The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[David Hingtgen]

On 6/4/2025 at 11:44 PM, Chronocidal said:

I had this issue too, and didn't notice it so much with the first release, but I think what's going on is some slight mis-alignment/mis-molding of the plate just above the backpack hinge.

When I took mind apart, I had issues with the tiny screw that's buried under the hip swingbar.  I have a tiny screwdriver that fits in there, but as it turns out, I don't believe those screws were actually biting into the plastic.  If I lift up on the backpack, you can see the two prongs that hold the gnurled pin inserted into the hip swingbar are lifting away from the backplate, meaning that screw isn't holding things together.  When I tried screwing it in, it just spun, so I have to assume those tiny holes stripped out.

I do not know if this is the direct cause, but I think the looseness of that assembly is contributing to the booster mount catching.  Because the panels flex, it's causing the trapezoid panel just ahead of the backpack hinge to lift, and it's catching directly on the booster mount when you try to slide it on.

What I did just now as a test was to file down the squared off edges on the front underside of the backpack bracket to let it slip over that back panel edge easier.  It's the section directly inboard of the booster mounts, and it's already beveled somewhat, but I just rounded off the front underside edge further until it's about at a 45 degree angle, and it helped it not to catch on the backplate.  I can take a picture tomorrow where I mean, I'm about to head to bed.  

Glad to hear the arm repair was a success though!  It's so refreshing working on valks you can actually take apart.  

I compared Jetfire to an early Roy, and I see what you mean----a real one has this edge smooth and rounded, while Jetfire has it quite sharp and squared off:

I do not think that is whole story though--your backplate looseness theory also seems to play a role----Jetfire's clip fits onto Roy pretty well, despite the sharp edge.  I think it's the double-whammy of the sharp edge AND the backplate having issues, that combine to make attaching the booster-clip such a struggle.  

[Chronocidal]

I should pull out a set to compare myself.  Might be the perspective on the photo, but it looks like those beveled surfaces are wider on the Jetfire version.

Thanks for the illustration though, that's exactly the edge I rounded off.  You make a good point about it fitting easier on the Yamato though.

One difference I did notice, and it's probably also related, is that Yamato never glued down the tail plate to the backplate.  In all the ones I took apart, once I removed all three main screws (wings and under the hip bar) the whole backpack would fall off, because it was only held by that locator pin.

On Jetfire?  Those pins are glued in, and from what I can tell, while they're not exactly sticking up, I don't think the backpack mounts are sitting all the way flush.  Those pins were probably glued specifically because the parts weren't fitting together well enough for that third screw to bite, and hold it down.  The end result is that the backpack mounting plate is sticking up for the booster bracket to catch on.

In other news though, just got a notification that my pair of Su-27s is on the way (I know, they call it something else, don't really care ).  I don't know if I'm adventurous enough to do a full Yellow 13 scheme, but it's very likely they'll both be getting new insignia.

[David Hingtgen]

Ironically, they're not glued in ENOUGH now, I think.  Looking carefully at how the backplate flexes etc, on Roy----I actually decided to glue down Jetfire's as flush as I can. Then will reinforce it   THEN see if I can get it to clip both in and out, nicely.

The screw just isn't enough, at least not with the cheaper (more translucent?) plastic Jetfire's made of.  It's definitely lighter/more flexible it seems.  

(also, a Roy booster really doesn't want to fit onto a Jetfire clip)

[shazam]

 

[sh9000]

DK-70.

[mikeszekely]

Dunno about the slippers, but the rest of that kit really looks like it improves those two.

[M'Kyuun]

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Dunno about the slippers, but the rest of that kit really looks like it improves those two.

I was thinking the same thing. All I really wanted were two longer forearms with retractable hands for Bonecrusher, but I'm impressed by how much better his torso appears and by the range of gained articulation. Upgrade in the truest sense. I'm fine with Bonecrusher's stock feet, so the slippers 😄 will stay in the box along with the bugles. I was fine with the hollow bits on Scrapper, but it's nice that they're including fillers for him in the same kit. I have to smile at the presumption that if you have one fig, you're going to have the other one too. 😁  The fillers for Scrapper's calves seem a bit superfluous as they don't really fill the hollows but merely add another couple mms of plastic to their interiors. I hope the new piece that attaches directly to Bonecrusher's shovel has a tight joint as well as a well toleranced tab otherwise his shovel is just going to fall off of his chest. It's not a bad idea to impart some articulation, but the downside is having his chest fall off all the time having lost its anchor to his groin.

