The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[MKT]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

Found this randomly earlier, and not going to lie, I kind of want one  

Haha weird but rather cool. Though they missed the chance to differentiate the bread further. I want a wholemeal slice.

[Mog]

^^That’ll be Not-Ravage or Not-Laserbeak.

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Found this randomly earlier, and not going to lie, I kind of want one  

Only kind of?  If it were an actual thing and not something you have to 3D print yourself I'd have paid for one before I posted this.

[sh9000]

DK-80.

[mikeszekely]

So I know I'm excited to get Dream Star's Scavenger and finish their Devastator, but G1 always does better than stylized, I think.  And while a lot of us picked up ToyWorld's Constructor back in the day, I also think most of us also realize that ToyWorld's not quite pulling off the modern MP aesthetic.  With that in mind I'd looked at X-Transbots' Ground Bite last April, and Fans Toys' Gehry immediately after.  But I also mentioned that MMC was coming out with there own, and I'd get their Scrapper before deciding which set I'd ultimately pursue.  Well, MMC finally released Deltus, their version of Scrapper, so the ultimate Scrapper fight begins NOW!

*Note that for all pics it's Fans Toys' Gehry on the left, MMC's Deletus in the middle, and XTB's Ground Bite on the right.

It's funny that when MMC created their Ocular Max brand the idea was that they would do more Studio OX-style stuff, but every OX release gets more and more Sunbow.  Deletus here might be their most Sunbow figure to date... sure, the visible hinges and flaps on his shins make him look a little more detailed than Fans Toys', but with the green lumps for shoulder wheels and the thin-legged, top-heavy proportions he's definitely more cartoon accurate than XTB's.  But is that necessarily a good thing?  If I'm being totally honest, from a purely "how does this look" point-of-view, I still kind of prefer XTB's.  It's like Deletus looks too much like the cartoon, Ground Bite looks like the robot the cartoon was based on, and Gehry looks like the the cartoon Scrapper ate the other five Constructicons.

Depending on what you're personally going for on a shelf, I guess it's worth pointing out that Deletus is significantly lighter than the other two, and most of the gray and all of the green and purple you see on him is unpainted plastic.  On the other hand, I'd argue that Deletus cleans up the best with the tidiest backpack.

Perhaps accessories make a big difference?  Again, not really.  Deletus comes with a gun and a trumpet... same as the competition.  As far as the guns go, they're pretty similar.  Sure, XTB put a little silver paint on their barrel, and Fans Toys' used a gunmetal paint for the entire gun, but they're all recognizably the gun Scrapper has in the cartoon.  Things get a little more interesting with the trumpets.  Deletus has the most movie-accurate shape, and a nice painted finish.  The other two use a vac-metal coating to make them look more like actual brass instruments, with Fans Toys having the best finish, I think, and XTB's looking the most like an actual trumpet.  Aside from guns and trumpets, the other two mostly have partsforming bits, while Deletus comes with a tool intended to help with his transformation.  Ground Bite does come with a sword, so I guess XTB has the best accessories?  Really, I don't think it matters which Scrapper you prefer, you're going to get the accessories you actually care about no matter what.

So we come to articulation.  Deletus' head is on a hinge that lets him look up about 75 degrees.  He can't really look down, but wait!  That hinge is actually a double hinge!  It breaks the sculpt a little but you can use the hinges to crane his entire head forward so he can look about 60 degrees downward past his own chest.  No sideways tilt, though.  His shoulders swivel and move laterally 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows can combine for nearly 180 degrees of bend.  His wrists swivel.  His thumb has a ball joint at the base with a hinged pin.  His index finger has two pinned knuckles.  His other three fingers are a single piece molded into a permanent curl pinned at the base.  He's got a ratcheted waist swivel, and about 60 degrees of ab crunch.  His hip skirts get out of the way to allow 90 degrees of hip movement backward or laterally, and slightly over that forward, all on ratchets.  His thighs swivel, and his double-jointed, double-ratcheted knees bend until the bumps on his calves touch his thighs.  His toes have a little up/down tilt, and his ankles can pivot nearly 90 degrees.

