For those of you who buy a lot of these, what are your impressions of their quality vs Takara's masterpiece toys? Are there companies you like better than others (ex. DX9 vs Unique Toys) in terms of quality? Do the toys scale with the official masterpiece toys?

 

Third party and Takara figures are about equal in terms of quality. Takara's have a ton of problems and so do a good portion of third party MPs. I'd judge each figure individually and not by brand, however FT, Ocular Max, and X-transbots seem to be the trio at the top these days. It'd be hard to say one's really objectively better than the other, it's more of a difference in aesthetics. Takara's are more expensive so they should be judged more harshly when they do have flaws.

 

Commence 200 pages of FT praise/bashing.....now

 

MMC's Ocular Max Perfection Series, FT, GigaPower are all excellent. MT, BadCube, DX9, and UT are probably the runners-up.

 

I think the best 3P companies for MP are MMC, XTB/KFC and Maketoys. In that order. MMC Ocular Max has the best engineering and is designed to fit in with Takara rather than compete. With the new standards Takara sets MMC chooses to set itself up to similar ones in terms of design. As well as toon characters and the essence of characters. XTB/KFC chooses to perfect it’s aesthetics in the same way while slightly improving their engineering. Their aesthetics are more obviously toon like. As opposed to MMC which can veer into Studio Ox/Japanese robot styling. And Maketoys is on a similar playing field to MMC. But they don’t produce enough figures. Although both Maketoys and XTB/KFC create more competitive figures. Either trying to spring on trends or create a new hot craze.

Also FT is shit. They have basic and lazy design with poor quality. And they create the blandest aesthetics which have no personality. Meanwhile those 3 companies I mentioned before, all of their figures breathe personality. The face sculpts especially. All FT does is max our design presence so they can hide all the other problems. Like bland expressions, bullshit transformations and poor tolerances.

That’s what I’d have to say in terms of companies and figures. Also they all scale fairly well. Except FT who have chosen to make their season 3 cast bigger than anyone else.

 

DX9/UT are definitely NOT among the best quality MPs by any measure. In my experience, the figures are often not handled cleanly at the factory during packing, leaving dirt or marks in the paintwork before it cures, and they have had parts breakage issues as well. Even their more recent relative, Magic Square, has had some of the same QC issues on their MP releases like dirty/rub-marked paint.

XTB/KFC have some materials durability issues, partly due to not engineering thick enough joints, and have some paint chipping issues and joint tolerance issues.

Fans Toys products since 2018 have had some paint wear issues mostly due to engineering/tolerance issues with parts that move or rub against one another during transformation.

MMC have been one of the most consistent in recent years, afaik. Outside of the materials issues on old Cynicus, I can't think of any other widespread issues but I may be forgetting something. They have some loose joint issues on some Ocular Max figures. And some paint issues on some of their ReMix cassettes.

MakeToys seems lazy and budget-focused, so their MTRM (MP) line has been devoid of new product outside of seekers for what seems like about three years. And their seekers cut a lot of corners.

Takara's no better. Chrome chipping issues, overly thick paint apps, paint chipping, etc.

Fans Hobby have done pretty well with their releases afaik.

Legends figures seem to fare better than MPs these days as far as quality.

 

Takara has much better paint and chrome these days. MP-36+ is an almost entirely chromed (if not metallic painted) figure. And after a year of release has had no notable chipping cases.

 

I have the FT Dinobots, Spotter and Insecticons. With Roadking on the way. MMC Cassetticons (Sans there Jaguar unfortunately), Shinx, Backdraft and Artifex. With Terraegis on the way. XTB Appolyon, Torro, Boost and Hatch.
I think they all stand toe to toe with Takara. I would even put my MMC carbots ahead of MP Sunstreaker and Tracks. Purely for personal taste mind you.
The best way to find out for yourself of course is to buy one and see. If you buy from one the three companies I have, you won't be dissapointed........
Or you might be, I don't know. It's all subjective really....

 

Depends on which company. I find badcube and maketoys and fanstoys to have the best qc. I find xtb and KFC to be most improved and almost at par with the other however their designs look the best, fanstoys looks just as good to me but feels souch beefier. I don't bother with any other brands anymore other than KFC xtb and FT aside from Takara. I'd say FT excceds Takara quality.

 

When I was in the MP game Fans Toys was king. Apparently in the year and a half since I stopped collecting them X-Transbots stepped up their game as well as MMC with their Ocular Max line.

 

You’re going to get so many varied responses because quality/design expectations are going to differ between individuals. But also because every company, even Takara, has varying degrees of consistency.

3P and official bots in general are equal in aim, but execution is across the board. What I would do is research who makes the best one according to individual character.

My collection is mostly 3P/KO with an occasional official here and there. I also willingly take on broken or QC challenged figures if I like the overall design.

This site and YouTube are great resources to find which MP figure is right for you.

 

Wow, the correct answer in the very first reply! That might be a record. Forget all the brand loyalties and bickering, this is sound advice.

All the companies listed in above comments have put out "Masterpieces" and stinkers! All the info is out there on their products. Do your research or don't, either way you'll probably get what you deserve.

 

In the deluge of sometimes conflicting answers you get, there's two things to keep in mind. First, that a lot of it comes down to personal preference. And I think the companies that exemplify this the most are Fans Toys and Fans Hobby.

