Yeah, good point... with MP, the poles are usually Toy vs Toon, but in 3rd Party domain, there's also a whole range of stylized or original reinterpretations (which we've lost sight of in recent years due to the "Toon-MP" frenzy). I think Shockwave's design lends itself to a lot of interesting interpretations, but I confess, I love the original so much, it'll always be my #1 standard to measure others against.

I find the WFC design cool enough, but maybe a little too self-consciously spikey and spindly. I loved the aesthetic and tone of those games overall, though individually the designs are hit-and-miss for me. I dig the "Beast Hunters" Shockwave also, though not the Bayformers version. I really liked the Energon Shockblast, but really just because I loved the idea of him turning into a killer satellite - the design itself left something to be desired.

The colours are rather nice on the Siege version. And Brutalism in the architectural sense, of course.  

It's funny how much our collecting can be influenced by our sense of a piece "belonging" on a particular shelf, or how much redundancy it might represent. I feel that influence all the time... "Does this make that other similar-sized version obsolete?" I used to be a lot stricter about that stuff, though now I tend to just buy what looks appealing and try to sort out where it goes later.

Originally, my collection was supposed to just be a G1 1984-1986 CHUG line (including customs) scaled according to my personal preferences, which leads to a tendency to seek out a "definitive" version of a character. But then I started picking up more figures in different styles, and then MP scale, and so on, and so on... and then with all the KO stuff that looks cool, and is also SO CHEAP... the spirit is weak!  

I still try to limit the redundancy in a given scale/style. Cloud9 is definitely the only Shockwave that works with my MP stuff, but I couldn't pass up the aesthetics of the MP29 KO. I have a scattershot array of way too many Seekers and multiple takes on so many different characters now. And let's not even start with all the Primes! With space limited, the collection looks more and more like a miscellaneous hodgepodge these days. Really need to spend some time and re-organize it into streams again... well, maybe someday. lol

zmog

 

Yeah good point, I know some complaints with the new direction of Takara MP after Ultra Magnus was more of a Toy vs Toon argument (like in the case with Inferno where the two are quite different in terms of details), but for me it's always been more of a "what they looked like in my head as a kid" vs "what they actually looked like." That's why I've said several times in this thread that I'm not a fan of most Takara MP designs post MP-22 (besides MP-39) even though I love some of their engineering. I think in the case of Shockwave, as you said the toy/toon difference isn't as great, but I just prefer his design in the comics and game a bit more.

I don't know the majority of those Shockwaves, haha, and honestly even though I played the Fall of Cybertron game this year I can't really remember what he looked like much since he wasn't a key player. Planet X is mostly just a stand-in of IDW designs (since Reformatted seem to skip most of the major G1 characters besdies Megatron even if they had a key role in IDW).

Haha, this is exactly what I struggle with. I mainly have 3 collections now after cleaning out most of my original purchases: a Season 1 MP scale collection only with my favorite characters, IDW bots mostly at the Voyager CHUG scale though with a few exceptions like Generation Toy and GCreations figures, and mainline figures that really belong to my kids so that they can play with and enjoy transforming. I made a mistake of collecting a couple Legends scale figures and decided to sell some and stop collecting cuz I can't afford a new collection, haha. And since I value engineering and transformations, I sold off all bots that have either unenjoyable transformations or bad payoffs (bye bye most Fans Toys figures). Otherwise there's a couple one-off figures I would love to get (HongLi Starscream, Generation Toy Gorilla), but I know that once I get one, I'll need more to keep them company... so I have to protect myself from myself!

I now have a 4th collection of sorts - cool or interesting figures that are cheap (mostly KOs or bought used). That's why I went on a small moviebot spending spree on SirToys last month and I'm excited to get some of those bots to play around with. But I couldn't imagine paying top dollar for something like ToyWorld Bee Prime even though he looks pretty impressive. I don't have any of these yet, but I did manage to buy a DX9 La Hire used pretty cheap and I absolutely love the transformation and the alt mode. The bot mode has a really dumb looking face but everything else is great about it. I hope that the upcoming BSL KO of it will be great cuz more people should be able to enjoy this mold!

