3rd party TFs has caught my eye recently. I have noticed many different ones, notably Quantron(Computron) from maketoys which looks very interesting and cool. So I wanted to ask for to those that have purchased 3rd party Tfs that how is the quality of these toys? Do they feel like Knock offs or do they rival HasTak's quality? Also, do you put them with other TF lines made by Hasbro and/or Takara or do you keep a separate collection just for 3rd party TFs? Let me know  

 

Though there are exceptions I would say most 3rd Party products are significantly better than Hasbro's quality and at least as good as the Takara Masterpiece line. Again there are exceptions but MakeToys, FansProject, TFC, ToyWorld, Fans Toys, MMC, Perfect Effect, more recently Unique Toys, and I'm sure others I'm forgetting are known to be pretty reliable.

 

Depends on the company. Most are on par or better then Hasbro. A few below, but not many.

Maketoys plastic tends to be nice.

 

It depends on the manufacturer. Maketoys and Fansproject, to name a couple, generally have quality far superior to Hasbro's retail offerings.

Quantron needs a couple of small fixes but otherwise is tip-top. Utopia might be the best Transforming robot I've bought in the last two years.

 

The above pics are a blend of official, third party, and knock offs... And scary thing is, when asked, most people pick the wrong figures as KOs or 3p... Lol

 

I hope this helps paint a picture of the mixing and matching that can be used.

 

As others have wrote it really depends on the company and sometimes the releases. Lets take Igears for instance. I have early and late releases from them and the later releases feel of much higher quality than their early ones. Maketoys, I own Giant type 61 aka Green Giant and I really like the build quality and feel of it. I have no plans on picking up Quantron as my focus is MP's now but based on Giant and other individuals responses I'd have had no problem preordering anything that MakeToys produces. FansProject, MMC, and MakeToys all have a solid track record.

As far as placing them in your collection. It depends on the individual. There are several here that largely ignore official products all together so as I've seen they have 3rd party only displays. Some go so far to have them separated by the companies that produced them. However, on average, I'd say based upon my talks with other members and seeing their collections that most people display official products along side of unofficial products.

The best advice that I can give to you if you're thinking about ordering any item is to check out the review section of the forum and the products thread (currently working a master list, http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-3rd-party-discussion/1006731-3rd-party-company-index-work-progress.html), and ask any questions you may have there.

 

Molini, I'm assuming those combiners are 3rd party? Those are what got me into looking into 3rd party stuff. If I was still collecting, I would purchase those 3rd party combiners and add them to the movieverse collection since they lack some some combiners aside from Devastator, Superion, and Bruticus from the RoTF line. Especially with Quantron which in my opinion seems to fit the movieverse collection well  

 

I dont know if I will order anytime soon since I stopped collecting TFs years ago. But seeing all these 3rd party stuff(plus the movieverse) kinda renewed my interest in collecting. These companies have really put out some cool stuff. Another toy that caught my eye is maketoys Utopia(Metroplex). Man, that toy looks so detailed it's scary  

But if I do decide to collect again, I'll keep your advice in mind  

 

Up until 8 months or so ago, I had completely given up on transformers. I found Hasbros offerings to be very lacking, limited paint apps, poor articulation, ect.

And then I discovered the 3rd party market. WOW, it's everything I ever wanted from a transformer. Tons of paint apps and articulation. It's almost as if the Chogokin line got the transformers licence.

I recently picked up Quantron from Toydojo (super cool retailer) and he is amazing. Not only is the combined mode super cool, but so are all of the individual bots.

 

3rd party, specifically Green Giant from Make Toys is what got me back into collecting Transformers.

I have a handful of new HasTak stuff, most notably Masterpiece toys but most of what I have is third party now.

 

Yes indeed. The Superion in my pic is TFC Uranos and Devastator is TFC Hercules.

I also have a Menasor and Devastator in scale with Computron: Fans project M3/Intimidator and MakeToys Green Giant, respectfully.

Third party combiners are quite the pricey investment so you may want to ask around the board for those who might be selling theirs for the best prices.

Also, like others have said, I got back into collecting transformers because of 3rd party combiners. Now I've grown spoiled with the level of engineering and detail offered by 3rd parties that is mostly absent from Has/Tak for non-MP line figures.

 

Same here. Green Giant is a beast.

 

It depends on the company but it also depends on the era.

I have, opened, City Commander (FansProject), Mixmaster (TFC), Swindle (Warbotron), and reproduction G1 Mirage, Wheeljack, Sunstreaker (forget who).

City Commander is definitely the cheaper of the lot. It definitely feels like a"kit" to me. It's a step up from an actual model kit but it's a little short of a mass-produced toy.

Mixmaster feels like many of the Cybertron toys. It's a very "hard" toy; there's not much give anywhere.

Swindle, I would say, feels like a GoBots Secret Rider. They're still solid toys but they're definitely lighter duty than the Super GoBots that came from Machine Robo DX.

Mirage is pretty much dead on to the original. Wheeljack mostly except for some rough edges. Sunstreaker is a disaster on all fronts.

 

Awesome! If you every have any questions about products feel free to drop me a line and I'll try and answer the best I can. I can honestly write that had it not been for 3rd party products that I would have been out of collecting after the ROTF line ended. As such I'm grateful for each and every product that I own official or otherwise as I'm extremely please with how my collection as a whole looks now!

 

I would like to thank everyone who posted in this thread. I used to think 3rd party TFs were just knock offs, but after seeing what everyone thinks and doing some research on it, I have grown to appreciate what 3rd party manufacturers have done with the TF community. I don't if I'll ever start collecting again due to some circumstances, but if I ever do, 3rd party TFs will get my support! I even thought about how I plan to collect since I want to do a 3rd party/movieverse fusion. (I even made a pdf file about it)    

 

It all depends on what you prefer. If you can handle the cheaper feel and quality with the lower price of Has/Tak then cool, but as everyone else has said, there are some 3rd party companies that offer products that are ridiculously detailed and engineered beautifully, but they come with a steep price tag.

As far as displaying, I have a large mix of 3rd party, Hasbro, and even a few KO's all mixed in together. It really all comes down to personal preference and the look you desire in your display. (reminds me...I need to update my ooos and ahhhs thread here soon)

 

The vast majority of third party figures dramatically exceed hasbro figures in regards to design and build quality now. Their is no rivalry with them anymore. 99% of the time a 3p figure is going to be better than a hasbro figure now.

With takaras mps though? theirs some comparisons to be made there still. MP magnus is better than stack for example but we're slowly seeing more n more not-mps or mp-ish figures get closer and more regularly be as good if not better than takaras best products such as FT's dinos and MMC's combiner figures and Maketoys' stuff.

 

Qualitywise from what I've bought,

Planet X
-on par/better than Hasbro

Fans Toys
-Better than Hasbro

KFC
-On par with Hasbro

Microblaze
-On par/better than Hasbro

 

They are TransFormers by TF lovers for TF lovers. And not in name only. They know what fans really want and care about it and work hard to make it a reality. They have probably saved my interest in the brand and I don't doubt the same for others.

There are some stinkers but they are surprisingly few.