Referring to those third party (in the sense they aren't made by HasTak) transforming toys that you usually see at Big Lots? I have one of those secondhand stores in my area and I see them. Bought one, very parts former-esq. As in, the entire hood/roof of the car becomes a "shield". Does anyone else see these at their local retailers?
I've got two alternators scale ones--the jaguar and the land rover. Plastic quality is horrible, and I've had ball joints just shear right off.
had the mitsu lancer ones when they first came out awful quality. they fell apart easily and were kinda bricky
I have quite bunch, including the ones you mentioned, and plastic quality is very good. It's just the jointing systems they use that isn't always the best. Joints tend to be... soft? But if anything, they're more detailed than Alternators. And yes, partsformery.
I got the 1/18 scale Lancer Evolution one just because I love LanEvos...I over paid for it because...welll because LanEvo! He's huge, lol. Plastic quality is cheap but doesn't stress as easily as some 3P ones I've handled. I can't speak for the others, but the Evo IX one isn't very partsformery. The trunk gets moved ot the back of his head, that's it. The roof becomes a shield, and the engine block comes out to become a...gun thing.
It's a shame about their quality, because their designs and detail aren't half bad. For the ones I've seen, the larger they are, the better the quality. Thew references aside, the ones with lights (AND SOUNDS!!!) tend to turn out better for me. Particularly the Toyota Celicia and the Toyota Land Cruiser.
I got a few on sale a while back when I was still collecting classics and alternators. Yeah, they were parts-formy and the hinges broke pretty easily. But I the weapons were pretty cool, especially on a alt-scale one I had that included an LED that shined through clear plastic and stored in car mode. I also thought the altmodes looked really good. I might pull one out sometime, if I can find all the parts, and kitbash it into a Bay-style TF...
Yeah, now that you mention, I've used their glowing light/sound swords for lots of my actual transformer displays.
Hmm, guess ill be in the minority and report that I own and very much like them. i have most of the older ones--would love to get the new ones but we don't have "Big Lots" in Canada. Simply put, they aren't Transformers, they have their own look and feel and the parts forming (at least for me) is part of the fun. I like them because they are really different. For most of them the alt modes are gorgeous, and they are big and beefy for the money. I like all the ones I own, i find the quality to be good and haven't broken any of them. So now this thread is making me want the new ones, lolzzz Edit: and Paul I want one of those catalogs! Where can I get one?
I had the Land Cruiser a while back. It was pretty cool. Kind of cheap though. I never bought another after that.
I bought my dad the harley for Christmas... He's never taken it out of the box but it looks pretty good in there... I would probably pick one up just to mess with if I ran into one for cheap enough
