this is growing on me. ya know what would make me like it even more? an announcement of a similarly styled/scaled blitzwing and octane in the works.

 

Good point

I was thinking the same thing. To me there's not front runner that screams superior product. For example Feral Rex is the superior product out the predaking wars. I like this figure because he looks like Astrotrain. Toyworlds' does not. Like you said factor in three modes, we all can see some modes are good and some modes are a big sigh. Again I am with you on waiting- I will make my mind up once its released and I see video reviews from other collectors.

 

I bow'ed out from this one. Cancelled my preorder.

To me, the best part of this was the bot mode. The shuttle reminds of Warbotron, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't like the shuttle lights on either side of the front of the train, reminds of classics astrotrain.

There are tolerance issues, that may be fixed by the time this goes to retail. I do respect any company that tries to take on a triple changer this difficult to produce, and I actually feel bad a little, but I have two of the other guy's already, which is toy accurate, not toon accurate, I just can't justify $160 on this guy with the bot mode not being immaculate to the toon on a MP Takara level.

I think I'll wait to see if anyone else, including Takara, ever tries to take on a toon accurate MP sized astrotrain. For now, I can live with the other one.

 

This pretty much says it all. Neither 3P Astrotrain is blowing my skirt up, but if I had to choose one I'd go with this one. Evila Star is really cool, don't get me wrong, but this one just feels more like Astrotrain to me- liberties taken with the train and shuttle modes aside. And the way I look at it is this. I can either wait around for a number of years for Takara to produce one, or wait and see what spin Hasbro will put on him in order to fit that years line aesthetic. I'm not sure I'm ready to give a shit about a Combiner Wars Astrotrain in other words.

 

I have him in hand and he is awesome.

True heft and presence and the transformation has to be experienced in person to be fully appreciated. I know early reviewers found some bits fiddly, but remember they had no instructions so may not be doing the steps in the order intended by the design and plastic tolerances.

I love how the proportions change so dramatically from train to shuttle. Evila Star keeps the long slim shuttle, which is more G1 accurate and I can definitely see why some people prefer it, but the dimensions are pretty much the same as the train and a lot of the transformation steps are updated/refined versions of the original toy.

Chigurh starts as a long slim train, completely unravels, flips and compresses to a wide and chunky shuttle.

To me it looks like an interplanetary troop transport vehicle, which to me is a more convincing alt mode for Astrotrain as that's what his role was in G1. It looks like the kind of shuttle Devastator could actually stand up in, rather than the skinny NASA-esque design.

And the bot mode is excellent. This is the only mode that tries to be G1(cartoon) accurate and it nails it. The headsculpt is phenomenal.

To me it feels like the design decisions were similar to the combiner wars leader Megatron. As G1 a bot mode as possible, update the alt modes to something more realistic/appropriate.

With regards to the extra panel you don't need in shuttle mode.

Guess what, you don't need it in any mode.

In fact, if you look at the official pictures on the first page of this thread, the controversial partsforming panel isn't actually on the original design. It appears DX9 have included this as an optional aesthetic bonus to make the rear of the train and the shoulders of the robot more cohesive. I wouldn't be surprised if they work out a use for it in shuttle mode come release day.

Does he look better with it?

Yes.

Would I still have bought it without it?

Hell yes.

If they add an extra hinge and modify the panel so it stays attached throughout all three modes, will I buy another one when it gets released?

Fuck it, why not.

He's that damn good.

 

You got to figure both are coming... and probably sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the great review!!

 

Ask and you shall receive....

Unique Toys Y01 Provider ( Octane )

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-3rd-party-discussion/1035763-dx9-not-blitzwing.html

 

I see a bit of the Konig Monster from Macross in his shuttle mode. Maybe its the fatness of its nose section.

 

This is one of the realizations I came to when I was looking at pictures of him last night. The way that he unravels and changes his spacial dimensions (rather than from "tube" to "tube with wings") is very impressive from a design aspect. The way that his back and arms compress and spread out into the long sections that make up his train and shuttle is also really nifty. More and more I've been looking at this guy and thinking that I want to add him to my collection. Actually, you know what? I think I will.

 

Good choice sir!

As there seems to be only about four review samples out there, one of which I'm lucky enough to own, I feel the need to champion this figure every chance I get.

 

Between the latest photos and in-hand comments, I'm going to board this train.

 

I see what you did there  

 

You are conducting yourself in a reasonable and admirable manner

Yeah, he's got a nice and tidy "assault shuttle" look. It may not be prototypical to any real world craft but the design is still pretty tight and tidy.

 

Enough with the puns. Let's get this thread back on track.

 

Their dedication to do all the G1 triplechangers in MP style is what drew me in. This is worth buying one, kept in robot mode for me unless I have a model railroad. You can recreate a train army like he did in triple takeover, lol.

But not Blitzy at the same height (as Chigurh) would be perfect & I am sure he will be even better even with the cynics liking it. He is a less complex decept & they can use some design tips from the vintage toy to make the mp version.

Then not Octane (in MP/leader scale), It's like come on guys. We are finally getting the 3-changers.

 

Agreed. The mods should really take off all those posts.

 

Why? It's not like they're going totally off the rails.

 

Right? I mean, as long as the thread keeps chugging along, what's the harm?

 

Yeah. I mean this thread is a far cry from a train wreck.

 

With all these puns flying around, this thread didn't just get bigger, it got Astronomical.