Maz's 3rd Party Articles & Reviews

[Maz]

He was supposed to be first, but he is coming out fourth. Mastermind Creations (or MMC) are about to unleash R-02 Mercenary Aerial Assaulter Talon on the fandom at large, representing their interpretation and considerable update of the Transformers G1 Predacon Divebomb. Talon is the fourth member of Feral Rex (MMC’s Not-Predaking) after R-03 Bovis (Not Tantrum), R-05 Fortis (Not Headstrong) and R-04 Leo Dux (Not Razorclaw). Here we have an advance copy of Talon for your viewing pleasure. Ladies and gentlemen, the eagle is landing.

The Golden Eagle | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz

[Maz]

Reformatted R-06 Mercenary Shock Trooper Tigris, the fifth of Mastermind Creations’ Feralcons, is starting to make its way into the wild. With the release of this fifth member of the Feralcon team, collectors can now finally combine the five members to form Feral Rex, MMC’s Predaking-inspired 3rd Party combiner. Bovis, Fortis, Leo Dux, Talon and now Tigris have been – in my opinion – among the most anticipated items in the community, official or otherwise. The Predacons were originally very deeply loved within the G1 Transformers community, so the whole Masterpiece-style combiner project that MMC embarked upon was always going to be met with the greatest scrutiny and held to the highest standard. We need not have worried.

And Tigris Makes Five | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz

[Maz]

There’s nothing quite like Predaking. He was unique amongst the Generation 1 Transformers combiners and Mastermind Creations managed to capture the same zeal and passion from the collecting community for the Reformatted Feral Rex project as existed for the original G1 Predacons in the hearts of vintage Transformers enthusiasts. Back in 2012, the Feralcons were unveiled by MMC, and two years later collectors are able to put all five members – Bovis, Fortis, Leo Dux, Talon and Tigris – together to form arguably the most hotly anticipated 3rd Party combiner of them all, Feral Rex. Long live the king.

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz

[Maz]

FansToys have created a problem for themselves, their first 3rd Party offering Quakewave was almost universally acknowledged as one of the best 3rd Party products ever to hit the Transformers collector market. After that, their decision to tackle Masterpiece-style Dinobots, or “Iron Dibots” led to their version of Dinobot Slag, FT-04 Scoria, and certainly I believed it to be every bit as good as Quakewave although well-documented issues with looseness and some QC niggles cast some doubt over their ability to maintain their mantle as the top 3rd Party guys in town. FansToys’s next offering, FT-05 Soar (Not Swoop), is absolutely key in helping the company to re-establish themselves as the go-to guys for filling Masterpiece-sized gaps in the official line-up. Available in both Diaclone/cartoon blue and toy/comic red, we’ve got a test shot of the blue version for review.

FansToys FT-05 Soar (Blue) | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz

[Maz]

Not-Powered Convoy is a wholly accurate description of KFC’s D.A.I. Commander stack repaint of the earlier ”Citizen Stack”, KFC’s attempt at a Masterpiece Ultra Magnus. That’s not to say this isn’t a great figure that’s fit for a purpose, however the question is whether or not it actually fulfils any of the purposes it was designed for, that is, a Masterpiece Ultra Magnus or a Masterpiece Diaclone Powered Convoy. With my personal area of interest and specialism being Diaclone for over a decade, and having owned more than five Diaclone Powered Convoys, I can hopefully provide perspective on how this figure appeals to me and whether it’s successful on any level compared to something Takara Tomy would produce for MP-22′s potential Powered Convoy repaint.

D.A.I. Stack – Not Powered Convoy | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz

[Maz]

There’s good reason for everyone to be excited for Mastermind Creations’ Reformatted R-08 Azalea. MMC have an excellent recent track record with Terminus Hexatron, Bovis, Leo Dux and Talon all hailed as big successes with lasting appeal and quality befitting high end Transformers collections. It is also a chance for collectors to add an Arcee-inspired Transformer to their collections from a credible manufacturer, using the popular IDW Arcee styling. In fact, it’s the gateway to an army of Fembots coming from MMC. Finally, it’s another Transformer figure that presents a serious take on a Cybertronian alt mode, if you like that sort of thing.

Azalea | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ



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Maz

[lancalot]

amazing review maz.... enjoy reading every word of it ... can't wait to get my Azalea ....

[Maz]

Part 1 - OTS02 Brawny

Transformers are popular, minibots are popular, Masterpiece is popular. Takara Tomy have just put the elements of that formula together and created Masterpiece Bumblebee, but not before a bunch of 3rd party companies had a stab at it first. One of those companies was Cubex, their interpretation of Masterpiece Huffer, called “Old Timer Series 01 Huff”. I felt Huff was Masterpiece worthy in design but not execution, and honestly had it not flaked I would still have it because it hit all the right aesthetic notes. Cubex have re-branded themselves as BadCube and continued the Old Timer Series of MP-style minibots, starting with OTS-02 Brawny and OTS-03 Backland, Not-Brawn and Not-Outback respectively.

BadCube, Good Toys? (Part 1 – Brawny) | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz

[Maz]

Part 2 - OTS-03 Backland

Last week we got halfway to proving that BadCube make good toys with a favourable review of Old Timer Series 02 “Brawny”. This week we examine Brawny’s co-release, OTS-03 “Backland”, the third in BadCube/Cubex’s take on the Generation 1 minibots. Backland is of course supposed to be the series 3 minibot Outback – who was a remould of the G1 Brawn. It’s no coincidence that these two were released together, and while it’s no surprise that Brawny has proved the more popular of the two, there’s an emerging school of thought that Backland may actually be the better figure.

BadCube, Good Toys? (Part 2 – Backland) | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz

[Maz]

Mirage and controversy are never far apart. Whether it was sneaking off during battle to board the Decepticon ship while invisible, or pretending to be a Decepticon spy stealing energon cubes, he’s made people question his nature. DX9 – formerly/currently Unique Toys – have delivered us a Masterpiece-scaled figure that is heavily influenced by G1 Mirage called “Invisible”, and whether or not this thing can be considered a Masterpiece or not has been the subject of a great deal of discussion and disagreement, nothing new for Mirage.

Individual, Indefinable, Invisible | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





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Maz