The 3rd party acquisitions thread!

[Iriorne]

[...] i searched some classifieds and managed to pick up Green Giant 61 from about an hour away from home for $380. [...]

Wow, good find. That's about the same as what it cost to import back when it was available.

[...] I am actually not that big a fan of that particular Bruticus. It kinda looks like a bare robot with some vehicles stuck on as an afterthought. [...]

Much like Giant's arms and legs?

It's a problem with all combiners to an extent, though it helps that Giant/Devastator is mostly one colour. That was one thing I did think was quite clever on Hercules, the use of the treads to make the forearms. I know that wasn't G1 enough for a lot of people though, hence the inclusion of separate arm pieces in the Rage kit.

[Trent]

Thanks, i figured i should just jump in and get one so i searched some classifieds and managed to pick up Green Giant 61 from about an hour away from home for $380. I'm pretty happy with that considering i only found out what it was a week ago.
I had a busy weekend so only managed to transform them into their individual robots, tomorrow i will make them into Devastator.....sorry, i mean Green Giant 61.



I'm pretty happy with him for my first 3rd party Transformer. The quality is good. I am now researching other 3rd Party stuff so everyone be prepared for many questions to come.




I am actually not that big a fan of that particular Bruticus. It kinda looks like a bare robot with some vehicles stuck on as an afterthought. I like the cohesiveness of Green Giant61, Hercules, Feral Rex and the like.

That's a very good price. Congrats dude, it is an awesome set. A bit of advice for combining him: Mobile Crane (Hook) has a little grey clip that you are supposed to use in Giant mode to hold to 2 halves together. It is completely unnecessary and quite a few people have damaged him trying to get it in and out of place. Gestalt mode works perfectly fine without it. So you might wanna skip that bit.

If my explanation is as bad as I think it is and you don't know what I'm on about, let me know and I'll take a photo tomorrow.

And bring on your questions 3rd party stuff is a bit of a mixed bag. Quality and execution varies from superb (like Green Giant or Quakewave) to absolutely terrible (like Sonicron).

HTH

[Iriorne]

[...] quite a few people have damaged him trying to get it in and out of place. Gestalt mode works perfectly fine without it. So you might wanna skip that bit. [...]

Yup, I'm one of them. The grey hook is much more flexible so you can still use it, just make sure that when you unhook it you let the grey piece do all the bending. Too much torsion and you'll twist the hinge attachment point. Or just leave it alone, it's a pain to get the hook out of it's slot anyway.

[spiderken17]

Wow, good find. That's about the same as what it cost to import back when it was available.

Much like Giant's arms and legs?

It's a problem with all combiners to an extent, though it helps that Giant/Devastator is mostly one colour. That was one thing I did think was quite clever on Hercules, the use of the treads to make the forearms. I know that wasn't G1 enough for a lot of people though, hence the inclusion of separate arm pieces in the Rage kit.

I liked that on the Hercules model as well but i ended up going for GG61 because he was closer to the G1 look. Also because he was so close and cheap.

That's a very good price. Congrats dude, it is an awesome set. A bit of advice for combining him: Mobile Crane (Hook) has a little grey clip that you are supposed to use in Giant mode to hold to 2 halves together. It is completely unnecessary and quite a few people have damaged him trying to get it in and out of place. Gestalt mode works perfectly fine without it. So you might wanna skip that bit.

If my explanation is as bad as I think it is and you don't know what I'm on about, let me know and I'll take a photo tomorrow.

And bring on your questions 3rd party stuff is a bit of a mixed bag. Quality and execution varies from superb (like Green Giant or Quakewave) to absolutely terrible (like Sonicron).

HTH

Yup, I'm one of them. The grey hook is much more flexible so you can still use it, just make sure that when you unhook it you let the grey piece do all the bending. Too much torsion and you'll twist the hinge attachment point. Or just leave it alone, it's a pain to get the hook out of it's slot anyway.

Thanks for the help, the insrtuctions are a bit vague so hopefully i have got it all right.



I got up early this morning to watch the V8's and decided to finish of GG61. Its a bit of work but he is impressive when he is finished. If anyone sees something wrong let me know. I checked it against the box and i think its OK.

[kup]

I don't think anything is wrong but if you find 'Mixmaster's' leg to be longer than it should, you may need to compress it more at the cab joint/waist.

[Iriorne]

Looks good.

I can't tell from your pic, but I had a problem the first time I transformed him - Giant kept leaning to one side. After finding some online videos, turns out pushing the little grey buttons just above the ankle joints on Mixmaster and Scrapper allows you to pull them out a couple of millimetres extra. The instructions aren't very clear on that and I couldn't work out what they were trying to get me to do.

[spiderken17]

I have a few questions regarding scale on some of the 3rd party stuff. I like the Fansproject and igear stuff, what scale are they eg masterpiece, classics etc?
Is all the igear stuff the same? I like the mini warriors and the vanbots but i don't want to get them if they are all individual scales and look weird.
Are all the Fansproject stuff the same scale eg Causality, Warbot etc?
If i can figure out how simialar stuff is in scale i can decide which ones i would like to get.
Thanks for any help.
Cheers, Ken

[kup]

I have a few questions regarding scale on some of the 3rd party stuff. I like the Fansproject and igear stuff, what scale are they eg masterpiece, classics etc?
Is all the igear stuff the same? I like the mini warriors and the vanbots but i don't want to get them if they are all individual scales and look weird.
Are all the Fansproject stuff the same scale eg Causality, Warbot etc?
If i can figure out how simialar stuff is in scale i can decide which ones i would like to get.
Thanks for any help.
Cheers, Ken

It all depends actually. Most 3rd party toys try to scale with 'Classics' such as Maketoys, FP, Toyworld and to a degree, MMC (Predacons). There are also 'MP' scale releases such as FansToys Quakewave.

However keep in mind that since Hasbro themselves have not had much scale consistency with what they refer to as a deluxe, voyager or Masterpiece, it is all a bit on the subjective.

Have a look at comparison shots of 3rd party toys with well known official figures. That should give yo a good idea on their size.

Quakewave and MP Soundwave:



G1 Devastator/AM Devastator/Maketoys Giant:





FP Code and G1 Chromedome



Mech Ideas Apex and Geminus with Wreckers



IGear Ironhide and 'Classics' Ironhide:





Igear minibots:

[spiderken17]

thanks. i kind of figured that. None of them are ridiculously out of scale though?

[Trent]

thanks. i kind of figured that. None of them are ridiculously out of scale though?

None that I can think of. As Kup said most are scaled to the CHUG lines.