As far as I know, they never did anything other than the fully tricked out sponsorship version. I asked a bunch of sellers locally and through TaoBao and the consensus was they only produced the one version.
I actually have one I’m in the midst of painting up to make a toon accurate version. Will be applying simplified toon logos as diy water slides.

 

Thanks for that info. Too bad; I'm not looking for toon-accurate, but the variant would be interesting. Nice stickers, BTW. Made them yourself?

 

Kind of. Another user made up a set of hyper-accurate stickers to give Downbeat the real world sponsors logo and markings. I amended them in photoshop, vectorised them in Illustrator and then adjusted them to fit Hova. It’s funny - Downbeat is perfect toon and Hova is toy accurate but different folks want to amend them both to be the opposite.

 

Thats a good observation. I think it might be due to the group that want toon inspired realism, whether that be the realism shape (Hova) with toon deco, or toon shape (Downbeat) with realistic deco. Both are somewhere in the middle.

Personally, I prefer Hova overall, especially the head sculpt, but due to the way the rest of the releases are going, I would have love the collapsable chest Downbeat has.

 

Weird that all the reviews on that link are for a wig

 

I need a Jazz to fill the slot on my shelf until Fans Toys gets around to it  

Maketoys isn't really available so it's this guy or the Toyworld/Zeta. Price is about the same too. Should I just flip a coin?

 

I just ordered a Hova from BBTS since Downbeat seemed so hard to find lately.

 

Mine will be here tomorrow! I’ll see if I can’t get some pics up.

 

I decided to go ahead and get this for a stand in after seeing YT reviews. I hate Zetas face and bot body details looking different than recent MPs, and MT is too expensive for their stupid rear end and side of the car decisions.

 

BBTS had some for $67 I think it was, for substandard packages. That’s what I picked up. Hopefully it isn’t broken..

 

I picked mine up from a seller I just used on ebay for $57 with eBay bucks since I'm not that in a hurry to get it.
Watch Transform Elements, OM or FT announce theirs in a month 

 

Right! That wouldn’t surprise me a bit lol. Especially after reading through this thread and seeing that a more toon inspired figure wasn’t made even though some retailers are using those pics on their pages.

 

My brother picked one up from BBTS because he needed a Jazz, they had it on sale, and Downbeat was out of his budget. I had chance to handle it recently and think it's very nice piece.

 

good to note, thanks. I’m not much of a “placeholder buyer”, so I’ll be fine with him for my collection.

 

That's a good insight into Downbeat and Hova. I'm part of a third camp which prefers the MPs to be realistic in alt mode and toon-like in bot mode with more realistic details. I NEVER want a Megatron that looks like the G1 toy. Yecch! I never liked that bot mode.

You guys have got me looking twice at Make Toys Downbeat now, though. A sticker kit might do the trick.

 

LOL. While I certainly don’t want a new MP figure that looks like G1 toy Megatron, I do really need an actual G1 Megatron toy (or even a ko of the toy) to add to my Optimus and Megatron collection. Really hard to get a hold of one these days, especially in Australia where they are very strict on artificial firearms and anything that comes packaged in gun mode runs the risk of a customs ban.
I have stacks of other Megatrons but have not had any luck with that G1 toy.

 

Well, here's hoping you can get your hands on good ol' awkward G1 Megatron!

 

Finally got this guy a couple of days ago...
Just managed to unbox him and fiddle around with it.
I like him very much    .
That 3 types of shoulder configuration is not bad at all

 

I personally liked this figure best out of all the offerings. I just wish they would have included his shoulder rocket.

 

The lack of shoulder rocket put me on to the downbeat. No complqicom with him but this guy is a good budget stand in IMO. Takara will do one eventually BUT at 160? 180!?