Ah yes, the character who showed up for 5 seconds and did...

*checks notes*

Sod all. Great use of a figure slot there.

 

Top 5 3p?

TFC Hades/Liokaiser. Great presence, good individual figures. Slight pain to seperate Leozack from Jaruga and the knees are a little unstable, but overall a great combiner. I have picked up a small kit from another member here that fixed his knee issues (and a couple of other little extras) and now he's as stable as everyone else, he's bloody awesome!

Feral Rex. As great individual as combined. Joints take a little getting used to, but once you figure them out, they work great in combined mode. And awesome wings. Even my wife loves his wings.

Unique Toys Blaster. A voyager sized blaster that looks the part, has good articulation, transformation is simple and effective and has a cassette that turns into his rifle. Neat.

Planet X Vulcan. An awesome Grimlock in both modes, so very dynamic.

My top of the list?
Unique Toys Mania King. This thing is like a mini masterpiece. I freaking LOVE this figure, alt mode is awesome and he just ooozes so much atitude. Being the second release, his cannon is a straight up laser pointer so it's a galvatron toy that can literally blind you. If that's not in character, I don't know what is! Give him the Dr Wu dark saber and the matrix on a chain from his G1 reissue and you have the most perfect classics galvatron you will ever see!

 

I'm assuming it's an easy repaint of a previous Rey so it won't cost much to produce.

Top 5 3rd party figures,

1.Make Toys Swerve
2.Iron Factory Megatron
3.Iron Factory Bruticus
4.Newage Martini Jazz
5.MMC Impactor

 

Anybody else that's gone through anxiety/PTSD/depression at some point in their lives have some or all the f*ckers go t!ts up at the same time during our extended Covid 19 endeavour?

I'm not furloughed; in fact I am expected to work at a heightened capacity from home during this time, with some nigh-impossible demands, changed targets and turnaround times. I was [initially] separated from my partner due to shielding for her vulnerable family.

First...3 months? Top notch. While doing uni studying as well. Daily yoga, almost daily walks, movies or videogames until midnight, sleep, work, etc.

Late June, the f*ckery happens. Terrible anxiety and PTSD hits like there's no tomorrow and hasn't let up since. It stays on a daily basis even though my partner is 100% supportive and practically living with me now. Even though the point of worry is impossible to bordering on fictional and I can recognise it, it still lingers on a daily basis.

Anybody else hit similarly? What are you doing to ease off?

Onto robits and stuff...

As part of my resident evil splurge, I just finished Resident Evil 6 [main 3 campaigns, not Ada]. For a game that I had been wanting since 2012...eh. It's one of those games that progressively gets worse as you play. Leon's campaign was good, Jake's made me feel a bit overpowered at the end, Chris's was borderline impossible/frustrating at points. I got Resident Evil 4 lined up next.

Top 5 3P figures I've had? Hmmm...

Unique Toys Peru Kill/Lockdown - Ever so slightly outdated by his successors in the same line, but it just...fits. Fantastic transformation, really smart use of mass, paint galore and detailing done just right. Bonus---he scales well with Alternators.
MMC Feral Rex - Passed mine on years ago, but still remember it fondly. Chunky, weighty, imposing---as I said back then, freaking heavy metal combiner. Unsure how he'd stand now, after being posed for years on a shelf with no ratcheted hips though.
MMC Assaultus - So far. A true disbeliever on their Perfection line attaining perfect transformation and being solid, but being proven wrong so far. Most logical and intuitive transformations in the scene so far.

And I think that's it. Haven't handled any others for a long time that made me think "oh sh!t this is revolutionary".

 

Easily done as I have exactly 5 third party toys!

5 – Iron Factory Pink Assassin. My first third party purchase and a random spur of the moment one at that. A cute little murder machine.
4 – Planet X Charon. Nice, chunky Fall of Cybertron style evil Optimus with a good selection of accessories.
3 - Maketoys Rioter Despotron. I'm not really a fan of the alt mode as I'd prefer a Megatron that transforms into a tank rather than a giant gun but the robot mode is glorious. Love the hidden blade storage in his cannon too.


2 - Maketoys Striker Manus. Was struggling to find a voyager scale Optimus I liked the look of (pre-War for Cybertron offerings) until I saw this guy and knew I had to get him. Very poseable and and looks great in both modes, I just wish he came with a better rifle (or the weapon pack that Striker Noir had).
1 - Planet X Vulcun. Again, another figure that looks great in both modes but just beats out Striker Manus as I have a slight preference for Grimlock.   The tail transformation scares me slightly every time I transform him, but it's worth it for that T.Rex mode!

