So I was wondering through my local Sainburys supermarket looking for Salmon Sheba Catfood when I chanced upon the seasonal aisle, and what did I see? Just a new goddamn 3rd party Punch/Counterpunch toy! This has come completely out of the blue with no fanfare, and while I can say I am totally happy with my TFCC Punch/Counterpunch (small head notwithstanding) this guy totally blows him away in a number of ways.

Firstly, the boring stuff out of the way, packaging and cost. This guy won’t break the bank at around £5, much much cheaper than a lot of other 3rd party offerings. I think part of the cost saving is the box, it literally is just a box.



He comes packed quite compactly, I’m guessing because it saves space so they can fit more per case. In any case the first thing you’ll notice is the heft to this guy, he’s not die cast or anything but made of a satisfyingly solid material, no hollow parts that I could see and no part of him ever feels like it could break.



Once you get him into robot mode you can really see how he invokes the old G1 blocky feel of the original toy. From his head to his feet he screams ‘square’. Obviously the designer put a lot of thought and effort into capturing his likeness.



But considering how good Punch looks, how could they possibly get a good looking Counterpunch out of the same toy? I have to say, while I was anxious (to say the least) Counterpunch is amazingly different. Look at him! He still invokes the classic G1 blockiness but amazingly appears to be a totally different robot. A true feat of engineering if ever I saw one.

My only complaint here is because he follows the G1 aesthetic so much, he perhaps lacks a little bit of detail. I just hope Reprolabels already has an upgrade set in the pipeline.



So he’s solid, heavy and great looking… what’s the catch? I thought perhaps articulation may have suffered, but not so. This guy has points of articulation all over him, a mixture of standard swivels and big 3 point ratchets. This results in nice tight joints that can pull off (and hold) a variety of poses! He even has wrist articulation, something Hasbro have clearly given up on! I think the only thing he’s missing is a ball jointed head but it’s a small niggle.



Know how I said he blew away the TFCC Punch/Counterpunch? So far I’ve not said anything a good Action Master can’t do, but here’s the absolute clincher… he has two Alt modes, each totally different, and each totally representative of either the Autobots or Decepticons.



He only turns into a flat nose truck! As you can see, he even interacts with existing trailers! I only tested him with Fansprojects G3 Trailer (pictured), but my G1, PM, MP, DotM trailers are all awaiting tryouts.

But here’s the thing, with such an incredible truck mode, two gorgeous robot modes how could the designers possibly top it so far? Like THIS.



IT’S JUST THE BEST GUN MODE SINCE MP5 MEGATRON! I have to admit, transformation to gun mode is fiddly, but nearly as much as MP5 was and the payoff is totally worth it. He even incorporates a silencer and scope into the gun design! I would have wanted a stock as well, but I guess it would have been impossible without making it a partsformer. (That's right, this guy isn't a partsformer!)

One final point, the QC on this guy is shockingly good. No loose joints, no fixes out of the box (unlike XTB’s Ollie and Hasbros Brainstorm) just pure immediate unadulterated enjoyment! If only all Transformers were like this.

 

Pahaha! The Trailer Pic.... It's beautiful!

Props, man, great review, and actually quite enable tastic! Might have to pop into sainsbury's pick this up, looks better than anthing Kobayashit (fail) could come up with. Though I'm disappointed the doesn't come with the "Deal with it" face that's on the box. Clearly an early prototype shot.

 

That is freakin' awesome, and a great review with a healthy amount of satire  

Trailer picture is sheer win  

All the best
Maz

 

haha satisfyingly solid material hahaha


anyone watch ren & stempy? remember the Blamo! Log commercial?

 

This is brilliant. 

 

Actually going to Sainsburys. Sterling work.

 

Brilliant review! Seen these kicking around for a while and always resisted buying them. After reading this i'll be buying one!

love the addition of the faction symbols  

 

I'll take eight of them for troopbuilding!

 

No ankle tilts, the wood is clearly half a shade closer to mahogany than it was in the cartoon and its 0.5cm too tall in bot mode!

Fail , fail!

 

Turns out there's a third party add on kit to this guy too. Alternate heads!





A sword! Even though it's done by a totally different company (Dr Wu? They have a history of 3rd party swords?) it's been made out the same material as the main figure.

 

Oh God, the snarling head is straight out of "Incredible Change-Bots"...

 

I want one.

 

But, what about the face shown on the box? The one where he has shades and a cocky smile? He looks like a total badass strolling through a world he dominates with ease. That smile speaks in volumes: "Man, I had to take six shots of moonshine to be able to even think about tolerating the thought of giving Sixshot six shots to impress me with his transforming abilities. More like six shots of high proof boring!". This guy is the full definition of masterpiece! I bet you his tech spec card is filled up to 11 for each category.

 

Brilliant review for a brilliant toy!!

The enabling is strong in this thread...............I now want one too.
Anyone want to take a guess at how many other 3rd party cpmpanies are now going to announce their own Punch/Counterpunch 

 

Very funny. Love it

 

But how does he scale with other figures, can we get some comparison pics plz, lol

 

Hey guys, I bought one of these recently, but should I display him with MP or CHUG? I don't know what he goes with.

Also, despite the fact that I've said I own him, what size is he? Does he scale with everything I own? Is he compatible with the new Combiner Wars figures? Did Kobayashi fail? Dr Wu. And KFC sounds like Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is a brand of fast-food chicken which you can get in the UK.

I just won TFW bingo!