Unique Toys Y03 Sworder Review

Me and Sandstorm go way back. In the mid 80's I became obsessed with owning his Generation 1 figure, actually obsessed. When my Gran finally relented and offered to buy me the toy (she was always the easiest relation to convince that a new toy would change my life), it felt like the end of the end of Return of the Jedi. So of course when I finally got to the shop I promptly changed my mind and got something else instead. Something so memorable I have no recollection of what it was. Hmph.

All these years later and I still haven't scratched that near 30 year old Sandstorm itch, so when the kind folks at TFS Express offered to send me Unique Toys take on the character, Sworder, I jumped at the chance to possibly finally lay that old ghost to rest.

Unique Toys have produced some solid work of late, aiming to grab space on your shelf with the recent Buzzing (Blurr) and Provider (Octane) all being well received.

So how will Unique Toys Sworder stand up to those? Continue after the jump to read the review

DX9 Carry - Test Shot vs Final Product

Many months ago Morg from Masterforce kindly sent me a box of goodies to inspect which included both a test shot of DX9's Rodimus Prime-a-like, Carry, along with the finished product to compare it to. However a bit of real life stuff got in the way causing this article to get shoved so far back that I had to whistle to entice it out of hiding.

So I present to you a semi review of DX9's Studio Ox inspired Rodimus Prime - Carry, which is mostly a comparison article that may wander off into talk of sorcery and possibly Wizards. Let's go find some differences.

Continue after the jump to see the rest of this long delayed article.

FansToys FT-11 Spotter Review (test shot)

Twas two nights before Christmas, that the lovely people at TFS Express dropped a test shot of FansToys FT-11 Spotter onto my door step.

Spotter is FansToys latest release and is an homage to Generation One Decepticon voyeur Reflector, a character who Takara and Hasbro have little love for.

Instead of just doing a stand alone review, as I had originally intended, this article will compare and contrast it with the Maketoys Visualizers who not long ago I was casting loving glances at, besotted with an integrated transformation of the camera lens that seemed like witchcraft.

Three weeks later there have been opinion changes with wallet shattering consequences.

Remember this is a test shot and may feature issues not found on the final figure. Please keep that in mind and hit the button below to see the full Fanstoys Spotter review.

FansToys FT-13 Mercenary Test Shot Review

Fanstoys FT-13 Mercenary

As another great year for toy fans draws to a close  and bids us a boozy farewell in a warm lightsabre glow, it provides a worthwhile opportunity to look back at some of the cracking toys we've seen and also forwards at some of the delights 2016 will have in store for us.

One of my favourite toys of 2015 was Fanstoys Grenadier so it's quite fitting that the toy we are looking at today is a test shot of the next release in Fans Toys unofficial Masterpiece Insecticons - FT-13 Mercenary. This didn't come from Santa Claus, but rather the equally generous, festive folks over at tfs express.
Which is handy because Santa would have been disappointed that I'd already eaten all of the cookies....

Disclaimer: This is a test shot so may have issues or quirks that are not representative of the final product. But if you don't care about that - read on.

FansToys FT-12 Grenadier Review

FansToys have become the go to company for third party versions of Masterpiece styled Transformers of late, with slavish recreations of G1 characters that we have not seen official releases for, with a level of accuracy that almost no other third party has been able to achieve. Yet somehow, this is only the first figure of theirs that I have owned?

Fans Toys FT-12T Grenadier (to give him his full name) dropped through the post the other week and finally gave me the Insecticon presence on my Masterpiece shelf that I have craved for so long. The Insecticons were a special group of toys to me as a child, with their own distinctive style and the fact they looked quite like their television counterparts.

So does Grenadier live up to the job of Insecticons mad scientist?

Continue after the jump to see the review

Maketoys RM01 Cupola Review (Masterpiece Chromedome)

The third party trend for weird names continues, this time with Maketoys Cup holder. Cuckold. Cupola...even.

According to Radio Free Cybertron it means "Dome" which is an interesting a way of getting around not actually being able to call him Chromedome for fear of Hasbros dusty legal hammer (seriously, at this point third party companies may as just well call them their legit names and whack the badges on there).