Nevertheless, I want this kit, if only for those replacement arms. I'll try the rest to test their efficacy, but I have a bad feeling about Bonecrusher's chest.

Casting about, it appears that it's a TFSource exclusive for now. I don't want to pay their markup, so I'm waiting to see if TFSafari gets it.

Edited June 14 by M'Kyuun

[Chronocidal]

So the post office dropped a monster on my doorstep today.  I'd been waiting on my pair of Su-27s from ShowZ, and when I saw the size of the box, I guessed they must have doubled them up.

No. This thing is huge.

I happened to have my Jetfires handy to pose for comparison in both modes, and they're not too far off in scale, but it just emphasizes exactly how big a plane this is.

Comes in at near 16 inches long, so roughly 1/54 scale.  Given the sizes of the previous ones, I did not expect something this big at all.

Maybe I'll transform him.. but I might wait for the second to arrive before I mess with it.   The manual is just as much a monster as the plane, so I expect it might take an hour or two to get through on a first run.

Just in general though, I think a new bar has been set for plastic airplane origami.  Looking over the jet, I think the only corner they cut was that the belly is a bit thicker than it should be, but it's completely hidden unless you view it head-on.  I'm no expert on the Su-27, so the proportions of the nose might be a bit inflated, but without comparing it directly, I'm really not seeing anything stick out as being off-model.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

So the post office dropped a monster on my doorstep today.  I'd been waiting on my pair of Su-27s from ShowZ, and when I saw the size of the box, I guessed they must have doubled them up.

No. This thing is huge.

I happened to have my Jetfires handy to pose for comparison in both modes, and they're not too far off in scale, but it just emphasizes exactly how big a plane this is.

Comes in at near 16 inches long, so roughly 1/54 scale.  Given the sizes of the previous ones, I did not expect something this big at all.

Maybe I'll transform him.. but I might wait for the second to arrive before I mess with it.   The manual is just as much a monster as the plane, so I expect it might take an hour or two to get through on a first run.

Just in general though, I think a new bar has been set for plastic airplane origami.  Looking over the jet, I think the only corner they cut was that the belly is a bit thicker than it should be, but it's completely hidden unless you view it head-on.  I'm no expert on the Su-27, so the proportions of the nose might be a bit inflated, but without comparing it directly, I'm really not seeing anything stick out as being off-model.

Just checked tracking on mine; it's currently in LA, presumably at LAX waiting for transport. I figure it'll reach me around Thursday. Appreciate the pics, man. Having watched a transformation vid for this thing, it's going to be a slow, meticulous process the first time I transform it. Once I get it in bot mode, I probably won't touch it again. I appreciate the engineering that goes into these complex toys and the toys themselves for the wonders that they are, but there's little fun to be had when transforming the majority of them for fear of breaking something, missing a step, or getting it something wrong and fouling the whole process up. The hard part will be deciding whether to keep it in bot mode, or tackle the transformation once again to get it back in jet mode, as I've long wished for a decent MiG-27 transformer and this is so much better than I ever expected it could be. Knowing myself, it'll just stay in bot mode, but the satisfaction of knowing it can be turned into this gorgeous plane will remain and keep me contented.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

MiG-27

Su-27 (technically J-16, if we're being pedantic).  MiG-27 is a totally different (and far uglier, IMHO) beast.

[Chronocidal]

Whatever it is is potentially going to wind up in Erusean markings eventually, but I'm not sure if I'm going to try the entire scheme.   Maybe just the insignia and highlights.

[M'Kyuun]

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Su-27 (technically J-16, if we're being pedantic).  MiG-27 is a totally different (and far uglier, IMHO) beast.

I stand corrected. I meant Su-27, but it was quite late, and my brain wasn't running on all cylinders at the time. And yeah, J-16 is the Chinese designation for their version.

And while the MiG-27 Flogger isn't that bad, it's certainly no Flanker in terms of aesthetics. The MiG-29 and Su-27 are two of the loveliest fighters in the world, IMHO.

