You ought to grab one if you can, they're quite good and are still pretty easy to find for reasonable prices. I'd suggest Starscream, as he has the best value due to all the extras he comes with (coronation attire and a gun mode Megatron), but you can't go wrong with any of them. The sculpt has a lot of character and can assume a lot of interesting poses.

 

I've got most of their releases so far and enjoy them all, but Scorponok still stands out to me as being especially great. I really like their Powermaster Prime too. Very striking all armoured up.

 

I want to say Bruticus, but, among many things, I just spun the elbow joint on Blast Off around in the midst of doing setting up an altmode scene, and I found this...



To which I needed to find a suitable means of expressing my feelings about the above, and I did~



At some angles, it’s easy to hide; others, not as much...



And, I can also vouche for the Seekers being pretty fun, too.

I’d really like to have Slipstream already, but I heard a lot of good things about the regular seeker mold, whereas Slippy is a hybrid of Starscream and Windblade.* So, it eventually came down to Acid Storm or the TF Source Sunstorm single release, since Sunny is normally a Build-A-Figure. I though Acid’s green was too bright so my fond memories of Dreamwave’s Sunstorm was the deciding blow.

Now, I’d like to get IF’s Scouts and Snipers-mainly for Ravage and Iron Factory’s old accessory kits, but it’s probably too late for that. Likewise, it might be easier to get MFT’s Sixshot over Iron Factory’s, but I really like IF’s head sculpt so much more.

At the very least, I do think I’ll pick up IF’s Shockwave, eventually.

*And now I’ll just have to wonder what a Vol2 of Mairghread Scott’s Til All Are One might’ve been like if Screamer knocked up Windy, and out popped Slipstream  

 

Yikes, that's a bummer. Scary place for a stress mark. I disassembled my Bruticus for the first time in a while the other day and found a large stress mark on the c-clip holding Vortex' tail section on. Mine is annoying, yours is potentially critical.

Also, one of Brawl's legs was so super tight - those double joints in his knees - that I struggled with it for about 15 minutes. Some of the plastic around the joint actually wore down. Very scary. I have no problem recommending IF Bruticus but it's stuff like that that keeps me from saying it's their best.

 

Can I say War Giant/Bruticus? I have a number of their figures, and while I agree that the Lambros are excellent figures, their Bruticus blew me away.

 

It's hard to say as I'm a legends(ish) scale junkie with an Iron Factory fetish. I know a lot of people consider their Scorponok to be the best and he's right up there. So are the seekers as well as their Bruticus. But if you really want some dynamic poseability, I cannot recommend the Arcee molds and the Drift molds highly enough. And their Dynobot set os amazing as well.

But I'm still waiting to get my hands on Burning Slug, Racing Bros, and Steel Lucifer.

Needless to say, while it's difficult to pin down what the best figure truly is, it's quite easy to say that IF is one of those companies that continues to impress with each new release.

 

Diaclone city commander
Soul reaper
Shockwave

 

Firstly, Pessimus, I consulted Paik4Life’s vid on WarGiant because I knew I wasn’t putting pressure in the right spots to work Brawl’s legs. While I usually watch reviews for entertainment, Paik provides instructional documentation. I don’t, however, remember his specific advice, but it was pretty clear what I’d been previoisly missing about the way the knees hinge out.

Still, I held back on recommending the Combaticons because they’re more expensive and a bit fragile, so that qualified of an answer didn’t make for a figure that I’d suggest as an introductory representative of IF’s absolute best work.

It’s close, though; and, a Legends Bruticus was my reintroduction to collecting as an adult. But, I also know that my bias for Bruticus might let me more readily overlook those brittle points to enjoy the fun (sized) and posable Bruticus sitting on my desk.

However, the Combaticons are a ton of fun all on their own, and the Combiner Hunters Arcee sealed the deal for me... Otherwise, it would’ve been a bit tough paying seventy dollars for Onslaught plus Bruticus kibble at legends scale.

Though I don’t have a ton of love for Arcee’s normal deco, Night Camo Arcee and Nero Rex, for this trek into head canon, look they’ve been cursed bioboosted with Trypticon serum, and that’s pretty cool in my book.

Moreover, they are so fun that I’d consider getting a second set, but I’m waiting to see what MFT charge for their oversized knockoff, for now, and, more importantly, whether that will lose anything in the transition. For example, I do like the teal on MFT’s KO of IF’s Sixshot, but the head sculpt is a definite downgrade. And, that’s especially funny given that MFT radically improved on DX9’s Megatron by giving Megs a new face, among other things.

While I did buy them all at once at the end of February, getting one set at a time isn’t a bad a proposition since they are all as engaging individually as when they are assembled.

Also, I don’t even own Scorponok or Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but I do think they all feature impressive engineering and loads of detail and character in a very compressed space. And I have not heard of anything to worry about like paint wear or breakages for either of them.

