We've all been there: You followed the news and pictures, maybe even joined the Megathread. You weighed the debates on design authenticity to the original versus innovation in the name of progress or a developers vision. You've agonized over your budget and collection... does this piece fit? Can I afford it? The video reviews look promising and SOMETHING, maybe a sale, maybe word of mouth, maybe the final colors or maybe fondness for the character tips you over the edge.

Something in your brain goes 'CLICK' and before you know it, there is an expensive mass of plastic coming to your door. You tear the box apart, open the packaging you may or may not care about and spend the next hour or two in communion with your new purchase. You learn the Transformation, try dozens of poses, fiddle with all weapon and accessory options...

And at some point, you realize this is a very different experience than you expected.

Share some stories, good or bad, about a 3rd party purchase that did not end the way you expected, for good or bad. The only rule is, you need to have BOUGHT it: no fair messing with someone else's PE Warden you got to fiddle with for 30 minutes!

A good one: The Toyworld Not!Throttlebots. I bought Grindrod on a whim, since the reviews were mostly positive and he was a cute little jeep robot. I fell in love with the chunky design and the fun transformation and then Aurora completely stole my heart. While I didn't like Trace as much as the first two, it is a fine figure and the trio of them are among my favorites transforming toys period... when I just expected to like Grindrod okay.

A bad one: MMC Terminus Hexatron. Stop glaring, it is an excellent toy, poseable sturdy and handsome that does it's job very well. I will probably never part with it... but I expected to love the crap out of it. I had G1 Sixshot as a kid and it was one of my favorite toys. I was VERY excited during Hexatron's development, all the reviews looked good, it feels great in hand and... meh. I dunno. We never seemed to bond. I look up at him next to Herc and FP Menasor and wonder why we don't get along better.

 

Scoria was the first toy in a long time to get me legitimately giddy as I opened the box... I still haven't put him on the shelf, he hangs out with me on my desk in the living room.

 

No Bad one (Well maybe Toyworld's Hardbone for how floppy he is, and how originally he lacked his visor)

Good one is probably any of FP's headmasters. Amazing figures all of them. Finger Candy.

 

Well, Quakewave was my first foray into the third party world, and convinced me (for better or worse) that I was missing out. So that would have to be my #1 biggest good surprise.
Bad one...kind of tied between Citizen Stack (he's not bad, but I think I was just expecting a Masterpiece figure, like Quakewave, and just got a Masterpiece sized CHUG figure) and TFCs Predacons (again, they're not bad, but I think I just liked their previous offerings more, yes, even their Arielbots, and the original resin models just made them look cooler. Oh, and I hate the weapons they come with).

 

Hexatron was simply amazing to me. The detail..the sharp sculpt..the quality in construction blew me away.

Most recently, I find myself most taken back by PE Warden or Scoria. The detail on Warden is incredible. Scoria's heft and size rivaling MP Grimlock amaze me as well.

 

Good - PE Warden the detailing and feel of him was so beyond anything I'd had before

Bad - PE-DX02 Aranea - was so disappointed in the joints, feel and movement. Some were too loose, some were too tight and somethings just didn't fit properly without some working.
Was really disappointing given how gorgeous she looked.

 

Good: Quakewave - I never read the Quakewave thread so didn't get the hype. Got him (3rd wave) because Shockwave is my favourite character but did not expect this to be my favourite toy even now.

Bad: Huff and Krank - Huffer is one of my favourit Autobots so expected to like both of these. They are OK but disappointingly low quality.

 

Good - MMCs Bovis. Even with the elbow issue I have a hard time finding any faults with this figure. I guess I wasn't expecting much out of a limb bot, but he is a lot of fun.

Bad - Fansproject Defender - Figure has so much potential, but he won't stand or hold many poses without the heels from shapeways. The clip on my blades arrived with stress marks, fixed via shapeways again. Solid effort by Fansproject, but still meh for me.

 

PE Aranea. What a sack of shitty quality. The paint and sculpt was incredible. The tolerances on simple pegs were impossible for any of the spider drone pieces. Many of the parts were not glued on such as the waist ratchet, helmet, holster, and chest mandibles which means they popped off as soon as I got them out of the box. The joints feel horribly tight and to this day I cannot transform it else I would heavily risking snapping something.

MMC Cyclops. Similar story to the above. Fragile paper weight that can't move despite amazing design and sculpting. Transforming it is a nightmare of floppy pieces. Was not the cup of tea I thought it was.

FP Headmasters. Bashed them for poor range of motion. Still hold it to them, but they're so much fun to fiddle with that I'm in it for the long haul. They are some of the best transformers in years simply because their transformations are so much fun.