 

This is easy to write but way harder for you to do but:
Step 1. Ease up on yourself because you are not "failing" these are exceptionally effing trying times.
Step 2. Perhaps delicately and diplomatically as possible approach your line manager to discuss how the difficulties in your work under current circumstances are affecting you and your mental health (and, not to be paranoid but if possible make sure you have the capacity to either record or evidence the interaction at a later point, just in case of a Worst Case Scenario reaction).
Step 3. Maybe a little less Vidyagames/Fillums/Whatevs and an earlier bedtime (I am constantly failing at this myself of late).
Step 4. Get back to "Daily yoga, almost daily walks" make sure to do at least one but don't beat yourself up about not always managing both.
Step 5. Not that you aren't already but take some time to focus on your partner's needs and/or just do something nice, as an empathetic deed is a great serotonin hit.
Step 6. Stroke a cat/dog/other willingly strokeable pet!  
Step 7. Remind yourself just how Goddamned well you've done making it this far already, you can do this!

That's about it.

 

Top 3P!

I don't have as much experience as most but I'll give it a go!
3) Iron Factory Windsaber. My first of the IF lot, super cute and playable. Loved wooshing it around my flat
2) Maketoys Striker Noir. Crazy articulation. I love the alt mode. Classics Prime style Head sculpt is a nostalgic twist
1) Iron Factory Blaze Dash. Just pure fun, the first of the new batch of IF toys (I think) without scarily tight joints. Super clean in both modes. And all in a neat tidy legends package. Has got me hooked on legends scale more than once.

 

Hmm. Top 5 3p? I am not sure I have 5...lets see.

1) NewAge Manero
2) ZT Jazzy
3) Spark Toys Alpha
4) DX9 Chigurgh
5) Zeta Toys Firefly


I do have Evila Star and the OS KO of that Goldbug Mini toy, plus I do have LT02 but that is just a copy of MPM so it doesnt really count...I think thats it for my 3p collection

 

@Knightdramon sounds like you're going through a tough period. I went through a bit of wobble, for myself I was losing a bit of perspective, feeling like I was failing a bit.

I made a list of things I want to do daily including stuff like going to bed early, some exercise, calling friends, taking care of family stuff, building lego, even shaving etc.. as well as the more adminy tasks and work shit. I used the super cheesy SMART goals method, which I liked a lot! I found a number of benefits:
1) Its super nice ticking things off, feeling accomplished
2) I got 'me stuff' done instead of just prioritising work - which gave me some perspective and made the work tasks less daunting/overwhelming/pressurised
3) I did a bit more active stuff so felt a bit better, had better sleeps
4) I realised how much stuff I actually was doing, so unfinished tasks weren't 'failures'. It also helped me stop feeling guilt over keeping work tasks to set hours and actually enjoying the rest of the day.
5) I was able to be not only less stressy but also be more supportive to my friends and family, cos 'feeling like a burden' is one of the internal voices I have
Bonus) I got rid of some toxic habits, cos they were less important or joyful than the stuff I put on my list. For me it was using less social media and detaching myself from internet people's opinions on shit. I've decided I'm old school, I like old fashioned conversations and I don't particularly need an internet life so easier to just to cull what I don't like. Obviously I'm back here, but I count this as a fun place.

I'm only speaking for me and what worked for me. Edit: I should add I rarely get everything on my list done, especially the going to bed early, but for me the main purpose is to just get back that perspective and so not think of stuff like that as failing.

 

@Sharkysharky check your inbox, urgent importance mate!

 

Top 3P figures, I haven't had that many over the years but in no particular order:

Maketoys Giant - fantastic rendition of Devastator, holds up after all these years. Great as individual figures, fantastic combiners and (in my head canon) is scales perfectly with my other combiners.

Maketoys Swerve/Gears - Lovely figures, nuff said. Shame I missed their Tailgate.

MMC Felisaber - I can see why others have said Feral Rex, this is the only figure I've got from their Predacon set and it's great. Again I wish I'd have picked up the Predacons when I had the chance and money.

MMC Spartan - Voyager scaled IDW Impactor, lovely. Though I'm not overly fond of the vehicle mode.

Fansproject G3 trailer - a bit of an odd one I know, but even with the ER Optimus coming with a trailer, this one still outshines it. Maybe a little to big for ER Primes vehicle mode, but comes with a fantastic repair drone, stealth mode, Roller and lovely accessories for the Universe and Classics figures that were around at the time (a bit like we're getting with ER Centurion).

