So this is my first time doing a review…please bear with me! I’m not usually a 3rd party guy, but when I saw that they were doing a reissue for FansProject Saurus Ryu-Oh, I decided to jump on it. I really wanted a Monstructor/Dino King in my collection, and for a guy who mostly does CHUG he fits the bill nicely. Though I never owned either of the previous releases of this mold, from previous video reviews there seem to be a couple of changes for this reissue (which I’ll discuss in a bit). First up are the monster modes. I should add, this set did not come with any instructions. The box had the figures already combined (though somewhat mistransformed in that regard) between two plastic clamshells. That was it. So I transformed them from a mixture of images and intuition. Even though I personally would’ve preferred the Monstructor version, the colors on the bots in this set are nice and striking! The white and green color scheme really brings them all together, nicely. And that metallic gold paint on Slog (I will be using the English Monstructor names for my convenience) just looks fantastic. Those wanting a more Masterpiece level of complexity would likely be very disappointed, as these feel more like high end Generations figures. That said…they feel like high quality Generations figures! The joints are nice and tight (very…more on that), and they have a decent amount of articulation. They are, however, extremely…pointy…in places. Particularly the claws on Slog, beak on Birdbrain, and wings on Wildfly. If you’re not careful, you could end up with some scratches after messing with these guys. Though they are monsters…so it kinda works? Maybe just keep out of reach of small children… Robot modes are also nice looking…though a bit more on the stumpy side than I would’ve thought. Birdbrain and Slog are especially short and squat. It’s personal preference whether that works for you or not. But again, they are all nicely articulated (by Generations standards), and they are mostly tight jointed. The only exception there would be Bristleback. Mine is very loose and floppy-feeling. Now for the combined mode. And wow…is it ever striking! I mentioned before that there were some parts mistransformed in the box. Out of the package, the legs were not tabbed in properly, and their connector ports were turned around backwards (making me think at first that the legs just poorly locked in, as they kept falling out). Wildfly’s wings were also folded improperly, and the peg that connects the monster head of Birdbrain to Slog’s backside was not connected. Once I got that fixed, boy does he look intimidating. The combined mode really is a thing of twisted beauty, as all that uniform color and detail meshes together, perfectly. I also mentioned differences from the previous versions of the toy. Again, I never owned it myself, till now, so I’m going off of other review videos and images I have seen. The previous release came with a gun (I believe made by combining the individual weapons) and a giant battle axe with translucent blades. That’s not the case here. Instead, there are two configurations for the weapons. They can all combine to form a giant gun…or a wicked looking scythe! While I do miss the cool translucent look to the old weapon…I mean how many transformers carry a giant scythe around?! There is one more difference I was able to tell from previous release, and sadly it’s not quite as cool. From reviews I had seen, many had praised the original release for this figure for its stability…but this reissue heavily suffers in combined mode from a combiners worst enemy…loose hips. It can be very hard to get him to stand in anything but an extremely exaggerated “A stance.” All his other joints are tight though…it’s just those darn hips (likely a product of mold degradation). Speaking of tight joints…Scowl’s leg snapped while trying to go from robot to Monster mode. It snapped clean in two, just below the hip ratchet. The double joint that is supposed to swivel down so the leg can swivel up for beast and combined mode is way, way, way too tight. And when trying to do it to combine him back after exploring the other modes, it just flat out broke. $250 worth of figure…and it broke (I know that’s a drop in the bucket for 3rd Party Figures, but this is a first for me). I did use some Gorilla Glue on it, and it seems to be holding up okay. But time will tell on that. That being said, the rest of the tabs all lock into place and ensure that he can still be a leg (worst case scenario)…he just may never be able to be anything else. Bummer. And there are other pegs and joints that are just a bit on the scary side of tight. So all that said…buyer beware. Hight-wise, he fits in amazingly with the CW scale figures. All in all, I do think the figure is worth the purchase. Especially if you can get it at the “reduced” $250 price tag (compared to the $450+ one the original apparently went for). However, please be sure that you treat it with care (which I did and still got breakage). If any joints feel too tight for comfort, it may be worth it to see if you can loosen any screws before trying to go any further. Thank you all for reading my first review! If you’re looking for this guy, best of luck! I hope you all have a good one!
I dig 'em. Solid figures all the way around, and really good showing for FansProject in what was probably one of their last releases.
So, I'm greatly, terribly confused here. I bought the original set back in like 2018 or 2019 (on clearance) and it came with the Energon axe and the combinable rifle. TFSource made the new rifle/scythe available for sale. I can't tell if I received all of the parts necessary to form it, or what. Does anyone have a copy of the updated instructions that they'd be willing to share with me, here? Please? I'm genuinely at a loss for words and cannot figure out one end from the other on this thing. It was only $12.00, but it's the principle... Thanks!
Can anyone show me the configuration for the new individual weapons? Some of these are the exact same as the original releases, but others... Well I can't seem to make weapons out of them.
