Yeah, this place is quite "special" sometimes   

 

The only thing they’ve shown is a photoshopped image from Newage, and then released a long post that reads like a scam since half of it is advertising a website, no doubt to collect preorder cash. That’s probably why they are getting shit.

 

Translation: we want to inflate the price

Translation: people who will overpay

I mean that's fair but...

...exactly. They're promising big - really big - but all they've got is a sloppy mockup that makes no sense (Scrapper and Mixmaster) and that is built on an image of another company's work for seemingly no other reason than it was easy to photoshop. Like it feels like they just googled Devastator and happened upon a picture of Newage's (I don't buy it being an OSKO because of the goofy stuff they did to Scrapper and Mixmaster - I'm pretty sure it was just a convenient photo to work off of).

So I've got some projects in the works and some at the conceptual phase. Some of them are really freaking ambitious and, in all honesty, will probably need to be simplified or abandoned altogether. If I were to start making grandiose promises of all the stuff I'm going to do when my only actual release so far is a simple head swap (which is just about the easiest thing to engineer aside from maybe a weapon upgrade or something), I would expect a healthy dose of skepticism. Who am I to start boasting that I'm going to make totally awesome game changing products? (And no, nothing I do is going to be game changing and, like I said, I'll probably have to simplify a lot). I feel like that's what's happening here - they're promising big but there's nothing to back it up yet, plus photoshopping another company's product really doesn't bode well. You wait until you've got something to show before you start trying to build hype (and yeah, I'll admit I'm bad about this - I show off really early rough stuff 'cuz I just get so excited and after doing it for years I've only released one simple thing like a month ago). So yeah, I'm watching this with curiosity and it'd be great if this turns out to be an amazing Devastator but it's definitely too early to be excited and I'm not particularly optimistic.

 

History is full of folks that overpromised and made claims with no groundwork completed first. Sometimes you end up saying you're the greatest and you end up with Citizen Kane or Mohammed Ali's heavyweight title. And other times you've got Star Trek Axanar or end up with New Coke.

We love seeing this stuff and betting if it will be a success or not. Most entrepreneurs are 99% hype and that's why 99% of them fail miserably. But you just need that 1 in 100 chance of getting it right.

 

For sure and that's why I'm not trying to claim this whole thing is fake and why I'm still following it. I hope it all turns out wonderfully. But I'm not getting excited yet and I definitely understand where those who call it fake are coming from because, well, what they showed us is fake. They really should've waited until they had at least something of their real actual figure to show, even if it were just an early unfinished render.

 

Uh, so you expect this project to be an all in combiner like the MMC Bruticus? Wishful thinking....

 

Hmmm no, but that wasn't my question hehehe... I know that this Devastator will be the most "artificial" combiner ever!  

 

This isn't even a shadow reveal, and most people don't even like those. They did a lousy photoshop that doesn't work based on how the products they copied transform, AND their photoshop is so bad it has things like partial duplicates from the sections on Scrapper that they copied. If they can't even get those things correct, that makes their grandiose claims sound a lot more like a fake or a scam. That's not just lazy, it's incompetent. So yeah, we should discourage that behavior, and expect better from companies.

Here's what I'm talking about with Scrapper.




And while I did that bot mode picture as a fun joke, it's close to how it would actually look if they went with that design. It's like somebody saw NA Devastator and didn't know how the transformations work.

I should also note that I'm not taking any of this seriously or overly negative. It's a fun thing to talk about and laugh at dumb behavior, but if what they end up making turns out to be great, then that's good for the community. I'm not even an MP collector-- I just saw some people on FB talking about it, and then I saw how ridiculous it was.

 

I also appreciate the green colored wheel on scrapper lol. Like "were gunna hide this later, don't worry...".

I'd be happy if this thing happens for real but I've always thought this doesn't look like a serious attempt.

 

Yeah, this could still be just an elaborate joke and not a real product. As long as it's not malicious, that's fine.

I mean, I once trolled people with a review of FansProject Motormaster. The product had been announced and was highly anticipated, but no one had actually seen it yet, so I used the same Photobucket 'bandwidth exceeded' image for all the pics, and did over the top descriptions like how it looked like a shaved black bear, etc. It was very obvious and not at all serious. The people that didn't read the text believed it. Some people got really mad-- with one person on here so angry that they took it upon themselves to 'apologize to the fandom' on behalf of 'some insult that I don't recall' --but most people thought it was funny.

 

Totally appreciate where you're coming from. And FWIW, the fact that your response was civil gives me hope for humanity, so thanks for that.

100% agree that doing a bad Photoshop on someone else's product was a bad move and makes a poor first impression. I guess I'm just excited at the prospect of a new MP Devy so I'm letting that slide (rightly or wrongly). As for the scam aspect, I just have a hard time seeing how it could be.... total bullshit, sure, but a scam? They're not asking for money from us -- yet. If this were a crowd funded thing and they were looking for seed money, I'd being running away fast. But if their plan is to partner with the big retailers (ShowZ, TF Direct, etc), then I'd be okay putting down a deposit, provided it looks good. I know those guys would protect customers.

End of the day, I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

Ah ok I thought this was a criticism on the way Constructor uses fake parts lol. So the actual answer is...they stayed in the box, simply as that...