Edited June 22 by M'Kyuun

[M'Kyuun]

After about four and half hours, I finally got the thing transformed. The transformation itself wasn't too bad, although I encountered a little difficulty understanding what was being done once I reached the groin section in the instructions and switched to a video for the rest. Other issues I had were really tight panel connections- this thing was so well engineered that it's often difficult to tell where the panels separate and getting them to do so, I had trouble getting the shoulders to snap into place, I didn't move the waist connector far enough initially- it has a strong snap- so I partially dismantled the torso for better access. I initially couldn't figure out how to get the loincloth to fold and was afraid of breaking it, so I finagled with that for a while. It's complex, not altogether intuitive IMHO, interesting to say the least, and well-executed overall. The fighter mode is gorgeous, and as I mentioned, unlike most Hasbro/Takara stuff, the panel lines are very difficult to spot and sometimes not at all, so well-toleranced is the molding. A tool for separating panels and such is pretty much a necessity, and Touch Toys has you covered as they provide one. It comes in a sealed pouch along with some cards. In my infinite wisdom, I thought it was just a bonus weapon, so I put it back in the pouch. I didn't realize what it was for until I watched the video (Mangmotion) thus I'll spare anyone here getting a copy the mistake I made as well as your fingernails. It's definitely a neat figure and I'm glad I got him. I've long wished for a transforming Su-27 Flanker, or a close facsimile thereof, and this scratches that particular itch. 

While I don't expect Takara to make their stuff this complex, they could learn a thing or two about making seamless realistic transforming fighters from Touch Toys. Well, it's quite late and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. Cheers all.

[Scyla]

Thanks @M'Kyuun for the short review.

The me the problem with Transformers that turn into jets is that they are designed as robots first.

So if the robot-mode is your focus the designer is limited to what they can achieve, especially when they are designing a toy that is supposedly made for kids. 

The other way around is much easier and you can see it with this toy and you can see it with Kawamori’s Valkyrie designs where the fighter-mode has the top priority and the mecha mode is derived from it. 

If you large surface areas of your fighter like wings and tail fins just can form a cape or the whole engine area can form just the leg on it’s own you have a much easier time then trying to turn a block into a sleek fuselage.

Is this jet an impressive engineering feat? Absolutely? Could Takara’s engineers do a better job designing sleeker airframes? I think so (and FansToys Maverick is proof you can do it).

But it is not that Takara is not capable of doing it, they are just bound by different constraints.

[Chronocidal]

I feel like the biggest "constraint" they deal with is just deciding that it's not worth the effort when people don't seem to care about how ugly the jets are when all they want is a good action figure that looks like the character from a cartoon.

You're right about the character designs though.  When they aren't hampered by fitting an established character into a jet body we get things like the Tomcat Maverick they released. 

And while I know lots of people didn't like certain aspects of Kawamori's attempt at a Seeker mold, I think he established a very solid foundation for how you could fit a really good figure into the F-15 body without getting stupidly lazy like the most recent MP Seeker.

I really want to see someone take another crack at that general torso layout, but using more modern methods in the legs.  Just something that plays with creative rearrangments of the components to give us a more streamlined jet while still giving decent character accuracy.  Like since the legs and jet taper opposite directions, what if the shins flipped upside down?  Lots of options to try there.

[M'Kyuun]

11 hours ago, Scyla said:

Thanks @M'Kyuun for the short review.

The me the problem with Transformers that turn into jets is that they are designed as robots first.

So if the robot-mode is your focus the designer is limited to what they can achieve, especially when they are designing a toy that is supposedly made for kids. 

The other way around is much easier and you can see it with this toy and you can see it with Kawamori’s Valkyrie designs where the fighter-mode has the top priority and the mecha mode is derived from it. 

If you large surface areas of your fighter like wings and tail fins just can form a cape or the whole engine area can form just the leg on it’s own you have a much easier time then trying to turn a block into a sleek fuselage.

Is this jet an impressive engineering feat? Absolutely? Could Takara’s engineers do a better job designing sleeker airframes? I think so (and FansToys Maverick is proof you can do it).

But it is not that Takara is not capable of doing it, they are just bound by different constraints.

I appreciate your insights, Scyla, and you're correct so far as the design methodologies and prioritization. Maverick was indeed done far better than Takara's usual fare, but they also took obvious inspiration from the VF-1 to their credit. Perhaps Kawamori even offered them some guidance. Regardless, it's a rare example of a more realistic and sleek jet mode uncompromised by blocky robot bits or arms dangling off the sides of the plane.  When they worked with Kawamori to design MP-03, what we got was arguably the most accurate F-15 fighter mode in TF history, but the bot mode suffered a number of concessions for it. Contrarily, MP-52 went entirely in the opposite direction and what we got was an extremely toon accurate bot mode with a heavily compromised F-15 mode.  The pendulum swing within the franchise is pretty wide.  Obviously, I prefer Kawamori's approach, as he is able to cobble some really nice-looking bot modes from sleek realistic albeit fictional fighters. I wish the fighter mode was a little more important to Takara, that they would strike a greater balance making both modes look good instead of prioritizing the bot. I realize, too, that, at least when dealing with G1 jetformers, they're tied to their blocky 80s robot designs and cubes and sleek jets do not a good formula make so far as preserving the latter.

