Fanstoys FT15 Willis Review

Truck, F1 car, Police car, Porsche, Jeep.

Ask any 80's kid to reel off Transformers vehicle modes they remember and each of those will be right at the top of the list. Originally planned to fulfil the role Bumblebee ultimately did, Hound's alt mode is iconic where his character is not. In fiction he's never really done a great deal or been deeply fleshed out, despite being one of the most popular characters. Sad really.

Despite being in the full sway of the Masterpiece carnival, Takara have yet to give us an official Hound. Of course it was only a matter of time before a third party would step in with the tonic for our impatience, and here we have Willis, Fanstoys first step into the Masterpiece style carbot arena that everyone seems to want to be in.

He comes loaded with stuff, so much stuff, and as a Hound fan I have high hopes. Very high hopes. Unreasonably high hopes.

Continue after the jump to see the full review of Fanstoys Willis, and please keep in mind that this is a test shot.

Fanstoys FT-14 Forager Review

As a kid I had a special love for the G1 Insecticons and they are the one group where my fondness leans far more to their original toys rather than the cartoon. Whenever new toys of the G1 Insecticons show up in any form - Liam's eyes go large. Kickback more than any of the others has always been in my top 10 Transformers list for oh....*checks watch*...about 30 years.

So what do we have here, in this box kindly sent along by TFS Express (via Maz)? Well, that would be a test shot  of Forager - Fanstoys take on a Masterpiece Kickback. The first two member of the group were big hits and Grenadier almost single handedly turned me around on Fanstoys with his big lump of angry faceplated evil.

I have high hopes, I hope you can tell. If not, I am telling that I have high hopes.


Continue after the jump to see the full review of Fanstoys Forager

*Please remember that this is a test shot so may feature issues that are not found on the final figure

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