third party newbie - where do i start?

[Cat]

Are there any particular characters you were hoping for?

[kaiden]

Def stand alone figures. Dont think im too worried about the add on kits.
There's a lot of websites posted up there. Does anyone have a favourite?

Thanks for all the help everyone btw, it's appreciated.

As for the combiners, can you really afford to wait until they're all finished. Then Wouldnt it be hard to find the initial figures released? Of course, if you don't wait how reliable are these companies that they're going t see it through and you're left with an arm missing or something

For me this year i've only had problems with RK.

as for combiners, i meant as in there's only a few out at the moment that its hard to purely judge which is better.

FP has the stunticons which is still missing motor master
Maketoys has Devastator
TFC has Devastator and Superion.

for the most part their best feature has been the gestalt mode - its the individual robot modes that tend to suffer. but MMC's Predaking looks to be the best of both.

[Melike]

Are there any particular characters you were hoping for?

Thanks for the comments guys, taking them all in.

I grew up with g1 so I'm more interested in that but I'm not adverse to anyone if they look neat

And I def will choose what I think is best for me ..just curious to hear if there are any favourites among the community.

[kup]

Thanks for the comments guys, taking them all in.

I grew up with g1 so I'm more interested in that but I'm not adverse to anyone if they look neat

And I def will choose what I think is best for me ..just curious to hear if there are any favourites among the community.

The rule is basically 'whoever makes the best toy for me'. I don't know of anyone here or in the international boards who is completely for any particular 3rd party company.

You see something you like, then do your research (youtube videos, photos, etc) and then make your call if you want to buy it.

I am pretty sure the companies you hear praise for the most often is mostly because they have produced good quality toys. If one of the 'second tiers' start producing better toys, you would hear praise for them too. I am sure that the opposite would happen if one of the better companies begins to make crap toys. It all depends.

[Cat]

Thanks for the comments guys, taking them all in.

I grew up with g1 so I'm more interested in that but I'm not adverse to anyone if they look neat

And I def will choose what I think is best for me ..just curious to hear if there are any favourites among the community.

Okay, can you narrow that down a bit? We're still talking hundreds of different characters.

Specific years, or sub-lines, or gimmicks?

Example answer 'I liked the first year Autobot cars, love the Stunticons, and quite liked the Headmasters gimmick and would love to see it used again.'

Stuff like that, so we can taylor your shopping closer to the things you're most likely to be interested in.

[Gofigure]

Good thread

I'm in the same boat as you mate....only discovered 3rd party stuff 6 months ago and there can be some wonderful figures. I too was (am) a bit overwhelmed by the choices. I just continue to do research read reviews etc.

The hard part is the lack of actual names due to copyright

Mech ideas jumpstarters are great and I love my fansproject non wreckers....was taken back by the quality and feel. Very detailed and very serious toys hehe

I too am looking for direction and help from members here on what to purchase

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

As Cat said, if you tell us a bit about what you like TF-wise that'd help narrow it down a bit.

The pieces I have that I'd recommend include HeadRobots Blood, Beelzeboss Growing Pains (if you can find a reasonably priced United Bumblebee), and City Commander. PE Scouting Force/not-Reflector are good, but they're really small for the prices they go for. I have a few more 3PP items I haven't opened yet, so I can't really offer advice on them yet. I'd suggest waiting on City Commander, and possibly skipping it entirely, since TakaraTomy are doing an MP Ultra Magnus, and possibly skipping on the not-Goldbug kit since TakTom are doing an MP Bumblebee too and I'd be surprised if there isn't a Goldbug retool (which should drive the price down a little) at some point.
I've heard good things about MakeToys Green Giant and MMCs Bovis (which bodes well for their full Feral Rex set), but I don't have either yet. I am planning on picking up the MMC Feral Rex crew, but I'm holding off for now in the hopes of a box set of all 5 Feralcons at once. If that happens it'll probably be cheaper and hopefully have whatever QC issues turn up sorted out by then, if not then I'll probably just have to pay more for them than I would have if I got them as they come out. Apparently Toyword's Hegemon is pretty decent too, as is Fanstoys Quakewave, but I'm not really interested in either for my collection so I can't speak from personal experience.

If you're after a 3P Bruticus, I'd suggest waiting until the upcoming Warbotron release comes out - even if you choose to go the FansProject route it'll probably be cheaper to get a pre-owned set compared to now. Probably ditto for City Commander once the MP Ultra Magnus is out.

Without knowing what you're into, all I can really give advice-wise is that older stuff tends to stay about the same price unless there's a competing product (either from HasTakTom or another 3rd Party group), while newer stuff tends to go up in price and then plateau (unless it's crap in which case prices go down slightly), so if there's a new piece you're interested in then grab it when it comes out, whereas if it's older then look out for the occasional bargain and/or wait for competing new versions of said character.

[Melike]

Phew - lots of comments. I'll read through em all when I get a chance.

Just wanted to establish a few things. I'm not looking for anyone to find me something to buy - the purpose for this thread was to dip my toes into the third party waters. Find out if there were good companies/bad companies - find out if there were any fan favourite figures that everyone was raving about..that sort of thing.As many of you have done.

But yeah, not after anything in particular at the moment - just keen to start getting into this territory and curious about what I was getting myself into.

[spiderken17]

I've only just started adding 3rd party stuff to my collection as well. Its a bit overwhelming at first but its fun to learn.
One thing I did was read the 3rd party acquisitions thread. It shows you what is available and you can get a good idea on what the quality of them are like.
One thing is for sure. Be prepared to spend some coin. They are hideously expensive for what is essentially a CHUG figure.
I mainly go for ones that have not been done by Hasbro/TakTom and are in scale with other ones in my collection. A few good 3rd party choices add a bit of variety to the collection

[Cat]

There's plenty of great quality figures to choose from.

So what you're asking, based on the info given, is hard to provide an answer for.

If you can throw out some characters you may be interested in (eg. Devastator, Ironhide, anyone from first year G1) and/or styles (eg figures that fit into Classics displays, figures that fit in with MP displays) we'll be able to start giving you some actual opinions with some weight behind them.