They have proven, however, such as with Legacy Prime Dreadwing/Skyquake, that they are capable of making a sleeker jet, even if this particular example is a bit on the chonky side. Still it integrates the arms and the overall appearance looks proportional and jet-like. I have both characters b/c I liked the mold so much.

6 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I feel like the biggest "constraint" they deal with is just deciding that it's not worth the effort when people don't seem to care about how ugly the jets are when all they want is a good action figure that looks like the character from a cartoon.

You're right about the character designs though.  When they aren't hampered by fitting an established character into a jet body we get things like the Tomcat Maverick they released. 

And while I know lots of people didn't like certain aspects of Kawamori's attempt at a Seeker mold, I think he established a very solid foundation for how you could fit a really good figure into the F-15 body without getting stupidly lazy like the most recent MP Seeker.

I really want to see someone take another crack at that general torso layout, but using more modern methods in the legs.  Just something that plays with creative rearrangments of the components to give us a more streamlined jet while still giving decent character accuracy.  Like since the legs and jet taper opposite directions, what if the shins flipped upside down?  Lots of options to try there.

I read your comment even while I was in the midst of typing my own. As ususal, our perspectives match. And, seeing Scyla's point, too, I don't think it's necessarily that Takara can't pull off a sleek fighter mode, as they've proven they can, but they're just not interested in doing so most of the time, which is unfortunate as they do a disservice to people like us who really like jets and wish more TFs enjoyed sleeker, more realistic or accurate jet modes without being so heavily compromised for the sake of the bot mode. For Pete's sake, they can make a pretty realistic motorcycle turn into a decent bot, but not a jet, which has a whole lot more real estate to work with. It's purely a lack of care, and yeah, I think it's b/c the fandom has been fed shitty jet modes for 40 years so why start trying now. I think it's telling that Maverick got a lot of negative commentary from fans; it just shows that they've been indoctrinated into accepting egregiously compromised jets. I had to cringe when I watched vid reviews of a few of the recent Aerialbots with commentors gushing over how good the jet looked. Like, really? Have you ever seen an F-15, a Harrier, an F-4 Phantom, the Concorde, or an F-16? I just have to shrug and shake my head. But yep, TF fans love shitty jet modes and Takara/Hasbro by extension, is there for them. Thank goodness I can take refuge in Macross and that companies like Touch Toys are bringing an alternate reality for fans of transforming robots and sleek jets.

Edited June 25 by M'Kyuun

[mikeszekely]

Man, I had to dig a bit to find this topic.  Is it just me, or has 3rd party stuff been waning a bit in popularity since Hasbro's stuff has (mostly) improved?  Or is it just that everyone's migrating to Legends, but no one talks about it?  And now, when I am gonna talk about 3P stuff, it's 3P stuff to upgrade Hasbro's stuff.  Because, yeah, I finally shipped my stash from The Chosen Prime, and it's mostly upgrade kits... starting with DNA's DK-51 kit for Legacy Nova Prime.

Let's start with this image... this is Nova Prime as Don Figeuroa designed him for early IDW.  For some reason, a lot of fans saw Siege Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime and thought, "hey, that'd made a good retool as Nova Prime!" (Perhaps due to a digibash of the original Cybertron Optimus making the rounds).  I'm not sure I agree... Galaxy Upgrade Optimus isn't a particularly good Cybertron Optimus, let alone Nova Prime.  The colors, plus the new head and chest, do a lot of the heavy lifting, but the new wings are too small, he's still got Optimus' ladder guns, and he's just entirely wrong from the waist down.

So what's DNA giving us, and can it get us closer to the comics?  The most obvious thing are new wings, but we've also got a sword, a pair of rifles, some filler panels, new fists, a new crotch, new shoes, and some parts I'll call Big Chunk and Little Chunk.

The new fists are the only parts that actually replace anything, and the only parts that require a screwdriver.  Remove these two screws on the inside of the forearm, and the inside of the forearm will come off.  Swapping the fists is as easy as sliding the old ones out of the mushroom peg socket and sliding the new ones in, then putting the forearm back together.

