FansToys FT-28 Hydra (Masterpiece Six Shot)

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by CliffjumperUK, Nov 21, 2016.

  1. borgified

    borgified You're going to get speared to death!

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    Last edited: Jan 13, 2019
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  2. Sup3hobo

    Sup3hobo Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure this has been mentioned already, but be careful when you're bending the elbows. Make sure to bend the the higher elbow joint first and make sure the forearm clears before bending the second elbow joint. Otherwise you might chew up the plastic around the bicep. :( 

    IMG_20190112_125440693_HDR.jpg IMG_20190112_125542201_HDR.jpg
     
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  3. Lord Jinnai

    Lord Jinnai Well-Known Member

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    Just got this guy and OMG he is huge - Had Hexatron before and sold him to get this guy as wanted a more toon accurate figure. Anyway this guy is QC21 - I haven't transformed him yet but he's stiff joint wise apart from his right knee that wobbles a tad like we all seem to get - My one concern though is his left arm peg rotation joint above his elbow joint is flopping all over from right to left and I have no idea if this can be tightened up or if I need to contact the seller - Any help would be great guys

    Overall very happy with his guy
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2019
  4. Mentasm

    Mentasm I check in, but I don't check out.

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    Do you mean the bicep swivel on the left arm? That seems to be loose in every review I've seen and on mine. Right arm is fine. Odd.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2019
  5. Rockdown

    Rockdown Dream Commander

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    Thanks for the heads up. All the issues with this beautiful figure are making me scared to handle it.
     
  6. Cheem The Rup

    Cheem The Rup Well-Known Member

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  7. divinecomedy

    divinecomedy Board Certified Fans Trollar

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    Just transformed him to wolf mode. Thanks to TMan's video, i found the process enjoyable enough.
     
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  8. ChromeMagnus

    ChromeMagnus Well-Known Member

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    Hopefully we'll see a G1/G1 Japanese toon inspired animated GIF of Hydra from @OptimusTimelord sometime soon.
     
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  9. Lord Jinnai

    Lord Jinnai Well-Known Member

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    Yeah that's the one - brain had a meltdown trying to remember the correct term for that joint lol! That's good to know then, looks like mine's ok so far, though have to still transform him lol!
     
  10. Chrisola

    Chrisola Solid crotch ratchet

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    My replacement shoulder parts are on the way from ShowZ. Woooo!!

    IMG_20190102_123742735-780x1040.jpg
     
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  11. Unicron9

    Unicron9 Fan and customizer of the TAWYS

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    I really hope you don't have anymore problems like that, and can fully enjoy the figure.
    When it isn't sucking, it rocks balls.
     
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  12. lordcryotek

    lordcryotek M'Hael

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    Some tips for transforming this guy without breaking him:
    1. When putting the arms into alt mode configuration (jet, car) do not pull or push by the arm, use a spudger to pry it out by the rectangular purple part that attaches to the torso.
    2. When transforming his legs, move the purple flaps on the top part of the lower leg out of the way first and be mindful of where they are when using force.
    3. When going to wolf mode, be mindful of the tab that keeps the legs together. I have been very careful with mine and I can already see what looks like a stress mark. I wouldn't recommend transforming him to wolf mode without getting some oil for the joints. An easy way to avoid this would be to skip the step where you split the leg and just give him G1-style legs, it doesn't make much of a difference looks-wise.
    4. Be lucky! While I wouldn't say he's fragile, some of the areas on this figure feel like they could've been designed better. I have transformed mine close to a dozen times with no real visible damage, but I would say some of these things are luck of the draw. The amount of force needed to pry his arm joints in and out of position in alt mode is insane, and the process of doing that will likely lead to damage for some people.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2019
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  13. The Chippy Winger

    The Chippy Winger The Struggle is real

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    1D49178F-D113-43B2-A79B-F3A335EF631C.jpeg Love filling out the Decepticon ranks. But those knees...yowza. That said; He is an absolute beast and pics do not do him justice. He is drop dead gorgeous. If ur not into TF’ing your bots like I am, he steals the room. Thank you Fanstoys. Another knockout.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2019
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  14. lordcryotek

    lordcryotek M'Hael

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    Alrighty, I always wait a week to do a text review of my figures, and here's another. I do this for fun and also in the hopes that it will help people make a decision on whether or not they want a Hydra in their life, so hopefully at least someone gets something out of this other than me. If not, oh well, I enjoyed typing it up.

    Ramblings:

    Spoilered for length!
    As my second Fans Toys release and most anticipated figure of last year, Hydra was a long-awaited package that finally showed up a week ago. As I waited for Hydra to show up, my anticipation for this figure almost completely disintegrated when the slew of QC reports came in and his lack of decent ankle tilts was revealed. I figured Hydra would be another beautiful figure that couldn't really be touched without damaging him or modifying him, much like Quietus. Nope! Hydra is solid-as-hell with some fiddly bits of engineering in his legs and some troublesome but avoidable QC and tolerance issues.

    Let's get this out of the way though: Hydra's legs do suck. They just do too much, mostly because of the wolf mode engineering. The flaps that form the inner part of the jet mode's cockpit (the fiddly pieces that make the bot mode's upper inner calf) are made out of this thin, crummy plastic and don't completely cover up the mess inside his legs that they're supposed to hide. With too much careless use, they could easily break because they're on tiny hinges. Transforming him to wolf mode requires splitting his legs in half in a way that puts some pretty serious stress onto the tab that keeps them together--I haven't found a way of doing that step that doesn't make me nervous. Oh, and the amount of force that's required to un-tab his arms is just insane. The knee joints on my copy are fine, but other people have reported some serious flop.

