Usually the most recently released one  

 

Spindrift.

Doesn't resemble the character whatsoever. It's a weak homage imo.

Closely followed by Spotter. They look terrible. Anorexic and awkward.

All their Movie bots get a bad rap but they're nowhere near as bad as ppl make out. I dig 'em.

 

Well, i sold my Hydra and Koot cause i didnt love them...so if i had to vote...but i didnt hate them... Both needed FULL paint job in my opinion.

The one with issue out of the box? Hoodlum paint chip of vehicle mode, but he looks great... cant get myself to sell him, lol. And he transforms fine too.

Rouge? One of my favorite figures from FT, though i will never transform her. I just love her alot, and wished i didnt sell my second copy.

Spindrift looks good when paired with XTB version. He is a quality piece, but not the best looking one by itself or very toon inspired at all. V2 will fix that.

Forager? No problem on mine after several transformation, so i guess i am lucky? He could look better though

 

Whatever your subjective opinion on things like the engineering or aesthetics, objectively he's got very little paint and the plastic is cheap, brittle, and prone to cracking.

 

"It crumbles." Basically the most important and objective criteria for a bad figure from FT.

 

Owning all of these (besides jabber) - I can with out a doubt say for me it's easily Hoodlum... Easily

Tesla - it's a product of it's time. Companies were still finding their feet in material usage and design choices. Companies hadn't settled on toon being the de facto direction at that point so the visual design is unappealing but perfectly acceptable for it's era of release. The build quality was also that of a still somewhat young company.

Rogue - Awful transformation but besides that, it achieves both modes as it should and for me is subpar but not terrible

Koot - One awkward transformation step aside he is perfectly fine and probably the last of the solid FT release era. Since then everything is overly covered in paint and becoming more and more complex in transformation

Spindrift - unappealing visually but a perfectly fine figure.

Forager - Wings snapped and shoulder supports snapped, I hate it for this reason but FT have replaced any damaged parts I had and provided spares. He is though for that reason a statue and nothing more. Never to be transformed again due to risk of breaking.

Jabber - I don't have mine yet but watching videos, this looks like Maverick in design. Lots of small diecast links and an unnecessary amount of steps. Also covered in paint... These three things create an illusion of premium but a reality of awful choices.

Lupus - Like Tesla, a product of it's time, some weak choices ( sliding cockpit and limited shoulder articulation ) but ultimately it's a perfectly fine figure.

On to the main event..............Hoodlum

Okay, where to start !? It's a newly released figure and not even up to the articulation range of figures from years back. It doesn't secure itself in bot mode, the shoulder articulation is terrible and and vehicle is a totally awkward shape where the back end is raised unnecessarily high above the wheels. Besides the awful visual design choices he also arrived damaged, Fanstoys solution is to provide paint... Sorry that is not a solution thats putting duct tape over a leak. It's a problem that arrived out the box and can only get worse over time, even more so because the shoulders do not lock in place, any movement of them causes that bonet lip to rub on the inner torso. I feel Fanstoys are at a point of their own obsession to not admit this is a failure and address it properly. Besides the QC failure, it's an incredibly dated design, limited ankle articulation, no ab crunch, awful shoulder articulation and very limited head movement.... All of these things on their own are forgivable, all added together are not and this for me is a pinnacle point in Fanstoys path and they handled it incredibly poorly by not addressing it. They took a 3 year old design and tried to shoehorn it into their line up. Fanstoys focus on over using paint and diecast were only highlighted where not to be used in this figure. If the bonet had been plastic it wouldn't be a problem. I could not be more disapointed with Hoodlum

 

lol @ the hate on Tesla. He's really basic, but considering the size, original price, and how FT was doing figures at the time, he's fine. I feel like the hate is mainly being driven by the secondary market price for what you actually get. Which I understand because for $200+, I'd be upset too.

I don't have Jabber quite yet, but Rouge was god awful. She's one of the few figures in my collection I didn't bother transforming.

 

Sooo, i gather the big winner is Hoodlum then, right?  

 

As previously stated, I voted for Spindrift. As others have rightfully pointed out, he's not a bad figure, he just doesn't represent Seaspray in the Masterpiece scale/aesthetic. FT obviously agree, as they are releasing completely new mold for the character.

The saving grace for their 86 Movie-bots for me is they come in robot mode and I have little desire to transform them, which is rare for me. While I have a soft spot for the movie having got to see it in the theater as a kid, I never liked the new character's vehicle designs. Even as a kid I found them lazy and uninspired, maybe with the exception of Ultra Magnus. Of course he's a repaint/armored up version of the Optimus Prime mold. I guess what I'm getting at is I'm kind of "okay" with the movie-bots just being action figures (ie: never transforming them).

My Jabber is out for delivery, I'll check the calves for cracks/stress/breaks, but may not even bother transforming him.

 

Had to vote for Rouge - I didn't mind her because as essentially a statue she's fine but horrible engineering and difficult poseability. Spindrift is fine as a toy - just not representative - no way the worst. Tesla is mediocre but mostly cause he's so old. I'd love if Fanstoys took another crack at him especially when they can do great headsculpts now.

 

Not enough to say there are "plenty of reports of cracks".

 

He doesn't just win. He is a kitbash by comparison

 

The fit shaming is real. Spindrift lost his fat privilege.

 

I would vote their Brawn...because it's not out yet and that's the last MP figure I 'NEED' to complete season 1, dammit!

Out of the figures on this list, I only have 2 of them...Tesla and Rouge so I guess I'm doing pretty well avoiding FT's lackluster figures! The two I do have I think are both fine, although I didn't even attempt to transform Rouge because it sounds like it's a pain in the ass and fragile. But it looks nice on the shelf and the price was right...purchased back when flash sales were still a thing. RIP, flash sales.  

I think the death of flash sales should be on this list...I'm a lot more forgiving of mediocre figures when I get them at a great price!

 

from that thread

 

I'm with you bud
This thread is pretty stupid.

 

I'd have to go with Hoodlum. Unlike a lot of their figures, Hot Rod does have an official version. While FT is better in some ways, it should have destroyed it. It just felt like an old and dated piece by time it came out.

 

Lupus because I can't get one!!  

 

I don't know about "universally reviled", but Hoodlum should have been majorly redesigned before it got released. I'm guessing they'd already made the molds ages ago and decided they needed to get their money's worth.

 

Hoodlum was supposed to be the Hot Rod we all wanted the official to be, it didnt live up expectations. In some ways, namely in posability the official beats it hands down.