 

Bad one: finally got FP diesel and tore into the packaging and it was brilliant. I put it in bot mode and loved it even more. I finally put it in torso mode and combined it and all of a sudden my excitement for the figure faded very fast. Silver lining is that its growing on me but slowly, very very slowly!

Good one: There are severl but one that comes to mind is PX Genesis.
It wasn't really on my radar until I watched optibotimus review. I ordered it at the end of the review and waited impatiently for it to arrive. Once delivered I opened it and was awestruck. It was perfect in bot mode. So perfect that to this day it remains the only figure I have never transformed. It is a sculpture to be admired.

 

The good is when I got Green Giant. I fully expected to hate him after spending so much on the box set, but when I finally got him opened and put together, I've never regretted a thing. I can't imagine my collection without him.

The bad, well, expect a lot of people to agree, but Huff is a pretty big disappointment. I was really looking forward to him, and Quakewave had already broken the damn on 3P MPs, and I loved his animation based look so I really wanted one. But then when I opened him: Very floppy, paint issues, and mine came initially without his gun. It's a shame because I still think he looks okay standing with other MPs, just it wasn't up to Masterpiece level at all.

 

Super Duper Good: iGear not-Iron Hide and Not-Rachet.
I still love these figures and think they're the best 3rd party masterpiece-like toys to ever come out. Plastic could be slightly better, but these molds match, in size, and look, all the other Masterpiece bots. The transformation is amazingly thought-out, especially since it had to be original since the old G1 toy was some very strange rendition which had no resemblance to the cartoon at all. Very very well done iGear. I would buy these 5 times over if I had to. The accessory weapons were also very over-done but a very nice touch to a well-thought out mold. It was everything I wanted that my G1 was not even close to.

Good: Make Toys Green Giant, Fans Project Munitioner, Explorer
I bought the set reluctantly, thinking TFC's were head and tail winners of the Constructicon group. But when I got them, the quality and feel of each of the bots were eons better than TFC's. That alone made me a fan. The transformations aren't ingenious, but just the feel of the plastic is beyond any other 3rd-party make that I've felt before. If Make Toys uses this plastic in their new molds, then I'm sold, automatically. Sadly, they didn't scale these to the other Masterpieces on the shelf.

Munitioner and Explorer launched me into the whole 3rd party market. Before this I was against the idea of getting 3rd party stuff. What the hell? Other people making wanna-be knock-off transformers? No way. How can this be any good? But the quality was better than anything Hasbro ever released. Posability was unmatched with anything I've seen before. And all the awesome weapons sold me to forever throw thousands of dollars into the 3rd party market. Fansproject, hats off to you for introducing me into the world of 3rd party.


Bad: TFC Aerial bots
Just poor. Plastic feels cheap. Pose-ability sucks. The transformations are all the same, nothing ingenious or thought-out about them at all. Too expensive. And their bot forms didn't look good. Since adopted TFC's constructicons early I was convinced they knew what they were doing. As more and more 3rd party stuff gets released, I'm not so sure TFC's engineering dept is up to par with other companies. I hesitate now at buying early into the TFC lines.

 

Green Giant - first off I had no idea that a Devastator was being made, also no idea that TWO of them were being made, also no idea that 3rd party companies had tackled anything so large or complex. Then I got it and I was shocked at how well the bots all went together and formed Devastator, but more than than, the thing I didn't really expect was to enjoy the individual bots as much as I do.

 

I might stand alone on this but we all have some bad ass figures. My GOOD would be Toyworld Orion. I was pleasantly surprised once I had him in hand. Everyone wants that leader to be perfect and while it could use a few changes for me it was perfect.

Bad would have t be xtransbots Stax. Not really knowing what to expect I of course was hoping for the best. I love the chrome and while decent it broke in half on me. I think it needed a little more time with QC .

 

Good- Fansproject Headmasters. I had never watched the cartoon with headmasters, and I never had much exposure to the characters, but I fell in LOVE with the engineering. I will still just sit down and transform them over and over and just marvel at every step.
Also, Unique Toys Maniaking. I loved the look of it and really wanted a good galvatron, so I went ahead and ordered. Once it was in hand, it became one of my favorites. I don't even care that that newer, fancier version is coming out, because I absolutely love mine. The way he forms an amazing cannon and then a kibble-less robot is always so mind-boggling.

