I kept mine. He stands with my United Warriors guys. I never cared THAT much for the combiner characters to buy MP scale combiners at MP prices. At $110 or so a set, CW/UW fits the bill for my collection just to have those guys represented. He fits right in.
If you're looking for something roughly CW 5-team sized, maybe. I mean, I still think he looks great. If you're going to mess with them, though, I don't care for the individual bots and the hips will give out in combined mode. Speaking as someone who bought all the Devastators, I'd suggest that you might be better off hunting for a Hercules with the Rage kit. I grabbed one on eBay for the same $150, and while I still think Giant looks better, Herc is the better toy.
Cheers. How are the bots bad? You mean just aesthetically, for your own tastes? Can the combined mode hips be fixed (nail polish, etc)? I was never a fan of Hercules, though. I much prefer the look of Green Giant. Maybe I should just wait for the official version to come down more in price?
This was my first Transformer purchase since I was a child, period. I owned no official Hasbro MP or any of the cheaper lines either. I still had all of my incredibly worn out and played with toys from the original G1 line but those were boxed up in a closet. I had no intention of buying any more than this. Maketoys has wowed me so much with their QC, design, materials, etc that I now own everything they make. I have all of their combiners, all of their MPs, both their city bots, and all of the Cross Dimension line. Only speaking for myself here, but for me there is no better 3rd party company out there right now. I can't wait to see what they announce next.
I'm open to some stylizing and updating, but yeah, aside from their Mixmaster the individual bots are a bit to much of a departure from the source material. But they also have transformations that are over-engineered, and those early MT figures have way too many ball joints for my tastes. I'm not much of an expert on those things, but the hips (and knees, now that I'm thinking about it) are ratchets, so I think it'd take more than nail polish. Oh, I feel you on that. I've always thought that Giant is one of the best looking Devastators, and Herc is kind of doofy. In hand, though, I gotta tell you the individual bots have a chunky simplicity that really reminds me of the early Classics figures, and he's pretty stable as long as you got one with the fixed hips. That's certainly an option. There's also Gravity Builder, who's my favorite of the six Devastators I have. If that's too expensive, I hear there's a KO that's pretty cheap but still looks good.
Cheers, I was interested in the KO Gravity Builder, but am waiting for them all to come out. Plus, it looks to be slightly too big to fit in with my Combiner Wars bots?
I'd rather an OS KO. The detail. The paint apps. The spring loaded locks... It simply needs to be bigger...
No, it doesn't. It's one of the few chug-sized options available. There are plenty Devys out there that are bigger. Why take away the Chug sized options for those that seek/want one?
Ya know, I wouldn't mind a knocked-up Giant, but what I really want is an FP/MT Bruticus and Superion to go with their Devastator, Menasor, Defensor and Computron. I wouldn't mind a Raiden, but he's second to the others.
The things that bother me about Giant aren't really things that could be easily fixed by an upgrade kit. I love the bots, but the things really holding them back are the style of connectors the designer decided to use before he thought of better ideas in the later combiners
I'd be down for a G1 animation accurate Devy head if anyone gets around to it. I already made some thigh stilts on Shapeways for myself to make him around the same height as the CW combiners with PE feet.
Although he's CHUG-sized, he stands a tad shorted than most of the later FP/MT and CW combiners. I wouldn't mind having him be a little taller, but still in a similar scale.
Still think it's because of those connectors and the locking mechanism, Giant is one of the sturdiest combiners made out of the CHUG lot.