If you go back and check my earlier reviews for Groundbite and Gehry, you'll recall that Groundbite is pretty similar but with even more hand articulation and butterfly joints, but I found Gehry's articulation to be a bit sub-par.

MMC eschews the more standard thin tab on the side of the gun handle plugging into a slot on the palm for a larger tab on the back of the handle that plugs into palm under the thumb.  It's pleasantly secure on my copy.

Trumpet works pretty much the same way, with his fingers curling through the loop.  Like Ground Bite, Deletus has the gimmick where you can open a little panel on his wrist to see a communicator/computer.  MMC even painted Detetus', which XTB did not.

Up to this point you might be getting the sense that I think Deletus and Ground Bite are similarly good figures (but I'm not so hot on Gehry), with Ground Bite having a slight edge for what I consider to be better proportions, a better finish, more and slightly better accessories, and slightly more articulation.  And that'd be fair.  But then I have to transform them all, and suddenly things start to look different.  Gehry is far from the worst Fans Toys transformation I've had to deal with, but it's still nothing I'd consider fun.  Ground Bite's transformation is a bit more intuitive and a bit less of a pain, but there's still some sliders and thin flaps and some looseness in the middle until things are finally locked in place.  And even then the rear wheels and roof don't stay in place super well.  But Deletus is what you've come to expect from MMC... it's mostly intuitive and sometimes downright clever.  You might need to check out the instructions the first time or two, but for the most part everything moves the way you think it should with minimal extra flaps or bits, and everything locks together solidly.  If you're the type that likes to transform their toys, Deletus is by far the most pleasant experience.  The only pain point for me was the tires.  MMC engineered a kind of cool gimmick where the tires actually expand for alt mode, but despite claims of "I can do it with my fingernails!" from some circles and a tool included just for that bit I found them to be a bit tight.  The plastic on the tool bent and let go before the wheels came out, and I cracked two nails before I dug out a metal spudger and pried the tires open.

And what does that transformation get you?  Well, forget Gehry again, as I think his alt mode is the worst of the three and clearly the mode that got the lowest priority from Fans Toys.  Now, there are elements of Ground Bite that I think convey a bit more realism, like the seat an the working pistons in the shovel arms.  I think Deletus' exposed knee ratchets do not make as convincing of a grill.  But he's still got a steering wheel, tailights, and smokestack.  His roof is a bit more cartoon-accurate, and the sides feel just a tad more cohesive.  I guess it's good that Deletus has the best transformation, because I think he just might have the best alt mode.

Of course, that alt mode rolls on those expanding tires, and his shovel has some articulation.  There's storage under the vehicle for his gun.

Normally you could stop here and declare a winner, but as part of a combining team I don't think it's fair to choose a definitive Scrapper without considering the leg mode.  And we see that Deletus is noticeably smaller than the other two in this mode- for some collectors who don't really care about the robot or alt mode, they just want to build Devastator, simply being the smallest is the dealbreaker.  But it's worth pointing out that Deletus is the smallest because there are no additional parts; if it's not on the robot or the alt mode, it's not part of the leg.  Gehry has a huge chunk of diecast that snaps into the heel and wraps to fill a gap in the front, while Ground Bite's knee and thigh are a partsforming piece.  Sunbow accuracy might also be a consideration here.  Ground Bite would almost make a good toy-style Devastator leg, with all four wheel still visible and his arms sticking straight up to form the heel.  On the other hand, I think we see where Fans Toys' priority was, as Gehry went from an ok-but-fat robot to a messy alt mode to a leg that somehow captures the goofy Sunbow model that bore little resemblance to an upright loader.  The partsforming heel is the only one that has the two angled sticks from the cartoon.  Deletus lands in the middle.  His shovel shrinks to get the squarish look of the Sunbow foot and he hides all his wheels, but his heel is more toy-style.

