Hi Everyone,

I'm thinking about buying a 3rd party combiner. If you had to do it over which one would you get? I already have my, must haves in Takara. I grew up watching the original G1 characters. Looking for quality over any particular character. I have budget of around $100 per character, but I'm only getting one group.

Thanks

 

I'd say to just go for whoever looks the most fun. Can't really issue out recommendations without knowing at least some of your preferences (bot/con, toy accuracy/show accuracy, scale, chug/mp, etc)

 

By now, I have a A LOT of 3P combiners. Let's see... I'd say my favorite all-around (although I'm sure plenty will disagree) is Ordin. He's good, but not perfect, all around. Good bot modes, pretty good alt modes, great combined mode. He's reasonably articulated with solid enough joints that he doesn't fall over. And he's quality, but there is one QC issue to be aware of. Basically, the springs in the combiner pegs in Siegfried (Hun-Grrr) are too tight and it's very difficult to get the legs off. It's a pretty simple fix, though: just open up the combiner pegs and remove the springs. The legs will stay on securely without them. Plus, you said you have Takara versions for your must-have characters, so getting Ordin will give you a G1 cartoon combiner that Hasbro/Takara hasn't done.

Feral Rex is another good choice for almost all the same reasons I just gave for Ordin, but Rex is a little chunkier and more likely to topple (more likely than Ordin, mind you, I'm not saying he has stability issues!). They're also very good quality, but transforming the leg bots isn't as fun.

 

Is this to be a stand alone set?

Id stay clear of TFC. Maketoys is supposed to be pretty good.

Personally I like MMC Feral Rex. UT Ordin is supposed to also be good.

Toyworld and Gravity Buider Constructions both have their charms.

Many also like Warbotron and the Transmissions Stunticons are also promising.

Id recommend going with which team you like best?

Tho, as Im Biased, FERAL REX can kinda work with any collections, has great individual bots, and makes an excellent centerpiece. And Hasbro will never top it. I very much doubt we'll ever get a better Predaking. Even a true MP version woukdnt be as cool imo.

 

Make Toys Guardia aka Defensor. Good stuff and won't kill the bank. A3U is having a flash sale right now 20% off

 

Oh and to follow up on this Feral Rex hyping there's also the OS Feral Rec KO that's just barely over a 100 for the whole thing and even te upgrade set doesn't cost much, similarly Warbo has some cheaper KO's of it that you can find and the same company that made the OS Feral Rex is apparently making an OS Warbo too

 

I'd say judging by the quality of the individual bots, Warbotron Computron or Toyworld Devy. I haven't combined either yet though.  

 

Let's see Ordin is a good Abominus stand in (assuming you don't mind Blot is a leg and Cutthroat is an arm)

My first combiner love has to be Feral Rex though. Other than two minor flaws a near perfect set IMO

 

For the less expensive route, you could always go for the KO Warbotron from Machine Boy, and the KO Throttlebots from Wei Jiaing is also partially out.

 

Wait, what now? When was this announced cause that is awesome. Warbo is pretty much my perfect Bruticus except for being too small in the various bot modes.

 

I have, in order from favorite to least favorite:
Feral Rex - great, love it, solid and fun
Hercules - I really like Herc, mine is solid and hefty
Ordin - another great addition to my collection, no complaints
Hades - I like it, the legs leave a lot to be desired though
M3 Intimidator - gorgeous figure but a huge pain in the ass to transform

 

Back in the KO Warbo or Knockoff Thread, someone posted a screenshot of Jinbao's weibo account where they announced that their next release would be Warbo, upscaled with no simplification and a secret surprise.

 

Lots of good advice in here, I'd suggest comparing your needs/wants/criteria to those similar to yours and choose accordingly. Guys like me with limited budget that decided to buy few if not only one 3P combiner will proceed differently from those looking to build a collection of them.

For myself, I went with Feral Rex as the one 3P combiner I had to have. The absolutely terrifying combined mode plus solidly designed individual figures on their own bowled me over. The upcoming add-on kit will enhance them even further.

 

When you say you have Takara they're the Unite Warriors sets? If so I would say go for MakeToys or Feral Rex as they'd scale better with those than a lot of the recent combiners. I'll echo that Ordin is great but he's significantly taller than any of the Unite Warriors. Voyager limbs and Leader torso instead of Deluxe limbs and Voyager torso.

 

I only have and ever had 1 combiner, and that is the full MMC Feral Rex. I am using 6 members for the combiner mode, and have Feral Queen, so that is a 7 member team right there. As well, you can use MMC Cynicus as gun, and if you have the exclusive one, it matches colors with Feral Rex even better, so make it an 8 member team.

The strong point about the MMC Feralcons is they are very solid in bot mode, ok for alt mode, and the combined mode looks really great, but very tricky to pose, especially at the hips.

If I had to chose a second, well, at this time, I guess I would seriously consider TFC Poseideon. Looks cool in all modes, not sure about quality and fun though. It is my style. But honestly I guess I would prefer waiting for something from Maketoys. Their Guardia seems really nice, but I am not into those vehicles modes, and never liked the figures in the toon, so not for me. Maybe if Iron Factory does a legends size Bruticus, or if Maketoys does one of their standard size Bruticus, that would be tempting.

 

If you grew up watching G1 in the 80s like the rest of us old school than TW ver 2. It due sometime after the release of G2 yellow Devy

 

For your first, I might recommend Hercules. He's solid, straightforward to transform compared to most 3rd-party figs, looks incredibly impressive combined, and is available for really cheap thanks to more recent competition.

But get whichever one looks best to you!

 

Ordin or Gravity Builder. Ordin looks amazing and each bot is fun to transform and looks indivdually great. Additionally, each have a unique look to them. Gravity Builder is more stylized, but the team looks great together in all three modes.

 

I'll keep this as non-opinionated and biased as possible.

About Feral Rex -- Lots of obvious retooling going on. Bot modes look great and alt modes look great also.

Combined mode - not so good. Very floppy. When you go to pick him up, his legs will dangle and his diaper will want to pop off constantly.

It also depends on the scale/size you're looking for. People will argue and try to shoehorn this or that into their MP collections (by all means collect what you like and buy what you like however.

In my opinion there is only one true MP sized/scaled combiner available right now, and that's TW Constructor.

If you're into. Voyager/large scale chug, there is many to choose from.

Likewise if you're into Deluxes/small scale combiners such as CW sized and such.

Voyager/large chug = TFC's sets. MMC's Feral Rex. UT Ordin. Warbotron. TFM Stunticons etc

Small scale/CW size: MakeToys, CW and FP's stuff.

MP size: TW constructor

Nothing size: Hasbro Devy

 

With a budget of $100/character, you can pretty much get any combiner set, so that's good. Which combiners do you like most visually, whether in the source materials or in the actual product? That's a good place to start narrowing it down.