This is my first Maketoys product, as their other offerings have been a bit too stylised for my tastes and have not floated my boat. But this, as a childhood fan of the original Chromedome toy, I saw this and knew like Wayne Campbell, that she will be mine.
Or he.

Here we have their first figure in their RE:Master series, which is effectively them hoping onto the Transformers Masterpiece bandwagon and making themselves comfortable.

Click below to see if Maketoys Cupola lives up to the considerable hype

Warbotron WB-03-A Turbo Ejector (Afterburner) Review

Hasbro may be knocking it out of the park with Combiner Wars, but that has not slowed the 3rd party combiner onslaught down even slightly.

Turbo Ejector then, it is Warbotrons take on a Masterpiece scaled Technobot Afterburner, and is the first release from what will eventually form their Computron.

I will admit now that I had no plans to buy this until it showed in Masterforces sale, but the price they had it on offer for was far too tempting.

Hit the button below to read the review, unless I have died under an avalanche of combiner themed toys.

(I haven't, so please hit the button)

Perfect Effect Perfect Combiner PC-01 & PC-02 Review (Combiner Wars Upgrades)

With Combiner Wars fever pitch running wild, it was inevitable that a 3rd party company would take on the task of improving the two things that Hasbro did not get completely right.
The hands, and particularly the feet.

Perfect Effect have beaten everybody else to the punch, and created a set that is transforms into weapons, so you don't have to just move them off to the side, or break your brain wondering where these bits go in a fictional world.

At £25 a pop (that number rockets up when converted into dollars), the price is not cheap, especially if you plan on buying multiple sets for each combiner.

Do they do a good job? Hit the button below to read on.

Microblaze Creations MBC002 Military Titans Review

In the midst of a renaissance for combining Transformers, there is one forgotten toy who has sadly drifted to the back of everyone's shelves.

Bruticus was released in 2012 and was a long awaited return to the world of Combiners for Hasbro. Sadly, they chose to release it during a time they were cutting costs so the end result was at best bloody rubbish.
It felt cheap, all of the team members suffered in different ways and Onslaught was a poorly thought out Deluxe class toy when he really needed to be Voyager.

So it sucked, and despite 8 million repaints it did not really capture the fans imagination.
What a shame it was.

So here we are now, in 2015, and Hasbro has returned to combiners with the acclaimed Combiner Wars toyline - and have gotten everything right so far.

Dragging Bruticus destroyed carcass back into the limelight, Microblaze Creations is a new 3rd party company who have decided they needed to fix the Combaticons set.
So did they give us the Bruticus we need, or the one we deserve.

Well, sort of both - so click the button below to read the review.

X-Transbots Survivalist Ollie Review (Masterpiece Wheelie)

                        
A beautiful homage to Generation One Wheelie, X-Transbots Ollie has been designed to fill that tiny Wheelie shaped space on collectors Masterpiece shelf.

Back in 1986, Hasbro released Transformers the Movie, introducing many new characters, whilst horrifically killing off many beloved ones in a moment they would later come to regard as a bit of a misstep. Surprisingly kids did not take too well to seeing characters they were fond of brutally murdered and then have fire coming out of their mouths (RIP Prowl).

Wheelie has never truly had a decent toy with his Generation One figure being terrible, homages coming with a small legends figure that turned into an Earth car, and a confusing (but awesome) repaint of the RTS Jazz mold.

X-Transbots are a 3rd party company that have previously bought us the knock off of Jizai Toys Powerglide and more recently a quite cool looking Huffer.

Now with X-Transbots Wheelie, they have stepped up their game and bought us a Masterpiece scale version of the character that has a near uncanny resemblance to the character model - which is no small feat.

To read the X-Transbots Masterpiece Wheelie review hit the button below

Mastermind Creations Tigris Review

Time flies, when you are waiting for robotic Animals that not only turn into robots, but merge to form a gigantic robot.

I *think* the Feralcons were initially announced about two years ago. I know I got Bovis last November, which was already on the back of heavy delays with the set, and they were supposed to be released I think monthly after that.

So here we are in October 2014, and the final member of the main team has finally found his way to freedom from the factory. MMC named him Tigris, but most of us know him as Rampage the Generation 1 Predacon, and Predakings usual right arm.

