Maketoys - Battle Tanker - Laser OP upgrade

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Reviews' started by lushkwok, Nov 21, 2011.

  1. lushkwok

    lushkwok Well-Known Member

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    Finally received this Battle tanker!
    It was released in Japan a few days ago, but didn't see a pictural review, so I make one.
    Forgive me for my Poor English as I am not a native specker, hope you can understand my review :) 

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    The box is much bigger than expected, they have very cool lineart of the Upgraded Laser prime at the cover.
    And there are some product photo at the back.
    The Product name "Battle Tanker" are printed on both sides of the box, with some painted art piece.

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    Open the cover we will find the lineart of the "Utimated mode" (Acturally I don't know how to call it at all) of the Laser prime printed inside

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    The gold label say: "First Run Limited - Ancient Sword included"
    Which we all know that refer to the sword used by Drift in the IDW Comics
    This kind of "First Run Limited" Gift is rather common in Jap Toys, like Gundam model or other robot gokin
    To encourge people order and purchase their items asap.

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    All contents can be seem in the window, except the Ancient Sword, which is packed in a small bag inside the box
    Guess that means in later production, the set may not include the sword anymore.

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    Inside the box, we can see there is a extra waist part which you need to replace the original one.

    There is a painted artwork of the Utimate Mode, Cool!
    I will use it as a poster :) 

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    The user manual is attached behind. There are 2 pieces of manual, one for the transformation and installation,
    The other one is a little tips that you need to aware of.
    That is IMPORTANT to read all instruction before playing it as that this kit is rather complicated.

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    So this is the "Ancient Sword" for Drift
    It is infact a Katana...but in the comic they do call it "Sword" so I guess it is fine.

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    The blade part is the same as the one for Laser Prime, and the blade is inter-changable.
    Too bad I forgot to try the Clear-Red blade on Drift....

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    Too good that we can finally get rid of the soft-PVC sword~
    And I love the way Drift hold the sword with both hands!

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    These are the parts you need to change by yourself. You only need to do it once, the head can perfectly fit inside the chest in vehicle mode.
    But there is a few things to note when changing the head.

    The head socket is VERY VERY FIT, which means it is hard to plug in! I have tried hard but still can't plug it in.
    Being afraid of breaking my Prime's neck, which is not replaceable, I followed the instruction.
    It recommend you put the head in BOILING water.
    so I "cook" the head for 30 second and try again, it become much more easy to plug in and the problem is solved
    I was worried about if the joint is too tight that may break the neck after it cool down, but it didn't seems to have any problem.
    This is the only problem I have when I play with this set.
    Other things are Just fine. The plastic is very very solid, and the fittings are amazingly good.
    The plastic feels like FPJ's product.

    Changing the Waist is easy, a screwdriver can do the job.

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    He looks a bit wried with the new head and with out the armor, the head is too big in this mode~

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    But once the armor is on, everything is different!
    The proportion is good.
    The tips sheet recomment you cut the tab on the right shoulder and leave 2-3mm space in the chest, I followed and the result is pretty good.

    I also think the way they install the armor to the body is funny and inspiring
    They make use of the 3MM clip on the back of the forearm, and use the fist the hold another fist
    Yet it is not so perfect when you look at it at the back.
    But after I play along with it, I do changed my mind.

    The Fist-to-fist installation provide a very large degree of movement to the fist
    which help doing a lot of great pose with his sword.

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    The Feet installlation is also funny, they clip on the bottle of the feet and lock it with the blue parts
    So it is very solid.

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    There is a battery box (backpack), which used to light up the sword.
    It fit into the little space at the back of the Prime.
    And there is a sword holder which you can store the Big sword or the original little knife.

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    After installing all the parts onto Laser Prime, There are only 3 parts left: 2 missle pods (that you can install it on the leg as well) and the big backpack

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    The backpack, which is the main body of the oil tank, can turn into battle station like the old G2 toy
    There are no official transformation instruction so I just try different way....

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    I even install some of my 3mm clip weapons,, and that's fun!

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    Anyway I am not a big fans of Base mode so Let just stick to the upgraded mode

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    The Big Sword can be lighted up with the switch at backpack.
    The light up effect is not very strong under my studio lighting
    It is a bit better to see it in person

    The sword itself is formed by 3parts: the grip (with LED), the cross guard, and the Blade
    He comes with 2 blades, one is the Clear red one and the other one is the katana one.

    And I notice that if you change the blade to katana one, it look very similar to the one used by Dai Atlas in the Drift comics!
    May be the he is former leader of the crystal city? It do explain the relationship bewteen Laser prime and Drift.

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    Of cause you can play with the Gifted Sword as well, and you will have a dual katana mode for Laser Prime!

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    Finally - the Utimated Mode!

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    The tanker do have some transformation before you can attache it to the prime, and the instruction is rather important as it is not that easy to figure out the correct way.

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    Full AMMO!!
    The tanker attached to the prime with 3 points, the two hand hold, and the original backpack of the prime itself.
    The backpack is clipped onto the big tanker and it is very fit and solid
    I can swing my prime holding the tanker without dropping him.