See, Fans Toys tends to make toys with a solid cartoon likeness (although they're not leaning quite as hard into making it look exactly like a Sunbow animation cell as Takara), and aside from their Perceptor they usually use quality plastic, a lot of diecast, and tons of paint. For some, that's enough to make them the king of 3Ps. Others will tell you that all that painted diecast has been prone to scratching, that some of their figures have had some articulation issues, that their engineering has been the opposite of fun, and that they're really not that fun to mess around with.

And Fans Hobby is kind of at the other end. They're solid figures that are overall pretty fun to transform and pose, but they tend to save the paint for accents and use unpainted plastic for most of the base colors, and their designs have some Japanese super robot flair that isn't purely G1.

The other thing to remember is that every company still has their hits and misses, but overall quality (that is, the number and severity of QC issues, how companies address those issues, the quality of the base materials used, and the tolerances of the joints) has improved pretty much across the board. I mean, you'll still encounter a figure here and there that might have less-than-the-best plastic (like Unique Toys used on their Combaticons), but you're not likely to find the crappy shampoo bottle plastic you might have a couple years ago. You might wish a joint here or there were a little tighter, but you're not likely to find something super floppy anymore.

So, my advice is to get a feel for what your personal preferences are, and then watch some reviews of figures you think you might be interested to get an impression of the quality, aesthetics, and engineering. If it's not your cup of tea, even if other people seem to dig it, don't waste your money. If something appeals to you then buy it and don't worry if someone else thinks so-and-so's version is better.

With all that in mind, I'd rate them like this:

MMC/Ocular Max: Especially lately, they've been striking a pretty good mix of QC, aesthetics, engineering, and materials.

X-Transbots: They had a reputation for poor quality for awhile, but they've really stepped up their game lately. Great aesthetics, quality materials, and improved engineering. Occasional QC issues still, but they're often easily fixed and XTB is good about sending out replacement parts if you need them.

Fans Toys: Their Perceptor aside, absolutely top shelf materials. Solid aesthetics. Minor QC sometimes, but like XTB they're pretty good about getting you replacement parts if you need them. I don't rank them higher because I find their robots to be a little lifeless, and they're usually my least favorite figures to transform. I've passed on FT figures because of their engineering, I've sold figures because I didn't like handling them, and even a lot of what I kept I did so because I don't think there's a better alternative, but I probably won't transform it a second time.

Maketoys: Was, for a time, my favorite. Really dynamic aesthetics, solid engineering and QC. They've just kind of fallen off the face of the earth lately. I think it's been over a year since they released a non-exclusive Re:Master figure, and longer still since they released on that wasn't based on their Starscream.

DX9: Used to have really stylized aesthetics, but they're much improved. They could be higher on this list, but their fit and finish is usually a little off, and like Maketoys they've been quiet.

Fans Hobby: Like I said above, they're not G1 accurate enough for most people, and they lack the diecast and paint to feel very "premium," but they're solid, well-built, well-engineered toys. And premium or not, their Overlord has incredible shelf presence.

Honorable mentions to Magic Square and Transform Element. They both made a really fantastic Optimus Prime, but one MP figure isn't a lot to go off of.

 

(looks at the amount of 3rd parties and how many different types of quality they have)

 

Depends on the figure and the company. But, the only companies worth looking at that make Masterpiece figures in no particular order are X-Transbots, MakeToys, MMC, FansToys, DX-9, KFC, BadCube.
For some releases you only have one company that has made it, while for others you can find multiple releases with different aesthetics, and pros/cons.

My best advice, is do your research before you buy. Find the character you want, the choices available, and check out as many reviews as you can before you buy.

 

1. sometimes better, sometimes the same, sometimes worse

2 yes

3. in most cases yes

 

Well maybe not loyalty. But you should know who makes good stuff and recognise they’re gonna keep making good figures.

 

Idk, they've all been hit and miss imo. Some people will swear by Fanstoys, others by XTB, MMC, or Maketoys. I've gotten figures I loved and ones I hated from all of them, including Takara. None of them hit a home run every time and expecting them to is niave.

They only thing I've come to recognize in this hobby is if you don't research the figure before you buy it you had better temper your expectations. Any one of these companies can follow up several good releases with a steaming pile of shit at anytime. That's not exclusive to MP either I'm talking across the board.

On a side note I share most of your sentiments on Fanstoys. I find most of their sculpts bland, transformations obtuse, and articulation limited. I think people that like them prefer to display though, while I'm in it to play.

 

Let this guide, be your guide for what to compare, for the character(s) you want a masterpiece representation of: The Masterpiece Character Guide (or "do they have an MP yet", and what substitutes?)

And then watch a few videos that compare them... the price, aesthetics, paint, articulation, presence (amongst the rest of your collection, or even amongst the direction you want your collection to go), accessories, playability, and other desires WILL VARY from reviewer to reviewer and what YOU want.

Tried to think of a pun for ‘PAPA’ since a lot of the aforementioned categories seemed to initially, inadvertently fall into those letters...
Only thing that came to mind was ‘papa don’t preach’ and how a creative person could probably turn that song to what lies ahead for you as a collector. Lines like “I’m in trouble see” [wallets in trouble]; “but I made up my miiind, IIII’m keeping my baaabaay” seem to beg for such a parody to be done.