TFW2005’s Top Third Party Toy Picks of 2022 Here's what the team thought, sound off on what you guys thought of 2022! Black Convoy Monocrat MT-01 Megatank (Bumblebee Movie Tank Megatron) Quite a great surprise to see this rendition of Megatron in Bumblebee movie style. A great sculpt that combines well the classic G1 style but still stylized to go with other Bumblebee movie figures. Glad to see some new designs and not more Optimus or Devastators again. Runners up: Magic Square Light Of Peace, FT-46 Tesla, MMC Navigant edgs2099 MMC Ocular Max PS-25 Navigant There were a lot of gems to come out this year. While several FT offerings deserve to be here, I didn’t buy much by them, so you’ll notice Jive and Phantasm missing. MMC is dropping bombs. Navigant is fantastically articulated, very fun to transform, gorgeous, and solid. This guy and Medicus look so good standing next to each other. Runners up: IF-EX50 Daishogun, FT-46 Tesla, MS B31 Detective, IF-01A Eris: Kultur Alternative, IF-EX58 Hometown Watcher Kickback/TokuChris Magic Square Light of Peace I don’t buy third party Transformers. I’ve only purchased 4 pieces ever until I saw Magic Square’s Light of Peace. I couldn’t afford nearly $500 for MP44, and as time went on, I found myself disliking the back kibble and other things about MP44. I grabbed Light of Peace and have absolutely zero regrets. While made entirely of plastic with no diecast metal, the figure has amazing articulation and an animated series accuracy to the look, more so than MP44. This thing is my Masterpiece Optimus Prime, and Magic Square has earned themselves a dedicated customer for their future MP-sized releases. Runners Up: None Mechafire IF-01A Eris: Kultur Alternative Another extremely light 3P year for me, in fact in fact I think Eris was the only full fig I got, so she kind of wins by default. Not unwarranted though, it’s a great design with great articulation – I missed out on the first release but bit the bullet on this version, and I’m glad I did. Hope MMC can keep it up. Onslaught24 MMC Ocular Max PS-21 Medicus Somehow this list was tougher to decide on than the official one despite only getting 3 figures this year. I REALLY wanted to add MMC’s G2 Onslaught and make him my number 1, but capitalism is a cruel, underpaying mistress. So my top pick is MMC’s First Aid, who effortlessly delivers on looks, articulation, and most of all, engineering. He seamlessly compacts a robot, ambulance, and beefy combiner arm into one package. His robot mode oozes personality that fits right in on a G1 Masterpiece shelf, or on an IDW shelf, and his ambulance mode looks like it rolled right off the screen with minimal but effective paint apps and details. His combined mode and transformation are where it’s at though. The former is a testament to MMC’s ability and determination to improve with every release/project, and the latter is both involved yet intuitive and makes the figure easy to transform after not being handled for a while. Assaultus is my perfect Bruticus and Combaticon team, but even with just Medicus in hand, I can tell the Maximus Pro crew will shine where Assaultus fell short. Runners up: Fans Toys Chomp, Mastermind Creations Optus Nox optimusfan NewAge Ymir 2022 turned out to be another light year for third party figures for me. But, the figures I did get were bangers. I’ve only dabbled in the legends scale 3P figures to add to my Cosmos collection, but I made an exception for another childhood favorite: Grimlock. NewAge Ymir is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. One of the best iterations on the character to date, and genuinely one of the best transformations I’ve ever experienced. My only complaint is the dino arms only work for a couple of poses and can look awkward otherwise, but they don’t detract significantly from the overall experience with the figure. Runners up: NewAge H6P Lucky Draw Max (Cosmos), MMC R-42C D-Zef, IF-01A Eris: Kultur Alternative, Dr. Wu DW-E10 Patriot Tank & DW-E09 Traveler Plane / Sword Dancer Shockwave81MMC Ocular Max PS-21 Medicus Always been a fan of MMC’s work, and although I’d stepped back from the 3P scene for the most part, my curiosity got the better of me with this guy. Solid materials, an interesting transformation, great articulation, and a beautiful head sculpt make him a joy to own. With Navigant in hand as well, I’m looking forward to the remaining three figures. Runner up: MMC Ocular Max PS-25 Navigant Superquad7 Moon Studios Radiatron (Masterpiece Raiden) – Set of 6 I have to admit I’m cheating here just a bit as I’m listing six (6) figures here, but anyone who has these will admit you don’t get one without the other 5. And who’d want to NOT have a set if you went in on one? The planets seemingly had to align for me to get these, but I can’t express my gratitude with being able to have these. They’re so wonderful, and I’m glad I have them! All modes are great. As good a FT Hannibal (MP Fortress) is, Radiatron blows it out of the water. This is one of those things if you know, YOU KNOW! ’nuff said! Runners up: Fans Toys Hannibal (Masterpiece Fortress); X-Transbots MX-27 Janssen (Masterpiece Perceptor); Fans Hobby MB-14 Kap (Cab)
I was so surprised by Navigant. I expected nothing and got the world. Such an amazing figure out of nowhere.
The most surprising part of the list is seeing a movie-related figure at the top. Its an amazing figure though, absolutely deserves it. I also agree with most of the picks here, they were pretty good figures.
Not surprised to see Mastermind Creations taking the majority of the number 1 picks here. I don’t own a lot of 3P figures myself, but of those I do the bulk of those comes from MMC and each one is fantastic, innovative, and most importantly fun. Their takes on IDW styled characters out of the More Than Meets the Eye comics are spot on. As Onslaught24 said, their figures are “both involved yet intuitive and makes [them] easy to transform after not being handled for a while.” I’ve found this to be true of all the MMC figures I’ve ever owned. They are all easy to convert between modes, but not so simplistic as to be boring. Thew often complains about 3P figures having overly complex transformations with all sorts of little panel flips to get these tiny details right. I don’t think I’ve ever seen MMC figures do that. They’re just solid.
Absolutely shocked XTB Stack or FT Jive didn't place on the list at all. Easily two of the best 3P figures of all time. But at the same time, can't disagree with anything on the list. Monocrat is my favorite Megatron figure ever, the MMC offerings are solid, and Zeta Raiden blows the official away in most regards.
Part of me wonders what movie bots made by MMC would be like. I always hear praise from them and their transformations always look so intuitive and well thought out. They just don’t make any designs I’m interested in buying as I’m a bots with detail kind of guy.
I didn't get too many but my award goes to XTB Commander Stack. Basically the Ultra Magnus I've wanted since 1986 even with the crazy transformation.
CAN SOME COMPANY PLEASE MAKE A VOYAGER CLASS VERSION OF MONOCRAFT BUMBLEBEE MOVIE MEGATRON PLEASE 100
If anyone is interested in who the fans voted for Best 3P figure and company of 2022, full results are here: Third Party Year in Review 2022
I'm surprised Chomp didn't get any more honourable nominations at least? Fantastic solid figure. My pick has to go to Newage, Jones. Slightly biased from character choice, however it's a fun little figure to play with and looks great in both modes. Unfortunately looses a couple points for not having a split front skirt, however that's a complaint that carries across even to Fanstoys, Dunerider.
Navigant is a great figure, but why doesn't mine look like these pics. Mine is gray, is there a white release that I missed?
