KO oversized AoE Hound

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Reviews' started by fleshling, Jan 20, 2015.

  1. fleshling

    fleshling Well-Known Member

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    This is a review of the Wei Jiang Creativity Oversized "Knockoff" Voyager age of Extinction Hound. While this is obviously an unofficial product, the quality itself could not be further from your standard knockoff toy.

    Here's the summary. If you are a movieverse fan, this figure is essential. It is the best toy of the Age of Extinction line; Hasbro releases included. I say that without any qualifications. If I had to chose between any AoE release and this one, it would be this version of Hound. Especially at its current price. It boggles my mind that this toy costs less than figures like Leader Grimlock and Prime. It strikes nearly the perfect balance between complexity, scale and playability. I got mine from Sir Toys, and it was a delightful experience.

    So what is this thing? It's an oversized version of the Age of Extinction Hound mold with various upgrades. From what I can tell there have been no sacrifices made to this mold at all. Everything has translated over in tact. Every weapon, joint and paint application is present. There is absolutely no trace of any inferior plastic or rubber. On the contrary, there are a lot of upgrades. I now see how awesome this mold is in the proper size. I cannot speak highly enough about the Hound figure.

    - There is a new diecast metal cab as well as a chest piece that give the figure a good amount of weight. It feels about as heavy as one of the DotM Leader figures. The paint applications on both of these new features really make the mold shine.

    - While the wheels are still of the cheap, clip on variety, the rear wells have been slightly remolded for better stability.

    - Hound retains his full arsenal and all of its functionality. As a bonus the gatlin gun and the four barreled sawed-off shotguns come with gold paint applications. They all still connect to every place where they could in the vehicle or robot modes. They all combine as well.

    - The face sculpt is new. While not exactly the greatest addition, you can see some additional helmet and beard details as well as some bags under his eyes.

    - Almost every joint is very tight, and he can hold an impressive number of positions and stances. Again, I can't really see a single simplification. Even his articulated knee caps made the cut.

    - There have been some improvements to some tabs. The arm tabs now possess a peg and hole locking mechanism and the legs have also received an additional peg and hole.

    - There are a lot of new paint applications. There are some light green flames on the back of the vehicle mode. There are now painted tail lights, the guns and the wheels now get accents and there are some additional words placed over the vehicle mode.

    - Even with a completely new chest and cab, he still balances perfectly even without the need of heel spurs. Even when you sling his combined weapon across his back, he can still stand upright.

    Now for the issues of which there are very few.

    - The elbows are a little loose. While he can hold his arms up just fine and brandish a lot of his arsenal, he can't hold up his combined weapon. I'm going to try to future varnish these joints to see if I can tighten them up. No other joints are problematic.

    - His hands lack that little strip in the middle, so he has a bit of an issue holding his sawed-offs. But only those weapons seem affected. I can probably find a solution to this.

    - The mounting nubs on his sawed offs are too big. I trimmed them down with an exacto knife, and they now fit perfectly on his back or under his arm pits.

    - His calf holes are too small for the knife. I simply drilled them out a bit, and now either side holds the knife perfectly.

    - Conversely, the chest hole is too big. The knife will stay in for the most part, but it can fall out if jostled. I was thinking about varnishing the hole, but I don't know if that works on diecast.

    That's it for the the pluses and minuses. I feel like this model achieves the perfect amount of complication. You have amazing figures like Leader Sentinel that are marvels of engineering. That such a faithful replica of both the fire truck and robot and weapons is possible is so great. But does anyone actually like transforming Sentinel back into the truck? Can anybody get his arms back into his legs on the 5th try much less the 1st? This figure avoids almost every pitfall the toy line has experienced over the years. No gratuitous kibble, no finicky transformation steps, no useless or weird weaponry, no sound gimmicks, no fiddly/fragile pieces, no balance issues.

    Go buy this.
     

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  2. prime326

    prime326 Autobot Leader

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    awesome. Thanks for a great review and selling point.
     
  3. megatroptimus

    megatroptimus Untitled

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    Sad to say, but the flames kinda ruin it for me.
     
  4. Kraken

    Kraken Is a vegiesaurus, Lex. Veteran

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    Are the weapons still 5mm pegs, and are his forearms still rubbery?
     
  5. plowking

    plowking I'm with ErechOveraker. Veteran

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    so tempted to get this one. You get yours from eBay or Sir Toys?
     
  6. fleshling

    fleshling Well-Known Member

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    No the weapons are only for him. They don't fit with anyone else. Just tried it. The arms are the squishy rubbery stuff exactly like the voyager.

    Sir Toys. Great experience. Cheap, fast and threw in a freebie minicon. Going to pickup the oversized dinobots too.

