Fellow collectors, I'm trying to put together a small-but-epic collection of transforming robot toys, and I'm very close to by final group. (Reximus Prime may be swapped out for Soundwave, though) However, as you can see, my "bookcase" background really doesn't feel "in-universe." I'm debating getting a Chain-base style set-up, or... Something from X2 Toys, or... Some other thing? Does anyone have opinions on what you'd do? Thanks a million for your thoughts.
I own 5 sets of the orange X2 Toys displays. While I am happy I bought them, the mechanical chain bases as far as I know are much cheaper and you can actually create a room with them. Where as the X2 toys you can only create a floor and back wall. With your setup the X2 Toys display would definitely make your toys pop due to the orange. Where as the chain bases in my opinion not so much. It's all what your preference is and how much you want to spend.
If you can track down the chain bases, I'm a big fan. Part of my love comes from being able to create multiple levels, which may matter less for the bookshelves (but not the top!). The accessory parts add some color to the display, too (especially if you're skilled enough to paint them). The X2 ones might be easier to fit into a shelf, though - the smaller units mean you can get closer to the top if your shelf isn't a multiple of 6 inches tall.
If you want to continue to use the book case - you can find some print outs you can do that you can fit to your shelves. that replicate certain backdrops like the outside desert near the ark, or the space bridge area or the interior of the ark or nemesis. You can print them yourself on a roll of thin card or get them printed at a print shop for you. I'd also recommend mounting the thin card on plasti-board or the hard cardboard like stuff you can buy for crafting purposes. I'd not recommend printing on paper though as it will crease when you glue it down and look to matt. You can also find old thing you might have lying about like packaging containers or tiles and make your own collage of appropriate shapes based on the cartoon and then spray the whole thing with orange or purple car spray to get a similar interior effect too. There is even paper craft print outs available for Teletran one too. If that is to much effort you can buy pre-printed ones - and there is even a shop or two I've seen that gives away the backfdrops with large orders. you can see examples of the pre-printed backdrops in emgo316's youtube videos (he also has a review of them too).
I was considering those, but I'm needing some tall backdrops for Gravity Builder, and ToyHax's stuff just isn't tall enough.
I personally use Chain Bases for all of my robot displays. Kotobukiya recently issued a renewal version of their Chain Bases, so they're a lot easier to get now, and you get two wall panels and two floor panels instead of one each per set. If you don't mind KOs, you can find KOs of the original editions on AliExpress for quite cheap (I got my last set of six for something $50 USD+shipping early last year). Either way, it can get pricey. You'll need at least 3 CB wall panels for GB's height (I use 4).
I've had my eye on this set, seems like a lot of bang for the buck and looks pretty good, haven't pulled the trigger yet though... Extreme Sets Action Figure Pop-Up Diorama - Control Center - Action Figure Displays Extreme Sets I hope they do some for MOTUC at some point
Holy F&^$!!! How did I miss that? Looks awesome! And a foot tall and ten feet wide for US$35? That's cool. Also, X2 toys showed that prototype of Teletraan 1 back in Oct. X2 Toys MP Teletraan I
I voted other because I'd go with toyhax stages, but then I saw your comment that they're not tall enough. In that case, given the choices, probably the chain. I saw a pretty cool thing somebody had done over in the creative section of the forum where they had decoupaged a bunch of the old G1 comics into a frame and it looked pretty cool. I was thinking about doing something like that for my shelf backgrounds: printing out the comic pages since I don't have them any more and then making a collage. Maybe even going nuts and arranging them by shape and color to construct a larger background image. But I'm pretty lazy so I probably won't ever get around to it.
Yeah, that's part of my calculations. That think it going to be so epic when it's released. However, I don't have a very deep amount of space to play in.
I voted Others because I am actually crafting my own diorama using XPS Polystirene. I will post pictures and tutorials once completed if anyone is interested
I don't have any so my opinion might be worthless, but I like seeing pictures using the grey chain bases.
After all these long years the thirteenth vote has finally been cast and now it is time for Shub-Niggurath to come forth with a thousand young to rid this planet of all humanity at last.