The new fists are slightly larger, which does make them a little more proportional with the armored mode.  But the real improvement is that each finger is a separate part now, molded into a curve and pegged at the base.  Because they're permanently attached, they're the only parts in the kit that go with the base robot, so if you haven't yet go ahead and armor him up.

Now for the crotch.  There's a pair of tabs on the back of the piece, they go into these slots on the original crotch.

Grab Big Chunk, and split it in half.  There's a tab that fits into the small gap between the core robot's leg and the armor booties.  Just wedge that tab in there as snug as you can.

Grab the shoes.  While it looks like there's a clear top and bottom, we actually want to spin the toes so they're facing up, but the waffled part with the black peg on the long piece is also facing up.  This peg plugs into the peg hole on the soles of Nova's booties.  As near as I can tell, it doesn't matter which shoe goes on which foot.

These filler parts are familiar to anyone who bought DNA's upgrade kit for GU Optimus.  The ends fold down and they slide into the hollow side of the ladders/guns.

If you're looking at the backside of Nova you'll notice a peg hole on the back of his wings.  There's a corresponding peg on the DNA wings, as well as some tabs that wedge into the waffles.

Finally, Little Chunk gets wedged into Nova's backpack.  It doesn't really matter which side.  Little Chunk plays a more important role later.  For now, though, you'll notice the square-shaped indent on Little Chunk... you want that facing outward.  The DNA sword has a pair of clips that plug into that square, allowing you to store the sword on his back.

And here's our completed Nova Prime.  The new crotch is much better, and the shoes give him more comic-accurate toes and arguably improve his proportions.  The new hands aren't as necessary, but added articulation is appreciated.  I do like that the fillers help hide the hollow sides of the ladders, but I'd just as soon do away with them entirely, since they're not accurate to the comics in the first place.  Big Chunk gives him knee pads that are a bit more comic accurate, but they aren't as secure as the rest of the kit, and they don't really make up for the fact that the rest of his legs are very clearly still not a truck cab.  I could take or leave the sword; he didn't have one in the comics, but extra weapons are still cool.  Nova didn't really use any weapons in the comics, that I recall, but I do rather like the new guns.  The star, though, is definitely the wings.  They don't just make his wings bigger and more comic accurate; each of the four segments has a swivel and a double hinge, giving you a lot more freedom in posing them.

I supposed, technically, you could still keep the holdover leg guns from GU Optimus (which themselves were a holdover from Siege Magnus, where they were meant to mimic the blue hinges on the sides of RID Magnus' cab)... maybe have the sword stowed on his back, the old guns on his legs, and the new rifles in his fists.  But the new rifles are really meant to replace the old guns; they have pegs on the "magazine" that allow you to plug them into his legs.  And, as we'll see in a minute, there won't be room for both the new guns and the old in alt mode.

And to get to alt mode, you can leave the new fists and wings attached, but everything else gets pulled back off.  So transform the core robot into his cab mode, but leave off the arm bits with the bumper and tires for a minute.  Instead, get Big Chunk, put the halves back together, and attach it to Little Chunk like so.

Us the peg on Little Chunk to plug the combined Chunks into the peg hole on the front of the cab.  Now, take the arm parts that turn into the bumper and front wheels and attach them into the sides of Little Chunk.

Get the shoes and turn the toes so that the waffles and black pegs are on the same side.  Fold in the peg that goes into his soles, and fold out the peg in the toes.  Use those pegs to plug the shoes into the peg holes just above the front wheels.  This will help fill in the gaps that Hasbro created but moving the wheel parts forward made worse.  And yes, the shoes are a little unsecured.  We'll get to that.

Put the trailer pieces together basically the way you normally do, and begin to attach it to the cab.  Before we fold in and attach the wings, take all the segments and swivel them 180 degrees.  Take the the bottom one (formerly the top) and fold in back in on itself.  Now you can fold the wings in and attach them to the hooks on Nova's legs as you normally would.

With the wings in place, you can now take the second-from-the-bottom wing segment and push it down over the shoe part.  You might have noticed the little tabs on the sides of the shoes; they go into the bottom of the wing segment, which helps secure the whole thing in place.  As for the remaining segments, the second-from-top tabs onto the segment we tabbed onto the shoes, and the top one tabs onto the second-from-the-top one.  Now a few finishing touches.  The new rifles plug onto the peg holes on the leg armor.

You may have also noticed tabs on the hip skirts of the crotch piece.  Use them to sandwich the crotch above the shoulder parts at the top of the booties.  There's a peg hole at the bottom of the crotch, and you want to make sure it's pointing toward the front of the truck.  We can plug the handle of the sword into the hole, and the sword will sit nicely between the ladders on top of the truck.