Now, I don’t normally go for car bots, but I am pretty Jazzed about IF’s Rush Beats.

Finally, let the Shrike’s Feather soar, Iron Factory.

P.S.: John Ashcroft singing karaoke is not as funny as you might remember it being.

 

Gah! Mine are stressing too. No breakage yet, but this definitely hinders my enjoyment of the figure. Those pegs should be reinforced with pins, or something that would make them just as sturdy.

 

I seem to have lost the tab with the list of 3P products I was using, dang it; and nobody else seems as comprehensive I recall it being.

Of the ones I have on this list, I simply adore Ravage for his effective simplicity but can't really say he's their best. Of that list I lack Captor/Silverflash/Smokebomber (and want them reissued the most), SonicTech/LeoTreble/BassRhino (second on the reissue wish), City Cmdr, the Grimmy upgrade set, Evil Lord, and Trinity Elite Warrior. Those last four don't interest me due to their too-Earthy altmodes and the lack of the Grimmy in question to need an upgrade for him. Not shown on the list that I *do* have are the various Arcees (Hunter is in NYC on her way with Onslaught as I type), UltiCmdr, Muramasa/Norimune bros, BlackZarak, and the MFT KO of BridgeWatcher. I've no interest in the rest of Bruticus and will try to use Onslaught's trailer with Gramking to make Cybertroning Grimlock a tractor trailer guy and give them all a place for their weapons. I'm really just trying to justify $53 for Hunter Arcee, lol.

Of all that I've gotten since becoming an IF fan last November-ish; UltiCmdr is probably the best product of them all. I plan to get Nova Prime to switch their trailer gear. I'm thinking I'll like Oppy better with the fingerwings and Nova better as a quasi-Cybertronian Ultra Magnus. No plans for Shattered Glass Oppy and I'm eagerly awaiting whatever IF plans to do for a Cybertronian Megatron (with trailer, hopefully!).

The surprising second-best IF figure is probably Siegehammer/Cybertronian Sludge. Sludge has always been the least-cool Dinobot to me, the dumb fat kid on the team of dumb kids; but Siegehammer is flat-out bitchin' in every way, imho. First off, once his turret is spun around backwards he has the *perfect* amount of homage to his future Dino-mode than any of the others (although that's entirely a personal preference), but there's no disputing that he's got the bitchin'est set of weapons of all the Asura Knights. He's just dead-awesome in every way in such a perfectly palm-sized package.

 

Iron Factory started very basic and some of their earlier figures were really mediocre particularly their Blaster types. They also used to throw in a ton of junk to bloat the packaging and price point.

However shortly after that they started really nailing unique figures starting with their take on Ultra Magnus (still quite decent even now).

As far as their best efforts go, I still really like their Dinobot set.

 

Personally I love their Windblade - cutest damn thing I've ever seen. I don't think I own any I've been disappointed with - I recently managed to get the Datsuns on a facebook trading group, and I adore Bluestreak, especially that midriff red paint application.

Cygnus and Bridge Watcher are also favourites, and their Prime nails the War Within aesthetic. Anything they do now I just pre-order.

Like other have said, their Scorponok is another level of engineering for the scale - it's cool to recreate the Marvel comics fights between him and Shockwave too ^_^

War Giant looks amazing, but just can't quite justify the money on him at the moment. Hopefully he'll pop up second-hand somewhere.

 

What about Black Shadow / Soul Reaper? I saw it for a reasonable price, looks fantastic!

 

I only have their Shockwave, so I can with complete objectivity and a well-informed opinion say: Shockwave.

 

I just got in Onslaught/Hunter yday and I'm feeling quite let-down to find that I can't build Onny's trailer without getting all of the combiner bots. I have no interest in doing so for that reason alone, and am left with a rabble of mismatched parts that don't assemble into anything on their own. I missed that point being presented anywhere, dang it.

 

I think you’d just need to get Brawl and Swindle, as well, since the feet have the back wheels.

But—at that point, you may as well assemble Bruticus! ^.^

 

I,d love to say Dai Atlas but he has some serious QC issues.

 

I say this as also having Feral Rex and TW Constructor sitting on my shelf: despite the IF Bruticus having a major flaw (the right arm connection point), it is-in my opinion and dollar for dollar -the best Combiner on the market if you are looking for a display peice.

Despite the right arm having annoying connection issue, the level of poseability, detailing, and price point absolutely make it a "must have".

 

Gracias, but Earthican altmodes just don't work for my collection and have to remain one of those yes/no criteria in my purchasing-decisions flowchart, for my wallet's sake.

 

Hey, lookie what I learneded:





Mind you, I take the canopies off my Sisters and use them as straight robot action figures and I doubt any of them will fit in the HexaGear cockpits with them still in place.