Yep. I understand third party companies don't meet projected release dates but X transbots is a bit more disappointing then the rest.

 

I don't know why you guys think that  

It only took about a year and a half from reveal (September 2014) to release (now) for Boost and Hatch. Arkose was revealed last February...so yeah...I'll say September-ish 2017 for these guys.

 

MMC's Eternal Struggle, er, I mean "Nova Prime" would like a word with you.  

XTB is by no means the fastest to get their stuff out, but I also think they tend to reveal their stuff kind of early in the pipeline. Like Omni did with Spinout.

On the downside this leads to some agonizing wait times. But on the plus side this can lead to more refinement based on feed back (see: XTB's Cyclonus).

 

That's a custom though. MP Prowl isn't anywhere near as big.

 

So going back to their original teaser group shot. . . Is powerglide going to be a new figure or is that render suppossed to be glider? I'm hoping for an mp style mode at least on par with beachcombers design by xtb. He looks fairly simple but it's so accurate in both modes.

Iis there no date on the box for these two?

 

I read that and thought, "No, it can't have been that long!" and then I went and checked the thread and discovered it's actually been longer than that! First post was 7/16/2013. Dang.

 

lol yeah, technically that's true. That was when the render of a Firebird model was shown as the same size car as Sideswipe, so that was a very early stage. I'm actually not counting that and considering the picture on Ollie's box as the official reveal, which was around Sep. 2014. Any way you look at it, it's been a very long time  

 

The reality is 3rd party co.'s get "sidetracked". Maybe it's done on purpose, who knows. I mean, if ya'll wanna start placing bets on which figure has taken the longest since initial reveals, then I'd still place my money on FT Skyfire. Look at how many releases FT has done in between Scoria to Stomp....it sure wasn't dinobot after dinobot. And what's the guess on MakeToys finishing up the other 2 autobot headmasters. And how about XTB's Galvatron. And when will GP finish up their dinobot set. And so on. I think increased competition, demand and pressure has changed and evolved some of these company's strategies (ie. MakeToys' ReMaster series, MMC's Occular Max series).

 

I just felt Apollyon's build quality was a bit mediocre compared to the figures I've got from FT, Badcube and MMC so my present inclination is to wait and see if any of those do Cliffjumper, Windcharger and Beachcomber.

 

I think Apollyon's quality is often seen as lower than it actually is, do to some horribly hit-or-miss QC. QC seems to be a fair bit of a problem for XTB, where as other companies still have problems, but fewer. Things like bad dimpling in the plastic and a few specific parts easily breaking on more than a few figures weren't design issues. Or quality, so much as QC. Not every figure had the problems, which means XTB could do it right, they just didn't get it right 100% of the time, and let far too many problem figures make it out into consumer's hands.

That's different than design and quality issues, which appear on [nearly] every figure sold. I can actually only think of... two? design issues with Apollyon. The ball joints (shoulders, fingers, ankles), and the way-too-tight clearance on the chest compression for transformation. The dimpling being there at all... I don't know enough about the manufacturing process to know if that's a design issue with the mold, or a quality issue with the plastic or processing.

Overall XTB has a lot of good going for it though. The figure designs are pretty consistently fantastic representations of the characters, the head sculpts are great, and the paint/color work is generally spot on. For all the issues with Apollyon, and even Ollie, they look spot-on like Megatron and Wheelie.

 

Chest dimpling is from the design of the part concentrating a thicker section of plastic at that area, which cools quicker and shrinks as a result.

 

I've been waiting for a CJ. Fist pump. Can't wait to see more.

 

X-Transbots toys teaser from the instruction of MM-VIII Arkose. Thanks to Collin Hobbs.




https://www.facebook.com/DaimChocRe...41828.100402350310201/249234375426997/?type=3

 

Alright, those look sick. I HATE HATE HATE transforming Boost and Hatch but godDAMN their alt modes look beautiful. I can't wait until we can get some colored pics of these guys.

 

If these guys would ramp up the qc and plastic quality they would be top tier and almost untouchable ... Their designs have absolutely gorgeous alt and bot modes

I've got arkose in my roller stash and I've been seriously debating getting boost and hatch ( those pop up headlights are dead sexy)

 

Can't wait to see the robot mode.

 

I'm gonna be all over cliffjumper.

 

Hope they can deform the bot mode to match Bumblebee, Porsche 924 is way sleeker than the VW Beetle...

 

Forgot I had ever even seen this thread before. Sounds great though. I'll remember to wait for the V2 though. XT QC is no joke.

 

How big is the Porsche compared to the VW in real life? *knows nothing about cars*   In the cartoon they got away with it because they were both deformed, but I'm wondering how they can pull off a correctly scaled bot and still have normal looking vehicle mode. If push comes to shove, I think I'd sacrifice the vehicle mode. It will probably end up being very undersized.