Nova Prime's alt mode never properly appeared in the comics, but we have Don's concept art for it.  Legacy Nova Prime was never really in the ballpark.  The DNA kit does at least give him a long nose cab, and it helps cover the gaps in the original toy.  It'd be a stretch to call it accurate, though.

And I guess that's the dilemma... Legacy Nova Prime was a mediocre retool of a mediocre retool.  While DNA's upgrade kit helps, it's kinda like putting lipstick on a pig.  With Age of the Primes Hasbro's giving us toys of the original 13 Primes (aka the first 13 Transformers created by Primus, but I kind of hope they don't start there.  I'd love for them to do the entire Lineage of Primes (aka the line of every Transformers to carry the Matrix from Prima to Optimus/Rodimus, which varies by continuity but I'd accept as Prima, Nova Prime, Nominus Prime, Zeta Prime, Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime).  I still hope for a brand new, comic-accurate mold for Nova.

I've seen no sign that we're actually getting that wish, though.  For now, Legacy Nova Prime is all we've got.  Even with the DNA kit Legacy Nova Prime is still farther from the mark I'd like, the knee pads aren't super secure in bot mode, and the wings and shoes feel a little rickety in truck mode.  That makes it a little hard to recommend the kit.  However, I think the upgraded wings are what ultimately make me say yes, I do recommend this kit.  They're bigger, they're much more accurate, and more dynamic.  Just don't expect any miracles.

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, a big chunk of my last shipment was DNA upgrade kits (although less than I expected, as there's at least two more kits that have been out in China but are still showing as not arriving until September here).  So we'll keep rolling with DNA DK-49, an upgrade kit for the Studio Series Rise of the Beasts Terrorcons.

This kit has parts for three figures- Battletrap, Nightbird, and Scourge.  In the package you'll find a chain, a pair of blasters, two swords, two little wings, a forearm and hand, two shoulders, and two truck mode parts.

We'll start with the easy stuff.  The chain is for Battletrap's mace, and you attach it by sliding the big tab into the notches on the mace.

From there, it's as simple as plugging the other end into one of his fists.  The chain has a number of joints that could be used for cool poses, except that Battletrap's shoulders don't appear to have held up well despite being in storage in a box in alt mode.  He can't support the weight of the mace/chain combo.

The blasters, likewise, have pegs at the end that fit into his fists.

For alt mode, you can store the chain by leaving it plugged into a fist, then you use the joints in the links to route the chain under the tow hook.  The mace/wrecking ball winds up in basically the same spot.

The blasters, meanwhile, can be stored by plugging the square holes onto the posts on the sides of the truck, where his arms peg into his torso in bot mode.  All told, the blasters and chain are nice-to-haves, nothing I'd say majorly improves the figure but also nothing that requires any major alterations.

Nightbird's similarly simple.  Grab her tiny little wings and just yank them off their pegs.  Then just pop the replacement ones on.

The new swords are slightly larger but almost identical in sculpt.  They're painted with yellow instead of black, which I believe is a better match for the film.  The almost-identical sculpt means that they can still tab onto her hip armor.  Really, the biggest improvement with the swords is that there's two here instead of just the one the toy came with.

The biggest improvement is definitely the new wings, though.  They're still a tad smaller than what she had in the film, but they look purposeful instead of the vestigial nubs she came with.  Plus, they have hinges, so they're articulated in a way the originals weren't.

Now, you might figure that the reason Nightbird came with such puny wings is because there's a lack of space to stow them when she transforms.  But, DNA clearly figured it out.  Swivel them and use the hinges to angle them just right, and they should curl under her cabin, right along her spine, just like this.

If you got them situated right, the car should button up about as well as it ever did.  As for the swords, again, the nearly identical sculpt means that you can tab them in exactly the same as the original.  I think I even called out the fact that she had spots for two swords when I reviewed her and questioned why she only came with one.

With the easy ones out of the way, we're left to upgrade Scourge, who you may recall already had one upgrade kit with a new right arm that sported articulated figures, a new weapon that wasn't permanently attached to his arm, a new head that's kind of ugly but has a much more solid neck and removable mask, a new claw arm with articulated fingers, some rib filler, and new armor parts for his thighs, butt, and shins.  And that was all well and good, but in a lot of scenes he had neither an arm cannon or a claw, he had a normal left hand.  What if you want that look?  Well, DNA got you covered with an arm that's basically a mirror of the previous one, but with the peg hole for the peg stump that the claw and blaster use.