    I can't think of a single reason not to get it. Seriously. For less than a cost of a current Leader shipped, you'll get one of the best (if not THE best) Age of Extinction toys.
     
  7. Kraken

    Kraken Is a vegiesaurus, Lex. Veteran

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    Awww, that's a shame. Never mind, I'm still getting this beautiful big ballerina bastard :D 
     
  8. plowking

    plowking I'm with ErechOveraker. Veteran

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    any chance of getting a pic of this dude with the Inferno/Grapple/Hotspot mold?...

    :D 
     
  9. TFXProtector

    TFXProtector TFW2005 Supporter

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    I'm impressed. That new cab piece is molded so well. It's how Hasbro should've done it. It amazes me that the KO makers have outdone the original company. Sad, isn't it?
     
  10. fleshling

    fleshling Well-Known Member

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    Per request
     

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  11. erwinsims

    erwinsims Well-Known Member

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    is it me or is he even better in scale with AOE Optimus prime (evasion mode) and the other autobots?
     
  12. Ironimus

    Ironimus New Member

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    It lacks some paint in the cage in the front of the vehicle right ? And i believe its kinda remolded from the original one . Now it cost around 30 $ with shipping , do you believe its worth buying a ko ? Why they dont use 5 mm pegs i wonder ..... we could use those weapons ...... Which combined weapon is holding your Ironhide ?

    That wei jiang guy made the best ko out there i believe . i would like to see some reviews of his figure ...... He made slug and scorn with diecast metal , bigger and in black colors !!! Sweet ! I also want to see the voyager dark grimlock wich is oversized also .
     
  13. fleshling

    fleshling Well-Known Member

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    I wouldn't say it's missing any paint apps as the entire cab is a brand-new die-cast piece. It's really impressive and gives the figure great amount of heft.

    It is without a doubt the best figure from the Age of Extinction toy line. Whether you're talking actual Hasbro or Takara or this figure, this one is better.

    I'm sure the process they use for upsizing the molds is used for the weapons, too. It's fine. It would be nice to use them all with other figures, but it doesn't bother me.

    That combined weapon is two sets of the weapons that came with ROTF Voyager Recon Ironhide. I thought it looked cool, since that mold of Ironhide had the first movie-version mega combined weapon mode.
     
  14. Smashs

    Smashs Internet: Pure Truth Moderator

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    Strip the flames off, add a bit of camo detail, and this is perfect.

    Will be ordering one shortly to replace what I already thought was perfect(United set Hound).
     
  15. Wraith Prime

    Wraith Prime Ultra-Class

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    I just got this beast in the mail. Incredible. They took everything awesome about Hound and kicked it up a notch. Thanks for this review, it was a contributing factor to my purchase, and it did not disappoint! Like you, I can't recommend this figure enough.
    If this company can make this high quality of a product for this price, HasTak needs to get them to produce the whole line!

    I did have a couple of questions:

    1. I originally thought you were storing the knife in the same area in the side of the calf that the pistols store in, but on reading again, I think you were talking about the holes on the back of the calves. Can you clarify?

    2. I was going to try to do this mod, but mine seemed fairly well secured. I wanted to see if anyone else was able to get those pieces out, or if I could confirm if they were glued in:
    http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/988082-aoe-hound-arm-mod.html
     
  16. Transmetal

    Transmetal Well-Known Member

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    How much is shipping on something like this?
     
  17. Wraith Prime

    Wraith Prime Ultra-Class

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    You're looking at roughly $13 from SirToys. You need patient too, because it can sometimes take a bit for shipping. Totally worth it, though.
     
  18. fleshling

    fleshling Well-Known Member

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    There are holes on the back of his calves. Not the sides. The knife stores there in vehicle mode and in robot mode. I had to drill them out a bit to get the knife to seat correctly, though.

    I haven't tried this, nor do I think I will. I kind of like the look of the knuckle guards. Especially with the flames. I know that if I made them detachable, I'd lose them, and then he couldn't transform.
     
  19. Wraith Prime

    Wraith Prime Ultra-Class

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    Thanks for the info! It seems like the holes on mine were ok as-is, but I still need to work on the shotgun pegs. It concerns me because they fit under his arms, but not onto his back. Maybe I will only file one side down on each so they can fit in either.

    As for the knuckledusters, I also asked the same questions on the general KO thread:
    http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-3rd-party-discussion/191817-knock-off-transformers-thread-post12338782.html

    Storage could be an issue, but I the solution in that post seems to work for me. They still fit tight enough to the fists that I don't worry about them falling out when in their original position. Now I just consider them another pair of weapons.
    I continue to be awed by this figure and am so glad I picked one up! Thanks again for this review!
     
  20. Transmetal

    Transmetal Well-Known Member

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    Well, just ordered this, now what to do with the regular hound?