    Those giant problems now addressed, I absolutely love everything else about this figure. On my shelf, Hydra's bot-mode is second only to MMC Carnifex. Even without a proper ankle tilt, Hydra can do some decent poses. Speaking of, he has one of the best designed ab-crunches I've gotten from a third party Transformer (gotta love those clicks). The articulation is otherwise what I would expect from a figure of this size and price, though I do wish he could do the wrist-wave like Quietus. Every mode is solid on this guy with maybe the exception of the jet mode (for the life of me, I can't get the cockpit/nosecone/robot mode legs to tab in), and the complicated transformation really isn't that bad once you get used to the process. Hydra is much easier and more enjoyable to transform than Quietus, it's just a matter of learning the steps and using more force than one would normally be comfortable with on an expensive toy. I have transformed him into all of his modes more than once without any issues, so as long as you're careful with the more intricate parts of this figure, he should last. If I haven't mentioned this before, he's also huge. Hydra is the third biggest stand-alone Decepticon in my collection after TR Trypticon and Carnifex.

    Almost every other version of Sixshot on the market right now does something better than Hydra--be it articulation (Gcreation), durability (DX9, MMC), ease of play (Titans Return, MMC), or even paint (MMC's Hexatron Continuum). What Hydra does better than every other version of Sixshot out there is what matters the most to me: he's prettier. I rarely get the urge to gush about a figure this much, but let's just say I have him positioned so I can stare at him on the shelf from my bed as I try to fall asleep. The head-sculpt brings to mind the Ralph McQuarry prototype Boba Fett drawings from that old Star Wars concept art book I had as a kid, he just has the vibe of a badass intergalactic ninja bounty hunter; he looks ancient, mysterious, and deadly. Basically, my childhood dreams brought to life. This figure is the essence of everything that I loved about the G1 figure, but better. Even though Hydra has his frustrating bits in his legs, I'd say that this is the definitive version of Sixshot.


    The Good:
    He's so goddamn pretty, he's solid from the knees up, all six modes are as good as you could ask for from a six-changer, and he's HUGE.

    Nitpicks:
    I preferred the non-metallic toy deco seen on the preview pictures. I would have preferred white guns, like the toy and the cartoon had. Weird choice.

    The Bad:
    Those legs, that lack of ankle tilt, QC issues/user error leading to breaks on other peoples' copies, the amount of force needed to manipulate certain parts could break him.

    Mode Ranking:
    1. Bot
    2. Car
    3. Wolf
    4. Tank
    5. Gun
    6. Jet.

    Transformation Difficulty: 7.5/10. This guy's not for beginners, but if you've handled your fair share of Alternators, MP, and third party figures you should be fine.

    Grading: Carnifex is pretty much as close to a 100/100 (I’d give him a 98, two points off for not having base mode ramps) figure that I can think of, so that's what I'm grading to. I want all my figures to be above a 70/100, anything below that has failed in some regard, anything above an 80 is a figure I really like. I start with 100 and take points off. For another reference, I gave Quietus a 50 (Originally an 89, but Quietus failed after less than ten transformations).

    Grade: 90
    (-10 for bad legs, -10 for bad ankles, -5 for frustratingly strong tolerances, +15 for being perfect in almost every other way)
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2019
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  15. Trailbreaker77

    Trailbreaker77 Camaro Club! Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

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    Got my Sixshot in on Monday just got around to opening it last night just to do a quick inspection and I didn't see anything obvious but that doesn't mean it's 100% perfect. I don't really have time as the wife is crazy busy at work and I'm picking up extra stuff around the house to do what needs to be done.

    I'm hoping by the end of this year to start on my Transformers display room, it's going to require a lot of my time to wire up the room and prep it for shelving. Once that is all done I'll look into carpeting and lighting, maybe I'll be able to get this guy out of his box by 2020.
     
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  16. Unicron9

    Unicron9 Fan and customizer of the TAWYS

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    You and I are VERY much on the same page.
    Funny how even with such similar opinions all-round, people can have such different nitpicks though. I have zero problems at all with the colors they chose. My little gripe was the wolf head visible in the tank cockpit, and of course I fully agree with you about the force needed to get the shoulders detached for some modes, and the legs stuff. I painted the inside of the tank cockpit so that issue is gone for me now, but if they came out with greatly improved legs for like $40 (kind of like how they put out the more G1 accurate T-rex head for Grindor) I'd buy it in a heartbeat and this would go from probably my favorite figure I own, to a hands-down thing.
    I may end up lightly sanding the connections to those shoulder parts to make it less difficult to get them open for transformation. I definitely want them to be secure, but I don't like having to call upon the power of Grayskull to do that part.

    What do you mean about getting the jet mode cockpit tabbed in? I have had no problems with jet mode transformation, but it sounds like I didn't know something was supposed to happen there.

    Oh, and as for your best to worst mode ranking, I agree on that too, except to me gun mode is last place. It's about as good as they ever are, but gun mode is always the weakest IMO.
     
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  17. borgified

    borgified You're going to get speared to death!

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    Emgo's got Hydra...



     
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  18. mags2424

    mags2424 TT and 3P MP Advocate

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    Say what you will about Emgo’s sense of humor or review style. The man can transform a figure.
     
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  19. zfarsh

    zfarsh Big Penguin Chief

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    I like his sense of humor, and his transforming skills are very high, so even better. Only "issue" for me is that he only transforms them one way, and i have to watch other reviewers first on how it got there..
     
  20. Mentasm

    Mentasm I check in, but I don't check out.

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    I'd like him a lot more of he stopped saying transclearant... Jesus wept.
     
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