I've seen concept art of Scourge with shoulder pads like the toy has, but the toy clearly wasn't working from the final design because that's not how his shoulders looked in the film.  So DNA decided to replace them with more accurate ones, and we're going to have to do a bit of toy surgery to swap them.  Begin by removing these two screws.  Be careful, as caps will come off with the screws.  Hang onto them, you'll need them later.

With the arm off, you can slide the DNA shoulder onto the joint and replace the caps and screws.  Pull the arms off the old shoulders at the mushroom peg and slide them into the new shoulders.

Here you can see the new shoulder vs the old shoulder, with a screen grab of Scourge in the film.  The new shoulder armor is much closer to the film... but you might be thinking at this point, "hey, weren't those old shoulder pads a major part of the truck's nose?"

They were indeed!  Which brings use to our final parts, pieces that replace the shoulders so we're not missing big chunks of the truck's nose.  To attach them, you need to find these tabs on his back, and plug the parts into them.  This is actually where his original shoulders would tab into the wheels.  The fit, as was the case with the thigh, shin, and butt armor from the previous kit, isn't the tightest and DNA advises that you can use glue, but doing so will make it difficult or impossible to revert him to stock.

There's a swivel in each of the DNA pieces, so once they're tabbed in you can kind of tuck them in a bit after you plug in his backpack.  However, you shouldn't fold in the panels with the smokestacks first anymore.  The spot where they're designed to sit is now occupied by the DNA parts.  Once the backpack is in place, you can fold them in, but they're now forced to angle backward slightly and not really lock in anymore.  That said, It doesn't look drastically different from how it originally went, and the friction in the hinges seems to be adequate to keep everything in place.

More robot accuracy is good, but only if it still transforms.  And he does, but with a little more finagling to get his arms past the wheels which now have chunks of the nose attached.  You also have to take more care to line up the shoulder joints/air cleaner, since lining up the shoulder pads with the nose of the truck won't do it for you anymore.  To make sure that the new shoulders sit under the hood you need to take the extra steps of sliding the ring-shaped joint coming out of the shoulder forward toward the nose of the truck while also sliding the new shoulder armor down toward the back of the truck.  Once everything's settled the new nose parts should fit over the shoulders and mate with the strip of the hood coming from his backpack and the grill.

Despite using new nose parts attached to his backpack that fit over his shoulders instead of making the nose parts out of his shoulders, the truck mode is basically the same as it ever was.  His hands, whether you're using the clawed hand or the normal one of the left, still poke out of the back of the cab.  If you're using the DNA kit, the blade still folds and clips onto the thumb, and you still kind of just wedge the blaster between his legs.

Recommending this kit is a tough call... I think Nightbird is the most obviously improved by it, but is she improved enough?  Blasters and a chain for Battletrap aren't pushing it over the finish line.  I think it ultimately comes down to Scourge.  Did you get the previous kit for him?  That kit did quite a bit to improve his screen accuracy, but the shins and especially the thighs would come off if you looked at him funny, practically demanding that you glue those parts on.  I think, if you got that kit, you might as well go all the way and give him the option of a normal hand and more accurate shoulders, and you might as well glue the new truck nose parts on, too.  If you didn't get the previous kit, which goes a lot further in improving him than this one does, then there's really no point to getting this kit for him.  And if you're not getting this kit for Scourge, then you can probably save some money and pass on this kit, too.

[mikeszekely]

OK, one last upgrade kit (for now).  We did the baddies, how about an upgrade kit for the good guys?  This kit is DNA's DK-52 kit for the Studio Series Rise of the Beasts Maximals.

In this kit, you'll find a hammer, two hologram balls, a head, two hands, and two sets of toes.  There's also Return of Chunk.

The head is for Optimus Primal.  A complaint I had with the figure was that he had a cartoon-style opening in his mask with a mouth, but the final CGI model had just a mask.  (You may even recall when I reviewed Apelinq, who had the full mask, that I wondered if switching their heads was a good idea, since Apelinq's robot face wasn't in the movie, but Yolopark revealed that Apelinq wasn't supposed to have a mouth, either.)  The DNA head is basically identical to the stock head except it doesn't have a mouth.  Swapping the head is as simple as yanking the stock head off the ball joint and pushing the DNA head onto it.  As a simple head swap, it doesn't affect his transformation at all and does nothing for his alt mode, so we'll skip right onto the next one...

