The more photos shown, the more this looks cheap and not masterpiece.

Poor paint QC and finish.

Makes me very concerned about future releases where paint is important.

 

Final figure looks great! With respect to those complaining about the stripes; I'm not all that worried about them appearing thin. I won't disagree with people over the issue, but I will say I can can deal with it.

 

There's still hope (FT/TT)  

 

The stripes also seem super crooked and not aligned with each other.

 

It's honestly cleaner than the paintwork on my BadCube Trailbreaker and more paint apps than my MMC OcMax figure has. If anything, at least it's clean, but yeah it seems too thinly applied on the stripes.

 

I worry the joints are as weak as Blitzwing.

 

He was made at their old factory. This was made at their new factory

 

So all transbots and kfc products released before Blitzwing were made by the same crappy old factory? What makes the new factory better?

 

Maybe they have tennis courts?or Starbucks maybe?   All seriousness tho,I am by no means an XTB fanboy but the only joints on Paean that I don't care for are the fingers. Mine feels really solid. A little more room at the shoulder joint would've been welcomed but he's actually a pretty good bot.

 

So whats the low down on KFC & X-transbots? Are they one in the same? If so why are they 2 different companys?

 

Let me search for what ibot said

 

To the best of my knowledge they are. One is simply a re-branding to distance themselves from KFC's offerings and in order to distinguish their XTB line as more centered on MP style bots.

 

Cool, good to know. Thanks

 

I think this is definitely right for how it started out and then shifted. KFC made the cassettes and other products before MP. XTB made some combiner add on sets and the first figure was the KO Glider. XTB made the first switch with MXI Apollyon and MMI/MMII Krank/Stax to the MP only designation and then KFC followed suit with EAVI 4A Transistor. Frankly this similarly affected all of the companies at the same time. MT/UT/DX9/MMC/OM all set up separate lines to provide MP products and almost immediately there was virtually no space in the market for non MP figures overnight. It literally hijacked almost all of the lines. Looking at KFC/XTB now they have multiple design teams developing different figures and the need for separation of KFC/XTB isn't the same. However, after going to all the trouble to establish the brand you wouldn't just scrap it if internally it really makes no difference. You could argue the brand distinction helped them at least the last couple of years with KFC having a good reputation and XTB's suffering. Now that the internal QC issues are resolved both brands benefit.

A lot of the companies we see now evolved from other companies often with the company name set up only to house the initial product venture. It would be fascinating for us fanatics to have the MP and 3P history from Pre MP-1 Binaltech to now to know why and how everything happened. The rise and fall of FP... It's all a good lesson in business and shifting markets even on a niche scale.

 

Thanks for the insight. I came into MP collecting abt a year ago so i missed out on some of the "history" of these 3rd party companys.
Follow up question: who is Keith? Was he one of the designers?

 

Keith as in Keith's Fantasy Club (KFC) owns the factory so he is the boss. iBot that is on here says he is Keith.

 

Ha, how 'bout that. It all makes sense now. Thanks.

 

I think xtb/KFC need to be cut a bit of slack over QC. The chrome is flaking off my Takara Hotrod and the paint off my Ratchet, the legs were a MESS on my FT hound, my omnigonix thing ended up in the bin, doors and seats popped off all my Alternators, MMC Mirage hand covers pop-off by looking at them...

One of the Kibble locks on Paean arrived with the pin floating in the box, unlike most of the other issues I've had, I could sort that one!

Most of my collection have had issues, KFC/XTB probably less so overall. Paean however feels in a different league to my other KFC/XTB bots in terms of plastic quality and build and is as I imagine the character in both modes; add in the fact he was much cheaper than the BC/MMC alternatives and I'm very happy with my purchase!

Bring on powerglide v2

 

One company having QC problems doesn't mean you should forgive another for the same problems.

I do think they get way more vitriol than is deserved, but there's also no denying that their quality finish isn't quite as good as some of the other companies.

 

I've been following Keith's products since his earliest tapes and have always had a soft spot for his product offerings. His earliest stuff wasn't made all that well (and this is coming from a fan so is simply honesty), so it's nice to finally see XTB/KFC finally upping their QC game. With that I see only good things for fans/buyers going forward.