    And there is a stand that can be flipped down at the back of the tanker, so he can stand still in the utimated mode.
    Infact I have tried to stand by the prime itself, it is still ok as the weight is balanced by the two BF Missle pod.
    The only problem I have is the wasit joint of the Prime himself. they are quite weak so I enstrength them with AA-glue
    and it is very good to play with now!

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    The Tanker can do a lot more than I expected. Althought the range of action is limited by the shoulder of the prime, but you still can do some great pose.
    It just take some time to learn how to play with the arm of the BF missle pod

    With the 3mm clip, you can attache the sword to the missle pod as well.

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    It is fun to play with the Tanker. It reminds me alot of the apex armor of Sentinel prime in to Megatron Origin comic.

    So we still have the vehicle mode to go:

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    transforming the prime back to the truck is the same as before, and you do need the little knife as the connector

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    so this is what it looks like inside the tanker. They have everything installed inside it.
    the katana blade on the right and the laser blade on the left
    It feels like they filled up all the space in the tanker

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    The belt, the Fists and the backpack are stored behind the tanker

    The transformation is rather complicated, and there are lots of parts to be installed, which may not be fun for TF collectors.
    But I am still ok as I collect Jap robot toys as well and they usually have tones of parts to mess around...

    The tanker itself is soild and not easy to fall apart. They have enough locking tab to hold the parts together.

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    Finally, you can try out the stleath attach mode with extra 3mm weapon!
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    Overall: Very good set, as the first product of a new company, this is far better than expected.
    The plastic is very very solid, as well as the fitting. The fitting is amazingly good expect the head socket.
    Which I don't know if that's a problem of the G2 prime itself or the kit. I don't have another prime to test with anyway.
    I think the production quality is as of the same level of FPJ.
    But the design itself is different from FPJ....I don't know how to say, just different form Protector and CC
    Not a bad one I think, just more like Japanese hobby toys.

    Now I am very excited and look forward to their next product!
    Bring me the GIANT!!!!
     
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  2. Peaugh

    Peaugh Hi.

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    Huh. I think you just sold me on this.
     
  3. process

    process Hanlon's razor Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

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    Damn nice photos. Thanks for the review!
     
  4. PopCulturePooka

    PopCulturePooka Longest running avatar

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    Wow, awesome review and even more awesome pics. Your english was easy to understand by the way.

    I really want this set.
     
  5. kaos

    kaos the original thirteen

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    TFS or bbts need to get this preorder ASAP...or imma have to outsource..awesome review:thumbs2: ..and ur english was better than a lot of people who post on here...including myself...LOL...i need this meoow...
     
  6. exomega255

    exomega255 Emerald Green

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    I concurr with Lushkwok's comments... especially, the plastic quality, but more importantly, it doesn't seem FP, for the record. The design style seems different. When you have it in hand, you will see, but its hard to describe.
     
  7. Mechafire

    Mechafire Shadow Broker Moderator News Staff

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    Absolutely awesome.
     
  8. zephon

    zephon Well-Known Member

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    Great pics!

    How much is this kit going for?

    I'm glad to hear that the plastic is of good quality.
     
  9. 虫之神

    虫之神 Well-Known Member

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    ~~ cool~~
     
  10. Jazz 4

    Jazz 4 Well-Known Member

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    Battle tanker

    Rts,generations,classics,universe kicks the bay bots out of the water! how much does this cost? I want to expand my collection of these series and not the bay bots.
     
  11. TheBigMachine

    TheBigMachine Initiating JAZZ HANDS!

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    I wonder what the odds are of us getting a United version? I don't know necessarily how it would be different (chrome tank maybe?), but I'd like to own two of these preferably done differently. I want one to display on prime in alt mode and one for prime in bot mode. Hopefully, Has/Tak will give us some Scourge, Ultra Magnus and Toxitron love out of this mold. I'd love to see what MakeToys would do with those figures.
     
  12. daytimeninja

    daytimeninja Well-Known Member

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    Looks really great! I'm still just a tad bit skeptical with the price though. I pad 94$ for the clear FPJ Protector for SoC Rodimus, but this company still has yet to prove itself.
     
  13. Star Saber

    Star Saber Cybertron 5th Commander

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    Very very nice, looks like this will be my first 3rd party purchase.
     
  14. optimus124

    optimus124 PSN ID - OPTIMUS124

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    Ebay:
    Yup, I'm buying this!
     
  15. exclusacon

    exclusacon Expert with the Scopes!

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    Sold....this is awesome.....only problem is...its looks good in bothe modes!
     
  16. Sprocket

    Sprocket Problematic.

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    Great photos. And your English is actually more coherent than most posters here!

    I would definitely enjoy more reviews if you did them.
     
  17. flywheels

    flywheels Decepticon Assault Team Veteran

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    It looks like Maketoys have come out of the gates roaring! I'd love to pick this one up, but dang my dwindling finances!
     
  18. optimus12380

    optimus12380 Well-Known Member

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    Was thinking the same thing, it really made the RtS Prime look better ten fold...but I also have the United Laser Prime, which has a better paint scheme all the way around, especially in vehicle mode. So would like to have one for bot mode on my RtS Prime and one for vehicle mode with the United version.
     
  19. prime326

    prime326 Autobot Leader

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    I dont care what anyone says I think this looks awesome.
     
  20. Orion Paximus Prime

    Orion Paximus Prime Banned

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    Wow i actually want this now.