...which is a hammer for Rhinox.  Who already came with a hammer.  Arguably, the new hammer has a somewhat better sculpt and paint than the stock one, but they're about the same size.  It's a tad snug, too.  If the hammer stopped at being slightly prettier this would be a hard sell, but where the hammer really shines is alt mode.

We have a little prep to do first, though.  Once you have Rhinox in alt mode, open up his back and yank his head off at the indicated hinge.  That'll give you a little more room to work.

OK, in the back of the rhino head you'll find a hollow void.  Grab Return of Chunk, and wedge it into the void so the u-shaped cutout is at the bottom.  Once it's in there good, you can reattach the head.

Now, take the hammer and fold the handle back like you would with the stock hammer.  Then, take the top of the hammer and rock it backward on a double hinge, and flip out the two little winglets on the sides of the hammer.  Turn Rhinox upside down and pull out his neck a bit so you can see Return of Chunk inside.  The handle of the hammer goes into that cutout, with the hammer oriented so the top is facing the ground when Rhinox is standing up.

The spikes on the face of the hammer get tucked into the top of his robot chest, and the top of the hammer lines up with the bottom of the rhino neck.  This allows the hammer to fill in the void in the rhino chest between his neck and the robot chest (which became his rhino tummy).  And I think it works pretty well!  The mechanical detail sort of works with with the gappy machinery with lots of moving parts look the film gave the Maximals.  And you know I love this sort of integrated weapons storage over the stock "just stick it on his back" look.

Speaking of his back, this is a good time to talk about the hologram globes.  The tops are different on each globe, but they can be removed and swapped between them.  Which you might want to do, because one of the bases has a 5mm peg, which allows it to plug into Rhinox's back (since we don't have to stow a hammer there anymore).  According to the instructions, the other has a 4mm peg.  The instructions suggest using the globes with Airazor or Optimus Prime.  I'm struggling to recall if they ever used a hologram in Rise of the Beasts, or if DNA just included them because a certain 3P included them with their versions of Optimus Prime... but that particular version of Prime was a modified KO of Lemontree's Bumblebee Optimus Prime, and that Prime did use a hologram globe... eh, not important, I guess.

We're wrapping up this set with some parts for Cheetor.  You're going to need to loosen the screws on the backs of his forearms.  You won't actually remove them or take his forearms apart, just loosen them enough that you can pull the ball-jointed fists out and fit the replacement fists in.

The DNA fists have the bulk of the alt mode paws on the backs of his hands, with just two claws sticking out.  Near as I can tell, the CGI in the film doesn't have any paw, but it does have the two claws, so I consider this a moderate upgrade in accuracy.

As for the toes, you need to yank the stock front half of Cheetor's feet off of the gray hinge, then snap the replacement parts on in their place.  the replacement feet are a little taller, so you'll need to flip a heel out to lie against the cat paws on the back half of the foot.

The new feet aren't as flat and short, with some silver paint for the toe spikes.  And, yeah, the shape and the silver make the foot a bit more accurate, but I feel like you could have gotten most of the same benefit by getting a silver oil-based Sharpie paint marker and painting the toe spikes on the stock feet yourself.  I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that, even with the flip-out heels, he seems a little less stable on his new feet.

Transforming Cheetor with the DNA kit is mostly the same.  You have to fold the heel back into the front of the foot, but the foot still folds up against the back of the cat leg.  The hands do a bit better.  The paws on the backs of the hand double-hinge out over the claws, so that the claws become fingernails for the cat.

Since both the claws and paws on hinged on the new hands, they function as well the stock paws in cat mode.  Maybe better, since it looks like they can sit a little flatter, and the nails are all painted silver.  As for the feet, you get the sense that maybe there was a reason the stock feet were so small in the first place.  Perhaps I will just paint the stock feet and put them back on.

That said, the globes and the feet are the only things I'm a bit iffy on.  The new head for Primal is more accurate, and the I really like the new hands for Cheetor, though those things alone probably wouldn't sell me on a whole kit.  Rhinox's hammer, though, is a different story.  I love it.  I love that it integrates into his body instead of sitting on his back in rhino mode.  I love that it fills in a major gap in the alt mode.  It's exactly what Rhinox needed, so much so that I'd recommend the kit just for that reason.  If you have Studio Series Rhinox, this kit is a definite recommend.  The fact that you can also upgrade Cheetor and Primal is just icing on the cake.

[sh9000]

MMC's Devastator.