And cheaper. Unless there some improvements and extra accessories the set doesn't appear to be worth over 200 USD. I would be ok with the price if they pack in extras like some of their previous sets.

 

I've generally found that DX9 produces better quality figures at the size. I've got most (if not all) of IF's too because of limited overlap (which is a good thing).

Evil Lord and the Dynobots are stand outs for IF in terms of quality but other ones feel like they aren't quite there despite being good efforts.

 

I want to test out the Iron Factory line.

Should I get Lord Scorpion or Ultimate Commander as my first purchase?

I mainly want to start this line due to the upcoming Seeker moulds.

Are there any previous releases that are epic fails? I know that the Soundwave mould is a bit dated and I am not sure about the two Metroplex companion tanks either.

Did Iron Factory only get good from 2016 onwards?

 

Ultimate Commander was my first Iron Factory purchase. It's a good figure. Not perfect, there are definitely some flaws, but it's a solid figure and looks damn imposing.

 

No epic fails. Iron factory did a small size-up after Soundwave / Perceptor / Blaster. Those are the only IF figures I've put off getting because of how they'd scale with the rest of the line.

As for your first purchase - I'm partial to Lord Scorpion but both he and Ultimate Commander are great. God Ginrai mode is sweet, and non-powered up Optimus looks great next to Magnus.

 

MechFansToys is releasing the upscaled IF City Commander and Shadow Tengu at 14cm tall.

Will these actually better scale with the other cast of the official Iron Factory line? We will need to wait and see.

I have a gut feeling that they may also do an OS Evil Lord(maybe black shadow also) and the Soundwave moulds.

 

I feel like City Commander and Shadow Tengu scale really well at their current size. I'm not sure how Lord Scorpion is supposed to scale in the IDW-inspired Cybertronian world IF figures are in... scaled up figure of him could be interesting.

 

Pretty well, if you ask me.

 

Whilst TM2's picture was of an old Marvel Issue, the Comic version that inspired IF also was "normal" sized (in the Dreamweave comic).

He is about the same height as Ultra Magnus.

 

I literally grabbed the first one that popped up.

 

I've just opened this guy and I got one serious question: Does the arm move outward from the shoulder at all? I could not even get 45 degrees.

 

Yes, they do, it's just a hella tight joint.

 

Oops sorry, I meant side to side outward arm range, not forward.

 

They've always been good but these these days they range from great to flawlessly amazing.

And yes LordScorp was one of the best toys released last year, never mind small scale figures where he's clearly got the crown still. You absolutely should make him your first.

 

This is as high as they'll go before the base shoulder armour starts hitting the shoulder itself. Not quite a full 90 degrees, but better than 45.

 

Actually that looks like almost exactly 45 degrees, you've got the elbows bent so the lower arms appear to be more than 45 but the upper arms are right about 45.

 

Well shit, so it is. It's pretty simple to fix that though to get more range of motion. You just need to shave a mm or two from the base shoulder armour and that will allow for more clearance, allowing the arm to lift up more.

 

Thanks.

I will see what I could do to fix mine. I could barely get 25 degrees out.

As the first Iron Factory figure I opened abd also 3P, I was extremely disappointed with the outward arm range. My City Commander, Blizzard and Shadow Tengu are all acceptable.

I was on the verge of quitting Iron Factory altogether because of this. For me, 45 degrees is acceptable for legends figs. I know that the Dinobots have it the worst next, but their sculpt is too hard to resist. Likewise with the Datsun trio with barely 45 degrees.

But I know for sure that Scorponok and Starscream will have unrestricted range.

With this disappointing Ultimate Commander, I am looking at having an alternative parallel line centred around THS-02 Convoy, which has great articulation and I hope that the joint could be tightened somewhat. This guy will have DX9 Seekers and Soundwave to scale perfectly with him. At the same time, the THS one will also be a stand in for the Iron Factory Optimus as they are of similar height anyway. That means IDW Starscream will be more than a head shorter than THS as the DX9 is taller than the IF one.


This outward arm range is fascinating for some transformers characters. I still have MMC and Maketoys guys for unrestricted range, but legends guys still need to meet a minimum standard even though their aesthetics are superb.

This may sound a bit naive as a new transformers collector, but my intent for maining legends IF is to save space and get a wide range of characters with good aesthetics. I didn't like MP size as their articulation and blocky torsos won't too too much better than legends anyway. I guess I was wrong. But then I only like Maketoys and MMC for shelf presence and articulation.

 

Does anyone know how to mod these shoulders to increase the range of the outward bend??

This release really is epic fail due to the shoulders.

 

That's his normal range. The shoulders are pretty tight and you have to work them to get them to ease up but most people just stop and assume that's it. The arm articulation is great, I feel bad for everyone who stopped themselves short.