Bad- I really wouldn't say I have had a bad experience or reaction to a third party product. The only one that can really qualify is Igear's not-ironhide. I had been bouncing off the walls about this guy since he was announced. Once he was released, I couldn't afford him. I wanted him so badly after that that I could barely stand to look at him online. Finally the cheaper, weapon-less version came out, and I ordered it. I was so unbelievably excited to rip him out of his packaging and play with him, and I was surprisingly underwhelmed. The most shocking thing to me was how he just didn't feel like a transformer (as in the plastic). Just handling him, he didn't feel right. I still loved the way he looked, though. He has grown on me since, and I can't imagine selling him or giving him up, but he still doesn't have that excitement to him.

 

Fansproject Code was probably the biggest surprise for me. I got him more or less on a whim since I never had any of the original Headmasters as a kid, but the transformation just wowed me. Looks good in both modes and the transformation is a perfect mix of clever touches while remaining simple enough to switch back and forth pretty quickly.

 

The bad: TFC Devastator. I hate these crappy 3rd party names, so I will always refer to them as who they were intended to be. I have a strong love/hate feeling towards my TFC Devastator. Well, more hate than love. What I like is the fact that TFC with this project were pioneers. Their success on the Devastator project was the start and proof of that the collectible market was ready for $500-$600 Combiners. I like their approach and design. Their version of Scavenger and BoneCrusher were more than just shoulder pads in combine form. I like the look of the threads becoming the forearms.

But the reason why I hate this Devastator so much is never in my life have I had such buyer remorse. None of these six figures feel like they were worthy of the $90-$100. Each one had some kind of quality control issues that I had to fix. My hatred for TFC comes from, I supported them by purchasing these robots in their initial release. They turn around and sold these, set of six for $500 retail. They improve the quality of the subsequent runs. And I am left with a inferior version plague with flaws and paid more, because I decided to support them from the get go. The fact that my version in combined mode, it is very unstable and somewhat floppy. The thighs have good strong ratchets but the design prohibits a lot of poses due to the poor weight distribution. The upper body is too heavy. And with the crane part attached My version have the tendency to fall backwards. It's okay if you just stand him up but any dynamic pose I try with him is a chore and constant worry that it will take a shelf dive.

The good: MMC Predacon and Predaking. Awaiting the last two members Rampage and DiveBomb. The $80-110 I spent on these Transformers were well worth it. They are much better engineered (more complex transformation and better articulation). Much better in terms of the build (better plastic quality, paint etc...). And so far the combine mode Predaking is solid.

 

NEGATIVE Every KFC tape that isn't Ramhorn. I got a Ramhorn as a cherry thrown on top of a trade. I didn't know I wanted it, and was blown away by the clean and clever transformation. The quality was good enough, but it is very fun, has integrated weapons, and evokes the character well. I loved him so much, when I had some extra money one month, I bought their Steeljaw and Squawktalk without even so much as a review.

MAN WAS I BUMMED. Floppy, stress fractured crap on Squawktalk. No innovation whatsoever over g1 for transformation. Steeljaw has a fun transformation in theory, but it is flimsy, and some parts fit together too firmly and others not all. The lack of paint in tape modes are troubling as well. Why bother transforming if you aren't going to make it look like a tape?

Ramhorn can be picked up for about 15 at CapturedPrey and I still recommend him to anyone.


POSITIVE Xtransbots (jizai) Glider. I ininitially got him as cheap filler for my mp shelf as he is the right scale (well, botmode, lol) and the transformation and overall look floored me. The quality may be subpar, but is still passable. It looks just like the cartoon and the crazy amount of stuff rotating during leg transformation, while still being easy is a blast. The torso is jizai's prototype for SmartRobin, as well. If he had a better shoulder joint, flaps to fill his forearms, and the face rotated like the original, he would be a true mp. As it is, he is just a toy I can't stop playing with.

 

bad : herc ...got caught up in the hype of it at the time ..didn't take long for the eyesore to become an eyesore and even more so when i seperated it into its separate bots and only one of them looked any good to me... ugly things

close second fp insectiocons ..transforming them was baaaad so sold

best by far quakewave , scorcia close second  

mmc hex was a surprise at how well made and sturdy it was but didn't fit in with my mps

 

Relative newcomer to the 3rd party scene so here goes:

Good- PE Guardian. I was in awe when I first took it out of its box. The fit and finish on this thing rivals MP products at their finest. Paint apps perfectly applied, tight joints and is a beautifully designed toy. The only negative would be the tank-mode and the lack of locking mechanisms to keep it together. Close second would be Scoria (would've been first if not for its QC issues)

Bad- just posted about the KFC hands for YOTH. Although the rifle is stunning, the pair of hands are color-matched more to light-blue of the eyes than to the dark blues of the rest of the figure. And the finger joints are loose. It had such potential. Soured me on anything from KFC, especially after reading some of the negative reviews on other KFC products on this board.