Maz's 3rd Party Articles & Reviews

[UltraMarginal]

Great article once again Maz, I completely understand what you're saying about the upper thigh guard in the transformation of Spartan. Once I had that figured out I too found the final transformation to be more satisfying.

I have ordered both Anarchus and Cynicus on the strength of this toy and your reviews. I totally agree that the DJD is a part of transformers fiction too dark and heavy to ever receive an official product.

I look forward to a full set of DJD from MMC down the line.

[Mido]

Cynicus is the most posable transformer I have so far. Anarchus is really fun too. Love the Scorpion mode.
Doesn't seem to be a lot of love for Grandus Hexatron though.

[UltraMarginal]

I've also ordered hexatron, I hope I like it because I've been umming and arring over it for literally years now.

[Maz]

Great article once again Maz, I completely understand what you're saying about the upper thigh guard in the transformation of Spartan. Once I had that figured out I too found the final transformation to be more satisfying.

I have ordered both Anarchus and Cynicus on the strength of this toy and your reviews. I totally agree that the DJD is a part of transformers fiction too dark and heavy to ever receive an official product.

I look forward to a full set of DJD from MMC down the line.

Thanks so much!

With Cynicus, full disclosure, I have had to ask for replacement parts 3 times. Once was the tiny delicate shoulder wing attachment on the ring, second was the connecting arm that connects the backpack to the waist (it was highly stressed) and third was the waist connector that the two halves close around, that stressed and snapped. It's a shame, because it's a wonderful toy with a superb transformation and two killer modes. The robot mode is to die for.

Anarchus, man that's a solid hunk of gorgeous.

Thank you for sharing my pain about the thigh guards, it has totally changed my feelings towards that toy. I literally can;t put it down now, the transformation has become one of my favourites.

Cynicus is the most posable transformer I have so far. Anarchus is really fun too. Love the Scorpion mode.
Doesn't seem to be a lot of love for Grandus Hexatron though.

Oh, mate, I LOVE Grandus Hex...

http://tfsource.com/blog/top-5-2015/

All the best
Maz

[Mido]

Thanks so much!

With Cynicus, full disclosure, I have had to ask for replacement parts 3 times. Once was the tiny delicate shoulder wing attachment on the ring, second was the connecting arm that connects the backpack to the waist (it was highly stressed) and third was the waist connector that the two halves close around, that stressed and snapped. It's a shame, because it's a wonderful toy with a superb transformation and two killer modes. The robot mode is to die for.

I had the entire left arm replaced as the toy had two right arms instead.
It did happen quite quickly after I contacted MMC myself. The retailer wasn't very helpful

[Maz]

The battle has been joined proper, with 3rd party companies left, right and centre putting out figures to fill gaps in Masterpiece collections. BadCube had already released Huff, Brawny, Backland, Wardog and the Evil Bug Corps, but Sunsurge is arguably their most ambitious stab at a slice of the MP market so far. For some time competing with Omnigonix’s Spinout (don’t get me started on that name), Sunsurge has comprehensively won the race to be the first MP-style release to homage the unforgettably yellow, self-adoring, other half of the most famous set of Cybertronian twins, Lamborghini Countach LP500S Super Tuning. To say that Sunsurge has been well received by collectors is an understatement. Everywhere you look, people are raving about what a great job BadCube have done and how it is comprehensively their best figure to date. I’m now ready to give my own opinion on that.

Sunstruck | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





All the best
Maz

[Lord_Zed]

Nice review.

Huge fan of Sunsurge, transformation is complex but the pay off fells worth it, mine locks up nicely too.

Also I think the front bumper not sitting flush, in on purpose to allow clearance for the front of his bonnet boots to rotate.

Amway, Badcube have gone from being one of countless 3rd pary companies to one of my favourites, I can't wait to see what they do next.

[Maz]

FT-13 Mercenary is FansToys’ second evil insect after FT-12 Grenadier, and has a lot to live up to thanks to the success of the latter. Based on what was originally called a lamellicorn type beetle insect robot, Mercenary recreates the look of the original toy and on-screen inspiration. With die cast, chrome and clear plastic chest flaps a staple of FansToys’ Masterpiece-style bugs, a collector could either leave the figures stock and enjoy the cartoon accurate look or go full G1 toy-centric. Grenadier’s success was based on good quality, a lovely finish, fun transformation, multiple display options and a very good looking accurate evil insect/robot which was faithful to the source material – albeit with two releases to cater for which source material a person saw as greater priority. Mercenary has similar toy and cartoon appearances, so only one release was necessary.


Mercenary | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ









All the best
Maz

[Maz]

MakeToys MTRM-05 Wrestle (Masterpiece Grapple) FULL review and Gallery now live!


Square One: MakeToys MTRM-05 Wrestle (MP Grapple)













All the best
Maz

[Maz]

Having been in the making for something like 4 years, a hefty lead time even for the most sedate 3rd party release schedule, Mastermind Creations’ Reformatted R-11 Seraphicus Prominon is ready to be released. The Moritorus Sovereign, as the box calls him, is almost an amalgamation of characters from the Aligned continuity and the IDW universe of Transformers going by the aesthetics of the core robot and the armoured bot respectively. Whether that was the designer’s original intention or not is another matter, but that’s certainly how it appears when each element is studied individually. First teased in 2012, MakeToys have since released Hypernovae who references the same character, but MMC finally unleash their own version, which at around $200, is not exactly a cheap alternative. Let’s see if it was worth the wait and the cost.

MMC Seraphicus Prominon | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





All the best
Maz