Looks are one thing, but how it moves will have an impact on the gestalt.  All three have ankle pivots, and again Deletus is in the middle with less than Gehry but more than Ground Bite.  However, Deletus is the only one with upward foot tilt.  It's not a ratcheted joint, though, so it remains to be seen if that's some exciting extra articulation or a weak point that could cause trouble once there's more weight on it.  What's not trouble, though, is the knee.  Gehry and Ground Bite can both bend 90 degrees, which is technically enough, but Deletus' knee is double jointed and bends nearly 180 degrees.  If MMC can maintain that level of articulation through the other figures in this set then their Devastator could very well be the one with the most articulation... maybe not just among Devastators, but of any combiner I've looked at.

And yes, Deletus' gun can be plugged in for leg mode, and it doesn't affect the leg's articulation.

So... do we have a definitive Scrapper?  Honestly, for as hard of a time as I've given Gerhy, I really think we're spoiled as fans that we have three figures of this caliber to argue about.  The truth is, I think it really does depend on what you're looking for.  Fans Toys is clearly going to deliver a bigger cartoon-accurate Devastator with a premium finish... if you only care about combined mode and you're the type to put a figure on a shelf and not touch it again until it's time to dust then you're not wrong for going with Fans Toys.  Likewise, if you're looking for a set of individual Constructicons I'd say Ground Bite is the best-looking Scrapper.  But for me, I'll be forging ahead with MMC.  I think Deletus offers the best balance across all three modes. I think Deletus offers the best transformation and the most straight up playability.  I have confidence in MMC's QC and engineering, and they're the ones I trust the most to continue to make solid, playable robots with clever and interesting transformations into solid, playable vehicles that combine into a solid, playable gestalt.

[mikeszekely]

This kit's a bit late coming, because it was sitting and waiting for Deletus to come it at TCP before I shipped.  But this is DNA's DK-61 kit for Legacy Vector Prime.

When I reviewed Vector I said at the time that retooling Jhiaxus didn't really do enough to properly do justice to the character, and that was when he just had to represent himself as a character from Transformers Cybertron.  But with Age of the Primes giving us figures for the rest of the Thirteen, all of which have been brand new molds, it's really looking like Hasbro did Vector dirty.  But is it something we can't remedy with an upgrade?  We see here that DNA included new shoulder pads, new forearm armor, new shin armor, new armor for the sides of his legs, new shoes, new wings, a new sword, a sword holder, and a little gold bit.  Also included with my copy was a second sword in blue plastic and a extra sword holder, though they were wrapped in a bag and tossed casually into the box rather than having a spot in the tray.

To begin, we take the shoulder pads and kind of slide them over his existing ones.  Note that there are pegs on one corner, those pegs should be on the back of the shoulder pad.  In all honesty, they way they slide on doesn't feel great, and I've heard others complaining of breakages.  Fortunately the forearm armor works a lot better.  It simply uses a 5mm peg to plug into the ports on his arms.  It's not perfect, since the forearm armor is kind of stuck on his arm instead of wrapping over it, but it helps.

For the legs, first we're going to take these skinny pieces, and see this hinge they built onto them?  They clip into the vestigial ones on Vector's leg, where Jhiaxus' little winglets went.  Just plug them in and then fold them over onto the little hook tab  The shin armor has little hooks that grab the bottom of the shin and the molding near the 5mm ports on the sides of his legs.  The connection is very tenuous, though.  If you're cool with making this mod permanent, DNA does suggest using a little glue to attach the shin armor.

To attach the shoes, first you have to remove the toe guns, then the pegs on the shoes plug into the 5mm ports on Vector's feet.  Plugging the toe guns back on helps secure the shoes in place.  Again, not perfect, since his hips and thighs are straight ported from Jhiaxus and still missing some of Vector's details, but it does cover the wires on the stock Jhiaxus legs and gives him his gun toes.

The biggest upgrade here might be the wings, which are hinged and have some paint on them in addition to being significantly larger.  To attach them, first we have to pull the stock wings off the split mushroom pegs, then it's just a matter of pushing the new ones on.  The new wings do a much better job of giving Vector that caped look, though they do make the figure a little more back heavy, and one of mine doesn't like to stay on.