Now that Tigris is finallyhere, is he as good as the other Feralcons? How did Feral Rex turn out?



Hit the jump to find out.

TFC Hercules Review - Exgraver and Neckbreaker

Time for part 3 of my review of TFC's first combiner - Hercules.

Originally this was intended to be a review for Mastermind Creations Tigris, but the lighting Gods decided otherwise, and took out another of my photo box lamps. So I am down to one, and did not think it would be wise to continue with a spooky Goosebumps look to the photo's.
You want to see Tigris in all his glory, and it is well worth it. Hopefully it will be done before the end of this week, depending on the speed of Amazon.

Back to Hercules, next up are the fine two component, Exgraver and Neckbreaker, who are analogues to Generation Ones Scavenger and Bonecrusher respectively.

Exgraver was the very first figure from the set to be shown, and also released so it will be interesting to see how he stacks up.

To read my thoughts, hit the jump

TFC Hercules Review - Heavy Labor and Dr Crank

Part 2 of my review of TFC's Hercules combining team continues with Heavy Labor (Long Haul) and Dr Crank (Hook). As an Englishman, it annoys me to have to spell "Labour" with the Americanised spelling...no, just no!

Anyway, these are the next two Herc bots on my list to review.

Forming the torso of Hercules (Devastator) how do they stack up today?

Hit the button below to read the retroish review

TFC Hercules Review - Structor and MadBlender

It is funny to think now, that there was once a time, only a couple of years ago, when Transformers fans thought we would never see decent combiners again.

Not only have we had an avalanche of 3rd party attempts, from many different companies covering almost every conceivable base, but now Hasbro has taken notice and is developing a theme called "Combiner Wars" which will see new toys of the Aerial Bots and Stunticons based on the original G1 teams and featuring in the IDW comics.

It is a glorious time to be a fan of combiners, and I am very much looking forward to Hasbro's figures as they are far more affordable than the 3rd party equivalents.

So where did it all start? What was the catalyst for this change in thinking, that would propel almost an entire market by itself and start something of a toys arms race?

A strong case could be made for the starting point being TFC's Hercules series of figures. Based on the original G1 Constructicons, they are voyager sized figures that do combine into a much larger gestalt.

Awesome. 

It was the first full set of combining figures, and how successful was it? Well here we are a couple of years later, and after picking it up off my shelf and dusting it down, I thought I would take a look back at this set to see how the figures stand up now.

I will start with Structor and Mad Blender as they form the legs, and work my way up.

Hit the button to continue on to the reviews and pictures.

Keiths Fantasy Club BoxBomber Review

It was inevitable that once a Masterpiece Soundwave was announced, a 3rd party toy company would appear to bring us the cassettes that were not slated for release.

So step forward Keiths Fantasy Club, or KFC- though not to be confused with the worlds leading provider of fried chicken. Keith has bought us some cool figures in the last year, with a few different cassettes, various versions of Perceptor and more recently the amazing looking Citizen Stack and Sencho Barbossa.

Citizen Stack is a figure I would dearly love to have, even just for a brief time, but alas it is out of my price range at the momenr. I really need a lottery win as I really want to add it to my collection and take lots of pictures of it :(
It looks like such a fun toy. Another one is KFC's take on Slamdance, the Autobot combiner cassettes which I really do need to find. Clearly I like Keith's designs more than I thought.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand and that is Bird Bomber. Based on the later G1 Cassette toys of Squawktalk and Beastbox who combined to form Squawkbox, KFC have produced a couple of figures that Takara are very unlikely to ever bother with.
So this is a great way to fill that burning gap on your Masterpiece shelf (said no one ever about Squawkbox), or more aptly just give you more play value from Soundwave.

The original Squawkbox was released in 1988, as the Transformers brand was slowing right down in terms of popularity and as such they did not appear in any of the cartoon series or even the original comics. Instead, their fictional appearances have been limited to brief cameos in IDW's various series.

So not a character everyone is crying out for then? Well, no not really, they are not one of the first names (or even one of the top 50) anyone thinks of when asked to name Transformers characters but they were cool tools, with an interesting combining gimmick. So actually, they are pretty cool.