 

You've got a great point about not calling it a scam, and I agree. I touched on that in my other comment about whether it's an elaborate joke, and how as long as it's not malicious that kind of thing is fine. With what they've got currently, doing a kickstarter or taking personal preorders would be a lot of red flags, but that's not common in this hobby and, like you already mentioned, using retailers protects customers. So I was wrong about that.

I think a big reason for a lot of the mistrust at this company, or at the very least the dismissive opinions, is that it's a combination of the contrast of the two things they've shown to the public so far. They didn't just announce a product to stand on its own merits, they said they were doing it better than anyone ever has... while showing off a bad copy of someone else's design. Instead of inspiring to root for an underdog, people react to the hubris on display. A fool is easy to pity, unless they're arrogant.

Oh, and in case anyone hasn't mentioned it yet, if this turns out to be an OS KO of NA Devastator, the electronics are probably gonna be light up eyes, a light up blaster, and sounds in the blaster.

Which, NA Devastator is great, and that company is one of the main reasons I'm glad I sold off my MP collection and most of my CHUG collection. NewAge has quality materials, great paint, poseable bots, and transformations that are such a great balance of simple and innovative. Magic Square Toys is great too, and Legends collectors have so many great bots to pick from in what's basically three small scales, whether they want the G1 scale chart of NewAge or the more CHUG \ comics sizes of Magic Square Toys, or even slightly taller Legends+ from MFT and OS KO companies.

And glad to know you appreciate civility. About as mean as I get is a bit of snark here and there, but I'd rather have a laugh than gnaw down to the bones of a bad mood. We all slip up now and then, but I try to aim for friendly in all my posts and try to read everyone else's like that too-- even when it seems like it might not be the case for some people. If you read that pic I did of Scrapper as crapping on something you want to like-- well, it technically is, but there was no cruel intention behind it. I'm familiar with how NA Scrapper transforms because I have one, so I had a good laugh thinking about how the bot mode would look and wanted to make a pic to share that laugh with others.  

I do hope you find a cool Devastator to go with your collection, whether it's this one or another that gets made!

 

@Treadshot 2.0
You should feel at home here. You’re welcome.

Pls do mixmaster  

 

I don't like pantsformes, but I don't come to pantsformer combiner threads to be a party pooper! You like what you like, that's what matters.  

 

I recently stepped in shit on youtube, so I may as well do it here too.

I've been collecting again for almost 5 years now, having just gotten into 3rd party. I've never bought Constructor because, in my opinion, it looks awful for my needs. I like combiner teams, but as individual robots. Constructor looks great combined and is fairly toon accurate...but it looks terrible as individual bots and vehicles. It is neither toon nor G1 toy accurate. I like legends for combined mode, masterpiece for individual bot mode. I am waiting on decent masterpiece Constructicons, but until then, the Unite Warriors set works for me. I agree with the earlier poster who said the TW vehicles look like lego versions of the actual vehicles.

That said, this is obviously a photoshop image of New Age's Devastator. The additional promo artwork is drawn based on the toon models. Someone else could announce an actual Constructicon set with actual renders before we even see a prototype from this set. If they are going to just upscale some legends figures for MP size, they should have picked Magic Square's instead of New Age's: it's more toon accurate, more solid and would scale up better. That said, the New Age set is more G1 toy accurate than the Magic Square set. I guess which you think is better could depend on if you prefer G1 toy or toon accuracy.

As to why nobody is KOing the Constructor set, because it just isn't really toon accurate, and the hyper toon look is what is popular now. I am 100% into the hyper toon look and the TW bots do not achieve it in any manner at all. If I were into combiners in combined mode, I might buy Constructor...but $600 for an old design with notorious QC issues? I know it's a cliche here, but I'll wait for the FT version. Even X-Transbots would do a better job on the individual bots, they seem committed to toon accuracy.

If this fake render (i know, i know, all renders are fake) is indeed based on actual designs and engineering, it's going to be heavy parts-forming just to achieve the strange look of the legs. I do like the idea of making Scrappers arms long enough to have the look of the Devastator toon foot, but that Mixmaster barrel looks ridiculous in combined mode.

I just got Magic Square Scrapper/Mixmaster last week. No matter what size, I think this is easily the absolute best Scrapper made so far. The articulation for a legends scale figure is very impressive, if it had butterfly shoulder joints it would be perfect. The Mixmaster is really good too, but a bit complicated on the leg transformation. Still, I highly recommend the Magic Square set. I have had no problems with the plastic quality that other people seem to notice.

 

Oh this is crazy! I just posted a comment on youtube lamenting the fact that I missed out on the TW set, as I'm a new collector, and wanting someone to just upscale the MS or NA legends constructor! I am so down if this is legit!...Although. It could just be another fan who had a similar thought as I did, posting up a photoshop. I really like the MS one though. Love what they did to make the parts forming at least less lame.

 

An xtransbots Devastator would be AMAZING! Xtransbots is my fav company. Too poor for FT, and they've done an amazing job with all the figures I've got from them since I started collecting few months back. Perfect balance of price and quality.

 

I totally agree.

Conversely, that long barrel is the thing i like most. It's very G1 and making the knee articulation there it's a great idea.

Best!

 

DX9 would also be a good candidate for a toon Devastator, and their prices are EZ on the wallet too.