Lastly, we've got his new sword.  I have mixed feelings about it.  One the one hand, it's big and painted and pretty dang cool.  On the other hand, not every sword needs to be some anime zweihander, and the stock sword has tabs for the Cyber Planet Key that the new ones do not.

For that matter, the stock sword has a 5mm peg that plugged into the port already on Vector's back.  For the new swords, you need to use this C-shaped bit.  The flat tab goes into this slot above the 5mm port on Vector's back, then the sword can slide into it.  The fit is, even when the sword is all the way in, kinda loose, and the fact that it connects with a tab instead of a peg means you can't angle it like the stock sword to be drawn over a particular shoulder.

I think there's no real question that the new parts do bring a bit more cartoon accuracy to Vector, but how do the new parts affect his transformation?  Well, that's where this kit kind of starts to break down for me... before transforming him, we have to remove the sword and holder, the shoulder pads, and the shoes.  Once they're off, you transform Vector almost as you normally would, but instead of folding the wings down to the hook tabs that are now covered by the extra armor we put on the sides of his legs, we fold them down to plug into the tabs on said armor.

The foot armor pegs into the leg armor with the toes pointed forward and the soles facing out.  You'll notice a slot under the toes.  The sword holders can plug into those slots, and the swords can slide loosely into them for alt mode storage.

Meanwhile, there are these 5mm ports on the struts holding the wings.  This is where the stock sword stored in alt mode.  What DNA wants you to do here is take the pegs on the corners of the shoulder armor that I mentioned and plug them into these ports.

You may recall we had a small gold bit that we haven't talked about yet.  This fits into the T-shaped gap on the back of Vector's torso, which is the nose of the spacecraft.  Near as I can tell, the two small rectangular slots on either side are all that was needed to secure the torso for robot mode, so no complaints here.

And there's the vehicle mode... once again, the wings are proving to be the big improvement.  The new shins don't interfere with anything, so they're fine, and the little gold filler works for me.  I'm not super fond of the feet on the sides... having the toe guns pointed forward is kind of cool, but the fact that they have to partsformed, and the toes removed every time they go on and off his feet, is a pain.  I think it would have been much smarter for DNA to design feet with the toe goes that simply replaced the stock feet entirely with ones that could transform like the stock feet.  Partsforming the shoulder armor is similarly a pain; I get that Vector had big shoulder pads in Cybertron, but if they'd made them just a little smaller and angled them just right they still could have folded down with the stock shoulders and not needed to partsform.  Ironically, the one part I would like to partsform is the forearm armor.  They stick out from the already-chunky bottom of the spaceship, so it can't sit flat on the ground anymore.  Too bad all the available ports are taken up by partsforming feet and shoulder pads.

And here's the rub... while all of this does technically make the robot mode more cartoon accurate, that cartoon is Transformers Cybertron.  Which does not necessarily have to apply to half G1-ified Covenant of Primus designs used for the other Thirteen.  And here's the Covenant design.  

Now, if we're lucky, Vector's Age of the Primes release later this year will be a brand new mold, but I wouldn't hold my breath... I'm expecting the Legacy toy again, though possibly repainted in gold with red wings.  So for now, I think I do recommend the DK-61 kit for Vector Prime- it's worth it for the wings-  but as with a lot of DNA's recent kits I don't think I'll be using all of it.  I'm probably going to ditch the shoulder pads, and replace the stock feet and DNA's shoes with Chinese 3D-printed feet that, as I suggested, transform the way the stock feet do.  That'll still give me the improved wings, legs, and forearm armor, and I can partsform the forearm armor onto the spots where DNA wants you to plug in the shoes.  

[anime52k8]

On 1/28/2026 at 8:44 PM, Chronocidal said:

Found this randomly earlier, and not going to lie, I kind of want one  

I'm not sure if that's weird but clever or just ai slop.

[mikeszekely]

18 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

I'm not sure if that's weird but clever or just ai slop.

Near as I can tell someone actually designed it and is selling the files so you can 3D print one.

[Chronocidal]

Yep, layer lines from the printing are pretty clear on the photo.  Might be a fun winter project, but I'd need to buy a whole bunch of colors I don't already have.