KFC have had a dubious reputation for quality control in the past, but that is always going to be a peril of doing cassette size figures due to their tiny size. But lets see how these guys stand up.

Hit the button to see the pictures and read the review

Mastermind Creations Talon Review

I believe this figure was first revealed, and put up for pre-order, almost two years ago. Originally slated to be the first Feral Con released, he was delayed several times due to revisions and various other issues, and slipped back to being the 4th figure from the set to make it into fans hands.

Feral Rex is now just one member short of being completely, ready to dominate your shelves and finally give your wallet a little breather.

So after the long wait, does the figure live up to the hopes and dreams of many a collector?

Hit the jump to find out.

Mastermind Creations MMC Reformatted R04 Leo Dux Review

Leo Dux is Masterminds Creations take on Razorclaw, and the main body for their Feral Rex combiner - or Predaking.

He was released earlier in the year, and when I got him I loved him. But I opened him, played with him for a brief time and stuck him back on the shelf, never to go back to him.
Until now.

With the next figure in the long running saga of MMC getting these guys released, Talon, now slowly appearing in peoples hands, I figured I'd rediscover Leo Dux.

The name Leo Dux reminds me of Frankie Dux, so I think of this version of Razorclaw of being Jean Claude Van Damme-esque. It's probably not what MMC intended...

If you want to read a review, and look at some photo's, then hit the button below to continue past the jump.

Unique Toys Metropolis Cityset for Generations Metroplex

Unique Toys are a company who's toy's I have never bought, as they always seem to come with some caveat.

First there was the Predaking who needed a whole separate chest section to be added, that stored nowhere. Then there was the Galvatron (Mani King), who had no wrist swivels, giving him Gorilla arms. Next up were Sharkticons which were either broken, or not the joins were not lined up properly, and a G1 style Blaster who was too small to fit the standard Cassette bots. Not for me thanks.

But this then curiosity started to appear. A new head for Generations Metroplex, based more on his comics appearance, and some extra little accessories for his other modes.

I am a sucker for add-on's for Metroplex, so I was eager to hand over money for it.

The odd thing is, when it came the box has a a rather nice image of G1 Metroplex on the front, of which no part of this set is based, nor is the figure it is designed to upgrade.

Mad.

If you want to see some pictures of the set, and read a review, hit the button after the jump

X2 Toys XT004 Interception Metroplex Gun Review

I have taken more photo's of this, than almost anything else in the history of my life. You may be forgiven for thinking that that must mean there is a lot to this set, and it would make sense. However, owing to me still recovering from knee surgery, and so not able to get in positions to take photo's easily, and also due to the sheer size of Metroplex - well that's how I ended up with close to a hundred pictures of something that does not really do that much.

Don't worry, I am not going to post all those photo's here, but I hope it goes some way to explaining quite why the photo's are not as great as I would like.

This right here is X2 Toys extra gun for Metroplex. Hasbro's retail release of the venerable Metrotitan only comes with one gun, whilst Takara's and special editions come with two. Metroplex is quite famous for having two guns also.

So these guys caught wind of an exploitable gap in the market, and then went a step further by making it transform.

Click the button below, to read the review, and see some more pictures after the jump.

Renderform RF-015 Nightshade - Universe Darkwind upgrade set

A couple of weeks back, I picked up a Transformers Universe Darkwind (an update of Generation 1 Darkwing, and repaint of the Universe Voyager Silverbolt) from EBay for the bargain price of £1.24. Sure its a little battered, and was missing his gun, clearly it had been beaten up by a child - but that did not matter.

I really liked the figure as Silverbolt, but the the colour scheme on Darkwind looks better and really fits the character. Sadly, Hasbro didn't feel a need to remold the head so it was just a straight colour swap.
Boooo Hasbro!

So in stepped Renderform who created a new head and weapons set, that sold out and has been highly sought after on the secondary market. However, recently he did an updated version with a new head sculpt, and I managed to snag one.

You get a brand new, more accurate head, 2 grey G1 styled guns and as a bonus he threw in a gorgeous clear purple gun.

This is my first Renderform kit, and if you want to see some pretty pictures and read a review of the set - then click the button and continue after the jump.