Honourable mentions to the FP Insecticons/Deluxe Insecticons who are still resident on my shelves.

@Knightdramon Sorry to hear your struggles. I think this whole situation will have a massive impact on a lot of peoples mental health. I'm not a great fan of crowds, but now I get anxious if I'm in crowded area, which is something new for me. My eldest step daughter is the same and got really anxious when we all went to Alton Towers last weekend for my delayed 40th. Hopefully you'll get better soon, hopefully having your partner helping out will make things progress quicker.

 

Only have two third party figures, and they're not exactly comparable (one's essentially an upgrade kit, the other is a standalone figure), plus the latter came to me with a defect XD Still though, in my limited experience beyond Hastak shores, the Fansproject ROTF Bruticus upgrades and MMC Kultur are absolutely delightful, and I'd especially recommend the latter to anyone who's new to 3P, thanks to the exceptional build quality and lovely hefty transformation.

If only I could sort out that ankle XD

 

Lockdown bites the wet bag. Am dealing with it by rejecting sobriety.

Third party favours?

1. KFC Magnificus, who is shit but still the best.
2. FansToys Quakewave, who drinks human blood without a mouth.
3. TFC Hercules, because Doozers tectonicise our most fraggled rocks.
4. Planet X Guardian, all Maxes maximise on NEW SKULL PLANET.
5. FansHobby Repugnus & FansHobby Doublecross, because dinosaurs were a real thing after all.
6. Predaqueen and Neroqueen, we don't count too good round 'ere.

 

 

Looks like the "No Wave 4" theory might've been on the money with this tidbit from ID Toys FB comments:

Was there ever a Wave 4? Would it have been some of the Next Netflix lot and they'd have gotten a Netflix battle deco instead of clean for that release? Would Soundwave have actually been

Spoiler

Mercenary Soundblaster?

We may never truly know.

 

Phew wot a scorcher.

Strange to think 3P has been a thing for a decade now, even stranger to think of some of the shit I bought just because "Hasbro will NEVER make this Guy/Gal/It.....," And look where we are now. I don't even have a 3P figure on preorder.

Top 5:

5. MMC Turben - best Heliformer EVAH. Fuck the haters, it's Whirl and it's brilliant.
4. Maketoys Green Giant - still to me the best CHUG Devy and then some. And I own a few .
3. Maketoys Trashtalk. All personality, simply joyous.
2. Fanstoys Stomp. I guess they had to be here somewhere, this is their Best. Just a chunk of awesome.
1. PE Warden. The haters can really fuck off on this one. He's the biggest Headmaster we've had, makes Tank Bastard (©®™ @Napalm ) and is the best built, best quality Robot I own. End of. No, really END OF.

I will of course have forgotten a bunch of other stuff, and the hon. Mentions list is a mile long (MMC Megatron and Roadbuster, Maketoys Utopia and Downbeat, Quakewave, FP Swindle and Smart Robin, Planet X Grimlock, almost everything by Iron Factory) but the above list won't ever be replaced even with what Hastak is making for us now.

So, a lot of it proved to be worth it after all.

 

OPTIMUS: Autobots... friends. We have been away from our home for too long. I thank each and every one of you for your courage, and your patience. But now, after four million years, we can finally look upon Cybertron agai-

OPTIMUS: What the fuck, is that my shrink? Where did the moon go? What the fucking fuck?

 

Frankly, getting a female fig, even a quick redeco based on something on screen for all of five seconds is a damn improvement on the disgraceful way female characters have been being treated in the action figure lines for many big movies even recently. I remember hearing the first figures for the Sequel Trilogy subbed out Rey for a Stormtrooper or something? And Guardians of the Galaxy didn't even have a Gamora figure originally?
Still got a long way to go but still, it's progress of a sort  

   

 

What was still left in the figure rumour mill, like enough to fill a wave?
...

A combination of 'nice backpack, love' comments and catching RoboCop 3 had quite the effect on Chromia.

 

Who's got two thumbs and only just remembered ID Toys get their gear from Hasbro UK, the most notorious latter wave skippers there ever were?
It me. I guess we will have to wait n' see!

Uh, maybe Runabout for a Novastar-like last wave? Maybe the clean deco 'Bee & Elita and their Netflix edition would've been the regular extra paint battle danged decos otherwise?

 

Hi, anybody have any suggestions for what colours I should repaint a soare Smashdown into if I end uo with one? I was thinking either forge of Solud blue and silver or something more Decepticon-ey like gunmetal and brown to evoke a minotaur.