Third party toy discussion (stuff that's been released)

Figures, collectables, customs and collecting.
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Knightdramon
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Post by Knightdramon »

Some pics of my newest 3rd party bots.

Femme fatale, gang of a-holes [only Commotus is new] and how tiny Azalea gets in vehicle mode. Which I've gotten so perfect I'm scared to TF her out of it.

Azalea has by far the best tolerances and fit of the mould. I have Salvia for over a year and found her fiddly to TF---that's because of mould degradation. Eupatorium is somewhere in-between the two.
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Few stuff in the UK to trade/sell. Measly sales thread.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

One of us, one of us...

I'm liking Azalea more having just gotten a Zinnia and switched the heads. Suits both.

Have also gotten a red Bumble, because I don't have any MP Bumblebees with the regular head and apart from the feet it might as well be Cliffjumper. Never thought the character was a Porsche as a kid due to the animation model and toy and don't have a problem with reformatting as a smaller car. Just needs a suitably sized gun.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

No time to go looking for interview, but gossip...

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... 61509.html
OptimushedPrime wrote:Supposedly from that interview with Chris Sterrat of Dr Wu.....

-HasTak is directly competing with 3P by releasing MPs every month.
-Keith owns everything.
-There are only about four people running all third party companies.
-Talk of a "middleman" who distributes to Asia who bullies all third parties. All American companies get their stock from him.
-There is a LOT of drama behind the scenes.
-Spinout was a POS on purpose. There's another Sunstreaker coming out soon and Spinout's manufacturing was sabotaged to appear inferior.
-Quality issues are usually caused by bad assembly team (designs are too complicated for them to understand) or rushed mold process.
-Dr. Wu goes to the factory himself to supervise assembly of his products.
-Dr. Wu (the person) doesn't get along with Keith. He is also a real doctor.
-HasTak like to show up at third party factories. They also like to talk with the 3P designers and share ideas.
-HasTak had a MP Bruticus in the works for the Year of the Decepticon, one Combaticon every other month. This was canned.
-Galvatron was planned for 2015, but was messed up because of Takara's designer.
-Designs for 3P figures are purposefully sabotaged so that upgrades can be made later to make more money.
-3P has inside info on new Takara releases, usually because of Takara employees blabbing.

If it's all true it's pretty funny really
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Brendocon 2.0
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

-HasTak is directly competing with 3P by releasing MPs every month.

Well obvs.

-Keith owns everything.

He doesn't own me.

-There are only about four people running all third party companies.

Guessable

-Talk of a "middleman" who distributes to Asia who bullies all third parties. All American companies get their stock from him.

Sounds like a standard wholesaler.

-There is a LOT of drama behind the scenes.

That's life.

-Quality issues are usually caused by bad assembly team (designs are too complicated for them to understand) or rushed mold process.

Well yeah.

-HasTak like to show up at third party factories. They also like to talk with the 3P designers and share ideas.

Makes sense. Common practice in China to visit/inspect other factories to see how things are done differently, so TT would obviously know where stuff's being made and the designers likely all know each other anyway.

-Designs for 3P figures are purposefully sabotaged so that upgrades can be made later to make more money.

I'm not sure "sabotage" is quite the right word for the practice, but so long as replacement parts continue to get bundled with stuff I was going to buy anyway, it's no skin off my nose.

-3P has inside info on new Takara releases, usually because of Takara employees blabbing.

See previous comments about them all likely knowing each other anyway.

So, er, yeah. A mixture of things that are either obvious or common sense deductions. The Bruticus/Galvatron bits are new and interesting. Would be interested to hear exactly how Galvatron "got messed up because of Takara's designer", as that seems rather handwavey.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Bundling and parts not being available separately would piss me off if it was a significant fix as I don't collect teams, but it generally makes sense.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... st13762508

The wrestling analogy's probably apt.
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Post by Scotimus Prime »

Well i got this recently, and he's really cool
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Post by Denyer »

Neat 3D printed Marvel head for TR Prime... halfway tempted, but the cost and finish of 3D printed stuff is still prohibitive; that's basically the cost of the figure itself. Hope a 3P company gets a similar idea or buys the design and does a moulded version.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transformers- ... Sw-0xYcbKz

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Post by Scotimus Prime »

Planet X Apocalypse Part A unboxing video
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 2350310201
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Post by Denyer »

Megatooth is awesome albeit ****ing massive and very much a standalone piece, personally. Childhood me has just about had an aneurysm at the concept of a minor bit character getting this kind of scale premium figure.

Maz's review (for teh awesum photos) and confirmation that the chest pieces work as shoulder pads just like on the original...

https://tfsource.com/blog/2017/01/24/megatooth/

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edit: Fuggit, more pic spam (UK profile and deskbot).

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Post by Scotimus Prime »

Peaugh's review of Fanstoys FT-10 PHOENIX
https://youtu.be/Ec_8PGjzudU
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

KO OS TR Skullcruncher and Hardhead...

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/r ... r.1113352/

Yeah, if I spot the croc that looks pretty nice, head colour switch notwithstanding. :up:
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Post by Denyer »

https://www.tf-direct.com/weijiang-cham ... p1801.html

^ Ordered from here, turned up today and is very nice, gives me something a little more in scale to display with the MP scale 3P Repugnus I got ages ago. It's a shame the production didn't stretch to a black head, but not surprising given the general lack of black parts -- although a panel on the croc head is, so it could probably have been laid out on a mould differently.

The solid croc back panel is a nice addition by WeiJiang, the being able to hide the croc back legs inside the robot mode legs is a little bit pointless although having the option doesn't hurt.
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Post by Denyer »

Hulkie (it's a KO) is pretty good as long as you don't extend the hip joints like the official transformation suggests... still a little large for WST but allowing for mass shifting it's sufficiently proportional to display okay with them. Taller than Lord Scorpion and shorter than Infinitor. Matches well with CW Sky Lynx.

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Master Made's PMOP and Overlord

Post by Scotimus Prime »

i know that this is stuff that's yet to be released(seeing as there isn't a thread on here for that!) but i thought you would like to see Master Made's latest offerings
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

We normally round up 3P news into http://tfarchive.com/community/showthread.php?t=51817 but no biggie.

I'd probably have gone for some of the MM stuff if they'd come with some alternate small heads, as they'd just about work like that.
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