 

Exactly.

You probably don't remember what WFC/FOC Shockwave looked like because those games were too dark to see anything.  

I feel like IDW Shockwave lacks a really iconic representation because he has been particularly inconsistent or obscure in the comics, changing his appearance substantially between artists... and sometimes this is more about the artist's style than the model they're starting from. Like, Nick Roche mostly used his G1 design, but... y'know... extra Roche-y. For a while, I think they actually were using his WFC/FOC design, so the Planet-X figure is likely as appropriate as any other.

I relate to this so much.  

zmog

 

Does anyone know if any place still sells the KO Dia Commander kit? Sirtoys doesn't have it in stock and I don't know any other good KO retailers.

 

That picture is of the official fansproject set, the shoulders lock properly... ebay still has some:

D.I.A. Commander Trailer Set - FansProject Exclusive 3rd Party Transformer MIB | eBay

Offer 65% of the cost they ask. Who knows, they might bite.

As for the KO sets, man - those dried up ages ago - best bet would to ask Paul @SirToys if he ever comes across them on his travels? He may even have contacts that do have some, but aren't easily found in an online search engine?

Best of luck.  

 

Ah thanks lol dont think id even bother paying 65% of what that seller is asking for haha

I've asked Paul on twitter and added it to my Sirtoys wantlist. You'd think it would be easy to find someone selling the KO through a google search but most of its coming up empty :/.

 

Yup, but owning a MISB official fansproject release of the armor kit that started all the 3rd party stuff for 130.00 or less, that hasn't been available for 10 years now or reproduced, is just icing on the cake.

You get what you pay for, and I was paying upwards of 70 bucks just for the KO's back then... then they dropped to 40 bucks and dissapeared completely.

 

More Train Combiner.



Much better plastic than the deluxe one.

Those flip inside out cars with animals on them.



Another variant of the bug combiner. I keep forgetting what the official was from.



Beast Wars Gator with a shell on it's back.

 

Put me down for the train bots combiner.  

 

Anybody has any info on these? They look like smaller simplified versions of the originals, in vomit inducing colours (exactly as I like them   )

 

Bought those some time ago
Seacons Oversized - Combiner - SirToys.com
Predacons Undersize Set of 5 - Combiner - SirToys.com
Predacons Undersize Set of 5 PVC - Combiner - SirToys.com

 

I would love to limb swap these 2 and make the gawdiest g2 combination possible.

 

Anything that you want to share  

Like an opinion on how they hold/size/whatever?

Cant see why not  

 

Seacons are simplified. Heads are modded onto the bodies so no re-swapping limbs or complete gun modes. Also you use the arm limb guns as hands.
The Predakings are similar to each other except the first one has great plastic and the second has really weak, "shampoo bottle" quality plastic. Best used for customs.

 

@Basilisk
I am actually selling one on eBay right now, with the KOLD blue Optimus
KO Fansproject D.I.A. Commander with KOLD Blue Optimus | eBay

 

Ah I changed my mind on getting him now as I found an alternative idea for what I was gonna use him as. (SG Magnus)

Just out of curiousity would you ship to the UK?

 

Btw, the KO City Commander armour is quite loose, especially on the shoulders. Some people have cut and stuck bits of old credit cards to pad-out the thickness of the internals, to make them a snugger fit, but overall, I would recommend the originals over the KOs.

 

Not currently doing international shipping.

 

 
Hey @Basilisk if you're looking for the moulds to mess with, I have City Commander and Shadow Commander available for sale here in the UK? No Powered Commander unfortunately.  

 

Question cause I really must have missed it or totally forget it

They KOed Optimus and Megatron from siege and then OS them Ok. Any regular sized ones though?