middle and rear pair.  But I guess this is where I have to nitpick minor discrepancies.  As I mentioned, the green hinges on MMC's Onslaught, unsightly though they might be, and he's got smaller lights under his headlights that aren't on the animation model.

Night Tracer can roll, and the entire turret can swivel and elevate a little.  The barrels can move up and down independently inside the turret, also.  Fold in the handle of Night Tracer's gun and you'll find a little hole you can use to peg the gun on top of the turret.  The remainder of the trailer beyond the turret is too short for Munitioner or Heavy Gunner to catch a ride.  All-in-all its a very serviceable, very adequate truck mode, but we already had very serviceable, very adequate truck modes.

But it's not about truck mode, is it?  Because after three prior Onslaughts, each with their own flaws in robot mode, Night Tracer comes along looking just about perfect and he's got great articulation to boot.  There's simply no competition.  Maybe one of the other sets will deliver a better combined mode, and if you only want one set and you care most about the combined mode then sure, maybe you want to wait and see how that shakes out.  But Night Tracer is, hands down, the best MP-style Onslaught by a significant margin, and as such gets a strong recommend from me.

[tekering]

14 minutes ago, mikeszekely said:

Daaaaaaang.

Exactly my response.  I need Night Tracer.

Damn you, Mike! 😤

[sh9000]

Edited 8 hours ago by sh9000

[rsvictor1976]

7 hours ago, sh9000 said:

That gun handle attachment just looks stupid. And is it me, or does the original shoulders look better than the bulkier ones on the upgrade kit?

[mikeszekely]

33 minutes ago, rsvictor1976 said:

That gun handle attachment just looks stupid.

Yeah, but it's from the current comic book, apparently.

At least it seems to be a separate kit, so you can skip it. 

The fusion cannon is the big fix for me, but I kinda want those gap fillers. Not sure if I'll get the full A kit or just the W.